Chapter 4: Outcasts and Ultimatums

But for some reason, the heroine—Rachel Quinn—actually noticed us.

She had that look—half curiosity, half challenge. Like she was the hall monitor and we were skipping class.

"Why are you two immortals lying on the ground?"

We both froze.

Then all the burning gazes of the immortals zeroed in on us.

It was like someone had switched on the stadium lights. Every whisper, every smirk landed right on us.

Caleb, the General, looked at me, eyes cold and blank, but it still made my skin crawl.

We coughed awkwardly, helped each other up, and brushed off our skirts.

One immortal girl laughed, "You just got here, so you don’t know them yet. They’re the Celestial Court’s most famous freeloaders—never trained a day in their lives, just rode their connections to the top."

It was the same old script. The mean girls always made sure you knew your place, even if the scenery changed.

The crown prince and the General just stood there, not saying a word.

They even turned away a little, like they were afraid the new golden girl would realize they were the ones we’d used.

Rachel Quinn snorted, "People like that make me sick. What about everyone who actually works for it?"

The immortals all nodded in self-righteous agreement.

Aubrey rolled her eyes at me and mouthed, "Whatever."

As if we wanted to be here.

The immortals soon got bored and went back to fawning over the heroine.

Aubrey and I quietly slipped away again.

We ducked into a corner for an emergency meeting, plotting how to make the crown prince and the General hate us so we could finally get out.

It was our last-ditch plan: if you can’t quit, get yourself fired. We scribbled a list on a crumpled napkin.