Chapter Seven

We walked along the path I once walked with Yumena. There seemed to be an influx of more students than before. We walked past a group of girls and they all seemed to have colorful hair that started right at their roots. "What are they?" I referred to the group of girls who were now behind us. They were probably going back to the dorm. "Oh, they're Mermaids. The color of their hair indicates what color tail they have. " Saiora revealed some very important information to me.

I kind of felt embarrassed that I couldn't even identify my own kind but then again I'm not really a Mermaid and I don't remember my mom having any special streaks in her hair. "By the way those girl's they're all royalty. They're here to learn about how things are done on land. Amongst the Supernatural groups it's not really common to find Merfolk on land. If they are here they usually live near the ocean." I remembered that my Father had told me that my Mother had only spent seven consecutive days on land without visiting the ocean. It seemed like it required a lot of effort to live on land as a Merfolk. I completely understood why there weren't many here.

"Hey guys," a tall, dark-haired boy towered over us all. He had a soft scar lined across his right cheek and he didn't have a coldness radiating from his skin instead his skin tone was warm and had a honeycomb coating to it. "Hey Santi," Saiora smiled back at Santi. You could tell from a mile away that he liked her. The infatuation was in his eyes, the way he smiled at her. Rachel and Santi shared the same gaze whenever they'd talk to Saiora. "Hi Santi," Rachel's greeting was as cold as her skin. I'm not sure but I don't think she liked him. "Hey," I awkwardly waved at him.

"You must be new, what's your name?" One thing I had gathered from his exterior was that he seemed sweet. "My name's Ren, I'm a Witch," wow. The last part sounded odd coming from my mouth. "Well Ren, welcome to Luveldom," he opened his arms and smiled brightly. I certainly felt welcome. "Thanks," I smiled back. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you to not forget about our representatives meeting tonight you know just incase you forgot about it." Saiora giggled before responding. You could tell that Rachel wanted to leave. "I haven't forgotten Santi but uh thank you for the reminder. I'll be there at eight P.M., sharp alright," she patted his broad shoulders which caused him to smile even more. "See you then," he bit his lip and waved goodbye at her. Saiora waved back and we continued on our path.

"He seems nice," I didn't want to say anything about him liking Saiora. Last time my assumption was wrong so this was one of those things I was going to keep in my head. "That's Santiago for you but you do not want to be around when he's angry," Saiora shook her head with some emphasis. Rachel scoffed and rolled her eyes. "There's just something off about him. I don't trust him," Saiora furrowed her brows in confusion. It seemed like she didn't understand where Rachel was coming from and honestly neither did I. "You don't trust men in general," Saiora chuckled. "You're not wrong there," Rachel's response made me giggle.

We went back into the main building. That's where the cafeteria was located and I took this time as an opportunity to familiarize myself with the space. Every teacher's name was written on a matte, black plaque on the door to their classroom. It was easy to read and placed up top in the middle of the door. This meant that I wouldn't have much trouble finding my classrooms tomorrow. "Food will be served at seven and it's like that everyday by the way." I was learning a lot from Saiora and Rachel. We even had a ballroom in the school for special events and honestly, it didn't surprise me. I was also told that night classes were offered too and they'd start at eight.

"What about breakfast and lunch by the way?" We had finally entered the cafeteria and there were a few students seated at some of the tables. "We don't really use terms like that. A lot of Supernatural groups are nocturnal so it's a bit weird saying you're going to eat breakfast at like seven in the evening. Our meals though are always served at seven am, midday and seven pm." I nodded at what Saiora had to say. I was used to taking day classes my whole life so I don't think night classes are something I would even consider. Plus, Saiora and Rachel took classes during the day anyway so I wouldn't be alone.

I left the dining hall to go to the toilet. I was kind of in a hurry and unintentionally bumped into someone or in fact, he bumped into me as soon as I made a turn. I was about to apologize but the guy who bumped into me beat me to it. "Could you watch where you're fucking going. Walk on the right, it's not that hard," His tone was filled with annoyance and he seemed to be harboring anger from another interaction. "You bumped into me, the least you could do is apologize" I furrowed my brows. He was being incredibly rude and making this situation bigger than it needed to be. People bump into each other every day.

"Apologize? When I'm not in the wr-." His eyes softened from a look of frustration to displaying a subtle hint of shock. He analyzed me for a few seconds with this look. It was a shame he was behaving this way because he was certainly a sight to see to anyone that laid their eyes on him. I was waiting for him to finish his sentence but he looked down at my hands. I looked down at them to see if there was something out of the ordinary but there wasn't. "Just watch where you're going next time," he walked away hastily, not giving me a chance to reply. I scoffed and shook my head. "Wow."

Loud laughter caught my attention when I returned to the dining hall. It came from a table filled with a group of boys. They all seemed to belong to different Supernatural groups. The guy with who I had a not-so-pleasant interaction with was seated at the table. His lips weren't stretched out to form a smile of full capacity but regardless his smile held an abundant force of impact and power. It was truly captivating to the eye. Definitely different from the facial expression and attitude I had just seen.

His eyes, a deep green, sparkled immensely even from where I stood. I was eager to see them up close again. He reached out for his bloody drink that stood on the table. His eyes made contact with mine before his fingers could even touch the cup of blood. He paused his movement. He was as still as a statue from Rome. His face was neutral but he blinked a few times and that's when all facial expressions returned to him. He seemed to be slightly surprised at the sight of me.

My brain only realized now that I had been looking at him for too long. As soon as his eyes met mine I should've looked away but something kept me stuck in place too. "All earth to Ren," Saiora giggled at me. I snapped my head in her direction. I couldn't help but giggle too. "I called you like three times," three times? I genuinely didn't hear her call. "What got you so distracted?" She glanced at where my eyes had been. "Oh my gosh," she gasped. "Who caught your attention?" Her eyes were eager for information. I could see it. I was hoping Rachel would join us and cut in on the conversation but she was still in line getting her drink. "Uh nobody," I sheepishly shook my head. I didn't want to reveal anything just of yet. "Really Ren? You expect me to believe that? You were practically drooling. If I didn't catch your attention we would be in a pool of your drool right now," I couldn't keep my eyes on Saiora anymore.

I let out a soft chuckle and my gaze landed on the floor for a split second. I knew she wasn't being serious but I still tapped on the corners of my lips to make sure that there wasn't anything there. "Fine, you caught me," my arms crossed together and I held onto the fabric of my hoodie. Saiora had an accomplished smirk on her face. "You see that guy with the-" I was cut off by Saiora which confused me because I was certain that she was eager to hear what I had to say. "Ren, you can't just expose yourself," she whispered. "Everyone here practically has heightened senses. I'm sure even Rachel can here us."

We both looked at Rachel and she looked back at us and nodded. "Okay, your point's proven I'll tell you when we get to the dorm," Saiora nodded as her response. I don't know why I didn't think about the super hearing thing. Whenever I'd tell Elliot and Vera about something I'd never really have to be wary about who can hear from meters away.

As soon as Rachel got her drink we were on our way to the dorms once again. Rachel sipped on her straw with much enthusiasm. I had never really been one to be afraid of blood but just the sight of it in her plastic cup and the residue on the inside of her straw created an uneasy feeling within me. "How does it taste?" she seemed excited at the fact that I asked her about it. Her eyes lit up and a small smile formed on her lips. "It is an exquisite treat for my tongue. It's female human blood so it's sweeter," I had tasted my blood before and there wasn't much to it except the iron-like taste and saltiness. The fact that Rachel tasted something sweet when it came to the blood that she was drinking puzzled me.

"Don't you ever get the urge to you know, bite someone," her facial expression this time wasn't as pleasant as before. She seemed a bit upset by what I had said and Saiora intertwined her arm with Rachel's as if to comfort her. "I do, we all do but it's better this way. Less people will get hurt," I didn't feel good knowing that I might have upset her. I just wanted to know if there was a difference in receiving blood fresh from the source versus getting it cold, out of a plastic cup.

"How about we talk about your new interest?" Saiora attempted to brighten up the mood. We were now back on the earthy path with the arched trees. It appeared as if no one else was around and neither Rachel nor Saiora who had heightened hearing objected to me speaking about what I wanted to reveal in the cafeteria. "Well, I just thought that the blonde dude downstairs with the green eyes was interesting but he's a jerk. He bumped into me and was insanely rude," they both stared at each other with a certain look. There seemed to be a problem with what I had said. Rachel looked like she was going to be the bearer of bad news.

"The blonde guy you saw earlier on was Alex Crawford." I nodded slowly, "Yeah, what about him?" I questioned Rachel with some eagerness evident in my tone. "Yumena and him are together," Rachel's news didn't disappoint me. I wasn't heartbroken or anything, I barely knew the guy. I was just curious as to why did he have an enchanting effect on me. He behaved condescendingly towards me and instead of disliking him, I was attracted to him.

"Oh, it is what it is" I shrugged. "Don't worry there's plenty of other guys on campus too and girl's if you're into the idea," Saiora rubbed on my shoulder with her palm and fingers. She was very comforting. "I know, It's just- call me crazy but I swear I felt something. For a moment it's as if I knew him and he knew me," I didn't proceed to say more because I didn't want to sound weird. "Have you ever heard of pairing connections?" Saiora asked, I shook my head and my brows furrowed due to the confusion. "I'm not sure what you mean?"

"We all have one, only one in our lifetime though. It's basically a soul mate but the official term in this world is a 'Solu Matia'. The word Solu combines the words Sun and Moon in the old tongue. The two forces are parallel to each other's existence. Soul mates," my breathing stopped for a few seconds, I inhaled and exhaled again once I became short of oxygen. I could tell what she was insinuating and I was glad that she didn't find my explanation to be crazy but her suggestion surprised me more than when I found out Alex was with Rachel. "I don't know about that," I chuckled nervously. "I just got here and I'm only only sixteen. There's no way I have a S-Solu Matia right now," I dismissed the idea and shook my head.

"About this Solu Matia idea, I find it rather unfair. Not all of us want to end up with a man and vice versa," Rachel rolled her eyes. "You're right. I could fall in love with someone tomorrow but then like lets say I discover my pairing one year later. I'd basically have to drop the other person because they're not my pairing," was this true because it didn't sound right? Were my Mother and Father soul mates? Could you have a human soul mate? I had so many burning questions. "Can you decline a pairing connection?" I asked. "No," Saiora chuckled. "You're basically asking for a death sentence. Seriously, your body will begin giving up on you and then death will follow," Saiora concluded.

This sounded truly messed up. Not even humans were subject to this but why were we? "I don't get it, why does this happen?" Neither Rachel nor Saiora seemed to know. Their faces told me so. "We don't really know plus it's just the way things are. Nobody ever really gets all the answers to life, not even Humans," Saiora answered. I wanted a real explanation but Saiora was right. I decided to drop all of the questions I had lined up and Rachel and Saiora also didn't mention anything further.

We sat in our dorm for about twenty minutes then Saiora showed me all of the facilities that we had in the school like this huge swimming pool, the sports field, running tracks, and the gym. The Library would only open up tomorrow morning but I was feeling most excited to see what it was going to look like. I had truly never seen anything like this before. This was by far the biggest school I had ever laid my eyes upon and as time went on the school was truly filling up with more of its students. I had felt less anxious about my first day of school tomorrow. I knew where all my classes were and I was more familiar with the school. I didn't feel like much of an outsider to Luveldom anymore.