KIDNAPPED! AGAIN?

Aurinda stood and ran out of their booth after the announcement. She left the treats they had bought at the stand uneaten. Cardial coughed and stood, "The results of this were as expected. That runt knows how to play his cards although it has dangerous costs. That will cost him on a real battlefield." With that, he left with Raveer.

Taevlin, who had not said a word during the whole match, stood as well. He held his book in his left hand. Without a word, and with a flutter of his clothes, he left the booth. Desire followed closely behind him and Quira behind Desire. Lexine watched them leave. It seemed that Sylphs were naturally quiet. Maybe it was the fact that they seemed to prefer talking using the mind that they did not converse as much as everyone else? Lexine was not sure.

It was a shame though. They were very good looking and although the silence added to the charm, she did not want people speaking into her mind. Maybe they could read her mind and find it full with all the movies she had filled it with. Lexine was nothing like them. She was not overly beautiful and did not have an ounce of female grace Quira and Desire had.

In fact, she was loud, acted more like a tomboy half the time, and had close to no grace. Ceeret knew her for tripping on her own to feet most of the time. She sighed. She definitely was not a Sylph although they had chosen to place her as one to avoid suspicion. She mentally crossed that out of her list.

Artin snapped her out of her thought bubble when he poked her shoulder. Lexine's eye twitched. She wanted to go back to bed and sleep. Was that ever going to be possible in this new world?

"A good morning Lexine. I am sure this was your first colosseum fight. How was it?"

"It was fine really. It reminded me of MMA fights back home. You know, if the fighters at home could turn into wolves and aim to kill their opponent if they irritated them." Her sarcasm was not lost as Artin picked up on it.

Artin leaned on the ledge. He was dressed loosely, with a pair of black pants that seemed a size bigger. The shirt he wore was red and the collar dipped down to the middle of his chest. It had intricate designs over it and Lexine could barely make out the head of a dragon on his left. His red hair fell over his eyes. "You make it seem like you didn't like it."

Lexine chuckled and scratched the back of her neck. "It was not that bad, but I prefer avoiding blood. Weren't there any rules?"

Artin looked over to the field. Meddy's blood stained a certain part of the field a bright red. "The rules are no foul play and make your opponent yield. Also if the match takes too long, then points are added up for form and technique. That is if two opponents are evenly matched."

Lexine nodded understanding. It would be boring to watch a fight drone on for too long after all.

Christana chimed into their conversation. "You can pick anything you want to use and fight after all and any techniques are allowed. Different species have different ways to fight after all."

Adley chimed in, "It's really simple, Anthropoids prefer using weapons. They do not have any ability after all. Werewolves tend to use their brute strength and very rarely do they take on a weapon. Dragons and Sylphs are closer to nature than the other two, so they control nature as they like. However, they use totally different techniques so it's simple to differentiate between the two. Shadow people work with shadows. They are prone to use shadows to do their bidding."

All this information was making Lexine's head ache. So there were different ways different species fought? She committed that to memory.

"All this information is making my head ache." She lay her forehead on the palm of her hand.

Sevin jumped up, "I know what can make her feel better!" He proclaimed with a smile on his face.

Lexine raised her head and gave him a questioning look. The only thing that would make her feel wonderful is if she went back home. She had committed herself to stay on this godforsaken place though, so she kept her thoughts to herself. "What?"

"Today is the only day they will sell sweets around school because it is the first fight of the year. So, I was thinking we could all go get something to eat before going to see Meddy in the infirmary and congratulating him on his win?"

Artin contemplated this in his head, it could be nice to walk around the colosseum. The food stands were placed just outside the perimeter of the colosseum, so they would not get lost, and it would not bring a lot of attention to the human girl. Although walking with them was already attention on its own.

Christana shot up and proclaimed happily. "I want to go."

Adley nodded as well, "I would like to join as well. I have to check on the food stand our class put up."

Lexine had perked up at the mention of food. "I don't mind as well."

They all turned to Artin. He ran a hand through his hair. "Alright." He was going to try his best to keep Lexine out of trouble else his weekly dose of human books would be taken from him.

The five of them walked out of the booth and down the stone steps.

Christana was babbling about something to Adley. She was as bubbly as a kid who had been taken to the carnival for the first time. It destroyed the sultry look she had on. Lexine squinted her eyes when they walked out into the mid-morning sun. She covered her eyes and looked up. The sun did not look that much different from the way it did when she was on earth. Maybe this was a parallel universe? Then again, what did she know about parallel universes, she was already a failure in Physics.

She finished the candy apple Aurinda had bought her with one bite and threw twirled the stick in her hands subconsciously.

She let Christana pull her and Adley to a stand that was directly outside the colosseum. There were three people at the stand. One was taking orders and handing them out while the others were preparing what was being ordered.

The boys walked a few paces behind them. Sevin's eyes lit up with every food he lay his eyes on while Artin seemed almost indifferent. It hardly looked like the usual bubbly Artin. This was because he was ensuring that nothing would happen to Lexine.

Lexine took in the fried meat that was in front of her once they got to the stand. It sizzled over a fire. There were some in smaller pieces that were skewered and sizzling over a smaller fire. Christana gestured at the booth.

"What do you guys want? I'm buying it."

Lexine eyed the skewered meat. Christana bought her five. The boys each had a small bag of meat.

As they walked on, Lexine noticed they were getting a lot of stares. At first, it did not bother her, but then people started pointing. Was it because of the way Christana was dressed? It was a little revealing after all, not to mention it was a dress. Lexine really detested dresses. Or had they figured out she was human?

She made herself as small as she could by squeezing herself between the two tall males and concealing her presence.

They did not seem to notice though, as they walked on without glancing at those who were staring at them.

Lexine kept her comments to herself as they went from booth to booth. There were a lot of booths that served different dishes. Some had sugary treats, others had meaty foods, others only served drinks. By the time Christana was done dragging them all over the place, Lexine was sure her feet would break and her stomach would burst open.

Christana was very generous, not allowing any of them to pay. This made Lexine wonder how loaded the bubbly girl was. Her mother's words rang in her head once more, 'Bloody rich people.'

They had stopped to rest and finish eating a piece of cake each when Christana suddenly stood. "I have not gotten anything for Aurinda and Meddy."

She ran off into the crowd. Artin sighed. "I shall go stop her from buying all the stalls. We will be right back." He pulled Sevin with him.

Adley sat next to Lexine. Unlike Lexine who was now a mess with all the stains covering her shirt because of all the food they had eaten, Adley was squeaky clean. Her dress seemed to be in the same condition as it first had been. It did not seem like she had eaten at all.

They sat in comfortable silence as Lexine studied the people around her. They seemed very excited about the match that had just taken place. "Did you see how Drea gripped his leg! He still stood up even after that!" She heard a male speaking to his comrade. They couldn't stop speaking about the match although most seemed to hate Meddy.

A short girl walked up to where she and Adley sat. She was dressed almost similarly to Adley and her hair was tied up in a high ponytail. She was out of breath and seemed close to tears. "Lady Zavilina you have to come this instant. The stand is in a disarray! Fergo keeps burning the food and Melia keeps getting the orders wrong. Please!"

A frown formed on Adley's face as the short girl gave her a bow at the end of the statement. She considered her options before turning to face Lexine, "I will be back shortly, please wait for the others and inform them that something came up. Do not move from here."

'It's not like I have anywhere to go. I practically know nobody.' she sneered in her head but kept her trap shut. After all, she had just seen someone turn into a five foot tall wolf.

Lexine nodded and watched as Adley left her seated and followed the trembling girl. She waited for them to disappear from her line of vision before picking up the small brown bag that contained her second piece of cake.

She took a whiff of the sugary goodness and went to take a bite of her cake when a heavy hand hit the back of her head. 'What the fuck!' was her last thought as the cake dropped from her fingers to the sandy ground as she succumbed to darkness.