Page 3 of Daughter of Garnet

My mother yanks me into a tight hug. “Be well, my love.” She pulls back from me, her beautiful copper eyes, so similar to mine, shimmering with tears. She pushes a box into my hand. "Take this, and wear it every day, okay? Everything works out how it's supposed to."

I ease the box open and see a raw garnet wrapped in a silver chain nestled on a piece of black cloth.

"What is this?"

"It's yours now. My mother gave it to me, and her mother to her. It's been in our family for generations. Wear it every day, Zoe. Don't forget it. And remember whose daughter you are. We love you."

Remember whose daughter you are? How could I forget that she's my mother?

It must be the grief of seeing me go. I wasn't far from home when I was in university, but now I'm heading close to the capital of Kestia, Raeldell. The Institute is just beyond the city limits. I'll only see them once a year, if I'm lucky.

I wave at them as I board the train and make my way through the cars. When I spot Warren, I sigh in relief and slump into the seat next to him.

“Are you disappointed?” He doesn’t look up at my question. “It’s okay if you are.”

My best friend avoids my gaze. “I just thought… I prayed to him, Zoe. I prayed that Kashmyre would find me fit to be one of his.” We have lived in Kashmyre's province, Agria, for all our lives, and even went to university here, but I've never known Warren to be particularly devout. He reaches over and grabs my hand, weaving our fingers together. “At least one of us got what we wanted, huh?”

Outwardly, I agree with him, but inside? I'm not so sure. My mother gifted me a garnet necklace after I touched Ilota's stone, and a voice spoke in my mind, calling me an Omega. It also told me to tell no one.

It doesn’t have to worry about that.

The last thing I want is for anyone to think I’m an Omega.

I jerk awake as the train grinds to a halt. I must have fallen asleep on Warren’s shoulder.

“We’re here,” he says, voice thick and groggy. “Sleep alright?”

“I had the strangest dream.” I shove myself to my feet and grab my bag, making sure all my things are tucked inside, then grab a hairbrush and run it through my hair.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I was running through the woods, and I came to the edge of a cliff. I jumped, but didn’t fall. Instead, I soared through the sky before diving deep into the ocean. When I emerged, it was at the foot of a volcano.”

He swings his arm over my shoulders when I finish untangling the knots in my wavy brown hair. “Looks like the ceremony infiltrated your dreams. The elements of the Gods called to you.”

I don't tell him that the volcano erupted, leaving me alone and crying.

The whole thing left me so unnerved that I slip the necklace my mother gave me around my neck, just to feel a little closer to her.

We file off the train, all of us crowding on the platform. Looming ahead of us is the Institute. I’ve seen photos of it, but they do not do it justice.

In the center rises a chapel several stories high, its glass roof opening to the heavens. Beside it sit two buildings with domed tops, almost like conservatories. Smaller buildings circle the chapel, growing larger the farther they are from the center.

“The buildings around the chapel are the classrooms, and the Omegas live in the building in front of those,” Warren tells me. “Closest to the chapel, closest to the Gods. It’s so any intruders will have to get through the other designations before they can reach our most vulnerable.”

Omegas would not be so vulnerable if they were allowed to train, to fight. Their beasts are not all weak kittens, but even kittens have claws. Why the powers that be have declared they need to be wrapped up in cotton wool, I'll never know.

“So then the second circle houses the Alphas?”

My best friend nods in affirmation. “And then the outer ring is where we will live.”

The outer ring of the circle has the most buildings and is by far the largest of the three rings. There are almost fifteen Betas to one Alpha, and one Omega to seven Alphas.

It’s hard to slice a pie into three equal pieces, and sometimes it feels like the Gods gave up trying.

“Betas, if you would,” an unfamiliar voice calls out, separating us from the Alphas who were on our train. “Please gather here in the courtyard.”

The Alphas follow a handsome woman with dark hair, keeping their distance from us as they pass through the exterior ring of campus.