《The Blood Tasks》


 Roman

    Atticus kept telling me there was nothing to be worried about.


    I had already met the teachers, Mira Abas, and Dominic "Minx" Morris, a lot of times.


    And I guess it was true. I spent all of my time with Atticus, and, so, obviously, I was constantly around the people he trusted the most -- Mira, Minx, and Aurora, my brother''s girlfriend.


    Life at home wasn''t simple, so Mira and Minx had practically raised Atticus themselves over the years, ever since he was thirteen years old and he had enrolled at their school to become a Blood Drinker.


    Atticus was eighteen now, which meant we both had spent the majority of our lives with Mira and Minx for the last five years.


    I had been eight years old when I met them for the first time, which was, coincidentally, also when the voices started.


    Mira and Minx had been able to explain what they were, and, most importantly, what I was.


    So why was I nervous all of a sudden? Today my lessons would have started, and I would need to start practicing my powers. I would meet new people.


    Atticus expected me to make friends, and I wasn''t really sure why.


    I had friends.


    "Are you a Speaker?" a boy asked me suspiciously. "I thought they were supposed to be extinct or something..."


    "Not extinct, Jason, just extremely rare," Minx explained patiently. "Now, please, let Roman concentrate so he can use his Sensor Deck."


    The powers of Blood Drinkers ran in the blood of certain families. Some of them were rich and well-known, and almost all of their members chose this life. The Macbeths were a good example. Other times, the power would skip some generation. There could be a hundred of different reasons, really. But the result was the same -- most people weren''t sure if they could be Blood Drinkers candidates or not.


    The Sensor Deck laid these doubts to rest, along with letting Blood Drinkers find out which was their special Skill. Even Skills were very different. The most common ones gave you just a bit of extra power, others gave you inhumane abilities that even the training could not offer to you.


    Some Skills were genetic, but mostly were not. I liked to think the Skills had something in common with the people who had them.


    I shuffled the Sensor Deck for Jason. He had to pick a card. There were ten blank ones, which, if picked, would mean he wasn''t a Blood Drinker. The remaining twelve were colourful and had writings on them, like Tarot Cards, and each one was for a different Skill.


    I hoped Jason would draw blanks. I didn''t like him particularly. But he was the son of the powerful Athanasios and Penelope Ducas, so it was almost impossible.


    He picked Force.


    I smirked. It was very common, and it looked suited to his personality, the little I knew of it.


    Your body never gets tired, the card read.


    Blood Drinkers bodies were meant to hardly tire, so it didn''t give him a strong advantage. But Atticus had warned me that I didn''t have to think that way -- Blood Drinkers worked in teams. Not against one another.


    "Good one," I couldn''t help but say. The boy had been shooting me murderous looks for the whole time we''ve spent together.


    "You don''t know anything about Blood Drinkers, you freak..." he lashed out. "You''re more like a Creature, anyway!"


    My powers weren''t born within me and enhanced by tasting particular kinds of blood, they were linked to the supernatural world, the veil between this life and the next dimension. This scared most people.


    "You shouldn''t be one to talk," Aurora shot back immediately. "Rumor has it that you''re so weak that your father bought another boy at the market to train him as a Blood Drinker."


    If Jason found it humiliating, he didn''t show it. I couldn''t even snicker at the thought. I certainly hoped it wasn''t true. There were people who sold children with rare Skills, but the practice, was, of course, illegal. They said those children were orphans, but there were those who thought they might as well been kidnapped, or sold by their parents for a large amount of money.


    Since it takes a Speaker to read a Sensor Deck, and so to prove that those children were Blood Drinkers with uncommon Skills, I always grimaced at the idea that the few of us that remained would stoop so low.


    Atticus smiled at me. He looked very reassuring.


    Jason sat down, and I proceeded with the next boy.


    "Cypress Taylor Spaulding-Macbeth," I said. I couldn''t help but be impressed.


    The Macbeths were practically royalty, and Cypress looked the part.


    Tinier and smaller than most of his peers, he had inherited his mother''s honey blonde hair and blue-violet eyes, and his father''s birdlike frame and olive skin.


    He moved with a grace that few people pulled off. He had very long hair for a boy, and I suddenly remembered that he wasn''t one. He had stated he did not think of himself as entirely masculine, and his presentation was androgynous.


    I just knew he wouldn''t draw blanks. The Spaulding family wasn''t very powerful, but I failed to remember a Macbeth who hadn''t been a Blood Drinker in the last one hundred years.


    In fact, he picked a card, so effortlessy I barely felt the cold touch of his hand at all.


    Finding -- Your loved ones will never be hidden from you.


    He read it aloud, with a nasal voice, and a bit of a drawl. Mira and Minx were delighted. I was shocked at his apparent lack of interest. His card wasn''t exceptionally rare, but it was fairly uncommon. His power could not be achieved with simple training.


    When he walked towards the chair, Atticus gestured to sit next to him. And Cypress did. So lightly he could be flying.


    That day, everybody else who came drew blanks. Blood Drinkers'' blood was becoming harder and harder to find. It had been a lucky day, after all.


    The class did not count many members, and it was the only one in Meglenia. Sometimes students would drop out, or die during dangerous missions. The latter had not happened in a while, at least, not in Meglenia, but it couldn''t be ruled out.


    Aurora, at nineteen, was the oldest and this was her last school year. Then came my brother Atticus, eighteen. Cora and Evangeline, sixteen-year-old twins, and Carmela, a charming girl of fifteen who looked mature for her age.


    "Let''s welcome the new students!" Minx said, clapping his hands in excitement. "Jason Ducas!"


    Atticus clapped politely.


    "Cypress Taylor Spaulding-Macbeth... oh my, that''s a mouthful," Minx commented, with the mischievous smile actors sometimes do on stage when they''ve said something that shouldn''t have been said aloud.


    Cypress'' lips curved slightly. "Just Cypress would do," he said. "Or even Macbeth, or Lady Macbeth."


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Jason snickered, but nobody else did.


    I noticed how Cypress had preferred to introduce himself with his mother''s last name, rather than his father''s. Was it because the Macbeth''s influence in Meglenia was powerful?


    "And..." Minx added, "Let''s give it up for our new Speaker! Roman Sioban, little brother of our beloved Atticus!"


    Atticus and Aurora erupted in exaggerated cheers, whooping and screaming loudly.


    Jason did not make a move, but Cypress smiled at me. It lasted a second, but it warmed my heart a little bit.


    As for Carmela, Cora, and Evangeline they simply studied me, unimpressed. They''d met me before, anyway. Atticus and I basically lived in the school building, along with every enrolled student, and the teachers.


    The moment you started studying how to become a Blood Drinker, it was like you stopped being everything else.


    Atticus said it was a little sad -- not for us. We didn''t have anything to begin with, anyway. But for other people, like Aurora.


    I seldom thought about other people''s feelings in such depth, even those of people like Aurora, who I liked.


    Besides I had seen Atticus go through the Tasks, and the training, and the missions.


    There was no doubt that this lifestyle changed you.


    This lifestyle made you.


    Atticus wasn''t human anymore. And I didn''t think he noticed it as much as I did.


    "We will start today with a little introduction to Blood Drinkers," Mira said. "In case somebody is not familiar with what they are -- with what we are. To be able to become Blood Drinkers, and enhance our genetic powers, we need to drink Blood."


    "Fear not, it is not human blood," Minx added, winking. He was always the less serious between the two. Some people said he was a bit crazy, but I thought he was alright. It''s hard being an outsider. I smiled shyly at him.


    "The Blood we drink is animal''s blood," Mira went on. "It has to be given willingly by the animal, and a simple wound can do. There is no need to drain them, right Evangeline?"


    The girl was occupied smelling one of her gel pens.


    "The older kids have already listened to this a hundred times," she complained.


    "So did I, but I keep on learning something new," Minx scolded her, looking at Mira with affection.


    Mira and Minx were a couple, and it was hard to imagine two people less suited for each other.


    She was serious, and accademically challenging. She was probably one of the most clever people in Meglenia. Somehow, she was also very attentive to people''s needs. A good fighter, despite her poor balance, and a powerful Blood Drinker with an uncommon Skill.


    He was goofy, he spent most of his free time at the theater or at pubs, his head was in the clouds, and he came up with crazy ideas, which rarely worked. I did not know his Skill, he had never picked the card from my deck, which made me think it must have been something common and not very useful, like Agility.


    Even physically, they were extremely different. Where his skin was a translucent pasty-white and his hair a shock of orangey-hot red, she was regal, and dark-skinned.Her hair was always cropped short, and kept in order with a ducktail. She was tall, and slender, and he was any taller than anybody had any right to be, and built like a scarecrow.


    But there were many charming things about Minx Morris too. He had a good kind of face, which inspired trust, and could be considered handsome, in a sort of old-fashioned way. He had beautiful legs, even though he moved a little spider-like.


    "There will be Tasks each of you needs to pass in order to truly become a Blood Drinker," Mira went on. "Think of them like exams. You will be trained to make sure you all pass."


    Her eyes darkened.


    "The Tasks will be extremely difficult, and not everybody has got what it takes to live this life," she said, almost glumly.


    Atticus had told me he had heard some people died or became permanently injuried after the Tasks. I did not know if it was true. I didn''t know any.


    "The Blood slows the physical part of the aging process," Mira continued. "So, your skin will be perfect for a very long time. Those who choose, and who are powerful enough, can decide to cultivate immortality of the body, as well as of the soul."


    For some reason, Atticus didn''t want to. Aurora wouldn''t have minded. They frequently fought about that.


    "All our senses are enhanced," Mira added. "For this reason, sunlight hurts us. We see very well in the dark. After years of training, we can learn to fly. Our bodies get stronger, and faster. Some of us have learned to run faster than light."


    She smiled slightly. "The only way we can be really injuried, or killed, is by being lit on fire, being impaled, or being decapitated. The stronger of us may survive a few killing attempts, but the things I mentioned should hurt us very badly either way.


    Now you understand that all of the things I''m talking about are possible because of the Blood. Without it, we are just normal people. Normal people who have special genetics that contain the makings of a Blood Drinker. But we are nothing without the Blood. Nor is our Skill of any use. Even with the Blood Drinking, it requires a lot of resistance to use the Skill properly."


    Jason scoffed.


    "And, now, the best part," Mira joked. "The rules. As superior beings, we pledge to use our powers and our knowledge to fight against the Creatures, the literal embodiment of the things that plague the Earth, natural disasters, disease, and so on. They come from the dark, and they take the form of monsters for us to slay. This is our job, and our calling. To renounce that is to renounce being Blood Drinkers.


    In order to train together, to be available at all times in state of emergency, and to avoid to inflict the peculiarities of our lifestyle upon others, your school is for now your new home. Once you finish studying, there are groups of Blood Drinkers all over the world who will welcome you with open arms. Or you can even choose to live with your loved one, more secluded.


    From now on, the politics of the human world do not concern you no more. Your supreme authority is called the Court. It rules Blood Drinkers all over the world.


    Last, but not least, Minx and I are to be respected and our advice is to be followed in all occasions, especially when we will start going on missions, or on patrols in the city. Should any of us not be available, I suggest you to turn to the older students."


    She smiled at Atticus as she said that. Aurora was very powerful, but she had a bit of a temper. My brother, on the other hand, was beloved by everyone.


    During lunch, I sat next to Atticus and Aurora. For the first time, I had to squeeze a chair in, because my usual spot was being occupied by Cypress.


    "There used to be hundreds of people in the Court," he was saying, between mouthfuls of food. "My mother thinks it''s alarming that a lot of them died recently during missions."


    "Remind me who''s left now," my brother said good-heartedly. He wasn''t really interested in politics.


    Cypress choked a little. I guessed he imagined everyone knew about politicians as much as he did.


    "User Sad, Tori Collen, Bertha Gild, Naftali Cardo, and Hac Chae-won," he said, counting on his fingers.


    Even my brother had to admit those were very much less than hundreds.


    "I fear the power is becoming more centralized," Cypress went on.


    I coughed loudly to announce my presence, in case they hadn''t noticed.


    I immediately regretted it, because I found out I had nothing to say.


    I just wasn''t used not to have Atticus all to myself. Aurora usually didn''t talk much during lunch, she was busy ''keeping herself healthy'', as she put it.


    I wish I could have the kind of body where food immediately translates to muscles and energy. The more I ate, and I ate a lot, the thinner I seemed to become -- and the taller. As the years went on, it was becoming clear I would one day be Minx Morris-shaped.


    Atticus wasn''t like that. We had different mothers, and, judging by us, his probably had the best looks and personality.


    Atticus'' hair was golden blond, and his eyes green. His built was the one of a fighter. He was one.


    In comparison, I looked like I was painted in black and white -- and I didn''t mean in stark contrasts. I meant in all the shades of gray.


    "Are you alright?" Atticus asked me, worry in his eyes.


    It took me a while to realize he was referring to something that had happened earlier today. One of the kids who kept drawing blanks had threatened to punch me.


    Only my brother would still be hung up over something like that.


    To be fair, I had understood the kid.


    I kept drawing blanks all the time, too.


    I knew Speakers couldn''t have Skills.


    And I knew Speakers couldn''t be Blood Drinkers.


    But I kept dreaming of a world where I would be trained to fight the supernatural, instead to merge with it.


    Jason''s words had bothered me. Was I like a Creature?


    I was busy sulking over my food, when I felt a hand gently patting my shoulder.


    I normally loathed being touched, but I wasn''t startled.


    It was Minx Morris, and getting upset at him would be like kicking a puppy.


    "What''s the problem, Roman?" he asked me, when he took me walking down the hall. He told me it helped him, to do that, when he had too many thoughts.


    I could have said so many things. There were so many problems. I wished my drunken father had never beaten Atticus. I wished I could meet my mother. I wished I was a Blood Drinker. I wished I could tell Minx he was kind of cute, but not that way, because I was thirteen, and he was probably around forty, and, anyway, he had practically raised me... and I thought of Mira as my mother.


    I wished I could tell him we looked alike, and we were both a bit goofy, and maybe he was my father. He could have wanted to check.


    I wished I could tell him I was afraid of the Spirits, and of the dark, and of people.


    Instead, I said, "Jason Ducas said I am like a Creature."


    "Yeah, I heard him," Minx reminded me.


    "I fear that''s true," I admitted. "I don''t feel... a lot... like a person."


    "Look," he bent down to look me in the eye, even though I was already very tall for my age. "There is no right or wrong way to be a person, okay? You''re just you, and there''s nothing wrong with it. When I''m sad, I like eating a slice of cake. Or a whole pie, but don''t tell Mira, okay? She seems to like the version where they eat themselves better."


    He winked.


    "What would make you feel better? Normally, I''d say you''d wolf down an hamburger, but you weren''t eating anything a couple of minutes ago..."


    "I love dogs," I said. "Platonically."


    Minx laughed.


    "Alas, I can''t buy you a dog, sorry. Is there anything else you''d like?"


    I struggled to think of something. I''m not very smart, especially not under pressure. Even this kind of pressure.


    "I like fun facts," I sputtered out.


    "Then I''ll tell you one," Minx said. "Sometimes, I feel like a Creature myself."


    He suddenly became extremely serious, and silent, and never answered when I asked him why.

 Jonathan

    A few days before


    I was thirteen, and Pablo said boys my age should make themselves useful.


    So, I was at the market selling seafood at his stand.


    When I was younger, I couldn''t wait to start working for Pablo, because, back then, he forged swords and it seemed like the most beautiful job in the world to me.


    I didn''t like the smell of fish, even though I should have been used to it, but Pablo stopped forging swords when I was eight years old, and the only job he found was selling seafood at the market.


    The job wasn''t boring. I could meet a lot of new people every day. Of course, I never remembered their faces and names, but I found it didn''t really matter, as soon as you didn''t let it slip during the conversation.


    That day, I saw a man that looked like no other. Most people in West Tallya had dark hair and dark eyes, unlike me. I had teal green eyes. But my mother was Megleni, so I wasn''t exactly a Tallyard.


    The man looked like someone from Cad Irr or the islands, with firey red hair and long, skinny legs.


    I was glad I could assist him, instead of Pablo, because he looked rich and handsome and, if he were to come back to the market, I was sure I''d recognize him.


    I had the morning shift and Pablo the afternoon''s, when he was sober enough to show up.


    But I agreed to it because he gave me money, and I wanted to save them up so one day I''d use them to travel the world.


    And then, my mom was dead and Pablo was the only person I had, so I couldn''t just say no to him.


    The man approached my stall.


    "You''re Jonathan Loreta, right?" he asked, blushing slightly like a much younger man would.


    "Yes," I replied, beaming. "Wait. I thought you were here for the seafood. I''ve never seen you before, how do you know me?"


    The man had spoken in Tallyard, but his accent was Megleni. I was surprised to learn he was from the same country as my mother.


    "I speak Megleni as well, sir," I said, effortlessly changing from one language to the other. "Were you looking for me?"


    "Let''s just say I knew your dad," the man said amiably. He wasn''t old. I''d say he was in his mid-thirties, but he moved and spoke like an overgrown teenager. "Diego Loreta, right?"


    That''s when I noticed. Of course. It was early in the morning, so the sun wasn''t up yet, but the man had a black cape and sunglasses. His skin looked like the one of a statue. Not only pale, translucent too.


    He was a Blood Drinker.


    That was how he knew me. My father was a Blood Drinker too, but he left my mother and I when I was a few months old, so I loathed the memory of him. I also loathed everything that had to do with him, like Blood Drinkers or West Tallya.


    "I see," I said cooly. "You''re one of them. I heard my father was too. I''ve never met him, though. So, if you want to talk to him, assuming he''s still alive, I suggest you to talk to someone else."


    Or maybe, the Blood Drinker was there to tell me my father was dead. I tried to shake off the thought from my mind.


    My father left me, so, even if he was dead, I wasn''t sure I cared either way. But I knew it would have hurt to know I''d never see him again.


    "I don''t want to talk to him," the Blood Drinker said empathetically. "I wanted to talk to you. My name is Dominic Morris, but you can call me Minx. Everyone else does."


    I shook his hand.


    "My companion, Mira, and I, run a school for Blood Drinkers in Meglenia," Minx added. "You''re thirteen, the same age as the students in the first year. I was wondering if you''d join us. You see, I still remember your father. He was a Great Blood Drinker. You know Skills are genetic, right? Or at least, your predisposition to them. Of course, your Skill might differ from your father''s."


    I glared at him in a way that I hoped was threatening. I don''t think I had the desired effect. "Why do you talk about my father in past tense? As if he was dead?"


    Minx looked sorry he commited such a goofy mistake. "Oh, I wouldn''t know about your father these days, I''m sorry," he lowered his eyes. "But I think he''s still alive. See, I haven''t seen him in a long time. I thought he still lived with you."


    "Have we met when I was little?" I asked, leaning on my sword.


    "You probably wouldn''t remember it. Hey, tell me something. Why do you keep your sword with you all the time? Even when you''re selling oysters?"


    I looked at it. My sword was a weapon forged by Pablo. It wasn''t much. Pablo was good, but he was not a genius. I don''t think it was worth many coins either. But it was the object that I liked more in the whole world. Because when I fenced, I felt free. I felt powerful. I felt as if what had befallen my mother couldn''t touch me. Even though it could. Because my mother had died of illness, and you don''t cure those with swords.


    "To defend myself," I replied, which was part true and part lie. "I even sleep with it."


    Minx looked at it, impressed. "It would make you a good Blood Drinker," he said. "We could do the whole purifying process, and you could use it to slay the creatures. Which reminds me, you still haven''t said whether you''re willing to study in our school."


    It was because I didn''t have an answer yet. I didn''t like Blood Drinkers. Perhaps I even hated them. My father had been one of them. I wanted to hate him, but he was a total stranger. Perhaps becoming like him would help me understand him better.


    And the school was in Meglenia. My mother''s country. It would have been a ticket out of West Tallya, a way to get rid of Pablo. And I could practise fencing every day.


    The price to pay? Becoming one of them. It must have seemed a price too high to many people, but it wasn''t to me. I wasn''t leaving anything behind as a human, not a family, not friends. Not even a job worth keeping.


    "Alright," I said. "I''ll go."


    "You know chances are that you''re suitable to become a Blood Drinker," Minx warned. "But we can''t be completely sure. Maybe when our Speaker offers you a card from his Sensor Deck, you''ll draw a blank one. It happens. Most of the time. Are you sure you don''t want to find a Speaker here, and check whether you have Skills before we make the travel? There are schools for Blood Drinkers here too, though I must say Mira''s and mine is considered the best."


    He grinned awkwardly.


    I wasn''t interested in his school. I mean, it was probably a very nice school. But I wasn''t sure becoming one of them was the best idea I''d ever had. However, I wasn''t looking to stay in West Tallya, and this stranger could take me to Meglenia, no questions asked.


    He had the kind of face everybody trusts, and, if my judgement didn''t prove to be right, I had a sword.


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    "I want to come to our school," I said. "And if I don''t have a Skill... well, I''ve always wanted to visit the country where my mother''s from."


    "Pick a card," the Speaker told me. He was my age, and lanky as the headmaster of the school. He had a boyish face and dirt blond curls, in a cold shade that looked almost dark grey. His name was Roman Sioban, or so I understood.


    I felt immediately drawn to a card.  I didn''t think I''d ever been so sure of anything in my life.


    "Knowledge," Roman became very pale. "The universe answers your questions."


    I felt a knot in my stomach. It was real. I was about to become a Blood Drinker. I didn''t even know if it was a good thing. But like many other times before, I trusted my guts, and the excitement I felt was the same before any great duel. It was something that I felt I needed to do.


    "That''s a rare Skill!" Mira, Minx'' wife, said, covering her mouth with her hands. She seemed at a loss for words.


    Minx cheered, along with a couple of other students.


    They had all introduced themselves before. Their names were Atticus and Aurora, and they were dating. They were much older than me.


    Then, there were the twins, Cora and Evangeline. They didn''t seem interested in my fate. A girl who was older than me but not by much, Carmela, was playing with her weapon, a bow and an arrow, until the teachers mentioned the card of Knowledge. Then, she grinned at me excitedly.


    The boys my age were a different matter. Jason kept looking at me scowling, and I couldn''t tell whether I had done something to piss him off or whether that was the way he looked at everyone. The other, Cypress, well... I wasn''t sure he was even a boy. He did not describe himself that way, so I tried to keep his words in mind. He didn''t look too friendly, but he was the one I wanted to approach the most.


    The Speaker was my age too, but he didn''t seem like he would be great company.


    "Now, we should probably tell Jonathan a few things about Blood Drinkers, in case he doesn''t know all of it," Mira said. She explained the process of feeding from the animals, and of killing the Creatures. She explained how they were the embodiment of the chaos and brought death, plague, famine, and other disasters.


    That was when I noticed how deep I was in it. I gripped the handle of my sword, because it somehow made me feel safer.


    When she got to the point where she was saying how she expected me to trust Minx and her, because they were our teachers and, in a way, our guardians, and how we couldn''t leave the school without telling them, and only had to go on patrol with them, I started polishing my sword.


    I''d never liked listening, especially listening to rules. Besides, this was going to be a school like any other, and I''d never liked schools.


    I looked around, only to see Cypress glaring at me. He had unsettling blue eyes that looked almost lilac.


    I looked away.


    During lunch, I sat between Cypress and Atticus. Cypress because he was the only other Blood Drinker my age, and I did not want to be friend with Jason. Atticus because he was charming, and he seemed like he would be a great friend.


    "So," I told Cypress. "How come do you have two names?"


    "Two names? Don''t you have two names as well?" Cypress raised a pale eyebrow. He moved gracefully, and his expressions weren''t an exception.


    "Yes, Jonathan Abraham. But I wasn''t talking about that. Your surname is Spaulding-Macbeth. Are your parents divorced?"


    I started eating a chicken leg while I was waiting for a reply. I was beginning to feel uncomfortable, though only slightly. My accent was different from theirs. They didn''t even eat the chicken like I ate it.


    Cypress looked pissed off. "My mother decided I could keep both surnames. The Macbeths are an important family of Blood Drinkers here in Meglenia."


    I nodded. "My father was important too, or so I''ve heard. Diego Loreta."


    "I think I''ve heard of him!" Carmela squealed in delight. "I''m South Tallyard, by the way. My mother moved here in Meglenia very recently."


    "Nice," I commented. "I''m West Tallyard."


    There were a few differences between Carmela''s part of Tallya and the one I came from, in accents and customs, but for once I did not feel so alone. For example, when I said my father was named Diego Loreta, I could swear Jason had snorted.


    "Minx Morris told me they can do a purifying process for my sword, and it will become my weapon!" I said. "I will be able to kill the Creatures with it!"


    "Do you only know how to talk about your sword?" Cypress muttered, but I heard him.


    I was hurt. I decided maybe I had picked the wrong person to be my friend. I turned to Atticus and Aurora, who were talking to the Speaker. He was Atticus'' younger brother.


    "We''ve heard about your sword!" Aurora said. "I think it''s cool that Blood Drinkers can choose any weapon they want to. Like Carmela''s bow. Do you know that famous Tallyard Blood Drinker Salvatore Raso had a garrote? And yes, he''s a distant relative of Carmela."


    "We love fun facts," Atticus added. "Most Blood Drinkers, though, use a knife called athame. At least, it''s the typical Blood Drinker''s weapon."


    "One of the reasons why I''d like to be a Blood Drinker," Roman mused. "Would be to have my own athame. Or at least, to make my collection of knives more useful."


    "You know Minx will let you use them on the creatures from time to time," Aurora said. "He promised."


    "He said only when things aren''t too dangerous," Roman replied unhappily.


    I thought about my Skill. The universe answers your questions. I wondered what I could ask the universe, if I had the chance. Maybe I could ask it where my father was. Or my mother.


    Maybe my Skill didn''t even work that way. I had to admit I didn''t know the first thing about Skills.


    "Can you talk to spirits?" I asked Roman.


    "Yes, I''m a Speaker," he replied glumly, as if he didn''t like being reminded of it.


    "Could you, maybe, talk to the spirit of my mother?" I wanted to know. "Or perhaps she''s already passed on. Can you contact the spirits who passed on, too?"


    Atticus joined the conversation before Roman could reply. "Speaking makes my brother very exhausted," he said. "I know you would like very much to talk to your mother, Jonathan, but we don''t usually use Roman''s powers for things like that."


    He seemed genuinely sorry, but it didn''t do much to comfort me.


    I took a deep breath. One step after the other. I was there, in Meglenia, the land where my mother was from. The land from all the stories she''d told me as a child. I would feel closer to her. And I would become a Blood Drinker, and it would be like my mother and my father hadn''t left me, not really.


    "How do you feel about the Tasks?" Cora asked. "I know they make most of the first-years feel dizzy, only at the thought they''d have to go through them."


    "The Tasks?" I asked.


    "What? You haven''t listened to Mira? It''s the three tasks the first-years go through. You won''t become a Blood Drinker unless you pass them. Of course, our teachers will make sure we do. But it''s not a guarantee."


    "Cora, don''t scare the new kid," Aurora told the other girl.


    "Cora is right, Jonathan didn''t even bother to hear the teachers'' explanation," Cypress said cooly. "Blood Drinkers need to be prepared to fight the creatures, so we have to train to listen to our teachers a lot. We have to become quick-footed and deadly, but also merciful. Obviously, not everyone can do it."


    He looked eloquently at me. I became very red in the face. The other students looked at Cypress surprised, as if he''d never spoken so much before, or perhaps as if they didn''t expect him to speak so ill of me.


    I had decided one thing, though. Being Cypress'' friend was not worth it. Perhaps, I had even made an enemy.


    "If anyone can do it, I think I can do it, Cypress," I replied cockily, though I didn''t feel so sure. I''d never even thought about becoming a Blood Drinker before, I couldn''t just proclaim it was my thing.


    "It''s only Macbeth or Lady Macbeth to you," he replied dryly.


    The temperature in the room froze.


    "Maybe," Evangeline said. "If you have a problem with the new student, Cypress, you can talk about it to Minx. I always tell him, or Mira, all of my problems, and they have given me answers more than once."


    "That''s why your grades are better than mine," Cora replied, and I didn''t think she was exactly joking.


    "I don''t have a problem with Jonathan," Cypress tried to keep his cool. I''d noticed he tried to be well-liked by the older students, but he wasn''t exactly cool headed, not even for a person our age.


    "It''s Loreta to you," I told him.


    "Fine, I don''t have a problem with Loreta. I just think that the school started a few days ago, and it''s not right for him to interrupt our classes like that, and act as if he finds none of this important. As if it''s all above him."


    That was not what I thought. I just didn''t want to become too attached to the idea of becoming a Blood Drinker, because then what? What if I became one, and didn''t find out anything cool about my father, didn''t feel any closer to him? What if I failed the Tasks? What if I fainted the first time I saw a Creature?


    I didn''t think they could send me home, but I could not risk it. I had run away from West Tallya, from my past, from Pablo, and I hated the idea that I could be sent back if I wasn''t Blood Drinker material.


    "Speaking of interrupting our classes," Jason said, after a long silence. "There''s not all of us here. The kid my father bought at the market should join us soon."


    "How long were you waiting to tell us?" Atticus asked.


    "I had no interest in letting you know," Jason shrugged.


    "What do you mean your father bought a kid?" I joined the conversation.


    "Isn''t it illegal?" Roman asked darkly.


    "It''s legal, in Ichor," Jason said. "Where we''re from. Small island off the coast of Meglenia."


    "I know what Ichor is," I let him know.


    "Either way," Aurora explained, because Jason did not look like he wanted to add anything. "I''ve heard of it. They buy kids from orphanages and sell them, because of their Skills. People who have no Blood Drinkers as heirs can buy them. But why does your father... ? You''re a Blood Drinker."


    Jason shrugged. "Father was interested in Matias'' Skill."


    "Tomorrow," Mira announced. "We will start with the practical lessons. We''ll teach you how to hunt the animals, even though you can''t drink their blood yet."


    Carmela snickered at that.


    I shivered. "I hope we won''t start getting near the Creatures for a while," I murmured to myself.


    Cypress leaned closer to me. "Maybe," he commented dryly. "You won''t stay at the school long enough to see it."

 Cypress

    Mira and Minx were teaching us to fight.


    Every one of us had a weapon of choice, but the teachers had had enough experience to use them all, and well.


    They were walking around the class, spending some minutes with each student.


    It turned out that, among the newbies, Roman, the Speaker, had an affinity with knives, I knew my way around guns, and Jonathan Loreta was handy with a sword.


    So handy, that, apparently, he thought that listening to the lesson was beneath him.


    That suddenly made me quite angry -- I remembered that it wasn''t the first occasion in which Jonathan seemed to have trouble keeping attention.


    Being a Blood Drinker is a choice. A choice that''s going to determine the rest of your life. It''s not like being in some kind of church, listening to a sermon you don''t particularly like; or being to the schools where they teach you how to write (where Jonathan hadn''t paid much attention either, judging by his scrawls.)


    Being a Blood Drinker was something in between being in a cult, and being in med school, when they give you the tools to start life-saving operations.


    It required your full attention, and devotion.


    To give less than that was absolutely irresponsible, especially to your own team.


    I decided I would corner him after the lesson and talk to him about it.


    I instantly cringed. How much of our language could he really understand?


    Maybe that was the problem, I couldn''t help but think.


    I barely dodged a blow from Jason (he had decided his weapon of choice were his bare hands), and let the matter go until I could talk to Jonathan alone.


    He could get distracted all he wanted, but he wouldn''t distract me.


    Minx sliced a watermelon open with his saber.


    "The trick is to cut nice and clean," he said. "The Creatures, as much as they may look like it, are not monsters. They are just taking a corporeal form in our realm, the dimension in the Universe that is mostly dominated by matter. They are not your foes, they do not fight back. They don''t need to be tortured, or played with. They don''t need to be given a chance to survive, either. Do not be shy, or guilty, about killing them. They do not have feelings. Just aim for a soft part and... WHOOSH!"


    After the lesson ended, Mira told us we could go to the river and get washed up. I noticed Jonathan was hanging shyly by the riverbend, waiting for everybody else to finish before he washed himself. I decided to do the same. I realized later how creepy that must have looked, but I had no other choice. Blood Drinkers, especially young trainees such as us, were almost never left alone.


    We paitently waited -- each for our own reasons -- for everybody else to scram.


    Atticus and Aurora were the first to finish, and went quickly away. I realized Roman, who was so lonely it was almost starting to become a serious problem, had not come at all.


    I tried not to judge the kid too much, but he must have sweated as much as the rest of us -- I just hoped he was going to bathe somewhere else, but he had a bit of a shabby look about him, like he wouldn''t care too much either way.


    Cora and Evangeline splashed playfully, only half- undressed, even if it was enough for Jason to stare.


    Carmela was almost naked, and Jason soon started concentrating on that. They were the last to leave.


    She, because she had started feeling a bit out of place, and he because ''there was nothing to look at anymore.''


    Even though, before he left, he shouted at me if I could show him the biological gender of my body.


    I showed him the finger, which was also a metaphor.


    I was feeling pretty proud of myself, and had almost forgotten about Jonathan, until I heard his voice. He was speaking softly.


    "Is it because of people like Jason that... you... didn''t bathe with the others?" he asked me gently.


    "I don''t mind showing my private parts," I shrugged. "People should respect my gender identity either way. Do you know what I find absolutely thrilling? Pissing on trees. When I do, I wouldn''t trade my private parts with any others."


    The look on his face was enough to make me understand he really spoke Megleni. Good. I usually dealt in these little tricks. They made me feel a bit like a double agent.


    "Actually," I said. "I was waiting for you."


    He blushed the deepest shade of red I had ever seen, and I realized how that must have sounded like. So much for secrecy!


    "It''s not what I meant," I said, suddenly on edge, much less friendly, remembering what I had set out to do.


    "I wanted to talk to you, and I wanted you to hear my words, and listen well. For it to work, we needed to be alone. You... tend to get distracted easily."


    "I know," he said sheepishly, and for a moment I hated myself for what I was about to say.


    But I needed to say it anyway, or I would have lived to regret it.


    "You need to go away," I said. I said it matter-of-factly. I didn''t soften the blow. We weren''t friends. But the look on his face made me wish I could choose better words.


    He looked like I had just slapped him.


    It was all wrong. It wasn''t meant to taste so sour. It wasn''t meant to make me feel like a bully. It was meant to be the right thing.


    Sometimes doing the right thing hurts, my mother had told me.


    I thought of her and gathered some courage.


    "Where could I go?" Jonathan asked. He hadn''t even questioned my words. That hurt. I hadn''t meant to break him, but that didn''t matter. Sometime, somewhere, someone had already done it.


    "I just mean, you can''t be a Blood Drinker," I tried to explain.


    "And why not?" he furrowed his brows.


    "Because... have you even heard Mira and Minx''s words?" I exclaimed.


    "They do... talk a lot," Jonathan admitted, grinning.


    I didn''t smile back.


    "We are like a team!" I said. "We are meant to live, and die for each other! We need to be able to collaborate! We''ll be facing the Creatures together, and I need to know I can rely on you when we do."


    He was starting to get a little angry.


    "Why are you explaining this to me?" he said, suddenly much colder. "Do you think you can rely on Jason? Do you absolutely trust all of the others? Roman hasn''t even washed himself with the rest of us."


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "Neither did you," I said.


    "Well, look who''s talking!" he bit back immediately.


    "You don''t understand," I said, aware I sounded a bit childish.


    "Then make me," he replied.


    It wasn''t just a request. There was a harder edge in his voice now. It was a dare.


    "You don''t know anything about the Macbeths, do you?" I asked wearily.


    "Your family? I''m afraid not," Jonathan said.


    I highly doubted their reputation hadn''t spread behond Meglenia, but I let it go for his ignorance''s sake.


    "My family is a family of Blood Drinkers. There has been at least one in every generation for thousand of years. Most of us marry other Blood Drinkers. It''s easier -- we share the same lifestyle. But it''s not the only reason; the child has more chance of developing a Skill in their DNA when two Blood Drinkers reproduce."


    I trailed off a bit. Talking about reproduction with Jonathan made me strangely uncomfortable, and I was aware that I wasn''t giving him the answers he needed to hear.


    "Why is your family so obsessed with all of it?" he asked.


    "We''re not obsessed!" I couldn''t help but argue. "It''s an honor to be able to do the best job in the world, the most useful! We can''t just sit still thinking there''s people out there risking everything for the community, and it''s not us."


    At least, I could speak for myself. And my mother. She had started out for the same reason.


    "Are you afraid my presence in the class might muck up your family''s perfect record of attendence? Do I distract you so much?"


    "That''s not the point!"


    "Then get to the point, you''ll make us late for dinner, and we haven''t even bathed yet."


    I took a deep breath. It was now or never.


    "My mother was an amazing Blood Drinker. One of the best there ever was. She gave everything she had to the team. One day, she and her fellow mates were in a mission, battling a Fadua. She killed it, but got away just barely. Her best friend hadn''t helped her at the right time, you see. She was distracted, convinced it would be an easy task, and that my mother could take it on all on her own."


    Jonathan had paled.


    "Well, my mother had been wounded by the Creature. There was nothing anybody could do to cure her. The cut in her leg was too deep. In a few days'' time, it magically disappeared. But you know how Creatures aren''t really what they seem? Well, she fell sick."


    I gulped.


    "She lost her eyesight due to the illness," I added hastily.


    Jonathan looked sick now.


    I realized comparing a naive thirteen-year-old boy to the young woman that had carelessly let my mother get injured might have been a little too much, in retrospect.


    "My mother could still be a Blood Drinker after that. She hasn''t officially retired to this day," I felt the need to say. "All of her other senses are very sharp, and the Blood gives her a little sight. But she had a bad time after her accident. She had thought about quitting. She actually did, for a while. That''s when she married my father, a man with no hint of powers in his blood, and gave birth to me. Almost immediately after my birth, she realized her mistake and relocated with her family. She''s the only surviving Macbeth who has been trained. Most of them die young, anyway. I always knew this was going to be my place. I wouldn''t forgive myself for not trying."


    "But I want to do it the way I was taught," I added. "Religiously. If you don''t feel up for that, I suggest you to pack your bags."


    "I''m not leaving ''cause you are afraid," Jonathan said. "Do you know what I think? We''re all here because we''re running from something. You''re not special because you''re a Macbeth, so you don''t get to act like royalty around me. Now, if you don''t mind, I''d like to bathe. You can go back to wherever hole you crawled from. You think I haven''t got what it takes to be a Blood Drinker, but Minx himself has asked me to come to his school. Did you know that? I guess we''ll see who''s the better Blood Drinker."


    "Yeah, I guess we''ll see," I snarled.


    I went away, with a strange feeling. Jonathan Loreta may have been a lazy, irresponsible kid, but he, and his skill with his sword, were better to have as a friend rather than an enemy.


    A few miles later, I found a small lake. I must have gotten lost. Thankfully, I heard familiar voices nearby.


    Atticus and Aurora were still bathing, and they were splashing water on Roman, who had only entered the water until it reached his knees and looked like he didn''t want to go any further in.


    He reacted to the splashes with the same annoyance that I had seen on cats, and immediately covered his chest modestly when he saw me, going wide-eyed.


    I had no idea if he thought I could be into him (hell, no thanks), or because he was ashamed of the way he looked.


    There was no point denying he had handsome features and would one day become as attractive as his brother Atticus was, which was a lot. But there was always something a bit off about him. Like his skin, which was grayish pale, and his chest who was so skinny you could see the ribcage poking underneath in a way that reminded me of a bird.


    "Come on, it''s just Cypress!" Aurora said. "You know him, Rome! Try to act a little less uptight around him, wil you?"


    She pushed him gently, but Roman was so distracted that even a little push was enough -- he fell headfirst into the lake, his knees betraying him.


    He came up for air in a split second, but he looked impossibly scared. He started shivering and trying to get out of the water, moving incoherently.


    Atticus, skin and hair golden in the sun, immediately helped him up and shot Aurora a strange glance. Like she had broken something he had taken a long time to build.


    He looked almost dangerous for a second, but then it passed. I was sure Aurora hadn''t even seen it.


    I stripped until I was only wearing a nightgown, and went into the water. I wasn''t extremely shy, but I wouldn''t have bathed naked.


    "Cy!" Attticus called me. "Is it okay if I call you Cy, right?"


    I shrugged. I didn''t really like it, but I didn''t want to let him down.


    "I''m Rora," Aurora said. "Roman is Rome, and Atticus is Atta-Q!"


    "Nice," I lied, trying to forget those awful nicknames as fast as possible.


    "Look, I need to talk to you guys for a second," I added then.


    I wasn''t talking about Roman, but I doubted he could hear me anyway. He had successfully ran towards his clothes, and was managing to cover up his body as fast as he could manage without tripping all over his feet.


    I told them about Jonathan. I tried to make it sound less like bullying, but, honestly, it was kind of hard not to.


    "I think you should apologise, honestly," Aurora said, after a while. "Trust me, he''ll get where you were coming from."


    She bit her lip. "Now I feel guilty for having fucked around a lot, too."


    Atticus laughed incredulously. "It''s your last year, Rora. I doubt someone will hold it against you."


    "Yeah," she frowned unhappily. "Especially since I need to find some family I can fit in when school won''t be one of my problems anymore. Then, I''ll have to learn how to trust all of others all over again."


    Atticus kissed her hand. Normally, I would have felt embarrassed to assist, but I realized, quite shocked, that it was like there was no chemistry in between them.


    It was like they were playing a role. But I didn''t think they knew it either.


    "We talked about this," he whispered, almost a low growl. "Before you know it, I''ll be finished too, and we''ll hunt together."


    "We''ll cultivate immortality together," she added, dreamily.


    Atticus'' face got dark. I felt like this was something they disagreed on.


    "Maybe," he conceded. But his face told a different story.


    Not only cultivating immortality was so hard it was almost impossible, but many people also deemed it unnatural. No Macbeth had ever tried. That I knew of.


    Atticus excused himself, and went to sit next to Roman. I was too far away to hear what they were talking about, but they looked happy. Well, Atticus looked happy. Roman looked... comfortable, that I guess was the best I had ever seen him.


    Aurora''s face had soured a little.


    "They''re brothers," I said, before I could stop myself. "They''re bound to want to spend time with each other."


    "Have I said anything different?" she asked, suddenly cold. I had guessed right -- she was somehow jealous, but I couldn''t understand why.


    "Atticus lives for Roman," she told me. "Don''t be fooled by Roman -- he knows it. And he uses it. We''re never alone, Atticus and I. You can''t enter a relationship with Atticus without signing up for some babysitting along the way."


    "Roman will find someone, one day," I said, trying to sound more sure than I actually felt. "He''ll leave you two alone soon enough."


    After that, I decided to go looking for Jonathan. I liked Atticus and Aurora, and Roman too, to some extent. But they had seemed to be all very caught up with their own problems. Jonathan had been right. I couldn''t trust any of my classmates, so why target him especially?


    It wasn''t his fault if he was the one who was always on my mind.


    I hoped he was still bathing -- at least, I would have known where to find him. I also hoped he wasn''t naked or anywhere near it. I had already seen enough bodies for one day.


    He was in the river, but not bathing. He was practicing his moves with his sword, and I couldn''t help but be impressed -- he was fast and light, steady on his feet despite of the mud.


    I had to admit it.


    He was probably the most skilled person in our class, at least where fighting was concerned.


    I wouldn''t say it to him, though. That would have sounded like a pathetic way to make peace. I was here to say sorry, not being some bootlicker.


    "Hi again," he said, without turning around. "Is it Lady Macbeth, now that you''re wearing a dress?"


    He added the last part after a quick glance in my direction.


    I cursed loudly. Of course, I had forgotten the rest of my clothes where Aurora and Atticus had camped. I hoped someone would remember to bring them back to school, at least.


    What''s more, the dress was still drenched after I had taken my bath, and it was probably more revealing and attached to my skin than I would have liked.


    "I just came to say sorry," I said. "What I did was... definitely improper. And impolite. It was wrong to assume that you couldn''t hold your own in a fight. Well, you''re just a newbie, after all, and you''re not so bad. I shouldn''t have said you were likely to put us all in danger. That was particularly mean. And I''m sorry I told you to go. It''s not my place to decide who wants to give this life a try."


    "Thanks for the kind words," Jonathan said, slashing through the air at an imaginary opponent. "But do you mean them?"


    "Prove me right," I grinned. "And I will."

 Matias

    Athanasios took so long in training me that, in the end, I showed up at school one month later than the rest of the students.


    I didn''t understand why, but he insisted that the final touches he had to add were the most important part, and that I couldn''t hope to make an impression without them.


    Even when I told him it would have been easier to let me go with Jason, he still said no.


    In the end, I gave up. It didn''t interest me as much to go to that Blood Drinkers school.


    I''d never even wanted to become a Blood Drinker.


    I didn''t tell Athanasions that. He knew. And, besides, he told me time and time again that he bought me specifically to train me, and I knew that it was true. The children that were sold by their families at the Ichor market were selected according to their Skills, and mine was rare.


    My Skill was called Courage, but Penelope, Athanasios'' wife, insisted it should have been called Recklessness. It basically meant that every time there was danger, I didn''t stop in front of it.


    Well, that was going to be what it meant at the end of my training. When Penelope said I was reckless it was because she did not know that I was afraid, and being courageous meant facing your fears.


    When we arrived in the hall of the school, my eyes soon met the teachers''. A couple of Blood Drinkers called Mira and Minx -- Athanasios had told me a lot about them. He trusted Minx especially.


    However, I noticed from the look in their eyes that they considered the show Ichorian people made of the children they bought at the market pretty cheap. I had make-up on my face, but not the kind I sometimes dreamt of wearing -- the kind that makes your eyelashes longer and your mouth more pronounced. No, it was war paint, that made me look like a little soldier of some unknown tribe.


    I was born in Russania, and had lived there until I was seven years old, but I didn''t remember almost anything about it. I wondered whether my dad had been a big and strong soldier with war paint on his cheeks that looked like mine.


    "I''m here to show you the kid I''ve spent six years training," Athanasios said proudly. "Matias Vasiliv, a Roos child. His Skill is Courage."


    I looked at the students. Jason was looking at us with little interest, as if he barely knew us. A girl older than me with part of her hair dyed blond was looking at Athanasios disgusted, almost as if she was about to recoil.


    Then there were Cora and Evangeline, and I knew them already, because Athanasios already knew all the Ichorian Blood Drinkers, or so he made me believe. However, I''d seen them around before.


    I finally met the eyes of someone who was looking at me kindly. A boy with a handsome face and a nice smile, who had been chatting with a girl, his girlfriend I premused, until a moment before.


    "Hello, Matias," he said. "I''m Atticus, and this is my girlfriend Aurora."


    I decided to look at them when I didn''t know where else to look. In the meantime, Athanasios was explaining the basics of my training to the teachers, and they didn''t look too happy about it.


    "You already know his Skill," Minx said then. "So, we won''t have our Speaker read the Sensor Deck for him."


    "There is no mistake Matias'' skill is Courage," Athanasios replied crossly. "I know how much I paid for it."


    It made me wince, and I wasn''t the only one. The Speaker, who was about to make his way towards me with his cards, winced too.


    When I looked at him, my heart felt like it was about to stop. I turned away very quickly, hoping the war paint would be enough to cover the red on my cheeks.


    "Students," Mira said uneasily. "Introduce yourselves to Matias."


    I found out the older girl with dyed hair was Carmela, and that the Speaker''s name was Roman. Then, a couple of students I hadn''t noticed before introduced themselves.


    The blond one said his name was Cypress Macbeth, and that he did not identify as a boy. I had heard of the Macbeth family, from one of Athanasios'' visits to Meglenia when I was little.


    "Awesome!" I said. "I can''t wait to start working with you, I read so much about your family!"


    Athanasios tugged on the sleeve of my black tunic. "Matias, I don''t expect anything but polite manners from you at this school."


    "It''s hard to believe you''re the same person who raised Jason, then," the other boy said. He had shoulder length brown hair, and a sword. He also had a confident smile that looked like it could cut deeper than his sword. I had never seen people like him, but it didn''t mean I didn''t know when somebody was putting on a mask.


    "Introduce yourself," Cypress told the brown haired boy.


    "I''m Jonathan Loreta," he said, and I uderstood why his accent was different from the other students''. He was from West Tallya.


    I looked at the students. Somehow, I had always imagined the school more similar to Athanasios'' training, in my head. Instead, there were a lot of people about my age that I could try to befriend.


    I asked myself what it would take to become a friend of the Speaker. He looked withdrawn, and like he was about to pass out any second. I wondered whether being a Speaker drains you of energy more than being a Blood Drinker.


    I would find out at the end of the year, after the Tasks, because, for now, I was only a human who used a Skill.


    And yes, that was as draining as being a Speaker. It had taken me many years of training under every form of stress to become the way I was.


    I walked up to the Speaker. "You''re Roman Sioban," I said, with a wide smile. "That must mean you''re Atticus'' brother. I totally see the family resemblance -- you''re the best looking here."


    Roman did not look happy about the compliment, he probably thought I was joking, but never had time to reply.


    Just when he was about to open his mouth, Athanasios called for me.


    "Matias!" he yelled. "I won''t leave here until you show your teachers how I trained you."


    "There''s no need," Minx said cheerily. "We will train him ourselves, and we have plenty of time to see where his skills lie."


    But Athanasios was deaf to the words. "Take off your shirt," he told me.


    I did. I was physically trained as well, and so it wasn''t a huge embarrassment to strip in front of my classmates.


    Besides, I didn''t think anybody would have looked at me twice.


    Athanasios took a needle from his pocket, one of those Penelope used to sew, and put it near my skin.


    "I don''t think that''s the case..." Minx started saying in a nervous laughter.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Me? Harm the kid? I would never," Athanasios replied. "But his powers will come out, you''ll see soon enough. Matias does better when he''s under pressure. Besides, it''s the only way to test his powers. Give him his weapon of choice -- an hunting spear."


    Mira gave me one, and I started battling Athanasios. He had nothing to defend himself with, he couldn''t use the needle anymore, but apparently he thought I was under enough stress. Besides, Athanasios was very strong and fast, and I did not want him to grab one of my arms or legs because he was not above playing dirty.


    "Allright, we''ve seen enough!" Mira stopped us. "We agree that he''s been trained well."


    She looked like she was about to vomit.


    Athanasios had warned me that people from other countries wouldn''t understand, but, as I slipped on my tunic, I suddenly felt sad. What if I couldn''t make friends because everybody thought I was a freak?


    During lunch, I sat next to Atticus. Jonathan, Cypress and Roman glared at me. They probably wanted to sit near Atticus too, and on his other side there was Aurora already.


    "I need you to tell me," I told Atticus after I was finished putting a bit of everything that was on the table on my plate. "What does Roman like?"


    "What do you mean what does he like?" he replied, startled. "Dogs? I think?"


    "You think?" Aurora mocked him.


    "No, I mean, I''m sure, but I wasn''t sure this was what Matias wanted to know. He likes dogs, street poetry, playing dices, fun facts..."


    Street poetry? I wasn''t glad I asked.


    "Fun facts?" I asked instead.


    "Yes, well, not the type of fun fact I like," Aurora said. "Atticus and I like to gossip about the people in our books, like who was married to whom or which kind of weapon our ancestors used."


    "I like those kind of fun facts too," I said. "It''s why I use a hunting spear. Athanasios told me it is a weapon commonly used by Roos Blood Drinkers."


    They looked at me in that way grown-ups often looked at kids, as if I was cute. I didn''t really mind, though.


    "Well, the fun facts Roman likes are the peculiar ones," Atticus added. "Like the fact that dolphins sleep with one eye open, or that humans have been performing dentistry since 7000 BC."


    I finished eating in silence. Becoming a friend of the Speaker wasn''t going to be an easy task. So far, the only common interest we had was animals.


    I changed seat, and Cypress quickly took my place. I didn''t stay around long enough to see how Jonathan would take it, since it looked as if he wanted to sit beside Atticus too.


    Thankfully, there was an empty seat next to Roman. I realized it was Cypress''. Jonathan was sitting next to Minx and talking to him.


    I would have liked to have the guts to talk to teachers, but then again it probably was no fun. I could overhear Jonathan discussing the moves he wanted to try out with his sword.


    I took my new place next to Roman. "So," I started out. "Do you want to hear about that time I created a new weapon for Athanasios? It was a spear like mine, and it was amazing! It worked so well against the Creatures, and I was so happy..."


    My voice got stuck in my throat. Roman was barely looking at me. There was something that had tensed in his shoulders, and he kept stealing glances at Atticus as if to ask him to come over.


    But it made no sense. I''d seen him before. He talked mostly to Atticus and Aurora, but he wasn''t shy. He often got worked up about silly things, like before, at lunch, when I heard him talking about the music he liked.


    Why couldn''t he get worked up about me as well? I was a little bit silly, if that was the kind of things he liked. I didn''t know a lot of fun facts, but I knew a lot about politics. We could exchange many interesting information.


    I decided to go on with the story. There was not a doubt in my mind that he''d enjoy it, once I got to the end.


    "Athanasios had seen a rare beast, a... an Adne Sadeh."


    "Adne Sadeh are not rare," Carmela snorted. "Every time something happens, it''s one of them."


    I decided not to be let down. "Maybe it was a Leviathan, I don''t know. And he needed a new weapon, because his old one was being sharpened, so he asked me to create him one. Because I love creating things, and I wanted to make him a spear like mine..."


    "False," Jason said.


    Crap. I didn''t think he was smart enough to follow the conversation, much less give his opinion about it.


    "Dad would have never asked you for a weapon," he paused mysteriously. "Besides, I heard this before."


    I became very red in the face.


    "If you heard it before," Atticus tried to save my hide. "It means it''s true!"


    "Dad came to check him out many times at the market before he bought him," Jason replied. It was a long sentence from him, but the disinterest tone he was telling it in didn''t betray any feeling. "Heard him talking to the other orphans. He always lies. Makes up stories that make him look greater than he is."


    Cora and Evangeline looked at each other, and couldn''t help but laugh hysterically. Roman looked very sorry for me, but also sorry that he was at the center of the conversation, and not for his Speaking abilities or something.


    In the meantime, I couldn''t find words to defend myself. It was true -- I liked making up stories. But it wasn''t the same thing as lying.


    When I was first sold at the market, I must have been about seven years old. The travel from Russania had taken a very long time, perhaps even years, because all the negotiations had to be made, and I had blacked out my life from before.


    When I arrived in Ichor, I noticed most of the other children were even younger than me. They were scared, because we didn''t know who was going to buy us and whether they''d be kind to us. So, one day, I made up a story about my father.


    I had brief memories from my childhood of my mother. I didn''t remember anything about my father. He must have left before I was born.


    So, I made up this story and filled it with bits and pieces of the land I almost didn''t remember anymore. I also took a look at my file. Someone had scribbled that I was the son of a certain Arseny Vasiliv. I didn''t know if I''d even heard the name before.


    So, I created Arseny Vasiliv how I imagined him, and told his great stories to the other children. He had once killed a boar, and now he wore his fur as a cape. He had slayed twenty Leviathans, becoming the person in the world who slayed them more times. There was also the story about me creating him a new spear, which was very exaggerated back then, considering how young I was.


    I admit I might have told the stories for me, but I told them for the other children as well. They loved Arseny, he soon became some kind of super hero. And my street cred became significantly better, because Arseny was my father. The other older kids even stopped picking on me.


    But I should have known Roman would have hated that story. My friends weren''t children anymore, and perhaps it was time I grew up too.


    "How was the market?" Jonathan asked softly. He had stopped talking to Minx, and steadied his gaze on me. He usually had a cheerful vibe, but this time his words dripped with the determination I guessed he reserved for fencing. I felt very grateful that he''d done it to save me from the other conversation.


    He payed more attention to things than he let on.


    I didn''t like being stared at, so I felt very grateful when everybody returned to their conversations. I explained Jonathan the details of the market. I wasn''t sure it wasn''t something he hadn''t heard before, but I soon felt calmer. I liked explaining things.


    And maybe it was an impression, but I thought Roman had glanced at me once or twice while I was talking to Jonathan.


    I couldn''t understand him. Why was I more interesting ever since Jason had called me a liar? Or maybe he couldn''t stand Jason, just like me. It made me very happy to think we had another thing in common.


    "Next time you want to tell someone about the spear you made for Athanasios," Jonathan grinned. "You can tell me! Or even better, you can make me a spear yourself."


    I couldn''t understand whether he was really so kind, or only if he was treating me like a child. I was pretty sure we were the same age, and I was considerably taller than him, even though his face had a more mature expression.


    "Oh, don''t look at me like that," Jonathan said. Yes. He payed much more attention than he let on. I decided to remember that, if the teachers ever made us duel. "I just hate cowards, and I think Jason was a coward for the way he ruined your story. He was only jealous you would become more popular than him."


    "Besides," he added, something darker shining in his eyes. "Yesterday, at theory, he made fun of me because I''m not really good at writing. I also can''t stand people like that. It''s not that I''ve never practised calligraphy, it''s just that... I don''t know. I try, but I just can''t. Write or read well. And Jason asked me to read something in front of the whole class yesterday, and laughed when I did. So, I had to get back at him."


    "I hope it doesn''t bother you," he added then. "That this was the reason I defended you. I also think you seem cool. Certainly cooler than Jason, Cora and Evangeline, and I needed an Ichorian friend anyway. I already have a few Megleni ones."


    He looked at Cypress, and lowered his eyes when I caught him.


    "A few?" I asked. "Is Roman one of them?"


    He looked like I had caught him off guard. "Uh. Sure. Roman is cool too. I was mostly thinking about Atticus and Aurora, though."


    I finished eating, not really satisfied with how things had played out between Roman and I. That was okay. I had time.


    "Can I ask you something?" Cypress wanted to know. He''d taken a place near Jonathan that had just been emptied -- by Carmela, who, I was told by Jonathan, always left first to soak in the sun before the lessons.


    "What?" I asked. I found it difficult to look at his cold violet eyes.


    "Why are you trying so hard to befriend Roman?"


    The answer was complicated. I didn''t feel like telling it to anyone. I mostly didn''t want Roman to find out. What would he have thought about me, if he''d known?


    I shrugged. "He just seems interesting."


    "You should try less hard, then," Cypress said, though not unkindly.


    "It''s always your advice," Jonathan smiled at him defiantly. "But I tried hard, and now you like me, do you?"


    Cypress did not reply to that.


    In that moment, someone else joined us. My heart skipped a beat. It was Roman.


    Jonathan and Cypress left us alone.


    "I liked your story," Roman said, in the tone of one who''d been convinced by Atticus in the past half an hour. It didn''t matter. I still never thought I''d hear him say it.


    "One day, if you want to," he added. "I can show you my skills as a Speaker."

 Roman

    I was only doing this because Atticus said I should.


    I wasn''t looking for a friend, much less a friend like Matias, who had already managed to make himself look like a fool in front of everyone.


    Okay, it was harsh on my part. Or, at least, that''s what Atticus said when I told him.


    But I just couldn''t understand why people would lie about childhood experiences. I''ve had it bad too, and I acknowledged it. I guessed it made me uneasy to think about somebody who was capable of turning something bad into something good, especially if the outcome wasn''t real.


    But at the same time... I could only imagine what it was like to be bought and sold like that because of your Skills.


    And, speaking of Skills, Courage was a pretty cool one to have. Maybe that''s why Matias was able to lie with such convinction. Maybe he wasn''t afraid to get caught.


    Either way, he had done something to me when he had picked me as "friend material", and now I couldn''t stop thinking about him. I must have been lonelier than I thought, because I couldn''t get him out of my head.


    That''s why I thought having friends was such a waste of time. Honestly, I wasn''t even sure I could manage to show him my powers, if I got lost in his big brown eyes.


    "I''m going to show you my powers once," I told him the first night we managed to sneak out of our dormitory, and walk through the school unattended. "Just because you''ve been nice to me, and Atticus told me that the right thing to do is to be nice in return. Then we can stop being nice to each other, and everything will go back to normal."


    I said the last part hopefully. The night before, I had dreamt about Matias with his warrior make-up on. This strange friendship/obsession thing had to be stopped, once and for all.


    To my surprise, he just laughed.


    "What do you mean, go back to normal?" he said. "I thought... well, not that we were friends, exactly. But that we were getting there."


    "That just doesn''t happen to me," I said. "Making friends."


    "Why? Is it because you are a Speaker?"


    "It''s because I don''t like people," I said, suddenly uncomfortable. It was one thing to think about it, another thing entirely to tell it to an actual person. I actually felt a little snobbish.


    "I''m not people," he said, suddenly sure of himself. "You''re going to like me."


    It sounded like a threat. One that I feared could possibly become true.


    We decided to go to the basement. I wasn''t sure performing my powers during the night, outside of the classroom, without the teachers'' permission was strictly against the rules, but I was willing to bet it was. And I was generally good at betting.


    I spread my Board on the floor. The size and texture reminded a bit of a beach towel, but it was nothing to be trifled with. It was full of esoteric symbols I didn''t know the meaning of (I was getting there, Minx had told me to study them, but I always took a long time to get familiar with new concepts.)


    Of course, the symbols weren''t just aesthetically pleasing to see, I told Matias. The Board was magical, and its magic run through the symbols.


    "So what are you without the Board?" Matias asked me.


    "A Vessel for magic and spirits. What are you without the Blood and the training? If you had never found out your Skill?"


    I saw his eyes falter, and I immediately used that moment of weakness against him.


    I grinned like I was about to make a joke, and then I hit him where it hurt.


    "You''d be just a pathological liar, I guess," I shrugged.


    Matias blushed violently, and I suddenly felt really sick.


    Who was I to say this kind of things to people? If I didn''t try harder to be a good boy, I''d never be able to face Atticus again.


    "Sorry," I immediately said, before he had time to react. "That was incredibly mean of me. I guess I just wanted... to drive you away, you know? It''s easier for me. Letting people close is the hardest part. And, also, I think it might help you to know I''m nothing like Atticus. If you want a friend, I''m not the right person. I''m so incredibly..."


    Fucked up? Cruel? Insecure?


    "Selfish?" Matias asked. He looked like he was thinking about it.


    "I don''t think you are," he decided. "But I fear you might think it''s true. Now, unless I''m wrong, weren''t you supposed to show me something?"


    I turned every shade of red in existence, even though I must have looked like my usual pale self, maybe blue-ish.


    Matias didn''t look like he got the pun.


    I spread the Board, and sat on it, suddenly incredibly aware of my long legs, and how hard it was for me to cross them properly without getting them ungracefully tangled.


    I looked sadly at my shoes, but immediately stopped. My feet looked big and I didn''t know what to do with them. At the moment, that is.


    I took a small bag from my pocket.


    "I''m always supposed to carry two bags around with me," I explained to Matias. "One contains the herbs that enhance my powers, the other is a... trap for Spirits?" Minx had told me the exact word, but I couldn''t concentrate hard enough to remember it.


    "Basically, if I need to, I can trap a Spirit there," I added, unhelpfully. "I can then carry it around in the bag for as long as I need to... study it, or whatever."


    I hadn''t gotten to the why I did the things I did yet. Minx and Mira seemed to find them important, and that was enough for me.


    "Cool," Matias seemed to agree with my unspoken thoughts.


    "First," I said. "I need to chew on the herbs. They''re pretty strong," I somehow felt the need to brag. "It''s a good thing Minx and Mira started training me earlier than the others, because now I''m much more prepared for it. The first time I chewed the herbs, my eyes watered, and I got sick."


    The first few times, actually, but he didn''t need to know the details. To tell the truth, I never really got used to them. I still took them stoically, though. Showing off, I guessed.


    "We got that in common," Matias said, so quietly I could barely make out the words.


    "We both started training early."


    "How do you know the Spirits really exist, and they''re not something you''re seeing because you''re drugged?" he asked me, a bit lazily, after a while.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    It bothered me, that a Speaker work could be questioned in ways Blood Drinkers'' couldn''t. But I blamed it on the fact that he looked a bit sleepy.


    "Because of the things they say to me," I replied truthfully. "I''m not clever enough to make them up."


    "Anyway," I added. "I should be able to trap one on the Board temporarily. If it happens, you''ll be able to see it, too. You could even interact with it."


    Matias suddenly looked much more interested. I liked that look on him. He looked alive. I found myself wishing he could always look at me like that, like I had said the most interesting thing in the room.


    Or at least in circumstances like this one, where we were the only two people in it.


    I tried to find a Spirit my weak powers could summon to the Board. I was still too unexperienced for most of them, but it wasn''t for lack of choice. Between the Spirits still trapped on Earth, and the ones in the first layer of their realm, where I could occasionally tap with my magic, every room was haunted beyond belief.


    I tried not to think about that, normally. The way all those Spirits and ghosts existed. They way they were all tied to me. It was too much to think about. And I prefered the world of the living, at least until I still belonged with them. And I planned to keep it that way for a really long time.


    "When I was a child, it took me a while to know what I was," I spoke slowly, mostly to myself. "The Spirits would call, to attract my attention. They do that sometimes, to young Speakers. Most of them are trapped. They want to be used. When I channel their essence into me, it lays them to rest, or something along those lines, I think."


    I cleared my voice.


    "They just want to be heard," I added, voice fading. "Sometimes I feel invisible. I can relate to that."


    "How did they call you?" Matias asked me, and it certainly seemed, judging by the look in his eyes, that this was the most interesting thing anybody had ever told him.


    Well, except for lies, maybe. I didn''t necessarily think Matias would have picked up the habit from someone, but who knows. All kind of things can run in the families, even if not connected by blood.


    "It was like screaming in my head," I cringed a little. "Sometimes it would go away for months, other times it seemed like it happened all the time. As I got older, I started being able to understand some words among all the screaming. They gave away my identity, but I had never been really sure, until Minx and Mira confirmed it for me."


    In the meantime, the Spirits were coming closer to me. It happened sometimes. They couldn''t hurt me -- couldn''t touch me, really. But I knew what I must have looked like to Matias. Their presence surrounded my body, creating a faint blue-ish glow that my new friend, as he liked to think of himself, could probably see by now.


    "I think I finally found something!" I said, excited.


    The Spirit didn''t look like anything I''d ever encountered before. That kind of scared me, but it gave me an adrenaline rush at the same time. What if it meant that my powers were stronger, and I was able to connect to other kind of ghosts?


    To be fair, I didn''t feel like trapping that particular spirit on my Board. All the other Spirits kind of looked like people, like translucent versions of them. This one reminded me more of a Creature, it was hard to see what it looked like, it was like watching static, except that this kind of static tried to take some resemblance of a form.


    "Where is it?" Matias asked, jumping around. Then, he immediately stopped. "I didn''t scare them, did I?" he asked. "Can they be scared by noise?"


    "No, don''t worry," I replied. I was trying to call the strange apparition to me, muttering some words I had learned. I was so concentrated my eyes were barely open, slits on my hollow face.


    The Spirit approached. First slowly, and then, before I knew it, it took place on the Board.


    "I see it! I see it!" Matias squealed. Then, more sober, "Are they supposed to look like that?"


    The short answer was, no they weren''t. Now the Spirit had took a form, and it was nothing human-like. It looked black, in the sense of void of all color and light, and it was shaped like a miniature tornado.


    "No," I managed to say. "I do not know what this is!"


    "Shouldn''t you be able to make it go away, or something?" Matias asked, suddenly panicked.


    I was trying to. I knew some words that would do the trick, but this was different than anything else I''d ever seen.


    It was moving fast in my direction, and before I knew it, I felt like I was burning up from the inside. I felt something coming out of my eyes that felt like blood. Even blinded to everything that was in front of me, I couldn''t see nor feel the thing anymore.


    By the time I realized what had happened, it was already too late. The Spirit had possessed me! And it wasn''t the possession I was used to -- the kind where they gave me power in exchange for eternal rest. No, it was something hurtful, and wrong, and binding.


    It was something twisted. Something I had no control over.


    "Matias!" I screamed. "Do something! Do anything!"


    My own voice sounded strange to my ears, like I was speaking through static. And I felt something coming out of my mouth. I hoped it wasn''t more blood, even though it felt like it.


    I fell down, hard. My vision cleared, and I saw what had happened. Matias had thrown me off the Board. Quite literally. He must have picked me up to hurl me away like that.


    I was so thankful for his Courage in that moment, I might have kissed him on the cheek. Was that something that people do? I decided not to try my luck.


    "What happened?" I asked, hating how my voice was still shaking. Speakers, like Blood Drinkers, were meant to be brave. Not in the way people with the Courage Skill were, but our lifestyle was a hard one. We had to have a thick skin. While I, despite how hard I tried, was still too easily affected by every little thing that happened to me.


    "Your eyes were completely white," Matias said, and I could feel that he sounded scared too. That made me feel a little less alone. "They were bleeding black. When you talked, your mouth was bleeding black, too."


    Right when he said it, I felt a sudden urge to puke my guts out. I doubled over, and vomited a bunch of other black stuff.


    "Is this supposed to happen?" Matias asked shyly.


    "Yeah, that''s definitely supposed to happen," I couldn''t help but being sarcastic. I noticed I wasn''t sure he got the joke, though.


    "It''s not," I said, more kindly this time. "I should be able to control Spirits. To work with them. Even when they... possess... me, we need to find a way to make it work for the both of us. And it''s something temporary, that helps them release their power, which I take from them."


    Matias looked impressed, but I wasn''t sure how much of my explanation had really gotten through to him. It wasn''t his fault -- I was very bad at reading people.


    "Look at it this way," I said, trying to smile. "Normally, the Spirits and I... we kind of... have a deal. This dude, however, it''s like he cornered me in a dark alley and punched my lights out, trying to steal my money."


    "It didn''t look like it was your money it wanted to steal," Matias commented dryly.


    I coughed, somehow embarrassed.


    "Good thinking," I added then. "It worked. Without the Board, I may be a potential Vessel, but we lost our main link of connection."


    "Was it even a Spirit?" Matias raised one of his eyebrow. "Like you said, it acted too strangely."


    "I think it must have been some kind of Creature," I said.


    "But Creatures are metaphorical," Matias complained.


    "There is one thing that is in between a Spirit and a Creature," I grunted. "But they''re usually serious business, and if one of them is hunting the school, then everybody should know. Well, maybe not everybody, but we need to tell at least Minx and Mira."


    "What do you mean?"


    "It could be a Demon," I suggested through gritted teeth.


    "We should go to sleep," Matias suggested. "We''re both very tired, and the more we stay up, the more we risk people finding us here. I don''t want to be kicked out. I like this school, and Athanasios... well, let''s just say he wouldn''t take it well."


    "Okay," I said. "I''ll tell Minx sometime tomorrow. I don''t know if you noticed, but we''re kind of friends," I bragged.


    Matias surprised me.


    He took my hand and squeezed it.


    "Please, don''t," he said.


    "What do you mean? Mira and Minx have to know about it!"


    "And they will," Matias promised me. "Just not tomorrow, okay? Let''s take a little time to do some research. I want to be able to tell them exactly what we saw."


    "Why?" I just couldn''t understand. "It''s not like they''ll think we lied."


    "I wouldn''t be so sure, and I have been taught one shouldn''t lie. Liars get punished."


    Matias looked deadly serious. I decided we could do a little research. After all, he wasn''t asking for much. And he must have been scarred by something in his past that made it harder for him to trust the adults around him.


    I could relate to that. Thankfully, Mira and Minx were between the very few people who had my complete affection. Especially Minx, in a way, because he was a little strange himself.


    "I just don''t get one thing," I couldn''t help but ask. "If you''ve been told liars get punished, why do you lie?"


    He looked at me like I''d just hurt him. "I never lie," he said. "Or at least, I try not to."


    "What about your first lunch here?" I couldn''t help  but say. I didn''t want to make him feel bad, just trying to see where he was coming from.


    He scoffed.


    "That was just a story, Roman. Grow up, will you?"


    He stalked off, and left me alone to collect my things.


    When I was going back to the dormitory (I had waited long enough not to be seen walking right behind Matias), I met Minx Morris.


    My first thought was to tell him everything straightaway. But something in his eyes stopped me.


    He looked really worn out, and sad, like he had too much baggage already.


    "I couldn''t sleep," I shrugged before he could ask me anything.


    "I figured," he simply said. "You''ve never been much for sleeping, have you? Even when you were little. Too many nightmares. I remember you used to tell Mira about them. They were very detailed," he grimaced, as if to say my nightmares had probably given him nightmares.


    "Yeah, nightmares all right," I confirmed, a little too cheerfully. "Do you want to hear about it?"


    Thankfully, he didn''t want to. That was what I was counting on, but I wasn''t the smartest tool in the shed.


    "You should go back to sleep," he told me, tracing my cheek with his thumb. "And I should do it, too."


    He was already walking away, when I noticed his fingertip was stained black from where he touched my skin.

 Jonathan

    While I had started feeling more at ease at the school, and I''d had a bunch of useful conversations with Minx about fencing, some students still made me feel uncomfortable.


    The list narrowed down only to Evangeline and Jason. Evangeline had serious mood swings, and she was far less agreeable than her sister. One moment, she was very reassuring, the other she was cold and detached.


    Jason, instead, was a bully and didn''t have much of a brain. I wondered why he was even at the school in the first place. Of course, he had inherited Athanasios'' Skill, but teaching him was like talking to a wall.


    And then, there was Cypress. We had become friends, sort of, but I couldn''t really tell if he liked me or not. I knew I got on his nerves every time I asked a stupid questions. And I knew for a fact he considered most of my questions stupid, so I stopped asking them.


    I was starting to regret leaving Pablo behind for this new life. I could have been his apprentice, and, even though he wasn''t forging swords anymore, there was no real rule that said I couldn''t have grown up to become a swordsman or a forger. Instead, the Blood Tasks would change the whole course of my life if I passed them.


    One day, Mira and Minx gave us pen and paper.


    "You still haven''t met any Creature," Mira said. "Because you''re still human, and Minx and I can''t bring you along until you''ve completed your training."


    "We can''t even see some of the smaller ones?" Matias asked. He was the same age as me, the same age as the younger students, but there was something in his mischievious dark brown eyes and the spontaneous things he said that made me think of him as younger than he was.


    "Creatures don''t attack us," Cypress told him for the hundredth time. "So, size doesn''t matter. They are a manifestation of what is happening in the town at the moment. A Fadua might be a small creature, but it''s really the manifestation of a tsunami, or of plague."


    Fadua was another term for Adne Sadeh, which I had already recognized from the talks as one of the most common creatures.


    "I know that!" Matias became very red in the face. "But Leviathans usually show up when there''s something related to water, and Lilim when there are cases of insomnia..."


    "No," I broke the silence. Everyone looked at me, surprised. "That is not true. I don''t know what Athanasios told you, but it doesn''t work like that. There was a plague in my city when I was little. A Leviathan showed up. The form of the creature doesn''t mean anything, except maybe that the more common ones are the easiest to kill."


    Mira and Minx looked at me at a loss for words. "Congratulations, Jonathan!" Minx finally cheered. "You''ll ace the test, today. In fact, what Mira was about to say, is that you have to write down the name and the characteristics of the creatures you already know about."


    I looked down at my piece of the paper. I knew about the Leviathan. There was a couple of things that I could write on that alone that might get me a good grade.


    But I preferred not writing altogether, if it was possible. I looked at my pen, and gripped it hard enough that I thought it would break.


    Mira noticed it too, and she made her way to my desk. "Is there any problem, Jonathan?" she asked.


    I looked at the piece of the paper, at my pen, and at Mira. I suddenly felt very stupid, and I hoped it wasn''t showing on my face.


    "No," I lied.


    "I think I can tell when my students are struggling," Mira said, though she did not look very confident.


    "Okay," I admitted, lowering my voice. "I''ve never been good at reading and writing. I... I hate that. I''ve always wanted to be better, but it''s like my brain works in a different way. I''d never been able to..."


    Perfect, now I had trouble with words as well.


    "I''m smarter in Tallyard," I explained to Mira. "Words never fail me. A good conversation is like sword-fighting. But reading and writing... I was never good at that."


    "I understand, and, considering that I know you only speak Megleni because of your mother, I can tell Minx to go easy on you when we grade your paper," she said. "But, at least try."


    I looked at the other students. Matias and Jason knew the language, because Ichorian was only a dialect of Megleni. The other younger ones, they grew up here. The older ones who were foreign, like Carmela, had had plenty of time to learn.


    I felt as if I was sticking out like a sore thumb. I thought about using language as an excuse for how my paper was going to look, but decided to be honest about it.


    "Okay," I told Mira. "I will. But I told you. I''d never been able to write very well in Tallyard as well."


    Not being able to write very well was a nice way to put it. I soon noticed my essay had more words written wrong than the ones that had been written right. It looked like a mess. I wondered what Cypress would think of it.


    In that moment, I heard somebody behind my shoulder.


    It wasn''t Cypress. It was worse -- it was Jason.


    He took my essay. "Hey, everyone, take a look at Jonathan''s essay! His handwriting! I haven''t written like that since I was five years old!"


    "I didn''t know you knew how to write," Matias told Jason, looking impressed. "And we grew up together."


    It wasn''t of any consolation, since now Jason could write better than I could. The twins were snickering, and even Carmela, who laughed for just about anything, couldn''t keep her laughter from escaping her lips.


    "What is all the fuss about?" Cypress asked. He was writing on his piece of parchment -- he was the only one.


    He then swore under his breath, and started writing on a different piece of parchment.


    "When he makes a mistake," Evangeline explained to me. "He starts writing a new one. He hates making mistakes, and he doesn''t want his piece of parchment to be stained in ink. How boring."


    But I didn''t think of it as boring, if anything I saw it as the ultimate confirmation that I couldn''t possibly be in the same school of people like Cypress Macbeth-Spaulding.


    Who was I kidding? He might have acted as if we were friends, for now, but of course he could eat me alive and swallow me whole if it came down to it.


    I didn''t want it to come down to it.


    When Cora nudged Evangeline and laughed, "Imagine if Jonathan was like Cypress! If he started a new piece of parchment every time he made a mistake, there would be no more trees left with which to make the paper!", I ran for the door.


    I thought I had left everyone behind, when I saw Jason facing me.


    "You''re not running away because I made fun of your handwriting, are you?" he asked, pressing me up against a wall.


    I wasn''t often out of words, but that time I did not reply.


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    "Good," Jason said. "I''m not the only one who thinks you''re too stupid to study here. People talk about it all the time."


    I didn''t know who people were, but I remembered Cypress trying to drive me away from the school. Well, if Jason wasn''t lying, there was no doubt how Cypress felt about me.


    It was better to leave before you were left, that was something I''d always thought. Too bad I couldn''t leave my father before he left me, but I could do the same with everyone else if it really came to it.


    I went out of the door of the school, and never looked back.


    While I was walking in the countryside near the school, and damning myself for not having taken the easiest route, the one through the city, I heard something moving in the bushes.


    I told myself to keep calm, and that I''d done the right thing. If I had been in the city, Mira and Minx, who no doubt were looking for me, would have found me already and taken me back to the school. While my plan, my foolish, reckless plan, was to go as far as I could on feet and then hitch a ride to West Tallya.


    Easier said than done, but it was not like I had other choices. Even if the person who''d give me a hitch wanted to drop me in any other country, it was fine with me. I didn''t have anybody waiting for me anywhere.


    The thought wasn''t very comforting.


    The animal or thing that made the noises in the bushes came out, and I hid behind a tree. With my luck, it was probably a Creature. But, one good thing about the Creatures, they didn''t attack you directly. I could get away.


    However, I decided to steal one look at the thing before I got out from behind the tree.


    "Shit," I commented, because the thing wasn''t a Creature at all.


    It was a demon, and, under my own eyes, it had killed a squirrel only with its gaze.


    I didn''t know a lot about demons, but one thing was sure -- it was very rare to meet one.


    Another thing that came to mind -- Blood Drinkers learnt how to battle them too. It was less known than the fact that they battled Creatures because, as I said, it is a very rare occurence to meet a demon.


    Legends said you''d have to have the worst luck, or you''d have to have something the demon wanted from you. I decided it was the former.


    The worst thing was, I had read about that demon before. Its head looked like a bull''s, but with one horn in the middle of the forehead. It crawled instead of walking. And yes, it killed its victims only with a gaze from its eyes.


    They must have been hideous.


    The name of the demon was Keteb, and legend said it would tempt you with power and wealth, but I was not going to let it say anything to me, admitting it talked in the first place.


    How did I know so much about demons? Well, though I''d never been able to read very well, I''d had my mother read for me all the legends and stories about Meglenia, because that was where she came from. And Megleni stories always had Creatures, demons and Blood Drinkers in them. When she died, there was no one around to read for me anymore, but it didn''t matter -- I had learned the stories by heart.


    Something the stories didn''t tell you? From what I''d been able to see, it looked like the demon Keteb only had one eye, and on his forehead, right under the horn. I seemed to remember that there was a very rare legend that said the other eye was in his heart. I didn''t want to know how that worked, and whether it could use it to kill you as well as the one on his forehead.


    In that moment, I heard somebody firing a gun. I turned around, and luckily didn''t meet the gaze of the demon.


    It was Cypress.


    I grabbed him for the shoulders, thankfully he was smaller than me, and hid him behind the tree.


    "Jonathan...!" he said, out of breath.


    "What were you thinking?" I asked.


    "I was looking for you," Cypress replied, and I realized how more immature than me he was in some things.


    Or maybe, he simply was a better person.


    "What were you thinking, firing your gun at... that thing!" I said, exhasperated. I wasn''t sure the demon could hear us. "It''s a Keteb demon. They live between dark and shadows, and can only be seen during certain hours, of certain days."


    "And obviously, it''s the time you pick for leaving the school," Cypress replied sourly.


    "If you believe in luck, or fate, or things like that," I told him glumly. "My luck is the worst. But let''s not worry about it now -- that thing kills you with its eye. If you look at it, you die from exhaustion. It''s only powerful between darkness and sunlight."


    "How do you know so much? Why haven''t you written down things like that, on your essay?" Cypress asked crossly. I realized he cared more than I did for things like impressing the teachers.


    I realized that maybe, it meant that I had impressed him.


    "Because I can''t write," I replied, gritting my teeth. Why would he make small talk, when there was that hideous thing still around?


    "At all?" Cypress asked.


    "No, a bit, but not very well. I can barely read, though," I admitted. "It''s like not being able to read at all."


    "And you thought people would judge you. You thought I would judge you," he sounded hurt.


    "I''m not close-minded," he added then, with a certain disgust in his voice.


    "No, but you made it clear before how much you couldn''t stand me, and we''re different, you love reading!" I said.


    "Do you really think I want someone who''s the same as me to be my friend? Besides I thought we had already made up, from that last time."


    Cypress might not judge me, but other people did. I sighed. What was the point in arguing?


    "I''m happy," I said. "That you don''t judge me. I don''t like people who do -- it says more about them than it says about me. But now, how do we get rid of this thing?"


    "We wait for the sky to change," he replied. "You said it yourself it has power between darkness and shadows."


    "We might not have to wait that long..." I realized. "I hope this works, though."


    "What are you doing?" Cypress asked, when he saw me holding my sword in front of the sun.


    "I want to blind it in its eye," I said. "Why wait? It''s its eye we are afraid of."


    "Even if you blind it with such a trick as this, it will remain blinded for how long? One minute? One second? Are you crazy?" Cypress asked. He had no faith in me at all.


    The demon turned its eye in my direction, its scaly and hairy body crawling on the ground. But before it could rest its gaze on me, it made the mistake to look at the sword, that was shining in the sun.


    The sword acted like a mirror, and shoved the sunlight back in the face of the Keteb. Of course, one needed to find the right angle to do so, but luckily when I went to the evening classes they held in my village for the poorer kids, I''d always been good at science.


    I didn''t wait a minute. I charged, and impaled the demon first in its eye, and then in its heart.


    Cypress came out of the tree, and he looked weirdly impressed and tongue-tied.


    "Your sword... it shouldn''t be possible... I didn''t think it could be used as reflector," he only said, after a while.


    "It can, if you polish it enough to use it as a mirror," I frowned, when I noticed how it sounded. "Not that I''d done before, but I do spend quite a lot of time polishing it. I believe it must be treated with respect, almost like a person."


    "And you have to be good at it," I added, after a while. "Poor polishing can ruin the blade."


    Cypress didn''t know what to reply, and I noticed he was almost teary-eyed. It wasn''t a look I expected to see on him, but perhaps it was dawning on him how it was dawning on me how dangerous the demon was, and how reckless I''d been.


    "I promise I think things through, even though it doesn''t look like it," I said apologetically.


    Cypress looked like he was about to hug me, but then he only pat on my shoulder.


    I hugged him, and, while he looked stiff, he leaned into it.


    "Thank you for saving my life," he finally managed to say. "But now, you must do something for me."


    "Something else?" I grinned. "I saved your life already. Won''t you let me come back home, where I belong?"


    "You must be kidding me," Cypress replied hotly. "You do not belong in West Tallya selling seafood at the market. Yes, Minx told us about that. You belong in a school for Blood Drinkers. That was... easily the most amazing thing I''ve ever seen."


    "Coming from the illustrious lady Cypress Macbeth-Spaulding?" I teased.


    "It''s only lady Macbeth to you," he replied, in the same teasing tone.


    "I prefer to think it''s Cypress, to me," I arched an eyebrow. "I won''t doubt of your loyalty towards me anymore, Cypress."


    He eased his mouth into an uncharacteristic grin.


    "I thought you might be in trouble," he told me, when we could finally see the school from afar. "But I''d never thought you''d be the one to save me. I didn''t exactly have more training, but I was born into this lifestyle and well... I wanted to be the one to save you."


    "You can save me the next time," I said, feeling more cheerful ever since I realized that Cypress didn''t hate me, and he didn''t judge me, and he thought I belonged at the school.


    "I think it was pretty unfair, the way the other students treated you," he added then. "I''ll tell Mira and Minx exactly what I think about that."


    I had no doubt they would listen to him. While Cypress was not the best student, he had a strange knack for breaking the rules, teachers seemed to rely a lot on his opinions.


    When the school was finally in my sights, I exhaled.


    This time, I was leaving behind West Tallya and my old life for good. I''d never thought about it until that moment, not really, but it was a heavy weight on me to become a Blood Drinker, like my father.


    The man who left me before I was even born. The man who didn''t even come back for me when my mother died. I remembered my uncle telling me they tried to contact him, but that he declined the offer.


    He didn''t want to look after me. He didn''t even want to meet me. Weren''t Blood Drinkers supposed to have honour?


    Social workers did not let me stay with my uncle, because he drank too much, and so asked the neighbour if he would let me in. The neighbour was Pablo, a friend of my uncle who drank just as much -- he was only better at hiding it.


    Well, he was better at it back then. But, after a while, even when the signs started showing, nobody cared anymore.


    "I was thinking," I told Cypress. "If I come back to school, I want to become good. Maybe the best. I''m not letting this Blood Drinking job half done. So, I wanted to ask you something."


    "What?"


    "Would you like to become my study partner? We could spar together, I''d teach you a bit of swordfighting as well, since Minx and Mira said the best Blood Drinkers can wield more than one weapon. And most importantly...." I looked at my shoes. "In return, you''d teach me how to read and write a bit better."

 Cypress

    I had to admit it. Jonathan was really good.


    To be honest, he wasn''t good in any of the conventional ways I was taught you had to be good.


    But, in  a lot of things, he was better.


    First of all, he was a natural-born fighter. His skills with his swords were not only exceptional -- it was easy to see they were self-taught. He may not have known all the right moves, but his intellect and intuition made up for it.


    He knew half of the things I knew of, or less. But his experience had come from the streets. And it had already been proved he had a lot to give, he could defeat the demon I hadn''t been able to defend myself from.


    I was starting to respect him more and more, and, as my respect grew, I couldn''t help but trust Minx Morris more. I had initially thought the teacher wasn''t much, especially compared to what I had been taught at home, but the man had looked for Jonathan specifically for the school. It showed guts, and ability to see promise where it was.


    To put it clearly, I had always wanted to stray from the beaten path, and Jonathan Loreta, and Minx Morris, who both could do it so effortlessy, had become inspirations to me.


    Atticus and I were the brightest scholars, and we often spent time together. But we had too many years that divided us to be really friendly towards each other, and I couldn''t shake off the feeling that Roman didn''t want me speaking with his brother. It seemed like Roman acted like that towards everyone, but I wasn''t one to impose my presence where it was not wanted.


    Another thing I liked about spending time with Jonathan was that he was new in town, and had been immune to all the gossip. I found out I liked telling it, especially when it involved my own family.


    One day, I was helping him studying, when he said: "It must be hard for you to be at school. You spent the majority of your life in your family''s house, surrounded by people who already knew everything there was to know about Blood Drinkers."


    "Well, here I feel more free," I admitted. "Back at home there were a lot of expectations. Almost every person related to the Macbeths is a Blood Drinkers, and they''re all pretty good at it. They have uncommon Skills, and they survived their Blood Tasks without a scratch."


    I shuddered. Jonathan and I were nowhere near good enough for our Blood Tasks yet.


    "Has there ever been a time where you didn''t want to do it?" Jonathan asked it, and I understood what he meant.


    "Not really," I replied truthfully. "I mean, I get why you would think that. It doesn''t sound much like a decision of mine, does it? But there''s so much honour in doing this, so much justice... I couldn''t picture myself doing anything else. I always wanted to do something good, you know? This seems like... I mean, this is a good decision."


    Jonathan nodded, and went on copying down the words I had written for him.


    "But this is not the first time I spent apart from the Macbeths," I couldn''t help but say.


    "The first time I was younger," I added. "I was eight years old, and I decided I wanted to spend some time with my father. You might have guessed my parents are not together anymore. To be fair, they only had a brief fling. It was during a time my mother wasn''t sure she wanted to live as a Blood Drinker anymore. As you may know, Blood Drinkers usually have a partner for the duration of their lives. That is, if they find the right partner. I''m not sure how it works yet, but Mira and Minx should explain it to us when we''re a bit older. That wasn''t what my mother and father had. They just tried to make it work for a time, you know? Obviously, it didn''t. But here I am.


    When I was eight years old, I was pretty sure of what the Macbeths stood for, and what was my place with them. But I grew curious. What made me a Spaulding, if there was anything? I asked my mother if I could live with my father for some time, and she accepted."


    "How did it go?" Jonathan asked me.


    "Not as I had hoped," I admitted. "My father is not what you''d call a serious person. And he certainly wasn''t interested in making some good in the world. I don''t think he even had a job, or, if he did, it was something I wasn''t totally aware of."


    "Anyway," I added briefly. "That made me very sure that I belonged with the Macbeths. I wanted to be a Blood Drinker even more after that."


    "I''m glad you got to be one," Jonathan said. "Otherwise we would have never met."


    "I was pretty much destined to be here anyway," I shrugged. "You, instead? I''m glad you made it. I''m really, really glad."


    Somebody behind my back coughed. It was Atticus. I immediately blushed, even though I was sure there was nothing wrong with what I said to Jonathan.


    "Do you guys want to get a room?" he smiled. "Not even Aurora and I talk to each other like that."


    I was about to snap that maybe the problem was with them, but I did not want to antagonize him. And I did not want to give Jonathan the wrong impression.


    Apropos of Jonathan, he threw a book in Atticus'' general direction. Luckily, the older guy simply ducked, still smiling.


    Sometimes I asked myself how he did it. He was one of the best Blood Drinkers in the school, probably a young prodigy, he had basically raised himself, and his little brother, on his own. He still found time to hang around with a lot of friends, have a girlfriend, and joke around. He was always full of energy, no matter how draining Roman''s company seemed to be to everyone else.


    I had to admit I was a little jealous of him. He could be the kind of person I would aspire to be, if we were not so different. But he was too loveable for anyone to hold him any grudge. By the time he had left the library, I had already forgotten his silly implications about Jonathan and I.


    And, after all, that''s all they were. Silly implications.


    Jonathan was not making much progress learning how to read and write, and I was equally slow with the sword. Minx and Mira did not seem to appreciate the pact we had made.


    "We are a team," Mira told me one day. "It doesn''t matter if you''re not good with the sword, as long as Jonathan is around to save the day. It is almost unknown of a Blood Drinker who could master more than a weapon at once."


    But she had been the one to tell us to learn how to use different weapons, aside from our favorite. I guessed this was her kind way to tell me ''Drop it, you suck.''


    The truth was, as Minx told me as soon as he saw me, that most swords were too heavy for me. But I would not stop at such a ridicule issue. Of course, nobody else seemed to think it was ridiculous. Jason, during a lesson, said that I was the one who was being ridiculous.


    Everybody cheered more for Jonathan''s desire to learn how to write and read, because they all felt like it was something every Blood Drinker should know how to do. Nobody said anything about having other strenghts, or working in a team.


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    Atticus told Jonathan that he had to learn how to write and read on his own, because his father wouldn''t send him to school when he was little. Of course, Atticus did everything perfectly, and so he turned out just fine. Jonathan was a bit put off by his inability to see the difference in their situations.


    "Does Roman know how to write and read?" I asked him suddenly, when we were in the library one day, just the three of us.


    "Of course he does," he replied, a little gingerly. "I taught him myself."


    Jonathan groaned, but not very loudly, because, in that moment, the Speaker had entered the room.


    "Roman still has trouble with long words," Atticus offered. If I didn''t know him better, I would think he was throwing his brother under the bus.


    "That''s not true, you fucking Acanthoscurria hirsutissimasterni," Roman replied smugly. "It''s a spider, by the way," he added helpfully when he saw the look on everybody''s face.


    "I do not have trouble with words," he added darkly. "I have trouble with concepts."


    "That explains a lot," Atticus muttered affectionately under his breath.


    "It still doesn''t explain why you''re in the library with them, instead of being with me. I wanted to read you some of my street poetry."


    Street poetry? I really hoped I heard it wrong.


    "Street poetry is not really big where I''m from, care to explain?" Jonathan asked gently.


    "Basically, it''s a form of improvisation," Roman said, proud of it like he had invented it himself. "You have to walk around the streets talking in poetry verses. Other people can hear you, and other poets can talk back to you."


    "It might get gruesome," I added. "Or tacky. Being a genre of poetry invented on the streets, there is no sugar-coating it. Perhaps, the opposite."


    "Well," Roman conceded. "It was invented by a homeless man and his prostitute wife who liked to engage in verbal fights that rhymed..."


    "But the lines were pretty clever," he hastily added then. "And even now, almost fifty years later, you can''t consider yourself a real street poet if you just talk trash about people, you know. There is a craft..."


    "Come on, Roman, let''s go..." Atticus cut him off. "I''ll hear your poetry until my ears fall off. Deal? Just promise me that you won''t ever go on the streets to tell it to anybody else..."


    I noticed, uncomfortable, that Roman didn''t promise anything.


    I noticed that Jonathan''s gaze was following Atticus wistfully. I felt a pang of jealousy, but before I could investigate where it was coming from, Jonathan sighed.


    "It would be cool to have an older brother, uh?" he commented. "There were times where I really needed one. I guess I still do."


    He blushed a little, and copied more words. His hand-writing was starting to resemble sword blows, long, swift, and intricated. I blamed it on the way he held his pen.


    Thankfully, it was also getting easier to read.


    "Do you think Roman will ever perform?" I asked, uneasily. He wasn''t a proper Blood Drinker, being  a Speaker, but he was, as Minx Morris put it, a part of the team. Sometimes, he said he was the most important part, but I had no doubt he only said that to elevate his ego. Anyway, the idea of the town, and maybe even people nearby, not taking us seriously because of this... it was making me feel unwell.


    "I hope he does," Jonathan said. "If he ever asks us to hear his lines, I''ll say yes."


    "Suit yourself," I said, a little annoyed. Jonathan had become a better Blood Drinker in the last few weeks, but sometimes he still seemed incapable of looking at the bigger picture.


    It turned out, Jonathan didn''t have to wait long to have his wish fulfilled.


    "Roman is working on something cool," Mira announced a couple of days after, during lunch. "I think you all should hear it!"


    Mira and Minx seemed to appreciate Roman a lot more than it appeared to be humanly possible, especially for people who weren''t related to him by blood. I guessed being one of the few school of Blood Drinkers who gets to teach a Speaker too must do something to you.


    To his credit, Roman appeared quite embarrassed. But it was too late. Aurora and Atticus were cheering him on. Jonathan and I were silent, in quite different ways. I, for one, was silently horrified.


    Carmela was laughing, but she had a tendency to snicker quite often. Cora, Evangeline and Jason weren''t paying any attention to him. I noticed, surprised, that he got up and cleared his voice, after Matias had touched his arm lightly. I hadn''t noticed those two had become friends.


    Roman cleared his voice again, and started reciting.


    I''m a poet sent from Hell,


    My name''s Roman, wish you well


    I am here to send all of the others to the grave


    You''ll get it when you see the way I misbehave


    I really hope you get it before it''s too fucking late


    So get ready for the slaughter


    Call all your sons and daughters


    And trust the doctor


    To heal you before I build the coffin


    If I do, and I will, ''cause my words cut with ease


    Don''t ever think I''m gonna let you rest in peace


    I can Speak to your Spirit and never show you the light


    ''Cause my name is Roman as in "Motherfucker you will die."


    Mira and Minx clapped their hands wildly. Almost every student on the table was laughing so hard they were crying.


    "I think I just pissed myself," Carmela commented.


    Aurora''s smile was frozen in place like she had started smiling encouragingly and it got stuck there.


    "This one was almost nice, bro," Atticus said aloud. "Keep going!"


    Jonathan was clapping politely, and Matias was looking around proudly, as if to say Roman had been his friend before anybody else noticed how bright he actually was.


    As for me, I was almost glad I couldn''t find a flower pot to bury my head in. I wouldn''t have trusted myself not to do it.


    Roman stormed off. For the first time ever since I knew him, I could understand why he would do something like that.


    "Guys!" Minx said. "We are big fans of self-expression here! I want every single one of you to congratulate Roman on his poetry before this day ends!"


    Usually, it was a bit hard to take him seriously. But this time I could see he meant it.


    "Poetry?" Jason asked. "Is that what you call when a weak guy pretends he''s a big guy?"


    Atticus felt the need to salvage the situation.


    "Roman doesn''t really mean it, obviously. Street poetry is all about freedom of speech, and all the other poets often threat each other like that. It''s part of the game. You don''t have to see it as a real thing, it''s more like a play."


    "Well," I said. "I''m all up for it, but I don''t want him to go on the townstreets and really say stuff like that. Even if it was better, well... we have a job to do. And I expect him to become a better Speaker, who can talk to Spirits, not just metaphorically."


    I realized as soon as I said it how harsh it sounded. But the truth was, Roman wasn''t that much of a Speaker. I couldn''t understand if he didn''t try hard enough, or he didn''t want to. Sometimes our personal desires can lessen our powers. Or maybe, he just looked powerful at first, but then he wasn''t really much to be reckoned with.


    What I''m trying to say, is that his powers seemed somewhat limited. He was pretty great at a number of things, but had not learned much at all ever since school started.


    "That''s it!" Minx exploded. I was a little surprised, but I guessed I had crossed the line.


    "You get detention, Mister Spaulding-Macbeth. Now, come with me. Immediately." He added, when I didn''t seem to understand.


    I glanced at Jonathan, hoping stupidly he could get me out of this one. He just looked at me curiously.


    Minx led me to a room I''d never seen before.


    When we were alone, I noticed for the first time how weary he was looking. It was hard for me to get a good look at his face, he was taller than me by more than a foot.


    "I hate to ask you such a thing," he started, which was a strange start for a punishment, I had to admit.


    "But somebody is sabotaging... never mind, you don''t have to know all the details. Unless you already do," he chuckled. "Anyway, I suspect your family is up to something sinister, and I can totally understand if you don''t want to tell me. It''s your family, after all. I know where your loyalties lie. And it''s okay, really. I just wanted you to know that you''re safe here, and you can tell me anything. I understand you wouldn''t sell them out like that, obviously. But it''s worth a shot, isn''t it?" He patted me on the shoulder.


    "I know I don''t have your trust yet," he said, something breaking in his voice. "But I''m willing to fight until I get it."


    "And, don''t worry," he added. "Whatever happens... you won''t be blamed for it."


    The conversation was so strange I couldn''t bring myself to talk about it with anyone. All I could think about for the next few days was how my family had a plan, that apparently didn''t concern me -- they didn''t even waste their time talking to me about it! And, by the words of Minx Morris, it appeared to be something big, something that could potentially destroy Blood Drinkers as we knew them.


    I knew I wasn''t exaggerating. Maybe most people wouldn''t know what my mother was capable of, but I did. If it was true, if she still had a grudge with Blood Drinkers, things could only turn out for the worst.


    A part of me was hurt. My own family didn''t trust me. But I was also relieved, in a way. I didn''t want to betray any of my new friends. Especially Jonathan. We were a team. Minx had told me that, when my family would make its move, he wouldn''t blame me.


    I could only hope that was true for all of them.


    My days and nights got even busier. I had always liked playing pretend I was a detective, and now I had my chance to investigate something for real. Too bad I couldn''t find any lead.


    After I spent a week obsessing, I told myself Minx must have been wrong. It could happen. But, in the back of my mind, I kept myself ready to defend my true home.

 Matias

    The more the weeks passed, the more I realized Athanasios had not prepared me quite like he should have.


    The school was fun, and I actually made a few friends, but, most importantly -- I finally managed to turn the Speaker into a friend of some sort.


    I hoped he''d never have to know why it was that I wanted to be his friend in the first place.


    And I liked to boast with my vast knowledge of the battle skills and with my ability of the spear, but I noticed that Athanasios'' lessons had lacked too much in theory.


    To focus on the practise, he often didn''t care if the theory went through, and so I found myself saying stupid stuff about Creatures I usually wouldn''t be caught dead saying. Their size, their powers... everything that wasn''t ''attack, attack, attack'', probably couldn''t be learnt if you studied with Athanasios.


    It was refreshing, in a way, that my best friend was the Speaker. At least Roman didn''t really care if I knew things about the Creatures or not. And he was too busy thinking about his own reputation to even spare a thought about mine. It was not easy being Atticus'' weird little brother, the one who was not so good at everything, but wrote street poetry in his free time.


    If only Roman could have known how creative, and a stroke of genius, I found his verses. But I couldn''t tell him -- it was not the way we talked to each other. I liked better to tease him, since he''d never paid me a compliment since we first became ''friends''.


    I should know. I''d been waiting to hear one, and I''d been counting down the days.


    And then, Roman and I shared a secret. The Demon.


    At first, Roman didn''t want to keep it a secret, but I''d be dead before the teachers caught me doing something they might mistake as lying. It was not like telling my usual stories -- lie was something that I abhorred, and that the adults that I''d always known loathed even more than I did.


    Then, Jonathan tried to escape, and battled a Demon, and slayed it, and Cypress had been there to confirm that it was the truth. I realized Roman and I could have told about the Demon to the teachers, because they might believe it now, but Roman reminded me that the Demon we found was inside the school, not outside. The school they were supposed to protect.


    "Why did you ask me to come?" Roman rubbed his eyes. It was daylight, and Mira and Minx were preparing for the routine we''d have to follow once we turn. Blood Drinkers did not exactly lived during the night and slept during the day, but they woke much earlier than everyone else and went to sleep later than the norm.


    "I want to read you a few things I found in the library about our roommate," I said.


    "How many times do I have to tell you? You can''t call the Demon our friend."


    I shushed him. "Do you want people to hear the D word?"


    "Well," Roman looked uneasy, like everytime he didn''t get a certain joke or thought a reference was stupid. "Don''t call it our roommate. It''s not even in your room, much less our room."


    "It''s in our school, got to count for something," I reasoned. "Besides it can go wherever it pleases, I''m sure."


    "Okay, fine," Roman replied. "I didn''t think you were the reading type."


    I put down my stacks of books abruptly, but realized later it wasn''t the smartest thing to do. I should have been more silent.


    "Just because there are much more interesting things to do," I raised an eyebrow. "And just because I like to do them, well it doesn''t mean reading is not one of my favourite activities. It might be in my top ten, perhaps at the ninth place."


    Roman looked ready to call me out on my bullshit. I was relieved when he gave up, and didn''t reply.


    "I''m sure you know there is quite a lot to learn about Demons," I said. "The one Jonathan and Cypress met did not look at all like our little hurricane friend."


    Roman''s eyes became slits. It was easy to see him upset, but not to see him unnerved. I relished the fact that I could do both.


    I opened up the first book. I was elated. Finally, I would not be seen as the ignorant type anymore. All the readings I had done about Demons was going to make everyone who thought I was not the reading type change their minds.


    "There is a legend," I cleared my throat. "About a demon who takes the form of the dead at night. It can possess people. It is said it was the spirit of a giant who was slaughtered in battle."


    Roman looked at the first book with disdain. "I think those are children''s stories."


    I felt my cheeks becoming scarlet. Thankfully he couldn''t see me very well in the dim light. Roman would never become a Blood Drinker, and he''d never be able to see in the dark, not like I will have.


    I tried not to envy him too much.


    "Ah," I exclaimed. "Ah, you''re right. You really are. Well, I knew that, obviously."


    Roman looked at the books. "Is there anything good?"


    "Maybe we can learn from children''s stories as well," I replied, offended.


    "Except that I can speak to the spirit of the dead, and I''d know whether the Demon was the soul of a giant slaughtered in battle."


    "Did you know that there''s a legend that says that for each one of us there''s a shadow, a mirror, a demonic counterpart?" when I saw that Roman was about to reply something unkind, I held up my hands. "I know that it''s just a legend, I know! I said that."


    "I don''t know," Roman only said. "Why you like stupid stories more than the truth."


    It was a blow that was very hard to take. "I-" I couldn''t help but stammer. "W-well, at least in the stories I knew who my father was..." I looked down. "I don''t remember anything about mine. Or my mother."


    "Shit, I''m sorry," Roman looked guilty. "I just.... I just don''t understand why you''re fooling around with this Demon as well. Not that I understand when you''re doing it with your life, but it is your life, and you can do it."


    "You know," he added. "I understand if you feel like you have to paint your parents differently from how they were. I mean, I don''t think I would do that, but I understand. I think Atticus might want to do that, sometimes, but he''s just too honest."


    "Well, I''ve got," I coughed awkwardly. "Other news for you. Demons are jealous of humans because we have a body, and they don''t. This is why they possess us. So, feel flattered. The little whirlwind from the other day really wanted you for your body."


    Roman looked very bothered -- he was used to biting back. Oh, I had heard his poetry. He''d tell me he wanted me dead only to revive me, or something. But nobody must have teased him on that things in particular. Who could have, with Atticus around?


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    "Demons live on the Other Side, where they can hold on to something that resemble bodies for a little while," I added with a slight smirk. "They can tell the future, though I don''t think they''d be able to communicate it to us. But maybe, if you let it get hold of you, it will make you start spouting prophecies..."


    "I''m not cool with the idea of the Demon haunting me," Roman replied sultry. "Just because I''m a Speaker. Maybe the next time, it will come for you."


    "Let him try," I replied. "I am very attractive, after all."


    I didn''t know if I believed that -- it had never been a priority. But I would have said it just for the puzzled look on Roman''s face.


    "Another thing about Demons," I swallowed the fear, because this part was much worse than the ones I''d told before. "When they are not holding on to a body, you can''t see them."


    "We know that," Roman replied.


    "But," I added, "And this is the worst part, they can see you."


    We looked around the room, holding our breaths.


    "When they don''t have a corporeal body," I added. "They look either invisible, or difficult to wrap your mind around, like the little hurricane. But it is said that once they''re invisible, they have crows feet. If you sprinkle ashes near your bed, or where you think a demon''s been, you should check if you see something that resembles the footprints of a cock."


    Roman looked suddenly ill. "I don''t know if I want to do that," he said. "It seems much more difficult than what Jonathan has gone through to kill the Keteb."


    "The Keteb was a kind of demon, but it was a Keteb nevertheless. This is a demon with a capital D, you get it? The blueprint. The others are something near Creatures, that can''t be called Creatures, and so they''re called Demons."


    Roman nodded, convinced. I was happy my knowledge was showing.


    "One last thing," Roman started picking at his sock. "Why do their feet looks like crows''?"


    "I figure it''s the same reason why a Leviathan shows up, and you get a plague or an earthquake," I replied, proud I''d learnt the lesson. "Things that thrive in the Chaos or on the Other Side don''t look quite the same on ours."


    At last, Roman and I reached an agreement. He sparkled ashes on the pavement of the room where we''d met the Demon ("nobody ever cleans up this room," he assured me) and around his bed. I didn''t think Atticus, who shared a room with him, was ecstatic at the idea, but there wasn''t much else we could do. The Demon had possessed Roman, though quite briefly, so it could go back and try to take hold of the same body another time.


    A few days later, Roman set next to me during lunch. I beamed. It was the first time that he did it -- usually, I would invite him, and Atticus would have to beg him.


    "I have news on the Demon," he whispered. I looked around. He hated the nicknames I came up with, but he was okay with saying the D word all around the school as if nobody actually cared to hear it.


    He was wrong. I shuddered at the idea of Minx and Mira, or even Jonathan and Cypress, finding out there was a Demon in the school, and that we''d already seen it.


    "I realized there is only one kind of Demon that possess bodies," he said. "A Dybbuk. It must be what this creature was."


    I immediately felt very alarmed.


    "But I read about Dybbuks!" I complained, trying to keep my voice as low as I could while I was in the middle of freaking out. "I know how to make them go away, and it won''t be easy..."


    "We never thought it would be," Roman pointed out.


    "Yes! But... all the legends mention what to do when it''s already possessing you," I panicked.


    "Atticus told me that when people are panicked, you can change topic of the conversations," Roman said, taking a long look at me. I was shaking, and my breath was heavy. "So, did you know that dybbuk is short for dibb¨±q m¨¥-r¨±a? r¨¡''¨¡?"


    I proceeded to breathe steadily again. Not because Roman''s advice wasn''t trash -- it was -- but because I knew how to proceed. How bad could it be?


    "Okay," I said. "I feel calmer now. Uh... no thanks to you. We could become demonic bait and let the Demon possess me or you. That way, we will be free of it."


    "How do we know it''s still in this realm?" Roman asked. It was a valid question.


    "Because back then, I pushed you, and it got out of your body. While to banish a Dybbuk, we need to follow the procedure. And it isn''t what we did back then."


    "What the procedure would be? Hypothetically?" Roman asked. "Not that I agree with your idea."


    "There are four steps," I said, counting them on my fingers. "First, you find out who is being possessed by a Dybbuk. Second, you ask the Dybbuk about their story. Unlike other Demons, they are souls of the deceased. Third, the Dybbuk tells you their story, and you listen. You don''t roll your eyes or make snarky remarks. Yes, I''m saying it for you specifically."


    Roman rolled his eyes. I was afraid he''d say a snarky remark any time now.


    "Fourth," I added. "You say a spell. It must be some sentence in an ancient language, like the one you just spoke. The Dybbuk will leave the body."


    "Why do we have to listen to the story then?" Roman asked.


    "I don''t know. Good manners? Or maybe we can trick them into thinking we can help them with whatever they''re back on Earth for -- revenge, money, love, you know, the unfinished business..."


    "You would lead on a Demon?" Roman''s eyes became slits.


    I waved my hand. "Don''t be so bleak, I''m sure it will be much easier than we think it will."


    "Sure, like that''s how those things usually go," Roman commented.


    "Listen, do you want my help or not?" I became impatient. "I have no other idea. Or if you prefer, I could tell Mira everything, including that you want to keep it a secret."


    His eyes became very wide.


    "Like I thought," I replied. "Don''t worry. I like having a secret with you. I think of it as an unbreakable bond that will forge our friendship..."


    "How do we find the spell?" Roman interrupted me. I had the impression he''d stopped me on purpose.


    "I... don''t know," I admitted. "But aren''t Minx and Mira always saying that we need to get our books from the library?"


    "Where are you getting at? You''ve already been to the library," he snapped.


    "Well," I reasoned. "I remember, on my first day, Mira was giving me a tour of the whole school. She told me there are some rooms where first-year students aren''t welcome. Because we''re not Blood Drinkers yet, you see, and we know so little..."


    "Speak for yourself," Roman replied. "I know a lot about the lives of the Blood Drinkers, but I''ll never get to be one."


    I bit my lip. I wanted to scream, I hate being trained. I don''t want to become a Blood Drinker. If I could wish for one thing in the whole universe, it would be not to become a Blood Drinker.


    But I didn''t. It seemed unnecessarily whiny, and not at all something that would be of Roman''s interest.


    "One of those rooms act as another library," I continued my sentence. "Mira told me specifically, ''look for the books you need in the public library, not the private one''. I believe there is a deeper meaning -- perhaps you need a password, or a code, to get to the private library?"


    "And you believe the spell to exorcise a person is in there?" Roman looked curious now.


    "Well, let''s put it this way," I said. "Where else would it be? We already know that it''s not in the public library, and I would understand Mira''s reasoning. Exorcism can''t be something they teach to thirteen year olds."


    "Um, you have a point," Roman conceded. "We could look for this room together."


    "Together means you and I, you know?" I asked.


    "Of course," he replied. "Let''s not ask the teachers -- they would be too suspicious. This could turn into a great adventure."


    His eyes shone mischieviously. I should have seen it coming -- the rebellious Speaker wanted a quest of his own, where he could shine more than his older brother did.


    Not that Roman was jealous of Atticus, or at least, I didn''t think he was. Still, it must have been difficult to live in the shadow of an older brother people admired. Especially if that brother was your opposite.


    I shrugged. "Okay," I replied. "I like adventures too."


    I felt guilty at the idea that there was another reason why I wanted to spend most of my time with Roman. I was adamant -- he''d never find it out. Not from me. But what if it just slipped out of my mouth? I needed to be more careful.


    The memory haunted me for a moment.


    I was alone, on the streets of a city I didn''t know. Athanasios had just bought me, and I was afraid of him. He brought me along to one of his trips in Meglenia, because he wanted to show me off to some friends. He said he wanted to test my powers as the first thing, and he started beating me bloody. I went out into the streets, at evening.


    My idea, then, was to run away. I told myself it would work, that they would never find me.


    I had to believe it.


    I walked for a few miles, in the snow, but there wasn''t anyone around. I was beaten up, and hungry. Until the moment where, across the road, I saw a boy of similar build as mine, and his huge blue eyes turned around to look into mine...


    "What are you thinking about?" Roman asked.


    I looked at him, and I probably flushed. I knew Roman was not the boy from the memory. I was just imagining things, and it was a great story, like the one about my father being some kind of war hero.


    The truth was, just like most of my childhood memories were missing, the first years with Athanasios were a blur too. I might have made up the blue-eyed boy, or maybe it was an hallucination even back then, because I was too hungry and scared.


    "Nothing," I lied, relieved that Roman probably didn''t care to find out more than that.


    "Atticus has a map of the school in his room," Roman told me. "Aurora got him one, because she''s mischievious and liked to hang around the school when she was our age. Atticus didn''t do it, but sometimes he followed her, and so she got him the map."


    "Do you mean...?" I asked.


    "Exactly," Roman replied. "We can check how to get to the wing of the school where we''re not allowed. That''s where the private library is likely to be."


    I smiled. The secret I''d never tell Roman was this -- even if he wasn''t the same boy who gave me his coat that day, even if that boy might have not existed at all, being next to him made me feel safe, just like I always did in the memory.

 Roman

    When I promised Matias I''d get the map, I hadn''t really thought it through.


    Was it possible that I was too busy... showing off? Rather than thinking clearly?


    There were only two ways to get the map. Asking Atticus for it was the first one.


    It wasn''t complicated, unless he wanted to know why I wanted it.


    Matias and I had decided it would be best to keep the Dybbuk a secret, and I knew I couldn''t trust my brother to keep one. He''d immediately tell Mira or Minx Morris.


    The second way would be to steal the map. All well and good. But if Atticus found out the map was missing, I''d certainly have to come up with an excuse.


    I was busy lying in bed wearing my sunglasses to protect myself from the morning light, when Atticus came up to me.


    ''Um, Rome, have you brought any kind of animal into our room?'' he winced at the implication.


    He didn''t like accusing me of anything, given my reputation was already considerably stained for my age, contrary to his.


    I also didn''t like being called Rome, but Aurora did it all the time and I''d grown accustomed to it, and so Atticus mistook my tolerance for benevolence, and sometimes he used it too.


    Shit.


    I got up from the bed so quickly I almost tripped over my own legs, and stared at my older brother with a panicked expression, my sunglasses hanging out from one of my ears.


    He must have seen the crow''s feet!


    ''You don''t look... exactly innocent,'' Atticus pointed out uncomfortably.


    Fucking shit.


    ''Are you sure Mira isn''t preparing the animals for the trials?'' I asked weakly. ''You startled me, that''s all. You know me ¡ª if there''s something strange lurking around in my bedroom other than you, I wouldn''t want to sleep here anymore.''


    Atticus smiled crookedly. It was so easy to lie to him ¡ª that''s why I didn''t want to do it. It was like he felt the need for asking questions, but would purposely drop the subject, immediately satisfied, once reassured.


    ''I''m sorry for not trusting you, baby bro,'' he scratched his beautiful golden curls, embarrassed.


    ''It''s just that I know you''ve always wanted a dog...''


    ''Wait!'' I said, almost jumping up. ''We''re we talking about dogs?''


    I hoped he would blame my sudden peak of interest to my already well-established love for dogs.


    Atticus looked at me, his features twisting into something ugly, which I never thought it could happen, since he looked like one of this beautiful ancient Megleni statues of heroes.


    ''You are so easy to beguile,'' he laughed, which didn''t make sense for a number of reasons.


    First of all, he would never use the word ''beguile''. I was the one between us two who tried to increase his own importance by using words offer people might not know the meaning of.


    Secondly, he would never talk to me like that. As a rule. He would consider it bullying, and he would never bully me. That was one of the few things in life I was sure of.


    Third reason, Atticus was the one who was the easiest to trick between the two of us. I would never say it, and he might have admitted it only sometimes, but we both agreed about it.


    I suddenly noticed he wasn''t dressed the way he usually dressed. I hadn''t paid attention before because, I mean, he was my brother, and he could do whatever he liked.


    But he was wearing an elegant coat that gave him a noble look he''d never cared about having, and he was taking something out of its pockets.


    "Looking for this?" he asked me, showing me the folded map I promised Matias I''d look for.


    Fucking, fucking shit.


    I should have seen it. Matias had told me the dybbuk would go for a nice-looking host. I thought he was just teasing me, but there had to be more.


    Obviously, the demon had decided to haunt the most beautiful body in the whole school.


    But it was... unconceivable. Atticus would have noticed, he would have fought the possession with everything he had.


    "Surprised?" Atticus asked me, a malicious glint in his eyes, when he saw me put two and two together.


    "Yes," I replied. "Honestly. I thought you would have more trouble entering him."


    He winced. "I swear sometimes you don''t know what you''re saying..." he said.


    "By the way, being in this body is extremely comfortable and easy. Especially compared to yours. It was a real pain in the neck being in your particular brand of Blood Drinker. Hurt my essence all over, like I was being electrocuted."


    "I''m a Speaker," I corrected him begrudgingly. "And the electrocution thing? I was the one who was doing that, trying to get you out."


    "Gee, thanks," Atticus rolled his eyes.


    I didn''t think it was fair. That Matias had said that we couldn''t make sassy remarks or roll our eyes at demons, but, evidently, they didn''t mind doing it to us.


    "I''d do it again," I replied maliciously.


    "But I still don''t get it," I said, troubled. "He would never say yes to you."


    "You''re right in a way," Atticus replied. "He didn''t. He didn''t have to. He spent his whole life saying yes to everybody. Yes to his drunken father who beat him bloody, yes to your every whim ever since you were old enough to start talking, which was too soon, by the way. Yes to renouncing his own childhood in favour of yours."


    "That''s not fair," I bit back. "I never asked him that!"


    But, I had to admit, I kind of did. Taking care of me didn''t leave him free to pursue anything else. And I just went along with it, willingly. More than willingly, actually. Happily.


    "Yes to Minx Morris when he asked him if he wanted to train as a Blood Drinker, even if he didn''t want to. Yes to Aurora, even though he''s not even sure he wants a girlfriend in the first place. Always yes, yes, yes. In the end, it wasn''t even that he was easy to break -- he hadn''t even put up defences."


    "You''re lying!" I screamed, careless. Who cared if somebody else heard me? Nobody could talk about Atticus like that and get away with it.


    "He would never say yes to evil!" I added.


    "He didn''t say yes, but he didn''t even say no," Atticus replied, every bit looking like his normal self. "I don''t think he knows how to say no."


    He got closer to me, which didn''t feel creepy, because it was Atticus, but then again, I had to remind myself, it really wasn''t.


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    "You think he''s a saint," he hissed. "I''ll tell you something boy. Saints have their kind of righteous fury when they''re wronged. They do not lack spine the way your brother does. Trying to please everyone, who knows how you might end up. Might as well start pleasing the Devil, too."


    "You talk about him like he''s some kind of puppet," I said. "I won''t have it!"


    "And what can you do to stop me, ghastly boy? I''m not your brother right now. I''m not turning off because you push some button."


    He sat next to me on my bed. I didn''t know how to feel. Perhaps he wanted me to feel afraid, but I thought it had something to do with my powers. Even when I wasn''t using them, souls recognized me as the door that connected them to the living world. Even souls as rotten as this one must be.


    I did the only thing I could think of. I snatched the Map from his hands, and started running.


    "Hey," Matias greeted me in the room where we''d agreed to meet, the one where we had run into the dybbuk in the first place.


    "You look like Hell," he added.


    "Thanks," I said. "No, really. When you put it like that, you make me feel much tougher than I actually feel."


    He looked at me with some kind of concern in his face.


    "What happened?" he said. "And why are you in your PJs?"


    I got to give it to him. It wasn''t easy to guess it was my PJs, but, then again, it couldn''t have been anything else.


    I was wearing an oversized t-shirt with some illustration on it that looked straight out of an horror novel. And my pants, well, they were more underpants than anything else. Everything was strictly black.


    My sunglasses were pushing back my bed hair, or more like, trying to.


    Matias looked at me almost... wistfully. Like I reminded him of someone he had lost long ago.


    I stared back at him. He looked so beautiful with his training uniform. Out of all the younger Blood Drinkers, he was the one with the most lovely shaped body, scientifically speaking.


    I suddenly felt myself grow hot, and wished I had something that would cover me more than what I was wearing. My long and awkward legs must have been horribly paper-white. Not to mention my big and clumsy feet.


    "What happened?" he asked again, apparently oblivious that we were stealing glances at each other.


    "I found the map," I said, showing it to him. "And, um, also... the dybbuk. He''s inhabiting Atticus right now." I added uncomfortably.


    "That just won''t do," Matias decided.


    "Isn''t that what we were looking for?" I asked. "Bait? How is he removing him from Atticus any different than doing it when he''s possessing one of us?"


    "Because we still need the knowledge," he pointed out. "And honestly, have you seen the library? It might take days!"


    He set his jaw. "No, we need him out of your brother as soon as possible. And then, we''ll take care of him later!"


    I wanted to point out that we didn''t have that much time to do something not school-related, but I had to admit he was right. Not even half an hour ago I was running away from my room, trying not to scream. If Atticus found us now, nothing about my reaction would change.


    "I would dress," I said, after a while. "But I''m too scared of going back."


    "Well, I expect almost everyone to be awake by now," Matias said. "And, don''t get offended, but I don''t really want to be caught by anyone -- especially a teacher -- hidden in a room with you in your undies."


    "Yeah, you''re right," I had to admit. Despite knowing he was perfectly within his rights to say so, it still stung more than I thought it would. I couldn''t help but wonder if things could have been worded differently, had I been more handsome.


    So we decided to go back to my room. With any luck, Atticus wouldn''t be there anymore. But maybe it was worse imagining him walking around the school. Especially if he actually talked to people and told them all the lies he said to me. Atticus had a beautiful life, and the dybbuk wanted to screw everything up.


    "You seem distressed," Matias said at one point.


    "I am," I said. "A dybbuk just possessed my older brother. And only because I summoned him in the first place. It''s all my fault."


    But it wasn''t just about that. The things the demon had told me about my brother still hurt me. I wondered if there was some truth in it.


    It looked like Matias knew that I was thinking about something I hadn''t shared with him, but he didn''t press me.


    I dressed up rather soberly (I wasn''t in the mood for anything that could catch anybody''s attention), while Matias waited patiently outside the door. It took me a while, because my fingers were still clumsy when it came to nod my shoelaces, and I always had trouble wearing my clothes without getting my arms twisted up wrongly, or my trousers backwards at the first try. The fact that Matias was waiting, did nothing to calm my nerves. If anything, I could have stormed out naked just to avoid trying to fit in anything that felt bothersome to me.


    When I finally walked out of the room, I felt someone hitting me on my head. I turned around -- I hadn''t blacked out, thankfully -- to find Atticus, already holding Matias hostage.


    "I hate you, you know," I complained.


    He flinched. It was probably a demon trick, to show me how my statement would make Atticus suffer, and it was a low blow. I tried not to let it get to me.


    In the few seconds it took me to recover, Matias had already bitten Atticus'' hand. I realized he had to do it, because he was keeping his mouth closed, but it still seemed a pretty nasty scene to me.


    "Let''s run!" Matias told me, while Atticus was still trying to find his balance. Or rather, I believe the dybbuk was trying to find his balance inside Atticus.


    When we noticed Atticus wasn''t pursuing us, Matias smiled at me.


    "I''m a genius!" he said.


    "You''re a monster," I said, perhaps harsher than I meant to. "You fucking bit my brother''s hand! When Atticus goes back to being himself, the wound better not be infected!"


    Matias looked at me with something that resembled loathing. It suited him, in a way I didn''t think possible.


    "I''m not some kind of stray dog," he said.


    "That''s not what I meant," I said, even though it was kind of what I was getting at.


    "No wonder you have no friends," he stated, matter-of-factly. "But that''s okay," he added, more relaxed. "It''s perfectly fine for me to be the only one who''s going to support you in your crazy ventures."


    I shook my head no, even though it looked more like I was shrugging. The truth was, I didn''t know what to make of it.


    "Where are we?" I asked instead. While we were running away, I feared we found ourselves roaming in an area of the school I hadn''t seen before.


    "Don''t know," Matias said. "But it might be cool to find out."


    We were in a hallway, with many different rooms on each side. If I had to take a guess, I''d assume they were full of stuff that Blood Drinkers needed for training, or things Mira and Minx needed to teach. But Matias looked like he wanted to find it out himself.


    He kicked open -- lightly -- a door. I guessed he chose it randomly.


    I was right, in a way. It was full of stuff. But everything looked ancient, and powerful, and so fucking magical at the same time. For instance, there was a big showcase full of gemstones.


    "We just studied those," Matias reminded me, looking at the stones in wonder. "Each one has a special power, when used by a Blood Drinker or on a Blood Drinker. Granted, we''re not Blood Drinkers yet, but..."


    I could see in his eyes all the adventures he thought he was going to have in the near future. It was never easy to forget, once someone spent time with Matias, that he had been raised for this life since birth. Who knew all the things he''d already done, all the stuff he''d already seen. The school was just a formality.


    I heard some steps behind us and I froze. Atticus had found us.


    He must have decided playtime was over or something, because he jumped on Matias and I and we collapsed back, destroying the showcase with the weight of our bodies.


    "Do something!" I started pleading Matias. "Make him go away like you did last time!"


    "I can''t!" he replied. "You were trying to push him out, too. It won''t work if Atticus, the real Atticus, doesn''t co-operate with us!"


    "Okay", I said. "So what can we do?"


    "You''re the Speaker," Matias said, trying to avoid getting punched from Atticus in the face. "Do some Speaker thing!"


    There was no time to summon the Spirits officially -- I had to think of something more immediate.


    Then, I remembered a Blood Spell Minx had taught me once. Just for emergencies, of course. Blood Spells required the blood of the Speaker, and Mira didn''t want me go around bleeding to death just to show everybody how powerful I was (I might have mentioned I was going to do that.)


    But desperate times called for drastic measures, so I cut my hand on the glass that had exploded behind us, and started muttering frantically a counter curse, my hands plastered on Atticus'' face.


    It was in old Caedish, and it said something along the lines of ''Please leave the cursed person and don''t hurt them anymore.''


    I hoped my pronunciation would be fine.


    Atticus stopped fighting. He passed out briefly, which I hoped meant that he was healing.


    I took a look at the gemstones that had fallen to the floor. I picked carefully a topaz.


    "I think you should have it," I told Matias. "Nobody was going to use them anyway. Who knows, it might come in handy someday."


    He looked too stunned for words. Then he picked something up. It was a sapphire.


    I looked at him quizzically.


    "It''s for you," he handed it over to me. "It seems only right that you should own one too."


    I was about to say I doubted their powers worked for a Speaker, but I didn''t. I realized it was the thought that counted.


    "Thanks," I said.


    We looked at each other, half scared to death, half embarrassed, and half something I couldn''t quite put my finger on.


    We heard somebody coughing.


    "You guys better explain what I''m doing here," Atticus said, but he was beaming, which meant he was back to his usual self. I supposed he was happy I was with a friend.


    "You were possessed," I said curtly. "And don''t worry about your face being caked with blood -- it''s not yours, it''s mine."


    He looked at my hands.


    "I need to get you healed," he said. "Let''s go back to our room. Obviously, I won''t tell on you guys. Whatever you just did, you saved my life."


    I shivered, thinking that the dybbuk was still around, invisible. If Atticus knew it, he might change his mind about telling on us.


    When Atticus and I were back in our room I asked him a question that had been bothering me, being familiar with the concept of possessions, at least, scholastically.


    "Are you sure you don''t remember anything?"


    "Positive," he replied, slightly annoyed. I had never seen his green eyes look so sad, dark and unnerved.


    I realized that he knew how to lie much better than I had given him credit for.

 Jonathan

    I liked Minx Morris. I mean, I wasn''t like the Speaker, who basically idolized him, but he was a good teacher.


    Sometimes, it was hard to forget that not every adult was like Pablo. I''d known my mother for so little, that I certainly didn''t think of her as the blueprint for every grown-up I would meet in my life.


    Despite my efforts not to, I kind of thought of Pablo that way.


    "Your Skill is very important and one of the rarest," Minx told me one day after lunch. "What about training together to bring out the best in you?"


    "You''d like for me to train with you, sir?" I asked. I wasn''t expecting it. Cypress was already tutoring me in all the other subjects, except for Fighting Class, in which I already exceled.


    There was the Skill class, but it was more of a formality than anything else. The Skills of every student in the school were too different one from the other to really hope to get something done during those hours. Besides, Skills worked significantly better after you became a Blood Drinker, which wasn''t something that concerned us first-years. Mira and Minx couldn''t teach all of us in the same way, because a lot depended on what their own Skills were. Mira had Timing, and no one else at the school had it.


    "Yes, of course it''s not because I like you best," Minx grinned at me.


    I knew he liked all the students just the same though I''d been wondering whether he liked Roman or Atticus more since he''d known Roman since he was little and seemed to know about Atticus'' former family situation. But of course Minx must have seen some sort of potential in me because he already told me he went as far as Tallya to track me down, because of who my father was.


    I didn''t even know who my father actually was, not that I intended to find out. The fact that I had his surname, Loreta, and his Skill was enough for me to know. I found out I had no desire to trace the steps of the man who abandoned my mother and I when I was a few months old.


    Of the man who didn''t even show up at my door when my mother died, because he probably went so far away he hadn''t even heard about it.


    "I know," I replied, and I must say I was a bit disappointed, but not too much, because I didn''t really want the teachers to play favourites. "It''s because of my Skill. Knowledge."


    Minx nodded, looking more akward than he usually did. I figured he didn''t really know how to train a person with such a rare power, but he felt as if he had to. Perhaps he''d seen my father in action, and knew how the power worked.


    That afternoon, I decided to talk to him about it during my first private lesson.


    "How did you know my father?" I asked. "He wasn''t from around here. It''s my mother who was Megleni. Did you know her too?"


    Minx looked really sorry to let me down. "No, I didn''t know her," he replied. "But I met your father during a travel later in life. Blood Drinkers need to know a lot about magic and such, so they get to travel the world. Isn''t it amazing?"


    "It is," I replied. I tried not to think about my hometown, of how I always felt as if I didn''t belong there. I used to think of the whole world as my home, and perhaps I was right. But reminiscing gave away too many bad memories.


    "Look, if you don''t want to be a Blood Drinker, technically you still have time," Minx advised me. "Though Mira would say I shouldn''t tell you that. But I''ve been feeling guilty. I know I''ve convinced you to come here, and you didn''t have the slightest idea about what you wanted to be. But until you pass the Blood Tasks, you can still make up your mind."


    "I do want to be a Blood Drinker," I replied, confident. "Perhaps I didn''t want to, at first. But now I do. I think something changed the day I rescued Cypress from the demon. I really felt as if this was my place in the world, where I could learn how to use my sword to do more good than bad. I''ve always liked swordfighting, but dueling men brought more damage. I''ve seen it from the times Pablo fought in combat."


    "You''re getting better at Megleni every day, and you''re bright for your age," Minx told me, "I am glad. It won''t prove too difficult to teach you how to use your Skill. You see, Knowledge is very difficult to master. The Universe answers your questions, yes. But you must know what to ask."


    I became sad very suddenly. I''d never been good at asking. I''d never asked anyone for anything. And even in those stories of heroes that I liked to read, their powers consisted of punching, maiming or saving the town. Nobody ever had to ask, because things were given to them.


    I''d always thought I would have liked to become that sort of person, not the person whose super power was Asking. Perhaps my father should have asked the Universe to let him stay with my mother and I. How could he have asked for anything different, if it was within his reach?


    "Is all Knowledge of the world within my reach?" I asked Minx, taken aback by the thought.


    "If you know how to ask your question, it is," he replied. "Now you see why your Skill is so important, don''t you?"


    Minx Morris didn''t have a very sober personality. However, he became thoughtful and caring every time he was trying to teach something to us. And talking about my Skill seemed to have another effect on him -- I could see Minx was genuinely interested in the things I could achieve.


    Perhaps my father asked the Universe to help me, I thought, and the Universe sent me Minx.


    "Of course, in those lessons, I wouldn''t be surprised if you didn''t get to actually use your Skill once," Minx added. "It''s difficult already for Blood Drinkers to use their Skills when they''re powerful as yours, because it drains too much of your energy. You won''t have the chance to use it every day. But as long as you''re a human, even the Skills you can use more frequently drain your energy. Have you seen Matias when he tries to channel Courage? He still has that habit from his trainings with Athanasios, but Mira and I have told him he doesn''t have to use his Skill during the Skill Class, he just has to become more aquainted with it."


    "I''ve heard," I replied.


    "It''s the same for you," Minx studied me. "I am not even sure it is possible for you to use Knowledge until you pass the Blood Tasks. But you must learn to think quickly about your Skill the way you would in battle. I''m going to teach you how to think the right questions."


    I didn''t ask Minx how he knew what the right question was. I could see he was excited to start, and, besides, anyone would have known it better than I did. I didn''t even know what to ask Cypress in the morning to strike up a conversation with him.


    Well, there was a slim chance the Universe was less irritating than the heir of the Macbeths, but I didn''t intend to use it as an excuse.


    "Can I ask the Universe where my father is?" I wanted to know.


    "Why?" Minx appeared puzzled. "We''ve never talked about it, but you''ve given me the impression you wouldn''t want to meet him."


    "And I don''t," I replied hotly. "But I need to know. If he was dead... at least he''d have an excuse."


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


    "I don''t think he is," Minx replied. "Terribly important Blood Drinker. I would have heard of it."


    I nodded. I was glad Minx was giving me information about my father, however small.


    No, a little voice inside my head complained. Don''t think about your father, Jonathan. What do you care if he''s dead or alive? He''s never asked himself that same question about you.


    I tried with all my willpower to stop thinking about my deadbeat father. If I kept going down that road, I know I would have asked the Universe something about it. But it was not me who needed to take the first step. It should have been my father to ask where to find me.


    "I see you''re not really concentrated, today," Minx said. He looked a little sorry. "How about same time next week?"


    I felt my heart sinking deeper into my chest. What if my skills with the sword were all I had? What if I''d never be too focused on the task at hand to use my Skill? Perhaps Minx should have never told me about my father in the first place.


    The week after, I was eating lunch sitting next to Cypress.


    "You know," I started to brag, just to do something. "Minx wants to give me private lessons, to learn how to use my Skill."


    He didn''t look particularly fazed. "It makes sense," he commented drily. "Knowledge is rare. I''d be surprised if you could even come close to mastering it before you pass the Blood Tasks."


    I felt my blood freezing in my veins. Was it too much for Cypress Spaulding-Macbeth to pay me a compliment?


    "Having a common Skill is better," somebody commented, joining the conversation as if he''d been there all along.


    It was Matias, and I''d noticed he fancied he was a friend of Cypress and I. "Take Courage, my Skill," he added conversationally. "It''s not common like, for example, Charm, but it''s not one of the rarest or of the most difficult. I can already master it. It drains me of almost all of my energy, though."


    He winced.


    "Maybe you shouldn''t use it, then," Roman, the Speaker, commented. "You only use it because Athanasios taught you to, but you shouldn''t anymore."


    I glanced at them. I had never made my mind about either of them, and I was especially unsure how I felt about the Speaker. However, you couldn''t see anywhere Matias without also seeing the little creep hanging around with him.


    When did they become inseparable? Or was Roman who was doing all the lurking?


    "My Skill is Finding," Cypress said, as if I didn''t know. "And I never use it."


    Matias looked genuinely impressed someone had a Skill they didn''t go parading around. Roman looked positively unconcerned.


    I tried not to judge them too harshly. Maybe where Matias was from things were different. I didn''t know whether he remembered a single thing about Russania, though. And even if he did, where did his family come from?


    He didn''t look Eastern enough to be part Silanian, not like Cypress, but there was something in his lidded eyes and the shape of his face that made clear he was from the Steppes, the huge lands without grass that connected Russania to Sila. He also had dark hair and unsettling dark eyes, both very black in the shadows and almost dark red in the light.


    Roman was another kind of mystery. He was Megleni, like Cypress. Like my mother. But I seemed to understand he and Atticus had had a difficult family life, and I was not about to judge.


    Soon after, we were joined by Minx.


    Matias looked at him beaming. "When are you giving me private lessons?" he asked.


    Minx smiled fondly. "It doesn''t work that way, I''m not doing because I like Jonathan better," he replied. "I want his Skill to be under control."


    "Yeah, and Dad already gave you way too many private lessons," Jason commented to Matias. "What could you want more than that?"


    Matias tried to keep calm, and pretended he wasn''t fazed by the comment. But I could have sworn I''d seen him flinch.


    I followed Minx to the room where he gave me the private lessons.


    "Are you more focused today, Jonathan?" he asked. I could see he really cared about what we were doing. He wanted me to become strong, powerful.


    I found myself thinking that he was just like any teacher should be. Funny with the students, a little weird, but passionate about what he was teaching.


    "Yes," I replied, and it wasn''t even a lie. My father seemed very far from my mind. I couldn''t remember why I''d started caring all of a sudden about a man who left my mother die in a horrible way and did not even show up to say ''sorry''.


    "Are you sure?" Minx grinned. "Knowledge is a Skill that requires a lot of power. Even if you can channel it before you pass the Tasks, it won''t feel the same as when you''ll do it as a Blood Drinker. Well, that is true for most Skills."


    "I want to try either way," I said. "It will give me an insight on what I can do."


    "Good reply," Minx said, the gaze in his light blue eyes a little distant. "Then, focus on one place inside yourself."


    "You mean like my stomach?" I couldn''t help but ask.


    "I meant it in a less literal sense, though, sure, you can think about your stomach as well," Minx replied. "A place inside yourself where all the energy of the Universe is. You know, Jonathan, each person with Skills has energy stored inside ourselves. Some use it to become charming or strong, you can use it to connect to the Universe. Try and visualize it."


    I tried very hard to do so, even though it wasn''t easy. I started imagining it as a beam of yellow light somewhere near my stomach, and then it became all encompassing.


    "Intuitive insight," Minx started explaining. "Ask the Universe a question, and imagine the energy inside of you contracting and travelling at the speed of light."


    "Is it alright if I''m starting to feel... afraid?" I asked.


    "Yes, your mind does not have the power to grasp it," Minx commented, matter-of-factly, as if he was a scientist.


    I opened my eyes. I hadn''t even noticed I was in a trance until I did.


    "What happened?" Minx asked. "Have you seen anything?"


    "I''m not sure," I replied. I was about to pass out.


    "I believe you can''t do it yet, which is totally normal," Minx started reasoning. "You should have seen black for a few minutes, and then the answer to your question."


    "I see black spots now," I mumbled. I felt as if the blood was leaving every vein in my body.


    "So there are four phases," Minx started explaining me. "And you stopped at the second."


    "I-I''m not sure..." I stammered.


    "What do you mean you''re not sure?" Minx looked surprised. "Seeing all of it should have killed you. What have you seen?"


    "I saw black, I really did," I exhaled. "And then... a tree."


    I could make out Minx''s face for about a second, he looked disappointed, before I fell on the ground with a thud.


    I woke up in the Sanatorium. I didn''t even know we had one. Waiting for me to wake up there were Minx, Mira and... Cypress.


    "What are you doing here?" I asked. I tried to make it sound casual but I''m not sure I succeeded.


    "He told me you''ve seen a tree," Cypress said. He was Minx. "What did you ask the Universe?"


    Oh, of course it was what he wanted to know. He wasn''t there to make sure I was alright or anything. He was there to check if I held the answers to some secret of the cosmos. I didn''t think I did. The tree was probably a mistake.


    "I asked what Cypress means," I grinned at him. I hoped it would unnerve him.


    "I could have told you," Macbeth blushed, because he probably wasn''t used to thinking about he had the name of a tree.


    Mira laughed. "He''s messing with you," she said. "Are you?" she asked, trying to make sure whether I almost burnt myself from the inside out to ask something like that.


    "I am," I replied. Everyone in the room took a breath of relief. "I asked what I''m doing here."


    "I thought you liked being at school now," Mira looked concerned.


    "I do," I replied. "This is the place for me, and I came to terms with this some time ago. But isn''t that the question everybody wants to know? Why are we here at this certain point in our lives? I don''t even come from Meglenia, I could have been anywhere else. Why am I even alive? Does my life have a purpose?"


    "And you''ve seen a tree," Cypress commented, skeptical.


    "I don''t think it worked," I winced from the pain. "I was about to pass out cold either way. It must have been an hallucination."


    "Have you ever thought that maybe lives don''t have a purpose?" Minx asked, like an actor bracing into a long monologue about the meaning of life and death. He had the same raptured look on his face. "I mean, of course they do. But it might not be what you think it is. Maybe my purpose was teaching! Or meeting Mira. But how could I have known, at your age? I think we create a purpose."


    Mira blushed.


    "Of course, my purpose changes every few days," Minx grinned. "I love experimenting. And each one could bring the end of life as we know it."


    He looked manic enough to make me understand how Roman could look up to him. It wasn''t hard to imagine the Speaker getting caught up in experiments bigger than himself. However, I couldn''t help but ask myself whether Minx'' interest in my powers was something he did to pass the time.


    A person like him could never be content to sit on his hands and wait for the time to pass.


    "I''m not sure we should try again," Minx told me, and I closed my eyes, bracing for the disappointment. "Things are the way I feared."


    "What?" I asked, confused.


    "Don''t you see? It really takes its toll on you." Mira was nodding. "You are here to learn how to become a strong Blood Drinker and work as a team with the other students. We can start practising your Skill when you''re older and you''ve passed the Tasks."


    I felt very sad, and I tried to reach that point near my stomach to understand what was right and what was wrong without killing myself in the process. I just needed a gut feeling, a simple yes or no question to the Universe, without all the visualizing Minx had told me to do.


    But it probably didn''t work like that. Because my gut feeling told me that, somehow, the tree was not a mistake.

 Cypress

    At the start of December, Mira decided to teach us a strange, but valuable lesson.


    "As you know," she said. "Everything you learn at school will someday come in handy in the world, when you''re adults. I know most of you are already familiar with the concept of Balls. It is customary for Blood Drinkers clans or families to organize at least one a year, for every special occasions. Minx and I have talked about it and we feel that it''s very important for you to start practicing now. So, every 24th of December, we will hold a Ball at school. The older students already know this, and they have already taken part in at least one. As for the rest of you, don''t worry. It''s all just about etiquettes and dancing with your partner."


    Being part of the Macbeths, I had already been at Balls my family had organized. I didn''t take part yet, because I was not a trained Blood Drinker. But I was familiar with the awful amount of rules our species imposed on each other on such a gathering. The result was indeed fabulous, but sometimes the price to pay was quite barbaric. Even just in money.


    "What about the partner? Does it have to be your soulmate?" Carmela asked.


    Mira cringed a little bit. It wasn''t for the word choice -- soulmates were real for Blood Drinkers. And, contrary to the popular belief among the most gullible of us, very hard to find.


    "I don''t think anybody has met their soulmates yet, if any of you," Mira said then. "You can dance with any other student. It can be someone you have a crush on, or not. It doesn''t matter to us. In a regular Ball, I''d say you better go with the closest person to a soulmate you have... but Minx and I agree that it''s not necessary right now."


    "What''s a soulmate, exactly?" Jonathan wanted to know.


    "A pair of soulmates is the perfect pair," Mira said. "Romantically, platonically, and sexually. There is a bond between two soulmates that can''t be broken. Even as warriors, the two can fight exceptionally well together -- or the group, in case of polyamorous relationships. Their powers are stronger than an army, when united. Since most Blood Drinkers usually care more about fighting for the greater good, than about romantic picnics... let''s just say many soulmates found out about their bond while extinguishing creatures, rather than falling in love. It is, however, certain they''re going to end up as lovers, for no other bond is stronger than theirs. Many heroes of the past, even before Blood Drinkers were born, shared this special link. It is present in all traditions of demon-slaying, or Creature-slaying, techniques."


    Atticus, unexpectedly, raised his hand.


    "Does this bond really have to be... sexual, too?" he asked, uncomfortable with the idea. "What about asexual people?"


    "There''s nothing wrong with being asexual, the bond can mean different things to people who don''t experience sexual attraction," Mira said. "The same goes for aromantic ones."


    "That sounds too good to be true," Jason said.


    "Many things in life are," Minx said, rather romantically. "It doesn''t mean they''re not real. Who came up with the idea that good didn''t exist?"


    "Roman, probably," commented Aurelia, a bit flushed.


    "Speaking of Roman," the Speaker said. "Do we have this mating thing, too?"


    Mira chuckled, which I found a rather optimistic approach to the kid''s awful humor.


    "Yes," she said. "Speakers can be bound to Blood Drinkers. Or to another Speaker, but they''re very rare to find nowadays, aren''t they?"


    "It''s not like I''m in any hurry," Roman promised Mira.


    I suddenly asked myself if Atticus was thinking about his brother when he had asked the question. Roman seemed likely to be asexual, to a thirteen-year-old me.


    I had never given much credit to soulmates, either. I didn''t know anybody who had found the one. My mother had ridiculously settled on my father, who was an asshole, and wasn''t even one of us, before giving up on romance forever. And she was the most Blood Drinker-y Blood Drinker I knew. I found unrealistic that she wouldn''t have traveled the world in pursue of something like that, if only to boost her own powers.


    Anyway, I kept my thoughts to myself. It seemed to me rather rude to voice them, when it was obvious that Mira and Minx had found each other. I had seen them fight side by side, and they were incredibly terrifying, in a good way.


    I was studying with Atticus at the library, when he said something. "Can I tell you a secret?"


    I wasn''t sure if I felt like keeping it, but it seemed rude to point it out, so I didn''t.


    "Yes, sure," I half-mouthed distractedly, so that could not pass for a much convinced response.


    He didn''t get the hint.


    "Aurelia and I," he winced.


    "You''re going to the Ball together," I couldn''t help but snap. Ever since Mira had told us about the stupid Ball, I had not found the courage to invite anyone.


    "I mean, that''s hardly a secret, isn''t it?" I couldn''t help but add. "I assume that''s what you always do, giving you''re the only official couple and all. And no offense, it''s not like I don''t care about your perfect life, but sometimes you got to put yourself in other people''s shoes. Unless you were about to plead me to go with Roman, that would make sense. But thanks no thanks."


    For a second, I glanced above my book, and I was scared by what I saw. The look on Atticus'' face could only be described as murderous.


    But then, he smiled sweetly. And it felt like the calm before the storm, but it meant that my friend was back into his carefree self. Or at least, I hoped so.


    "You''re right," he waved his hand, as if to say all trouble was forgotten. "And anyway, I stumbled upon Matias and Jason earlier. They were arguing that Athanasios had written them both a letter, saying they''d be grounded forever if they didn''t find a partner for the Ball. When I approached them, Matias quickly said he had already someone in mind. So I asked Jason to go with Roman. You know, as mates."


    "Do you really think so little of your brother that you think he wouldn''t have found anybody else to go with?" I couldn''t help but ask.


    "You know it''s not like that," Atticus argued. "It''s just that Roman would have never asked anyone willingly, and in this way, Jason is happy too. I also promised to do some of his homework, which can''t hurt."


    "Wait, whose homework?" I couldn''t help but ask.


    "Jason''s," he replied hastily. "Speakers get different homework."


    "Did Matias mention the person he had in mind?" I asked him. I suddenly feared he would beat me to asking my favorite student out.


    "As a matter of fact, no," Atticus reasoned. "I think he was lying, though. He looked especially green once I told Jason what I had in mind."


    "Couldn''t you pair him with Roman?" I asked. "He''s much nicer, and he''s like Roman''s only friend here."


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    "That would have been troublesome," he admitted. "It wouldn''t be the first time that Roman would accuse me of pimping him to Matias."


    I decided I didn''t want to know the specifics, even though, knowing Roman, it wouldn''t be this bad. He would loathe the thought of even eating an ice cream with anybody.


    "Have you asked anyone?" Atticus asked me.


    "Not yet," I feigned indifference. The truth was, I wanted to be the one who got asked, as humiliating as it might have sounded said out loud. That way I would know the other person really wanted to go with me, and they didn''t say yes just out of pity.


    "Just a heads up," he joked. "Mira and Minx usually dance together."


    After we learned some dance moves, (Mira insisted we absolutely had to, and it wasn''t a very big deal for me -- I''d already knew a few, anyway.) I approached Jonathan in the hall. He had been hard to spot that week. I reckoned it was because he spent a lot of time studying, practicing, engaging in social interaction, and talking to Minx Morris.


    If I had to tell the truth, I was pleased about that, even if it meant we saw each other less. With the Blood Tasks coming up, it was necessary for him to give his absolute best. I just wished other students would try so hard.


    Anyway, as soon as I approached him, he hastily hid something behind his back.


    "Hi," I said. "What is that hideous hat you''re hiding?"


    I may have said something different, but I had a knack for telling the truth, sarcastic raising of the eyebrows included.


    "This," he coughed. "This is a feather hat."


    He showed it to me. The feather was blood red, probably dyed, and the hat was black.


    "It''s very fashionable where I come from," he excused himself. "Actually, it took me a while to find one here. I was hoping to wear it at the Ball."


    It took me a minute to understand which would be the crueler course of action -- advise him not to wear it, against his wishes, or let him do as his heart desired, and face the consequences.


    "You don''t think it''s cool," he scoffed.


    "No, it''s not like that," I tried to amend. "I just don''t see why anyone would want to wear it at a Ball... or at all..."


    "You''re speaking of the Ball, aren''t you?" Carmela said. She must have noticed us talking to each other, and came up when neither of us was watching their back.


    I suddenly felt a bit feverish. What if she was here to ask somebody out?


    "I already have a date," she clarified. "But, I''ve asked around, and I don''t think either one of you does, am I right? Maybe you should just... I don''t know... hook up together."


    When I was about to reply something snarky, she stopped me.


    "Really, Cypress? I''m only doing it for you. I know how much education means to you, and this Ball is not like any party. Mira and Minx made it clear it''s also some kind of test. I seriously doubt they''ll be happy if somebody comes without a partner."


    "It works for me," Jonathan said. "Cypress and I are friends already."


    He glared at me, though. I could figure out what that meant -- he was going to wear the hat, even if his date didn''t like it.


    "It''s perfectly fine for me," I said.


    "It works," Carmela mused. "Even for the dancing. You are not too bad, and Jonathan is good enough for two people put together."


    I had to admit she was right. And that wasn''t how I had planned to go to the Ball. I wanted to be asked to something like that. But it was too late for that, anyway. I wasn''t one to dwell on their misfortunes, still I couldn''t help but ask myself -- would anybody ever invite me out of their own free will? Was it even in the cards for me?


    The night of the Ball eventually arrived. The most dashing couple, apart from Minx and Mira, was Atticus and Aurora, obviously. She was less pretty than he was, which many people would have frowned upon, but it worked for them, that she had the sharpest edges.


    To counterbalance her features, she was wearing a very delicate and feminine dress, pale pink in color. Atticus was wearing a suit. It was obviously second hand, and it didn''t compliment his coloring. It made me guess it was probably the only one they had in his size. He managed to look handsome anyway.


    Roman trailed behind him, with no partner in sight. It almost made me feel sorry for him. Especially if Carmela was right, and this was some sort of test. His suit made him look like a scarecrow, and the trousers were too short for his legs, looking almost like Bermuda shorts. He had his wildly-panicky look in his eyes, and his movements were a bit out of place. He really looked like the whole thing was taking a toll on him, even though it was hard to understand why.


    After a while, he approached Jason. So they were going to dance together. The thought almost made me sweat with second hand embarrassment.


    I was still looking for Jonathan. The Ball was held outside, and I was cold. My outfit had been a mistake. I wasn''t sure I was ready to be seen like that. I was wearing a shirt and a blazer, but instead of the suit trousers, I had opted for a chiffon skirt. A lot of students looked at me a bit strangely, maybe because my hair was tied up in a bun. Everything I was wearing was strictly black. It was hard to find colors that can complement a pale shade of olive skin, honey-blond hair, and violet eyes all at the same time. Black always did the trick.


    "You do know that Blood Drinkers have always to be ready for battle? What if Creatures decide to come out of the shadows?" Jason asked me unkindly, as he and Roman spun lazily in my direction. Roman kept stepping on Jason''s feet, and, even though he could totally be clumsy enough, I felt like almost half of the time he was doing it on purpose.


    "I can kick ass in a skirt, if that''s what you''re asking," I replied dryly, and loud enough to get an encouraging thumbs-up from Mira, who was wearing a Victorian dress.


    I suddenly saw Jonathan. He looked like he had just woken up. He must have fallen asleep while studying. The idea that this was the reason he was late made me dizzy with relief. For a second, I feared he was going to stand up on me.


    "You look beautiful," he told me, startled. His voice surprised me. He hadn''t said it in the way someone talk when they reach a revelation. It sounded more rehearsed, like he was waiting to tell me for a long time.


    It was probably wishful thinking, but it made me feel braver.


    "So are you," I said, caressing his feather hat. He really could pull it off, to hell with him and his charm.


    "I thought friends could go as friends," Jason, who was still in the vicinity, complained. "I don''t want to have to start flirting with a man!"


    Roman froze, and flinched, but just barely. I wondered if he had been hurt. He had never seemed to me the type to care what other people thought, especially bullies like Jason.


    Seeing Roman suddenly reminded me of Matias. The two spent basically every moment together, though I could not understand exactly why. I would guess they were friends, but Roman struck me as the kind of person who ''doesn''t do friends''.


    I searched for Matias while Jonathan and I were dancing. It took me a while, but I saw him with Carmela! That was strange. I never thought the two had anything in common. Well, neither Jason and Roman had, but Atticus had been the one to pair them up.


    Matias was wearing a suit, but his shirt was unbottoned, and it wasn''t tucked in in his trousers. He wore make-up, but not like Aurora would wear it, and neither like I would wear it. It was colorful, and all over his face, and it looked like a custom of his people. Maybe it was. His hair was in a mess of curls. It struck me as odd that it took me so long to notice him before.


    The strangest thing about him, though, was that he wasn''t dancing. He just kept going everywhere excitely, dragging a recluctant Carmela behind him. I thought I heard him saying something along the lines that he wanted to look at the stars.


    Jonathan followed my gaze slowly, and so did the couple next to us. Jason and Roman, obviously. Why couldn''t they move further? I knew there were only so many students, but honestly, I didn''t want Jason any nearer than absolutely necessary.


    To be completely honest, I wasn''t sure Jason could move anymore. Roman had done anything short of knocking him out, and I wasn''t sure Jason''s feet still worked.


    When Jason took a look at Matias, a cruel smile spread on his face.


    "Look at that freak," he said, loud enough for everybody to hear.


    Matias, who was holding a beautiful butterfly on the tip of his finger, turned around, startled and blushing.


    A few people laughed.


    That''s when I heard a crack.


    Roman had punched Jason right in the face, like one would do at a street-fight.


    Perhaps I had been optimistic when I said he hadn''t knocked him out, I thought. Not yet.


    The following day, Minx interrupted the lessons to talk about what happened. I knew Roman was the one at fault here, and technically there was nothing exceptionally wrong with name-calling, but I still thought unfair that Jason could get away with bullying people like that.


    "Violence is not the answer," Minx was saying. "Not on other human beings, and certainly not on fellow Blood Drinkers. We need to work as a team. You haven''t seen the worst dangers life has to offer. When you do, you''ll be glad to have someone you can stick together with. And you still haven''t learned your full potential. When you do, I don''t want any fight happening ever between any of you. IS THAT CLEAR?"


    He screamed the last part a little maniacally.


    I understood what he meant. Jason''s Skill was Force. If he wanted to take revenge on Roman once he fully possessed it, he would reduce the other guy to a pulp.


    Then Minx stormed out of the room, hands in his hair.


    I had never seen him so out of it. It didn''t look like the punch was the only thing on his mind.


    At the end of the lesson, Mira gathered me, Jonathan, Matias, and Roman. For some reason, since Carmela had already left when the accident happened, we looked like we were the main culprits, outside of Jason.


    "I just wanted you to know that I don''t necessarily agree with Dominic''s words," she said. "I think Jason has gone on too long bullying everybody, and he deserved to get punched for calling another kid a freak. This might be violence, but so is what he did."


    We were all at a loss for words, but Jonathan recovered quickly.


    He said, "I would never thought you wouldn''t stand up for your soulmate!"


    I was about to say that it wasn''t how it worked, when Mira said something that changed my whole perspective on everything.


    "But Minx and I aren''t soulmates, you see," she replied bitterly.

 Matias

    The last thing I was expecting to find at school after the party was Athanasios talking to Minx and Mira.


    I was still in my PJs, and I hid quickly behind a column when I saw him from afar. I felt cold chills all over my body. There was no question why he was here.


    He must have heard about the punch Roman had given Jason, and he must have thought I had something to do with it.


    And I did have something to do with it, I guess. At least that''s what Penelope would have said if she was there. She would have wrinkled her nose, and she would have said, ''well, perhaps if you hadn''t insisted on wearing that cheap make-up all over your face...''


    I decided I did not need a Penelope inside my head to ruin my day, when her husband was a few feet away from me talking to my teachers.


    I imagined Athanasios trying to swing a punch at me, taunting me, to use my powers. Matias, let''s see how courageous you are now...


    Before I could lose myself in distracting thoughts about my family, a voice brought me back to Earth.


    "Isn''t that your adoptive father?" Jonathan was asking me.


    I nodded slowly. I didn''t want Athanasios to hear us. And Jonathan looked like someone who had a good heart, but he was reckless and he didn''t think things through, and I didn''t know if he was someone I wanted to have on my side in that exact moment.


    "Don''t worry," Jonathan commented naively, crossing his arms and leaning against the column. "He''s surely not here for you. He must be here for Jason, because of the way he behaved."


    "You know very little of Athanasios, then," I said, my heart skipping a beat, because I wasn''t used to talking about him in that tone.


    Other kids had been sold to houses or working places far worse than mine. I had to remind myself that I was grateful that, after all, it was only Athanasios and Penelope who had brought me in. I never had to live in the streets, well, not anymore, I never had to fight for food, join a criminal organization or sell my body.


    There were things that were far, far worse. Then why wasn''t I feeling exactly grateful in that moment?


    "Like his paintings," I blurted out, to amend what I''d done. "You know nothing of Athanasios'' paintings."


    Jonathan''s teal eyes were looking into mine in a way that made me ask whether he really spoke Megleni after all. He seemed one hundred percent confused.


    He tilted his head. "Does Athanasios paint?"


    "Ah, I wish," I joked. "He poses for portraits. He has one for every time he''s changed style or haircut. He also has portraits that represent him surrounded by things he doesn''t have anymore. Sometimes he''ll be like, when I was five years old I only had a wooden soldier, I did not have as many toys as you have, Jason. And next thing you know, he''s taking some portrait off the wall and showing you an oil painting of a chubby five-year-old with a wooden soldier in his hands, who''s eating from the three-legged-table he''s always telling us about."


    Jonathan raised an eyebrow, then thought better of it and started chuckling, unsure.


    I know what he must have thought. It did not sound too far off from the stories I made up about my father. My entire face became red.


    "I swear I''m not making it up!" I pleaded. "Not this time. Athanasios'' paintings are one of the worst things in this world."


    Jonathan seemed convinced. "I believe you," he said. "And good luck with Athanasios, whatever he wants from you or Jason. Yesterday... you looked pretty cool."


    "Really?" I asked.


    "Yeah, sure... you''re... pretty," Jonathan winced, like he wasn''t convinced it was the best word to describe a boy. "What I mean is, you have a nice composure around people."


    I wasn''t sure Jonathan knew how much those things didn''t sound exactly like compliments, so I didn''t tell him. I valued his opinion, but there were other students that I hoped I impressed more.


    "Anyway, see you," he added, waving his hand as if he still had his feather hat and he was paying me his respects. "I need to talk to Cypress about today''s lesson. He tutors me, you know?"


    I didn''t know, and I was wondering what one of them could possibly enjoy about the other, since they were both good people but very different from one another. For example, I talked to Jonathan to have fun, and I talked to Cypress to become better at school.


    I waddled shyly in the aisle, hoping not to draw any attention to me, but obviously I had to catch Athanasios'' attention. Of course, it couldn''t be helped.


    "Matias," he snapped his fingers. "Come here."


    I bowed my head, and joined him in what I hoped was a respectful enough manner. Mira''s eyes were wide, as if she could feel how uneasy I felt.


    "Now," Athanasios looked me in the eyes. I was half a head shorter than him. "Tell me exactly what happened yesterday. And don''t give me none of your lies. I''d loathe to think I hadn''t been able to teach you how to be honest. Remember that you''re out of the gutters because of me."


    He almost spat on the word ''gutters''. Athanasios hated the lifestyle poor people and orphans had to live, since he was rich, and he had culture, and he loved travelling. He was convinced that, even without resources, a man could make himself. He thought he''d had it bad, when he was a kid, because his rich mother married a poor father and lost her family''s money. He had become a Blood Drinker mostly out of wish other people would respect him, if they couldn''t respect his father''s name.


    "Yesterday," I swallowed. "There was the Ball, and the teachers told us to find a partner. You even mentioned it, in your letters. So Jason got stuck with Roman, but he really didn''t want to dance with a boy..."


    "Stop right there," Athanasios had a terrifying expression behind his glasses. "Who''s Roman? Why was Jason dancing with a boy?"


    "Because you said to find a partner and the girls were already paired off," I said nervously. "Roman is the Speaker. They went as friends. Well, really, they loathe each other, but still... And I was at the ball too, and my partner was an older classmate, Carmela..."


    "Why would a grown woman be interested in you?" Athanasios asked. "Have you showed off enough for the whole year in those first months?"


    I winced. It was not like that. Carmela didn''t like me that way and I didn''t like her. We went together because none of us could go with the people we really wanted to go with.


    "She''s not a grown woman," I said. "She''s fifteen..."


    "I don''t care!" Athanasios snapped. "You should have acted like the person you are, someone below Jason in the gerarchy of this family. When the older girl asked you to the Ball, you should have told her to go with Jason."


    I bit my lip. I really didn''t know what to reply.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    "But," Athanasios added. "This is not why I''ve come here at school. I wanted to discuss something with Mister Morris."


    Mira flinched. I sadly, wasn''t expecting anything less from Athanasios than to leave her out the conversation just because she was a woman.


    "Yes, you were telling me something about... the Court, right?" Minx asked, like one who didn''t like to discuss politics.


    "Bertha Collins asked me to do something for her," Athanasios said. "As you know, Matthias, I''ve never liked the Court much. I''m still undecided."


    For the second time, I did not know what to say. The reason why Athanasios had never liked the Court was that, at first, he was pretty bummed up that a hundreds of people were working for them and nobody ever asked him to. Athanasios fancied himself one of the best Blood Drinkers around, and certainly the best in Ichor.


    Then, when the members of the Court became from hundreds to less than ten, my adoptive father became somewhat even more furious. He kept saying that it was impossible that they could handle things like before, and that they weren''t hiring. If they''d been hiring, he felt confident he''d get a role.


    However, through the years, he remained friends with the more prominent members of the Court, the ones that were still alive today, since they never got sent to the suicidal missions. And Bertha Collins was one of them.


    I''d met her only once when I was a kid and I did not like her. She always dressed in black and white linen and she had no fantasy. At the time, those were the only things I noticed about her. She didn''t want to play with me or listen to my stories, and her outfit was incredibly boring.


    But now, as a teenager, I couldn''t help but wonder whether Bertha hid more behind her demure appearance. Perhaps she wasn''t even that good of a person. After all, most of Athanasios'' friends weren''t good people.


    Minx smiled tightly. "And you needed my opinion... because?"


    "Oh well, you''re a famous Blood Drinker I really admire," Athanasios said, smiling even more falsely. "And this project... is really top secret, I don''t know if I should take it. Besides, Mrs Collins told me that, if it works, the two of you might need to be contacted. You see, this will have something to do with your teachings as well."


    "But we can''t help you if you don''t tell us what it is," Mira blurted, probably annoyed to be left on the sidelines.


    Minx seemed to recognize her mistake in talking to my adoptive father that way. "Well, it''s not that we don''t trust your judgement, Mister Ducas, we don''t suppose you''re doing anything foolish or possibly dangerous..."


    It came off as a half-compliment, which were, because of his difficult personality, the compliments Athanasios enjoyed best. He loved the flattery but hated the flatterers. His smile stretched, his face more at ease.


    "Maybe," Athanasios looked at me with eyes that could kill. I shivered. I''d always been afraid of that gaze. "Maybe, we should talk about it in private when the kid is not around."


    "That seems sensible, yes," Mira said, still a little flushed and pissed off, by the look of her face.


    They joined in an office, and left me alone. I wasn''t really sure what to do -- I didn''t feel like eating breakfast with the others, when I saw Roman in the distance.


    "Hey Rome!" I greeted him.


    He scrunched his eyebrows. "Don''t you dare call me that."


    "Oh. Sorry. I heard Aurora and Atticus doing that," I said, a little embarrassed.


    "There are some things only Atticus can get away with," Roman said and it didn''t look very much like he was joking. "Aurora can get away with some things because I''m used to her, but she''s walking on thin ice."


    I nodded. "I understand. I really do. Hey, do you know Athanasios is here at school today? I figured it was because of the whole Jason thing, but he wants an opinion from Minx Morris about whether he should help the Court or not."


    "It won''t be an honest, heartfelt opinion," Roman pointed out. "Isn''t it illegal to say no to the Court or something?"


    I shrugged. "Athanasios has been their friend for a long time. I figure he can say whatever he wants to them, as long as he makes it sound polite."


    "And do you know what is this favor the Court wants of Athanasios?" Roman scratched his wild curls.


    "That''s the problem," I said. "Top secret. He won''t say it in front of me. That''s why he left me alone to walk around the school while he''s in another room with our teachers."


    "You don''t think it''s something to uh... defeat dybbuks, right?" Roman looked at me uneasily.


    "Shit," I replied. "I mean... it''s not like I''d forgotten. But still..."


    "Yeah, we didn''t have much time to meet up to discuss it lately," he replied, and was it only my impression, or he sounded a little hurt?


    "Well," I felt compelled to say. "It''s not only our fault, you know? The lessons have been hard, and then there was the Ball to organize... and can I say something? I don''t know why, but I feel like I need to say it. Carmela and I went to the Ball as just friends."


    Roman blinked at me. I couldn''t tell if he was disinterested or if he wanted to appear that way.


    "You know, it''s not my style," I added after a while. "To go out with an older girl. I just thought I''d say that. Before you started making jokes about us, or things like that."


    "Matias," Roman said, and it sounded oddly affectionate. "I don''t care about things like that. I don''t care who Carmela dates or who... you date."


    "Ah. Of course," I replied. "And anyway, thank you for sticking up to Jason for me. It meant a lot, that you didn''t think me stupid."


    He opened his eyes wide. "I would never think you were a freak, Matias. Never! Besides I was hating dancing with Jason and I was looking for the right occasion to hit him either way. He''s such a jerk."


    Strangely, that didn''t make me feel better. I usually liked knowing there were people who despised Jason as much as I did... but I was under the impression Roman had punched him specifically for what he''d said to me. Not because of how he behaved in general.


    But Roman seemed to understand my expression, which was a huge step forward in our friendship. "Hey..." he added unsure. "He shouldn''t have said that thing to you anyway. I told you. You... the make-up was nice."


    He was oddly tongue-tied but I didn''t pry.


    "About our friend," I said. "Because I''m still not using the D word. Not either one of them. I won''t say neither demon nor dybbuk. About our friend, perhaps we should join forces and defeat him as soon as the lessons start again, right?"


    In fact, after the Ball, the lessons were suspended for a week, just to give the students a little holiday. It was not a lot of time, and I hoped it was enough for Roman.


    "Besides," I asked. "You haven''t seen it anywhere else, have you? After it possessed Atticus?"


    He shook his head no. "I''d been hoping you''d seen it, actually," he said. "I don''t like the idea that we''re not tracking it down. It could be anywhere."


    I tried not to think about that. "We will surely find a way to defeat it soon. In the meantime, let''s look for it. Do you still remember our plan?"


    His mouth stretched into a grin. "Find it, make it possess a good-looking host where it will want to stay, ask it to tell its story, pretend we''re listening to it and say a phrase in Enochian that will send it back to where it was from."


    "That''s good, that''s good," I replied. "We should upgrade. We should become fifth-years, and they should give us a certificate that says we passed our Blood Tasks..."


    "Your Blood Tasks," Roman said, and I realized the mistake too late. "I will never be a Blood Drinker."


    "So what?" I couldn''t help but bite back. "You''re a Speaker, which is much better. And why do you even want to become a Blood Drinker in the first place? To live mostly during the night? To drink blood? To some people it''s not a big deal. It is to me. I was bought and sold specifically for this, and I never had any choice in the matter. At least you were born and you will die a Speaker. I will have to become something I''ve never been."


    "At least you''ve been warned, many times," Roman replied, with fury in his eyes. "You think I had a say when I was young, and I started hearing the voices? It was difficult, Matias. Fucking difficult. Thankfully I had already found Mira and Minx. I had no idea what my father would have made of that. And you asked me why I want to be a Blood Drinker. Because the only people I consider my family are. And I''ll always be different from them, whatever I do. And don''t tell me you know how that feels, because at least everyone in your family is concerned with your becoming a Blood Drinker as well. And why would you want to be something different? You''ve been raised all your whole life for this."


    I realized it would be no use explaining it to him. I didn''t want to be a Blood Drinker, and I would have given it up even if it meant I wouldn''t become anything. I was trying to act like I belonged at the school, but I was more distracted than others and it often showed.


    I couldn''t bring myself to care. I wasn''t looking forward the day Minx and Mira told us we would need to slay a Leviathan or a Lilim all by ourselves. I wasn''t excited at the idea of trying to fight as a team, trying to remember not to get in the way of Cypress'' graceful agility moves and Jonathan''s amazing fencing. I was more ready than them, but it didn''t mean I had my heart in it.


    And most of all, I was not ready to graduate in a six years time just to find myself doing what? Being Athanasios'' valet all his life? What if he was going to keep me around as some sort of sidekick? I was from Ichor. I would have to come back home and patrol the streets at night with Athanasios, Penelope, Jason and maybe Evangeline and Cora, who were a little better, but not ideal company.


    "Matias?" Roman shook me from my thoughts. "Matias? What are you thinking about? I didn''t want to startle you."


    He wasn''t saying he was sorry, but that was okay. I wasn''t expecting him to.


    "I have Atticus," Roman added then. "But maybe you''ve been feeling this way because you don''t have anyone you like amongst the Blood Drinkers. But don''t worry. Speakers are often required on missions, and even though you''ll live in Ichor, I can perform a few exorcisms if you call on me."


    He winced, either because he didn''t like the idea to grow up to be a Speaker, or because it sounded a promise too final for someone like him.


    However, I accepted.


    Then, I realized something.


    "Speaking of working in teams," I said. "I have an idea of who the Dybbuk could be haunting right now."

 Roman

    I was almost glad the dybbuk was possessing somebody else. I already knew these kind of spirits could be malicious, and that it was probably lying to me when it took over Atticus'' body, but there was something that felt like relief when I understood that my brother wasn''t the only available target, the only one who didn''t put up defences.


    Well, at least, until Matias showed me who the possessed person was this time.


    "I feel much better in this body, you know?" said Jason. "There is not a lot inside of this head, so I can make myself comfortable."


    It was almost laughable to hear it said aloud by Jason, but we knew that, as much as we hated the bully, whatever he was now was way more dangerous, so we didn''t let our guard down and enjoy it.


    "You are a troubled soul who got stuck here," I said. "Not unlike the souls I talk to every day, even though you have taken a demonic form. I can still help you go on, if you just tell me your story."


    I tried to be as calm as possible, and I only rolled my eyes once, but it was a mistake, and I bet it was hardly noticeable.


    "But why would I do it?" he complained. "First of all, I''m very... I don''t know how to put it into words... I feel very disconnected. My own death is hard to remember, I have only glimpses of the person I was before... and then again, I feel a need for revenge. Who''s going to revenge me if I''m gone?"


    Matias was about to say something, probably that we were going to avenge him. It sounded like the kind of ''white lie'' he would say to get rid of ''our friend'' faster.


    But I was a Speaker, and I didn''t like the odds of promising a spirit something like that.


    "Revenge is complete bullshit, dude," I said. "My brother Atticus always tells me to let go of the grudges. He says that people who start shit are already digging their own grave."


    "He does say that, does he?" Jason mused, with a malicious glint in his eyes. "Yeah, I remember your brother Atticus quite well. Who knows if he really believed in what he was saying..."


    "Stop playing your games!" I growled. "I don''t care if Atticus believes in the things he says to me or not, but there''s a reason why he says them. He raised me, and he taught me stuff, and maybe sometimes he had to make it up as he went along, but I''ll always be grateful for it. And, at the end, so what if you want revenge? But it doesn''t seem to me like you''re taking it..."


    That stopped him short. I knew enough about spirits to know he had most likely died a gruesome death, but his killer wasn''t any of the people he possessed for fun. Why was he in the school? Who was the killer?


    "The story of my death is a hard one to hear," he simply said. "I would spare two young Blood Drinkers like you from hearing it, as much annoying as I find you to be."


    "I am a Speaker!" I flushed. "One day I''ll be big enough and I''ll bend you to my will!"


    Jason sized me up. I was already taller than he was.


    "Oh, I am convinced you''ll get big enough. But don''t confuse being a big man with being a strong, or a powerful man. I''m not corporeal, and neither are most things that walk through the night. We can''t be intimidated by fists."


    I suddenly felt embarrassed. Despite Atticus'' careful attention towards my psychology, I was just a violent person inside. Like our father. And there was something else that made me sad -- the dybbuk was in Jason''s head, and the way he talked made me understand he knew I had already punched Jason once.


    "Stop harassing my friend and tell us your story!" Matias said. "There''s not much I haven''t heard yet, anyway!"


    Even though I still felt bad, that made me smile a little. Matias had still to outgrow the phase where young kids think they have more leverage over people than they really do.


    "Okay, but if it troubles you... Remember that I didn''t want to talk about it," he said, sounding, for the first time, the right mixture of mysterious and dumb that it took to play Jason while staying in character.


    "I was not a Blood Drinker, nor a Speaker, or anything else of the sort. I was simply human. I knew some things about Blood Drinkers, but I had only the knowledge of a common person. One thing I was sure of, you only drank animal blood to boost your powers. Only certain animals, that have to be wounded willingly."


    "Well, that''s right!" Matias interrupted him, even though I was pretty sure he had been the one to tell me we couldn''t make sarcastic remarks during the sob ghost story.


    "About two months ago, however, I was approached by a man who I had never seen before patroling the city, but who was unmistakably a Blood Drinker. You know, the way you look after you pass your Blood Task is not entirely human. Anyway, I was approached by this person, and before I knew it, I was out cold."


    Matias was about to say something. I knew it didn''t make sense to him that Blood Drinkers would harm an innocent civilian, and, while I absolutely agreed, I felt like there was more to the story.


    "I didn''t die from that," he went on. "I found myself in some sort of lair, with a different Blood Drinker this time. He sounded like he wasn''t right in the head... I don''t know how else to put it... and he drank my blood. I do not mean he cut me and drank a tiny bit. He drained me from my neck like a vampire would, except he didn''t have fangs, so he had to slit my throat open before he could do that. If you don''t believe me, you''ll find my body drained of blood right in this school, hidden in a place where neither I could find it, for it was completely and utterly dark when I died, and I could never recognize it again."


    "Then how do you know it''s here at school?" Matias asked defiantly.


    "Because he can''t leave, can he?" I asked with a shudder.


    "I think we should tell Minx Morris," I said then. This is too big. If it spread that certain Blood Drinkers do that...


    "I''d tell Mira," Matias said wisely. "She''s much more logical, Minx would probably pass out or make a scene, or start tearing his hair out."


    When I glared at him, he said, "Well, he does that a lot."


    I had to admit he was right. Mira, even if a little bit cold-hearted, had nerves of steel and the natural capacity to make the right decisions. It also had something to do with her Skill, Timing.


    Even when she didn''t use it, she would not be in the wrong place at the wrong time.


    Matias and I had agreed that we wouldn''t mention to Mira the fact that it wasn''t the first time that we met ''our friend''. There was no telling what she would think about the fact that we hadn''t told her about it. I only hoped the dybbuk would play along, but he must have sensed it was the only way he could find his body and move on.


    "I don''t like seeing you possessing a student," she commented, after he recounted the story again. This time, I was half-hidden by the teacher and I could do all the eye-rolling I wanted. Matias just looked at me with a somehow murderous expression.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "But I understand that for something so incorporeal as you are, it is the only way to be seen by us and to communicate.


    The story you tell is a troubling one. You see, there is no adult living here except for Minx and I, unless they''re in hiding. And we don''t have taste for human blood, and we don''t look like the man you described to me. But it doesn''t mean I don''t believe you."


    Her mouth twisted.


    "When ugly things that aren''t supposed to make sense start to be the only logical explanation, it means that there''s danger on the horizon."


    "The creatures are crawling out from the dark..." I couldn''t help but mutter. It was childish, a tale they told young initiates that would one day become Blood Drinkers. Atticus had told it to me.


    It was about a time before the Creatures, when Blood Drinkers'' services weren''t needed. I couldn''t help but think if this foreboding sensation of doom was the same our ancestors felt back then.


    But it was stupid. Mira always said that all kind of demon-slaying techniques and those who practiced them were as old as time itself.


    Matias smiled at me, though. I realized he must have been familiar with the story -- they probably told it to young children trained and sold to be future Blood Drinkers.


    My stomach felt uneasy, like every time I thought about it. It was strange that, out of all the students, Matias had wanted to be my friend. The one I couldn''t say no to, because I respected him in a way I couldn''t even comprehend myself...


    The idea of somebody hurting him...


    In that moment, someone big crashed into me.


    Minx looked all bones. I was almost sure you could see his ribcage when he stripped out of his clothes.


    I felt my face flushing hot. Why did I have to have thoughts like that? Besides, ribcages aren''t hot. I know because I have one I can see fairly well through my delicate paper-like skin.


    Anyway, he was still a grown man of 6''4, so of course his body crashing into mine would knock me down.


    "I''m so sorry, Roman," he said. "I know you don''t like being touched, let alone shoved around like that... but I had a pressing matter that couldn''t wait... and since you''re right behind my wife, well I had planned to crash into her, see, but you were in the way and I''m a itsy bitsy clumsy."


    He smiled encouragingly at me, like as if to say life wasn''t so bad, cheer up young student, or something like that.


    I tried to smile back, but couldn''t. That''s because, for the first time, I took a look at him. He looked like those scientists in the picture books for children, the ones that they''re going crazy over an experiment gone wrong.


    Atticus had told me that it was a stereotype, and it wasn''t even an accurate representation of what a person having a nervous breakdown looked like, and I knew it was true.


    But it was an accurate representation of what Minx Morris was looking like at the moment.


    I hoped it had something to do with the pressing matter he had mentioned, and that he would go back looking like himself when everything was settled. Not that his usual appearance was fairly normal.


    "What''s the problem, Dominic?" Mira asked him.


    Normally, only your partner or your closest friends would call you with a pet name, and everybody else uses your real name, but with Minx Morris it seemed to work the other way around.


    "I was going to the cellar, you know, the one where we store the Blood that needs the aging process before it becomes drinkable, and... Gosh, I don''t know how to put it."


    "You found a body?" Matias asked cheerfully.


    "Why? Yes, that''s exactly what I did," Minx looked surprised with himself.


    Mira''s face darkened.


    "It fits with what young Jason here was telling us," she said.


    I chuckled. I liked Mira''s humor. But most people didn''t get it. It made me a bit sad.


    "Did Jason went in the cellar before I did?" Minx asked. "Perhaps to try to drink the Blood. I wouldn''t put it past him, even though he hasn''t been turned yet. Those boys Athanasios sent us are pretty ruthless, eager to grow up and become warriors."


    Matias flushed pink. I tried not to think stupid thoughts, like that it was the shade of pink the sky gets when it''s dawning. My mind is so fucked up. It''s just blood inside cheeks, for Lord''s sake.


    For the first time in my life, Minx Morris had disappointed me. Perhaps because he was so out of it, he did not care to speak that way in front of Matias, who had been trained against his will, and it wasn''t his fault that he had grown up warrior-like. As for Jason, comparing them was just impossible. That boy had never seemed eager to do anything.


    "No, darling," Mira explained. "Jason is possessed at the moment."


    Then the demon told its story for the third time, and my brain just about exploded from the boredom of it all.


    "Can you confirm the throat was sliced open?" Mira asked her husband.


    He paled.


    "Yes, it was," he couldn''t help but agree.


    "What are we going to do about it?" Matias asked.


    "In my personal expert opinion," Minx said. "I think we should panic."


    "No!" I couldn''t help but say. Minx was the closest thing I had to a father figure. I wouldn''t let this situation escalate just because he probably had a cold or something, and wasn''t thinking straight.


    Besides, if the situation went downhill, he would get blamed for it. Not even because he has to take care of everybody, just because he''s a bit different.


    "I''m sure that, if we dig deep enough, we can find some kind of demon who takes a human form and drinks human blood," I said. "We just might have happened to come across it."


    "They already exist," Jason mocked me. "They''re called vampires."


    "I think it''s time for the poor soul to go home," Minx decided, as if this jab at me was where he drew the line.


    Maybe it was. It would be foolish, but also kind of nice.


    I performed the spell Matias had taught me. Nobody asked me why I had come prepared to say it, even though I hadn''t studied yet. I guess Mira and Minx might have known all along the demon was already acquainted with us, but they didn''t say anything, because they also messed up letting a blood thirsty killer walk around the school.


    "You know, the thing you said before..." Mira told me during lunch. "It wasn''t stupid. We''d have to think about it. Of course we will tell the story to the other students, it''s only fair that they know. And, if this thing, or person, is still on the loose...they better come prepared."


    "With all due respect," I said. "After hearing his story one time I already knew it by heart. After hearing it three times, I also had time to analyze it. There''s no way we could come prepared to an assault like that."


    "Let them try," Matias replied. "If we''re armed, we''re hard to take down in a fight. With a spear, I might best him."


    "Well, you might," I agreed softly. I had no doubt the guy was going to try.


    "Roman!" Mira said. "You have a friend! That''s so exciting."


    "Of course I have a friend," I scoffed. "I don''t punch people just for anybody. Not even Jason."


    Matias laughed at that, even though Mira looked a bit disappointed.


    I suddenly realized that Matias laughed at my jokes. Before him, only Atticus did that. And I thought it was strictly out of brotherly affection, like when I said that he looked good with reading glasses.


    Well, it''s not like he looked bad, but he looked a little less like some young hero from a Megleni legend, and a little more like someone whose eyesight had gone bad over staying up at night learning to write when dad didn''t send him to school.


    Which I guess is a different type of hero, but somebody I didn''t look up to so much.


    I thought about the dybbuk''s words. Was it selfish of me, if I didn''t want to see my brother being weak?


    Atticus was the only thing I had ever since I could remember. I had grown to believe he was invincible. And then, I learned to lie to myself about it.


    When he wakes up from a nightmare, and he calls my name, I pretend I''m sleeping.


    The morning after, I only have a vague recollection of having had a strange nightmare in which my older, indestructible brother was having a nightmare.


    Weird, right?


    Don''t get me wrong, I wasn''t unaware of his pain, and I wasn''t shutting him out. Well, maybe a bit. But I told myself I would learn to handle that, in due time.


    I would be for him everything he had been for me, the brother who saved me.


    The brother he never had.


    Ever since Mira had told everybody about the dybbuk, Cypress and Jonathan had become insufferable. Truth is, I never noticed them much before, except when they were dancing together and they looked almost like a couple, but I had filed that thought away, not caring enough about either of them.


    But Minx had told everybody to research which kind of creature could have done something like that to the man, and they couldn''t stop announcing loudly all the news they found in the library. They seemed to believe they were the only one making progress -- truth be told, they kind of were -- and their weird theories about how the accident could have taken place amused the other to no end.


    In moments like that, I wanted to tell everybody that Matias and I had found the dybbuk first, and battled with it twice, because it suddenly seemed unfair that nobody knew.


    But I understood that keeping the secret was more important.


    Anyway, everybody''s mood was restless those days. The Blood Tasks were approaching, and they were serious tests, in which some of the students would officially become Blood Drinkers. The Tasks were also painful, and possibly dangerous.


    As a Speaker, I didn''t have something like that. But I still studied, which meant that the teachers were expecting some kind of progress that just... wasn''t there.


    It seemed that, once I managed the basics of Speaking as a young child, that was it. I had never been able to do something really outstanding. Minx and Mira didn''t pressure me about it, but I knew that my role to the team was vital. If I couldn''t protect the world from the trapped Spirits, that could go rogue, and hurt somebody, I was almost-human.


    And I just couldn''t fail my own expectations like that.

 Jonathan

    The first thing Mira told us was, "You need to wear disguises."


    To be completely honest, she was only talking to Cypress and I. I was beaming that she''d chosen us for the quest. I couldn''t imagine Jason or Carmela, who was more hyper-active than I was, wearing disguises. I kind of trusted Roman and Matias because they always worked well together, but they had been given detention.


    Cypress and I couldn''t fix their mistake, but we could find out what happened to the man whose throat had been slit. Roman and Matias wanted to do it, but their detention consisted in Minx telling them to sit around and wait for other people to work on the case, and Mira had chosen us.


    "I certainly do," I frowned. "A new guy in town, everybody is probably talking about me. People will recognize there''s something wrong with the Blood Drinkers in a matter of seconds if they see me investigating."


    "What about me?" Cypress asked drily. "I''m the heir of the Macbeth family, and besides I''m pretty easy to recognize."


    "That was why I told you to wear disguises," Mira said, but she winced. I knew where she was coming from. For Cypress, with his distant Silanian heritage, his olive skin, his pale blond hair and violet eyes, blending in was pretty much impossible.


    At the end of the day, Minx and Mira settled for the only disguise that could somehow make Cypress look like anyone else -- a huge black hat that had to conceal his hair if he tied it up in a bun, black sunglasses and a black all-over outfit.


    "With all due respect," Cypress said. "I think I could look less conspicuouos."


    But this was all the Professors could do. When it came to my turn, a lot of things were discussed.


    "Too bad we can''t change his accent," Cypress commented.


    I pouted at him, even though he was probably right. Nothing else was as likely to give me away.


    "I know just the thing!" Carmela exclaimed. "It''s uncommon for Blood Drinkers to dye our hair since we are known for taking our appareances very seriously... well, some of us. I have bleached hair, but I''m one of the only ones. If you dye Jonathan''s hair with one of those non permanent dyes, he won''t look like he''s one of us."


    Mira and Minx debated it, but not for too long. Sadly, it was one of our only options.


    Cypress arched an eyebrow. "This is stupid. It''s not like people recognize the new kid because of his coffee brown hair. It''s the accent. It''s the clothes he wears."


    "If you''re feeling more safe this way, we can give Jonathan new clothes and tell him to change accent," Mira said dubiously, as if she didn''t think I could pull it off. "But perhaps Carmela is right. He''ll dye his hair too."


    When they asked me, I chose red because it was my favourite colour. Little did I know that, in  a matter of minutes, my hair looked exactly the colour of blood. A deep, dark red that didn''t manage to look any other colour other than that. No hues, no gradience that made it almost fade into brown.


    "Weirdly enough, it suits you," Cypress commented when he''d seen the result.


    "Just the way to look inconspicuous though," Matias snickered. I had already noticed that, for his naive attitude, the guy had a sharp mind and often put it to good use. I usually admired that about him, but not when it was time to make fun of my disguise.


    "I don''t care if I look inconspicuous," I said, perhaps too angrily. "I only care that I don''t look like Jonathan Loreta, the new kid who studies to be a Blood Drinker, who''s asking questions with the heir of the Macbeth family about a body that was drained in our school!"


    To that, Matias and Roman exchanged worried glances. "Yeah, I hear you," Matias added quickly, as if to confirm I had every right.


    Cypress and I went into town. "Who do you think we should ask?" was my first question. "I was thinking somebody cultured, like a doctor."


    "Let me handle this," he replied. "It''s usually people like this man who know everything that''s happening around here."


    I took a glance at the man. He was selling vegetables and fruit at the market. I remembered about the market in West Tallya, about the seafood and all those afternoons I spent trying to count the money and see if they would have gotten me away from there. Strangely, in that moment, I couldn''t help but remember the sun, the fresh air, the sea, and feel a little home-sick. Besides having problems like how many shrimps you sold felt so far away. Now my problems were more like: find out why you see a tree before you pass out, and discover who drained this body of all its blood.


    "Who are you, boys?" the man asked, eyeing warily both my red hair and Cypress'' whole outfit. "Haven''t seen you around here."


    "I think it''s awfully rude to ask for our identities first," I decided to take the lead, even though Cypress had stomped on my foot. "You don''t go around asking everyone''s names, do you?"


    "No........... I don''t," the man replied. "But your accent is strange and so is your hair."


    I gulped. I had tried to make an effort to speak in an accentless manner. Apparently it was still weird enough.


    "Have you heard," Cypress started another conversation. "About anything weird that happened in town recently? Like bodies being drained of all their blood?"


    "What kind of question is that?" the man asked. "Blood Drinkers drink from animals, don''t they?"


    "Of course they do," Cypress snarled. He was so angry, it was almost as if he''d said ''we do''. "In fact, nobody was talking about Blood Drinkers here."


    "Oh I see, you suspect demonic activities," the man said.


    "We really don''t care a lot about demons," I had to say, though maybe the man knew something about a particular brand of demon we needed to know. Still, I couldn''t blow our cover.


    "We''re only interested in who or what could have done this," Cypress tried to save the situation. "Whatever it is."


    The man smiled a vicious smile. "Follow me," he said.


    I didn''t like his tone or how his face looked. I immediately smelt trouble. To take my mind off things, I thought of something relaxing that was usually happening during lunch time at school.


    If I was at school and I''d squint to the left from my usual seat, I could hear Roman talking to Matias. The Speaker was knowledgeable in all fun facts, and I hated to admit it, but I could use one to take my mind off things now. Perhaps I could make do with one he''d already told Matias.


    It wasn''t the best choice. Now, in my mind, there was a Roman saying, ''Do you know that Solomon Ibn Gabirol created the first female golem and that there is ambiguity about whether she was created for sexual purposes?''


    I tried to change channel of my brain again, but since I couldn''t, I focused on the man again. Cypress was already following him, and tugging on my sleeve.


    The man knelt in front of Cypress, because he was so much taller.


    "In the past," he said. "When things of this nature happened, two people were usually always blamed. Either people who believed in other cultures or had other traditions, and often it was Blood Drinkers, or people who worshipped Demons. Now, I know those two things are better left in the past and that society has evolved now."


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    "So what is your idea?" Cypress asked drily.


    "That someone who worships Demons did this," the man whispered.


    I smacked my hand on my forehead. Cypress looked terribly close to taking his gun out.


    "Maybe there is something that resembles blood magic, or blood sacrifices that people give to demons," I tried to guess.


    "Maybe," Cypress echoed me, but he didn''t look especially confident.


    He then tugged me on the sleeve and took me further away from the man.


    "I think," he said. "That I misjudged this man. Whatever is going on, it''s far too bizarre for him to take a guess and be right at first try."


    "To be honest," I pouted. "I''m the one who came up with the sacrifice."


    Cypress winced, as if he wanted to say that he didn''t trust my judgement very much either, but he didn''t say anything.


    "Alright," I said. "Let''s ask someone else. This time, follow my lead. We''ll ask a man, or why not, a woman, of culture."


    We headed to the hospital. I soon saw a doctor leaving the building, and I was happy of my choice. With a steady expression in her eyes, she reminded me of Mira. It made me feel a little more grounded and sure of my actions.


    "Good morning ma''am," Cypress started saying in his usual androgynous drawl.


    The woman looked at him puzzled, and I had the impression that she was trying to figure out whether my friend was a boy or a girl. Cypress could usually pass for either, especially with all those layers covering his body and his dark eyebrows.


    "We would like to ask you a question about something that happened to us, and we thought a doctor could be the right person to ask," I said.


    "It''s about a drained body," Cypress said, rushing in to explain before I could mess it up in any way.


    "Why don''t you ask the Blood Drinkers? They''re the ones who know about the supernatural events," the doctor said.


    Cypress and I exchanged a glance. He finally decided to say the only thing he could to keep our disguises and still say the truth.


    "We already have," he said. "But they don''t have a clue about why something like this happened, so we thought we''d ask somebody else. You see, it''s not something they''d seen before. A body completely drained of blood, as if a parasite of some kind had drank from it. And it''s unlikely that a wild animal fed off of it, because animals feed on flesh, not on blood."


    The doctor appeared extremely puzzled. A line of worry formed between her eyebrows.


    "I suppose I should take a look at the body to confirm my suspicions," she replied.


    I looked sideways at Cypress. Mira and Minx didn''t want the news to get out. They certainly didn''t want outsiders to know the body was found in our school. Otherwise, why ask us to disguise ourselves? But I was sure that if we''d tell them everything, they could reach a compromise that would satisfy the doctor.


    "We could... we could come up with a way," Cypress seemed to have had the same idea I had.


    Just when we were about to head back to the school with the woman, and I had agreed with Cypress that he went ahead of me to explain everything to Mira, someone stopped us.


    "Wait!" it was the merchant we''d talked to before. "Don''t leave with those kids, doctor! They''re dangerous!"


    The woman stopped right in her tracks, and the man grabbed Cypress rudely from his collar. I resisted the urge to fight him then and there.


    "Why, might I ask," I got out gritted teeth. "You think we''re dangerous, all of a sudden?"


    "Two weird looking kids no one''s ever seen," the man replied. "One completely covered from head to toe like he doesn''t want to be recognized, the other with hair dyed the color of blood."


    "But they are probably around twelve..." the doctor tilted her head.


    "Thirteen," I corrected her.


    "Either way, they came up to my stall and instead of buying vegetables they started asking me weird questions about demonic activities and people being drained of their blood," the man added. "And they were the first people I met to bring that subject up, if they really lived in the city they''d be talking about something we''ve all seen happening, unless the crime they''re talking about happened in their homes, or close."


    Cypress looked at me as if the plan was all my fault, while it was difficult to pull off from the start.


    "What?" I hissed. "I wasn''t counting on the fact that he could be clever!"


    "I still don''t see where the problem lies," the doctor said. "Just one minute ago, they were about to lead me to the dead body. I don''t think it''s a trap. I could certainly take on two kids in a fight, and they look smart enough to have that figured out."


    I wasn''t very happy of her words, but Cypress nodded, so I nodded too.


    "Well, then, if they''re not suspicious, how do you explain what just happened to me?" the merchant said. "I was heading back home after my day at the market was done. I gathered all the fruit and vegetables, I put them in my rucksack and I went home. I live up that hill. As soon as I started making my way towards the top of the hill, still in town but in a less crowded neighbourhood, I stopped because I heard a sound of people screaming. When I stopped to take a look, the thing I saw on the pavement was a body in the same conditions as those two boys had described it to me! Completely drained of blood, with two punctures on his neck, like those from the legends of vampires or parasites. But we all know creatures don''t attack directly, much less drink the blood from necks of people! And Blood Drinkers..."


    "Only drink from animals," Cypress completed the sentence very drily, looking like he''d swallowed a fly.


    "Well, yes, I was about to say that," the man excused himself. Apparently the Blood Drinkers in Meglenia had a lot of influence on the town''s people. Back in West Tallya I had tried to steer clear from the likes of them, so I never knew how they were considered. Still, in West Tallya we were more backwards on a lot of things, but our cities were bigger and more crowded. Meglenia might have been a more sophisticated country, but the towns were little and everybody knew each other.


    I wondered if Cypress would have been given another treatment if they could have known who he was. Back at home there was no family like the Macbeths, so I didn''t know what to make of their apparent importance.


    "So, what do we do now?" I asked.


    "Bring us to the body," Cypress asked the merchant. "So we''ll confirm if it matches your description, and we''ll see whether you''re doing all of this to fool us."


    "I want to see the body as well," the doctor said. "So I won''t have to follow you wherever you were leading me."


    We all followed the merchant until we were almost over the hill. I felt sick to my stomach. The narrow road that led to the man''s house also led, with a couple of other forks in the road, to the Blood Drinkers'' school. Whatever that dangerous thing was, they probably had it out for us.


    However, we couldn''t show ourselves too concerned. If we''d given away that that thing had been near us, probably looking for us, the merchant would accuse us of draining the bodies ourselves. He had already almost accused us once, and with less proofs.


    "Can we talk alone for a moment?" Cypress asked me. I nodded, and followed him.


    "We should probably find a way to let Mira and Minx see this," he told me when it was just the two of us alone.


    "Well, what''s sure is that we won''t keep it a secret," I replied cheerfully.


    "I don''t think now''s the right time to joke," he replied. "Besides Roman and Matias had kept the dybbuk a secret, because they thought they could exorcise it. But leaving a dead body a secret is something one should never do. There''s no doubt we''ll tell them everything we saw."


    "Okay," I gulped. "We can come up with something. You go tell Mira and Minx to show up here after their work at school is done today, and arrive here casually as if everything they knew about the body they had heard it in some kind of random conversation at the town."


    "Alright," Cypress looked mildly displeased, as if I''d asked him a very important job. I knew he didn''t like making mistakes, but there was practically no way he could mess up a simple task such as this. I was more worried Mira or Minx, each one of them goofy in their own way, would mess it up.


    "You know," I added before he left. "This was fun. I mean, spending time with you. We haven''t been on a quest together since the time I killed the Keteb. And by the way..." I tugged at my red hair. "I think dressing up as someone else makes me feel more confident. I liked being able to pull off this disguise."


    I was afraid Cypress would find it silly, or too personal, because I never tried to give the vibe that I didn''t like very much being myself. It was an unspoken rule. Back home, I thought I was better off with people like Pablo without showing them my weaknesses, and in Meglenia my insecurity would be a way to take me down for people like Jason. I was the new kid, a little naive at times, but good with a sword. It helped that I liked taking care of my appearance and that I was good at solving problems and following hints as well, but I knew most people thought I had my head in the clouds too much and that I was a little weird. I didn''t have the luxury of showing that, at the end of the day, not even I liked myself very much.


    But Cypress seemed to understand what I meant.


    "You know," he smirked at me. "I''ve always wanted to be a secret agent growing up. Perhaps we could do something like that again. But let''s hope we find no more dead bodies."


    It was a little silly on my part, but being on that certain quest and with my best friend, I never stopped to consider how freaky the drained dead body was, but when Cypress said that, and something dark burned in his eyes, I thought about how dreadful the condition of the bodies were.


    So I joined merchant and the doctor. My part of the plan consisted in convincing them to keep the dead body out in the open to the public until evening, and this was a part of the plan that I was actually afraid of messing up. Convincing them wouldn''t be easy.


    I decided to give it my best try.


    "I think we need someone else to take a look at those bodies, someone who has never seen them before," I said. "If you keep the body here until evening, more people will show up."


    The doctor looked at me as if I was crazy. "We can''t treat the body of a dead person like that! They had family. And what if their ghost haunts us because they weren''t buried properly?"


    "Nobody buries a body on the very first day," I said cautiously. "Besides they might want to you because you had the chance to find out what killed them and you didn''t take it."


    This seemed to impress the doctor, and especially the merchant, who started begging her to keep the man there for a few hours at least.


    "And by the way," I added. "You never know. Maybe Blood Drinkers will show up in the evening."


    The doctor and the merchant didn''t look convinced.


    "I''ll wait here with you," I said. "In the meantime, let''s kill some time. Who was this person, and was there anyone who might have wanted to kill them?"

 Cypress

    It''s not like I was expecting Mira and Minx to be happy Jonathan and I had made a real progress in the investigation. I knew how serious this was.


    But still.


    They were positively shocked that another man had been found.


    Mira kept saying, "This is it! Now they''re really going to blame it on the Blood Drinkers!"


    The way I saw it, it was better now. It was more suspicious back when the only body ever found was at our school. Now, we didn''t look related to the crimes so much anymore.


    Of course, it was unfortunate that the killer seemed to be some kind of vampire. The only vampire-like thing that existed in the world were us, and that was not a correct metaphor by any means.


    It could only be the work of some demon, perhaps a crazy rogue, but how these things worked were hard to know specifically even for us.


    I groaned. Mira looked at me like, Now you get it!


    "We need to go to Jonathan," I said. "I don''t feel comfortable knowing he''s out there, with the killings still happening."


    About at the same time, Mira said that we needed to go where Jonathan was to check the body.


    "Yeah," I coughed, embarrassed. "To check the body."


    "I''ll bring Roman and be right back," said Minx, uncharateristically serious.


    "Roman?" I asked, puzzled.


    "Yes," Mira explained to me as Minx stalked away gloomily. "If we can find the ghost of the departed, it can be of extreme importance for us to find out the cause of the death. Perhaps, he''ll even be able to point out the person who did it."


    I had to admit to myself it made sense.


    A few minutes later, Roman appeared with a scowl on his face, not very different from his regular face. Sometimes he looked so impossibly young, I had trouble remembering he was already thirteen like Jonathan and I. On the other hand, he more than made up for it with being ridiculously tall.


    "So, you found another victim," Roman said to me in what I guessed could pass for small talk. I was surprised. I knew it wasn''t his thing, especially if it involved repeating an information he already knew just to start up the conversation.


    "Yeah," I said. "It''s strange, isn''t it?"


    He simply shrugged, which made me feel strangely hurt. It was like he had decided to go back to ignore me in a few seconds. I felt like I deserved more than that. At least, my question wasn''t rethorical.


    "I didn''t know there was much a Macbeth had never seen," he commented, after a while, as if he was trying to decide how to not make it sound accusatory.


    "I''m not my family," I couldn''t help but feel slightly annoyed. "While I admit that, at least, culturally speaking, I am by far the most advanced student of my age, I''m still very young and I have not got a lot of field experience."


    Roman smirked to himself.


    "What?" I said.


    "I''m trying to be your friend," he explained. "Because Atticus likes you." He winced. "Not that way. But he thinks you''re alright."


    "Thanks," I said. "I mean, I''ll thank Atticus when I see him. But you''re not exactly attached at the hip, you know. It doesn''t mean anything coming from you."


    I knew I had been harsh, but really? My best friend was Jonathan, and nobody in my family, no matter how much I looked up to them would have liked it. It''s obvious that some choices you''ve got to make for yourself.


    Roman blushed. "Sorry," he said. "I guess I meant to say that Atticus is always right, especially about people. I just... trust his own judgement more than my own and it''s done me good so far."


    "Do you mean because he pushed you to spend time with Matias?" I asked him curiously.


    He just blushed more.


    "You know," he said, leaning in like he was revealing a bit secret. "Even if we were attached at the hip... it wouldn''t change the fact that we''d still be different people. Next time you want to diss me, try to say something that makes sense scientifically. Like sharing the same brain, or something like that."


    "Hey," I apologized. "I didn''t want to diss you."


    Not much later, we met up with Jonathan. I immediately took my usual position by his side. I felt like I missed him, despite having spent not much time apart.


    Mira and Minx had entered the house where the man had died. Even dressed like they were, with many layers to protect them from the sun, people tended to shy away from them.


    I already knew how it was, but it was still hard to watch. Maybe because, for the first time, my own Blood Tasks were only a few months away. If I passed them, which was the only acceptable version, I would become something else.


    Compared to demons and Creatures, we didn''t look like monsters. But we didn''t look like humans either. The townspeople were scared of Minx and Mira, of their powers, their innatural appearance.


    "What are you thinking about?" Jonathan asked me softly.


    I could have lied, and say that I was about to resolve the case. It wouldn''t have hurt my reputation. Instead I decided to tell the truth.


    "Us," I said. "Looking like them."


    He followed my gaze, and I thought he got it. Well the difference was already visible with our older peers who already drank Blood at school, it was especially striking on Mira, and, for some reason, especially Minx. I had never noticed there was little human left in his features and his long limbs, but he looked like something out of a horror novel in the daylight.


    No, I told myself. I had gone too far. It was just my own anxiety projecting into other, innocent, people.


    "Well, isn''t the Blood supposed to enhance our beauty, too?" Jonathan asked. But I could tell he was nervous, too.


    "I think it sharpens and stregthens our main characterics," I said. "And it makes us look more balanced, in a way. These changes are usually perceived as beautiful."


    "Nah," Roman snuck past behind us. "I''m pretty sure the Blood doesn''t do any of that."


    "Well, it''s not like you''re going to try it, anyway," I stated.


    It seemed a pretty normal thing to say to me to someone who wasn''t destined to become a Blood Drinker, but that put him in a sour mood, and he went back to stalking the scene of the crime, like he was doing before.


    I guessed he was waiting for some kind of spirit to come around.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    About half an hour later, Mira came out of the house.


    "Any news?" Jonathan asked.


    "Dominic is still testing a few of his theories," she said. "He seems to be pretty invested in this. Who knows, perhaps he has a taste for solving crimes we didn''t know about."


    I decided to go straight to the point.


    "What happens if you and Dominic can''t find out who is behind the murders?"


    "We will have to tell the Court," Mira grimaced.


    "What''s so bad about it?" I couldn''t help but ask. Wasn''t the Court supposed to help us with difficult matters?


    "It wasn''t so bad back then when more people were involved in it," Mira said. "But, as of now, it looks more like a gang than anything else."


    I admired her spunk. It was unusual for Blood Drinkers to voice political opinions against the Court. The members of it took their job to heart, and were always ready to punish those who stood in their way, even harshly.


    "I''m sure you will reach a solution, even it takes all day, and all night," I said, sounding less sure than I wanted to.


    "Before I go back to help Dominic again," Mira said. "I wanted to tell you guys I''m sorry I dragged you into this."


    Jonathan and I had actually felt really proud we were given this mission. Our chests deflated slightly.


    "We found another victim for you to study," Jonathan fidgeted with his sword pommel. "We gave you the right trail to follow..."


    Mira looked at us like she couldn''t believe what she was hearing.


    "Of course you did great, and I''m proud of you!" she beamed. "It''s just that this situation is even worse than I thought. Something evil is going on here. Perhaps even something Blood Drinkers have never faced before. I don''t want to put you in danger."


    She smiled and she left.


    "You do realize what she meant right?" Jonathan asked me darkly. "It was plain to see that she thinks something big is coming. Even if they fix this situation today, there''s no telling when things will go back to normal. Even Blood Drinkers normal."


    I wanted to say he must have got it wrong. But I was actually amazed at how deeply his brain could work, when he could connect certain patterns. Of course he was right. These crimes were just the start of something. Maybe Nature, or some kind of divine presence, had even come up with a natural enemy for the Blood Drinker.


    Well, that would have been the Creatures and the demons, but, aside from the occasional accidents, they never gave us too much of a fight.


    Now, something more challenging... could be a risk to humanity, as well as to us.


    "It''s okay," Jonathan added. "We''re already two very good fighters, and we have powerful Skills. We can take down whatever this is."


    I knew he must have had his doubts, but I was more than okay with him not voicing them.


    Another hour passed. Then, after a little while, Minx Morris came to us.


    "I need the opinion of a detective on a theory that I have," he said. "I know Mister Lady Macbeth here fancies himself one, so, would you follow me kid?"


    I shrugged and Jonathan and I exchanged a puzzled expression. First of all, I did not go by Mister Lady, thank you very much. Then, which adult would trust a kid with a matter such as this? But, at the same time, it wasn''t so unusual for our Professor to act that way. On the other hand, all the students agreed it was way more out of character to see him being serious about something.


    I followed him gingerly. After spending so much time unable to help, I was ready to give my expert opinion, whatever it was.


    But, as soon as we approached the house, he made a detour and took me to a wood nearby.


    As soon as we were out of eyesight, he crumbled down. he looked extremely tired, and ready to cry.


    "Cypress," he said. "Do you remember what we talked about when you had detention?"


    I was about to get angry. I got that Minx was probably extremely sick, and was losing some of his marbles, but a student like myself never got detention. I felt threatened by the very prospect.


    Then something clicked. The way he had said detention, like it wasn''t a real detention.


    I didn''t know how I could have forgotten about that!


    The day Roman had graced us all with his street poetry (I shivered at the memory), and I had gotten mad at him, the Professor had given me detention.


    But it wasn''t a real one. It was a way to talk to me alone, face to face. He told me that my family was planning something horrible against Blood Drinkers, and to feel safe to tell him anything about it. And that, even if I trusted my family more and didn''t want to, he would have not used that against me.


    I had never heard of anything like that and immediately decided to investigate, but dropped the matter after a few days for lack of promising leads.


    And I''d even forgotten all about it. What a fool.


    Then I got a sick feeling in my stomach.


    Was this the thing my family was doing? Were they involved in the murders?


    "I know I told you you don''t have to tell anyone anything," Minx said, quietly. "And I still respect that. But if you''ve changed your mind... We''re really at the end of our rope here, Cypress. I thought maybe, with time, you''d realize, we love you like a family."


    He smiled.


    "I know I wouldn''t be much for a father," he said.


    "Neither is mine," I replied. "You would be more suited sir, and that''s saying something. No offence," I added quickly.


    He laughed, but there was no fun in it. He looked like he needed animal Blood. But that was strange. The lack of it didn''t mean we looked like we were starving.


    "I don''t know anything about any plan," I said firmly. "Even if my family was involved, and since you say it is, I''m going to assume it''s true, they left me out of it."


    As bad as the murders were, it still stung a bit to say it. But my mother could be cruel to people not related to the family, and she already knew I wouldn''t have played along.


    "I sincerely doubt that, boy," Minx said sweetly, and it broke my heart. I could never lie to him. I would never.


    "Why do you say so?" I asked.


    "You see, Athanasios and Bertha already knew there was some kind of stirring in your family. There''s where I heard about it first. You must have asked yourself how I knew. I don''t suppose you think I''m all-powerful," he chuckled bitterly.


    "And what''s that to do with me?" I asked again. I had never spoken to the rich Blood Drinker called Athanasios, who had sired Jason and bought Matias. Neither had I spoken to Bertha, one of the last members of the Court.


    "Maybe you shouldn''t trust the Court," I couldn''t help but say. "That''s what Mira seems to think, at the very least."


    "Mira is very tired," Minx cut me off, which sounded weird. A bit like every time Roman pronounced a body who still looked in good health dead.


    "They didn''t say anything about you," he added. "But they were pretty sure from their inside sources they would try to sabotage the school. And what better way to do that collaborating with somebody on the inside? That''s your first real as an enrolled student, after all. And before you, all the other Macbeths had been home-schooled. You often remind everybody yourself that the knowledge of your family is beyond our mere understanding."


    "Sir," I said. I was desperate now. Everything he said sounded true. But it was wrong. I knew it was. I just hoped he would not tell anybody else, because it would have been easy to believe.


    "How can I prove to you that I am not involved in my family''s plans? I would do anything you ask me to."


    Minx Morris couldn''t talk to me, however. He had just passed out.


    I called Mira to take care of him, and I went back to Jonathan, who was killing time chatting with Roman, or whatever Roman did instead of chatting. I was happy the Speaker had included Jonathan in the list of the people he would want to be friends with, but I hoped it came from a truer place in his heart than a suggestion from Atticus.


    "I know what you''re thinking," Roman said, as soon as I approached him. He turned to Jonathan.


    "He thinks I''m only talking to you because Atticus made me do it. Cut me some slack, blondie. Atticus set me up with a jerk to the ball and I fucking punched the guy in the face. See? We do not share the same brain."


    Jonathan looked a little at a loss for words, especially since he didn''t know about the talk Roman and I shared before. I, however, laughed. The kid was growing on me, in his own strange way.


    I knew I had nothing to do with my family, but the idea that they could be behind the murders still made me feel like scum. I was even jumpy being with Jonathan, afraid I was the pawn in some game I was not aware of playing.


    "What did Minx wanted to know?" Jonathan asked.


    I thought about it, before responding. If the murders got resolved and my family miraculously wasn''t involved, there was no need to bring them up now. But if they were behind it, it would have looked like I was covering for them. And I trusted Minx. No matter how kooky he was. If he said they did it, they did it.


    "He thinks the Macbeths are behind this," I said. "Asked me if I knew anything."


    "Do you think they could be?" Jonathan asked me softly.


    "I don''t know. Maybe. My mom, and some other Blood Drinkers in my family do have a mean streak. But I never thought they would take anything this far. It doesn''t matter, though. Minx Morris think they are responsible, so that''s it."


    "That''s it?" Jonathan asked me with wide eyes. "You''re not even going to investigate about it?"


    "I haven''t got any leads," I complained.


    Roman was looking at me funnily. I realized he wasn''t blaming me for the murders, but he seemed smug about something. Then it hit me. Of course. He was noticing how he wasn''t the only one who trusted other people''s opinions more than their own.


    "Please," I told them both. "Don''t tell anyone. I am, of course, not involved, but I think not everybody is going to believe it."


    I didn''t mention how Minx Morris found me guilty himself. I had already given too much away, and that would have only scared my friends.


    "You realize Roman is going to tell Atticus and Matias, right?" Jonathan asked me.


    Roman sent him a death-glare.


    "I didn''t tell anyone about the dybbuk until it was absolutely necessary. I can keep a secret, thank you very much."


    "That was because Matias was involved and you didn''t want to betray his trust," Jonathan suggested.


    "Wait," I said. "How long have you known about the dybbuk?"


    "Shit," Roman commented. "I guess you can''t really trust me on this, after all."


    "It''s okay," I decided on the spot. "Matias and Atticus can know, and so can Aurora, if Atticus wants to tell her. They''re all alright with me."


    "Why would Atticus want to tell Aurora?" Roman asked me, like I just suggested his brother exchanged long and heartfelt conversations with his weapon of choice.


    "I''ve got just one question for you," Jonathan said. "If somebody from your family is really behind this... would you be able to take them down, if it came to that?"

 Matias

    I''d never liked Minx Morris, but I''d never told anyone.


    The reason was simple: if you happened to dislike your goofy, apparently well-intentioned but a little weird teacher, you couldn''t say you disliked him without sounding prejudiced even to yourself.


    There wasn''t a lot of time to think about that. I still had to find Roman, whom I hadn''t seen since the night before my Tasks, and I had to get everyone out safely before the fire spread in every corner of the school.


    Before I met Roman, I went to check on Jonathan. Someone had to get him out, or the flames would come for him.


    I knew what Mira would say about that, but I opened the door of his room. He was shaking in his bed, murmuring words about his mother and about avenging her. I thought it was a little weird, since I didn''t think she could have died being murdered, but what did I know? It was not like my classmate had ever shared the details of her death.


    He was also saying something about a tree. It didn''t make a lot of sense. Something along the lines of ''I got to find the tree.''


    I thought I wouldn''t talk to him about that if he ever woke up, because he would have been mortified.


    I took his sword -- he slept with the sword on his bedside table -- and nudged him gently. Again, I knew what Mira, or even Cypress, would say about that, but it was not like we had time to waste.


    Jonathan woke up. He opened his right eye, then his left. His eyes were bloodshot and the same color of his school tie -- a pale, blue-ish green.


    He didn''t look exactly well, and there was no way to tell whether he''d lost his mind, something that could occasionally happen.


    He looked at me slowly, and then he said, "Cypress?"


    Okay. Maybe he had lost his mind.


    "I''m not Cypress, I''m Matias."


    He looked annoyed. "I know, I know. Where is Cypress? Why do I smell smoke?"


    I hadn''t decided yet whether he was healthy -- he''d always been a little eccentric -- but at least now I knew he understood what was going on.


    "Congratulations," I said. "You''re a Blood Drinker."


    I thought those were words someone needed to hear at least once in our lives. As if being a Blood Drinker was really this great thing. At first, I had considered writing in my essay that I did not want to become a Blood Drinker, but then I thought of Athanasios.


    Besides, he had bought me to become a Blood Drinker. What else could I be?


    So I wrote down some stuff he would have probably liked about how much you could study and learn about the world and its supernatural elements if you did a job like ours. And it was perhaps the only idea we shared. I liked learning how to do impossible things too.


    "I know," Jonathan replied after a while. "Maybe the Blood impaired your brain. Where -- is -- Cypress? And is the school on fire?"


    I found that very insulting coming from him. "I''ll take you to your friend," I said. "No need to be rude. Nobody even knew if you would have survived the Blood until five minutes ago. And I''m still not sure your Mind took it well."


    I realized how cruel I''d been when he became as pale as a parchment of paper, so I just mumbled ''sorry''.


    We ran out in the aisle and we practically bumped into Cypress.


    "Jonathan!" he couldn''t help but exclaim. It was very unlike him. "You''re awake."


    "Why does everyone keep telling me that..." Jonathan murmured. "I find it embarrassing. I shouldn''t even be here. I''d always known."


    "What are you talking about?" Cypress asked. "You made it. They''re not sending you away now that you''re a Blood Drinker."


    "Yes, but I bet I passed with the lowest vote," he commented.


    "You''ll never know," Cypress assured him. "Votes are a formality the Court uses to keep the score on our Tasks. We''re never given our votes."


    "You know what I mean," Jonathan said. "I basically sucked at all three, how could I ever become a worthy protector of the city? Maybe it was all a mistake."


    "I don''t want to hear about that anymore," Cypress said, and it was so uncharacteristic of him that I felt as if I''d been watching something I shouldn''t have watched. "You slayed a demon without Mira or Minx''s instructions. And a demon is not like a Creature -- that''s stuff only the bravest Blood Drinkers learn."


    "It was luck," Jonathan said. I would have stopped his complaining -- the school was almost on fire -- but being a Blood Drinker had always felt a little competitive to me. And once the Blood kicked in, you could never look back. If I''d botched the Tasks like he had, I would have wanted to be reassured too.


    "It wasn''t," Cypress said. "You calculated the direct trajectory of the sun light and used it against the demon based on the single fact that you knew it thrived in shadows, and so that had to mean it hated the light, and it worked. It was genius stuff. I would have never come up with it."


    "If you say so..." Jonathan was embarrassed. "Well, nobody will care for my grades either way. Except for Minx."


    "Speaking of Minx," I interrupted them. "This was cute, but we need you to help us save the school. Let''s find the other students and get them out. In the meantime, we''ll tell you about Minx."


    While we had opened Carmela''s door, to find her writing what looked like a romantic letter on her bed, Jonathan asked, "So, who started the fire?"


    "Fire?" Carmela got up to her feet very quickly. "You could have said so sooner. So, who started it? One of the new kids?"


    "Of course not," Cypress said. He looked down, at the floor. "It actually was my mother. But don''t look at me like that. I''m not on her side. In fact, I''m getting you out."


    "Thanks," Carmela said. "I hope I don''t have to repay the favor? I''m so bad at that."


    "Of course not," Jonathan smiled sweetly. "We''re saving your life."


    Carmela looked at his smile, a bit mesmerised. Jonathan was young, but I had noticed he had this effect on girls. Then, she ran away.


    "So," Jonathan said. "What''s wrong with Minx?"


    "His skill is Becoming," I said. "He can become anything and anyone he wants. He''d always kept it for himself because he was treated like a freak for the longest time. Now, to enhance his very draining powers, he drinks human blood, but that is very dangerous and it drove him mad. He wants everyone to drink human blood and he won''t stop until he builds a new society based on that."


    Jonathan looked angry. I couldn''t understand why. Perhaps drinking human blood was against everything he stood for, to the point it made him angry. He''d always been a little pacifist, for a guy with those fencing skills.


    "Matias," he said firmly. "This is not the time for one of your stories."


    It hit me so hard that I started crying. "I made up those stories as a child to make some things appear better than they were, like my father''s story. I would never make stories up to hurt others."


    Jonathan looked like he had snapped out of whatever mood swing he''d been in. "I''m sorry," he said. "Truly. I believe you. It''s just that..."


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "It''s a lot to take in," Cypress said. "But it''s true. I''ve heard it from his lips."


    Apparently that was enough for Jonathan. We decided that the next step was to look for Roman. The Blood Drinkers could decide whether to feed off the salamanders, but there was no such choice for the Speaker.


    "I''m sorry," Jonathan told both Cypress and I. "I''m in a foul mood. I shouldn''t take it out on you. It''s just, the things I''ve seen when I was asleep..."


    "How bad was it?" Cypress asked.


    "It made me want to not wake up."


    He sounded sincere, so I forgave him. But I had a favor to ask.


    "Now, don''t anybody tell Roman about Minx in a rush," I said. "He needs more time to take it in because he liked the teacher better than any of you, and certainly better than me. So, we''ll have to find the right time to tell him. Also, Jonathan, don''t insult him just because you''ve had a rough day."


    Both Jonathan and Cypress opened their mouth to say something, but then gave up.


    I opened the door to Roman''s room.


    "Matias," he said. Then, he looked embarrassed. "You... you woke up."


    "Pretty boy almost didn''t make it," I said. "But don''t worry. He''s good as new."


    Roman didn''t look worried.


    "Pretty boy?" Jonathan mouthed at Cypress, who shrugged.


    "I''ll give you the short version of the events," Jonathan said. And since he had heard us the short version from us, I was afraid many things would be incomplete like in a game of chinese whispers.


    "Cypress''s mom set fire to the school because she is in on a mission to change the Blood Drinkers system from within," he said. "Other people are in on the mission, so beware of who you trust."


    "I do," Roman replied.


    I gave mental points to Jonathan for using a concise and precise language, telling the truth without mentioning Minx and understanding on his own that Minx and Cypress'' mother were working together. I had already had the impression he was more clever than he let on.


    "What do we do?" Roman asked. He appeared troubled. I knew he was worried about Mira and Atticus. I hoped he wasn''t thinking too much about Minx.


    "We get the students out, though a few could fight against the oppressors, if they decide to drink from a salamander," Cypress said. "So far, we fight and Carmela got out."


    The next door we found was the one to the room Cora shared with Evangeline. Like Atticus and Roman, siblings were often encouraged to share rooms if that made them feel more at home.


    I''d never told anyone and I didn''t know if they had figured it out on their own, but I shared mine with Jason. I hadn''t decided it.


    When we opened the door, Cora was reading a book and Evangeline was in front of the mirror, trying on a pair of skinny trousers that weren''t part of the school uniform.


    "Get out!" I advised them, in Ichorian, so they would understand more quickly. "There''s a fire! Or if you prefer to stay and fight, drink from a salamander."


    "We''re getting out," Cora said slowly. "Ugh. I needed to finish this chapter."


    She put in the bookmark very slowly, and she and her twin headed out the room.


    "I''m not fighting if I don''t know who we''re up against," Evangeline only said. "I won''t lack respect if it''s my elders."


    Cora instead smiled and said, "If you need me, call me and I''ll be there."


    "Jason might be the next one we get out because he hadn''t drank from the salamander," Roman said. "And I doubt he''d be too handy in a fight if there''s a bit of trouble understand which side he should be on."


    That gave me a lot to think. We still didn''t know who was on which side. Athanasios had helped Bertha test the salamanders. What if they were on the bad guys side? Maybe it was all a ruse to bring fire into the school.


    Jason was in the gym. The only placed at school he liked.


    "I see better," he explained. "All senses are refined. I wanted to look at the gym with new eyes."


    "Because it''s the view you love the most?" Jonathan winced.


    "No. Simply seen it so many times, I wanted to compare."


    "Good good, but now you must get out," Cypress said. "The whole school is on fire."


    "So? I move really fast. Maybe I can fly."


    "Only those who train a lot of years can fly," I explained patiently.


    "It''s harder for me to die now."


    "Being burned alive is literally one of the three ways you can be killed," Roman pressed on.


    The others were looking at him with wide eyes. Sadly, I found it very believable. Jason wasn''t always slow, but when he wasn''t he wasn''t often in a friendly mood. He hated to collaborate with other people, and enjoyed to cause trouble instead.


    "Get out from the school now," I said. "You don''t want to die. You should have drank from the salamander if you wanted to stay inside."


    It reminded me of many times when Athanasios tried to convince his son to go outside, while he preferred to stay inside, in the gym mostly.


    "Will be there people? I don''t like people," Jason replied, lifting a weight.


    Jonathan took his sword from its sheath and pointed it at Jason''s throat.


    "Go out right now," he said. "Or I''ll give you a merciful quick death instead of letting you choke slowly on the fumes."


    While Jason was going out the school, Roman was looking at Jonathan. "You told me he was good as new," he said. He actually sounded a bit concerned.


    "He is," I assured him. "He''s just had a rough transformation. You know? Nightmares, hallucinations, nasty stuff..."


    "That''s weird, his DNA should be prepared," Roman pointed out. "Wasn''t his dad a Blood Drinker?"


    I shrugged. "There are many reasons why the Mind Task is difficult for people. Perhaps there is no particular reason why it was bad for him, except that it was. Maybe it took him too much power to say goodbye to the part of him that hated our lifestyle. It''s true, he followed Minx at the start of the year willingly, but he used to hate us. That must have been for a reason."


    I wasn''t sure Roman was listening to me anymore. "Minx," he said, worried. "Where is Minx?"


    Thankfully, we met Bertha in that very moment.


    "Here you are, students. Wait. Where is the redheaded one who drank from the byson?"


    "Jason? He''s outside m''aam," Jonathan said. "There''s a fire..."


    "I know," she said, which wasn''t reassuring. "But first, the votes of your Tasks. If I tell you, Vasiliv, you will tell your half-brother, won''t you?"


    I nodded. Jason wasn''t my half-brother, but there wasn''t no need to say it. Everybody knew. It''s just that there wasn''t any word to explain that his father had bought you.


    "Wait, the Court doesn''t give the votes to the students," Cypress said. "There''s no need. We got through the Tasks in one piece, and now we''re Blood Drinkers."


    "You are," Bertha agreed. "But not everyone gets through the Tasks in one piece. Some get embarrassingly injured during the Body Task. Ask your teacher Mira, if you ever see her again. And others barely recover from the Mind Task, isn''t that so, Loreta?"


    "I recovered," Jonathan replied.


    "Still, such people are shameful for our species. But we can''t tell them they''re not fit after the transformation, can we? So, the next best thing we can do is tell them of what they lack, so they''ll use the remaining school years trying to do better."


    "Maybe not now," Cypress said, surprising everyone. "We''re about to die."


    Bertha smiled viciously. "Don''t worry. User and Naftali are putting out the fire as we speak. The teacher saw that the situation was under control, and asked me to talk to you about your votes. I''m sure you can wait a little bit to help them if it''s for a bigger purpose, don''t you Cypress? Don''t you ever wonder what drove your mother so crazy that she had to set fire to a whole school, or how to make sure it doesn''t happen to you? Take a minute of your time, and hear me out."


    "So, Cypress," she said. "Fear not. Your Body Task went surprisingly well -- you took the highest vote in almost everything, though you were not the fastest to catch the animal and the physical part could have been a bit better. The Mind Task went surprisingly well, but you must focus on the Heart. Your essay had good grammar and common sense, but we, as judges, didn''t like it very much. I suggest you to contain your arrogance in the future. The vote is 86 out of 100, exceedingly high."


    Cypress looked please by the vote, despite himself. We knew we were running out of time. We could only hope User and Naftali were good at doing whatever they were doing.


    But they must have been. They were members of the Court, and we had just become Blood Drinkers.


    "You, Matias," she told me. "Have got the same vote as Cypress. Your essay was very good, though you must watch your grammar a little bit. Your Mind adjusted well, and the physical part was exceptional, though you must become a little faster."


    I was happy to hear that. Roman looked at me and he did something that resembled a little smile.


    "Jonathan," Bertha said. "Your essay lacked grammar and it barely had common sense, but it was enough. Tori and User liked it. The Body task was good, especially the physical part, at which you''d been the best, but you wasted too much blood when drinking. I know from now on you''ll only drink from a little wound, but try not to stain your clothes while doing so. It wouldn''t be proper. You also were the slowest. Then, your Mind had trouble adjusting. Your vote is 67 out of 100, a little terrible if you consider only people who take 50 or higher upgrade, but it is certainly enough."


    "This is bollocks," Cypress said. "What if a Blood Drinker passes their Tasks to take 50 or lower? You can''t send them home. They''re not usual humans anymore."


    "Though they could be homeschooled, but I would see why you''d rather not, it didn''t turn out well for your family," Bertha replied. "We never decided a rule because it never happened. Ten points out one hundred are already for your Mind adjusting without killing you, and other ten if the blood doesn''t drive you crazy. Considering Blood Drinkers should be taught how to fight, how to write and that each one of you should have been able to find a good reason to lead this lifestyle, getting other thirty points should be auspicable for each one of you."


    "Is my vote really that bad?" Jonathan asked.


    "Worry not, child. Jason has the lowest score. 64 out of 100. His essay only said, ''I want to become a Blood Drinker because my father is one''. Almost impossible to rate. He did well in the Body Task, but he spilt the blood, and the physical excercise didn''t count for a lot of points when you recognized he was the only one who wasn''t fireproof."


    I remembered everything, so that I could tell it to Athanasios. Not that he''d be happy to hear it.


    "Wait," Jonathan said after a moment. "You said that the teacher told you to tell us about our votes. Did you mean Minx or Mira?"


    "Why does it matter?" Roman looked a bit annoyed.


    "Well, if it was Minx..." I started explaining very sheepishly.


    "It was Minx, in fact," Bertha''s eyes glittered maniacally. "I am on his side. I, too, want to build a better species. My Tasks were only the start of our evolution. I''m sorry to say you won''t be here to see it. Especially those of you who actually got a good vote. But I''d been lying before. Naftali and User were not putting the fire out. They don''t even know about any of this. Minx asked me to distract you."


    "Minx?" Roman asked.


    "Brace yourself," I replied. "It will be a long story."


    "But first," Jonathan said. "Let''s get Aurora and Atticus out."

 Roman

    Mira was tired and aching. I could tell she didn''t use her Skill very often -- it was perhaps one of the most draining.


    "We''ve got to change our plans," she said, breath still shaking. "My Timing told me clearly this is not the right moment for the students to battle. Things have gotten so dangerous, that I risk losing all of those who decided to stay."


    "But we all drank salamander''s Blood," Cypress complained, excluding me from the equation. "We are fireproof! It''s one in a lifetime chance to be a real help! The school is going to burn down without us!"


    Mira looked at him with a mix of tenderness and admiration, the way sometimes Atticus looked at me. I couldn''t remember a grown adult who ever did, except for Minx Morris.


    The other guys were just about to tell me something about him before Mira came to see us.


    Nobody had told me where he was gone yet. I had to admit, in a selfish way, it hurt me more than the prospect of having our lives in danger, or the school burning down.


    If Minx had made a run from it, it only proved my suspicions that you cannot really trust those you see as your parental figures.


    Everybody else seemed pretty okay with it, like it was obvious that just because he acted a bit strange, he was better off. For somebody who has always been branded as a weirdo, I looked up to Minx most of all. But maybe they were only trying to keep it together since the situation already looked dangerous enough as it was. I hoped it wasn''t anything bad.


    Everybody says that the underdogs can make it, but how many do you meet that actually did?


    "Think about it, Cypress," Mira said. "You''re going to have plenty of chances to be a real help to someone. But not if you stay here. Not if you die tonight."


    "I guess I''m the only one that''s needed, then," I said, matter-of-factly.


    "No," Jonathan looked horrified. "Just because you''re a bit hard to get to know, it doesn''t mean your life is less valuable than everybody else''s."


    "Gee thanks," I said. "I didn''t mean to say that. I meant to say that Mira and... well, Mira, is going to need my help to guide the dead souls to their realm."


    "There aren''t going to be dead souls!" Mira said.


    "You''re right," I admitted. "Dead soul is an oxymoron. It is merely our bodies that decay."


    "Nobody is going to die," she insisted.


    "At the cost of sounding insensitive," I said. "I hope a lot of the bad guys do."


    "Okay," she said. "I''m done arguing with you. I''m going to tell the older students to leave this place and alert other Blood Drinkers of what''s happening. We might need to re-locate, so it''s best if other members of our species know about what has befallen us, before we come to their homes uninvited. You four will also leave, but wait until I come back. I will escort you out myself."


    When Mira was gone, I could tell Cypress, Jonathan and Matias were about to tell me the truth about Minx Morris, but were a bit indecisive on where to start. I''m not particularly bright, it was just the same way Atticus acted towards me for a while before presenting me Aurora.


    I could also guess that whatever they had to tell me was something big, or bad.


    Maybe he wasn''t gone, I thought. Maybe he was dead. But that would be better, in a way. I could contact his soul, if he were.


    "I trained my whole life for something like this," Cypress said morosely, "just to be sent home when all the good stuff happens."


    "Your family is involved in some way, right?" I snapped at one point.


    He nodded without looking at me, or anybody else.


    "Then you should have been homeschooled like they wanted you to," I replied nastily. "So now you''d be fighting like you want to do, instead of being sent home. Only difference would be you''d be on their side, but maybe it doesn''t matter as much as showing off does, to you."


    "Roman," Matias scolded me. "Stop it. You know you''re not like that."


    He looked apologetically at Cypress and Jonathan.


    "He''s not like that," he reassured them.


    "I just said the truth," I replied. "I''m not glad about being sent away either, but I trust Mira. And I don''t want to die. I really fucking don''t."


    "Besides," I added, still a little maliciously. "Nobody of us can really go home, am I right? Out of all the kids, we are the ones who''s got nowhere to stay."


    "Might as well stay here then, and help," Cypress insisted.


    "I am not a Blood Drinker," I claimed. "I do not experience the rush you all apparently get from fighting. But, even if it pains to admit it, I''ve grown to like you each of you. If you''d like to know my rate of preference, it goes on the opposite of the alphabetical order."


    "That''s a nice way of saying you don''t want us to die," Jonathan scoffed.


    "Roman still doesn''t know everything," Matias said, suddenly. "If he knew, maybe he would get why we feel wronged. Why we want to be here."


    So they told me about Minx Morris.


    "I don''t believe you," I could only say. Of course I believed them. I just didn''t want to, and didn''t know how to express it.


    "I was in the room when it happened," Cypress got angry. "Now, I might be your least favorite in the group, but I wouldn''t lie about this."


    "That''s why he wanted to marry Mira," I realized. "The human blood is making him lose his mind, but being married to your soulmate keeps you grounded."


    "But they aren''t soulmates," Matias reminded me.


    "At that point, he must have been ready to try everything," Jonathan suggested. "Even drinking human blood is not exactly in our nature!"


    Before we could talk more about it, Mira came back.


    "Oh well," she said. "You''re still here. You''re not so naughty, after all."


    "We have no place to go," Cypress grunted. "Roman gently reminded us of that."


    I beamed. I couldn''t tell if it was sarcasm or not, but I hoped it wasn''t. Surely I had reminded them of that notion in the most sensible way possible.


    Mira was leading some part of the grounds I didn''t know really well, but it didn''t look like we were going towards an exit. Perhaps there was some kind of basement, like the ones people gather in to protect themselves from tornadoes, where we could be safe.


    "You seem pretty okay," Matias told me in a low voice. "I was afraid you wouldn''t take the news very well."


    "I haven''t," I explained. "I''m just trying to pretend everything is fine and nothing ever happened, and I''m making a poor job of it."


    It was true. I tried not to think about Minx, but I couldn''t stop the memories from flooding my brain. He had raised Atticus and I. I had countless memories of him. We had spent hours talking about all kinds of stuff. In some of the memories, I thought I could already spot some kind of red flag, but it was blurred, and I was aware of the fact that what I now knew about him was already tainting the rest, making it flawed forever.


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    My father had had troubles being a father. Hell, he had had troubles even being a person. I always wished Minx was my real father. I even related to him. That made me sick. Before I realized it, I started sobbing.


    I didn''t even care that the others could hear me. I had never cried in front of anybody before, just alone, in my bed, after everybody else in the room had gone to sleep. But there was no hiding now. And I had the strange feeling there wouldn''t be a safe place for me ever anymore.


    Mira heard me. She bent down in front of me (not that she really needed to, not much, anyway), and patted me delicately on the head.


    "Now, now," she said. "Shut the fuck up, Roman. You can''t always expect the whole world to babysit you! You are too old to have a nervous breakdown over a box of cereals because it''s not the right color!"


    There he was. He had tricked us all.


    Mira had never come back for us. But Minx had taken her appearance.


    "Don''t worry guys," he immediately said, when all the young Blood Drinkers drew out their weapon of choice. "I''m not going to hurt you. I just want you to be there to see me in all my glory. I will start our world anew, and I need all four of you to make it work. That''s crazy, because I would have never thought of that before meeting you in the hallway. But now it''s clear I do. After all, all the best theatre comes from improvisation, and so does life!"


    "What have you done to Mira?" Jonathan growled without lowering his sword.


    "Don''t worry, I just tied her up," he cackled. "Nothing too strange for a couple to happen, don''t you think? Alas, she does not like being bonded. And I do not like women with opinions, but what can one do?"


    "Maybe shut the fuck up?" Cypress suggested. He must have been really enraged, because, usually, I was the only one who was gross enough to utter swear words in front of everybody.


    "And that''s a great idea for your role, Spaulding-Macbeth!" Minx applauded him. "Oh, I just love when actors make suggestions about their characters. Don''t you all think it makes all the difference?"


    While he was talking, he managed to drag us to whatever room he had chosen for his ''performance''. After all, he was a grown-up, and, even though he looked frail, he was still a supernatural creature. He was way taller than six feet and he had enhanced strength. I also hated to think about it, but it was clear that drinking human blood, other than making him crazy was also making him stronger.


    In not so many words -- we didn''t stand a chance.


    "I will tell you what you''re all going to be once I rise to power," Minx said. "Perhaps it might get you to co-operate. First of all, you all shall be granted a person I will treat as your equal. That will be your soulmate. Don''t worry about Atticus, Roman. You can choose him. I sincerely doubt you can find a soulmate. Other than having to stand your attitude, and be okay with your personal taste, there are not many Speakers left in the world."


    "Speakers can also be the soulmates of Blood Drinkers," Matias suggested timidly. Mira and Minx had taught us that.


    "Yes," Minx laughed. "But we wouldn''t want that to happen, now wouldn''t we? Blood Drinkers are special, and Speakers are just a bit above dogs in the food chain. The wild dogs that eat people''s bodies," he laughed at his own joke. "Roman here especially!"


    "You''re a monster!" Matias spat back. "Weren''t you tired of pretending, for all those years?"


    In fact, my clever friend had figured out that Minx wasn''t acting like that just because the blood was driving him crazy, he must have been rotten from the start, although maybe not up to that point.


    "Are you kidding?" Minx said. "It shall be remembered as my greatest, and perhaps longer-lasting role! And who but an incredible actor could pull it off?!"


    "And what was the role, exactly?" Jonathan commented sourly. "Pretending to be a good person? Convincing people that you loved them? I''m sorry to say that it''s not that hard to fake things like that. A lot of people do it every day."


    It sounded like he knew what he was talking about.


    "Jonathan, do not despair," Minx continued, just like all the greatest actors, deaf to constructive criticism.


    "You shall play the greatest part, right at my side, my right hand man! Your Skill will serve us greatly in the immediate future!"


    Now, I don''t want to give the impression that since Minx was acting approachable, we weren''t scared. On the contrary, we were horrified.


    It was like one of those nightmares that stick with you your whole life. Generally, the scariest ones are the ones that are full of nonsense and a bit like a freak show.


    "Cypress," Minx continued. "Will be my hostage, and, as long as he is, all the rebellious families like his own, or the ones to whom Blood Drinkers royalty still counts something, will have to refrain from attacking me and my politics too openly. Otherwise, who knows what might happen to this bright, young pupil!"


    "Matias," he added. "Has been trained greatly by Athanasios Ducas. He''s probably the best, and certainly the most Courageous warrior of his age. He will lead my troops into battle against all of those who don''t want to pledge alliance and drink human blood!"


    I couldn''t help but laugh.


    "Don''t you think it''s a little ridiculous to say something like that about a thirteen-year-old?" I asked.


    Matias gave me the stink eye.


    "I do not," Minx proclaimed. "You have all passed your Blood Tasks and therefore you are men to me. And, anyway, I do not have a lot of supporters at the moment. But don''t worry, that is going to change!"


    "And what about me?" I asked. I had a sick desire of knowing what the man that I had briefly loved like a father thought about me. All the things he had said so far just made me think that all the fathers I''ve had must agree about certain things concerning me.


    "You are a Speaker. Do you know what a Speaker really is?"


    "Nobody knows for certain," Cypress commented. "Just like Blood Drinkers, despite having been present since the start of time to fight demonic activities, are not sure where their abilities and their duties really come from."


    "It''s an abomination," Minx continued. "You will have noticed you have a lot in common with Blood Drinkers, but not enough. Scientifically, it means you''re an hybrid. I still haven''t figured out who mated with Blood Drinkers to make Speakers happen, but I will. Now, being Blood Drinkers run in the families, and your brother Atticus is a Blood Drinker, right? So it would only make sense for you to have the same disposition in your genetic code, perhaps in a weaker form. Yes, Speakers are born out of a weak genetic link, otherwise they wouldn''t be almost extinct. Nature is trying to fix its own mistake."


    "What does that leave me?" I asked, angry tears welling in my eyes. I wish I could say I didn''t feel like a mistake, a weak link, but that''s how I felt every day. And maybe my desire to be a Blood Drinker was natural -- maybe my DNA wanted to upgrade.


    "I found human blood to make Blood Drinkers even stronger and virtually unstoppable," Minx mused. "I still need to fix the part that makes you lose your mind, but that''s only a side effect. You will be my project, Roman. I do not want Speakers to disappear. I want to find a way to make them stronger. Of course, it won''t be easy, but nothing good ever is."


    Make me stronger? Well, I wasn''t strong. My powers were chaotic and they controlled me much more than I controlled them. I had made no real progress in years. Maybe Minx was right... but his words didn''t ring true. He just knew our weaknesses and was trying to use them against us.


    Finally, we had reached the basement. I was right about that. There was a hidden basement I didn''t know about. But the discovery didn''t make me happy. On the contrary, there was nothing than I wanted more to have a home to go to, and be there right now.


    Mira was tied up, like Minx had said. Somebody was helping her get free, even though it required an enormous amount of strength. The other person could only be a well-trained Blood Drinker.


    Atticus.


    My heart skipped a beat. He must have been in the group Mira was trying to send home, but Minx must have caught them in the act. Atticus normally would have went someplace safe with Aurora, but it looked like he had chosen to remain, and help out our teacher instead.


    Mira was free.


    "Good job," she told my older brother. "You can go and join Aurora now."


    Atticus didn''t even spare a glance in our direction, and headed towards what looked like an exit.


    Before I knew what I was doing, I struggled free out of Minx'' grip, and I ran behind him.


    All that time I had been sad today was for nothing, I realized. I didn''t miss an home. I didn''t miss a father figure.


    Atticus was my home. Atticus had been forced to give up his own childhood and teenage years to be my father. He loved me, and he had taught me everything he knew. He would never speak to me the way Minx had just done. It was just like the dybbuk had said. I was taking him for granted, but he sacrificed every second of the day to take care of me.


    I was nothing without him.


    "Atticus!" I screamed. "Stop! Don''t leave me here alone! Don''t ever leave me alone!"


    The stress of that day began to pile up on me. Suddenly, I sounded incoherent. I just knew I would lose my mind, lose it like Minx Morris had, if my older brother went somewhere I couldn''t follow him.


    There was only he and I in my world, and maybe Minx Morris. I forgot about Mira, about my friends. If he left, I would die of fright. I would be useless forever.


    I felt somebody''s arms around me. They weren''t Atticus'', so I jerked away. I didn''t like being touched when I was already altered or confused.


    "It''s going to be okay," Mira said. I realized she had been the one who had tried to hug me. "Atticus is not going away permanently, he''s just going with the other older students. You all will be free to go as soon as possible as well."


    "Minx won''t let us," I replied. "Not so easily. He''s going to use us, Mira."


    I knew I was too shocked to make sense, but Mira seemed to get at least the gist of what I was saying.


    Atticus, in the meantime, had turned around. What I saw in his eyes broke my heart. As much as he loved me, he trusted Mira''s words, and wanted to go.


    I felt like I couldn''t breathe. If he left, I would have crumbled to the floor. If he left, who knew what was going to happen to me.


    "You promised!" I said, almost screaming. "You promised me that you''d always stay by my side, that I''d always be safe!"


    And he had kept his promise. He even protected me from Dad, when he was the one who needed more protection. Dad would never hurt me the way he broke him down. He did it ''cause Atticus was the good one. He liked that there was something bad in me.


    Atticus ran towards me. I remember feeling like I wasn''t much better than Dad, we both knew how to hurt him to get him to do our bidding, in very different ways.


    I also remember I didn''t care. My older brother was with me, and that was the only way I felt complete, because he was a missing piece of my soul, the poster child of all the good things I was fascinated from but would never be.

 Jonathan

    Minx Morris knew how to get to us, and how to exploit our very own fears and desires against us. I was sure of that.


    Of course, maybe sometimes he was mistaken. Why would Cypress accept to be taken hostage? Unless maybe because he would have loved to see that his relatives cared enough about him to rescue him. That would have been understandable.


    However, like in a nightmare, or like one of those old legends where people stroke a deal with a demon, Minx knew what you wanted, but the distorted version of it. So, for example, I never considered for even the smallest moment to join him. I didn''t want to be his right-hand-man, if anything because I''ve never desired power or to be greater than anyone else.


    Even in my Heart Task, I had written in my essay that I desired for everyone to be equal. Perhaps if he''d paid more attention to us when he was our teacher, he would have noticed things like that.


    But he was right about one thing -- the idea that an adult wanted my help, that a grown man saw me as talented, was something that had made me daze for about a second. It was one of my biggest desires, to be taken seriously by someone older than me. Someone who could erase the way Pablo looked at me, as if I was only good for getting money from the state and working at the market instead of him, and not as a human being.


    And my Skill needed honing. The only person who had tried to teach me how to control it before was Minx Morris. So far, I had only tried it once, passing out and seeing a tree, which I guess was not the vision I should have seen. Your Skill works much better if you''re a Blood Drinker, but something in my gut told me I wasn''t ready to use Knowledge yet.


    I''d been lost in my thoughts for about a minute, when Minx drew a weapon, a Katana.


    "What?" he asked. "Were you expecting me to fight only with my Skill and my wit? It might have been enough to recruit you, but if you don''t join me, you will die. And I can''t let the fire do everything."


    "I''ve never known you knew how to wield a Katana efficiently," Mira said, because even though all kind of weapons were thought, most people had an affinity for one or two at the most.


    "I can wield a lot of different weapons," Minx said, his eyes glittering manically. "The only way to play a part is to learn how to act differently than yourself, and most of my disguises use weapons I''d never consider. After all, I could never stick to my favorite, and go out of character."


    I unsheathed my sword. If Minx wanted to fence, he should have known he was about to fight one of the best.


    Well, one of the best thirteen-year-olds. But it was still better than nothing.


    "Jonathan," Mira said. "Let me handle this. You can''t fight Minx. You''re too inexperienced."


    "That is the problem with you, Mira, and with most women," Minx replied. "When you have students. You baby them. I was worried at how those new-years would grow up. I have known for a long time how you''ve always babied Roman, and he''s a terrible Speaker, worse than the rest of his people, because he can''t even do it well."


    Roman flushed a terrible shade of purple.


    "Well," Matias pointed out. "We''re all better than Jason, and he doesn''t like Mira much. He''s the only one who''s never asked her for advice."


    We all looked at him.


    "What? It''s true. He got the lowest grade in the Blood Tasks."


    Minx moved, and pointed his katana straight at my arm before we could even notice. It wasn''t fair, but I guessed the teacher was far beyond the comprehension of fair and unfair anymore. Besides, it was theatrical, and it was what he was going far.


    "Jonathan!" Cypress shrieked.


    I looked down at my sword arm. It was injured, and I was losing a lot of blood. With another strike, Minx could have cut off my arm from the rest of my body, but thankfully he didn''t.


    "Consider yourself warned," he said. "I do want you as my second-in-command, Jonathan. Your Skill is rare, and powerful, and, even if you refuse to use it for me, I happen to know how to trigger it since I''ve known your father before you and I''ve seen him in action. I can, however, cut pieces of you until you decide to come on my side."


    "Gee, I wonder why I''d do that," I replied.


    "Jonathan," Mira said, and her tone was harsher than Cypress''. "Get yourself to safety! I don''t care if you have to run, run away! Now is not the time to die like martyrs. And bring Cypress with you."


    "But..." Cypress started to say. He looked at me, and then at Mira, as if he couldn''t decide where he''d rather be.


    "Jonathan needs help with that arm," Mira said. "He''s losing a lot of blood. The wound can become worse if he doesn''t take care of it. When you''ve escorted him outside, you can go back to us."


    While Minx was still waiting for his next move -- he apparently wasn''t expecting his second-in-command to walk out the door with only one word from Mira, Cypress and I left.


    "To hell with everything," I said in the aisle. "Let''s find something to bandage my arm with and let''s go back to help Mira and the others."


    "And what if your wound festers?" Cypress asked. He didn''t look particularly upset. I couldn''t understand why. He liked fighting. He liked making himself useful.


    "Then it was meant to happen," I replied hotly. "I''m nothing, nothing, without this place and without those people. I will not let Minx take control of everything. And maybe we can find a way to trigger my power. I''ll give you the permission to do everything you think it would take, I trust you. And then I can ask the universe how to fight our former teacher."


    Cypress turned to me.


    "I''d hate to miss out on fighting Minx," he said. "But now that he''s already let us go, we should leave him to Mira, Matias and Atticus. Roman too, if he can fight. We''re needed elsewhere."


    I knew how it pained him to say it. Cypress had already made his peace with bringing down Minx, or die trying. It''s a weird thing to think about a thirteen-year-old, but it was how I saw Cypress -- he was already a Blood Drinker through and through and, unlike Matias who''d been forced, and me, who I had joined their world only about ten months before, he''d always been.


    However, from his words, I realized he''d already came up with a different plan.


    "And where are we needed?" I asked. "I realized this doesn''t have anything to do with my arm."


    "No," he said. "Though I still want somebody to take a look at it, I also want to look for my mother. We should stop her, whatever it takes. She''s creating chaos, she was the one who set fire to the building. Somebody needs to be looking out for her, and see she doesn''t do anything foolish."


    I didn''t like the way Cypress had said it, as if he was used to the thought of having an unstable mother, as if her betrayal had caused great suffering, but not the biggest surprise. I thought about Minx Morris. I thought about my father, who left me when I wasn''t even born. I thought about my uncle, who couldn''t take me in because he drank too much, and of Pablo, who''d pretended to be nice long enough to have the permission to take me in, and then he''d never been nice again.


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    I wondered whether all adults were like that, and what my mother would have grown up to be like. I couldn''t imagine her doing any of those things, but maybe that was only me.


    While we were looking for Cypress'' mother, we met Tori from the Court wandering the corridors.


    "What are you doing here?" I asked her. I hoped I didn''t sound too annoyed. My meaning was, ''more people to save''. But Tori was a member of the Court so she probably knew how to look after herself. It''s just that she always looked pale and out of place, with an innocent sort of face, that made her look like a woman out of the legends my mother told, one of those frail, sickly maidens that heroes saved from the Creatures.


    "I could ask you the same thing," she replied. "But I was simply going inside to help Mira, we''ve realized what must have happened to Bertha." Tori bit her lip. "We''re not all... like that."


    "That''s great," Cypress said, and told her where she could find the others. Before she left, Tori made a make-shift bandage for my arm and told me the names of a few herbs I could find that would help the cut heal nicely.


    "We''ll look for them in the infirmary, if it hasn''t burned down," I told Cypress. "Or later, in the village. But first, let''s look for your mother."


    He looked at my arm, sadly.


    "Seriously," I said. "We have no time to waste."


    We looked around the school, which wasn''t easy since the fire was devastating everything. I looked in Cypress'' eyes, and I read in them the same emotions I was feeling. Who knew if our school would have ever got back to the way it was before. Who knew which one of us would have lived to see it.


    And was it really going to be the same way it was before, without Minx?


    We came across a small room, a broom closet, really. I put one finger in front of my mouth, to warn Cypress to shush and not to make any noise. There was someone inside, I was almost sure. I thought I could hear somebody breathing.


    I looked at Cypress, but he was green all-over. I realized he probably didn''t like small spaces, but I didn''t ask.


    I opened the door wide, and a person came out, looking flustered, but only at first.


    It was Cypress'' mother. Like her son, she looked diminutive and that was the reason why she fit nicely in the closet. Her blond hair was in a mess, and her mouth snarled viciously.


    "What..." I had trouble understanding what was going on. "What were you hiding for?"


    It was a weak question, but it was all I could manage. Not having known a lot of adults in my life, I couldn''t understand why Cypress'' mother would want to wreak havoc in her son''s school. And what was she gaining by fighting alongside Minx? Did she want to turn Blood Drinkers in a better race too? Or did she only wish for our destruction, and would side with everyone?


    Was there anything in the whole world Cypress could have told her to make her side with us?


    Finally, she replied to my first question, the only one I''d ask. I felt guilty all of a sudden. Wasn''t my Skill supposed to be asking questions to the Universe and receiving the answer? What if all my questions were always going to be the lame ones no one is really interested in?


    "I''ve been wounded," she grimaced, moving her gaze to her chest, where, in fact, there was a small smear of blood. However, it must have hurt her a lot.


    I remembered what I''d learnt about her from my friend. She was blind. It was easy to tell, though, that all of her other senses were amplified. Just like a usual Blood Drinker, but with way more deadly agility to compensate.


    "Who hurt you?" I asked.


    "User, of the Court," she replied, wincing. "I don''t believe you really care."


    I did, in a way. I didn''t like seeing people in pain, and I''d been wondering whether we could get her on our side without shedding too much blood. She was Cypress'' mother, for heaven''s sake.


    "We don''t," Cypress said, but it was too easy to see he was lying.


    "Does your little friend know something about me, Cypress?" his mother asked him. "I can''t believe you would have told someone like him private matters of our life."


    "Like him? What do you mean?" Cypress was angry. "You think he''s worth less than us because he''s not a Macbeth? And maybe, at first, I shouldn''t have told him about your accident, which I did, but are you under the impression that I shouldn''t have told him who was trying to burn down the school, while we were trying to survive the fire?"


    "It''s none of his business," she replied. "And you should have known better, though I have come to except nothing from you. My issue with your friend is not with his blood, I am not aware whether his family is influential in Tallya, where he''s from. But even I had other standards for you, other than to befriend the inexperienced foreign student who joined this school only because he heard his estranged father used to be a Blood Drinker? Yes, people talk."


    Cypress'' cheeks flushed, and for once, I wished his mother would go back to being half-dead from her wound more quickly. But then I swallowed, and I tried to think it wouldn''t have been the best for my friend if she''d died.


    "Get out of the way," I said. "And we won''t report you to anyone."


    She raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying that you''ll let me go pitily instead of putting up a fight? Do you think I would let you go? I don''t understand why Cypress is still in the way. I don''t care much what he does as of now, but if you get out, I will get to Mira and finish setting this place on fire."


    I thought about what she would do to Mira if she would ever get to her, and blood started boiling in my veins. I had finally realized that I knew a decent adult who would have never done the things my father, Cypress'' mother, Minx and Pablo had done.


    And that person was Mira.


    "Why are you so set on burning this school down anyway?" I asked, unable to help myself. "It''s not like it changes things for you, if people learn, even if you don''t agree with the method. Is it because you would like to go back in time and go back to school yourself, so you learn more than you ever did, and don''t make a mistake anymore when you''re out hunting a Creature with your partner?"


    Her face became a mask of pure anger, and even Cypress recoiled.


    I decided to think about that later, even though it had made my chest hurt, and looked at my sword arm. It was heavily injured.


    I closed my eyes, and it was like I could hear Pablo''s voice inside my mind. It said, ''I won''t go easy on you. If you wanted me to go easy on you, you wouldn''t have asked.'' It was how I had learned to fight with the left hand.


    I unsheathed my sword.


    Cypress said, "Don''t, Jonathan, your arm is too injured."


    But I quickly grabbed the hilt with my left hand. Cypress'' mother had understood that the sword had changed its placing, and she gave me a determined look.


    Good. I didn''t want to take her by surprise. It was what cowards did. I simply wanted to back her into a corner, and hope that, unlike Minx, she hadn''t mastered the art of the katana.


    Or that whatever her weapon was, she didn''t have it with her.


    I was obviously wrong. As soon as I tried, she took out a knife from the waistband of her trousers. She put it close enough to my throat that I could see it had some weird symbols carved into it.


    "Are you staring?" she asked. "I should have known. You haven''t been brought up like a real Blood Drinker. Those symbols you see carved here are letters from the old Megleni alphabet. Everyone chooses the letters they feel they represent them best, so I chose Resh, for spiritual guidance, and Tsade for righteousness."


    I swallowed. "They''re the perfect choices for you."


    "This knife," she continued as if she hadn''t heard me. "Is an athame. Blood Drinkers used to have them as preferred weapon in ancient times, before we evolved and everyone chose the weapons they liked best. But word on the street is that to dissolve a Creature, this knife is still the very best."


    "Obviously," she added, grazing the skin of my throat with the point, "It works on humans as well, just like any regular weapon and any regular knife."


    "Stop," Cypress was visibly upset. "Mother. Don''t kill Jonathan. Ask me to go out again, and I will. Both of us will."


    She laughed at him, and called him a coward.


    Seeing as this was her reply, and it was negative, Cypress took his weapon of choice and fired his gun at his mother''s leg.


    Mira and Minx had tried to teach us a bit about every weapon and I knew how guns worked. A little. I wasn''t very good at using anything that wasn''t a sword. But even I knew that the bullet had barely grazed his mother''s leg and that no serious injury would follow.


    However, Cypress'' mother was genuinely surprised, as if she''d never expected anything like that. And I do amit that I wasn''t expecting it either, especially because the bottom line was simple: he''d done it to protect me.


    While she curled on the floor, exhausted, I went to Cypress.


    "Let''s not talk about it," he said, stiff-lipped. "And don''t mention it to anyone."


    I nodded. I would have liked to talk about his bravery, but I knew he was withdrawn and didn''t like to have all eyes on him. Now, if we''d told the whole Court and all our classmates that he''d shot his own mother to save me, that was something that would have gotten him at least a few stares.


    "Got it," I replied. "What do we do, now?"


    "We should probably leave," he said.


    "What?" I asked, in a high-pitched voice. "You just shot your mother because you didn''t want to leave!"


    "Well," he still looked green-ish. "I didn''t want to leave her alone and unarmed to try and murder Mira while we left. Now she''ll be out for a while. But we must go out, because the Court has already left the building."


    I nodded. "We should tell someone from the Court about her, so that she can face justice. I was thinking about User, who seems like a good man."


    Cypress agreed. "We should also get someone to see your arm."


    While we were leaving, I looked behind me to see the whole school engulfed in flames, and my heart couldn''t help but break in a milion pieces at the idea that we were leaving Mira, Roman, Matias and Atticus behind.

 Cypress

    The Blood Tasks had gone surprisingly well.


    I found the First Task really easy, even if Bertha had written with a red pen that it was preposterous to want to be a Blood Drinker because I thought it was the only useful job to do. When I had asked her about it, she had told me when have to be humble and aware of our possible shortcomings, that, in short, it is already established in our nature to help out the community, but we shouldn''t dwell on it and think ourselves heroes because we were given the chance to do that.


    To which I replied that what I meant was that I was so grateful I had been given the chance to do it, that I wouldn''t pass up the opportunity to become a real Blood Drinker.


    To which she said that should have been written in my essay in the first place.


    But, apart from that, I did really well. The Second Task went great too, even though I''ll never know if I would have chosen the right animal without Matias'' priceless advice. I tried to think about myself in that situation, and I just couldn''t come up with any idea, which I found a bit disappointing. A vague sense of cheating spoiled my achievement.


    The Third Task was supposed to be the hardest one, and I had heard the Court complain that Jonathan''s mind wasn''t reacting to the Blood well. It gave me troubled thoughts, which I normally wouldn''t have had, because my own mind had attached itself to the Blood immediately.


    They gave me a day to rest. Matias also got a day, while for Jonathan, they said it depended on his progress -- or lack of. Jason had already finished resting after half an hour. Everybody looked so proud of him, but I bet it was because his Mind didn''t work hard enough to notice the difference between being a human or something else.


    Plus, he got the lowest score on the First Task. I heard him whining that he already knew he should have drank from the salamander (bad move), but had completely forgotten about it.


    The older students and the Speaker were restless because they couldn''t visit us while we were resting. I knew for a fact Atticus had asked Mira to stay with Jonathan, but was refused, and Roman kept hanging outside Matias'' door, as if some magic could let him in.


    After a while, my own door opened.


    My first reaction was panic. They told me I could hallucinate things, but I had experienced no other side effects, so I thought I would be safe from that one, too.


    My mother was standing right outside the door.


    She looked real enough, but it was impossible -- first of all, they wouldn''t have let her in. And secondly, she wouldn''t drop by the school for any reason whatsoever. As Minx had said, I was the first Macbeth not to be homeschooled, and she hadn''t exactly enjoyed the idea, which had been mine.


    "Go away, hallucination," I said softly because, despite all of my other abilities, I didn''t know what to do when faced with scary situations.


    Which, given the life I had chosen, was ironic.


    "Hallucination?" my mother repeated, puzzled. Then she understood.


    "They just gave you the Blood for the first time, haven''t they? Oh, you poor thing. I wish I could have come to your rescue sooner. You must be in so much pain."


    One of the side effects of the Task was an awful headache, but I had managed to skip that one, too. My mother had it in her youth, and had assumed I would have it as well.


    Well, my head was starting hurting a bit now, but I had reasons to think it wasn''t involved with the Blood.


    "Rescue me?" I asked, deciding that she wasn''t an hallucination. "Is there danger in the school?"


    "Not yet," she said. "Despite our attemps. That Mira Abas is way too good at her job. Much more than you all give her credit for. And her Skill is Timing, so, even when she''s not using it, she can sense the right time to do something. But not all is lost. Alas, nothing is lost yet! Other members of the family, some of my cousins, are around the school right now, spreading the fire. And we have someone on the inside, somebody nobody could ever suspect."


    "Somebody on the inside?" I said. I really felt feverish. Even though my Mind was adjusting well, it was still weak, and so was my body.


    "It makes no sense," I said. "You are mistaken. Whatever message you sent me to get me to comply with you has been lost, or intercepted. I never received word from any member of the family, and if I did, I would have told you I have no interest whatsoever in burning down the school!"


    I had to let somebody know before the damage was too great. Fire was one of the few things that could kill even adult, powerful, Blood Drinkers.


    Except those who drank from the salamander, I connected the dots. Those people would be fireproof.


    My mother laughed.


    "You are not our man on the inside, Cypress. You have always been a rotten fruit of our tree. But don''t you worry, it''s entirely my own fault. I should have never mixed my powerful blood with your father''s frail one. I knew you would either oppose the plan or not carry it out entirely."


    I forced myself to think. If it was connected to the salamanders, the man on the inside could be the person who knew about them.


    "Matias?" I asked.


    But my mother simply stared at me like I was speaking a foreign language.


    "Is he one of your playmates?" she asked mockingly. "We would have never employed anyone under the age of nineteen, so you can be assured that none of your friends is involved in this."


    "Athanasios," I decided.


    "We''re not playing a game here," my mother scolded me. "I will not throw away all the attempts this person has done to remain anonymous just to tell you if you''re guessing right or wrong. If you wanted a nice word from mommy, you should not have left us for those people."


    "These people are our people," I couldn''t help but say.


    "Fine, dig your own grave," my mother said. "I won''t mourn you when the fire catches up to you. And, about that, I should probably go help out my cousins. Why is this place not ashes yet?"


    I shuddered. I had to tell somebody.


    Just when I thought of it, my door opened again. This time, a man I didn''t know came in. He was tall, but not too much above-average. He had blond hair and brown eyes. He struck me as not very remarkable in his features.


    Then his features began to change.


    This time I was sure I was losing my mind. Perhaps the Blood had just kicked in a little later, and now these strong hallucinations were going to kill me.


    I started screaming, but was immediately silenced by thin, long, fingers that covered my mouth gently.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "I wouldn''t scream if I were you," Minx Morris told me.


    "You see," he continued, his voice every bit as gentle as the one I was so used to hear. "Your mother made a mistake, telling you of her plans, and then leaving you here alive. How do they say? Dead men tell no tales?"


    I tried to fight the pressure of his hand. He let go of my face, almost ashamed of restraining me.


    "You just heard me talking to my mother, didn''t you, Professor?" I said. "If it''s so, I''m sure you''ve heard the part where she said I wasn''t her insider. So please, believe me when I tell you one last time that I didn''t know of her plans."


    "Oh, but I believe you," Minx assured me. "You think yourself so clever, but you still can''t understand?"


    His smile was sweet, but there was something wrong with it.


    "I am the person on the inside," he said. "And I''m only telling you because you won''t survive long enough to tell anybody else. Not that it matters. In a few hours, everyone will know. Mira has been suspecting me for a while, but she only found out the truth about ten minutes ago. I proposed to her, and she used her Skill before responding."


    For a split second, his face looked really hurt.


    "Can you imagine that? It''s really humiliating. Especially, when she found out that her Skill advised her otherwise. Shouldn''t people marry for love?"


    I didn''t know what to answer, but I understood he didn''t want me to. The teacher had always loved playing, talking like he was mesmerising the audience at a performance. It was simply what he was doing now.


    "Why would you marry her at a time like this?" I asked.


    I doubted love could be the answer.


    "Do you remember the lesson about soulmates? They keep each other grounded. So much, that, the sum of their qualities prevents one of them from going crazy. The marriage ritual makes the grounding even more powerful."


    "But you''re not soulmates..." I couldn''t help but say.


    "I still hoped some of it could work between two powerful Blood Drinkers who were in a relationship. Because I''m going crazy, and there''s nothing I can do to stop it."


    I had enough. I decided I was the one who was going crazy. This looked like a textbook hallucination from the Blood Tasks to me.


    "I don''t believe you," I said. I shut my eyes and went back to sleep.


    "You have to believe me, Cypress," Minx almost pleaded. "This is real."


    His appearance started to change again. This time, he was starting to look like a woman.


    "Ugh, stop doing that," I flinched, as if the hallucination was disgusting. But it was giving me a major headache.


    "Why?" he said. "That''s the first thing they teach us at school, isn''t it? When the damned Speaker shuffles his Deck. That everybody should be proud of their Skills, no matter how common or useless they are. Well, God knows I would have rather have Force or Goodness rather than this! One of the rarest, and for what? I was labeled a freak all my life..."


    Wait... that shapeshifting thing he was doing... was his Skill?


    "Yes, you finally guessed something right," he said. "I can be whomever I want. There''s no limit. No restrictions. The people can come right from my imagination, or even be real people. If I were to imitate a real person, nobody could tell the difference. Spooky, right?"


    "Is your usual appearance the one you were born with?" I couldn''t help but ask. It was an odd question. I didn''t think nobody would have chosen to walk around with extremely long and thin limbs and fiery red hair if they had a say in how they looked.


    "Of course," he seemed taken aback. "Just like any other Blood Drinker, it is extremely draining to use one''s power. I wouldn''t waste my energy to give myself a make-over for my whole life."


    "Why are you going crazy?" I decided to ask.


    "It''s called Becoming, the Skill," Minx said. He recited like he was reading from the back of the card from the Deck.


    "You can be anything and anyone you desire," his voice was sad. "Skills are our downfall, at the end," he went on. "Growing up and using it to save my team mates from Creatures, at some point I lost connection with whom I really was. Why was my power so low, so deceiving? Why did it push people away? I began to keep it hidden. No student of mine knows it, not even our own Speaker. I let him believe that I had something like Agility."


    "But you asked something else, right?" he changed topic. "You asked me why I was going crazy. Good, Spaulding-Macbeth. You always go straight to the point. I''ll miss being your Teacher when you''ll be dead. Unfortunately, I''ll just have to say your mind rejected the Blood. Sometimes it happens."


    "Anyway," he seemed unstoppable, now, and I suddenly remembered I had seen him looking bewildered for some time now. He really was getting crazy.


    "I decided I would start drinking human blood," he said. "It makes me extremely powerful. It enhances my Skill in ways I could have never imagined. And it tastes like a wonderful drug. You can''t get enough of it, once you begin. Quite literally. It''s addicting. But it''s worth every drop."


    I realized something.


    "You killed all those people! You are the one the dybbuk warned us about! But who did you force to do your bidding?"


    "Do you mean the different Blood Drinkers on the scene of the crime?" he asked. "Why? You''re really slow, it was always me. Each time I wore a new, let''s say, disguise."


    "This is way you looked so proved when they studied the body, and then had to come up with a plan to investigate my family," I said. "You were afraid they were onto you!"


    "Your family is really planning to do something awful," he corrected me. "I just have no real intention to stop it."


    "No one is going to die today!" I said.


    "You''re wrong," Minx said. "Mira and you absolutely have to die because you already know too much. Jonathan Loreta will be spared, if he survives the Tasks that is, because I sought him for a special purpose and he still needs to fulfill it. As for the other students, I guess I don''t really care much who stays and who goes, but I''m afraid Matias and the Speaker will have to go."


    "Why?" I was outraged. "And stop calling Roman The Speaker as if it was a derogatory term just because you don''t like your Skill! You basically raised him! He worships you!"


    "Nice, that might count for something. Maybe he''ll decide to join my side, then. Well, the two of them already knew too much when they found the dybbuk. The very same night they encountered it for the first time, Roman and I bumped into each other. His eyes had been bleeding black from the possession, and he hadn''t washed them properly. I was able to retain a trace of blood from his cheek. It was the blood of the man mixed with mine, turned sour after I fed from him. If they had investigated on it, I could be in big trouble. You know, the things like DNA or blood, or fingerprints, don''t change when I Become something or someone else."


    I couldn''t believe Minx Morris, the beloved, if a little manic, teacher was telling me all of this. All the students loved him and looked up to him. Judging by the harsh and bitter words he was using, he didn''t even care for any of them.


    And Mira? No wonder they couldn''t be real soulmates. I was beginning to think my mother was right about something -- she was a much better and skilled person than we all gave her credit for.


    "I need to help the Macbeths spread the fire, I''ll probably take the features of one of your cousins, no hard feelings, but I would rather my secret remaining a secret for a little bit longer. I could kill you right now, but I''d rather do it in front of your family for refusing to partake in my plans to overthrow humanity and keep them as food supply."


    A small part of me was relieved my family wasn''t as twisted as that.


    But I could barely believe the words I just heard. Of course I would use the little time given to me to try to convince someone else who could be on my side, and Mira''s, but who?


    Jonathan was too weak and still fighting his own demons.


    The older students had been chased away and I probably wouldn''t find them in the Sanatorium.


    Roman loved Minx so much he would either not believe me, or have  a nervous break-down I had no time to deal with.


    The only choice left was Matias, but it sounded perfect. He was clever, quick to think, good at fighting. Besides, I still had to find a way to pay him back for the tip about the salamander, and, like me, he was still fire-proof.


    What''s more, unlike many other students, he had never warmed too much to Minx Morris. I always wondered why, but now I didn''t exactly care. I was just grateful it was that way.


    When I found him, he was already awake and standing up straight. I told him the stories of both my mother and Minx Morris as fast and precisely as I could, and, to my relief, he never showed disbelief nor interrupted me once, if not to make connections that made my story telling quicker.


    "What do you want me to do?" he asked me then.


    "We both need to find as many people as possible and convince them to side with us, should a fight be going down. At the very least, we need to prevent the school from burning up. Don''t worry, while we need to be fast, I don''t think the attack will be immediate. Judging by the way both my mother and Minx were taking their sweet time with me, it has to be some hours from now."


    "I will do whatever I can," Matias pledged. Then he added, more shyly. "Cypress, did you decide to ask me because of my Skill? Because, if it''s needed, I can use it."


    "No," I replied truthfully. "I hadn''t thought about that. But use it only if you feel safe doing so. I asked you because you are a friend of mine."


    That seemed to make him really happy, and each of us went their own way. I had no doubt he would try to convince Roman. I needed to find Mira and plan something more concrete with her before I could get other people involved.


    Besides, the only person I wanted to have by my side, still hadn''t woken up, and I forced myself not to think about what would happen if he never did, because I realized it would have destroyed me more than anything else in the world.


    On my path to Mira''s office, I stopped in the courtyard where we had performed the Tasks and got a bunch of salamander. We needed as many fire-proof Blood Drinkers as we could.

 Matias

    I''d never liked Minx Morris, but I''d never told anyone.


    The reason was simple: if you happened to dislike your goofy, apparently well-intentioned but a little weird teacher, you couldn''t say you disliked him without sounding prejudiced even to yourself.


    There wasn''t a lot of time to think about that. I still had to find Roman, whom I hadn''t seen since the night before my Tasks, and I had to get everyone out safely before the fire spread in every corner of the school.


    Before I met Roman, I went to check on Jonathan. Someone had to get him out, or the flames would come for him.


    I knew what Mira would say about that, but I opened the door of his room. He was shaking in his bed, murmuring words about his mother and about avenging her. I thought it was a little weird, since I didn''t think she could have died being murdered, but what did I know? It was not like my classmate had ever shared the details of her death.


    He was also saying something about a tree. It didn''t make a lot of sense. Something along the lines of ''I got to find the tree.''


    I thought I wouldn''t talk to him about that if he ever woke up, because he would have been mortified.


    I took his sword -- he slept with the sword on his bedside table -- and nudged him gently. Again, I knew what Mira, or even Cypress, would say about that, but it was not like we had time to waste.


    Jonathan woke up. He opened his right eye, then his left. His eyes were bloodshot and the same color of his school tie -- a pale, blue-ish green.


    He didn''t look exactly well, and there was no way to tell whether he''d lost his mind, something that could occasionally happen.


    He looked at me slowly, and then he said, "Cypress?"


    Okay. Maybe he had lost his mind.


    "I''m not Cypress, I''m Matias."


    He looked annoyed. "I know, I know. Where is Cypress? Why do I smell smoke?"


    I hadn''t decided yet whether he was healthy -- he''d always been a little eccentric -- but at least now I knew he understood what was going on.


    "Congratulations," I said. "You''re a Blood Drinker."


    I thought those were words someone needed to hear at least once in our lives. As if being a Blood Drinker was really this great thing. At first, I had considered writing in my essay that I did not want to become a Blood Drinker, but then I thought of Athanasios.


    Besides, he had bought me to become a Blood Drinker. What else could I be?


    So I wrote down some stuff he would have probably liked about how much you could study and learn about the world and its supernatural elements if you did a job like ours. And it was perhaps the only idea we shared. I liked learning how to do impossible things too.


    "I know," Jonathan replied after a while. "Maybe the Blood impaired your brain. Where -- is -- Cypress? And is the school on fire?"


    I found that very insulting coming from him. "I''ll take you to your friend," I said. "No need to be rude. Nobody even knew if you would have survived the Blood until five minutes ago. And I''m still not sure your Mind took it well."


    I realized how cruel I''d been when he became as pale as a parchment of paper, so I just mumbled ''sorry''.


    We ran out in the aisle and we practically bumped into Cypress.


    "Jonathan!" he couldn''t help but exclaim. It was very unlike him. "You''re awake."


    "Why does everyone keep telling me that..." Jonathan murmured. "I find it embarrassing. I shouldn''t even be here. I''d always known."


    "What are you talking about?" Cypress asked. "You made it. They''re not sending you away now that you''re a Blood Drinker."


    "Yes, but I bet I passed with the lowest vote," he commented.


    "You''ll never know," Cypress assured him. "Votes are a formality the Court uses to keep the score on our Tasks. We''re never given our votes."


    "You know what I mean," Jonathan said. "I basically sucked at all three, how could I ever become a worthy protector of the city? Maybe it was all a mistake."


    "I don''t want to hear about that anymore," Cypress said, and it was so uncharacteristic of him that I felt as if I''d been watching something I shouldn''t have watched. "You slayed a demon without Mira or Minx''s instructions. And a demon is not like a Creature -- that''s stuff only the bravest Blood Drinkers learn."


    "It was luck," Jonathan said. I would have stopped his complaining -- the school was almost on fire -- but being a Blood Drinker had always felt a little competitive to me. And once the Blood kicked in, you could never look back. If I''d botched the Tasks like he had, I would have wanted to be reassured too.


    "It wasn''t," Cypress said. "You calculated the direct trajectory of the sun light and used it against the demon based on the single fact that you knew it thrived in shadows, and so that had to mean it hated the light, and it worked. It was genius stuff. I would have never come up with it."


    "If you say so..." Jonathan was embarrassed. "Well, nobody will care for my grades either way. Except for Minx."


    "Speaking of Minx," I interrupted them. "This was cute, but we need you to help us save the school. Let''s find the other students and get them out. In the meantime, we''ll tell you about Minx."


    While we had opened Carmela''s door, to find her writing what looked like a romantic letter on her bed, Jonathan asked, "So, who started the fire?"


    "Fire?" Carmela got up to her feet very quickly. "You could have said so sooner. So, who started it? One of the new kids?"


    "Of course not," Cypress said. He looked down, at the floor. "It actually was my mother. But don''t look at me like that. I''m not on her side. In fact, I''m getting you out."


    "Thanks," Carmela said. "I hope I don''t have to repay the favor? I''m so bad at that."


    "Of course not," Jonathan smiled sweetly. "We''re saving your life."


    Carmela looked at his smile, a bit mesmerised. Jonathan was young, but I had noticed he had this effect on girls. Then, she ran away.


    "So," Jonathan said. "What''s wrong with Minx?"


    "His skill is Becoming," I said. "He can become anything and anyone he wants. He''d always kept it for himself because he was treated like a freak for the longest time. Now, to enhance his very draining powers, he drinks human blood, but that is very dangerous and it drove him mad. He wants everyone to drink human blood and he won''t stop until he builds a new society based on that."


    Jonathan looked angry. I couldn''t understand why. Perhaps drinking human blood was against everything he stood for, to the point it made him angry. He''d always been a little pacifist, for a guy with those fencing skills.


    "Matias," he said firmly. "This is not the time for one of your stories."


    It hit me so hard that I started crying. "I made up those stories as a child to make some things appear better than they were, like my father''s story. I would never make stories up to hurt others."


    Jonathan looked like he had snapped out of whatever mood swing he''d been in. "I''m sorry," he said. "Truly. I believe you. It''s just that..."


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    "It''s a lot to take in," Cypress said. "But it''s true. I''ve heard it from his lips."


    Apparently that was enough for Jonathan. We decided that the next step was to look for Roman. The Blood Drinkers could decide whether to feed off the salamanders, but there was no such choice for the Speaker.


    "I''m sorry," Jonathan told both Cypress and I. "I''m in a foul mood. I shouldn''t take it out on you. It''s just, the things I''ve seen when I was asleep..."


    "How bad was it?" Cypress asked.


    "It made me want to not wake up."


    He sounded sincere, so I forgave him. But I had a favor to ask.


    "Now, don''t anybody tell Roman about Minx in a rush," I said. "He needs more time to take it in because he liked the teacher better than any of you, and certainly better than me. So, we''ll have to find the right time to tell him. Also, Jonathan, don''t insult him just because you''ve had a rough day."


    Both Jonathan and Cypress opened their mouth to say something, but then gave up.


    I opened the door to Roman''s room.


    "Matias," he said. Then, he looked embarrassed. "You... you woke up."


    "Pretty boy almost didn''t make it," I said. "But don''t worry. He''s good as new."


    Roman didn''t look worried.


    "Pretty boy?" Jonathan mouthed at Cypress, who shrugged.


    "I''ll give you the short version of the events," Jonathan said. And since he had heard us the short version from us, I was afraid many things would be incomplete like in a game of chinese whispers.


    "Cypress''s mom set fire to the school because she is in on a mission to change the Blood Drinkers system from within," he said. "Other people are in on the mission, so beware of who you trust."


    "I do," Roman replied.


    I gave mental points to Jonathan for using a concise and precise language, telling the truth without mentioning Minx and understanding on his own that Minx and Cypress'' mother were working together. I had already had the impression he was more clever than he let on.


    "What do we do?" Roman asked. He appeared troubled. I knew he was worried about Mira and Atticus. I hoped he wasn''t thinking too much about Minx.


    "We get the students out, though a few could fight against the oppressors, if they decide to drink from a salamander," Cypress said. "So far, we fight and Carmela got out."


    The next door we found was the one to the room Cora shared with Evangeline. Like Atticus and Roman, siblings were often encouraged to share rooms if that made them feel more at home.


    I''d never told anyone and I didn''t know if they had figured it out on their own, but I shared mine with Jason. I hadn''t decided it.


    When we opened the door, Cora was reading a book and Evangeline was in front of the mirror, trying on a pair of skinny trousers that weren''t part of the school uniform.


    "Get out!" I advised them, in Ichorian, so they would understand more quickly. "There''s a fire! Or if you prefer to stay and fight, drink from a salamander."


    "We''re getting out," Cora said slowly. "Ugh. I needed to finish this chapter."


    She put in the bookmark very slowly, and she and her twin headed out the room.


    "I''m not fighting if I don''t know who we''re up against," Evangeline only said. "I won''t lack respect if it''s my elders."


    Cora instead smiled and said, "If you need me, call me and I''ll be there."


    "Jason might be the next one we get out because he hadn''t drank from the salamander," Roman said. "And I doubt he''d be too handy in a fight if there''s a bit of trouble understand which side he should be on."


    That gave me a lot to think. We still didn''t know who was on which side. Athanasios had helped Bertha test the salamanders. What if they were on the bad guys side? Maybe it was all a ruse to bring fire into the school.


    Jason was in the gym. The only placed at school he liked.


    "I see better," he explained. "All senses are refined. I wanted to look at the gym with new eyes."


    "Because it''s the view you love the most?" Jonathan winced.


    "No. Simply seen it so many times, I wanted to compare."


    "Good good, but now you must get out," Cypress said. "The whole school is on fire."


    "So? I move really fast. Maybe I can fly."


    "Only those who train a lot of years can fly," I explained patiently.


    "It''s harder for me to die now."


    "Being burned alive is literally one of the three ways you can be killed," Roman pressed on.


    The others were looking at him with wide eyes. Sadly, I found it very believable. Jason wasn''t always slow, but when he wasn''t he wasn''t often in a friendly mood. He hated to collaborate with other people, and enjoyed to cause trouble instead.


    "Get out from the school now," I said. "You don''t want to die. You should have drank from the salamander if you wanted to stay inside."


    It reminded me of many times when Athanasios tried to convince his son to go outside, while he preferred to stay inside, in the gym mostly.


    "Will be there people? I don''t like people," Jason replied, lifting a weight.


    Jonathan took his sword from its sheath and pointed it at Jason''s throat.


    "Go out right now," he said. "Or I''ll give you a merciful quick death instead of letting you choke slowly on the fumes."


    While Jason was going out the school, Roman was looking at Jonathan. "You told me he was good as new," he said. He actually sounded a bit concerned.


    "He is," I assured him. "He''s just had a rough transformation. You know? Nightmares, hallucinations, nasty stuff..."


    "That''s weird, his DNA should be prepared," Roman pointed out. "Wasn''t his dad a Blood Drinker?"


    I shrugged. "There are many reasons why the Mind Task is difficult for people. Perhaps there is no particular reason why it was bad for him, except that it was. Maybe it took him too much power to say goodbye to the part of him that hated our lifestyle. It''s true, he followed Minx at the start of the year willingly, but he used to hate us. That must have been for a reason."


    I wasn''t sure Roman was listening to me anymore. "Minx," he said, worried. "Where is Minx?"


    Thankfully, we met Bertha in that very moment.


    "Here you are, students. Wait. Where is the redheaded one who drank from the byson?"


    "Jason? He''s outside m''aam," Jonathan said. "There''s a fire..."


    "I know," she said, which wasn''t reassuring. "But first, the votes of your Tasks. If I tell you, Vasiliv, you will tell your half-brother, won''t you?"


    I nodded. Jason wasn''t my half-brother, but there wasn''t no need to say it. Everybody knew. It''s just that there wasn''t any word to explain that his father had bought you.


    "Wait, the Court doesn''t give the votes to the students," Cypress said. "There''s no need. We got through the Tasks in one piece, and now we''re Blood Drinkers."


    "You are," Bertha agreed. "But not everyone gets through the Tasks in one piece. Some get embarrassingly injured during the Body Task. Ask your teacher Mira, if you ever see her again. And others barely recover from the Mind Task, isn''t that so, Loreta?"


    "I recovered," Jonathan replied.


    "Still, such people are shameful for our species. But we can''t tell them they''re not fit after the transformation, can we? So, the next best thing we can do is tell them of what they lack, so they''ll use the remaining school years trying to do better."


    "Maybe not now," Cypress said, surprising everyone. "We''re about to die."


    Bertha smiled viciously. "Don''t worry. User and Naftali are putting out the fire as we speak. The teacher saw that the situation was under control, and asked me to talk to you about your votes. I''m sure you can wait a little bit to help them if it''s for a bigger purpose, don''t you Cypress? Don''t you ever wonder what drove your mother so crazy that she had to set fire to a whole school, or how to make sure it doesn''t happen to you? Take a minute of your time, and hear me out."


    "So, Cypress," she said. "Fear not. Your Body Task went surprisingly well -- you took the highest vote in almost everything, though you were not the fastest to catch the animal and the physical part could have been a bit better. The Mind Task went surprisingly well, but you must focus on the Heart. Your essay had good grammar and common sense, but we, as judges, didn''t like it very much. I suggest you to contain your arrogance in the future. The vote is 86 out of 100, exceedingly high."


    Cypress looked please by the vote, despite himself. We knew we were running out of time. We could only hope User and Naftali were good at doing whatever they were doing.


    But they must have been. They were members of the Court, and we had just become Blood Drinkers.


    "You, Matias," she told me. "Have got the same vote as Cypress. Your essay was very good, though you must watch your grammar a little bit. Your Mind adjusted well, and the physical part was exceptional, though you must become a little faster."


    I was happy to hear that. Roman looked at me and he did something that resembled a little smile.


    "Jonathan," Bertha said. "Your essay lacked grammar and it barely had common sense, but it was enough. Tori and User liked it. The Body task was good, especially the physical part, at which you''d been the best, but you wasted too much blood when drinking. I know from now on you''ll only drink from a little wound, but try not to stain your clothes while doing so. It wouldn''t be proper. You also were the slowest. Then, your Mind had trouble adjusting. Your vote is 67 out of 100, a little terrible if you consider only people who take 50 or higher upgrade, but it is certainly enough."


    "This is bollocks," Cypress said. "What if a Blood Drinker passes their Tasks to take 50 or lower? You can''t send them home. They''re not usual humans anymore."


    "Though they could be homeschooled, but I would see why you''d rather not, it didn''t turn out well for your family," Bertha replied. "We never decided a rule because it never happened. Ten points out one hundred are already for your Mind adjusting without killing you, and other ten if the blood doesn''t drive you crazy. Considering Blood Drinkers should be taught how to fight, how to write and that each one of you should have been able to find a good reason to lead this lifestyle, getting other thirty points should be auspicable for each one of you."


    "Is my vote really that bad?" Jonathan asked.


    "Worry not, child. Jason has the lowest score. 64 out of 100. His essay only said, ''I want to become a Blood Drinker because my father is one''. Almost impossible to rate. He did well in the Body Task, but he spilt the blood, and the physical excercise didn''t count for a lot of points when you recognized he was the only one who wasn''t fireproof."


    I remembered everything, so that I could tell it to Athanasios. Not that he''d be happy to hear it.


    "Wait," Jonathan said after a moment. "You said that the teacher told you to tell us about our votes. Did you mean Minx or Mira?"


    "Why does it matter?" Roman looked a bit annoyed.


    "Well, if it was Minx..." I started explaining very sheepishly.


    "It was Minx, in fact," Bertha''s eyes glittered maniacally. "I am on his side. I, too, want to build a better species. My Tasks were only the start of our evolution. I''m sorry to say you won''t be here to see it. Especially those of you who actually got a good vote. But I''d been lying before. Naftali and User were not putting the fire out. They don''t even know about any of this. Minx asked me to distract you."


    "Minx?" Roman asked.


    "Brace yourself," I replied. "It will be a long story."


    "But first," Jonathan said. "Let''s get Aurora and Atticus out."

 Roman

    Mira was tired and aching. I could tell she didn''t use her Skill very often -- it was perhaps one of the most draining.


    "We''ve got to change our plans," she said, breath still shaking. "My Timing told me clearly this is not the right moment for the students to battle. Things have gotten so dangerous, that I risk losing all of those who decided to stay."


    "But we all drank salamander''s Blood," Cypress complained, excluding me from the equation. "We are fireproof! It''s one in a lifetime chance to be a real help! The school is going to burn down without us!"


    Mira looked at him with a mix of tenderness and admiration, the way sometimes Atticus looked at me. I couldn''t remember a grown adult who ever did, except for Minx Morris.


    The other guys were just about to tell me something about him before Mira came to see us.


    Nobody had told me where he was gone yet. I had to admit, in a selfish way, it hurt me more than the prospect of having our lives in danger, or the school burning down.


    If Minx had made a run from it, it only proved my suspicions that you cannot really trust those you see as your parental figures.


    Everybody else seemed pretty okay with it, like it was obvious that just because he acted a bit strange, he was better off. For somebody who has always been branded as a weirdo, I looked up to Minx most of all. But maybe they were only trying to keep it together since the situation already looked dangerous enough as it was. I hoped it wasn''t anything bad.


    Everybody says that the underdogs can make it, but how many do you meet that actually did?


    "Think about it, Cypress," Mira said. "You''re going to have plenty of chances to be a real help to someone. But not if you stay here. Not if you die tonight."


    "I guess I''m the only one that''s needed, then," I said, matter-of-factly.


    "No," Jonathan looked horrified. "Just because you''re a bit hard to get to know, it doesn''t mean your life is less valuable than everybody else''s."


    "Gee thanks," I said. "I didn''t mean to say that. I meant to say that Mira and... well, Mira, is going to need my help to guide the dead souls to their realm."


    "There aren''t going to be dead souls!" Mira said.


    "You''re right," I admitted. "Dead soul is an oxymoron. It is merely our bodies that decay."


    "Nobody is going to die," she insisted.


    "At the cost of sounding insensitive," I said. "I hope a lot of the bad guys do."


    "Okay," she said. "I''m done arguing with you. I''m going to tell the older students to leave this place and alert other Blood Drinkers of what''s happening. We might need to re-locate, so it''s best if other members of our species know about what has befallen us, before we come to their homes uninvited. You four will also leave, but wait until I come back. I will escort you out myself."


    When Mira was gone, I could tell Cypress, Jonathan and Matias were about to tell me the truth about Minx Morris, but were a bit indecisive on where to start. I''m not particularly bright, it was just the same way Atticus acted towards me for a while before presenting me Aurora.


    I could also guess that whatever they had to tell me was something big, or bad.


    Maybe he wasn''t gone, I thought. Maybe he was dead. But that would be better, in a way. I could contact his soul, if he were.


    "I trained my whole life for something like this," Cypress said morosely, "just to be sent home when all the good stuff happens."


    "Your family is involved in some way, right?" I snapped at one point.


    He nodded without looking at me, or anybody else.


    "Then you should have been homeschooled like they wanted you to," I replied nastily. "So now you''d be fighting like you want to do, instead of being sent home. Only difference would be you''d be on their side, but maybe it doesn''t matter as much as showing off does, to you."


    "Roman," Matias scolded me. "Stop it. You know you''re not like that."


    He looked apologetically at Cypress and Jonathan.


    "He''s not like that," he reassured them.


    "I just said the truth," I replied. "I''m not glad about being sent away either, but I trust Mira. And I don''t want to die. I really fucking don''t."


    "Besides," I added, still a little maliciously. "Nobody of us can really go home, am I right? Out of all the kids, we are the ones who''s got nowhere to stay."


    "Might as well stay here then, and help," Cypress insisted.


    "I am not a Blood Drinker," I claimed. "I do not experience the rush you all apparently get from fighting. But, even if it pains to admit it, I''ve grown to like you each of you. If you''d like to know my rate of preference, it goes on the opposite of the alphabetical order."


    "That''s a nice way of saying you don''t want us to die," Jonathan scoffed.


    "Roman still doesn''t know everything," Matias said, suddenly. "If he knew, maybe he would get why we feel wronged. Why we want to be here."


    So they told me about Minx Morris.


    "I don''t believe you," I could only say. Of course I believed them. I just didn''t want to, and didn''t know how to express it.


    "I was in the room when it happened," Cypress got angry. "Now, I might be your least favorite in the group, but I wouldn''t lie about this."


    "That''s why he wanted to marry Mira," I realized. "The human blood is making him lose his mind, but being married to your soulmate keeps you grounded."


    "But they aren''t soulmates," Matias reminded me.


    "At that point, he must have been ready to try everything," Jonathan suggested. "Even drinking human blood is not exactly in our nature!"


    Before we could talk more about it, Mira came back.


    "Oh well," she said. "You''re still here. You''re not so naughty, after all."


    "We have no place to go," Cypress grunted. "Roman gently reminded us of that."


    I beamed. I couldn''t tell if it was sarcasm or not, but I hoped it wasn''t. Surely I had reminded them of that notion in the most sensible way possible.


    Mira was leading some part of the grounds I didn''t know really well, but it didn''t look like we were going towards an exit. Perhaps there was some kind of basement, like the ones people gather in to protect themselves from tornadoes, where we could be safe.


    "You seem pretty okay," Matias told me in a low voice. "I was afraid you wouldn''t take the news very well."


    "I haven''t," I explained. "I''m just trying to pretend everything is fine and nothing ever happened, and I''m making a poor job of it."


    It was true. I tried not to think about Minx, but I couldn''t stop the memories from flooding my brain. He had raised Atticus and I. I had countless memories of him. We had spent hours talking about all kinds of stuff. In some of the memories, I thought I could already spot some kind of red flag, but it was blurred, and I was aware of the fact that what I now knew about him was already tainting the rest, making it flawed forever.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    My father had had troubles being a father. Hell, he had had troubles even being a person. I always wished Minx was my real father. I even related to him. That made me sick. Before I realized it, I started sobbing.


    I didn''t even care that the others could hear me. I had never cried in front of anybody before, just alone, in my bed, after everybody else in the room had gone to sleep. But there was no hiding now. And I had the strange feeling there wouldn''t be a safe place for me ever anymore.


    Mira heard me. She bent down in front of me (not that she really needed to, not much, anyway), and patted me delicately on the head.


    "Now, now," she said. "Shut the fuck up, Roman. You can''t always expect the whole world to babysit you! You are too old to have a nervous breakdown over a box of cereals because it''s not the right color!"


    There he was. He had tricked us all.


    Mira had never come back for us. But Minx had taken her appearance.


    "Don''t worry guys," he immediately said, when all the young Blood Drinkers drew out their weapon of choice. "I''m not going to hurt you. I just want you to be there to see me in all my glory. I will start our world anew, and I need all four of you to make it work. That''s crazy, because I would have never thought of that before meeting you in the hallway. But now it''s clear I do. After all, all the best theatre comes from improvisation, and so does life!"


    "What have you done to Mira?" Jonathan growled without lowering his sword.


    "Don''t worry, I just tied her up," he cackled. "Nothing too strange for a couple to happen, don''t you think? Alas, she does not like being bonded. And I do not like women with opinions, but what can one do?"


    "Maybe shut the fuck up?" Cypress suggested. He must have been really enraged, because, usually, I was the only one who was gross enough to utter swear words in front of everybody.


    "And that''s a great idea for your role, Spaulding-Macbeth!" Minx applauded him. "Oh, I just love when actors make suggestions about their characters. Don''t you all think it makes all the difference?"


    While he was talking, he managed to drag us to whatever room he had chosen for his ''performance''. After all, he was a grown-up, and, even though he looked frail, he was still a supernatural creature. He was way taller than six feet and he had enhanced strength. I also hated to think about it, but it was clear that drinking human blood, other than making him crazy was also making him stronger.


    In not so many words -- we didn''t stand a chance.


    "I will tell you what you''re all going to be once I rise to power," Minx said. "Perhaps it might get you to co-operate. First of all, you all shall be granted a person I will treat as your equal. That will be your soulmate. Don''t worry about Atticus, Roman. You can choose him. I sincerely doubt you can find a soulmate. Other than having to stand your attitude, and be okay with your personal taste, there are not many Speakers left in the world."


    "Speakers can also be the soulmates of Blood Drinkers," Matias suggested timidly. Mira and Minx had taught us that.


    "Yes," Minx laughed. "But we wouldn''t want that to happen, now wouldn''t we? Blood Drinkers are special, and Speakers are just a bit above dogs in the food chain. The wild dogs that eat people''s bodies," he laughed at his own joke. "Roman here especially!"


    "You''re a monster!" Matias spat back. "Weren''t you tired of pretending, for all those years?"


    In fact, my clever friend had figured out that Minx wasn''t acting like that just because the blood was driving him crazy, he must have been rotten from the start, although maybe not up to that point.


    "Are you kidding?" Minx said. "It shall be remembered as my greatest, and perhaps longer-lasting role! And who but an incredible actor could pull it off?!"


    "And what was the role, exactly?" Jonathan commented sourly. "Pretending to be a good person? Convincing people that you loved them? I''m sorry to say that it''s not that hard to fake things like that. A lot of people do it every day."


    It sounded like he knew what he was talking about.


    "Jonathan, do not despair," Minx continued, just like all the greatest actors, deaf to constructive criticism.


    "You shall play the greatest part, right at my side, my right hand man! Your Skill will serve us greatly in the immediate future!"


    Now, I don''t want to give the impression that since Minx was acting approachable, we weren''t scared. On the contrary, we were horrified.


    It was like one of those nightmares that stick with you your whole life. Generally, the scariest ones are the ones that are full of nonsense and a bit like a freak show.


    "Cypress," Minx continued. "Will be my hostage, and, as long as he is, all the rebellious families like his own, or the ones to whom Blood Drinkers royalty still counts something, will have to refrain from attacking me and my politics too openly. Otherwise, who knows what might happen to this bright, young pupil!"


    "Matias," he added. "Has been trained greatly by Athanasios Ducas. He''s probably the best, and certainly the most Courageous warrior of his age. He will lead my troops into battle against all of those who don''t want to pledge alliance and drink human blood!"


    I couldn''t help but laugh.


    "Don''t you think it''s a little ridiculous to say something like that about a thirteen-year-old?" I asked.


    Matias gave me the stink eye.


    "I do not," Minx proclaimed. "You have all passed your Blood Tasks and therefore you are men to me. And, anyway, I do not have a lot of supporters at the moment. But don''t worry, that is going to change!"


    "And what about me?" I asked. I had a sick desire of knowing what the man that I had briefly loved like a father thought about me. All the things he had said so far just made me think that all the fathers I''ve had must agree about certain things concerning me.


    "You are a Speaker. Do you know what a Speaker really is?"


    "Nobody knows for certain," Cypress commented. "Just like Blood Drinkers, despite having been present since the start of time to fight demonic activities, are not sure where their abilities and their duties really come from."


    "It''s an abomination," Minx continued. "You will have noticed you have a lot in common with Blood Drinkers, but not enough. Scientifically, it means you''re an hybrid. I still haven''t figured out who mated with Blood Drinkers to make Speakers happen, but I will. Now, being Blood Drinkers run in the families, and your brother Atticus is a Blood Drinker, right? So it would only make sense for you to have the same disposition in your genetic code, perhaps in a weaker form. Yes, Speakers are born out of a weak genetic link, otherwise they wouldn''t be almost extinct. Nature is trying to fix its own mistake."


    "What does that leave me?" I asked, angry tears welling in my eyes. I wish I could say I didn''t feel like a mistake, a weak link, but that''s how I felt every day. And maybe my desire to be a Blood Drinker was natural -- maybe my DNA wanted to upgrade.


    "I found human blood to make Blood Drinkers even stronger and virtually unstoppable," Minx mused. "I still need to fix the part that makes you lose your mind, but that''s only a side effect. You will be my project, Roman. I do not want Speakers to disappear. I want to find a way to make them stronger. Of course, it won''t be easy, but nothing good ever is."


    Make me stronger? Well, I wasn''t strong. My powers were chaotic and they controlled me much more than I controlled them. I had made no real progress in years. Maybe Minx was right... but his words didn''t ring true. He just knew our weaknesses and was trying to use them against us.


    Finally, we had reached the basement. I was right about that. There was a hidden basement I didn''t know about. But the discovery didn''t make me happy. On the contrary, there was nothing than I wanted more to have a home to go to, and be there right now.


    Mira was tied up, like Minx had said. Somebody was helping her get free, even though it required an enormous amount of strength. The other person could only be a well-trained Blood Drinker.


    Atticus.


    My heart skipped a beat. He must have been in the group Mira was trying to send home, but Minx must have caught them in the act. Atticus normally would have went someplace safe with Aurora, but it looked like he had chosen to remain, and help out our teacher instead.


    Mira was free.


    "Good job," she told my older brother. "You can go and join Aurora now."


    Atticus didn''t even spare a glance in our direction, and headed towards what looked like an exit.


    Before I knew what I was doing, I struggled free out of Minx'' grip, and I ran behind him.


    All that time I had been sad today was for nothing, I realized. I didn''t miss an home. I didn''t miss a father figure.


    Atticus was my home. Atticus had been forced to give up his own childhood and teenage years to be my father. He loved me, and he had taught me everything he knew. He would never speak to me the way Minx had just done. It was just like the dybbuk had said. I was taking him for granted, but he sacrificed every second of the day to take care of me.


    I was nothing without him.


    "Atticus!" I screamed. "Stop! Don''t leave me here alone! Don''t ever leave me alone!"


    The stress of that day began to pile up on me. Suddenly, I sounded incoherent. I just knew I would lose my mind, lose it like Minx Morris had, if my older brother went somewhere I couldn''t follow him.


    There was only he and I in my world, and maybe Minx Morris. I forgot about Mira, about my friends. If he left, I would die of fright. I would be useless forever.


    I felt somebody''s arms around me. They weren''t Atticus'', so I jerked away. I didn''t like being touched when I was already altered or confused.


    "It''s going to be okay," Mira said. I realized she had been the one who had tried to hug me. "Atticus is not going away permanently, he''s just going with the other older students. You all will be free to go as soon as possible as well."


    "Minx won''t let us," I replied. "Not so easily. He''s going to use us, Mira."


    I knew I was too shocked to make sense, but Mira seemed to get at least the gist of what I was saying.


    Atticus, in the meantime, had turned around. What I saw in his eyes broke my heart. As much as he loved me, he trusted Mira''s words, and wanted to go.


    I felt like I couldn''t breathe. If he left, I would have crumbled to the floor. If he left, who knew what was going to happen to me.


    "You promised!" I said, almost screaming. "You promised me that you''d always stay by my side, that I''d always be safe!"


    And he had kept his promise. He even protected me from Dad, when he was the one who needed more protection. Dad would never hurt me the way he broke him down. He did it ''cause Atticus was the good one. He liked that there was something bad in me.


    Atticus ran towards me. I remember feeling like I wasn''t much better than Dad, we both knew how to hurt him to get him to do our bidding, in very different ways.


    I also remember I didn''t care. My older brother was with me, and that was the only way I felt complete, because he was a missing piece of my soul, the poster child of all the good things I was fascinated from but would never be.

 Jonathan

    Minx Morris knew how to get to us, and how to exploit our very own fears and desires against us. I was sure of that.


    Of course, maybe sometimes he was mistaken. Why would Cypress accept to be taken hostage? Unless maybe because he would have loved to see that his relatives cared enough about him to rescue him. That would have been understandable.


    However, like in a nightmare, or like one of those old legends where people stroke a deal with a demon, Minx knew what you wanted, but the distorted version of it. So, for example, I never considered for even the smallest moment to join him. I didn''t want to be his right-hand-man, if anything because I''ve never desired power or to be greater than anyone else.


    Even in my Heart Task, I had written in my essay that I desired for everyone to be equal. Perhaps if he''d paid more attention to us when he was our teacher, he would have noticed things like that.


    But he was right about one thing -- the idea that an adult wanted my help, that a grown man saw me as talented, was something that had made me daze for about a second. It was one of my biggest desires, to be taken seriously by someone older than me. Someone who could erase the way Pablo looked at me, as if I was only good for getting money from the state and working at the market instead of him, and not as a human being.


    And my Skill needed honing. The only person who had tried to teach me how to control it before was Minx Morris. So far, I had only tried it once, passing out and seeing a tree, which I guess was not the vision I should have seen. Your Skill works much better if you''re a Blood Drinker, but something in my gut told me I wasn''t ready to use Knowledge yet.


    I''d been lost in my thoughts for about a minute, when Minx drew a weapon, a Katana.


    "What?" he asked. "Were you expecting me to fight only with my Skill and my wit? It might have been enough to recruit you, but if you don''t join me, you will die. And I can''t let the fire do everything."


    "I''ve never known you knew how to wield a Katana efficiently," Mira said, because even though all kind of weapons were thought, most people had an affinity for one or two at the most.


    "I can wield a lot of different weapons," Minx said, his eyes glittering manically. "The only way to play a part is to learn how to act differently than yourself, and most of my disguises use weapons I''d never consider. After all, I could never stick to my favorite, and go out of character."


    I unsheathed my sword. If Minx wanted to fence, he should have known he was about to fight one of the best.


    Well, one of the best thirteen-year-olds. But it was still better than nothing.


    "Jonathan," Mira said. "Let me handle this. You can''t fight Minx. You''re too inexperienced."


    "That is the problem with you, Mira, and with most women," Minx replied. "When you have students. You baby them. I was worried at how those new-years would grow up. I have known for a long time how you''ve always babied Roman, and he''s a terrible Speaker, worse than the rest of his people, because he can''t even do it well."


    Roman flushed a terrible shade of purple.


    "Well," Matias pointed out. "We''re all better than Jason, and he doesn''t like Mira much. He''s the only one who''s never asked her for advice."


    We all looked at him.


    "What? It''s true. He got the lowest grade in the Blood Tasks."


    Minx moved, and pointed his katana straight at my arm before we could even notice. It wasn''t fair, but I guessed the teacher was far beyond the comprehension of fair and unfair anymore. Besides, it was theatrical, and it was what he was going far.


    "Jonathan!" Cypress shrieked.


    I looked down at my sword arm. It was injured, and I was losing a lot of blood. With another strike, Minx could have cut off my arm from the rest of my body, but thankfully he didn''t.


    "Consider yourself warned," he said. "I do want you as my second-in-command, Jonathan. Your Skill is rare, and powerful, and, even if you refuse to use it for me, I happen to know how to trigger it since I''ve known your father before you and I''ve seen him in action. I can, however, cut pieces of you until you decide to come on my side."


    "Gee, I wonder why I''d do that," I replied.


    "Jonathan," Mira said, and her tone was harsher than Cypress''. "Get yourself to safety! I don''t care if you have to run, run away! Now is not the time to die like martyrs. And bring Cypress with you."


    "But..." Cypress started to say. He looked at me, and then at Mira, as if he couldn''t decide where he''d rather be.


    "Jonathan needs help with that arm," Mira said. "He''s losing a lot of blood. The wound can become worse if he doesn''t take care of it. When you''ve escorted him outside, you can go back to us."


    While Minx was still waiting for his next move -- he apparently wasn''t expecting his second-in-command to walk out the door with only one word from Mira, Cypress and I left.


    "To hell with everything," I said in the aisle. "Let''s find something to bandage my arm with and let''s go back to help Mira and the others."


    "And what if your wound festers?" Cypress asked. He didn''t look particularly upset. I couldn''t understand why. He liked fighting. He liked making himself useful.


    "Then it was meant to happen," I replied hotly. "I''m nothing, nothing, without this place and without those people. I will not let Minx take control of everything. And maybe we can find a way to trigger my power. I''ll give you the permission to do everything you think it would take, I trust you. And then I can ask the universe how to fight our former teacher."


    Cypress turned to me.


    "I''d hate to miss out on fighting Minx," he said. "But now that he''s already let us go, we should leave him to Mira, Matias and Atticus. Roman too, if he can fight. We''re needed elsewhere."


    I knew how it pained him to say it. Cypress had already made his peace with bringing down Minx, or die trying. It''s a weird thing to think about a thirteen-year-old, but it was how I saw Cypress -- he was already a Blood Drinker through and through and, unlike Matias who''d been forced, and me, who I had joined their world only about ten months before, he''d always been.


    However, from his words, I realized he''d already came up with a different plan.


    "And where are we needed?" I asked. "I realized this doesn''t have anything to do with my arm."


    "No," he said. "Though I still want somebody to take a look at it, I also want to look for my mother. We should stop her, whatever it takes. She''s creating chaos, she was the one who set fire to the building. Somebody needs to be looking out for her, and see she doesn''t do anything foolish."


    I didn''t like the way Cypress had said it, as if he was used to the thought of having an unstable mother, as if her betrayal had caused great suffering, but not the biggest surprise. I thought about Minx Morris. I thought about my father, who left me when I wasn''t even born. I thought about my uncle, who couldn''t take me in because he drank too much, and of Pablo, who''d pretended to be nice long enough to have the permission to take me in, and then he''d never been nice again.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    I wondered whether all adults were like that, and what my mother would have grown up to be like. I couldn''t imagine her doing any of those things, but maybe that was only me.


    While we were looking for Cypress'' mother, we met Tori from the Court wandering the corridors.


    "What are you doing here?" I asked her. I hoped I didn''t sound too annoyed. My meaning was, ''more people to save''. But Tori was a member of the Court so she probably knew how to look after herself. It''s just that she always looked pale and out of place, with an innocent sort of face, that made her look like a woman out of the legends my mother told, one of those frail, sickly maidens that heroes saved from the Creatures.


    "I could ask you the same thing," she replied. "But I was simply going inside to help Mira, we''ve realized what must have happened to Bertha." Tori bit her lip. "We''re not all... like that."


    "That''s great," Cypress said, and told her where she could find the others. Before she left, Tori made a make-shift bandage for my arm and told me the names of a few herbs I could find that would help the cut heal nicely.


    "We''ll look for them in the infirmary, if it hasn''t burned down," I told Cypress. "Or later, in the village. But first, let''s look for your mother."


    He looked at my arm, sadly.


    "Seriously," I said. "We have no time to waste."


    We looked around the school, which wasn''t easy since the fire was devastating everything. I looked in Cypress'' eyes, and I read in them the same emotions I was feeling. Who knew if our school would have ever got back to the way it was before. Who knew which one of us would have lived to see it.


    And was it really going to be the same way it was before, without Minx?


    We came across a small room, a broom closet, really. I put one finger in front of my mouth, to warn Cypress to shush and not to make any noise. There was someone inside, I was almost sure. I thought I could hear somebody breathing.


    I looked at Cypress, but he was green all-over. I realized he probably didn''t like small spaces, but I didn''t ask.


    I opened the door wide, and a person came out, looking flustered, but only at first.


    It was Cypress'' mother. Like her son, she looked diminutive and that was the reason why she fit nicely in the closet. Her blond hair was in a mess, and her mouth snarled viciously.


    "What..." I had trouble understanding what was going on. "What were you hiding for?"


    It was a weak question, but it was all I could manage. Not having known a lot of adults in my life, I couldn''t understand why Cypress'' mother would want to wreak havoc in her son''s school. And what was she gaining by fighting alongside Minx? Did she want to turn Blood Drinkers in a better race too? Or did she only wish for our destruction, and would side with everyone?


    Was there anything in the whole world Cypress could have told her to make her side with us?


    Finally, she replied to my first question, the only one I''d ask. I felt guilty all of a sudden. Wasn''t my Skill supposed to be asking questions to the Universe and receiving the answer? What if all my questions were always going to be the lame ones no one is really interested in?


    "I''ve been wounded," she grimaced, moving her gaze to her chest, where, in fact, there was a small smear of blood. However, it must have hurt her a lot.


    I remembered what I''d learnt about her from my friend. She was blind. It was easy to tell, though, that all of her other senses were amplified. Just like a usual Blood Drinker, but with way more deadly agility to compensate.


    "Who hurt you?" I asked.


    "User, of the Court," she replied, wincing. "I don''t believe you really care."


    I did, in a way. I didn''t like seeing people in pain, and I''d been wondering whether we could get her on our side without shedding too much blood. She was Cypress'' mother, for heaven''s sake.


    "We don''t," Cypress said, but it was too easy to see he was lying.


    "Does your little friend know something about me, Cypress?" his mother asked him. "I can''t believe you would have told someone like him private matters of our life."


    "Like him? What do you mean?" Cypress was angry. "You think he''s worth less than us because he''s not a Macbeth? And maybe, at first, I shouldn''t have told him about your accident, which I did, but are you under the impression that I shouldn''t have told him who was trying to burn down the school, while we were trying to survive the fire?"


    "It''s none of his business," she replied. "And you should have known better, though I have come to except nothing from you. My issue with your friend is not with his blood, I am not aware whether his family is influential in Tallya, where he''s from. But even I had other standards for you, other than to befriend the inexperienced foreign student who joined this school only because he heard his estranged father used to be a Blood Drinker? Yes, people talk."


    Cypress'' cheeks flushed, and for once, I wished his mother would go back to being half-dead from her wound more quickly. But then I swallowed, and I tried to think it wouldn''t have been the best for my friend if she''d died.


    "Get out of the way," I said. "And we won''t report you to anyone."


    She raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying that you''ll let me go pitily instead of putting up a fight? Do you think I would let you go? I don''t understand why Cypress is still in the way. I don''t care much what he does as of now, but if you get out, I will get to Mira and finish setting this place on fire."


    I thought about what she would do to Mira if she would ever get to her, and blood started boiling in my veins. I had finally realized that I knew a decent adult who would have never done the things my father, Cypress'' mother, Minx and Pablo had done.


    And that person was Mira.


    "Why are you so set on burning this school down anyway?" I asked, unable to help myself. "It''s not like it changes things for you, if people learn, even if you don''t agree with the method. Is it because you would like to go back in time and go back to school yourself, so you learn more than you ever did, and don''t make a mistake anymore when you''re out hunting a Creature with your partner?"


    Her face became a mask of pure anger, and even Cypress recoiled.


    I decided to think about that later, even though it had made my chest hurt, and looked at my sword arm. It was heavily injured.


    I closed my eyes, and it was like I could hear Pablo''s voice inside my mind. It said, ''I won''t go easy on you. If you wanted me to go easy on you, you wouldn''t have asked.'' It was how I had learned to fight with the left hand.


    I unsheathed my sword.


    Cypress said, "Don''t, Jonathan, your arm is too injured."


    But I quickly grabbed the hilt with my left hand. Cypress'' mother had understood that the sword had changed its placing, and she gave me a determined look.


    Good. I didn''t want to take her by surprise. It was what cowards did. I simply wanted to back her into a corner, and hope that, unlike Minx, she hadn''t mastered the art of the katana.


    Or that whatever her weapon was, she didn''t have it with her.


    I was obviously wrong. As soon as I tried, she took out a knife from the waistband of her trousers. She put it close enough to my throat that I could see it had some weird symbols carved into it.


    "Are you staring?" she asked. "I should have known. You haven''t been brought up like a real Blood Drinker. Those symbols you see carved here are letters from the old Megleni alphabet. Everyone chooses the letters they feel they represent them best, so I chose Resh, for spiritual guidance, and Tsade for righteousness."


    I swallowed. "They''re the perfect choices for you."


    "This knife," she continued as if she hadn''t heard me. "Is an athame. Blood Drinkers used to have them as preferred weapon in ancient times, before we evolved and everyone chose the weapons they liked best. But word on the street is that to dissolve a Creature, this knife is still the very best."


    "Obviously," she added, grazing the skin of my throat with the point, "It works on humans as well, just like any regular weapon and any regular knife."


    "Stop," Cypress was visibly upset. "Mother. Don''t kill Jonathan. Ask me to go out again, and I will. Both of us will."


    She laughed at him, and called him a coward.


    Seeing as this was her reply, and it was negative, Cypress took his weapon of choice and fired his gun at his mother''s leg.


    Mira and Minx had tried to teach us a bit about every weapon and I knew how guns worked. A little. I wasn''t very good at using anything that wasn''t a sword. But even I knew that the bullet had barely grazed his mother''s leg and that no serious injury would follow.


    However, Cypress'' mother was genuinely surprised, as if she''d never expected anything like that. And I do amit that I wasn''t expecting it either, especially because the bottom line was simple: he''d done it to protect me.


    While she curled on the floor, exhausted, I went to Cypress.


    "Let''s not talk about it," he said, stiff-lipped. "And don''t mention it to anyone."


    I nodded. I would have liked to talk about his bravery, but I knew he was withdrawn and didn''t like to have all eyes on him. Now, if we''d told the whole Court and all our classmates that he''d shot his own mother to save me, that was something that would have gotten him at least a few stares.


    "Got it," I replied. "What do we do, now?"


    "We should probably leave," he said.


    "What?" I asked, in a high-pitched voice. "You just shot your mother because you didn''t want to leave!"


    "Well," he still looked green-ish. "I didn''t want to leave her alone and unarmed to try and murder Mira while we left. Now she''ll be out for a while. But we must go out, because the Court has already left the building."


    I nodded. "We should tell someone from the Court about her, so that she can face justice. I was thinking about User, who seems like a good man."


    Cypress agreed. "We should also get someone to see your arm."


    While we were leaving, I looked behind me to see the whole school engulfed in flames, and my heart couldn''t help but break in a milion pieces at the idea that we were leaving Mira, Roman, Matias and Atticus behind.