Author’s Note: Oh, wow. Um. Nearly seven months since the last update. That's just sad. Sorry!! Is there even anyone left reading...? Well, I hope so! So, this marks the first chapter of the boys going to school! A lot of stuff is going to happen while they're there. And now that summer's here, so begins the editing of HtM! I do it every year, but it's probably gonna take a long time this year. I plan to fix a lot of things and hopefully make it a LOT better! Anyway, you've waited long enough for this chapter, so I'll stop rambling and let you get to it! Enjoy!

Story Warnings: Swearing, lots of violence, a bit of sexual abuse (yes, this includes rape. Well, this isn't a happy story...and it's not gratuitous! And I try not to be explicit...), kissing later on (you should know by now), male/male innuendoes, shounen-ai, and shoujo-ai, yaoi (I try to make sure it's not graphic), drinking, some poisons are used occasionally, and cruelty to certain characters. Can't forget the poking at religion (if you're uberly religious and read this story, you're gonna probably hate me...then again I'd think you'd have been chased off by everything else in this warning by now...) And now, twincest and occasional bondage (Cough) Most of these things don’t happen very often…

Chapter Warnings: The most minor of swearing. Again, nothing bad happens. That's saved for NEXT chapter! XD

Chapter Forty-Two: Settling in to New Surroundings...Again

Suki

Like opening the wound...

After training yourself to wake up at night and sleep during the day, it’s hard to reverse that habit. Which is why I was a bit grumpy the first day of school. Not only did we have to go during daytime, we had to go an hour early to get our schedules, uniforms, and other random school crap. Yeah. Not fun.

I dragged myself out of the elevator, wearing a pair of baggy blue jeans and a loose black T-shirt with a skull on it, and shuffled down the stairs to the kitchen. The eight of us were meeting in there to have breakfast (wow, breakfast at 7:00 instead of 19:00) and figure out driving arrangements. We could’ve taken a bus, but that would’ve kind of breached our defences, and it was so much easier to just take one of the ‘crafts. Or two.

The door to the kitchen slid open and I trudged in, yawning. Dell, Deauv, Ryu, Skye, and Gail were sitting around the island, looking various degrees of exhausted. Chase was at the stove, singing and frying eggs, looking way too happy for this hour of the morning. I plopped down on the stool beside Deauv, dropping my head on the table.

“Why do we have to go to school?” I moaned to the room in general.

“Because the human government’s made up of assholes,” replied Chase cheerfully, retrieving plates from the cupboards with telekinesis.

“Okay.” Seemed like a good enough explanation.

A few minutes later, food was set on the island in front of us, and Chase sat down.

“‘Kay, kids, dig in.”

I piled bacon next to my eggs and snagged a piece of toast. Chase had set cans of blood on the counter as well, and I grabbed one gratefully, popping the tab and gulping half of it. I was kind of disturbed by how easily I had taken to drinking blood. I mean, that’s not something you just fall into. Usually. I think.

“So, we’re going to be taking two ‘crafts, mine and Teav’s,” said Chase, ripping off pieces of toast and popping them in his mouth. “Four guys to each one. Well, five in one. We don’t have one to fit nine. So, I’ll be driving my ‘craft, and Blaze will be driving Teav’s.” He frowned. “Where is Blaze, anyway? And Rini?”

The seven of us exchanged glances and shrugs. I hadn’t seen Rini since last night, and Blaze since the night before last

Childish giggling drew my attention to the door, and I saw Blaze walk in, Rini latched onto his back. The bunny-boy was laughing, his thin arms wrapped around the vampyre’s neck. Blaze had a small smile on his face, the only indication he was happy. Well, that made one of us.

“Oh, there you are!” Chase grinned, waving at the new arrivals. “You’d better eat fast; we have to leave soon.”

Blaze nodded, shifting Rini onto a stool and sitting next to him. I noticed Rini’s ears were hidden under a bright pink bandanna covered in pictures of strawberries.

“Are they gonna let him wear that?” I asked, gesturing to the piece of fabric with my fork. “Last time I was at school, they wouldn’t let anybody wear hats or bandannas.”

Blaze shrugged. “Apparently Ewgard’s already talked to the school.”

“Oh.”

The rest of breakfast was pretty quiet. Kinda surprising, considering the amount this group usually talked. But it was still early.

Chase glanced at his watch a few minutes later and made a face.

“We’d better get going. We’re supposed to be there at 8:00 to sort out everything.”

We reluctantly finished and set our dishes in the washer, then left the kitchen. We’d left our bags by the garage, but before we could pick them up, a voice called to us from the big control room.

“I need to speak to the nine of you before you go.”

Ewgard was at the bottom of the short staircase, smiling. Curious, we went down into the computer-filled room, gathering around him. He handed each of us a little black file-reader, thin enough to hide in a pocket.

“What are these for?” asked Skye, blue eyes wide in confusion.

“Each of these hold information on every gang member and ‘bad guy’ we’ve ever encountered or researched. If you happen to see anyone suspicious at your school, I want you to type their names into this. If they are someone we’ve run into before, they will appear in the files. If they are not, then we can keep them on file until we’ve dug up information on them.” He brushed the chocolate brown hair out of his matching eyes. “I can almost guarantee you will find someone hiding something unsavoury at your school, and it is your job to find out as much as you can about them. So, keep an eye out, alright?” We nodded and he smiled. “Well, then, you’d best get going. Have a good day, and I will see all of you later.”

We left the control room and grabbed our bags, then filed into the garage. I shoved the file-reader into my pocket, feeling it sink into the deep hole. Anyone suspicious, eh? This could be interesting...

Chase headed for one of the ‘crafts, pulling out a set of keys.

“Come on, Suki, Deauv, Ryu. You’re with me.”

The other five headed for another ‘craft, Blaze getting into the driver’s seat.

“Shotgun!” called Deauv, running to the vehicle.

I rolled my eyes, grin tugging at my lips. For a 15-year-old kid, he sure acted like he was five. I slid into the backseat with Ryu, tossing my bag on the floor. The redhead shot me a quick, nervous look, before dropping his eyes to the sketchbook on his lap. Curious, my eyes slid to the drawing. Wait, was that...Blaze?

“Who’s that?” I asked, pointing to the other figure.

Ryu jumped, looking at me. He blinked, then shrugged, looking down at the roughly sketched out drawing. I squinted, peering closer. An eyebrow rose.

“Uh...is that guy...pinning Blaze to something?”

Ryu nodded, nibbling on his lip.

“And you’re drawing that...why?”

“Ryu can draw the future,” remarked Chase from the front, glancing at us through the rear-view mirror.

I stared down at the drawing.

“Huh. Looks like Blaze is gonna be getting some action.”

Ryu stared at me with wide green eyes, something hidden in them. I raised an eyebrow. Was I missing something...?

The redhead sighed silently and went back to his drawing. Having nothing better to do, I watched him. It was creepy how realistic the sketch was. I wondered what Blaze’s reaction would be if he saw this?

I kinda wanted to find out.

“So. This is our school.”

“Yup.”

The four of us sat in the ‘craft in the practically empty parking lot, staring at the large glass, steel, and brick building. It had so many parts, I got confused, and it was surrounded by trees. There were a few sports fields, beyond which were more trees. One thing was for certain: this school was rich.

“I guess we should go in,” I muttered unenthusiastically.

“Yeah,” sighed Chase. “We still have a lot to do.”

The four of us left the vehicle, making our way across the smooth lot. Obviously not many people were here yet, since it was about an hour before school. I was thankful for that. I just couldn’t handle large groups of people so early in the morning.

Or ever, really. Which was weird, since I handled the NH just fine.

Eh, whatever.

The other five caught up with us just as we reached the front doors, and I glanced at Blaze. I just couldn’t get that drawing out of my head; it just seemed so unlikely. I mean, this was Blaze we were talking about. As far as I knew, he had no libido.

The healer looked at me questioningly, and my cheeks turned red when I realized I’d been staring. Whoops.

“So, uh, does anyone know where we’re going?” I asked quickly, walking through the doors as they slid open automatically.

“Front office,” replied Chase, leading us through the large foyer.

The office was situated straight across from the front doors, large windows looking in. A hall split off from the foyer on either side of the office, obviously leading to classrooms and other parts of the school. I studied the glass cases lining the walls on either side of us as we walked toward the office. They were a lot of trophies.

“Why do I get the feeling there are a lot of jocks here?” I sighed, mouth twisting into a frown.

“What’s a jock?” asked Rini, confused.

“Someone who’s into playing sports,” Blaze replied, dark eyes flicking around the foyer suspiciously. “Stereotyped to be jerks, although I am not sure of the accuracy of this, since I have never been in a formal school before.”

“I hated them,” muttered Dell, arms wrapped around himself, eyes focused on the floor.

Oh, right, Dell had been in a high school before...

We piled into the large, airy office, clumping together unconsciously. I don’t really think anyone wanted to be there...except for Deauv.

Chase walked forward toward the secretary, smiling brightly. We had basically made him our spokesman, since he was definitely the friendliest one (well, at the moment). The rest of us...well...we probably looked like we’d bolt at the first chance. Which was true.

“Hi,” greeted Chase, leaning against the counter in front of the secretary’s desk. “We’re new students and we need to pick up some things?”

She peered up at him, violet eyes flicking over him. A smile stretched her painted lips.

“Of course. If you’ll follow me?”

She stood up, heading toward the back of the office, past the other desks, to a short hallway. We cautiously followed her, staying close together. We passed a few doors, which probably led to smaller offices, and ended up at a door labelled ‘Student Services’. I guess that’s where we were going to get our stuff...?

The door slid open and we filed in. The secretary gestured toward the desk where a tall, thin woman with bright purple hair sat.

“Patrice will help you,” the secretary said, giving us one last smile before disappearing back into the office.

The purple-haired woman glanced up, fixing her piercing blue eyes on us.

“Can I help you with something?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

“Uh, we’re new students...” began Chase, a hand motion taking in our group.

The woman nodded, standing up. “You’ll need uniforms first. Line up over here so I can get your measurements.” Looking over her shoulder, she called, “Lena! I need your help!”

Glancing at each other, we set down our bags and shuffled over to the empty area behind the desk. Chase went first, standing still as the woman ran her scanner over him. Just as she finished, another woman, short, kinda round, and blonde appeared, eyes running over our ragtag group.

“I need you to get uniforms for me,” Patrice told the new woman.

Lena nodded, putting her hands on her hips.

“Well, once you’re done inputting the measurements, I’ll find them for you.”

“Thanks.” Patrice turned back to our line, pulling Blaze forward. “Make sure you all stay in order so Lena doesn’t get mixed up.”

The scanning didn’t take long, and soon Lena had retrieved a pile of uniforms and ushered us over to a line of change rooms. I sighed, going into one. I hated uniforms.

The uniform was pretty basic: a blue jacket that reached mid-thigh and single-buttoned over the chest, black trousers, and a white shirt. It wasn’t the worst thing I could’ve been forced to wear, but it didn’t make me like it any better.

At least there weren’t any ties.

Once I was in the (surprisingly comfortable) uniform, I grabbed my clothes and stepped out of the change room. Deauv, Dell, Chase, Gail, and Ryu were already out there, stuffing their clothes into their bags. It was weird seeing Ryu without his plaid scarf around his neck.

“What’s taking them so long?” asked Chase, frowning at the three still occupied change rooms.

“I think there’s something wrong with my uniform!” called Skye, sounding confused.

“Well, come out and show us!” replied Chase.

A moment later, Skye stepped out, wearing only part of his uniform. It was the same as ours except the jacket only reached his hips and it buttoned at the neck. And in his hand...

“Can someone please tell me why I was given a girl’s uniform?” demanded Blaze, appearing suddenly, his face dark. Like Skye, he was clutching a skirt, although he was holding it a lot tighter than Skye.

Lena raised an eyebrow.

“Well, why wouldn’t you have been? You are a girl, after all.” She glanced at Skye, taking in his confused expression. “And so are you. We generally assign uniforms based on gender.”

“I am not a girl,” growled Blaze, glowering at her. “I’m a freaking boy.”

“Er, so am I...” added Skye, biting his lip.

Lena stared at them, surprised.

“You’re...what?”

“They’re both guys,” said Chase, obviously trying not to laugh. “We all are.”

“Oh.” She apparently didn’t know what to say to that. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” snapped Blaze. He got mistaken for a girl a lot, I guess, so he wasn’t exactly happy. But he really did look like one, so I couldn’t blame Lena for getting confused.

“So that means the white-haired one, the one who was wearing a skirt, is also...?”

“Male, yes.”

“Oh.”

As if on cue, Rini jumped out of his change room, grinning widely.

“I love this outfit!” he exclaimed, spinning on the spot. “It’s so pretty!”

“I’m sorry about the mistake,” apologized Lena, turning toward Rini.

He frowned, head tilted to the side. “Mistake?”

“Well, yes, that’s the girls’ uniform.”

He frowned, looking confused. “I like it.”

Chase smiled slightly. “If it’s alright, it’d probably be better to let him wear that one. He doesn’t like pants.”

Lena shrugged, sighing. “Well, I see no harm in it.”

“I, on the other hand, do not want to be walking around in a girl’s uniform,” said Blaze, still clutching the skirt. “So could I please get the other uniform?”

The blonde bit her lip, looking uncomfortable. “Uh, actually, we don’t make the boys’ uniform in your, uh, measurements...”

“What?” he hissed, eyes narrowing. “And why not?”

She shrugged, still looking sheepish. “Well, you both have a body shape that is more, er, feminine...the boys’ uniform simply wouldn’t fit you. Arm length, shoulder width, chest, hips...” She shook her head, hands spread apologetically.

Blaze sighed, rubbing his forehead. “That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Fine. I’ll wear the jacket. But there is no way in Hell I am wearing the skirt.”

“The pants you’re wearing are fine,” Lena assured him quickly, looking slightly relieved. She stepped forward, taking the skirt from him, and glanced over at Skye, taking his, too. “Yours are as well.”

Skye beamed. “Okay.”

Lena nodded at us and quickly walked away. When she was gone, Blaze turned his scowl on us. All of us (except Ryu, who was drawing) were trying to keep from laughing. Unsuccessfully.

“Shut up,” growled Blaze, stalking over to his bag to stuff in his clothes. “I hate being mistaken for a girl.”

“Well, maybe if you cut your hair...” I suggested, shrugging.

Blaze glared at me and I stopped talking. Just seemed like the safest route.

“Well, I don’t mind this uniform,” Skye said, smoothing down his jacket. “It’s comfortable.”

Patrice walked over to us a moment later, a stack of uniforms in her hand. We looked at her in confusion as she started handing them to us.

“You need two sets of uniforms for winter and summer,” she explained. “You’re wearing the winter, so I’m giving you one more, plus two sets of summer, and a set of gym clothes, since you all appear to be taking gym. Along with your schedules, I’ll be assigning you each a locker, so you don’t have to carry all of this to your classes.”

Oh, thank God. I had no idea how I was going to fit all of this into my bag.

It didn’t take long for Patrice to download our schedules and send them to our electronic notepads (e-pads), and assign us lockers. By the time we got out of the office, people were actually starting to arrive. We avoided them as best as possible (well, most of us), as we searched for our lockers.

“I think they might be on the next floor,” mused Chase, glancing up.

“Okay, but where are the stairs?” Blaze asked, dark eyes glancing around.

“Oh! There’s some!” exclaimed Deauv, pointing toward the end of the hall.

It didn’t take long to reach them and climb to the next floor. This hall was set up just like the others: rows of bright white lockers broken up by classroom doors. The whole place was kinda blinding and really clean. My last school was a bit more beat up. Then again, this was a private school, so...

“Let’s try the next floor,” suggested Dell, after we searched for awhile.

I sighed, following them to the next flight of metal stairs. This was bloody annoying.

Finally, on the third floor (which looked a lot like the first two), we found our lockers, right next to a huge window overlooking a field. I tapped in the code I’d been given, watching the door slide out of the way. I dumped everything I didn’t need in there, then punched the button to close it.

“How long ‘til school starts?” asked Gail, leaning against his locker. He’d been really quiet since we got here. Probably culture shock or something.

“About fifteen minutes.” Blaze looked up. “Let’s figure out our classes, see who’s with who, compare schedules...”

We nodded in agreement, following him to the alcove beside the window. We gathered in a circle on the floor, pulling up our schedules.

“Alright...who’s in Grade 12?” asks Blaze, biting his lip and glancing around the group.

Chase, Dell, Rini, Gail, and Skye raised their hands. Blaze nodded.

“Grade 11?”

The three of us left raised our hands. Blaze looked surprised.

“Really? Well, this makes thing easier, then.” He glanced at a few of the schedules, nodding. “Looks like we’ve all been put in the same courses, depending on grade. So for Grade 12, we have...Biology, Gym, lunch, English, Ancient History.”

I looked down at my schedule. “And we have Math, Art, lunch, Music, Gym.”

“This is all so pointless,” groaned Chase, leaning against the wall. “I’d rather be home cooking.”

“At least we can get a lot of spying done,” remarked Deauv, playing with his eyepatch. “I wonder what kinda bad guys would be infiltrating a high school, though?”

I sighed, standing up. “Who knows. But we should probably get going. None of us know where our classes are.”

There was a general murmur of agreement and we packed up our things, standing up.

“Guess we’ll meet up at lunch,” said Chase, pushing the orange hair our of his face. “I’ll be going back to the NH to pick up food, so don’t bother going to wherever they serve food here.”

Oh, thank God. Good food!

I resisted the urge to hug the cook, instead settling for grinning at him. Now I had something to look forward to.

Chase and Blaze headed down the hall, leading the other six. Dell and Gail still looked petrified, Skye looked curious, and Rini...well, he looked as happy-go-lucky as always.

“So, let’s go!” chirped Deauv, grinning up at me. “I think we’re on this floor.”

“How do you figure that?” I asked, following him anyway.

He pointed to some signs posted. “Well, there’s a lot of Science and Math stuff. And since we’re going to a Math class, I figure it’d only make sense for it to be on this floor.”

Ah, good point.

It actually didn’t take long to find our classroom, and we managed to find a group of empty seats near the back. We got a lot of curious stares as we walked through the room. I kept my eyes fixed on the floor, but Deauv was openly gaping. I had to keep reminding myself he’d never been to school before and so found this pretty exciting. The novelty would probably wear off pretty quickly.

Deauv and I sat with Ryu between us, almost like we were protecting him. Which we kind of were, I guess; the kid looked pretty defenceless.

“Is that the teacher?” Deauv asked, peering at the front of the classroom.

I looked up to see a tall, twig-thin man in his mid-forties (Mr. Rosche, according to the schedule). His hair was a dusty-sandy colour, and his eyes were bright blue. It was kind of weird to see him wearing glasses, but I guess not everyone went for the eye surgery, especially if their eyesight wasn’t that bad.

Almost as soon as he reached his desk, he began scanning the attendance list, tapping the screen depending on who was here or not. He paused, looking up, his blue eyes searching the room. They landed on us, and an eyebrow shot up.

“You three are the new students, I presume?”

We nodded and he looked back at the list, proceeding to call out our names (pretty pointless, considering there were only three of us).

“Deauvrin Cole?”

“Yup.”

“Suki D’etreave?”

“That’s me.” I idly flicked up my long, pale fingers.

“Ryu Haruki?”

The redhead raised his hand slightly, looking nervous.

Frowning, Rosche repeated, “Ryu Haruki?”

Guess he hadn’t seen the kid’s hand.

The tiny boy raised his hand higher.

“Ryu Haruki?” He was getting annoyed.

“Ryu’s here,” Deauv finally said, pointing to the little vampyre.

Rosche raised an eyebrow and said sternly, “I think Mr. Haruki can speak for himself, Mr. Cole. Please don’t talk unless asked to.”

Deauv’s ears turned red and his grin disappeared. My eyes narrowed. This guy was definitely not in my good books.

“Uh, excuse me,” I bit out, “but Ryu’s mute, so he can’t exactly speak for himself.”

Rosche stared at me in a surprise for a moment, before his eyes narrowed. “The same thing I told Mr. Cole applies to you as well, Mr. D’etreave. And I will not tolerate impertinence in my classroom.”

My eyes narrowed to slits, flashing with anger. What the hell? Just because I told him why Ryu wasn’t talking? I remembered why I hated school so much.

I guess I was a bit angrier than I thought, because a second later a glass of water on the teacher’s desk exploded, water spilling over the edges. He jumped, spinning to stare at the shards of glass and water covering his desk. I flinched. Whoops.

Ryu darted a quick glance at me, his eyes wide. Deauv hid his giggling behind a hand. I sunk lower into my chair.

Note to self: practise control over magick. Don’t make random objects go kablamo. Could be bad.

Rosche grabbed a cloth from his desk, quickly drying up the water before brushing the glass shards into the recycling bin. The class was buzzing with sounds of surprise and laughter, trying to figure out what had happened.

“Settle down!” he shouted, eyes blazing with annoyance. He seemed to have forgotten about me.

I shot a sheepish glance at Deauv, shrugging my shoulders. He rolled his eye, shaking his head with a grin.

Finally, Rosche got the class under control. He began the lesson tersely, starting a new lecture. I yawned. This was way too easy. I had to know really complicated math to be a crew member of the cargo ship. One wrong calculation and there went a smooth delivery.

Bored, I doodled on my arm, and listened to the tick of the clock. I was zoned out, so didn’t hear Rosche ask a question. I only looked up when Ryu tugged at my arm. Rosche was glaring at me.

“Well?”

I noticed everyone shift in their seats to stare at me before turning my attention to my teacher. His eyes were narrowed at me from the front of the room, his foot tapping against the marble (yes, the floors were marble).

“Suki D’etreave, I asked you a question,” he growled impatiently.

I cleared my throat, fingers twisting the ends of my sleeves. “Uh, could you repeat it?”

His eyes narrowed. “I’ve repeated it four times now.”

I didn’t say anything.

He sighed. “Mr. D’etreave, I would appreciate it if you would please pay attention in my class.”

“Sorry,” I muttered, looking away. I wasn’t really sorry, but this was embarrassing.

He didn’t reply, instead turning his attention to another student. I rolled my eyes, slumping down in my chair.

I ignored him for the rest of the class.

It turned out the fourth floor was made up of all the Art classes. It was the weirdest part of the school by far. For one thing, it was circular. For another, it was made up of one hall. One spiralling hall. There was only one flight of stairs that led up to it, opening up to create the beginning of the hall which then went around and around and around until finally ending in a small sitting area in the centre.

Yeah. It was weird.

Our classroom was near the centre, which, considering the size of the school, meant a really long walk. If we’d been normal humans, I don’t think we would’ve made it on time. But since we were vampyres and had speed on our side, we were early (not that I really cared).

The tables in the room each seated about four people and were scattered around randomly. The walls were painted black and covered with drawings, paintings, and pictures. The teacher was at a sink, cleaning paintbrushes when we walked in. She looked up when we walked in, large orange eyes taking us in. A grin split her dark face as she turned around, setting the paintbrushes in a jar on the messy counter.

“Hello. You three must be the new students.” She peered at us curiously, hands on her hips. “Well, now, you’re a curious trio. You’re not fully human, are you?”

The three of us stared at her, horrified. Oh, shit, our cover wasn’t blown, was it?

She laughed. “No need to look so scared. I’m a novus ætas, so it’s easy for me to tell.”

That would explain the strange eyes and mass of sandy-orange hair.

Deauv frowned. “Er, what are you exactly?”

She raised an eyebrow, amused. “What, you can’t tell? I’m a lion-morph, sweetie.”

My brown-haired friend looked intrigued. “So, does that mean you have a tail?”

“Yes. But I don’t generally flaunt it around. Makes some people uncomfortable.”

She went back to tidying up the room as a few more students entered.

I frowned, confused. “I thought schools didn’t like anyone non-human.”

She smirked at me. “Hun, as long as you’re not a vampyre or daemon, they don’t much care. They don’t even mind immortals all that much nowadays. There are so many novus ætas around, it’d be stupid to try and populate schools with just humans.”

“Oh. That makes sense.”

She grinned, eyes crinkling. “I thought so. By the way, my name’s Lyona. I prefer to go by my first name.” We nodded, and she gestured to an empty table nearby. “You three can sit there, if you like.”

We wandered over to the table, watching the rest of the students enter. Now that I looked for it, I noticed a lot had unusual markings and features, which meant they were definitely not fully human.

If that was the case...Rini could probably take off his bandanna and pretend he was half-human instead of a daemon. It was pretty hard to tell the difference, from what I’d seen.

I’d have to remember to suggest it later.

The bell rang soon after, and Lyona moved to the front of the class, long skirt swishing around her ankles.

“Today’s a work period. Remember, you have an assignment due at the end of the week, so I expect you to use your time wisely.” She looked around the class sternly.

Soon after, the class burst into a flurry of movement and sound as everyone gathered together the stuff for their assignments. Whatever they were.

Lyona walked over to us, pushing a hand back through her crazy mane of hair.

“The assignment’s pretty simple; basically, I want you to do a self-portrait, using a medium of your choice.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s it?”

“Well, I’d like a bit of depth. Instead of just drawing yourself, I want you to show what’s on the inside. Your soul, if you will.”

“So you want us to paint...our souls,” I stated, deadpan.

“Basically.” She grinned, revealing sharp canines. “Have fun.”

I watched her walk away, face blank.

“Why weren’t we allowed to choose our own courses?” I asked with a sigh.

“I think they stuck us where there was room,” replied Deauv, eyeing the paint on the counter.

“That sucks. I am not an art student. I can’t draw for the life of me.”

Ryu’s hands flew and it took a minute to realize he was signing. I glanced at Deauv and he shrugged. That’s when I realized neither of us understood sign language.

I frowned at Deauv. “I thought you knew sign language.”

He shook his head. “Only a couple words. Usually there’s someone who understands it when I’m around Ryu, and translates through telepathy.”

I grimaced. “Okay, that’s gonna be a bit of a problem, then, isn’t it?”

There was a tap on my arm, and I turned to look at Ryu, who was holding up his e-pad. Words were typed across it and I leaned closer to read what it said.

I can just use this. What I was trying to tell you is that you can just paint something...even if it doesn’t turn out the way you want, it’ll still look interesting.

Oh. He had a good point.

I glanced around the classroom, noticing other people grabbing big sheets of thick paper from a shelf, some of them grabbing paint and weird board things as well. The people grabbing paint also got jars full of...something... I slowly stood up, shuffling over and doing the same. I stared at the brushes for a minute, finally grabbing a medium-sized one and returning to my seat. I spread the supplies in front of me, nose crinkled.

“Okay...now what?”

Ryu gave a silent laugh, leaning over to help me. I watched as he squirted paint onto the board and handed me the brush. He then pointed to the brush, making the motion of painting, then pointed to the jar of weird pearly liquid. I frowned.

“Is that where I...clean it?”

He nodded happily, sitting back in his chair. He pulled out his sketchbook and turned to the drawing of Blaze. I leaned over curiously. He was almost done, just finishing off the other guy in the picture. It looked like they were in an office of some sort, cuz Blaze was being pinned to a big, ornate desk. The guy...I didn’t recognize him. He was wearing a suit, and looked to be in his early-twenties, with neat hair.

“Any idea who he is?” I asked, glancing at Ryu.

He shook his head, finishing off the drawing and biting his lip. With a silent sigh, he set down the sketchbook and got up to get one of those huge sheets of paper. I shrugged, turning back to my painting. Okay. I could do this.

...

I really hated school.

“I miss my ship,” I sighed, leaning against the tree the three of us were under, hiding from the sun. We’d gotten a message from Chase to go out to a secluded part of the backfield which had a lot of trees. Apparently everyone would meet us there for lunch.

Deauv grinned at me. “We’re already halfway through the day. Then we can go home again.”

“True.”

“Hey! There you are!” called a voice.

We looked up to see the rest of our group walking towards us, except for Chase. I wonder where he went?

“We’ve been looking for you forever!” said Rini, dropping down beside Deauv.

Blaze snorted, sitting next to him. “Well, not really. Rini just has a terrible sense of time.”

My eyes fell to the pink bandanna covering the bunny daemon’s ears, and I remembered what Lyona had said.

“Y’know, Rini doesn’t have to wear that. Apparently there are a lot of novus ætas here, so he could just say he’s half-human.”

Blaze looked surprised. “Really? I just assumed everyone was human.”

Deauv shook his head. “Our Art teacher is a lion-morph and she told us no one really cares unless you’re a vampyre or daemon. And no one needs to know Rini’s a daemon.”

Blaze bit his lip, considering. “Well...”

Rini looked excited. “Can I please take this off? It’s so itchy.”

The healer sighed in defeat. “Fine, you don’t have to wear it. But you have to be extra careful no one finds out you’re a daemon. You’re pretending you’re a novus ætas, okay?”

The daemon nodded eagerly, yanking off the bandanna and shaking his head, making his long ears flop around. Blaze frowned thoughtfully, tapping his lip.

“Since they don’t mind most non-humans here, we could all probably claim we’re novus ætas, which would leave us free to use our magick.” He glanced around the group, a small smile on his face. “Then again, most of us are novus ætas, so it wouldn’t exactly be difficult. And as long as we don’t use magick that’s specific to vampyres or daemons, we could get away with it.”

Skye grinned. “That would be awesome. I didn’t know pretending to be human would be so hard.”

Gail snorted. “No kidding. Do you realize how many times today I’ve been asked if this is my natural hair colour? I’ve seen lots of weird colours, so I don’t see why they keep asking me.”

“I think it’s the rainbow,” remarked Dell, who had sat beside Blaze.

“Hm, maybe...”

The healer turned to look at Dell, brows drawn slightly. “How are you doing? Is school the same as you remember?

The green-eyed vampye snorted. “Basically. I remember why I was so happy to graduate.”

Blaze squeezed his arm sympathetically. I frowned, watching them. Why were they so angsty? It didn’t make sense.

I shrugged, turning my attention back to Deauv. He was flopped on his back, staring up at the sky with a squinted eye. Leaning back on my hands, I glanced at everyone else. Skye had started braiding Rini’s hair, Blaze and Dell were talking quietly, Gail had disappeared, and Ryu was drawing again. Curious, I crawled over to him, peering over his shoulder. He looked up at me, offering a smile.

“Would you mind if I looked through your sketchbook?” I asked, settling next to me.

He looked surprised, but shook his head and handed me the book. I started going through it, impressed at the amount of detail in each picture. Sometimes I recognized the people, sometimes I didn’t. A lot of them worked at the NH, from what I could tell. The pictures were all really different. I saw a couple things I remembered or knew about, but I paused in surprise when I saw one of me. I was lying in a bed in the infirmary, so it was probably the day I arrived. I glanced at the date written in the corner, and saw it had been drawn a month before. I looked up at the redhead in surprise. I know Chase had told me Ryu could draw the future, but it was still weird seeing a picture of me.

The rest of the drawings were of people I didn’t know or had only seen, until I arrived back at the one of Blaze. I handed back the sketchbook, smiling.

“That’s really cool. I’ve never seen someone who could draw the future before. Can you tell when things are going to happen?”

Ryu shook his head, eyes down shyly.

“Lunch is here!” announced Chase, suddenly appearing.

I jumped, surprised, staring at the cook.

“Welcome back,” greeted Blaze, nodding at him. “You’re looking a bit dishevelled.”

Chase glanced down at himself, blushing slightly. “Ah, well, I had to make lunch really quickly...”

“Uh huh.”

His blush deepened. “Anyway! I have lots of food here, so everyone grab a plate.”

A small stack appeared beside the picnic basket as Chase began pulling out a crazy amount of food. It didn’t take long before everyone was settled down with their lunch.

“I have drinks, too,” said Chase, peering into the basket.

“Any blood?” asked Deauv hopefully.

“Of course!” He handed out cans of blood to the vampyres, then added, “I also have carrot juice and water for Rini and Gail.” He looked around, frowning. “Wait, where is Gail?”

We all shrugged, shaking our heads.

“He was here awhile ago,” said Skye, biting his lip. “I wonder where he went?”

I caught a flash of colour from the corner of my eye and looked up. What was that?

Curious, I set down my plate and went to the trunk of the tree, grabbing the lowest branch. I swung myself up, clambering up until I reached the spot where I’d seen the spot of colour. I blinked in surprise. Well, I’d found Gail.

I leaned closer, peering at his face. He was asleep, lying precariously on the thick branch. I guess the bird in him kept him from falling. I poked his cheek.

“Hey, wake up. It’s lunchtime.”

Gail frowned, groaning as his eyes blinked open slowly. He stared at me in confusion for a minute before realization dawned.

“Suki?”

“Uh, yeah. C’mon, Chase brought food.”

The bird-morph yawned, sitting up and stretching. He looked around, frowning.

“I fell asleep? I didn’t mean to do that.”

I was already moving back to the trunk, getting ready to climb back down. Gail followed me, easily hopping from one branch to another. When we dropped back to the ground, everyone looked up in surprise.

“Oh! You found him!” exclaimed Chase, looking between me and Gail. He put together a plate for the bird-morph, holding it out to him. “Eat up. I have water for you, too.”

Gail smiled slightly, taking it from him. “Thanks.”

I sat back down, picking up my plate. Deauv glanced at me, grinning. “We’ve got music after this.”

I rolled my eyes, tearing into a bun. “Yay.”

“There has to be some class you like,” sighed Deauv, taking a sip of blood.

I shrugged. “I like Math and Science. That’s about it. But the classes are way too easy, so they’re boring.”

He shook his head, smile lopsided. “Well, at least you’ll get your homework done fast.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“So, has anyone seen anyone suspicious, yet?” asked Skye, looking around curiously.

“Not really,” said Chase. “But it’s only been half a day so far. I’m sure we’ll fine someone.”

“I still don’t see why a gang member or whatever would willingly go to a high school,” I muttered, opening my can of blood. “I don’t care what they’re up to; it’s so not worth it.”

“Maybe someone’s posing as a teacher?” suggested Skye.

“I hope not,” grumbled Blaze. “It’s bad enough without having to fight an authority figure.”

“What if it’s the principal?” said Deauv, eye wide. “That would suck!”

Chase shook his head. “No, I don’t think it’s the principal. Ewgard would have figured it out beforehand. Now, hurry up and eat. I have to get this back to the NH before lunch ends.”

Oh, right.

We spent the rest of lunch eating and talking about random stuff. Dell occasionally talked, but mostly stayed silent, while Blaze just listened, and Ryu drew. I didn’t really say much either, preferring to just listen and eat.

I couldn’t wait to get home.