Athanasios took so long in training me that, in the end, I showed up at school one month later than the rest of the students.

I didn't understand why, but he insisted that the final touches he had to add were the most important part, and that I couldn't hope to make an impression without them.

Even when I told him it would have been easier to let me go with Jason, he still said no.

In the end, I gave up. It didn't interest me as much to go to that Blood Drinkers school.

I'd never even wanted to become a Blood Drinker.

I didn't tell Athanasions that. He knew. And, besides, he told me time and time again that he bought me specifically to train me, and I knew that it was true. The children that were sold by their families at the Ichor market were selected according to their Skills, and mine was rare.

My Skill was called Courage, but Penelope, Athanasios' wife, insisted it should have been called Recklessness. It basically meant that every time there was danger, I didn't stop in front of it.

Well, that was going to be what it meant at the end of my training. When Penelope said I was reckless it was because she did not know that I was afraid, and being courageous meant facing your fears.

When we arrived in the hall of the school, my eyes soon met the teachers'. A couple of Blood Drinkers called Mira and Minx -- Athanasios had told me a lot about them. He trusted Minx especially.

However, I noticed from the look in their eyes that they considered the show Ichorian people made of the children they bought at the market pretty cheap. I had make-up on my face, but not the kind I sometimes dreamt of wearing -- the kind that makes your eyelashes longer and your mouth more pronounced. No, it was war paint, that made me look like a little soldier of some unknown tribe.

I was born in Russania, and had lived there until I was seven years old, but I didn't remember almost anything about it. I wondered whether my dad had been a big and strong soldier with war paint on his cheeks that looked like mine.

"I'm here to show you the kid I've spent six years training," Athanasios said proudly. "Matias Vasiliv, a Roos child. His Skill is Courage."

I looked at the students. Jason was looking at us with little interest, as if he barely knew us. A girl older than me with part of her hair dyed blond was looking at Athanasios disgusted, almost as if she was about to recoil.

Then there were Cora and Evangeline, and I knew them already, because Athanasios already knew all the Ichorian Blood Drinkers, or so he made me believe. However, I'd seen them around before.

I finally met the eyes of someone who was looking at me kindly. A boy with a handsome face and a nice smile, who had been chatting with a girl, his girlfriend I premused, until a moment before.

"Hello, Matias," he said. "I'm Atticus, and this is my girlfriend Aurora."

I decided to look at them when I didn't know where else to look. In the meantime, Athanasios was explaining the basics of my training to the teachers, and they didn't look too happy about it.

"You already know his Skill," Minx said then. "So, we won't have our Speaker read the Sensor Deck for him."

"There is no mistake Matias' skill is Courage," Athanasios replied crossly. "I know how much I paid for it."

It made me wince, and I wasn't the only one. The Speaker, who was about to make his way towards me with his cards, winced too.

When I looked at him, my heart felt like it was about to stop. I turned away very quickly, hoping the war paint would be enough to cover the red on my cheeks.

"Students," Mira said uneasily. "Introduce yourselves to Matias."

I found out the older girl with dyed hair was Carmela, and that the Speaker's name was Roman. Then, a couple of students I hadn't noticed before introduced themselves.

The blond one said his name was Cypress Macbeth, and that he did not identify as a boy. I had heard of the Macbeth family, from one of Athanasios' visits to Meglenia when I was little.

"Awesome!" I said. "I can't wait to start working with you, I read so much about your family!"

Athanasios tugged on the sleeve of my black tunic. "Matias, I don't expect anything but polite manners from you at this school."

"It's hard to believe you're the same person who raised Jason, then," the other boy said. He had shoulder length brown hair, and a sword. He also had a confident smile that looked like it could cut deeper than his sword. I had never seen people like him, but it didn't mean I didn't know when somebody was putting on a mask.

"Introduce yourself," Cypress told the brown haired boy.

"I'm Jonathan Loreta," he said, and I uderstood why his accent was different from the other students'. He was from West Tallya.

I looked at the students. Somehow, I had always imagined the school more similar to Athanasios' training, in my head. Instead, there were a lot of people about my age that I could try to befriend.

I asked myself what it would take to become a friend of the Speaker. He looked withdrawn, and like he was about to pass out any second. I wondered whether being a Speaker drains you of energy more than being a Blood Drinker.

I would find out at the end of the year, after the Tasks, because, for now, I was only a human who used a Skill.

And yes, that was as draining as being a Speaker. It had taken me many years of training under every form of stress to become the way I was.

I walked up to the Speaker. "You're Roman Sioban," I said, with a wide smile. "That must mean you're Atticus' brother. I totally see the family resemblance -- you're the best looking here."

Roman did not look happy about the compliment, he probably thought I was joking, but never had time to reply.

Just when he was about to open his mouth, Athanasios called for me.

"Matias!" he yelled. "I won't leave here until you show your teachers how I trained you."

"There's no need," Minx said cheerily. "We will train him ourselves, and we have plenty of time to see where his skills lie."

But Athanasios was deaf to the words. "Take off your shirt," he told me.

I did. I was physically trained as well, and so it wasn't a huge embarrassment to strip in front of my classmates.

Besides, I didn't think anybody would have looked at me twice.

Athanasios took a needle from his pocket, one of those Penelope used to sew, and put it near my skin.

"I don't think that's the case..." Minx started saying in a nervous laughter.

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"Me? Harm the kid? I would never," Athanasios replied. "But his powers will come out, you'll see soon enough. Matias does better when he's under pressure. Besides, it's the only way to test his powers. Give him his weapon of choice -- an hunting spear."

Mira gave me one, and I started battling Athanasios. He had nothing to defend himself with, he couldn't use the needle anymore, but apparently he thought I was under enough stress. Besides, Athanasios was very strong and fast, and I did not want him to grab one of my arms or legs because he was not above playing dirty.

"Allright, we've seen enough!" Mira stopped us. "We agree that he's been trained well."

She looked like she was about to vomit.

Athanasios had warned me that people from other countries wouldn't understand, but, as I slipped on my tunic, I suddenly felt sad. What if I couldn't make friends because everybody thought I was a freak?

During lunch, I sat next to Atticus. Jonathan, Cypress and Roman glared at me. They probably wanted to sit near Atticus too, and on his other side there was Aurora already.

"I need you to tell me," I told Atticus after I was finished putting a bit of everything that was on the table on my plate. "What does Roman like?"

"What do you mean what does he like?" he replied, startled. "Dogs? I think?"

"You think?" Aurora mocked him.

"No, I mean, I'm sure, but I wasn't sure this was what Matias wanted to know. He likes dogs, street poetry, playing dices, fun facts..."

Street poetry? I wasn't glad I asked.

"Fun facts?" I asked instead.

"Yes, well, not the type of fun fact I like," Aurora said. "Atticus and I like to gossip about the people in our books, like who was married to whom or which kind of weapon our ancestors used."

"I like those kind of fun facts too," I said. "It's why I use a hunting spear. Athanasios told me it is a weapon commonly used by Roos Blood Drinkers."

They looked at me in that way grown-ups often looked at kids, as if I was cute. I didn't really mind, though.

"Well, the fun facts Roman likes are the peculiar ones," Atticus added. "Like the fact that dolphins sleep with one eye open, or that humans have been performing dentistry since 7000 BC."

I finished eating in silence. Becoming a friend of the Speaker wasn't going to be an easy task. So far, the only common interest we had was animals.

I changed seat, and Cypress quickly took my place. I didn't stay around long enough to see how Jonathan would take it, since it looked as if he wanted to sit beside Atticus too.

Thankfully, there was an empty seat next to Roman. I realized it was Cypress'. Jonathan was sitting next to Minx and talking to him.

I would have liked to have the guts to talk to teachers, but then again it probably was no fun. I could overhear Jonathan discussing the moves he wanted to try out with his sword.

I took my new place next to Roman. "So," I started out. "Do you want to hear about that time I created a new weapon for Athanasios? It was a spear like mine, and it was amazing! It worked so well against the Creatures, and I was so happy..."

My voice got stuck in my throat. Roman was barely looking at me. There was something that had tensed in his shoulders, and he kept stealing glances at Atticus as if to ask him to come over.

But it made no sense. I'd seen him before. He talked mostly to Atticus and Aurora, but he wasn't shy. He often got worked up about silly things, like before, at lunch, when I heard him talking about the music he liked.

Why couldn't he get worked up about me as well? I was a little bit silly, if that was the kind of things he liked. I didn't know a lot of fun facts, but I knew a lot about politics. We could exchange many interesting information.

I decided to go on with the story. There was not a doubt in my mind that he'd enjoy it, once I got to the end.

"Athanasios had seen a rare beast, a... an Adne Sadeh."

"Adne Sadeh are not rare," Carmela snorted. "Every time something happens, it's one of them."

I decided not to be let down. "Maybe it was a Leviathan, I don't know. And he needed a new weapon, because his old one was being sharpened, so he asked me to create him one. Because I love creating things, and I wanted to make him a spear like mine..."

"False," Jason said.

Crap. I didn't think he was smart enough to follow the conversation, much less give his opinion about it.

"Dad would have never asked you for a weapon," he paused mysteriously. "Besides, I heard this before."

I became very red in the face.

"If you heard it before," Atticus tried to save my hide. "It means it's true!"

"Dad came to check him out many times at the market before he bought him," Jason replied. It was a long sentence from him, but the disinterest tone he was telling it in didn't betray any feeling. "Heard him talking to the other orphans. He always lies. Makes up stories that make him look greater than he is."

Cora and Evangeline looked at each other, and couldn't help but laugh hysterically. Roman looked very sorry for me, but also sorry that he was at the center of the conversation, and not for his Speaking abilities or something.

In the meantime, I couldn't find words to defend myself. It was true -- I liked making up stories. But it wasn't the same thing as lying.

When I was first sold at the market, I must have been about seven years old. The travel from Russania had taken a very long time, perhaps even years, because all the negotiations had to be made, and I had blacked out my life from before.

When I arrived in Ichor, I noticed most of the other children were even younger than me. They were scared, because we didn't know who was going to buy us and whether they'd be kind to us. So, one day, I made up a story about my father.

I had brief memories from my childhood of my mother. I didn't remember anything about my father. He must have left before I was born.

So, I made up this story and filled it with bits and pieces of the land I almost didn't remember anymore. I also took a look at my file. Someone had scribbled that I was the son of a certain Arseny Vasiliv. I didn't know if I'd even heard the name before.

So, I created Arseny Vasiliv how I imagined him, and told his great stories to the other children. He had once killed a boar, and now he wore his fur as a cape. He had slayed twenty Leviathans, becoming the person in the world who slayed them more times. There was also the story about me creating him a new spear, which was very exaggerated back then, considering how young I was.

I admit I might have told the stories for me, but I told them for the other children as well. They loved Arseny, he soon became some kind of super hero. And my street cred became significantly better, because Arseny was my father. The other older kids even stopped picking on me.

But I should have known Roman would have hated that story. My friends weren't children anymore, and perhaps it was time I grew up too.

"How was the market?" Jonathan asked softly. He had stopped talking to Minx, and steadied his gaze on me. He usually had a cheerful vibe, but this time his words dripped with the determination I guessed he reserved for fencing. I felt very grateful that he'd done it to save me from the other conversation.

He payed more attention to things than he let on.

I didn't like being stared at, so I felt very grateful when everybody returned to their conversations. I explained Jonathan the details of the market. I wasn't sure it wasn't something he hadn't heard before, but I soon felt calmer. I liked explaining things.

And maybe it was an impression, but I thought Roman had glanced at me once or twice while I was talking to Jonathan.

I couldn't understand him. Why was I more interesting ever since Jason had called me a liar? Or maybe he couldn't stand Jason, just like me. It made me very happy to think we had another thing in common.

"Next time you want to tell someone about the spear you made for Athanasios," Jonathan grinned. "You can tell me! Or even better, you can make me a spear yourself."

I couldn't understand whether he was really so kind, or only if he was treating me like a child. I was pretty sure we were the same age, and I was considerably taller than him, even though his face had a more mature expression.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," Jonathan said. Yes. He payed much more attention than he let on. I decided to remember that, if the teachers ever made us duel. "I just hate cowards, and I think Jason was a coward for the way he ruined your story. He was only jealous you would become more popular than him."

"Besides," he added, something darker shining in his eyes. "Yesterday, at theory, he made fun of me because I'm not really good at writing. I also can't stand people like that. It's not that I've never practised calligraphy, it's just that... I don't know. I try, but I just can't. Write or read well. And Jason asked me to read something in front of the whole class yesterday, and laughed when I did. So, I had to get back at him."

"I hope it doesn't bother you," he added then. "That this was the reason I defended you. I also think you seem cool. Certainly cooler than Jason, Cora and Evangeline, and I needed an Ichorian friend anyway. I already have a few Megleni ones."

He looked at Cypress, and lowered his eyes when I caught him.

"A few?" I asked. "Is Roman one of them?"

He looked like I had caught him off guard. "Uh. Sure. Roman is cool too. I was mostly thinking about Atticus and Aurora, though."

I finished eating, not really satisfied with how things had played out between Roman and I. That was okay. I had time.

"Can I ask you something?" Cypress wanted to know. He'd taken a place near Jonathan that had just been emptied -- by Carmela, who, I was told by Jonathan, always left first to soak in the sun before the lessons.

"What?" I asked. I found it difficult to look at his cold violet eyes.

"Why are you trying so hard to befriend Roman?"

The answer was complicated. I didn't feel like telling it to anyone. I mostly didn't want Roman to find out. What would he have thought about me, if he'd known?

I shrugged. "He just seems interesting."

"You should try less hard, then," Cypress said, though not unkindly.

"It's always your advice," Jonathan smiled at him defiantly. "But I tried hard, and now you like me, do you?"

Cypress did not reply to that.

In that moment, someone else joined us. My heart skipped a beat. It was Roman.

Jonathan and Cypress left us alone.

"I liked your story," Roman said, in the tone of one who'd been convinced by Atticus in the past half an hour. It didn't matter. I still never thought I'd hear him say it.

"One day, if you want to," he added. "I can show you my skills as a Speaker."