I reached my literature class and went in. Zoey, Damien, and another friend of theirs were sitting down and looking towards me. Their friend was a girl with short, blonde hair as well as having somewhat of a cowgirl theme going on with her outfit as well as her school uniform. I moved to sit down next to Damien.
"Red, so nice of you to join us." The professor greeted. I am Professor Penthesilea. I believe you know Zoey and Damien and there is Stevie Rae."
I nodded but began to feel cold again all of a sudden. It felt...really cold. I started to feel like I was out of breath. Without even noticing what I was doing, I grabbed the blindfold and covered my eyes, immediately feeling better afterwards.
"Will you be okay now that you have that on you?" Professor Penthesilea asked.
Well, crap. So much for not having attention drawn to myself. ...What the... I can still see everyone despite having the blindfold on! What type of blindfold is this?!
"Yes." I answered, doing my best to speak calmly.
"Very well." Professor Penthesilea looked relieved. "We shall now read Chapter one of A Night to Remember."
We grabbed ourselves a copy before starting to listen to Professor Penthesilea as she read. What is going on with me? Blindfolds were supposed to be thick. People couldn't see through them. ...Then again, I didn't have these in my pocket before. Could they be from Nyx?
And that Kalona person. What ever became of him? I called him "Master" as if I was his follower. Was I? My train of thought broke as soon as Damien gave me a note. I moved my head to look at his writing. Damn, he had good handwriting compared to me.
Are you OK?
I used my pen so I could write back to him.
I hope so.
I gave it back to him and started to think again. Shockingly, the book wasn't that bad. Everything around me suddenly became dark, the people of the class gone. I didn't even see Zoey, Damien, and Stevie Rae. It was then that I began to hear a bird's noise. Not just any bird, but a raven.
"Missstresss Ailessssor, you will sssserve Father again." A voice came from behind me, sounding... both human and inhuman.
"Leave her be!" Another voice called out, this one sounding more human than the first.
"I know you love her, Matthiassss, but she issss ssssecond in command and will never fall in love with you!" The first voice cackled.
Everything went back to normal again as the bell for the end of the third hour rang. The three walked up to me as soon as they joined me outside.
"Are you okay, Red?" Zoey looked at me with a worried expression. "You were trembling."
"I'm not sure." I shrugged. "I'll be fine for now."
I wondered to myself for how long though.
"What's your next class?" Stevie Rae asked, having an Okie accent. "Maybe one of us could help you."
"Fencing." I answered.
"Zoey and I have that class." Damien said. "Let's all go together."
It's like they have accepted me as a part of their family. I nodded as I followed them to the gymnasium. A tall male vampyre with tattoos like dragons framed his face and looked as if they were breathing fire around his Mark walked over to greet us, but he looked kind.
"You must be Zoey and Red." He smiled at us. "I am Professor Dragon Lankford. For young women, a foil is used. It is light and easy to use. Did you know that they can compete with young men?"
"I heard that it can be." I nodded.
I easily pictured myself beating a guy in a sport.
"This sport will make you stronger, faster, and smarter." Dragon continued. "We are doing pairs to exercise on opening maneuvers. Zoey, you will pair up with Damien as he is the best of the class."
Damien smiled shyly, but it was cute.
"And Red, you will be paired up with me." He made me have a shocked expression. He smiled as he noticed. "Don't worry. It is not going to be a regular match. Start working with Zoey, Damien."
"Yes, sir." Damien replied with full respect.
Dragon gestured me to follow him to an empty space, so I did before readying my foil.
"The mastery of skills is sequential and hierarchical." Dragon informed. "Do not get angry if I make you do the same thing twice." He smiled as he added, "And by the time I'm done with you, that butt of yours is going to be sore."
We started to do the opening maneuvers. He was right. When I got done for fourth hour, my butt was sore. Zoey, Damien, and I went to lunch. As soon as I got my salad, I joined the others.
"Have you heard of that Erik Night?" asked Shaunee.
"He is cute." Damien almost did a swoon.
"Damien, again, wrong team." Erin rolled her eyes.
I ignored their conversation about Erik. That reminded me of what happened in Literature. Who and what was Matthias? What was up with those raven noises? More importantly, who was their father and who was Ailesor second in command for?
"Red, are you okay?" Zoey's question broke my train of thought.
"You look pale." Stevie Rae let out a gasp. "Oh, my goodness!" Wow. Her accent made her a total Okie. "Your body isn't rejecting the Change, is it?"
"No." I shook my head. "I was just thinking about something."
"Okay." Damien shrugged. "Just don't scare us like that, okay?"
I nodded, not sure if I could tell them anything of what had happened.
"It's almost time for fifth hour." Erin announced.
"What do you have next, Red?" Shaunee looked at me.
I looked at my schedule just to be on the safe side.
"Spanish 101 with Professor Garmy." I sighed.
"Okay, it's a bit creepy that you almost have every single class as me, but I don't mind." Zoey said with a slight smile on her face.
I admitted it myself. It was creepy but I decided not to worry about it for now. After we were done with lunch, Zoey and I went to our Spanish class. To me, it was easy since I was born in a Hispanic lineage. I helped poor Zoey out since she was having a hard time.
"We could work on homework together if you want." I suggested while putting everything away.
"Thanks, Red." Zoey smiled. "I wasn't very good at it in eighth grade."
I honestly wanted to ask her how she had passed it but I decided to keep my mouth shut. Instead, I looked at my schedule.
"Lenobia's next." I muttered.
"For Intro to Equestrian Studies?" Zoey asked in a tone of slight disbelief.
I nodded.
"Let me guess." I said while looking at her. "You have that class as well."
She knew it wasn't like a question but she nodded anyways.
"This is very strange." She added a sweet smile. "But it does give us time to get to know each other better. Are you ready?"
I nodded again and we began to make our way to the stables. I noticed that as we walked, she looked at me curiously.
"What do you want to know about me?" I sighed.
"If you don't mind me asking, why the name 'Red' and why your hair style?" Zoey asked.
I looked down while we were walking.
"I really...didn't like my last name." I answered truthfully. "It was Prince and I didn't want anyone to make fun of it. I liked my first and middle names but since I found out I could change my name, I changed it to my favorite color. As for the hair... I honestly don't know why I did it like this to be honest. I thought it'd make me less attractive and feminine."
"What was your first and middle name?" Zoey asked curiously.
Why did she want to know about me more? She could've said that than saying it'd give us a chance to learn about each other. I looked ahead to see that we weren't too far from the stables.
"It was Julia Rose." I replied.
"Julia Rose Prince." Zoey said thoughtfully before smiling. "It sounds nice. I hated that you changed it but I understand. But the spiky hair deal kinda scares me so how about if we let Shaunee and Erin help you out with it?"
I stopped suddenly to look at her. I was... amazed to see that even though we weren't friends for a long time, she somehow affected me. For the first time since I've been here, I smiled.
"Thanks. I appreciate it." I said.
"No problem." She returned the smile. "We're all friends, aren't we? Come on. Class is about to start."
She ran to the stables. I walked while thinking on her words. Friends. All of us. It reminded me of my friends back in Texas. A tear rolled down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away before entering the stables.
I started to get adjusted to the stable smell, even though part of it was...something unpleasant. I joined Zoey just in time when a woman with horse-like, knot-like tattoos framing her eyes rode towards us on a black horse. I have to admit that the horse is beautiful. The woman got off the horse with ease.
"Good evening." The professor greeted. "I am Lenobia and this," she then pointed to the black horse, "is a horse."
I listened to her introduction about the class and followed the others to a hall with stalls. Today, we're cleaning up the stalls. I don't mind the work to be honest. After Lenobia told us to begin, I went to get the mucking boots and gloves and put them on.
When I picked the stall, I used the pitchfork to scoop up the horse poop into the wheelbarrow. It was like cleaning the litter box...a very big litter box for horses. Once I dumped the poop into the compost pile, I filled the stall with sawdust.
"Nice work, Red." Lenobia said behind me.
I turned to look at her before looking at the dark brown horse behind her.
"I used to have cats." I said. "I know they are different but I often helped take care of them."
"Interesting concept." Lenobia nodded before patting the horse. "You've cleaned Coriander's stall."
The horse trotted up to me, and I patted Coriander softly. I almost laughed when he tried to reach for my blindfold.
"Not for you." I smiled as I shook my head.
I left the stall and closed it, locking it up in the process. Lenobia gave me an approving nod before walking away. I found Zoey brushing a horse but decided not to disturb her so I went into the tack room. I took off the boots and gloves and put on my regular shoes before getting my bag and exiting the stables.
"There you are." Blake said as he walked toward me.
"Had class." I shrugged. "Is there anything you need of me?"
"I was just here to remind you of the Full Moon Ritual tonight." Blake said with a smile. "If you'd like, you can come with me since I'm your mentor."
I looked back at the stables, wondering if it was safe to even be with him yet.
"If you don't mind, Professor, I would like to go to the ritual with some people." I replied.
"Not a problem." Blake nodded in understanding, still smiling. "It is a good thing you're making friends. If you don't mind, I would like to talk with you after the ritual."
I looked at him before nodding.
"Alright." I did my best not to sigh in front of him.
"I shall see you tonight then, Miss Red." Blake bowed before leaving.
I watched him walk away before heading to my room to change for the Full Moon Ritual.