I'd never liked Minx Morris, but I'd never told anyone.

The reason was simple: if you happened to dislike your goofy, apparently well-intentioned but a little weird teacher, you couldn't say you disliked him without sounding prejudiced even to yourself.

There wasn't a lot of time to think about that. I still had to find Roman, whom I hadn't seen since the night before my Tasks, and I had to get everyone out safely before the fire spread in every corner of the school.

Before I met Roman, I went to check on Jonathan. Someone had to get him out, or the flames would come for him.

I knew what Mira would say about that, but I opened the door of his room. He was shaking in his bed, murmuring words about his mother and about avenging her. I thought it was a little weird, since I didn't think she could have died being murdered, but what did I know? It was not like my classmate had ever shared the details of her death.

He was also saying something about a tree. It didn't make a lot of sense. Something along the lines of 'I got to find the tree.'

I thought I wouldn't talk to him about that if he ever woke up, because he would have been mortified.

I took his sword -- he slept with the sword on his bedside table -- and nudged him gently. Again, I knew what Mira, or even Cypress, would say about that, but it was not like we had time to waste.

Jonathan woke up. He opened his right eye, then his left. His eyes were bloodshot and the same color of his school tie -- a pale, blue-ish green.

He didn't look exactly well, and there was no way to tell whether he'd lost his mind, something that could occasionally happen.

He looked at me slowly, and then he said, "Cypress?"

Okay. Maybe he had lost his mind.

"I'm not Cypress, I'm Matias."

He looked annoyed. "I know, I know. Where is Cypress? Why do I smell smoke?"

I hadn't decided yet whether he was healthy -- he'd always been a little eccentric -- but at least now I knew he understood what was going on.

"Congratulations," I said. "You're a Blood Drinker."

I thought those were words someone needed to hear at least once in our lives. As if being a Blood Drinker was really this great thing. At first, I had considered writing in my essay that I did not want to become a Blood Drinker, but then I thought of Athanasios.

Besides, he had bought me to become a Blood Drinker. What else could I be?

So I wrote down some stuff he would have probably liked about how much you could study and learn about the world and its supernatural elements if you did a job like ours. And it was perhaps the only idea we shared. I liked learning how to do impossible things too.

"I know," Jonathan replied after a while. "Maybe the Blood impaired your brain. Where -- is -- Cypress? And is the school on fire?"

I found that very insulting coming from him. "I'll take you to your friend," I said. "No need to be rude. Nobody even knew if you would have survived the Blood until five minutes ago. And I'm still not sure your Mind took it well."

I realized how cruel I'd been when he became as pale as a parchment of paper, so I just mumbled 'sorry'.

We ran out in the aisle and we practically bumped into Cypress.

"Jonathan!" he couldn't help but exclaim. It was very unlike him. "You're awake."

"Why does everyone keep telling me that..." Jonathan murmured. "I find it embarrassing. I shouldn't even be here. I'd always known."

"What are you talking about?" Cypress asked. "You made it. They're not sending you away now that you're a Blood Drinker."

"Yes, but I bet I passed with the lowest vote," he commented.

"You'll never know," Cypress assured him. "Votes are a formality the Court uses to keep the score on our Tasks. We're never given our votes."

"You know what I mean," Jonathan said. "I basically sucked at all three, how could I ever become a worthy protector of the city? Maybe it was all a mistake."

"I don't want to hear about that anymore," Cypress said, and it was so uncharacteristic of him that I felt as if I'd been watching something I shouldn't have watched. "You slayed a demon without Mira or Minx's instructions. And a demon is not like a Creature -- that's stuff only the bravest Blood Drinkers learn."

"It was luck," Jonathan said. I would have stopped his complaining -- the school was almost on fire -- but being a Blood Drinker had always felt a little competitive to me. And once the Blood kicked in, you could never look back. If I'd botched the Tasks like he had, I would have wanted to be reassured too.

"It wasn't," Cypress said. "You calculated the direct trajectory of the sun light and used it against the demon based on the single fact that you knew it thrived in shadows, and so that had to mean it hated the light, and it worked. It was genius stuff. I would have never come up with it."

"If you say so..." Jonathan was embarrassed. "Well, nobody will care for my grades either way. Except for Minx."

"Speaking of Minx," I interrupted them. "This was cute, but we need you to help us save the school. Let's find the other students and get them out. In the meantime, we'll tell you about Minx."

While we had opened Carmela's door, to find her writing what looked like a romantic letter on her bed, Jonathan asked, "So, who started the fire?"

"Fire?" Carmela got up to her feet very quickly. "You could have said so sooner. So, who started it? One of the new kids?"

"Of course not," Cypress said. He looked down, at the floor. "It actually was my mother. But don't look at me like that. I'm not on her side. In fact, I'm getting you out."

"Thanks," Carmela said. "I hope I don't have to repay the favor? I'm so bad at that."

"Of course not," Jonathan smiled sweetly. "We're saving your life."

Carmela looked at his smile, a bit mesmerised. Jonathan was young, but I had noticed he had this effect on girls. Then, she ran away.

"So," Jonathan said. "What's wrong with Minx?"

"His skill is Becoming," I said. "He can become anything and anyone he wants. He'd always kept it for himself because he was treated like a freak for the longest time. Now, to enhance his very draining powers, he drinks human blood, but that is very dangerous and it drove him mad. He wants everyone to drink human blood and he won't stop until he builds a new society based on that."

Jonathan looked angry. I couldn't understand why. Perhaps drinking human blood was against everything he stood for, to the point it made him angry. He'd always been a little pacifist, for a guy with those fencing skills.

"Matias," he said firmly. "This is not the time for one of your stories."

It hit me so hard that I started crying. "I made up those stories as a child to make some things appear better than they were, like my father's story. I would never make stories up to hurt others."

Jonathan looked like he had snapped out of whatever mood swing he'd been in. "I'm sorry," he said. "Truly. I believe you. It's just that..."

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"It's a lot to take in," Cypress said. "But it's true. I've heard it from his lips."

Apparently that was enough for Jonathan. We decided that the next step was to look for Roman. The Blood Drinkers could decide whether to feed off the salamanders, but there was no such choice for the Speaker.

"I'm sorry," Jonathan told both Cypress and I. "I'm in a foul mood. I shouldn't take it out on you. It's just, the things I've seen when I was asleep..."

"How bad was it?" Cypress asked.

"It made me want to not wake up."

He sounded sincere, so I forgave him. But I had a favor to ask.

"Now, don't anybody tell Roman about Minx in a rush," I said. "He needs more time to take it in because he liked the teacher better than any of you, and certainly better than me. So, we'll have to find the right time to tell him. Also, Jonathan, don't insult him just because you've had a rough day."

Both Jonathan and Cypress opened their mouth to say something, but then gave up.

I opened the door to Roman's room.

"Matias," he said. Then, he looked embarrassed. "You... you woke up."

"Pretty boy almost didn't make it," I said. "But don't worry. He's good as new."

Roman didn't look worried.

"Pretty boy?" Jonathan mouthed at Cypress, who shrugged.

"I'll give you the short version of the events," Jonathan said. And since he had heard us the short version from us, I was afraid many things would be incomplete like in a game of chinese whispers.

"Cypress's mom set fire to the school because she is in on a mission to change the Blood Drinkers system from within," he said. "Other people are in on the mission, so beware of who you trust."

"I do," Roman replied.

I gave mental points to Jonathan for using a concise and precise language, telling the truth without mentioning Minx and understanding on his own that Minx and Cypress' mother were working together. I had already had the impression he was more clever than he let on.

"What do we do?" Roman asked. He appeared troubled. I knew he was worried about Mira and Atticus. I hoped he wasn't thinking too much about Minx.

"We get the students out, though a few could fight against the oppressors, if they decide to drink from a salamander," Cypress said. "So far, we fight and Carmela got out."

The next door we found was the one to the room Cora shared with Evangeline. Like Atticus and Roman, siblings were often encouraged to share rooms if that made them feel more at home.

I'd never told anyone and I didn't know if they had figured it out on their own, but I shared mine with Jason. I hadn't decided it.

When we opened the door, Cora was reading a book and Evangeline was in front of the mirror, trying on a pair of skinny trousers that weren't part of the school uniform.

"Get out!" I advised them, in Ichorian, so they would understand more quickly. "There's a fire! Or if you prefer to stay and fight, drink from a salamander."

"We're getting out," Cora said slowly. "Ugh. I needed to finish this chapter."

She put in the bookmark very slowly, and she and her twin headed out the room.

"I'm not fighting if I don't know who we're up against," Evangeline only said. "I won't lack respect if it's my elders."

Cora instead smiled and said, "If you need me, call me and I'll be there."

"Jason might be the next one we get out because he hadn't drank from the salamander," Roman said. "And I doubt he'd be too handy in a fight if there's a bit of trouble understand which side he should be on."

That gave me a lot to think. We still didn't know who was on which side. Athanasios had helped Bertha test the salamanders. What if they were on the bad guys side? Maybe it was all a ruse to bring fire into the school.

Jason was in the gym. The only placed at school he liked.

"I see better," he explained. "All senses are refined. I wanted to look at the gym with new eyes."

"Because it's the view you love the most?" Jonathan winced.

"No. Simply seen it so many times, I wanted to compare."

"Good good, but now you must get out," Cypress said. "The whole school is on fire."

"So? I move really fast. Maybe I can fly."

"Only those who train a lot of years can fly," I explained patiently.

"It's harder for me to die now."

"Being burned alive is literally one of the three ways you can be killed," Roman pressed on.

The others were looking at him with wide eyes. Sadly, I found it very believable. Jason wasn't always slow, but when he wasn't he wasn't often in a friendly mood. He hated to collaborate with other people, and enjoyed to cause trouble instead.

"Get out from the school now," I said. "You don't want to die. You should have drank from the salamander if you wanted to stay inside."

It reminded me of many times when Athanasios tried to convince his son to go outside, while he preferred to stay inside, in the gym mostly.

"Will be there people? I don't like people," Jason replied, lifting a weight.

Jonathan took his sword from its sheath and pointed it at Jason's throat.

"Go out right now," he said. "Or I'll give you a merciful quick death instead of letting you choke slowly on the fumes."

While Jason was going out the school, Roman was looking at Jonathan. "You told me he was good as new," he said. He actually sounded a bit concerned.

"He is," I assured him. "He's just had a rough transformation. You know? Nightmares, hallucinations, nasty stuff..."

"That's weird, his DNA should be prepared," Roman pointed out. "Wasn't his dad a Blood Drinker?"

I shrugged. "There are many reasons why the Mind Task is difficult for people. Perhaps there is no particular reason why it was bad for him, except that it was. Maybe it took him too much power to say goodbye to the part of him that hated our lifestyle. It's true, he followed Minx at the start of the year willingly, but he used to hate us. That must have been for a reason."

I wasn't sure Roman was listening to me anymore. "Minx," he said, worried. "Where is Minx?"

Thankfully, we met Bertha in that very moment.

"Here you are, students. Wait. Where is the redheaded one who drank from the byson?"

"Jason? He's outside m'aam," Jonathan said. "There's a fire..."

"I know," she said, which wasn't reassuring. "But first, the votes of your Tasks. If I tell you, Vasiliv, you will tell your half-brother, won't you?"

I nodded. Jason wasn't my half-brother, but there wasn't no need to say it. Everybody knew. It's just that there wasn't any word to explain that his father had bought you.

"Wait, the Court doesn't give the votes to the students," Cypress said. "There's no need. We got through the Tasks in one piece, and now we're Blood Drinkers."

"You are," Bertha agreed. "But not everyone gets through the Tasks in one piece. Some get embarrassingly injured during the Body Task. Ask your teacher Mira, if you ever see her again. And others barely recover from the Mind Task, isn't that so, Loreta?"

"I recovered," Jonathan replied.

"Still, such people are shameful for our species. But we can't tell them they're not fit after the transformation, can we? So, the next best thing we can do is tell them of what they lack, so they'll use the remaining school years trying to do better."

"Maybe not now," Cypress said, surprising everyone. "We're about to die."

Bertha smiled viciously. "Don't worry. User and Naftali are putting out the fire as we speak. The teacher saw that the situation was under control, and asked me to talk to you about your votes. I'm sure you can wait a little bit to help them if it's for a bigger purpose, don't you Cypress? Don't you ever wonder what drove your mother so crazy that she had to set fire to a whole school, or how to make sure it doesn't happen to you? Take a minute of your time, and hear me out."

"So, Cypress," she said. "Fear not. Your Body Task went surprisingly well -- you took the highest vote in almost everything, though you were not the fastest to catch the animal and the physical part could have been a bit better. The Mind Task went surprisingly well, but you must focus on the Heart. Your essay had good grammar and common sense, but we, as judges, didn't like it very much. I suggest you to contain your arrogance in the future. The vote is 86 out of 100, exceedingly high."

Cypress looked please by the vote, despite himself. We knew we were running out of time. We could only hope User and Naftali were good at doing whatever they were doing.

But they must have been. They were members of the Court, and we had just become Blood Drinkers.

"You, Matias," she told me. "Have got the same vote as Cypress. Your essay was very good, though you must watch your grammar a little bit. Your Mind adjusted well, and the physical part was exceptional, though you must become a little faster."

I was happy to hear that. Roman looked at me and he did something that resembled a little smile.

"Jonathan," Bertha said. "Your essay lacked grammar and it barely had common sense, but it was enough. Tori and User liked it. The Body task was good, especially the physical part, at which you'd been the best, but you wasted too much blood when drinking. I know from now on you'll only drink from a little wound, but try not to stain your clothes while doing so. It wouldn't be proper. You also were the slowest. Then, your Mind had trouble adjusting. Your vote is 67 out of 100, a little terrible if you consider only people who take 50 or higher upgrade, but it is certainly enough."

"This is bollocks," Cypress said. "What if a Blood Drinker passes their Tasks to take 50 or lower? You can't send them home. They're not usual humans anymore."

"Though they could be homeschooled, but I would see why you'd rather not, it didn't turn out well for your family," Bertha replied. "We never decided a rule because it never happened. Ten points out one hundred are already for your Mind adjusting without killing you, and other ten if the blood doesn't drive you crazy. Considering Blood Drinkers should be taught how to fight, how to write and that each one of you should have been able to find a good reason to lead this lifestyle, getting other thirty points should be auspicable for each one of you."

"Is my vote really that bad?" Jonathan asked.

"Worry not, child. Jason has the lowest score. 64 out of 100. His essay only said, 'I want to become a Blood Drinker because my father is one'. Almost impossible to rate. He did well in the Body Task, but he spilt the blood, and the physical excercise didn't count for a lot of points when you recognized he was the only one who wasn't fireproof."

I remembered everything, so that I could tell it to Athanasios. Not that he'd be happy to hear it.

"Wait," Jonathan said after a moment. "You said that the teacher told you to tell us about our votes. Did you mean Minx or Mira?"

"Why does it matter?" Roman looked a bit annoyed.

"Well, if it was Minx..." I started explaining very sheepishly.

"It was Minx, in fact," Bertha's eyes glittered maniacally. "I am on his side. I, too, want to build a better species. My Tasks were only the start of our evolution. I'm sorry to say you won't be here to see it. Especially those of you who actually got a good vote. But I'd been lying before. Naftali and User were not putting the fire out. They don't even know about any of this. Minx asked me to distract you."

"Minx?" Roman asked.

"Brace yourself," I replied. "It will be a long story."

"But first," Jonathan said. "Let's get Aurora and Atticus out."