Alcid found out that there was one mortal eating demon that was alive when the king and queen were murdered and that he was here in the demon realm now. She asked Kheba to go on a walk with her and that she wanted to show her something, when in fact she just didn’t want to go alone to talk to the mortal eating demon. When they reached the cemetery Kheba got mad at Alcid because she lied to her, Alcid apologized and told her she had a good reason.

Alcid walked over to the mortal eating demon who was sitting on a grave cleaning his teeth with a broken demon bone and asked him. “Hi, I’m sorry to bother you but can I ask you a few questions?”

The demon sniffed the air a few times and said. “You smell familiar. Do I know you?”

“I don’t think so. Can you tell me if you hated the royal family? You see, I’m doing this for school and I know you were here when the demons rebelled.” Alcid said.

“Of course I hated the royal family. I’m a mortal eater and the king wanted to ban killing mortals.” The demon said. “I felt such a surge of happiness when I ripped his head from his shoulders.”

Alcid could barely contain her rage and after a few moments, she asked him. “Did you kill the queen too?”

“Yes. I ripped her in half and ate her head. Demons don’t taste as good as mortals.” The demon said.

Alcid was so enraged now that she came closer to the mortal eating demon that was ten times bigger than she was, and said. “Thank you for talking to me. We are going to leave you in pieces now.”

“What? Don’t you mean in peace?” the demon said.

“No. You heard me correctly.” Alcid said and shot her acid all over him. In a few seconds, all that was left of him was a few pieces of bones and skin. The first part of Alcid’s plan was over. He avenged her parent’s death.

“Whoa! That was amazing Alcid.” Kheba said. “Do you know what you just did?”

“I killed a mortal eating demon that killed the king and queen. I know. Why?” Acid said and gave her a confused look.

“I got some amazing pictures. You look like a hero demoness on them.” Kheba said with a smile.

“Pictures? Why did you take pictures?” Alcid asked.

“Because it looked legendary. A battle between the smallest demon and the biggest demon. This will go down into history books!” Kheba said smiling from ear to ear.

“Kheba show me your hands. Good. Now promise me that you won’t show the pictures to anyone or tell anyone what just happened. Promise me!” Alcid said with a serious voice.

“I promise.” Kheba said and rolled her eyes.

“Ok.” Alcid said and they left the cemetery and headed to the dorm.

On their way there, Alcid’s mind was occupied with thoughts about the king and queen’s murder. Now that Alcid avenged their deaths, she had to retake the throne. That meant that she needed to find the traitors of the royal family, to learn to see the deception in others. To know when others are lying so Alcid can remove them from the royal palace in pieces. The royal palace was a fortress. There was no way that such a big demon like a mortal eater could just walk in the royal chamber by himself and there is no way the other demons could break down the doors and swarm the palace without help.

Alcid still wasn’t good at telling when people lied or deceived her. However, as in most cases, it’s easier to see one if you are one. So for her last year courses, Alcid registered for all courses that dealt with lying, deceiving mortals, learning to recognize lies and deceit in others, ways to make others reveal the that they are lying and how to read the body language of liars, manipulators and deceivers.

The next morning, Alcid went down to the cafeteria and when she walked in almost all demoness’ looked at her like she was a goddess, not demoness ‘What’s going on?’ She thought. She took a tray of food and sat next to Kheba. While she was eating, she could feel demonesses’ looking at her, but when she looked at them, they pretended that they weren’t looking at her. Alcid looked at her clothes and body and asked Kheba if there was something strange about her face or flower, but Kheba sad that everything was normal, as usual.

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They left to go to class and as Alcid was walking to the main school building some demons looked at her wide-eyed, others with awe in their eyes. Al the demons moved out of her way to make room for her to pass and if a demon didn’t move, the others made sure he did. As she entered the classroom one of the demons that always made fun of her was holding her chair, waiting for her to sit. Alcid sat in the chair and the demon pushed the chair to the table.

‘This is all Kheba’s fault. I forgot about the toes. She showed them the pictures.’ Alcid thought and the second the classes ended, she hurried to her room. She found Kheba lying on the bed, on her stomach, listening to music. Alcid took off her headphones and yelled angrily “You showed them the pictures! You promised you wouldn’t and you still showed them! How could you do that?!”

“You forgot the toes.” Kheba looked at her and said calmly with a small smile.

“Just tell me that you didn’t tell them why we were there and what I was talking about with the mortal eating demon.” Alcid said.

“I didn’t. I just showed hem a picture of you killing the demon and a selfie of me with what was left of the demon.” Kheba said.

“Good. Now sit up and show me your hands and feet and the tail.” Alcid said.

Kheba did what Alcid said. “Now what?” Kheba asked.

“Now you promise me that you won’t tell anybody what I was talking about with the mortal eating demon.” Alcid said.

“I promise I won’t tell anyone what you and the mortal eating demon were talking about. That good enough?” Kheba asked.

“Yes. And you know what will happen if you break your promise?” Alcid asked.

“I know. You will dissolve everything I own with your acid, even the clothes I’m wearing, and give me a haircut with it.” Kheba said with a cold look.

“Good. Then that’s settled.” Alcid said.

The rest of the year went by quickly and Alcid learned a lot about how to recognize liars and deceivers, but she wasn’t the best in her class. The best in her class was a demon called Vannal. He could see if someone was lying just by looking at them, he was a natural. Alcid got along well with him and he thought her a lot. She made a mental note to call on him when she’ll need someone to help her find the traitors of the royal throne

Graduation day was in two weeks, which meant that in two weeks school will be over and all the demons she met in the last four years will start their own lives. The thing that hurt the most was that Alcid won’t be able to spend every day with Kheba. She will miss her, but she had a parting gift for her.

One night, they were both in their room. Alcid told Kheba that she wanted to show her something as a parting gift. Alcid opened a drawer and took out a paper tube decorated in silver letters.

“What is that?” Kheba asked.

“You’ll see.” Alcid opened the paper tube and took out two paper scrolls. She unrolled them both on her bed. On the left was the royal scroll and on the right Alcid’s scroll.

“Wait the scroll with the crown. That’s the royal scroll, right? How did you get it?” Kheba asked.

Alcid looked at Kheba and said. ”Eighteen years ago, knights on horses came to my parents, gave them a child and told them to take care of it. With the child, they gave them these two scrolls. I found this one, on the right, under my bed and my dad gave the other one to me. Now, look what happens when I touch them.”

Alcid put her hand on the symbol on the right and it glowed silver.

“But you aren’t from an old family. Why is it glowing?” Kheba asked.

“That’s not the strangest thing. You know the books of the family symbols in the City library. The symbols magically appear in the books when they are created. This one appeared in the book one day after my day of birth.”

“Ours appear the same way. That’s not weird.” Kheba said.

“The weird part is the explanation next to the symbol. The explanation is change and prosperity of the demon royal family.” Alcid said. “Now watch what happens when I touch the royal scroll.”

Alcid put her right hand on the royal symbol and both symbols started to glow gold.

“Whoa! I’ve never seen a symbol glow gold. Does that mean that you are the missing child?” Kheba asked.

“Well, I am the right age and the symbols glow gold. The king had the power over an element, over the fire, the queen too, over the ice, and I too have power over an element, the acid. So you got a really powerful friend here Kheba.” Alcid said.

“Pfffff… You’re not more powerful than us Krampus’.” Kheba said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Two days before graduation Alcid was sitting in class talking to Vannal and two dozen other demons about what are they going to do after school. None of them had a concrete answer. Most of the demons she was talking to looked scary or threatening but how they felt inside and what they wanted to do in their lives didn’t reflect their appearance.

“What if I tell you that there is a way that you can do what you wanted and not be judged by the way you look. Wood a job like that interest you?” Alcid asked.

The demons looked at her confused and one of them asked. “Is this a joke?”

“No. It’s the opportunity for you to do what you want and to not be judged.” Alcid said.

Al the demons said yes at the same time.

“Wait a second. This is too good to be true. There must be a catch. What is it?” Vannal asked.

Alcid looked at him and said. “Smart and scary. That’s what I like about you. There is a catch. The catch is that you all have to listen to me. Does anyone have a problem with that?”

All the demons said no at the same time and Vannal just shrugged.

The school ended. At the graduation ceremony, they all got medals that gave them the power to go to the mortal realm. They weren’t real medals, they were magic symbols engraved into their skin that let them pass the barrier between the demon and the mortal world. After the ceremony, they celebrated the end of school and promised to keep in touch.