Natalia’s P. O. V

“Laura,” Ms Zreed sighed, “I think you’ll need to stay on for another week.”

Friday had finally come around, bringing with it our oral review on Syren Fundamentals. Ms Zreed was seeing us individually, following the order of our class register, and there were just two people left before my turn.

We weren’t allowed to review any notes we’d taken once we entered the classroom. Thankfully, a large chunk of the subject was based on observations most of us had made by now. I directed my mind back to remembering everything we’d been taught.

“Natalia, you’re up!” Fabel called on his way out of the classroom.

I moved to the seat across from Ms Zreed’s table.

“Hello, Natalia. Shall we begin?”

For the next few minutes, I narrated everything I’d heard her say in class and even threw in some bits of information I’d picked up from Lucy and Jenna.

When I was done, she raised her brows in approval and wrote something down, “Excellent job, Natalia. You’re definitely done with this class.”

I smiled, “Thank you, Ms Zreed.”

I packed my things up to leave, finding Lucy and Jenna waiting for me in the hallway.

“What are you guys doing here?”

Jenna smiled as Lucy pushed off the wall to hug me, “We knew your review was today, so this one wanted to be here to either congratulate or comfort you.”

Lucy stuck her tongue out, arms wrapped around my shoulders, “You say that like you didn’t eagerly agree to the idea.”

“Didn’t say I didn’t.”

I laughed.

“Anyway,” Lucy continued, letting go, “I was thinking we could go out for dinner to celebrate.”

“Today?”

“No, next week.” Jenna drawled, pushing off the wall, “C’mon. I know a great sushi place that serves Italian food too.”

I cocked my head.

“It’s owned by an Italian and Japanese couple.” She explained.

“It sounds great, but can I take a rain check? My college is having a bonfire today and my sister said she needs me back home asap, so she can make sure I look ‘fire’.”

“I keep forgetting that you’re an actual college student.” Lucy pouted.

Jenna scoffed, bumping her shoulder, “How do you forget? There’s always silence when Mr Jamerson calls her for attendance in homeroom. That should be enough of a reminder.”

“I guess… Can’t we come with you, Natalia?”

I shook my head, “I don’t think so, Lucy. My sister doesn’t know my mom was a Syren yet, and I don’t want her to get suspicious from your scents.”

“Scents?” A mocking voice called, and we turned to see Aubrey and her shadow, Olivia, “Look, Liv. The dog’s talking about smells. I wonder if she sniffs her own ass too?”

I raised a wholly unimpressed eyebrow, “Dog jokes for a Werewolf? I’ve never heard those before! How original…”

Jenna and Lucy snickered.

Aubrey scowled, turning her nose up, “Probably because it’s the most fitting for the likes of you.”

“Or cause there isn’t an original bone in the body of the likes of you.” I shot back.

She huffed, turning to Jenna, “I really have no idea why a Duchess like you is hanging out with a blemish like her. I get that Lucy’s like your family’s charity case or something, but you really don’t have to go so far. She’s not threatening you, is she?”

Jenna stepped forward and her unblinking eyes flashed pink to match her hair, “I’m sure you’re so sorry for that stupid thing you just said.”

Aubrey blinked, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, “I- I have no idea why I said those stupid, awful things. I’m so sorry.” She was almost sobbing.

Jenna smiled wickedly and finally blinked, her eyes fading back to brown, “How sweet of you to apologise. Thank you, Aubrey. Let’s go, girls.”

Aubrey furiously wiped her tears, “Did you just use your ability on me?!”

Jenna cocked her head, “I’ve no clue what you’re on about. You said some rude things and apologised for it.”

“I’ll report this!”

Lucy tutted, “You don’t have to be embarrassed, Aubrey. It takes a big person to apologise for their mistakes. None of us saw her do anything, you don’t need to make up a false accusation.”

“Yeah,” I added, “my Werewolf eyes definitely would’ve seen something.”

Aubrey glowered, indignation practically seething from her pores. Then she stuck her nose as high as it would go and spun on her heel.

We held our snickers in till she and Olivia turned the corner.

“I know you’ve told me what your Ability is, but I’ve never actually seen it in action.” I told Jenna once we’d calmed down.

She shrugged, “’Course you haven’t. You know we aren’t allowed to use them on other people in school without supervision. I used to accidentally activate it a lot when I was first Uncovered, but I think I’ve kinda gotten the hang of it in the past few months.”

“That’s an understatement.” Lucy snorted, “She had her dad weeping for hours when they got into a fight once. He turned into a blubbering mess and she had no idea how to undo it.”

Jenna huffed, shouldering the giggling Lucy, “Hey! It’s hard to control when I’m emotional, you know that. And that was literally the day of my Uncovering.”

We were interrupted by my ringtone. My screen was lit up with a picture of Hailey and I in the woods.

I picked the call, “Hey.”

“Hi Ari. Where are you? I got to your place as fast as I could, but you’re not here.”

That was my cue to go. Covering my phone’s microphone, I whispered my hurried goodbyes to Lucy and Jenna. I started on my way, scanning the place for somewhere I could run back to my house from unseen.

“Sorry, I got a little held up, but I’m on my way now. I’ll be home soon.”

“Okay, see you soon.”

A few minutes later, I was walking into my house.

“Ari!” Hailey called as soon as I clicked the front door shut.

“Yes…?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She appeared atop the stairs, hands on her hips, “Hurry! This is our first bonfire and you-”

“Need to look fire.” I droned, completing her sentence.

She shot me a look.

“Alright, alright! I’m coming.” I kicked my shoes off and she led the way to my room.

The whole process of finding a suitable outfit for me to wear took thirty minutes. She’d settled on a beige cold shoulder top tucked into a pair of black jean shorts with thigh high boots to match.

“Time for your makeup.” She grinned, brandishing a brush and foundation.

I wrinkled my nose, “Do I have to? Last time, it felt like you’d covered my face in a layer of oil. Besides, it’s gonna be dark, no one will see it anyway.”

She frowned, “We’ll see it, even if the humans don’t. Besides, there might be other Supernaturals with good eyes there, you never know.”

“Please…?” I pouted.

Sighing, she conceded, “You’re lucky you’ve got good skin. Let me do your lips and eyes at least.”

I grinned, settling into the chair of my vanity.

After fifteen minutes of making sure the wing of my eye liner was sharp enough and choosing the best lip shade, she finally released me with a satisfied look, “I’m gonna go get dressed. Trev and Greg should be here soon.”

“You’re not wearing this?” Her current outfit was a very cute crop top with jeans.

She laughed, “Definitely not.”

I inspected her work. Over the summer, she’d cajoled me into a full face of make up, setting powder and highlighter and all. The entire thing was truly an art form, but this felt more comfortable. She’d gone over the lip colour with a shiny gloss, added mascara for my lashes and dabbed a bit of blush on my cheeks.

I felt pretty.

Not long after, Trevor and Greg were at the door and I went to answer it.

“Hey Ari… wow, you look amazing.” Greg greeted, Trevor nodding in agreement behind him.

I smiled, “Thanks, it was all Hailey.”

“Speaking of her,” Trevor looked around, “Where is she?”

“I’m here!” Hailey announced from the top of the stairs.

She wore a short sweater dress and some ankle boots. She seemed to have put more effort into her makeup, giving herself a very sophisticated look to match her high ponytail.

“You look so beautiful.” I said as the brothers clapped while she descended.

“Why, thank you. Thank you all. We may leave now.” She grinned with a flourish once she finished her descent.

We went to the boys’ car, Hailey sitting shotgun this time, and started the drive to campus.

After the incident of Keily accusing me of kidnapping, it had taken me a while to forgive Greg and Trevor for prematurely taking her side. Thinking about it, part of me still hurt from their blatant view of me as an outsider that day, and another part of me was mad at myself for even being upset, because of course I was an outsider to them.

But everything had been smoothed over, and I hadn’t seen Keily at all since that day. As for their suspicions of me being a vampire, I had no idea if they were still on that, but I was still careful around them anyway.

When we arrived, the place was littered with people. The tree sized bonfire was obvious all the way from the parking lot, and only got hotter and brighter as we moved closer. There were several speakers playing music and the people who weren’t seated on the blankets spread around, were dancing and talking, holding red cups and bottles of alcohol.

Off to the side of the bonfire was a smaller fire people were using to cook meat and tofu to hand out.

“You guys have to try the bonfire food. It’s practically a rite of passage.” Greg yelled over the music.

“Really?”

He shrugged and waved to a group of guys that caught his eye, “Well, kinda. It’s also really good. I’m gonna go talk to some friends, you guys have fun.”

Once he was gone, we lined up for the food. They’d already cooked a good amount, so the line moved quickly.

“I guess Greg was right.” Hailey said once we’d gotten and tried the meat.

I nodded, taking another bite.

“I brought some lip gloss, so you can find me once you’re done eating. I’m gonna go find some people from my class.” She said, then made her way through the crowd.

Trevor had been pulled into a conversation as soon as he’d gotten his own food, so I was left to wander around till I found someone I knew.

“Hey Avi.” Annya called over the music.

Over the past week of sitting next to her in class, I’d gotten used to her perfection, but she looked especially beautiful today with her carefree outfit and relaxed smile.

“Hi Annya.” I said once I joined her and her group.

“I didn’t think you’d come today, you’re always so serious in class.”

I smiled, “I could say the same about you.”

She laughed then turned to the rest of the group, “Everyone, this is Ava. She’s also part of our study group.”

They all yelled their hi’s over the music.

A guy with a hint of a melodic accent spoke up, “So you’re the famous Ava. Annya’s told me about you. The notes you send are always so detailed, I wish you were in all my classes.”

“You should see her in action. I’ve never met someone that could type faster than me.”

After the first day, I’d decided to get a small laptop for taking notes in class. It was better than writing my notes by hand, only to transcribe them on a laptop later, and I hadn’t seen anyone send pictures of physical notes so that didn’t seem like an option.

“That can’t be possible, I have to see that the next time we meet.”

I laughed, “Sure, I should be able to make it for study group sometime this month.”

I spent the rest of the evening getting to know the others in the group. The guy that had spoken up first was named Nathaniel, Annya’s boyfriend. The group had dubbed them the Asian Power Couple, since Annya was Taiwanese and an aspiring politician, and Nathaniel was Filipino and an aspiring business mogul.

Others in the group were Beth, who apparently had the same major and minor as me, James and Ada, international scholarship students from Nigeria, redheaded Jamie, who informed us that he was a hundred percent Irish, and George, who was also a scholarship student. Apparently, there had been more people invited to the group, but after a week of no contribution, they’d been asked to leave.

After a while, someone with a megaphone stood atop a chair in front of the fire and called everyone’s attention.

“Go Vamps!” The guy roared, inciting cheers from most people present.

“Vamps, for vampires. It’s the school’s mascot.” Ada explained, noting my confusion.

Once the cheers died down, the guy continued, “My name’s Chase, I’m the student council president. I’d like to take a moment to welcome the freshers to the Killdrain. Can we make some noise for them? They just joined the best of the best!”

Another round of cheers and hollers erupted.

At least they were loud and proud about the school.

“Since you guys just joined,” Chase began again, in a voice reserved for campfires and ghost stories, “it’s my duty to warn you of the legend.”

People ooh’ed and ah’ed, egging him on for the story. Most people had found a space on one of the blankets on the ground. Those who hadn’t were either standing, seated on their garments, or had gotten creative and climbed the trees around. I’d managed to find a space on a blanket with the rest of the group.

“Well, it’s no secret that our school’s nickname is the Haunted Fortress, and it’s not just cause of the dark clouds that hang over the campus year-round. Killdrain is ancient, older than the USA itself. They told you, during orientation, that it was founded in the year sixteen twenty-one, but legend has it, that that’s not the case.”

He paused, looking over the hushed crowd. With the raging bonfire behind him, his face was shrouded in flickering shadows, “The legend says, the main building of the school is an ancient castle, built for a noble European family. According to the locals of the time, this family was a peculiar one. They say that people were strangely drawn to the castle, and scores would disappear at a time, only to turn up a fortnight later with no recollection of the time that had passed. This went on for months, and rumours of ghosts spread like wildfire.”

He paused again, holding the rest of the story hostage till people began to fidget.

“Finally, when the locals had had enough, they banded together to storm the castle. But, as soon as they stepped beyond the boundary, they were all stuck with pain like no other. Some managed to crawl away, but others passed out. By the time those who’d made it out returned, the others were gone. And, like the earlier abductees, they returned two weeks later with no memory.”

“Nobody could enter the castle, and anyone who did returned with no memory, so it received the name, Haunted Fortress. The mystery was never solved, but it is still believed that something wicked lurks beneath the castle to this day, drawing the dark clouds to the area as a sign of doom for all who enter.”

As he finished the story, the hissing of fire several extinguishers filled the air and the fire blinked out, plunging us into the night.

There was silence for a moment, before people broke out in laughter, cheers and scoffs, switching on their phone torches. Most people took it as a cue to leave, picking their things and trash up. Apparently, one of the fraternity houses was hosting an after party till dusk, but I was ready to leave.

After saying my goodbyes, I tracked Hailey down and found her leaning against a tree with a guy. She spotted me and made her way over.

“Hey Ari, you ready to go?”

She smelled faintly of the alcohol that had been circulating, “Yeah, but are you? You looked kinda engaged back there. I can go home myself if you wanna stay.”

She sighed, shoulders slumping, “Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah… I just wanted to spend the evening not thinking about certain people, but there isn’t enough booze here for me to get drunk.” She glanced back at the guy she’d left by the tree, “Couldn’t even distract myself with a flirting.”

I offered her a small smile, “Come on, let’s go find out if the guys are ready to leave too. We’ll stay up talking or whatever you want when we get back and you can spend the weekend. Sound good?”

She smiled, wrapping her arm around my shoulder and leading the way, “Sounds great.”