The door to the Summit City Hotel opens, and Honey sulks in, reeking of old food and spoiled milk, surrounded by dark aura of despair.

  Her nose is discolored and caked with a sticky scab. Her mouth, chin, glove, and sleeve are stained with blood, and her reddened eyes are dim and wet from tears. Garbage clings to her hair, clothes, and Thor-Ton.

  Her feet shuffle across the floor. She barely notices when the clerk calls her. She looks at him, dazed and brain barely functioning, and he waves her over while calling her again. She goes to the counter, and he pulls out a very familiar envelope and holds it out to her.

  “That girl you were talking to yesterday told me to give this to you. Said you dropped it while you were leaving the hotel,” says the clerk.

  Honey takes the envelope, and her hand quivers as she inspects it. She sees no signs of manipulation. The wax seal is still in place, there are no tears in the envelope, and just to satisfy her paranoia, she inspects the wax seal closer and sees no signs of it being melted and remolded. Her lips twitch, and she looks at the clerk.

  “Is Emma here? I’d like to thank her,” says Honey venomously.

  “Nope. She and her partner are still out and about,” says the clerk.

  Honey thanks him and goes to the elevator. Once inside, she hits the sixth floor button and takes a deep breath and puts her documents in her pouch as the door closes. The elevator rises. She closes her eyes and takes another deep breath.

  The door opens to her floor, and she opens her eyes, her irises glowing like blue flames as she stomps down the hall with tears running down her cheeks and the blue lines marking her enhancements pulsing with her heavy heart. When she reaches her room, she closes and locks the door.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Then she screams and punches a hole in the wall.

  Honey stands there, arm still embedded in the wall, chest heaving with rage and despair. Hot tears stream down her face as she slowly withdraws her fist, knuckles scraped raw and bleeding, drywall dust coating her fist, wrist and cuff.

  Honey stumbles over to the bed and collapses onto it, the springs creaking under the weight of her and Thor-Ton as she stares at the blank ceiling in a dazed state.

  A few seconds pass of discomfort from her weapon digging into her back, and she removes it and drops it on the floor with a loud thud. Then she flops back on the bed and runs her hands over her filthy face, groaning irritably.

  She continues laying on the bed, hands over her face, feet dangling over the edge, and her throat tight. Seconds pass, and she drops her hands from her face and grabs the documents from her pouch. A quick inspection shows no sign of tampering, and bringing the documents closer to her eyes for a more critical search shows the same results.

  Honey blinks in confusion, but that confused expression warps into an annoyed sneer. She knows what Emma is doing. She wants to prove she could get to Honey's most important possessions any time she wants and wants to destabilize her mentally so that way she will do something stupid and lose her chance to get into the Academy!

  Not going to work, you psycho ballerina bitch, thinks Honey bitterly.

  Honey sits up, runs her fingers through her hair, and then sniffs herself, recoiling from the stench clinging to her. As much as she wants to give Emma stern and non-physical talking to about her abhorrent ways, she is too mentally beaten to do it. And she also stinks to high heaven and needs a shower.

  Honey slowly stands up, joints and muscles protesting, and she shuffles her way to the bathroom. There, she slowly and painfully peels off her soiled clothes, exposing every blue line marking her body.

  She starts the shower, steps under the scalding spray, and closes her eyes as she rests her head against the tiled wall. The hot water soothes her muscles and gradually washes away the filth, but despite the relaxation seeping in, and despite her desires not to do something stupid, she has one thought that is determined to stay at the front of her mind.

  She really wants to punch Emma in the nose.