Ajax couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching them. He’d felt it since the start of last week. He’d gotten so used to being passive that he’d almost missed the signs of abnormality. Last night’s adventure had proved fruitless, and this morning seemed no bit better. Having taken to climbing up into one of the taller trees that surrounded their school, watching, he found nothing. The bad feeling that had persisted through the evening seemed to have disappeared almost immediately at sunrise. He tried to chalk it up to nerves, but even that still caused him to become frustrated. It could only mean one thing, and he was terrified of what that one thing could be.

He didn’t like to be frustrated, but after another few hours of nothing, he decided it was time to turn back. Sometimes following his instincts proved useful and sometimes, it was a shot in the dark that was missed. He cursed his genetics, half human and half Protector, mixing like faulty wires that should have never crossed.

Here he was, though, and at least he could check the growing suspicion off his list. Ajax tightened his long hair before he slid out of the tree to make his way back towards the school. He left early this morning, when the sun had yet to peek over the horizon and he couldn’t help but feel exhaustion creeping into his bones ever so leisurely. After he got back to the dorm room, he would sleep soundly.

A good student would have gone back to class, regardless if he’d missed a few. And sit through another lecture he didn’t particularly enjoy. Yet Ajax didn’t feel a quickening of his step at the thought.

If a Shadow had sauntered too close to the school, he knew that Azame would have seen it already and let him know. He could rest assured that they weren’t in immediate danger, plus… smaller Shadows were much easier to dispose of instead of Promised Ones.

Ajax shivered as he remembered fighting one of those monsters in the Manor. Outnumbered, pushed to the wall as he tried to defend his vital organs. It wasn’t a memory he liked to dwell on, and anyway, he’d only been 11 then. He would be 18 soon, according to his fake birth record, and he’d grown into his power a lot quicker than he’d originally suspected he would. Ajax suspected he was actually a year older than what the records said, but he hadn’t really cared too much.

Still… Ajax couldn’t shake the feeling that something had been watching them, and he hated the mere idea that he couldn’t find it. It wasn’t like they had a lot of enemies as a species, Sirens included. Shadows making up a massive chunk of things deemed ‘deadly to Sirens’. He wished he knew, though… because it was driving him nuts. If shit hit the fan, as it would eventually… he needed to be assured that he could take Azame and run. That they could disappear just as they’d shown up. Entire existences wiped at the flick of his hand.

He stayed in the middle academically, so that no one would notice them. So that they could come and go… and yet, someone or something had picked up on him. Ajax huffed quietly as he looked up towards the school, where the gates rose high above the ground. In the cool, fall air, the school almost looked beautiful amongst the red and orange leaves. Almost.

He could feel that thing watching him even now, peering down at him like an insect in a microscope while Ajax was blind to it. If it was in the school, he would have noticed. If it was out beyond the school, he would have hunted it down by now. Ajax glanced over his shoulder once more.

He took a step forward, towards the school, when something icy washed down his back. Frozen in place, a shiver running down Ajax’s spine. This… this cold, terrifying feeling only happened when something more powerful than him entered an area. Like someone walking over Ajax’s very grave. Blue energy swirled into his fists, ready to fight. He reached for his blade, and turned his head… but nothing was behind him. Nothing in front of him. He was still alone.

Ajax didn’t let it stop him. He sprinted forward, one thing on his mind. If it was watching him, it was watching Azame and, like hell, Ajax would allow his Siren to die. His mother would hate him forever if that happened.

* * *

Ajax tore down the halls blindly, taking deep breaths to keep the energy contained within his own body. People would surely look if Ajax’s veins had long since turned blue and energy hummed at his fingertips. The same energy that could power him through solid brick walls and heft huge tires over his head. The same energy that could break and destroy, kill and maim. All carefully contained within his own small, pliant body. Built for war.

After all, Ajax was a Protector and that meant he was born with a mission. Azame being that mission.

Ajax turned down the math hallway and dodged between students and teachers, who shouted behind him to quit running. Not that they weren’t used to Ajax’s quick steps by now. He dodged behind kids before he slammed into something solid and heavy, sending papers flying in every direction.

He fell before he could get his weight back under him and landed amidst the flurry of papers and folders that had once been tucked tightly into someone’s chest. He groaned as everything came rushing back to him. His senses, his rationality. He’d fallen right into someone’s large, warm chest and the steady heartbeat reminded him that that wasn’t a place to be.

“Ow,” Ajax said as he rubbed at his knees, which had sustained most of the damage.

A head popped up that was all too familiar, and all too odd. Ajax wouldn’t call him a friend, exactly, but he was close to them in ways that most of the other boys weren't. His name was Grant Snyder, and he was a pretty serious and studious kid that had become close to them throughout the years. He wasn’t always around them, of course, since he preferred solitude over friendship. He was tall, for a high-schooler. Reaching a solid six foot with short, caramel colored hair hanging around his face in curtains. His big, wide eyes were the color of amber, with bushy brows sitting just above. He wore thick-rimmed glasses, which only seemed to make him appear older than he truly was.

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Perhaps Grant was a few years older than them and just didn’t have the heart to tell anyone. He’d lost that boyish shape that most teenage boys still had, instead of his sharp jawline and high cheekbones. He was handsome if someone liked that type, but his personality was off in ways that Ajax couldn’t pinpoint. His calm, kind demeanor only seemed to throw off his bitter expressions.

“Are you ok?” Grant asked as he scooped up his own papers roughly before reaching a hand out to Ajax. “I didn’t mean to bump into you, Ajax.”

Ajax couldn’t help but smile at him. He’d always felt something warm whenever Grant came near him. “I’m fine, I've gotten worse.”

Grant was quiet for a few moments, and the boy could clearly see that massive brain working out what to say next. He was smart, intelligent, and that was something Ajax had just begun to learn. He spoke slowly, but surely, and when he spoke, it always held some kind of truth that was always brutal and realistic. Grant was, in every sense of the word, fascinating. Transfixing.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Grant asked firmly this time as he straightened up and made to stand.

“I promise!” Ajax said as he finally got to his feet as well, brushing his knees off. He looked down at the tragic mess beneath them. “I’m sorry about your papers.”

Grant shrugged. “I can always reorganize. It’s alright.”

“Oh,” Ajax said. “I’ve been wanting to catch you, but I haven’t seen you much these past couple of weeks!”

“I’m sorry… I’ve been sick,” Grant said simply. “What do you need?”

“Last year, I had you help Azame with his studies so he could pass algebra. I was wondering if you could help him again this year?” Ajax asked as he looked up at the other boy.

He couldn’t help but get lost in those eyes. Sometimes Ajax felt like he knew Grant. Like he’d grown up alongside him, and yet… sometimes he saw something so deep inside those beautiful eyes that… made him think otherwise. That perhaps he never knew Grant. Sometimes, he didn’t like that feeling, but Grant was painfully human. So, Ajax blamed his faulty wiring once more. His mother should have never met his father and thought of having a child. Protectors shouldn’t have emotions firing off so randomly and humans didn’t need power like what Ajax held in his fists. It was unnatural.

“Oh,” Grant’s face fell, but only for a few seconds. “Which subjects does he need help with?”

Ajax scratched the back of his head as he spoke. “Uh… all of them.”

Grant pursed his lips. “I can try to help then. When does he want to start?”

“I’ll have to talk to him,” Ajax said. “But thank you, this means the world to me if you do this. I owe you a big one.”

Ajax found himself smiling at the other boy once more, and this time a smile seemed to stretch across Grant as well. He looked… nice when he smiled, and Ajax had to shake those thoughts from his head. Part of the reason why Ajax held Grant at a distance, was out of concern. He was of the human world, where the worst thing was rich people and psychopaths. But beyond that, humans lived in a world where they held a false sense of security. Disrupting that and exposing someone like Grant to his own world would have been cruel. Humans weren’t built for their world. Especially someone as soft and kind as Grant. Grant was… special. Or at least, Ajax liked to think he was.

“I have to go,” Ajax said as he stepped back from Grant. “I’ve got to go find Azame.”

“Oh…” Grant said as the smile fell from his lips and he refocused his attention back onto his messy stack of papers. “I’ll let you go then.”

“See you,” Ajax said with a wave as he took off down the hall once more. He paused at the very end, turning to look back.

Grant had hunched down once more, shuffling all his papers around and had started to reorganize them back into their individual files. He couldn’t really tell what the itching in his chest was, but it felt… nice. Even if everything was going crazy in their world, Grant was always the same. Shuffling papers, taking his classes, showing Ajax and Azame a kindness that was scarce.

“Hey Grant!” Ajax shouted down the hall once more, catching the boy’s attention as he looked up. “You should come over to our dorm later. I’ve got a new movie we can watch, and I doubt you’ve seen it.”

The boy smiled again with that gentle smile that was only ever Grant Snyder. “Ok.”

Then Ajax was off, trying to battle the flush in his cheeks that seemed to only get warmer the further he escaped. He shook his head as he took the stairs to the second floor by twos and stumbled through the social studies hall until he found Azame’s class with Mr. Hanselman. A bald, old man whose voice was only ever quiet and dreary.

He peaked in through the window, finally spotting Azame battling sleep in the very back. His head would bob every few seconds before his eyes would open. The other boys in the class were no different. In fact, Azame’s seat partner had already dozed off with his head firmly planted onto the desk. Ajax could only chuckle before he let out a breath of fresh air. Azame was ok, and that feeling from earlier was just that. Nothing. The pounding in his chest that signaled danger seemed to ease ever slightly.

“Everything is as it should be,” Ajax whispered as he stepped away from the door.

It was already late into the afternoon, and Ajax didn’t think he should stick around for much longer. He’d go back to class tomorrow, and no doubt the other teachers had already gotten used to his slacking off and missing days. Not that he was slacking off. In fact, what he did was more important than they realized. However, in their eyes, he was nothing more than a kid who skipped class more often than not. He planned to sleep when he got back to the dorm, though. Just for a few hours until Azame got out of class and made his way back to the dorm. Then he could talk to him about Grant tutoring him like he had last year.

Ajax chuckled at the thought. Last year had been an absolute nightmare. Grant had been driven insane by the end of the year, ready to slam his head into the desk. Azame had been no bit better, but that was the first time they actually got to know a little about Grant. While the frustration remained, it was a happy memory in Ajax’s head. He had so few of those.

He tried not to think about the other memories. The ones of tears and sorrow that he hadn’t been able to understand or cope with when he was still just a kid. Protectors… aged faster than normal humans. But Ajax? He hadn’t. He’d been a little slower than most his age, and always a little different. The only black-haired boy amongst a sea of blonde and reds. His mom… was never happy with him and had always been harder on him than his other siblings. Ajax sighed as he ran his hand through his ponytail. His hair was so dead looking and limp, thinner than thin with a good deal of oil that he hated.

Ajax yawned once more before he decided to head back to the dorm and get a few hours of sleep in, and then maybe take a shower. He turned to leave, only to come face to face with an English teacher. Not just any English teacher, his. And the glare she had for him was absolutely terrifying. Forget Shadows, he now knew what the most terrifying thing on Earth was.