“What can he do? “He's an adult, and he's a kid. Kids don't go around with stupid vendettas.
I said that just to sound nonchalant.
“I could let it go," Valery nodded, thank God, considering other possibilities. He's pretty mature about a lot of things and doesn't like to waste time with nonsense.
I wondered how she was so sure of that. Then I remembered that everyone there even knew what time the Lycans peed. That they knew Lucian's personality well was not unusual.
“But sometimes he's very cruel," said Otsana. In a damned clever and careful way. Remember what happened with Nico?
Dash rested his chin on his hand and blinked nostalgically. Only then did I notice that his eyes were lined with blue, and he looked fabulous.
“Oh, Nico," he sighed dreamily and sadly, "I still remember when at that party I found him smoking in the bathroom and he did things to me with his tongue that I didn't know could be done, and...
Otsana put a hand in front of his face to interrupt him.
“Disgusting! “I didn't mean for you to remember all the things that happened. What I want to know is what happened between him and Lucian.
Dash nodded and kept silent.
“Well, what happened to Nico? “I asked, Mrs. Impatience.
“In the International Discussion class he corrected Lucian on his argument," Otsana revealed. Well, he said he was wrong, and he was wrong, but no one was supposed to say it. The thing was, Lucian lost points for that.
“Lucian accepted it, but then... “Dash interrupted himself, keeping the suspense.
And Otsana supplemented the story:
“Three classes later, at the end of his argument, every single person in the classroom peppered Nico with questions. Very difficult questions made the poor man panic and, due to the pressure, he was unable to defend himself. He came out hyperventilating and running out of the class.
I pictured the scene and Lucian's wide smirk clearly, triumphant at the back of the class.
“And that wasn't all, of course," Dash added, again grimly, "Days later, some students hacked into the Domus system and there were problems with the class grades. In the end, they managed to recover all of them, except Nico's. He had to take all the exams in the class. He had to take all the exams again in one week.
“And he failed... “I wanted to guess.
“No, he passed," Otsana denied as if it were even worse, "but he did it on methamphetamines, poor thing is that. A human easily creates dependence. It was too much for him. That week he was seen shopping. After that, he did not attend Domus anymore. Those who were his friends say that his parents took him away because he started to become addicted. Maybe he is still in rehab.
Dash made the face of a soap opera tragedy.
“I have never encountered another tongue like it again," she pretended to sob.
Otsana squinted at his melodrama.
“The point is that Lucian acts strategically," he said. Those who attacked the system were expelled and considered vandals, but we know that the hacking was planned by Lucian.
More than clever: he had others do the dirty work to keep his hands clean. The dirtiest and most effective moves were executed by people like that. Maybe you did have to be a little afraid of that Lycan.
“We'll just have to wait and see what happens... “I said with a shrug of my shoulders.
And yes, a lot of things would happen.
Just not as we all expected.
Not as we planned.
A week passed.
And I don't know how I didn't expect what would happen that day.
I started the morning very well. I even dared to straighten my dyed black hair, was very optimistic, and wore either you control yourself or I control your shirt. In front of the mirror, I told myself that for a minute the world should stop revolving around the Lycans and..., well yes, yes, in this story almost everything revolves around them, and I know that's what you most want to know, but I must tell you these things.
Then I told myself that I should try to achieve one of my first goals: to join the Domus newspaper team.
On the newspaper's i********: profile, they had reported that that afternoon at one o'clock they would be testing for new applicants. As it seemed that since birth I had a curse that would put obstacles in my way for anything, the professor of my last class had extended himself and at ten past one I had to rush off to the Audiovisual building. I arrived nervously but positively and walked through the double doors of the printing room, confident that there would be no reason to have any trouble on those tests.
But that assurance died as soon as the door closed behind me with a treacherous sound as if with full intent I had meant to say, "Look who just arrived!" and the twenty people sitting in front of a whiteboard on which was projected a digital image of a mock” up of a sheet of articles shifted their attention to me.
Of all the faces, I noticed only the two sitting at the head of the students:
Ankor.
"I... didn't you expect it?" Lucian.
"Wow, looks like you liked that being the center of attention thing, huh?" teased my nagging mind.
I froze for a second. Lucian had not raised his face at the sound of the door but was deep in concentration writing something with an electronic pencil on an iPad, but the moment was absurdly awkward because Ankor, on the other hand, did fix his eyes on me with a slightly confused expression on his face. A weird confusion, as if he didn't understand something about me or why I was there.
I thought maybe I had made a mistake or that I had arrived too late. My alarm told me to get out of there because, if there were two Lycans in that place, the danger was obvious, so I turned around, but...
“Were you coming to the newspaper tryouts or...? “asked Ankor before I opened the door.
Surprisingly, his voice sounded friendly, like someone who could help you with anything. As I looked at him again I no longer saw the confusion on his face, which was a younger, relaxed, and lively mix of Viktor's and Lucian's features. He was flashing me a smile much like that of a mischievous child when he thinks things are getting interesting.
I tried to sound relaxed: