“Since we both finished our jobs for today, what do you say to working off one or two of our demerits this afternoon?” I asked Fin. Fin, Lil and I were just finishing our lunch, sitting with our roommates, Jemma, Heathry and Pemla.

  “It doesn’t seem fair— you guys are already done, but I still have more sweeping to do,” Lil complained.

  “Maybe I should ask to switch to clothing,” Heathry said. “I still have to scrub all the lunch pans.”

  “Don't worry Lil, we'll check on you when we're done,” I said.

  As I walked out with Fin, I said, “So, there is supposed to be a list of jobs in each area. Let’s go check the list in your grounds area.”

  “Sounds good.”

  When we arrived, we found his supervisor, Thoundra, Fin asked, “Um, do you know where the demerit job list is posted?”

  “So, you gonna work off that brawl already?” She winked. “It’s right over here.” She took us over to a clipboard hanging on the wall, and handed it to Fin. We both started looking it over. The first job was the stable cleanout.

  “What about that one?” I pointed at it. “We’ve done that many times.”

  “Oh, that’s okay, I guess,” he agreed.

  “You gonna ruin that pretty dress, are ya?” Thoundra said, gesturing to the green dress I was wearing.

  “Um, yeah— that’s not going to work, is it?” I wasn’t used to worrying about my clothes yet. I had always worn old, worn out clothing as a slave.

  “I need to run and get something better to wear.”

  “Happy to lend you my shirt and trousers, but don’t think they’d fit ya,” she said, shaking her head and chuckling.

  “No, I work in the clothing and laundry area. I’ll go find something to change into and be right back. Can you show Fin what we need to do while I’m gone?”

  “Course!” she said, as she turned away with a wave.

  I noticed the sky was overcast as I ran back to the clothing donations room in the orphanage. There wasn’t anything that would work in the girls section, so I went to the boys. However, everything I held up to me was either the right length but too big around or had the right waist but too short. I settled for too big around, so I grabbed a leather belt to hold them up, along with the first shirt I saw that looked my size.

  “What do you need those for?” Sister Hearna asked, walking in just as I was about to leave.

  “Oh, um… I need to do some work in the stables, but I can’t wear this dress.”

  She nodded. “Oh, such a nice dress. It pains me so, for such a pretty girl as you dressing like a boy. But need often dictates our actions.” She still looked sad as I left to run upstairs to change.

  Pretty girl? Me? Last winter I was all boy.

  As strange as it was to think of myself as a girl, let alone a pretty one, I felt even more ridiculous as I tried to get the trousers to fit my changed body. They were both tight and baggy in all the wrong places. The shirt was worse, and provided no support for my new chest. There was no time, so I stuffed the shirt inside and cinched the belt tight so they wouldn’t fall off.

  I took one last look at my embarrassing outfit and shook my head. I kept my head down and my hands over my face as I ran out of our room. Several girls laughed and pointed at me as I ran through the common area and out the door with my face red.

  Not long ago I was embarrassed to be seen as a girl. Now I’m even more embarrassed to be dressed as a boy.

  Fin was already working in the stable when I arrived, so I grabbed a shovel and started helping. While we worked we talked a little.

  “So how are you fitting in here, especially with the other boys?”

  I knew it could be difficult making friends. I had lots of experience growing up never quite fitting in. Somehow, I never made any good friends. I think that was why I was so attached to my family. I was always loved and accepted and knew where I stood. I’m sure I disappointed Dad sometimes, but I still knew he loved me, even if he didn’t say it.

  “I dunno.” He paused and shook his head. “No one in my room even talks to me, except Lemly. He’s the head of our room, but all he says is to clean up. There’s a couple of the younger boys who are nice. We’ve talked a few times. They said I was really brave and strong, taking on that big kid, Zanidor.”

  “I hope you can make some friends here. I really do. But even if you don’t, you always have us.”

  He nodded, but kept shoveling. I don’t think he was crying, but I know he heard me. Our family was close, and I vowed to keep it that way.

  “So, what happened to Zanidor?”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “He was in the infirmary for a day. He’s always mad— at everyone, not just me. He hasn’t threatened me, but I’ve seen him and his friends watching me wherever I go. I'm pretty sure they are talking about me, or us.”

  “If he bothers you, or anyone else does, let me know. Don’t try to fight back, unless you have to. I know I can’t stop it, but I can report it. The people in charge want us to get along and not fight. If you get hurt and no one does anything, then we’ll make a plan together. Alright?”

  He nodded as we kept working. Each time we cleaned out one stall, he pushed the wheelbarrow outside to dump it on the mulching area, while I added more straw. Working together, especially with his speed and strength it didn’t take us long to clean out all ten stalls. When we finished and put the tools away, we led the horses back in that were tied up at the post outside.

  After reporting, we decided to go check on how Lil was doing. We found her sweeping in the assembly room. As we approached, she exclaimed, “What is that smell?” She was holding her nose with one hand and a broom in the other.

  “We came to give you a hug,” I joked, holding out my hands and smiling.

  “Get away, you fiends!”

  “Sis doesn't love us any more!” I said with mock tears.

  “When will you be finished?” Fin asked.

  “I just need to finish this room and the hallway.”

  “Okay, we'll go get showered and changed and meet you back here,” I said. “We want to see what demerit jobs there are in your area. Maybe we can do one more before supper.”

  “How about this one: Handly dormitory chimney sweep?” I said.

  “Yeah, that sounds fun,” Fin said. “But we'll probably get dirty again.”

  “Yeah, you get to do the dirty parts, but I’ll help where I can,” I said. “I'm not ruining this dress.”

  We found out there was a lot that went into cleaning out chimneys. Of course, there was the weighted brush and sheets to collect the soot, but there were ropes and a tall ladder we had to bring along— and harnesses we had to wear, since the roof was sloped. After getting help with putting on our harnesses and instructions on what we were to do, we set off. Fin and I carried the long ladder, Lil carried our brushes and the folded sheets, but we all carried ropes over our shoulders.

  Outside, the sky had darkened, the temperature had dropped, and it felt more humid. When we arrived at the academy’s Handly dormitory, we laid down our supplies outside. I asked Fin and Lil to walk around to find a good place for the ladder while I went inside to let the administrators know that we were working on cleaning out their chimney. They asked one of the boys to show me where the fireplaces were, so I could place the soot cloths down in each one.

  Back outside we set up the ladder at the spot they had picked. The chimneys were in the middle of the building, rather than at both ends, but there was still a gable there with the chimney block at the peak. We found a good spot and carefully stood the ladder against the building.

  “I’m staying down here,” Lil said. “But I’ll watch you.”

  “Good. We don’t have a harness for you anyway. I’ll climb up first and find a place to secure the ropes. Can you both hold the ladder for me?”

  When I got to the top there was a nice breeze blowing. The roof was covered by gray ceramic tiles, which were now covered in dirt, grime and moss. I wasn’t far from the chimney stacks, but I could see I was probably going to get dirty.

  Maybe I should have put on some more work clothes? Oh well. At least I work in the laundry.

  I hiked up my dress a bit and held it with one hand while I carefully crept on my knees and with the other hand over to the chimney block. After securing our two belay ropes to the stacks, I attached one to my harness and then went back to the ladder and called Fin up. When he got up to the roof, I attached the second rope to his harness. With our last rope, the longest, we dropped the end down so Lil could attach the brush to it. Pulling it back up, we got to work.

  Well, I had Fin do all of the cleaning work, while I supervised.

  He mostly just had to pull the brush up and drop it down a bunch of times. There were a few times it got stuck on something, so he had to work to free it. I wondered if the chute wasn’t straight.

  The sky continued to darken and the wind got stronger the longer we were up there. Some of the gusts were getting pretty strong so I told Fin to hurry up.

  At the same time I felt it, Lil yelled up to us, “It’s starting to rain! You should get down!”

  “I know! I’m almost done!” Fin yelled back.

  As soon as he finished we went back to the ladder and, since we were in a hurry, dropped the brush and its rope over the edge, making sure we didn’t hit Lil. Then we detached Fin’s rope, but I told him to wait there, so I could go back and release the belay ropes. I just dropped them over the side of the building, since I didn’t want to worry about getting tangled up in them.

  The rain had picked up, making the roof very slippery, as I considered how to get down to Fin safely. I briefly considered sliding, but there was no way to know if he could catch me, or if it would cause both of us to topple off the ladder. The wind was getting frantic, gusting all around me in seemingly random directions. There were several tall trees close by, with branches groaning under the heavy load of leaves being whipped to a frenzy.

  I decided crawling was best, but on all fours, and I would have to go backwards this time. I couldn’t think about protecting the dress anymore, but I still had to be careful not to step on it. With my heart pounding in my chest I slowly worked my way down, knee, hand, knee, hand. It seemed to take forever, but was relieved when I felt Fin could grab my foot which had finally gotten close enough to reach.

  I held the ladder at the top, while Fin climbed down. The wind was blowing my wet hair in my face, making it difficult to see. I could still hear the tree branches creaking in the wind, but it sounded like it was getting worse. I tried to ignore the fear in my chest and focus. Once he was safely down, they both held the ladder for me.

  I climbed down possibly a bit too quickly, because about half way, my badly placed foot slipped off a rung. I screamed and clung to the ladder for dear life with both hands. I realized that I had heard Lil screaming, too, but she stopped when she saw I wasn’t falling. I couldn’t see anything since my face was now covered in sticky, wet hair. I stayed there for a minute, trying desperately to calm down.

  “You can do it!” Fin yelled.

  “Just go slow! Lil added.

  Some men came running toward us out of a nearby building, probably due to the screaming. Not waiting for them, I started descending once again, this time more carefully. But just as I reached the ground, a particularly strong blast of wind hit the tree near us, triggering a loud series of cracks and pops.

  We all turned around and watched in horror as a large branch right above us was starting to fall.

  There was no time to run, so I yelled, “Use your magic!”

  Then I pointed at it and mentally commanded it to Stop!