𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗢𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗧, 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐒

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿

*edited*

The glossy mahogany felt cool under Laya's skirt sending goosebumps down her legs as Dr. Saltzman began his lecture. "Given recent events, some students have expressed concern that I am not allowing you to have a say in the decisions that affect your future. And, I agree."

Alaric finally met Laya's gaze, mildly appreciative of her calling him out. "If you are expected to abide by this school's policies, it's only fair that you have a voice in how those rules are made."

Rafael and Laya exchanged a quick smile before returning their attention to their headmaster. Laya didn't think much of it, but the simply glimpse left Rafael's mind stuck in her beautiful smile.

"So, I am forming an honor council. One vampire, one witch, and one werewolf, each elected by their peers. Along with our school counselor Emma, whose vote will represent the younger students."

Laya's eyebrows pulled into a deep furrow. Sure, she was happy to know she had actually made a difference, but what about those who didn't fit into the average supernatural standards.

What about her voice? What about Hope's?

MG spun around with a hopeful. When his face dropped, Laya followed his gaze tuning her hearing onto a pair of vampires. "MG is such a narc."

Laya wanted to say something, to defend her friend. Before she could say anything though, MG focused himself on the meeting. "Now, I have to go off campus. In the meantime, I expect you to make good decisions, and to vote wisely."

Laya sat in her seat waiting for the rest of the students to file out of the main hall, so she could take her time. Rafael leant over whispering softly, "I gotta go, okay? I'll talk to you later."

Before Laya could even respond, he was already darting out of the hallway clearly close in someone's trail. That's when Laya found Hope. Her face was stoic, and she seemed a bit angry. She was going to talk to Dr. Saltzman.

Laya quickly jumped up, heading after the girl to keep an eye on the drama. Laya was about ten feet away when Hope twisted her palm and the door to Alaric's Jeep slammed shut. "Are you kidding me?"

"Am I under assault today?" Alaric quipped.

"You get to interrogate a tree nymph, and I have to run Landon's 23andMe." Laya looked rough Dr. Saltzman waiting for any sort of explanation as to why she wasn't filled in on anything.

"First of all, its a dryad, not a nymph. Second of all, I need a witch to run the testing spells."

"Get Emma to do it," Laya told him finally deciding to speak on the matter. "She can supervise, but she's managing the school in my, I'm sure, unbearable absence." Dr. Saltzman paused before adding on, "Quit tag━teaming on me, it isn't fair."

"Plus, if Landon can convince you that he belongs ... " once again he stopped, this time merely to chuckle. " ... he can convince anybody."

"What about Laya?" Hope questioned. "She's a witch."

"She's too nice." Laya set her hand on her heart feening a shocked expression. "Hey!" Once again, Alaric chuckled at the girls. "You're enjoying this," bitterness was still evident in Hope's voice as she spoke. Alaric smiled, slightly bobbing his head. "I am. I left you instructions on my office. Try not to kill him."

With Dr. Saltzman's 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 parting words, he pulling himself into his Jeep slamming the door. Laya spun around waiting for Hope to spill her thoughts on the matter as she always did when Alaric wasn't present. "This sucks."

Laya chuckled at her friend remembering the original intentions she had for speaking with Dr. Saltzman privately. "I'd love to stick around and watch the show, but I gotta find Emma."

"Since when do you do sessions with Emma?"

"I don't, but I need to get in contact with Dorian and make sure he didn't get eaten by like the Easter bunny, or something." Hope paused almost as if she was processing Laya's reply before silently nodding. "Well, keep me updated. Let me know if Landon turns out to be a Pegasus."

Laya gave up on tracking the counselor after searching the corridors endlessly for at least an hour. Instead, she headed for the Saltzman Twins' dorms wondering if they had any idea where Ms. Tig was.

As she stepped upon the twins' door, Lizzie's voice rang through her ears. "I'm a tastemaker. An influencer. People don't really know what they want until I tell them."

Laya pushed open the door with a light scoff. "I'm glad I'm factioned with the werewolves then." Lizzie's jaw dropped at the comment until Laya's expression faltered, and she cracked a smile. "I'm just kidding. I hope you win."

After Lizzie happily thanked the hybrid the girls informed her they had no clue as to where Emma would be. Yet again, Laya found herself drifting through the halls, bored out of her mind.

'𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 ? '

Within seconds, a new environment overtook Laya's vision and she was staring at Landon. The boy rapidly shook his head wagging his finger at her. "No. You're biased."

Laya pulled out of the vision with a laugh.

'𝘍𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 '

Their conversation ended from there when Laya stepped into the locker rooms changing into a more suitable outfit for the gym.

"Alright, I got a medieval history paper due at 2:00." As Laya stepped forward the other wolves stepped back. "Is that so?" Her eyes were challenging. The eyes of an alpha. Jed knew Laya could easily take him down.

"I don't fight girls." The hybrid scoffed when Emilio spoke up. "Why? You scared?" Jed sent him a glare, Emilio easily backing down. Laya smirked taking another step towards her alpha.

Jed lunged at her. Before he could land a hit, Laya grabbed his wrist twisting around his back. As she twisted him, Jed used his free hand to punch Laya in the stomach.

The hybrid stepped back, holding her torso with a sickening look. "Wow, Jed. That hurt."

The alpha's eyes widened. Shocked by his win. "I'm sorry." Laya smirked, swinging her foot as his knees as the alpha buckled. On his knees, Laya pecked him on the cheek. "Now, Jed has a history paper due at 2:00. Who's on that?"

Laya helped Jed to his feet with a soft smile. She hadn't seen Rafael hidden in the corner until he spoke up. "I'll do it."

Laya paused hoping this wouldn't end as Rafael and Jed's first few encounters had. " ... but I need a favor."

"You've been in the pack for five minutes and you want a favor from your alpha?"

"You're obviously gonna be elected to the honor council. If it comes down to it, will you do what you can to keep Landon in?" Laya's vision flickered back to Jed hopeful for a positive response in Raf's favor. "That's a great idea, foster kid. I'll bring that up at the first meeting. So I can make sure your boy gets the boot."

"Why?" Laya's teeth fell down on her tongue instantly regretting speaking up. "I joined the pack," Rafael added. "Yo, I'm following all the stupid rules
that ━"

"━ Well, consider that punishment ... for not respecting my authority when you got here. The rule is this : What the alpha says, goes. And I say Landon goes." Jed patted Rafael on the arm before sauntering away from the pair.

Laya's eyes brightened as she fixated her attention back on the new boy. "I have an idea ... if Dorian's teachings are correctly burned in my brain."

Laya explained to Rafael her plan sending him off to verify that she was right. Whilst the searched supernatural history, Rosa challenged Laya to a sparring match. That was a fight the hybrid would never pass up on.

It had been almost an hour both of the girl's hits were getting sloppy, neither putting too much effort into the fight like they had when they started. Jed was droning on and on about the basketball court when Rafael entered the gym.

Laya stopped, her eyes immediately finding the boy, pausing long enough for Rosa to get a clean shot at the hybrid's jaw. Laya winced, a shockwave sprinting through her body at the sudden contact.

Rosa's face fell, "Sorry." At the apology, Laya laughed. "You're all good, that was my bad." Rosa's attention had fallen upon Rafael.

The boy tapped on Jed's shoulder causing the alpha to whip around. "We need to talk Jed."

"We already did."

"Just hear me out. I've got the vampires and the witches. But I need one more faction to make sure. 'Be nice to know I can count on my own pack." Laya watched intently. "Yeah, see, that's the thing, Raf. They're not your pack. They're mine."

With his ending words, Jed slowly turned. Laya could sense Rafael was fuming. From where she stood, air practically blew from his ears. "Thought you might say that."

Rafael stormed back to the entrance dropping his backpack on the ground before returning to Jed. "You see, some people actually study all those books you make other people read for you. Like 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘺𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘺." Rafael glanced Laya's way giving her a respectful nod.

"An alpha has to face a challenger one━on━one. I didn't want to do things this way. But if what the alpha says goes ... I gotta be the alpha."

It all happened so fast. Jed's fist latched out planting itself in Raf's jaw causing Laya to wince. Rafael landed a couple blows to Jed's stomach and his face Jed kneed the new boy in the stomach.

Rafael rung his arms around Jed's waist ramming him into the gym wall. As Rafael went for another biff, Jed elbowed him in the rib. Then, the alpha sent a quick strike to Rafael's cheek.

Laya's eyes narrowed watching the boys fight, not sure which wolf she truly desired to win. She didn't think Jed would actually accept Rafael's challenge. Although, he didn't exactly have a choice.

The fight got progressively worse. It seemed as though Rafael was genuinely worthy opponent to Jed. Which in his situation, was a good attribute to have.

Laya could tell Jed was getting worn down. He was starting to lose. Rafael threw the alpha into the wall, pummeling his face. That's when it ended. Laya could see it in Jed's eyes when he gave up. He couldn't win.

Rafael trudged away, wiping the blood trailing down his bottom lip with his thumb. "The polls are now open."

Raf glimpsed Laya's way before lifting his backpack from the ground and exiting the gym. The hybrid sent Jed one last sad glance before following after her new alpha.

Laya sat next to Rafael for the voting ceremony. She kept her lips sealed, squeamish at how tense the boy sitting next to her seemed. "Alright. Voting is now closed."

The surrounding students applauded the idea, some even yelling out a few cheers. "Lets get started."

The chest rumbled, a bright golden glow ripping through the hole, and a single piece notepaper flew from the podium landing gracefully in Emma's manicured fingers. Laya chuckled at the idea earned a confused look from Rafael simply making her smile harder.

𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘨𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴. Ms. Tig pulled apart the slip of paper scanning over its contents. "The werewolf representative will be ... Rafael."

The werewolves cheered for their new alpha's win. No other faction seemed to amused. When Rafael wrapped his arms around Laya though, she could feel the goosebumps streaming down her arms. He smiled excitedly before taking his seat yet again.

Laya looked across the meeting hall finding Lizzie glaring at her. Jealous eyes pierced the hybrid's soul. Laya tried to shrug it off, refocusing her attention on the ceremony.

"Next up ..." an index card levitated from the chest dropping into Emma's hands. "The vampire representative will be ..." MG stood, an excited smile gracing his lips. " ... Kaleb."

Laya could feel the boy's sadness as the vampires cheered for their representative. "Alright, guys! Settle down!"

When the vampires finally sat, Emma thanked them before returning to the chest. "And the witch representative will be ... " Laya's vision wandered over to the Saltzman Twins who seemed to be preparing for Lizzie's expected win. "... Josie."

Laya could see Lizzie's face drop. The witches erupted into a roar of gasps and murmurs all shocked by the winner. "Thank you all for voting. And congratulations to our newly elected representatives."

By the end of the voting ceremony, Laya left in search for Jed. Simply to make sure he was okay. As she stepped outside, a figure hidden by a grey hoodie barreled over a hill down to another clearing below them.

Laya darted towards the scene wondering what exactly was going on. Laya watched horrified as Jed's hood fell from his face revealing himself beating Landon to a pulp.

Laya slid down the hill as fast as she could manage. The hybrid ran for the pair shoving Jed away from the human. Jed tried to step forward, earning an exasperated sigh from Laya. "Somnum."

Jed fell to ground temporarily unconscious. Laya didn't take time to examine his health instead rushed for Landon. "Hey, hey, you're gonna be okay, alright?" Laya propped the boy up so her hand were under his back and lifted him into the air.

From there, Laya brought Landon to the medic. He was still unconscious when they finished. Laya carried him back to his brother's dorm. The hybrid set the human down gently on his bed plopping down on the chair next to him.

Laya held her head in her hands. Her anxiety overwhelming her as tears pricked at her eyes. "Why would he do this?"

Just as Laya looked upwards Rafael stormed in, air practically blowing from his ears. "I'm gonna tear Jed apart." Laya bit down on her tongue finding the ground more appealing than the new alpha's harsh gaze. "No you're really not."

Laya nodded to Hope. "He's gonna pay for what he did," Rafael whispered through gritted teeth. His glare was now directed towards Laya who couldn't bring herself to look up at him. "He could've killed him."

Laya shook her head,letting out a groan. "This is my fault. I spent so much time talking about how I was gonna protect him that I didn't even notice someone beating the crap out of him." Rafael sighed at the anxiety ridden hybrid wrapping his arms around her comfortingly.

"It's not your fault, okay? Overall, you saved him." Laya smiled looking Hope's way waiting for her input. "You want to do something to help him? Take a walk to the herb garden and get me some hazel wood root." Laya's eyebrows pulled together confused as to what she was talking about.

'𝘎𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵'

"I'll come too." Rafael sent the hybrid a small smile following her from the room.

Once the pair left, Hope spent a chunk of time explaining to Landon the true danger of what staying could mean for him. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep again.

That was when Hope called Alaric. Part of her simply wanted to make sure he was okay, but she didn't have to admit that. "How's the interrogation going?"

"She's not talking."

"But I think I figured out why no one remembers dragons, gargoyles, or dryads existing. I mean whatever happened to these creatures, it erased all memory of them. It's like they never existed in the first place."

"I guess that explains a lot."

"Well, don't sound so excited. It's only a piece of the puzzle that explains why these creatures only exist in legends and myths."

"Sorry. I'm just having a day. Listen, I want a seat on the council. I'm a tribrid ━ the only one of my kind. No one can represent my interests, but me."

"Is this about Landon? Because you can't let this get personal."

"The political is personal. I learned that in Advanced Civics, taught by you."

"That's cheating. But I trust that you'll make the right call ... and I assume you're asking for Kelaya too."

"She's the only hybrid in the school."

"Alright. That's fine."

"One last thing, is Dorian alright? Layas been worried and a lot of stuff is going down right now."

"He's fine."

Hope set her phone back down on the desk with a small smile.

' 𝘋𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯'𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘭 '

Hope could practically feel Laya's grin.

' 𝘞𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 '

Hope never quite understood the connection between her and Laya. Despite the psychic connection, due to personal reasons when Hope first met Laya, she tried to shut her down in every way possible. Yet, Laya was kind and very persistent.

When they started to become friends, Hope warned Laya to keep the identity of who she had murdered to herself. Hope didn't want Dr. Saltzman to think of Laya as a threat. She was actually going quite fond of the hybrid.

Hope met with the pair finding that Laya had already revealed to Rafael there was no such thing as Hazelwood Root. "We gotta hurry, we're late."

Laya made a face looking back at her best friend, "Fashionably." The comment earned a smile until the trio entered the room and all eyes fell on Hope. "Sorry we're late."

"Hold up. Who voted for her?" Hope knew Kaleb wasn't talking about Laya who sat down next to Rafael. The hybrid flashed a charming smile "We ran unopposed."

Emma whispered an incantation, the entirety of the council watching as the scales lifted into the air. "Since we have an uneven number I informed
Dr. Saltzman I will be giving up my voting position to Kelaya who I know will vote in favor of the children due to the massive amount of time she spent volunteering with them."

The edges of Laya's lips lifted into a soft smile. Emma picked up a stone with the Salvatore emblem engraved to it handing it to Laya. "We're here to discuss if Landon should be allowed to stay at the school. Now, I have to attend to some other business. You may begin."

As Emma left, Laya scanned the surrounding faces for any hint of emotion. The hybrid coughed awkwardly. "Okay, I'll go, I guess."

Rafael smiled at her attitude. "For my vote, on behalf of the lower class men and my opinion, I think Landon should stay." Laya placed her stone on the right side of the scale watching as it went down.

"When he first got here, we weren't gonna let him leave with any memories of this place. And when he did leave, we all attacked him. We're worried about humans taking our lives from us, but we've already taken his."

"Landon has to go." Laya's eyes widened at Hope's sudden statement. The hybrid wasn't quite sure which side Hope would go for, but this wasn't the way she thought it would end.

"Never thought I'd be saying this, but ... Hope's right. Humans refuse to make a place for us in their world. We start letting them in, it's only a matter of time before they take this place from us too." Kaleb dropped his stone on the opposite side of Laya's evening out the scale. "Landon goes."

"Landon is my brother," Rafael finally spoke. "He's the only reason I'm alive. He can't go back to human life knowing that magic and dragons exist. We took his whole crappy life from him. Be awful selfish of us not give him one to replace it."

Rafael placed his stone on the same side as Laya's, the scale dropping down in favor of Landon staying. Nervously, the boy reached out for Laya's hand entwining their fingers. "That's two━one."

When Laya met Hope's gaze, the tribrid looked on the verge of tears. "It doesn't matter how much we want him to stay. Look what one mad wolf did to him. Earlier, I asked him if he felt safe here. He said "yes". He was lying. This place is dangerous for him, and even he knows it."

"I will protect him," Rafael countered. "Yeah, and where were you an hour ago?" Rafael's eyes narrowed at the tribrid. "That's the point. If he stays, it's on all of us. It is our responsibility to protect him. Can we honestly say we believe everyone of us can handle that kind of a responsibility?"

When Hope placed her rock on her side, the scale evened out once again. All eyes turned to the brunette Saltzman twin. "Looks like it's on you, Josie."

"Josie, please," it was a soft whisper. A quiet beg from Rafael, and Laya terribly hoped for things to go his way.

"Since Landon walked through those doors, my sister, my father, and I have almost died. We don't really know what Landon is, so we can't really say if we know if he's dangerous or not. Raf, this isn't about who's friends with who, or who you like. This school is family, and I am not putting my family in danger again."

Laya watched as the left side fell lower than the right. Landon wouldn't be allowed to stay. Rafael stood, throwing his chair back. "Raf," Hope warned. "Raf, stop."

Rafael chuckled, focusing his attention on Josie. "You know what, I'm done with both of y'all." Rafael stormed out of the room only leaving Laya to follow in his footsteps. She found him standing by the doorway of his dorm.

'𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯 '

' 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 '

Rafael and Laya stood there silently, for almost three minutes when the hybrid could no longer handle it. "I'm sorry he can't stay."

Rafael just looked at her. "Thanks for helping though." Raf paused, his breathing still heavy, and his mind blurry with anger. "I just ━ is there any place that can help me calm down?"

Laya shrugged, "The training room." With a curt nod, Rafael left Laya standing there. Once again she was overcome by that god awful silence. The hybrid trudged to the docks behind the school. It was peaceful.

Under the fading light of the crescent moon, the water had taken on a inky black shade. Laya could feel the presence of something beside her, or more someone. Metias met her gaze with a small smile. "It's not your fault."

The four simple words sent tears down Laya's cheeks that she quickly wiped away. Just as a wisp of the wind, Metias disappeared within seconds.

Laya found herself staring at the crescent in the sky wondering how to God she ended up here. Another being sat beside her, but this time it wasn't Metias. It wasn't Hope either, or Rafael, or Jed. It was MG. "You okay?"

"Never been better."

"You wanna tell me what this is about?"

Laya pulled her eyebrows together pretending to be confused. "Oh, come on. When sunshine gets a little cloudy, something's wrong." The strange reference earned a smile from Laya. "But I have a feeling this isn't about Landon or Rafael, or even Jed. So, I'd like to know what this is about."

"My family died in an accident. My brother Marcel and I were the only survivors." Laya trudged MG, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him that she killed them. That she got so angry she murdered her entire family.

"Marcel took me to Chicago. He promised me I would be safe. My brother didn't believe in what
Dr. Saltzman was doing. He believed they were treating us like freaks here, not letting us be normal. When Dr. Saltzman came find my brother, who was a werewolf, and me, he promised it would be a safe place for a "powerful hybrid" like me."

Laya paused gulping down a lump that had grown in her throat whilst she was speaking. "My brother laughed in
Dr. Saltzman's face and told him no. Ric's reply was, "We'll use pure force if we have to"." Laya let her voice drop low mimicking the older man.

"My brother's like me, his emotions get out of hand, and he was angry. So, he ..."

" ... he changed."

Laya nodded. "Dr. Saltzman shot Marcel with his crossbow like it was nothing. The last thing my brother did was make me promise to "Protect those who can't protect themselves". I think some part of me feels like I betrayed Marcel when the council decided Landon couldn't stay. Heck, I feel like I betrayed him by coming to this school."

It was true. It was her truth. Laya's vision was starting to blur, but she hadn't noticed. MG smiled sadly at the girl, "If you ever miss your older brother, just remember you got me."

MG pulled her into a side hug, the pair staring at the lake. "Thanks MG."