Orna Puella

- VI -

THERE

Raven and I walked into the school building together and I felt almost gleeful when almost everyone - except for whoever came on the same bus with us - stared at a human and a half-demon walking together. Somehow, I felt like I won’t be making any friends around here any time soon. That was fine with me. I felt like an outcast anyway with Elsie and Cerylia barking orders at me every day.

Speaking of Cerylia… I looked around and sure enough, there she was, my stepsister. She looked at me with horror, clutching her leather bag, which I knew cost Elsie a small fortune. Leather was beyond expensive. I smiled at her and waved. Cerylia immediately looked away as if she had no idea who the hell I was. Worked great for me. I sighed softly, thinking that I will have to deal with Elsie’s screams when I get home but oh well. If she didn’t want me talking to half-breeds, she could always call a Cab for me. I mean, she called it for Cerylia anyway, and I knew that the Cabs could fit up to three people inside.

“Is that your sis?” Raven asked with a snort.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “She is as bad as Elsie. Maybe even worse, I haven’t decided yet.”
“Where is your dad?”
“He is a Catcher,” I said gloomily.
“They make good money,” Raven said and I shrugged.
“I guess. I could care less about money though. He is away a lot and I am stuck with those two witches…”
“Seriously?” his cherry colored eyes twinkled. “Witches?”
“Not sure about Cerylia,” I admitted. “But Elsie?” I snorted. “The little trick with the fireball that you did on the bus is nothing compared to what Elsie can do.”
“Well,” he shrugged. “I can do a hell of a lot more, believe me.”
“Uh huh,” I nodded with a smirk. “Sure. You are a warlock or whatever, right?”

He snorted.

“I’ll show you sometimes,” he said. “Not here though. They will kick me out for sure. And then my mother will kill me.”

I was wondering if his mother was his human or demon half when he laughed softly.

“Human,” he said and I stared at him. “I knew you were thinking that,” he shrugged. “I don’t read minds or anything like that. But usually that’s what everyone wonders… Well,” he hemmed. “Everyone who actually talks to me.”
“Ah,” I nodded. “Gotcha. So tell me about this place…”
“It’s a school,” he shrugged. “You get your math, physics, history, essential magic, stuff like that. Wasn’t it pretty much the same in Antana?”
“Pretty much,” I sighed. “Except there it wasn’t as gloomy and cold.”

Raven laughed again.

“You’ll get used to it,” he said lightly. “Oh hey, you might get entertained in your first class…”
“Oh yeah?” I looked at him with interest. “What’s the class?”
“EM,” he grinned. “I guess today we are doing fireballs.”

I laughed out loud. Yeah, he was right. It will be entertaining. I was never great at magic. I mean, I was okay, could conjure something not too hard, was good at blocking stuff (you sort of learn to be good at blocking when you live with Elsie), and I knew a couple of healing spells. I could kick anyone’s ass at math or physics, but when it came to magic, I was very mediocre.

But I knew that Raven was itching to show off his skills and I knew that EM (Essential Magic) will be fun today. I wondered briefly once again why I felt so easy and free around a half-demon that I only met an hour ago, but then I just shrugged it off. Who cares. The sad part was the fact that I’d rather hang out with Raven than with Cerylia.

I looked at her again. She was chatting merrily with several people at once, two pretty girls - elves probably - and a somewhat attractive blond guy. It was Cerylia’s first day at this school as well, but she seemed so comfortable as if she spent her whole life with these people. Suddenly, the blond guy who was talking to her, turned his head and stared at me. I blinked. What the hell is his problem? I stared back at him without flinching and finally he shifted his gaze.

“Who is that clown?” I asked softly and Raven followed my gaze.
“That’s Arlen,” he said poisonously. “The greatest catch in the entire freaking school.”
“Catch?” I frowned.
“Governor’s son,” Raven said.
“I see,” I nodded, thinking that’s why Cerylia is trying so hard around him.
“Why?” He smirked at me. “You like him?”

I shuddered.

“Great Dragon, no… I was just wondering why Cerylia is almost jumping out of her dress…”
“Every girl around here is ready to jump out of her dress for him,” Raven said indifferently. “Just wait until the Ball.”
“The Ball?” I looked at him with confusion. “What Ball?”
“Annual Ball,” he said. “Happens at the end of May.”
“Thank Talath,” I muttered. “That means that Elsie and Cerylia will leave me alone for at least a little while…”
“You’ll probably go,” Raven shrugged and I threw him a dark look. “I mean, all the pure breeds go there, it’s like a freaking honor.”
“I don’t go places,” I said. “Plus, Elsie will probably have a heart attack if she sees me there.”

He shrugged again and was about to say something else when the blond guy (what was his name again? Aron? Alen?) suddenly turned away from Cerylia and marched up to us.

“Get lost,” he said to Raven who folded his arms in his chest and smirked.
“Go screw yourself,” he said quietly. “Shouldn’t be a problem for you. I mean, you do it how many times a day...?”

The blond took a step towards Raven and I rolled my eyes. Oh, for the love of Dragon…

“Let’s go,” I said shortly and pulled Raven’s sleeve.
“Wait,” the blond said to me. “You are Cerylia’s sister, right?”
“Wrong,” I said indifferently.
“But she said…” the blond frowned.
“She is my step-sister,” I replied. “Believe me, I have nothing in common with her.”
“I see,” he muttered. “What’s your name? I am Arlen…”
“Go ask Cerylia,” I muttered. “She’ll be much more ecstatic to talk to you than I am.”

I walked away and Raven followed me. I never looked back, but I knew that the blond (Arlen? Was that his name?) kept glaring at us. Raven looked at me with curiosity.

“You are one weird human,” he said finally.

I shrugged.

“Yeah, well… Bite me.”

I walked up to the teacher when we made it into the classroom, and she looked down on me. She was tall, blonde, and breathtakingly beautiful. She also had that slightly disgusted look on her face that was a trademark of every single elf. The look that said, “Oh for Talath’s sake… I have to deal with all of you low creatures for the miserable amount of money that they pay me.” The look didn’t bother me. I learned to ignore elves’ attitude a long time ago. It wasn’t like they were trying to be so snotty, it was simply in their nature.

“I am Selena,” I said to her. “I am new.”
“My name is Ealarauc,” she said in melodic tired voice. “Be seated.”

I glanced around, and without thinking twice, went into the back of the classroom. I sat next to Raven and he grinned at me.

“Seriously,” he said in a low voice. “You are digging your own grave, human. Sitting with the half-breed? Are you out of your mind?”
“I’d rather sit with a half-breed than someone like Cerylia,” I muttered without looking at him.

Ealarauc looked at me and winced slightly when she saw whom I was sitting next to. She looked away immediately as if the mere sight was causing her physical pain. She clapped her hands once and the entire classroom immediately fell silent. Wow, I thought, she must be really good at magic, since the only thing she needs to do to quiet everyone is to clap her hands once.

“All right,” she said in the same melodic voice that now sounded indifferent. “Turn in your assignments first.”
“What was the assignment?” I asked Raven softly.
“Turn fire into ice,” he muttered.

I winced. I remembered the last time I tried to do that. I almost burned the house down and Elsie looked like she was about to kill me.
Ealarauc looked at Arlen and she actually smiled at him. Huh, I thought, his dad must be a really big gun around here, since even the elves are smiling at that guy.

“Arlen,” she said and he got up.
“Here,” he said with a smug face and stretched his hand towards her.

A small snake of flame danced on his palm and Arlen muttered something and the snake immediately turned into blue lifeless ice. Ealarauc squinted her eyes slightly and I could see disappointment in them.

“Well done,” she said evenly and barely moved one of her fingers. Arlen’s snake immediately evaporated. Yeah, she was good, all right. “Be seated.”

The blond sat down with the same smug expression as if he just did something spectacular. I guess he did way better than I ever would, but I always sucked at magic so I couldn’t understand his cockiness. I shrugged to myself and kept watching Ealarauc. She called someone else - a girl this time - and she did somewhat better than Arlen. She almost dropped her flame on her skirt, but at the last moment, she managed to freeze it. I still don’t know if she did it on purpose or if it was an actual accident.

Ealarauc called on almost everyone in class except for several half-breeds that were sitting in the back, including Raven. I guess she wanted to deal with them last. I was right. She looked at Raven finally and let out a small exasperated sigh.

“Your turn…” she hesitated for a second as if the very idea of saying his name was torturing her. “Raven,” she managed.
“Watch this,” he said in barely audible whisper to me, his lips almost unmoving.

He got up lazily and slowly, and stretched his arms sweetly. Ealarauc grimaced
.
“Do this on your own time,” she said somewhat sharply. “You are here not because you need to stretch your…”

She never got to finish that sentence because Raven’s fingers suddenly sat ablaze. I blinked. That was new. His flame was blue, that was pretty cool. He shook his wrist and the flame shot towards Ealarauc with nauseating speed. I gasped and she immediately raised her hands, and suddenly there was a shimmering protecting circle around her. Raven laughed at that and turned his hands palms down. The second before the flames hit Ealarauc’s circle, they turned bright yellow and they weren’t flames anymore. A huge yellow fountain of what I hoped was water, hit the elf full speed and she didn’t have any time to react. She gasped when the water - oh, Dragon, I seriously hope it was water - poured all over her, ruining her hair and carefully applied makeup. I started laughing uncontrollably when she looked up in astonishment, her white dress soaking-wet, water running down her face. She reminded me of a very wet and a very pissed off cat.

She stared at Raven, gasping for air, her eyes blinking rapidly. I looked at Raven and saw that he was laughing even worse than me. I tried to stop, I really did, but then I looked at Ealarauc again and laughed even harder. Nobody else in the class was laughing except for me and Raven, not even the half-breeds around us. They stared at the elf, their faces almost shocked. I guess it was the first time ever when someone was actually able to catch her by surprise.

“Out!!” Ealarauc managed finally. “Get out!!”
“Did I pass?” he asked, choking on his own laughter.
“Out!!” she almost screamed and I couldn’t help myself. I was almost howling with laughter at that point.

She looked at me, and for a second I thought that she is going to strike me dead with a bolt of lightning or something. She didn’t. Instead, she narrowed her lilac eyes even more and hissed:
“And you too! Get out of my classroom until you learn to control yourself!!”

Oh, boy… Great job, Selena, really great! Your first class and you already managed to piss off an elf and turn yourself into one of the outcasts, pure breed or not. I grabbed my bag and got up. I followed Raven who threw his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the classroom, still shaking with hysterical laughter.