Vallen: The Marking (Vallen series #1)

Chapter 13

The following day I was sitting with Alaric and a few other classmates at lunch, discussing our first upcoming test next Friday, when we heard the most heart-wrenching scream. No more than ten metres away from us a girl had fallen out of her chair and was choking on her own blood. She coughed, in an attempt to breathe again, but each time more blood came pouring out of her mouth. One of her friends was weeping uncontrollably next to her. Most of the cafeteria watched in horror as the supervising teachers ran over to her. But they were clearly too late.

It was the first time I had ever seen someone die. All of my grandparents were already dead before I was born, and we never stuck around long enough to go to friends funerals. This was the first time I saw a dead person.

The girl had long blonde hair and big blue eyes that were wide open, looking directly at our table but seeing nothing. The teachers quickly shielded her from our view.

"Everyone go to class early, wait until your teacher arrives." One of the Professors shouted. Everyone around me stood up, eager to get out. I wanted to stand up, I wanted the dead girl to stop looking at me, but I could not make my legs move. It wasn't until Alaric put his hand around my shoulder and lifted me up that I was able to see the rest of the room.

Most people left already, there were still some seniors who took their time, looking highly unbothered by it all. There were also people the dead girl befriended, they all remained in the cafeteria, crying in each other's arms.

My hands were shaking, I clenched them into fists as hard as I could. I didn't know the girl. I hadn't even seen her before, or if I did I surely hadn't remembered her. But for some reason I felt... odd. This was the closest I had ever gotten to a dying person. It felt as though she was my friend. As if I owed it to her to cry.

It wasn't until we reached the first floor that I started realising where I was. Alaric still had his arm around my shoulder, guiding me to our Divine studies classroom. There were more classmates of ours around us. Each and every one of them looked defeated almost. Like this was the moment everyone had started realising how incredibly fucked we were.

That girl had been eating the same food we were, breathing the same air and attended the same classes that we were now attending, but for some reason, she died and we didn't.

Celestia and Aspasia, two girls who weren't related in the slightest but had almost become twins in the last few weeks were sobbing. Most of the guys just seemed confused. There were only a few people that didn't seem to be affected at all.

"My brother died in his first year here." I heard Kenji say as we entered the classroom. "It happens, nothing to be done."

The classroom was still empty. I really wished we had any other class after what had just happened. Professor Kamau was one of the people that clearly didn't like me. Alaric told me that he thinks any race, even the ones that have eventually died out, should rule over the human race, and not vice versa. He thinks humans are untrustworthy and stupid, and was eager to prove his point with me.

Our class was left alone in the classroom for the rest of the lunch period. People had slowly started talking again. No one dared to laugh or speak louder than whispers. Most of the conversations were about nothing. They spoke of the storm that was supposed to hit on Friday and about what we would be learning today in Divine studies. Everyone carefully tiptoed around the subject of death.

Alaric had tried to start several conversations with me, but I was incapable of doing anything but staring straight ahead. I tried to answer, I really did, but I could only manage to give short replies. He eventually just gave up and started doodling on a piece of paper.

Professor Kamau was perfectly able to read the room. Normally he would be mad or annoyed at us for not being able to answer his simple questions, but even he realised that today he was not going to get as much attention as he would usually get. The lesson was about Manticores. But at the end of it, not a lot of us were able to repeat what we had learned.

The silence in our class stayed for some time. It wasn't until Friday morning that people started laughing again, myself included, even if it was over one of Alaric stupid jokes.

The rest of the school handled it much better. When Alaric told Eldon about the girl he already hardly remembered her, even though he was nearby when it had happened. He tried to comfort us by saying that you get used to it and forget it much easier. It worked on Alaric, but not that much on me.

I could die here and not leave any mark on the world. It's not that I am super ambitious, because I'm definitely not, but I always pictured that I at least would leave something of myself behind. Whether that was a good job where I helped make the world a better place or a few kids. If I were to die right now the only people that would be sad would be my parents and Alaric. No one else would care.

It was a hard thing to put in the back of your mind. But school definitely helped. My first class on Friday was human studies. Professor Rhys wasn't known to be sympathetic and he definitely proved it. A dead girl wouldn't stop us from having our first-ever test.

I was happy that the first test was human studies. It was by far the easiest subject. I always understood what he was talking about, it was the only class where I didn't constantly need to ask for help.

The test was simple. We had to answer questions about the government, one that was quite similar to the Vallen one, and a few questions about everyday professions that they thought were weird, like a hairdresser.

Alaric told me his mother always cut his hair, and that here at school his brothers would probably do it for him. The thought of Darius and Eldon deciding over Alaric's hairstyle made me fear for him, but he didn't seem to worry at all.

"My mother would skin them alive if they messed up." He just answered.

I was the first one done with the test and was allowed to leave the classroom. I decided to wait for Alaric, who had definitely struggled with learning about humans. I tried to explain it to him, but he just told me it didn't make any sense what humans did. I couldn't blame him for it, we did kind of do weird things.

Alaric did poorly on the test. He said he didn't get half of the questions and was damn near throwing a temper tantrum. Instead of doing our homework together, like we thought we would do now that we both had the same hour off due to the test, he wanted to write to his parents.

The storm made the castle howl. Every raindrop sounded like a bullet against the old windows. The wind made the wooden roof creak loudly, and sometimes the wind was so strong that I thought the castle was shaking. I now understood why all the other students were so excited about the storm.

I was walking in the east wing of the fourth floor, where there were several study places for the students, when I heard voices coming down the hallway near me. They sounded like faint whispers against the harsh sounds of the storms, but as they drew closer, I realised it was two teachers talking.

"Lourdes told me yesterday." I recognised the voice, it was professor Kamau. With my heart beating loudly in my chest I hid behind one of the pillars. There was something in his voice that made me want to keep listening in. "She admitted in his office that she's human." They were talking about me?

"She was brought up by humans." Professor Rhys corrected. "That's a big difference."

"Is it?" Kamau sounded angry almost. "I haven't seen her mark, have you?" It was quiet for a few seconds.

"No. I have not." He finally responded.

"She shouldn't be here. It's disrespectful to the other students." Kamau said, his voice growing louder and louder as they reached the pillar I was hiding behind.

"They wouldn't have brought her in if she didn't have a mark," Rhys stated. "And the girl can't help her poor parentage. What does Lourdes think about it?" I could hear Kamau laugh.

"He said that she seemed to be struggling with her classes." Can't say that didn't hurt. "We haven't had any dropouts in a century, do you think she will be the first one?"

"Humans are incredibly resilient," Rhys answered, starting to walk away again. "She could make it."