Mira was tired and aching. I could tell she didn't use her Skill very often -- it was perhaps one of the most draining.

"We've got to change our plans," she said, breath still shaking. "My Timing told me clearly this is not the right moment for the students to battle. Things have gotten so dangerous, that I risk losing all of those who decided to stay."

"But we all drank salamander's Blood," Cypress complained, excluding me from the equation. "We are fireproof! It's one in a lifetime chance to be a real help! The school is going to burn down without us!"

Mira looked at him with a mix of tenderness and admiration, the way sometimes Atticus looked at me. I couldn't remember a grown adult who ever did, except for Minx Morris.

The other guys were just about to tell me something about him before Mira came to see us.

Nobody had told me where he was gone yet. I had to admit, in a selfish way, it hurt me more than the prospect of having our lives in danger, or the school burning down.

If Minx had made a run from it, it only proved my suspicions that you cannot really trust those you see as your parental figures.

Everybody else seemed pretty okay with it, like it was obvious that just because he acted a bit strange, he was better off. For somebody who has always been branded as a weirdo, I looked up to Minx most of all. But maybe they were only trying to keep it together since the situation already looked dangerous enough as it was. I hoped it wasn't anything bad.

Everybody says that the underdogs can make it, but how many do you meet that actually did?

"Think about it, Cypress," Mira said. "You're going to have plenty of chances to be a real help to someone. But not if you stay here. Not if you die tonight."

"I guess I'm the only one that's needed, then," I said, matter-of-factly.

"No," Jonathan looked horrified. "Just because you're a bit hard to get to know, it doesn't mean your life is less valuable than everybody else's."

"Gee thanks," I said. "I didn't mean to say that. I meant to say that Mira and... well, Mira, is going to need my help to guide the dead souls to their realm."

"There aren't going to be dead souls!" Mira said.

"You're right," I admitted. "Dead soul is an oxymoron. It is merely our bodies that decay."

"Nobody is going to die," she insisted.

"At the cost of sounding insensitive," I said. "I hope a lot of the bad guys do."

"Okay," she said. "I'm done arguing with you. I'm going to tell the older students to leave this place and alert other Blood Drinkers of what's happening. We might need to re-locate, so it's best if other members of our species know about what has befallen us, before we come to their homes uninvited. You four will also leave, but wait until I come back. I will escort you out myself."

When Mira was gone, I could tell Cypress, Jonathan and Matias were about to tell me the truth about Minx Morris, but were a bit indecisive on where to start. I'm not particularly bright, it was just the same way Atticus acted towards me for a while before presenting me Aurora.

I could also guess that whatever they had to tell me was something big, or bad.

Maybe he wasn't gone, I thought. Maybe he was dead. But that would be better, in a way. I could contact his soul, if he were.

"I trained my whole life for something like this," Cypress said morosely, "just to be sent home when all the good stuff happens."

"Your family is involved in some way, right?" I snapped at one point.

He nodded without looking at me, or anybody else.

"Then you should have been homeschooled like they wanted you to," I replied nastily. "So now you'd be fighting like you want to do, instead of being sent home. Only difference would be you'd be on their side, but maybe it doesn't matter as much as showing off does, to you."

"Roman," Matias scolded me. "Stop it. You know you're not like that."

He looked apologetically at Cypress and Jonathan.

"He's not like that," he reassured them.

"I just said the truth," I replied. "I'm not glad about being sent away either, but I trust Mira. And I don't want to die. I really fucking don't."

"Besides," I added, still a little maliciously. "Nobody of us can really go home, am I right? Out of all the kids, we are the ones who's got nowhere to stay."

"Might as well stay here then, and help," Cypress insisted.

"I am not a Blood Drinker," I claimed. "I do not experience the rush you all apparently get from fighting. But, even if it pains to admit it, I've grown to like you each of you. If you'd like to know my rate of preference, it goes on the opposite of the alphabetical order."

"That's a nice way of saying you don't want us to die," Jonathan scoffed.

"Roman still doesn't know everything," Matias said, suddenly. "If he knew, maybe he would get why we feel wronged. Why we want to be here."

So they told me about Minx Morris.

"I don't believe you," I could only say. Of course I believed them. I just didn't want to, and didn't know how to express it.

"I was in the room when it happened," Cypress got angry. "Now, I might be your least favorite in the group, but I wouldn't lie about this."

"That's why he wanted to marry Mira," I realized. "The human blood is making him lose his mind, but being married to your soulmate keeps you grounded."

"But they aren't soulmates," Matias reminded me.

"At that point, he must have been ready to try everything," Jonathan suggested. "Even drinking human blood is not exactly in our nature!"

Before we could talk more about it, Mira came back.

"Oh well," she said. "You're still here. You're not so naughty, after all."

"We have no place to go," Cypress grunted. "Roman gently reminded us of that."

I beamed. I couldn't tell if it was sarcasm or not, but I hoped it wasn't. Surely I had reminded them of that notion in the most sensible way possible.

Mira was leading some part of the grounds I didn't know really well, but it didn't look like we were going towards an exit. Perhaps there was some kind of basement, like the ones people gather in to protect themselves from tornadoes, where we could be safe.

"You seem pretty okay," Matias told me in a low voice. "I was afraid you wouldn't take the news very well."

"I haven't," I explained. "I'm just trying to pretend everything is fine and nothing ever happened, and I'm making a poor job of it."

It was true. I tried not to think about Minx, but I couldn't stop the memories from flooding my brain. He had raised Atticus and I. I had countless memories of him. We had spent hours talking about all kinds of stuff. In some of the memories, I thought I could already spot some kind of red flag, but it was blurred, and I was aware of the fact that what I now knew about him was already tainting the rest, making it flawed forever.

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My father had had troubles being a father. Hell, he had had troubles even being a person. I always wished Minx was my real father. I even related to him. That made me sick. Before I realized it, I started sobbing.

I didn't even care that the others could hear me. I had never cried in front of anybody before, just alone, in my bed, after everybody else in the room had gone to sleep. But there was no hiding now. And I had the strange feeling there wouldn't be a safe place for me ever anymore.

Mira heard me. She bent down in front of me (not that she really needed to, not much, anyway), and patted me delicately on the head.

"Now, now," she said. "Shut the fuck up, Roman. You can't always expect the whole world to babysit you! You are too old to have a nervous breakdown over a box of cereals because it's not the right color!"

There he was. He had tricked us all.

Mira had never come back for us. But Minx had taken her appearance.

"Don't worry guys," he immediately said, when all the young Blood Drinkers drew out their weapon of choice. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want you to be there to see me in all my glory. I will start our world anew, and I need all four of you to make it work. That's crazy, because I would have never thought of that before meeting you in the hallway. But now it's clear I do. After all, all the best theatre comes from improvisation, and so does life!"

"What have you done to Mira?" Jonathan growled without lowering his sword.

"Don't worry, I just tied her up," he cackled. "Nothing too strange for a couple to happen, don't you think? Alas, she does not like being bonded. And I do not like women with opinions, but what can one do?"

"Maybe shut the fuck up?" Cypress suggested. He must have been really enraged, because, usually, I was the only one who was gross enough to utter swear words in front of everybody.

"And that's a great idea for your role, Spaulding-Macbeth!" Minx applauded him. "Oh, I just love when actors make suggestions about their characters. Don't you all think it makes all the difference?"

While he was talking, he managed to drag us to whatever room he had chosen for his 'performance'. After all, he was a grown-up, and, even though he looked frail, he was still a supernatural creature. He was way taller than six feet and he had enhanced strength. I also hated to think about it, but it was clear that drinking human blood, other than making him crazy was also making him stronger.

In not so many words -- we didn't stand a chance.

"I will tell you what you're all going to be once I rise to power," Minx said. "Perhaps it might get you to co-operate. First of all, you all shall be granted a person I will treat as your equal. That will be your soulmate. Don't worry about Atticus, Roman. You can choose him. I sincerely doubt you can find a soulmate. Other than having to stand your attitude, and be okay with your personal taste, there are not many Speakers left in the world."

"Speakers can also be the soulmates of Blood Drinkers," Matias suggested timidly. Mira and Minx had taught us that.

"Yes," Minx laughed. "But we wouldn't want that to happen, now wouldn't we? Blood Drinkers are special, and Speakers are just a bit above dogs in the food chain. The wild dogs that eat people's bodies," he laughed at his own joke. "Roman here especially!"

"You're a monster!" Matias spat back. "Weren't you tired of pretending, for all those years?"

In fact, my clever friend had figured out that Minx wasn't acting like that just because the blood was driving him crazy, he must have been rotten from the start, although maybe not up to that point.

"Are you kidding?" Minx said. "It shall be remembered as my greatest, and perhaps longer-lasting role! And who but an incredible actor could pull it off?!"

"And what was the role, exactly?" Jonathan commented sourly. "Pretending to be a good person? Convincing people that you loved them? I'm sorry to say that it's not that hard to fake things like that. A lot of people do it every day."

It sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

"Jonathan, do not despair," Minx continued, just like all the greatest actors, deaf to constructive criticism.

"You shall play the greatest part, right at my side, my right hand man! Your Skill will serve us greatly in the immediate future!"

Now, I don't want to give the impression that since Minx was acting approachable, we weren't scared. On the contrary, we were horrified.

It was like one of those nightmares that stick with you your whole life. Generally, the scariest ones are the ones that are full of nonsense and a bit like a freak show.

"Cypress," Minx continued. "Will be my hostage, and, as long as he is, all the rebellious families like his own, or the ones to whom Blood Drinkers royalty still counts something, will have to refrain from attacking me and my politics too openly. Otherwise, who knows what might happen to this bright, young pupil!"

"Matias," he added. "Has been trained greatly by Athanasios Ducas. He's probably the best, and certainly the most Courageous warrior of his age. He will lead my troops into battle against all of those who don't want to pledge alliance and drink human blood!"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't you think it's a little ridiculous to say something like that about a thirteen-year-old?" I asked.

Matias gave me the stink eye.

"I do not," Minx proclaimed. "You have all passed your Blood Tasks and therefore you are men to me. And, anyway, I do not have a lot of supporters at the moment. But don't worry, that is going to change!"

"And what about me?" I asked. I had a sick desire of knowing what the man that I had briefly loved like a father thought about me. All the things he had said so far just made me think that all the fathers I've had must agree about certain things concerning me.

"You are a Speaker. Do you know what a Speaker really is?"

"Nobody knows for certain," Cypress commented. "Just like Blood Drinkers, despite having been present since the start of time to fight demonic activities, are not sure where their abilities and their duties really come from."

"It's an abomination," Minx continued. "You will have noticed you have a lot in common with Blood Drinkers, but not enough. Scientifically, it means you're an hybrid. I still haven't figured out who mated with Blood Drinkers to make Speakers happen, but I will. Now, being Blood Drinkers run in the families, and your brother Atticus is a Blood Drinker, right? So it would only make sense for you to have the same disposition in your genetic code, perhaps in a weaker form. Yes, Speakers are born out of a weak genetic link, otherwise they wouldn't be almost extinct. Nature is trying to fix its own mistake."

"What does that leave me?" I asked, angry tears welling in my eyes. I wish I could say I didn't feel like a mistake, a weak link, but that's how I felt every day. And maybe my desire to be a Blood Drinker was natural -- maybe my DNA wanted to upgrade.

"I found human blood to make Blood Drinkers even stronger and virtually unstoppable," Minx mused. "I still need to fix the part that makes you lose your mind, but that's only a side effect. You will be my project, Roman. I do not want Speakers to disappear. I want to find a way to make them stronger. Of course, it won't be easy, but nothing good ever is."

Make me stronger? Well, I wasn't strong. My powers were chaotic and they controlled me much more than I controlled them. I had made no real progress in years. Maybe Minx was right... but his words didn't ring true. He just knew our weaknesses and was trying to use them against us.

Finally, we had reached the basement. I was right about that. There was a hidden basement I didn't know about. But the discovery didn't make me happy. On the contrary, there was nothing than I wanted more to have a home to go to, and be there right now.

Mira was tied up, like Minx had said. Somebody was helping her get free, even though it required an enormous amount of strength. The other person could only be a well-trained Blood Drinker.

Atticus.

My heart skipped a beat. He must have been in the group Mira was trying to send home, but Minx must have caught them in the act. Atticus normally would have went someplace safe with Aurora, but it looked like he had chosen to remain, and help out our teacher instead.

Mira was free.

"Good job," she told my older brother. "You can go and join Aurora now."

Atticus didn't even spare a glance in our direction, and headed towards what looked like an exit.

Before I knew what I was doing, I struggled free out of Minx' grip, and I ran behind him.

All that time I had been sad today was for nothing, I realized. I didn't miss an home. I didn't miss a father figure.

Atticus was my home. Atticus had been forced to give up his own childhood and teenage years to be my father. He loved me, and he had taught me everything he knew. He would never speak to me the way Minx had just done. It was just like the dybbuk had said. I was taking him for granted, but he sacrificed every second of the day to take care of me.

I was nothing without him.

"Atticus!" I screamed. "Stop! Don't leave me here alone! Don't ever leave me alone!"

The stress of that day began to pile up on me. Suddenly, I sounded incoherent. I just knew I would lose my mind, lose it like Minx Morris had, if my older brother went somewhere I couldn't follow him.

There was only he and I in my world, and maybe Minx Morris. I forgot about Mira, about my friends. If he left, I would die of fright. I would be useless forever.

I felt somebody's arms around me. They weren't Atticus', so I jerked away. I didn't like being touched when I was already altered or confused.

"It's going to be okay," Mira said. I realized she had been the one who had tried to hug me. "Atticus is not going away permanently, he's just going with the other older students. You all will be free to go as soon as possible as well."

"Minx won't let us," I replied. "Not so easily. He's going to use us, Mira."

I knew I was too shocked to make sense, but Mira seemed to get at least the gist of what I was saying.

Atticus, in the meantime, had turned around. What I saw in his eyes broke my heart. As much as he loved me, he trusted Mira's words, and wanted to go.

I felt like I couldn't breathe. If he left, I would have crumbled to the floor. If he left, who knew what was going to happen to me.

"You promised!" I said, almost screaming. "You promised me that you'd always stay by my side, that I'd always be safe!"

And he had kept his promise. He even protected me from Dad, when he was the one who needed more protection. Dad would never hurt me the way he broke him down. He did it 'cause Atticus was the good one. He liked that there was something bad in me.

Atticus ran towards me. I remember feeling like I wasn't much better than Dad, we both knew how to hurt him to get him to do our bidding, in very different ways.

I also remember I didn't care. My older brother was with me, and that was the only way I felt complete, because he was a missing piece of my soul, the poster child of all the good things I was fascinated from but would never be.