What's a Lab Rat?

"Excuse me?!" Arya yelled and if it wasn't for the blue bubble they were in, her voice was sure to echo through the hallway. Did this beast just call her the key to a bathroom door? So now, she was the bathroom lady? She felt really offended.

"The portal. I meant to say that you're the key to the portal." Amaris said, with pursed lips feeling quite convinced with his deduction.

"Do you by any chance know any special entry or exit to the bathroom apart from the one we used just now, Miss Arya?" He asked, hoping to find more answers. He really wanted to go back home and that too, soon.

Arya scoffed.

This beast was really serious about the bathroom thing. Just what did she do to deserve this? Special entry or exit my foot!

She'd had enough! She thought as she began to unleash her pent up emotions,

"Sir Amaris, you've been going on and on about wolves, Luna Kingdom, whirlpools and blah blah blah. Saying and doing one thing after another that I have never seen nor heard of before. You also kept me hostage, not letting me go to my home where my grandmother is currently waiting for me, probably worried sick that her granddaughter hasn't made it back home when it's way past closing hours."

"You did not for once consider how I'm handling all this but instead barrage me with one question after another! I'm sorry but I don't know any special entry or exit of the bathroom, it's the same door we all use." Arya said as she stood up from the ground she sat on and dusted her skirt.

She had come to accept the fact that all that happened today was real and not a figment of her imagination. Apparently, there were really creatures other than humans that existed in this world. It seemed her grandma's bedtime stories weren't just made up fiction for children.

"I won't say anything about meeting a strange creature in school so you don't have to worry about getting caught." She said as she faced Amaris, raising her head a bit as he was taller than her.

"That's all I have to say Sir Amaris, I hope you find your way back home. Goodbye." she uttered, returning the bow offered to her by Amaris moments ago.

She had just taken a step to get her school bag that had long been abandoned on her classroom's floor after she encountered this person when Amaris called out to her.

"E- Excuse me Miss Arya. I'm really sorry for making you feel that way. That was very inconsiderate of me. I shouldn't have imposed my problems on you like that and I should have asked for permission before planting a kiss on your hand..." He apologized as sincerely as he could.

He was really shocked by the turn of events. He had never had a cause to apologise to someone nor ask for their help before. It had always been the other way round, people bootlicking and filling his ears with sweet words. But here he was doing the same to someone who wasn't even from his world.

And though he was inexperienced in bootlicking, he thought he done a good job at it, but from her words he was making her uncomfortable and even accused him of keeping her hostage. He could not comprehend all this as everyone loved to be in his presence whether he liked it or not.

However, there was one thing he didn't understand the most from her words.

"…but what do you mean by I shouldn't worry about getting caught?" Amaris inquired skeptically.

On the other hand, Arya was judging his stiff apology skills, it was obvious he didn't say sorry often. His bows were rigid and his apologies were too mechanical, like something a radio would say, if that was possible. Who knew where he learned such apologies from.

She was just about to say that she wasn't upset anymore when she heard his last question.

'Wait! So this guy didn't know?'

"Uhm…Sir Amaris, you mean to say you weren't aware that if people caught a whiff of you being a tad bit different from the rest of us, you would be caught and sent to be a lab rat?" Arya asked with widened eyes that looked like they were about to pop out.

"No? What's a lab rat?" Amaris inquired back with a tilt of his head. Could a wolf become a rat here? He thought further.

Arya hearing his response was 'shooked'. This beast wouldn't even know how it died if he went around with such a mentality. Humans nowadays were worse than beasts.

"Sir Amaris, you may look human but also special and if people find out about this different side of yours, they'd feel threatened by you. Though you might not mean any harm, you'd still be reported and will ultimately end up under a scientist's knife." Arya said feeling slightly worried about his way of thinking.

The least she could do was educate him on how to keep himself safe and go on her merry way out of here. It's the best she could do for a handsome…no, for not turning her to beast food! Yes, that's right, she was grateful.

Dread shrouded Amaris when Arya's words sunk in.

Knife?

He might die in this world?

Why wasn't such facts written in those books related to humans in his library?

Arya watched as Amaris got lost in thought. She wanted to call his attention but thought against it. Somewhere, she knew she felt sorry for him but she had already advised him and that's all she could do.

'It's time to go home', she thought as she approached the flight of stairs that lead to the first floor.

Amaris thoughts were spiraling out of control at the thought of being butchered to bits and pieces when he caught Arya walking away.

"Then…then all the more reason why you should help me, Miss Arya." He stuttered as he briskly walked to Arya's side. "Please, pending the time I find my way home, could I stay with you?" He pleaded as he felt something cool and wet drip down his forehead.

He had just reached for it to know what it was, when he saw Arya shake her head profusely.

"What? No! I'm sorry I can't do that Sir Amaris. I barely even know you." She replied feeling vexed. What was this beast thinking about? How could she take him to her house? What would her grandmother think?

"But you said it yourself, Miss Arya. You said I could end up under a knife if I got caught, my life is at risk here. PLEASE!" Amaris begged again with a drop of his hands.

"My life and that of my grandma's will also be at risk if I take you in. May I remind you that you're a beast?" Arya said shocking Amaris who felt his jaw go slack by her words.

"Beast? I'm a wolf Miss Arya. Besides I don't eat human meat, I've never done so in my entire life." He corrected feeling wronged. Wasn't the use of the word, 'beast' a bit too strong?

"It's one and the same thing! And even if you haven't eaten humans before how can I be so sure that you won't start now? Your first preys being my grandmother and I!" Arya voiced her fears, throwing her arms in the air as she did.

Amaris was appalled. This human here had a very vivid imagination. First she called him, the most talented wolf in Luna Kingdom, a beast and now she accused him of eating human meat like those low class scavengers?

Did she even have any idea who he was? He thought as he stared at Arya in the face who in turn stared right back starting a staring competition.

He hoped to subdue her mentally so as to get her to agree to him staying with her but she hadn't given her consent since he gave her his smoldering look. And he could feel that cold and wet feeling on his forehead increase with each passing second.

He reached to wipe his forehead with his palm, breaking eye contact with Arya who released a sigh, feeling relieved that she escaped such a scorching gaze. She watched him stare at his sweat in his palm like it was a novelty.

Amaris was about to try convincing her one more time when he felt his ear tingle causing him to whip his head at the school's main entrance.

Someone was coming!