The next morning started too early. Worse, the ancient bulb in our classroom was flickering, making my eyes hurt. I tried to ignore the thing to focus on Mr. Cassidy's sermon, but it was nearly impossible. By the time he was done, I would have a headache. Not that it mattered. Vapors were common in women - and expected. My kind were the weaker sex, after all.

At least he wasn't going on about virtue again - or marriage. Those two topics had recently become favorites for the elders, since many of the girls were nearing their twentieth birthday, including me and my friends. Today, however, he was discussing the horrors up above. The same horrors we'd witnessed last night. This was the same sermon we got every time our hunters returned with wounded.

It was to remind us of our lot in life. Ever since the good Lord lost the battle against Hell, the world had become unsafe. Now we, the Righteous, were the only people left. The whole thing was confusing, really, because he also talked about heathens and demons living outside the compound doors, and they sounded a lot like people.

"… And the Dragons," Mr. Cassidy warned us, pitching his voice to sound as ominous as possible. "Hundreds of them roam above. Monsters with scaled skin and demon-colored eyes. They hiss like a snake - and strike like one! Their only goal is to keep us locked underground. There aren't enough resources left in the world for all of us, and they think they deserve it all - including our women. Mind your virtue, ladies, or the Council may give you to the Dragons to appease them."

He'd been repeating this story at least once a month for as long as I could remember. Personally, I preferred the version I'd read. It had been illustrated with brightly-colored images of monstrous beasts that breathed fire. The fire part, however, was a myth. Real Dragons didn't breathe fire. They stung with venom. I knew that much.

One of the young girls raised her hand proudly, thrusting it high into the air. "Are they big?"

"The size of a large man," he assured her, which was another break from the book I'd read. There, the dragons were massive. Easily twice as tall as this room! "And they feast on our flesh," he continued. "They have sharp barbs on their tails -"

The child groaned. "We've all seen the tail in the dining hall."

He nodded proudly even though she'd interrupted him. Evidently it was allowed at her age. Not that he'd let me get away with such things. Nor any of the older girls, if I was honest. Across from me, Callah sat with her hands folded in her lap and her head down. She made this look easy. To my right, Meri was struggling not to smirk at the girl's arrogance, mimicking my own feelings. But before I could get caught not paying attention, I dropped my eyes back to my skirt and tried to ignore the flickering from above.

Today, Meri became a woman. She'd never have to sit through another one of these classes. I had to wait almost seven more months before I could escape school - but turning twenty meant marriage. One week after our birthday, we would be wed. Often, it happened sooner, but never did it happen later. Seven days: that was the time allotted to choose a husband. Although, maybe if I claimed an interest in a younger boy, they'd let me wait? I sighed, knowing it would never be that easy.

The sound made Mr. Cassidy notice me. "Ayla, are we boring you?"

"No," I said softly, sitting up a little straighter to keep from getting in trouble. "I was just thinking of the brave hunters who were lost when that Dragon attacked them. The funerals were too many."

I hadn't been, but he didn't need to know that. Beside me, Meri tensed, nearly giving me away. Callah just glanced up, moving only her eyes. I could see the pale green color of them against her rose-gold lashes but I didn't dare look for too long. It would only drag her into my trouble.

The whole time, Mr. Cassidy stared at me, trying to determine if I was being sarcastic. I did my best to keep my face smooth and serene. Once again, I forced my eyes to the flickering shadows shivering across the ground. Proper but meek, that was what I wanted him to see. Gentle, kind-hearted, and almost timid. Not too much, though. I didn't want the single men to think I'd be an easy wife. If they thought I was shrewish, then fewer would ask for my hand in marriage.

It seemed my demure manner finally convinced him. "I forgot you're old enough to remember that fateful day," Mr. Cassidy said, looking around the room. "It was tragic, children. The Wyvern, the worst of the Dragons, killed many of our hunters. That fiend is black with thin white stripes, his tail more blue than even the Earth's sky. He's the right hand of the Devil, so never underestimate him. On that day, he dropped among us, lashing out with his tail, claws, and teeth."

Mr. Cassidy hooked his fingers and clawed at the air as a demonstration. The younger children gasped, enthralled with the storytelling. The boys even giggled, trying to prove they were ready to become men. I simply wanted to close my eyes, because the flickering light had to be getting worse.

Mr. Cassidy was really getting into it now. "We lost nearly the whole group of hunters when the beast tried to keep us from getting food for our people. When Robey hacked the tail from another Dragon, the Wyvern fled, rushing to feast on the fallen beast."

"I woulda blown him apart with a gun!" one of the boys declared, jumping to his feet to mime shooting at the enemy.

"Then you may yet grow up and become a hunter," Mr. Cassidy told him. "But our brave providers were out of bullets, and guns do not work without them. The Wyvern's insatiable hunger gave our men enough time to break free, and the barb in that tail was the only weapon they had left. Let us give thanks to the Good Lord for their quick thinking."

He bowed his head and began to pray, the other children doing the same. I noticed it from the edge of my vision, trying to join them, but I simply couldn't think of a suitable prayer. Callah could. She always could. Meri at least knew how to fake it. Me? I could only try to keep from drawing more attention to myself. Meek and submissive. Quiet. I merely wanted to make it through today's lesson without getting noticed again.

When he lifted his head, Mr. Cassidy changed the conversation to the wild men and the atrocities they were known for. He warned us all that sinners became wild men - and women - and would be doomed to wander the Earth for eternity, never knowing the grace of God. The land above was now the Devil's domain, and to set foot on it was to risk our very souls.

I listened, trying to relax my eyelids. Hopefully, that would ease the pain in my eyes. The flickering was beyond annoying. If someone would just tap the long bulb, it would probably stop, but I wasn't about to offer. Women didn't climb. We cooked, wove cloth, sewed our husband's clothing or wounds, and had babies. Lots and lots of babies. Evidently, that was our sole purpose in life. If I could produce one a year, I'd be pampered and treasured in the community, for God had told us to be fruitful and multiply.

I hated math.

After nearly an hour, Mr. Cassidy finally released us. Unlike the younger children, I made sure not to hurry out of the room. First, I gathered my skirts, letting Callah slip out unnoticed. Then I rose slowly, straightening them around my body so my ankles were properly covered. When Mr. Cassidy headed towards Meri, I allowed myself to glide into the stone hall, stepping lightly. Women were expected to be gentle. We should be seen and not heard. We should do our best to appeal to men at all times.

Nineteen years old, and I had reached the age where thinking was highly discouraged. My feet moved towards the darkness at the end of the hall, and then I turned right. There, just past our hall, was Callah. Like the true friend she was, she'd waited for me.

"Hey," I said, slipping into the shadows beside her. "Mr. Cassidy is talking to Meri."

"Probably giving her some words of wisdom to keep with her since she no longer has to attend classes with us," Callah said. Then she licked her lips, glancing up the hall towards our classroom. "Ayla, do you think they'll put another girl in our room once she's married?"

"No," I said, shaking my head to make the point. "I think they'll wait until you're married before moving a new batch of ten-year-olds in there."

"I hope so," she said softly. "I don't want to have little kids sharing a room with me when you're gone too."

"They keep us in the same year," I assured her. "As close together in age as possible to make reassigning rooms easier. I heard Ms. Lawton talking about it."

Callah just nodded her head, making it clear she'd heard me. "But what am I going to do when you get married?"

"It's not for months and months," I reminded her. "Then I have a week after that to pick."

"And those months are going to fly by," she hissed, finally snapping her head over to look at me. "The whole year is! Once I turn twenty..."

"I know," I promised. "But girls our age only have limited choices. Maybe all the men you're suited for will find other girls?"

"And then what?" she pressed.

All I could do was shrug. "Callah, I don't know. Both of our mothers were in quarantine when we were born, and that makes it harder."

"Meri's so lucky," she grumbled.

"If you can call any marriage lucky," I countered. "I mean, she barely knows Gideon!"

"But he smiled at her back when he was in school with us."

"Five years ago," I said. "She was barely fifteen then. None of us knew to smile back."

"He still remembered," Callah said. "That's why he sought her out last month. He said he's decided she'll be his wife." That made my friend smile. "Can you imagine a man being so decisive about it?"

Unfortunately, I could. I remembered how my father had talked about my mother before she'd died. I'd heard the whispers about Callah's parents. I knew exactly what it meant when a man decided he would marry a woman, because while we might get the right to choose, we didn't get the right to say no.

We had to wait for a proposal. A man with enough power could tell our other potential suitors not to bother. If only one man asked, then we had no choice. That was how my mother had been married. Back when I'd been a girl, and still allowed to visit her, she'd whispered to me that it wasn't a choice. It was a threat.

Those words had stuck with me.

Then again, my mother had been in quarantine for so long. Her mind hadn't been right, they'd said. My father worried I'd inherited her sickness. It seemed some children had, but we weren't told about such things.

Because when the Devil took the minds of the Righteous, the only solution was quarantine. The children born to those women - and it was always women - were moved into the children's halls as young as possible. Right now, we had girls as young as three on our wing.

I'd been allowed to stay with my mother until I turned six. That had been when she became pregnant with her next child. A long break like that would've caused rumors among the wives normally, but with the Devil in control of her mind, it wasn't fair to expect my father to deal with it. Her madness had all but forced him away.

Never mind the dozens of children my father had with his earlier wives. Twenty-three, so far. That was why my marriage options were limited. Too many of the younger men were related to me in some way. Since the elders in the compound were expected to never be without a wife, the men who ran our community all had so many children that matches were getting harder and harder to make.

"There she is!" Callah finally gasped.

I turned to see Meri walking up the hall, headed our way with a soft smile on her lips. When she got closer, she gestured for the three of us to huddle close.