Chapter 6

"What do you mean by that?" Zitarah raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Would you mind if we went to a more enclosed area? Erina asked and Zitarah was obviously hesitant since she already found them suspicious.

"What exactly do you want to say that's so secretive?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"It won't take long, just trust us," Erina said and Zitarah looked at them for a few seconds before standing up.

She turned the timer of her watch. "10 minutes, anything more, I'll leave." She said and gestured for them to lead the way.

Erina, Piph, and Leighton walked into the dorm building. It was a large building with a sophisticated yet simple quadrilateral design.

"Excuse me but we're not allowed to…" she was cut off when Leighton knocked on a door. On a normal day, students who don't reside in the dormitories were not allowed in without permission from a resident student.

The Academic Prefect opened the door and greeted Leighton with a warm smile. She was in shorts and just putting on a sweatshirt when she opened the door.

Zitarah once again knew what was going on.

"Wait so, you... never mind but Ms. Stanford, have you been infatuated with this student?" Zitarah asked with disappointment laced in her voice.

"You see, the thing is, I don't mix my dorm life with my school life and Mr. Deveon just happened to bump into me a lot." She made a crappy excuse obviously and Zita just palmed her face and walked in nonetheless.

"I thought you said it was just you and your sister?" Zitarah heard Jessica whisper to Leighton and chose to ignore it.

"Ok, I'll stick to the agreement but why do I have to leave?" she whined and Lance said a couple of sweet *cough* (cringe) stuff to her and she went out of her room.

"You confirmed that it's soundproof, no bugs?" Erina asked Lance as she tapped away on her watch.

"Yap, even the loudest noises can't be heard, if you know what I mean." He nudged Erina with his elbow and Zitarah cringed.

'Repulsive!' she thought to herself.

Leighton drew the curtains and made sure the door was shut which made Zita all the more suspicious.

Suddenly, Erina's hair started to change color starting from her roots as a beam from her watch illuminated it. Zita opened her eyes in surprise as she saw her formerly dark brown hair turn into a very light brown with golden tips. Her dark eyes turned into a neon green color that looked like two emerald crystals, and her skin which was tan now became absolutely flawless and glowy.

Leighton's hair was also scanned by a beam from his watch and it turned into a dark color with light blue ends, his dark eyes turned silver and his skin turned completely pale and doll-like.

Zitarah back up from them and got a lamp pointing it at them.

"S-stay back. Who the heck are you? What are you?" Erina and Leighton did not move, they didn't even flinch.

"That's a more intense reaction than I expected." Lance folded his arms in front of his chest and looked at Zitarah who was drenched in fear.

"Relax, we're harmless," Erina said calmly as she pointed the lamp to the floor.

"How did your hair, your eyes…." Zita said frantically as she stood in a defense position.

"We look like you dear, so why are you scared of us?" Leighton raised an eyebrow. It clicked in Zita's head and she slowly lowered the lamp.

"Wait, you're albinos too?"

"Albino?" Leighton said with confusion in his voice.

"Wait…you think you're an albino?" Erina was now shocked although it wasn't evident in her features.

"Yeah, when I was younger, the doctors said…I had a genetic mutation they had never seen so they labeled it partial albinism. Isn't that why the ends of my hair are light brown and the roots are really dark…also why my pupils are yellow." Zita said and both Erina and Leighton tilted their heads.

"It doesn't make sense, sorry." They said at the same time and Zita felt embarrassed.

"You see, on Gaia, there is no plausible way to change your hair or eye color since they happen to be very delicate parts of our identity plus, haven't you ever thought why you are the only one with this 'mutation?'" Leighton said and Zita looked to the floor.

"Yes, I know, I've known for a long time that it's not albinism but how else would I explain it so what's your story, why are you like that?" Zitarah asked seriously and Leighton and Erina gave each other a look and then nodded.

"We are ancients." They said at the same time.

"What are ancients?" Zita asked and Leighton nudged Erina.

"You see dear, she is just ignorant, she has no idea what she is," Leighton said and Erina raised her index finger to silence him.

"She might be acting," Erina said and Zita raised an eyebrow.

"Acting?" Zita asked and Erina sighed.

"Do you know what that token on your necklace is?" Erina asked and Zita looked at it then shook her head from side to side.

"I guess you're right. I don't think she's Lothaire's." Erina said and Zita looked at them confused.

"Okay, what are you guys talking about I understand nothing so far." She said.

"We are part of a group that we call Oktober. Oktober is an illegal laboratory on a quest to find a powerful ancient fruit and that." Erina walked towards her and touched her necklace. "This is exactly how it looks."

Zita burst into laughter and Erina and Leighton shared a look.

"You guys think you're in some sort of anime or something." She clutched her stomach as she laughed at them.

"We're being hunted," Leighton said and Zita gradually stopped laughing and scrunched her eyebrows together.

Leighton started to unbutton his shirt and Zita looked at him weirdly.

She looked away. "What are you doing? Put your shirt back on, you pervert!" she said and Erina sighed.

"You want proof that everything we're talking about is true?" Erina said and Zita looked at them. Lance's chest and abdomen were covered in scars and partially fresh wounds.

"We are hunted."

He repeated himself and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Why are you telling me these things?" Zita asked.

"A few months ago, we got involved with a very dangerous hunter and he took the life of our leader. Since then we have been in discord so we decided that New Berkley Academy would be the perfect place to find a new leader. It is very secretive about its students and it has class E which is the leading producer of revolutionaries." Erina spoke.

"Not only are you in Class E but you have excellent leadership skills, resilience, strength, and discipline. You also have features of the ancients which I only a plus. We would like for you to become our leader and only then shall we be allowed to disclose more information to you." Leighton added and Zita scrunched her eyebrows together.

They did look suspicious but she didn't doubt a word they said. She attained the skill of decerning lies from the truth with time and it scared her that they were telling the truth.

Her watch went off and she decided to leave.

"I…I can't do that…"Leighton cut her off.

"Sleep on it"

"Don't disclose this information to anyone else or else they might risk death, also hide that necklace," Erina added and Zita left.

A thousand thoughts were running through her mind all at once and she had an overbearing feeling that her life just reached a major turning point.

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