Reclaimed (The Phoenix Chronicles Book 1) by Erica Ortega Read Free Book Online Page B

but, I have nowhere to go. If I can't fit in with a bunch of freaks, then I really don't belong in this world.”
    Ash leaned against the wall. “You're a wielder. It's your right to train here. No one else's opinion matters so, train hard and you'll fit in. It's your choice if you want to belong.”
    Summer blinked a few times. It was not what she had expected Ash to say at all.
    “I guess we'll see how the rest of the week goes,” replied Summer.
    “Sure,” said Ash.
    “Wait!” exclaimed Summer as he headed for the door. “What can dark wielders do?”
    Ash surprised her again by smirking. “You'll find out tomorrow.”
    With that, he left the room and let the door slam behind him. Despite Summer being exhausted, all she could do was replay their conversation in her head and wonder just what was Ash trying to say?
     

 
    Chapter 6
     
    Summer sat on her bed with her knees to her chest. The sun was just beginning to rise. The first rays caught the tail of the phoenix and continued to creep up the rest of its body. It didn't take long until the whole thing was ignited in its beautiful, stained glass blaze.
    “How long have you been up?” asked a groggy voice from over her shoulder.
    Summer didn't take her eyes off the phoenix. “About an hour. I couldn't sleep.”
    Tracy grumbled and rolled out of bed. “Let me throw on some clothes and we can head down to the cafeteria early.”
    There was a lot of clanking and crashing behind her as Tracy cursed loudly. If Summer didn't know any better she would guess that there were at least four people living here by all the noise and trash that invaded Tracy's space .              
    Not much time had passed before Tracy was gesturing for Summer to follow her. She walked alongside her and glanced down at her outfit, making sure hers matched Tracy's. She wanted to be dressed appropriately without being too obvious.
    They entered the cafeteria where there was a handful of people already eating. She was glad when no one paid her much attention.
    Maybe today won't be so bad, she thought.
    She picked a variety of food and sat at an empty table with Tracy. Both girls were quiet as they began digging into their breakfast. The warm food was always a welcome change to what she had become accustomed to.
    “Hey Summer,” said a cheerful voice.
    She looked up just as Troy was sitting down across from her. He opened up a flask, winked at her, and poured the dark liquid into a cup.
    “You're going to drink al-”
    “Coffee,” he smiled. “We're not supposed to have any. The old guys think it makes us too jittery.”
    Summer grinned and pushed her half full cup of milk forward. Troy glanced around before filling the rest up with coffee.
    “They're going to notice, Troy,” said an obviously irritated Tracy.
    “I drink it every day and they don't notice. Having coffee is the least of their worries.”
    Summer nodded eagerly. “I've only been here a few days but, that sounds about right.”
    Tracy said something unintelligible and went back to eating her food. The cafeteria gradually began to fill up with different wielders. That's when Summer noticed a trend. All the wielders wore some article of clothing that was a matching color to their element. Even Troy had on a white sweatshirt.
    Tracy must have noticed her looking because she held out her fork full of egg in front of her and waved it around.
    “Don’t let these people intimidate you.”
    “I'm not.” She let out a long breath. “Well not yet at least. I was looking at the color on their clothes.”
    “Oh,” answered Tracy. “They want to do that. You don't have to. We have different team competitions every Friday so, they wear it as a pride thing.”
    “How do we compete if there's only two of us?”
    Tracy's eyes grew wide. “We lose.” She laughed. “I'm just kidding. The teams are split up so I used to just choose. If you decide to stay, then they might make us go on opposite teams.”
    “What do