2 A COWARD'S HELP

On the boy's cue, Yuvien's friends picked him up and the crowd dispersed almost instantly.

I gulped and continued to stare at the boy. He looked like an angel. How could he be so cruel?

"You would make a girl go through something so horrifying?" I asked. My hand was itching to whack some sense into him.

"If you don't want to be the rosa, just collect all the marks by then. I have provided an alternative, you know," He gave me a teasing smile as if he had just won a round against me, which I must admit he had.

"And what gives you the right to punish me? Who are you?" I questioned.

He chuckled, "I want to ask you the same thing, human. How are you so daring when others can't even look me in the eyes?"

I immediately broke eye contact. Dad must have dropped me when I was a child and I must have lost some screws. What else could be the reason for my immense stupidity? I seemed to be doing everything in my power to be noticed.

"As to who I am, you'll know soon enough," he said. Then, he sauntered towards the stage and took a seat next to the other dignitaries. I swallowed my pride and sat down in the nearest chair. I was aware of the eyes that bore into me from all directions but chose to ignore them, focusing on the annoying but attractive boy instead.

In fact, I focused on him so much, that I completely zoned out of the speech that madame principal gave. She was one of the faculty who turned a blind eye to the bullying. I didn't care to listen to her anyway.

The boy kept smiling which he probably thought was charming. I found it irksome. Who the hell was he to give me a punishment? I began listening again when he walked up to the centre of the stage.

"Welcome to Adelmiro Circle, freshmen! I am Ryne Novak, a final year student from the magic echelon as well as the ti-eglor."

My eyes widened, my throat dried up and I clenched my jaw. This was just great! The one person I was told to stay away from and I had to pick a fight with him.

Years ago, when the dragons lost their power, the magic-kind, with the help of their patron goddess, Hecate, rose up to take their place. The Dragon Empire was broken down and a new political system called the Circle was established. The Circle had various levels or echelons based on species with the magic-kind being the highest. The emperor of the Circle was given the title, "eglor," which meant "champion of magic-kind, conqueror and protector". (I know. I wonder how that much was compressed into one word too.)

Since then, the warlocks of the same lineage had been ruling the Circle with the eglor as the head. This person, Ryne claimed to be the ti-eglor or the heir to the current eglor, which meant that he was probably the most powerful guy in the room.

"...like the newbie we just met, Meredith," Ryne called out and I shot out of my seat, having woken up from my reverie. I looked around confused.

"I like the respect you show me, but you don't need to stand up, Meredith. I was just telling everyone to read the guidelines like you."

Snickers followed. My face grew hot and I nodded before sitting back down. I grabbed my plaid skirt in both my fists not caring if it became wrinkled. He didn't have to mention my name. He was singling me out, that bastard!

"If you have any problems adjusting, you can contact your echelon head or any of the upperclassmen actually. We're all quite friendly and don't bite. Oh, except the sirens, vampires and werewolves."

That was such a lame joke but everyone actually laughed. I was bewildered, what was with this blind admiration?

"The seniors are all in here if you want to get to know us. The head of your echelons will call for a separate orientation later this week so that would be another opportunity," he said as he casually ran his fingers through his black hair. I swear I heard someone swoon.

"Let me reiterate what madame principal just said, most classes will be held in common for all freshmen. You'll all branch out into your echelon studies and further specializations based on your chosen career in your fourth and fifth years. Until then, make friends, make connections and have fun!"

I didn't bother clapping and left as soon as I could. Making connections was impossible for a human, so was having fun. The only reason they came here was because of that stupid pact made by all the echelons when they faced the wrath of goddess Earth for tipping the balance. It took only one species before they got back their senses and stopped the mindless massacre.

***

"You're screwed, you know?" a short, slightly plump blonde said as she began walking beside me. A golden tint in her blue eyes caused them to sparkle. Her glistening white teeth and crinkled eyes told me that she was harmless.

I smiled back at her, "Tell me something I don't know."

"The next blood moon is three days away," she said with a smile.

My eyes widened, "Woah! I did not know that. That's not enough time. Fuck, this whole thing is rigged!"

"Well, it is supposed to be a punishment," she snickered.

I frowned at her and huffed.

She let out another laugh and stopped walking. "I'm JJ Vilya," she said, "you can call me JJ or Vilya or just J-Vil. It sounds like devil, but I swear I'm nice."

I laughed and shook her hand, "I'll keep that in mind, J-Vil. Are you a freshman too?"

"I am in my third year, so I'm probably two years older than you," she said, continuing to smile. There was something odd about that. She didn't look evil, quite opposite of that, in fact. But the smile seemed to be plastered onto her face as if she couldn't remove it.

"Um, actually I'm eighteen," I said sheepishly.

"Oh! But, how are you a freshman?" she asked surprised.

"I had a governess and never went to a local school. And without formal certificates, they couldn't admit me to the third year," I said with a shrug.

Part of it was true. I did have a teacher after my mother died. In fact, I wouldn't ever have imagined walking these halls if my quest hadn't led me here. When all the prominent families got the letter from Adelmiro Circle, I was travelling the world with my teacher. I remember dad writing to me that he had rejected their offer. Then, a month ago, I found out that the god I had been in search of for six years was in the place I had least expected. Although only a sixteen-year-old would be allowed to enter as a freshman, I had enough connections for them to make an exception.

"Hmm... you didn't accept the offer at sixteen?" she asked, looking around distractedly. The hallway had a few students who were trying to find their classes. She turned to look at me when I didn't reply.

I just shook my head not willing to share any more details.

"Anyway, I'll be taking some of the classes with you as I skipped them before," she said and the smile was back on. We climbed up the stairs to a more deserted corridor.

"You can do that?"

"Yeah, you stay here for five years, and it's understandable if you want to take it easy sometimes. You cannot move ahead and take an advanced course but you can always go back to take one you missed."

"That's amazing!" I pulled out my schedule from my bag, "I took all the mandatory courses. Should I drop something?"

She nodded as she glanced around. I followed her sight but found nothing. All of a sudden, she grabbed my arm and dragged me into the nearest classroom.

"Hey, where-"

"Shush," she shut the door gently. "You need to get all the marks as soon as possible, right?" she asked, her previous smile was replaced by an extremely serious expression. Her brows were knit together, the nerve on her forehead popped and her ears were flaming red.

I looked down at the turquoise marble floor and nodded with a sigh, "I don't even know what the marks look like or how I'm supposed to get them."

"Listen, I know that you feel scared now. But, it's okay. We humans look out for each other. Trust me, we'll keep you safe."

Although her words were reassuring, I couldn't help but bite my lips in worry. I had meticulously dug my own grave. What did I care about an odih when I had a higher purpose? I should have just kept my mouth shut. But, over the course of years, I had realized that whatever connected my brain to my mouth malfunctioned frequently.

She held my arm and I became aware of how tense my body was. Back home, I knew what I was going to do, who I was going to meet and what I was going to say every second of the day. Even my death was predetermined. On the quest, I had always had my teacher with me. I never had to deal with anything alone. And if we were to encounter something nasty, I was sure that my teacher could help me out of it. Which was probably why I was having a hard time adjusting to the unpredictability of my current situation.

"I don't know how this is all going to go. But I promise I'll try my best to make sure you don't get punished. For now, all I can do is this." She grabbed a small piece of wood from her leather bag. It had a handle with intricate engravings on one side and a flat circle surface on the other. "According to the guidelines of the Council, the human mark comes above the right ankle," she said. Then, she got down on her knees and when I didn't move, she looked up at me.

"What-"

Her face lit up and she smiled again. She seemed to have only two expressions, the one with the plastered smile and the one with the knitted brows. Neither one was very reassuring. "I am the head of the human echelon. I'm also the daughter of the Southern General. Now, pull down your socks."

"You want me to what? Wait, so you're the... and the marks go on my bod-"

"This will hurt a little," she interrupted my ramble before pressing the flat side of the seal on my leg. Nothing happened for the first few seconds, then the piece of wood got hotter and hotter until it was scalding my skin. I hissed and tried to pull my leg away. But she held it in place with her other hand. She removed it after a few seconds. I clenched my teeth and blinked away my tears as I bent down to examine the reddish mark. It was an inverted 'V' inside a circle.

"A warning would have been nice, you know," I gritted out.

"I did say it would hurt a little," she said.

The mark throbbed for a few more seconds before the pain subsided completely.

"Is that it?" I asked her, I frowned as I continued to examine my leg. This seemed way too simple for what was supposed to be a punishment.

"We look out for our own, so this was easy. Don't expect things to go so smoothly with the others," she said getting up.

"Smoothly? That hurt like crap!" I yelled.

"Also, let me give you a tip as a senior," she said ignoring me. She put her hands on her waist and her serious expression was back on, "don't piss off the higher echelons. Trust me, you don't want to face the consequences."

I just stood there staring at her until she broke into a huge smile and dragged me outside. For the sake of my sanity, I decided to name her expressions, the Smiley and the Worry. Was anyone normal around here?

I tried catching up to her without tripping on my feet as she continued to pull me through the corridors. I sighed as I realized that the first day had just begun. I had never been spoken down to by anyone in my life. Even my father feared me. But, today warlocks, an odih and now a human behaved like I was nothing.

"You have a class now, don't you? The bell just rang," J-Vil said as she pulled me along.

"Yeah, History and Origin of the Circle," I told her.

"Oh, that usually happens in the mini auditorium. Come, I'll take you there."

***

The auditorium was too huge to be called 'mini'. All the walls were sound-proofed, huge speakers stood beside a large stage complete with multiple curtains of purple and red. The white screen at the back read, "WELCOME FRESHERS, TO THE BEST COURSE YOU WILL EVER TAKE!" However, someone had charmed it so that when the projector blinked every three seconds, the word, "course" was replaced with "sedative".

Most of the students hadn't arrived yet. I walked in the aisle towards a seat at the back. As I passed by a group of odihs, one of them called out to me.

"Meredith, here you go," the boy with spiky red hair and a black ear piercing said.

I looked at him confused before noticing a similar seal in his hand.

"Is that the mark?" I asked.

"Yup!" he said staring at me for a moment too long before awkwardly extending his hand forward, "Oh, I'm Hui, the head of the odih echelon. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Why are you- I mean sure if you want to..." I mentally slapped myself. 'Don't stare the gift sheep in the mouth... or ear?'

Scratching his head, he smiled before saying, "Fifin wanted me to give you the mark."

"Um, who?" I asked.

"The boy you saved this morning."

"Ah, him," I said a sour taste engulfing my mouth.

"Don't hold it against him. It is the nature of us odihs to be cowardly. We can't help it," he said.

"Yeah, whatever," I mumbled as I pulled down the sock on my right leg.

"The other one," he said with a giggle.

I cleared my throat and followed his instructions. When he bent down in front of me, I clenched my jaw, mentally preparing myself for the agony that was to come.

Hui took a deep breath before pressing the piece of wood to my leg. It hurt just as much or maybe even more this time. I bit my tongue to stop the scream that almost erupted from my throat. It seemed to go on forever and I grabbed a nearby desk for support. When he removed the seal from my skin, I collapsed into the nearest chair unable to bear the residual pain on both my legs.

He looked down at me guiltily and said, "On the behalf of all odihs, I thank you for your actions today. Since you are in this situation because of one of our own, I'll give you a tip."

"If I hear the words, 'don't piss off higher echelons' one more time, I will throw someone out of the window. And if I hear it from you, you will be that someone," I said between my teeth. I must have looked serious enough to carry out that threat for he took a step back in fear.

"Wel... well I just meant to say that sirens and vamps only join us in the classes after the first week. They have an orientation to help them adjust to studying beside their meal," he said.

I cringed at the way he put it. For some of them, humans were just that. Fortunately, the Council had banned the usage of humans as fodder. It was the only useful thing they did.

"Um, thank you for that absolutely irrelevant comment. I'll take your leave now," I said as I got up and began limping away from the weird boy. The pain seemed to stay for longer this time.

"The echelon just above the odihs are the sirens. You do know that, right?" he asked and I stopped in my tracks.

In fact, I did know that. I was forced to memorize thousands of books on politics, power distribution and working of the Circle. However, the pain in both my legs made my brain work slower.

I turned back and stared at Hui, nodding for him to continue.

"The sirens all gather at the lake in the evenings. You'll find the head of their echelon there. Just be... you know, safe. Since I helped you out, we odihs don't owe you anything, okay? Please don't come and find us when you're in trouble."