Curiosity was a terrible survival instinct.

~ Rebel Beast

—---------

Karen was a real bitch.

Just as she had planned with her newly appointed lieutenant, Charlotte, and the rest of her team of troublemakers, Karen had managed to claim the best room in the entire house.

Their room occupied the front corner of the loft level and was noticeably larger than the others. More importantly, it possessed the largest private balcony in the house. As if that wasn’t enough, it came with a view overlooking the front gardens and the winding stone pathway leading toward the residence.

On the bright side, the room itself wasn’t dramatically bigger. But the thought of Karen spending the next several weeks, assuming she lived long enough, bragging about it filled Aria with a great deal of irritation.

Fortunately, Brittney had fought like a banshee and managed to secure the second-best room. Not that it had come easily. Liv and her team had wanted it too. It had taken all four of them to drag the girls out and throw them into the hallway.

It wasn’t Aria’s finest moment, but at least they won.

Their room wasn’t bad. Four queen-sized beds occupied the room, one in each corner, allowing enough privacy that they wouldn’t constantly be breathing down each other’s necks.

Soft cream walls made the space feel larger than it actually was. Matching wardrobes stood against one side while study desks had been positioned beneath the windows.

A thick rug covered most of the wooden floor. The room even had its own sitting area consisting of two armchairs and a small coffee table. The place was comfortable enough.

The best feature, however, was the balcony.

Unlike Karen’s balcony overlooking the front of the residence, theirs sat along the side of the house.

Aria slid open the glass door and stepped outside.

The forest greeted her immediately. Towering trees stretched endlessly into the distance. Their dark silhouettes swayed gently beneath the night breeze while insects chirped somewhere beyond the tree line.

Now that she thought about it, while Karen got the front-facing balcony and could see visitors coming, theirs faced the woods and provided the best cover for sneaking out.

Not bad at all.

The woods felt close enough to touch, and the thought of a beast climbing through the trees and into their room should have unsettled her. Instead, Aria found herself relaxing.

There was something calming about being out in the open like this, listening to the wind rustling through the trees. She had always liked quiet places.

Unfortunately, she could never enjoy those moments for long.

At first, it was one firefly. It drifted over and settled directly onto Aria’s palm resting on the balustrade. She lifted her hand, staring at the tiny luminescent creature.

"Well, hello there."

Aria smiled down at the insect with the fascination of a child. She was still studying it when a second one landed on her palm.

She chuckled.

"Guess that’s your mate come to get you, huh?"

Then a third landed.

"Oh." She said. "That’s your daughter?" Her brows furrowed. "Or son?"

Something suddenly settled on her cheek and even without looking, Aria could tell it was another firefly.

Slowly, she lifted her face and froze. A swarm of fireflies was floating toward her from the woods.

"Oh shit."

Aria suddenly realized just how screwed she was. She had thought she left her weirdness back home, but apparently it had followed her all the way to Bestiaris Academy.

Fantastic.

The last thing she needed was her new roommates discovering she was some sort of freak.

Although something told her the girls wouldn’t react that way, the thought of them looking at her differently was still uncomfortable. She would no longer just be Aria. She would become Aria Freak.

So Aria began swatting at them.

"Please go away," she whispered urgently, waving her hands.

Except that seemed to make things worse. The more she tried to chase them away, the more they gathered around her. It didn’t help that it was exactly that moment Brittney’s voice called out from inside.

"Aria? Are you outside?"

"Oh God."

Aria was officially panicking.

"Just go already!"

She shook her body as if that would somehow discourage them. The fireflies remained completely unimpressed.

Brittney stepped onto the balcony.

"Aria, have you seen... whoa." She stopped mid-sentence and did a double take.

Having resigned herself to her fate, Aria slowly turned around to face her.

There was a very good reason for Brittney’s reaction.

Aria was covered from head to toe in fireflies. They rested in her hair, perched on her shoulders, clung to her sleeves and dotted the fabric of her clothes. Hundreds of tiny lights blinked around her like living fairy lights.

She expected Brittney to scream, or stare at her with the wary look people often reserved for her whenever they stumbled onto scenes like this.

Instead Brittney, who had gone completely speechless, simply pulled out her phone and took a picture.

Click.

Aria stared, speechless. Brittney stared back. Then the girl turned and hollered toward the room.

"Yo, you guys should come see this!"

Aria’s dread increased immediately as she heard the pitter-patter of hurried feet.

Trisha arrived first.

"This better be good, Brittney, otherwise..."

She trailed off. Her jaw nearly dropped.

"Holy Christmas lights."

The words came out as a stunned mutter.

"Whoa." Was all Alek managed. Her eyes widened in fascination rather than alarm.

Then Alek, ever the curious one, walked directly toward her. "How are you doing this?"

Aria groaned.

Alek pointed at the fireflies. "Insects don’t normally gather around people like this. And definitely not in these numbers. Most species avoid larger creatures altogether."

Aria lifted both hands helplessly. "Guess who’s a firefly magnet then?"

She gave them just enough of the truth.

Brittney grinned. "Well, I’m not complaining. You could always light my path whenever the electricity goes out."

Aria genuinely didn’t know what to say at that point. She had expected them to stare at her like she was some kind of freak. Instead they had somehow turned the entire situation into a bonding moment.

It was very suspicious. So she scrutinized each of them carefully to see if they were faking it. But there was nothing. No fear, discomfort, or judgment.

Aria wondered if it was because they were from Nova City. Maybe strange things didn’t faze them the way they did back home where she had been ostracized for far less.

Then, as if the fireflies had finally finished embarrassing her, they dispersed all at once. The tiny insects floated away into the darkness, their lights vanishing amongst the trees.

Aria caught the look of fascination on the girls’ faces as they watched the rare display.

When the last firefly disappeared, she finally asked, "You guys aren’t freaked out?"

Brittney frowned. "Freaked out over what?"

She raised a brow. "That hundreds of fireflies decided you’re their favorite resting place?"

"Pretty much."

"Girl, we’re attending Bestiaris Academy. Nothing can freak me out more than that.. Although..." Brittney added, a rogue smile appearing on her lips. "You seriously have to teach me how you did that. It was cool."

Aria blinked. That was cool.

This was the first time someone had ever called her freaky ability cool. Although it was obvious the girls believed it had simply been a coincidence and didn’t realize this sort of thing happened around her all the time.

"Come on, let’s go inside. We have things to discuss," Alek told her. "Unless, of course, you want something to come out of those woods and eat you. Just don’t expect me to help."

Aria rolled her eyes, knowing it was a pathetic attempt to scare her. Yet her heart warmed at the thought of Alek actually being concerned about her.

So she followed them inside and Brittney immediately threw an arm over her shoulder.

Aria didn’t exactly like being touched, but at that moment she welcomed it.

For the first time in a long while, she felt like she belonged somewhere. Like she had finally found her people. She could only hope it stayed that way forever.

If only wishes were horses.