Marie's Journey (Ginecean Chronicles) Read Free

bathrooms are.”
    Marie was startled by Verena’s words. She hadn’t realized the girl had moved to the other side of the room. She was about to move, but on impulse, looked down. The men were gone.
    “Coming?”
    “Yes, right away.” Marie closed the curtain, her eyes fleetingly going to the courtyard one last time. She shook her head.
    “Something wrong?”
    “No, just tired.” Marie followed Verena into the hallway and soon realized she better memorize the route to the bathrooms. The apprentices’ wing was a giant indoor maze. There were so many twists and turns it was impossible to remember which way to go.
    “Don’t worry. You won’t get lost.”
    “Am I that transparent?”
    “I probably wore the same expression on my face the first time I was shown around.” Verena finally slowed down. “Those are our bathrooms.” She turned around and indicated a second door. “And those are the elders’ bathrooms. Never, ever, use the elders’ bathrooms. They can be mean.”
    “Noted. Elders are mean everywhere. But back at the Institute, we didn’t have enough space to separate dormitories and bathrooms, so the elders had to share the place with us. At least here, we have our bathrooms. There, we had to ask permission for every single thing.”
    “You had to ask permission to use the bathroom?”
    “Of course.” Marie shrugged at the recent memories. Idra had saved her from the ire of an elder more than once. “When I’m an elder, I’ll never be like them.” A promise she had worded every time Idra had to rescue her. Idra. What are you doing now? Dinnertime at the Institute had already come and gone. Are you singing by the fire with Joanna and Marcia? They had sung every time one of their friends had left the Institute to work or to learn a profession somewhere else. Are you singing for me? Do you miss me already? Marie had been so excited to leave the Institute she hadn’t realized she was indeed leaving it for good.
    “I never thought bathrooms could get people so emotional.” Verena laughed.
    Marie got a glimpse of herself in the mirror and saw her eyes were liquid and a tear hung to her eyelashes. “The separate stalls undid me.”
    “Do you want to refresh a bit? We still have time to eat.”
    Marie nodded, already longing for the big shower at the end of the room. A low growl coming from her stomach forced her to reassess her priorities. “It sounds great, but I’m too hungry. I need to eat something or I’ll faint.”
    “Washing is overrated, anyway.” Verena led the way down to the kitchens.
    Marie noticed the big windows opening onto the stairs and illuminating the whitewashed walls with the calming tones of the early evening colors. She risked a look outside without daring to lean closer. Samara’s dark rooftops filled the frames. The urge of looking down at the backyard was strong, but one sideways glance from Verena and she steered away from the windows.
    “Samara is a nice city. I’ll show you around as soon as we’ve the first day free.”
    “Looking forward to that.” Roaming without adult supervision was one of the reasons she had wanted this job, but now the thought was bittersweet. They had reached the first floor when a sudden commotion commanded her attention to the world outside the immaculate panes of the windows. A whirl of colors went from one corner to the other of the glass frame. The sound of an angry whistle reached inside along with the sharp crack of a whip hitting the concrete floor. Marie was startled when a moment later, several women passed them and went outside through a door at the end of the stairs. One of them pushed Marie out of the way without as much as a “pardon me.”
    “Hey!”
    “Don’t mind those Elders. They’re training to impress Captain Callista and get a shot at entering the Priestess’s Army.”
    “Oh, they are? But they aren’t pure breeds, are they?” As far as she remembered, only the captain would be a pure breed.
    “No,