I shot up in my bed, wiping sweat from my forehead. I got up to go to the bathroom, and I avoided my reflection at first. Eventually, I coaxed myself into looking at the mirror. After all, I just had some stupid dream. I expected something to happen. I looked at my black hair. Nothing. I looked at my silver-blue eyes. Nothing. I even looked at my ears. Guess what? Nothing. I was about to take a shower until I saw two beautiful daggers strapped to my sides. Holy shit. Either it wasn't a dream, or I'm in a coma. I didn't know which one I preferred.

I heard Elisa waking up and I scrambled to get them off. I didn't know where she wouldn't find them, so I stuffed them in my backpack and shoved that in our closet.

"Lilith? You still here?"

"Uh, yeah. Everything okay?" I walked around the corner and saw her sitting up in bed. She nodded drowsily and rubbed her eyes.

"You're up early."

"Yeah, I guess. Do you want some coffee?"

"Is that even a question? Let's go." She began to walk out the door before I stopped her. "What?"

"Pajamas. Change." She looked down.

"Sounds smart." She quickly changed, and we headed down to the Starbucks a few streets away. The one on campus was always crowded. We didn't talk much while we were there. There wasn't much to say, and I definitely was not going to tell her about last night. I wouldn't even know what to say. Hey, guess what? I'm a Valkyrie now. Exciting, right?

After we finished our coffee, I walked her to class and headed to my own. I spent the enitire time biting my fingers as I struggled to get through a test. I think I did pretty good. At least, that's what I had to tell myself so I'd stop worrying about it.

After finishing the rest of my classes for the day, I went back to my dorm. Everything was fine and dandy until I remembered what was hidden in my bag. I'm supposed to go back tonight. But how? I remembered asking that before, too. I also remembered being told not to worry about it. I strapped the harness back around my waist after getting dressed in something that could be either pajamas or normal clothes. I didn't want to show up to Valhalla in pajamas like an idiot. I crawled in bed, not even stopping to think if Elisa saw me. Luckily, she wasn't back yet. I texted her and told her I'd be asleep by the time she got here before actually laying back and falling asleep.

"Good, you're here." I heard Ilia's voice before I saw her. "And you remembered your blades. Most people don't think to actually put their weapons on when they return. But go you. Anyways, here." She shoved a neatly folded outfit into my arms. She took me to a bathroom and told me to put it on. I didn't think Valhalla would have bathrooms, but it does.

I didn't know what went where, but somehow I figured it out. It took me a moment to realize my other clothes had just disappeared. As weird as that seems, I didn't care. I stepped out of the stall and saw myself in the mirror. I looked pretty badass. It was simple, yet elegant. It was also surprisingly comfortable. I had a navy blue top on with silver armor covering my chest and arms. I had pulled my hair up so it wouldn't get in the way.

The heaviest thing was the silver breast plate that only covered my chest and stopped at the bottom of my ribs. It seemed sensible. The fanciest thing was definitely the headdress. It came to a peak on my forehead and curved in at my cheeks. A wing came out of either side of my head.

I felt cool but stupid at the same time.

"Alright, this is pretty cool." I met Alma and Ilia outside where we had just been talking.

"Ooh! Pretty!" Alma was practically fangirling. "I guess we should put ours on, too." I expected them to physically walk into the bathroom and change like I did. But no. Each of them had a wave of light pass over them, changing their outfits where it passed. Alma's outfit was mostly green with gold armor. Ilia's was silver and white all over.

"Woah." Alma laughed and turned away from me.

"You'll learn that soon enough. Come on. I'm gonna teach you how to fly." We came back to the training field from last night. There were a few faces I didn't remember, but two that I did. I could tell that they were resisting the urge to come over. Ilia walked away from us and leaned dramatically on a wall. "Alright, it's only yer first day. If you don't figure out how to use yer wings, it's okay. It took me a few days just to learn how to actually spread my wings to the point where they were visible to everyone around me. For now, yer wings are invisibly tucked into yer back. They always have been." I nodded.

"So I've always had wings?"

"Yep. But don't get discouraged if you can't use them today. Alright, let's start." She walked behind me and placed her hand on my upper back. "This is where your wings'll be connected to yer back. It might feel weird at first, but you'll get used to it. Just imagine it like another muscle in yer body. I guess it kinda is, though. But stretch that muscle. Don't stretch them too hard, but hard enough. Okay?"

I closed my eyes and tried to stretch my back. It's okay, she said it might take a while. I tried harder. I felt stupid.

"It's alright. Don't stress yerself too much. Straighten yer back up a bit. There you go. Okay, just keep practicing this. You might want to practice it at home, too. Although there's no telling if you'll sprout yer wings then." I looked over to Ilia and she had a nasty little smirk on her face. What was her problem? I wanted to wipe that smug look off her stupid little face.

You can do this. Positive self talk. That was supposed to help. It didn't, though. I just felt stupid standing there trying to force out some invisible wings. I felt stupid because I probably looked like I was constipated. I also felt angry because of how Ilia was watching me, looking like she expected me to fail.

I took those feelings and imagined myself pushing them into my back to try to form wings. If positive self talk didn't help, maybe imagery would. I felt energy flowing through me. It felt great. I felt that power explode, and I was instantly relieved of a horrible conscious weight. Then, I felt a different kind of weight behind me. I heard gasps all around me, and I opened my eyes.

"You did it!"

"I did?" I looked behind me to see stunning dark wings. Each feather came together to form a beautiful work of art on my back. "Holy crap. I actually did it. I have fucking wings! Holy shit. I have wings." I turned to Alma. "I have wings!" I felt like a giddy child. But honestly, who wouldn't?

I looked over to Ilia, who had stopped leaning on the wall. Her stupid smirk was completely gone, and in its place was surprise. I smiled.

"Now try to take off." I jerked my head back towards Alma.

"You mean fly?"

"Yep! Go on. Up, up, up!" I looked around at the other girls. They all seemed expectant. I wasn't sure about flying, but it would be disappointing if I didn't at least try.

I wiggled my wings. Once I got a little used to that feeling, I actually started flapping them. I felt strong yet weak. Tall yet small. Right yet so, so wrong. I also knew that these contradicting feelings weren't getting me anywhere. I gave some powerful strides and next thing I knew I was up in the air. The thing is, I couldn't stop going up.

"Uh oh," Alma said as she spread her equally, if not more, beautiful wings and darted up to help me. "Don't worry, I'm coming. Keep looking up, okay?"

And like the idiot that I was, I looked down.

"Oh, we're very high up." I felt dizzy and my vision got fuzzy. The fuzziness turned to black spots, which soon became unconsciousness.

"Lilith!"