"Give her room to breathe," a voice says, "Please tell the students that the tour is over."
A hand squeezed my own before it's touch faded. "Is she dead?" an oddly annoying voice questioned. Patty.
"She'll be fine. Now, I insist all of you to head back to your dorms and be bright and early for the orientation," the same voice from before stated matter-of-factly, "Goodnight."
"Cerix," the voice addresses him, "Watch over her. I will need to make some arrangements in how to address the recent attack."
"Do we have any leads, Headmaster?"
"Some, that still need further investigation," Headmaster answered, "Please keep watch."
And then a quiet click, and it was silent. "I know you're awake," Cerix prods, his shadow falling over my closed eyes, "Everyone's gone."
My eyes flutter open, expecting to see a fluorescent light beaming in my eyes but it's worst, it's brilliant gold. I blink a few times to adjustment vision, "W-where am I?"
"Here, drink this," Cerix sits back down in his seat, handing me a suspicious cup. It was in one of those red solo cups, that are distributed in parties so I was skeptical of the liquid inside.
"It's not alcohol," Cerix reassures me, placing the cup in my hands, "Doctor Murray made it, and wanted me to give it to you when you woke."
"What is it?" I say, swirling the light blue liquid, "Mouthwash?"
Cerix smiles, "No, but it is minty." Hopefully, it doesn't kill me. I gulp the liquid down and make a face at the taste.
"Bitter," I remark, giving the cup back to Cerix.
"You're in the medical wing, by the way," he says, "You know where injured people get treated."
I give him a glare, "I know what a medical wing is, I might have touched the poison but my brain didn't vaporize."
"The poison did do a number on you," he comments, nodding to my arm, "But I think you'll be fine. The last the Doctor checked, it was almost completely healed."
"Healed? How?" I asked, curiously, "It nearly disintegrated the other student's hands. Is he okay?"
"He's been taken care of and it seems you have fast healing," Cerix says, nonchalant.
"Wait, taken care of as in killed off?" I say, disturbed.
Cerix gives me a blank look, "Ha ha. He's in another room in the wing"
"Is Liz okay?"
"Your friend?" I nod.
"Headmaster sent her to her room for the rest of the day. All students, except me and a couple of others are allowed to supervise you," he explains.
"And Patty?"
Cerix shakes his head, a frown forming on his face, "Headmaster has dealt with her. She's been expelled."
"Expelled?" I say, my eyes widening, "No detention or anything?"
"She pushed you, and because of that you ended touching the poison yourself," he says seriously, "If I were the Headmaster, expulsion is the minimum punishment."
"But I'm fine," I say, showing him my arm, "See? It doesn't even hurt anymore."
"That's beyond the point," he says, "You could've died."
"But I didn't," I assured him. He gives me a dirty look.
"Try to sleep more. Headmaster expects a full recovery, which means you'll still have to attend the morning orientation," Cerix says.
"But I'm not tired," I say, widening my eyes to justify my point, "I think I want to talk more about what happened, like why did the academy get attacked? Do you guys have enemies? How did I heal from poison? Why-"
Cerix places a hand on my shoulder, and looks at me seriously, "You should get more sleep."
"But I'm not-" My words cut off as my vision blurs and everything is black once again.
-
The only thing I dislike a lot (because hate is too strong of a word) is the morning light, which so happens to shine directly in my eyes. I grumble a curse, as I cover my unopened eyes to shield it from the onslaught of sunlight and carefully opened my eyes. "Awake angel?" a familiar male voice says.
I pinpoint where the voice is to find a completely clean and chirpy Cerix. "That's not my name," I say, glaring at him.
"Well, aren't you full of sunshine this fine morning?" he continues with a sarcastic smile. I glare at him. He simply ignores it and sets a pile of clothes on my bed.
"Uniform for special events and the bathroom should be thought that left door," he points to the door, "I'll be waiting for you, and then we'll go to the orientation."
"No food in between?" I ask, my stomach grumbling on point. He smiles while lifting up a plastic bag of packaged bread.
"Breakfast, after you shower," he says. I sigh, before sliding off the bed and grabbing the clothes.
I go through the door he pointed at and quickly took a shower. I was honestly glad I could shower because I did not like sleeping in the same clothes for more than a day, and I probably also stunk. Relieved that my entire body was clean, I wrapped a towel around myself and inspected the mirror because why not? My dull brown hair was all over the place (the usual), my brown eyes (the same), my almost full lips looked a bit chapped, my complexion was pale (though it tends to be that way anyway), and everything else seemed the same. Pleased, I began to put my hair in a ponytail but pause to inspect the marking just under my ear, on my neck which was hidden by my long hair.
The hell was this? The marking looked about a fingernail size and seemed to be some kind of comma symbol, with the bold point and the comma stuck together. And I swear, I have never been to a tattoo shop in my life.
Slightly concerned, and praying it isn't an early sign of some sort of cancer, I got dressed quickly and pushed out of the bathroom. "Hey," I greet Cerix as I return to the room.
"Oh that was surprisingly quick," Cerix says, slipping his phone back into his pocket, "What's wrong? You looked like you've seen a ghost."
"What is this?" I say, pointing to the mark on my neck. Cerix squinks.
"A birthmark?"
"Wrong. I have never had a mark on my neck like this before," I say, getting to him so he could inspect it.
"A dead bug?"
I pull back, giving him a glare, "Ha ha. But seriously I'm a bit worried."
Cerix shrugs, "We can ask the nurse on our way back from orientation."
Seeing how relaxed he was about all this, I sighed, "Alright, fine. Now hand over the bag of bread."
He holds the bag out for me but when I reach for it, he pulls it back. "What's the magic word?" he says, smiling mischievously.
"Please," I grit out before he allows me to grab the bag from his hands. I look through the bag and find all kinds of flavors, which makes my mouth salivate. I haven't eaten in so long.
I grab three different types of bread: chocolate, blueberries, and strawberries. I immediately ripped one open and shove my face with it, "So good."
"Thanks for the food," I say, "I'll pay you back later."
Cerix grins, "No worries."
I look at him weirdly, "What's up with you? You're so happy today. What happened when I was asleep?"
"Do you not remember what happened last night?" he says, raising an eyebrow.
"Did you just pull out one of those lines where the main characters sleep with each other and one of them forgets about it in the morning?" I say, incredulously. Cerix shrugs, acting nonchalant.
"And for a matter of fact, I only remember trying to argue with you and then that liquid you made me drink made me pass out," I say, eating my third bread.
"That sounds about right. And for your information, I'm happy because I get to stop watching you meaning I get to have my freedom back," Cerix says, cheerfully.
I glare at him, "You stink."
Cerix sniffs his shirt, "Really? But I'm pretty sure I took a shower not too long ago."
My urge to hit him was slowly increasing as I gave him the middle finger. "Well, let's get going," he suggests, unaffected, "The orientation is on the other side of the building, and I have to deposit you with your roommate."
"Wow, I'm overjoyed," I say, sarcastically. I follow Cerix out, and he leads more through an intensive amount of hallways and stairways.
"Didn't you say there were elevators and escalators?" I say, breathing heavily.
"I did, but I thought we could use the exercise," he says, and then he had the audacity to smile. Calm down, Mila, he's just being the usual amount of annoying.
"Ah, here we are," Cerix says finally, opening a door to reveal an already crowded looking auditorium.
"Your roommate should be," Cerix continues, walking down to a random aisle. Liz notices me immediately and pulls me into a hug before I could greet her. "Here," Cerix finishes.
"Oh my god, I was so worried," Liz says, tears coming out like a lake down her face, "Someone said a girl passed out because she touched the poison or liquid or whatever the hell it was and I was so scared you died. Don't you ever do that again! Understood?"
I nod weakly as she pulls me into another hug. "I swear," she says, "If you do, you'll have to eat your own burnt cooking for the rest of your adult life."
"I swear it wasn't on purpose," I say honestly, "I was trying to help someone else."
"That's so like you," Lis says, "But one day, you might get even more hurt in trying to save someone else. And also, I hear some girl pushed you!"
"Well, she didn't intend to push me that hard," I say.
"But the point is, she did," she says, "And I bet she's going to be expelled."
A piercing sound erupted suddenly throughout the auditorium which made me clap my hands over my bleeding ears. "I apologize for the disturbance," a voice says from the front of the auditorium, "Firstly, I want to welcome you all to the academy. You all have been chosen because you are different and special from the other applicants. Allow me to introduce myself, I am the Headmaster of this academy, Headmaster Mero to be exact."
Cue applause from the audience. The Headmaster was slightly different from what I imagined quite honestly, I was expecting a crossover between the Headmaster from Hogwarts in Harry Potter and Yoda from Star Wars. However, this Headmaster was fairly younger than I had thought. He looked like he was in his mid-30s and seemed healthy and actually quite muscular, which was so weird for a person who was given the title 'Headmaster.' He wore no robes and no long white beard. He wore a semi-casual suit and seemed to look more like one of those millionaires who decided to donate half of his wealth just for the sake of it because he was rich. He had light eyes and light blonde hair.
"Secondly, I would like to address the incident that many, if not all of you witnessed yesterday during the tour. Our security is the utmost importance here at this academy and we are looking into the matter immediately," he says, seriously, "There have been leads that the students from other schools have threatened us because of our mysterious prestige and well, jealousy. However, I will not solidify whom or what the threat is until we get more details."
"In addition," he added, "The two students that were injured are both here with us at this moment. And I'm grateful for their injuries was not that severe or permanent. Furthermore, I would like to establish a few ground rules. This academy though it is rooted in the goal to help society, it is also to make all of you aware of your heritage which has been hidden from you until this point in time."
I turn to Liz and give her a confused. What is he talking about, I mouthed. She shrugged, and we turned back to listen.
"All this time, all of you have been hibernating a great power, a secret identity that not even you or your family have discovered. With our guidance at this school, you will understand your path in this world and in your new life," he continues.
"This is some cult sh*t," Liz whispered to me.
"And so, each one of you is part of the world that we call," Headmaster says, gaging in everyone's reaction before saying the word that would change my world forever, "the Supernatural."
Then, everything exploded into chaos.
Students were shouting at the Headmaster, people were whispering to each other, some stood and watched in silence and Liz and I, we just looked at the Headmaster like he was crazy.
"What did we get ourselves into?" I mutter with disbelief.
"Settle down, settle down," the Headmaster tried to quell the crowd, "Let me explain. There must be a time in your life where something happened which should not have. Something you thought was just a one-time thing. That is the first sign."
"And then you become of age, meaning now, you are at your maximum potential but if not used or welcomed, your potential will be wasted and you stay 'blank' or human for the rest of your life," the Headmaster says, "Think! There must be a time where something strange happened, which you could not explain but knew it was done because of you."
"I ate a bloody steak once, uncooked," a male student yelled.
"I gave this girl some cookies and then she had warts the next day," another student added.
"I had pointy teeth when I was young and I bit a lot of my family members," another student said, "And I didn't mind the blood, even though I was just a toddler."
"Exactly!" the Headmaster says, "You all have what it takes to accept your other identity. Now, right after this orientation, everyone will be put in our stimulation booth which will help identify which heritage is yours. Now that I have your full attention, please be discreet in not giving this information to anyone outside of this school because there are consequences. For example, you may endure academic failure, as in anyone who tells who automatically fail from this internship and basically, it means a permanent failure on your college record. With these words, please follow one of the following leaders on the sides of the auditorium. Most if not all, all of you should be familiar with."
Cerix, Ronan, Erik, and Malcolm line up along the side of where we sat. I look at Cerix, who avoids my look. I grit my teeth, he knew all along.
"Mila, you have a murderous look on your face," Liz says, worriedly.
"Because someone is about to get beaten up," I say, seething. Liz follows where I was looking, and she lets out a chuckle.
"Problems in paradise already?" she teases.
I glare at her. "Let's just go," I tell her as I drag her toward Ronan, who was next to Cerix. However, because other students were heading in the same direction, we were pushed toward Cerix. Cerix meets me with an innocent smile, "Follow me."
I glare at his shoes as I try to quicken my pace so I could step on his shoes. It was childish, I know, but I was just inexplicably irritated that he didn't tell me especially since I was with him for a whole night (minus the parts I was asleep). I even thought we could've been friends since he wasn't as bad as thought. Cerix walked swiftly and missed my attempt to step on the back of his shoes.
"Where are we heading?" A student from the group asked, as other students (who were probably not freshman) stared at us in curiosity and others stared in a competitive way like they were sizing each and every one of us.
"Evaluation center," Cerix replies, "where you'll learn of your ancestry."
"This is so exciting," some students behind Liz and I whispered.
We entered this sci-fi looking lab, that was actually really cool looking. It had intimidating equipment hung and had its own separate room (with a glass separation wall to see into) that had a lone seat in it. It was brightly lit, and very clean and empty looking. It looked straight off a high-end budget science fiction film. The rest of the students came in, followed by the other three leaders. All four of the guys stood in the front with knowing smiles.
"Now, we would like each person to go into that room and sit on the chair while we discover what species they are apart of," Erik explains with a smile, "Questions?"
When nobody replied, he pulled out a list and starting reading names. "Felicity Winters." A slim brunette went into the room and took a seat. Immediately, a light flickered in the room and she fell asleep, her head moving erratically. A few seconds she was awake and she looked extremely dazed.
"Ronan, seems like you got a new she-wolf," Erik says, "Felicity, just stand by Ronan for the time being."
This process went on for the next twenty-something minutes until Liz's name is called up. Sending me a reassuring smile, she sat on the chair, fell asleep and then woke up. "Malcolm, a new witch recruit for you," Erik says, and Liz has this huge smile on her face as she stands next to Malcolm.
"And last but not least, Mila Ellis," Erik calls my name and I walk into the other room. Taking a seat, I take a deep breath before the light flashes and suddenly I'm falling. I wasn't actually sleeping per se but it was like I was floating on water which was impossible because I knew I was sitting in a chair. However, I felt weightless, and suddenly all these memories started flashing before my eyes. Some of them I didn't even know existed until now. It was so surreal, it was like something was flipping through the book that encompassed my whole life up till now.
There was the time of my childhood, where foster homes were what I called 'home.' The time that I beat up some bullies because they were bullying other students. The time I met Liz, and our times after. The time I fell from a tree and bled so much that I'm pretty sure I thought I was going to die when I blacked out but woke up perfectly fine. A flash of light hit my eyes as I opened them and turned to a worried Liz hovering over me, along with the other leaders. Cerix had an unreadable expression on his face as he scrunched his eyebrows.
"What's wrong?" I say, surprised to hear my voice was a bit hoarse.
"Mila!" Liz says happily, hugging me. My face turns confused as I hug her back.
"It was only a few seconds," I say. Liz pulls back and gives me an are-you-ok look.
"Mila, you were knocked out for more than a few seconds and when Erik checked on you, you're pulse wasn't beating. We thought you were dead," Liz says, signs of tears on the corners of her eyes.
"My heart stopped?" I say, "Why?"
"That's what we're still trying to figure out," Malcolm points out, "We're still in some shock since that has never happened to a student before."
"Did you find out what I am?" I say, changing the subject. I look at Malcolm's face which clouds immediately.
"What am I?" I say, more insistent this time.
"We don't know exactly," Cerix answers for him.
"However, there is something completely not human about you, so you will be Cerix's group for now until the Headmaster can take a look at your records," Erik says, and suddenly I felt reassured. I mean, after all, he was a vampire (it was revealed suddenly when one of the male students was placed in his group).
"Huh," was all I could say until Liz helped me back to our dorm from Erik's order that I should rest more while they discuss my situation with the Headmaster.
"So even the professionals can't figure out what I am," I say.
"That's not true, you might be special," Liz says, trying to cheer me up.
"Let's not talk about it anymore," I suggest, shoving the inexplicable feeling that something inside me was just stirring.