Tainted Love

4 - Déjà vu

After my mom carefully dries and shapes my natural dark brown hair into two neat buns, we head out to the Main Hall where the announcement is meant to happen. Even with nearly the entire supernatural population present, there is still room to accommodate more people. That’s how big this room is.

I know this is one of the first halls to be made and it has been enlarged by magic over time. Over us, there is a transparent ceiling with snowflake shape that allows us to see the sky outside. Right now, the vast starry sky of the Himalayas is visible, and the large crescent moon fills the hall with a mysterious light.

I heard this hall was made in accordance with the Main Hall at the previous Academy. It even has a large clock in resemblance of the clock that used to belong to an old subway station in New York.

The words Montagne Academy were added below the watch and right under it, the Academy’s motto reads: We are all creatures of the night.

The Hall is also being lit by several little flying lamps created by Mr. Lucas which resemble fireflies.

It is completely full as there are hundreds of supernaturals living at the Academy. It is hard to move around. My moms wiggle their way through the crowd to get upfront where I know we will find our friends and their parents.

My moms are a part of the small group that created this place and helped establish its community, which is also why most of our friends’ parents are teachers for the different subjects of the school. We always get a special spot upfront at these events.

We soon reach the front of the crowd and sure enough, Claus, Celine and Caleb are already there, next to their parents, Lady Naiya and Alpha Soren.

Claus’ father is one of the pure born werewolves, with bright red eyes and completely white hair. Their mother was turned by him a little more than 20 years ago. I have heard she was one of the vampires that turned back to human. She is my mom Anastacia’s twin sister and they are exactly alike except for their distinct personalities.

“Lana!” Claus greets me, pulling me into his arms as soon as I’m close enough. He kisses me and keeps an arm around my shoulders while my moms go talk to his parents. I don’t try to push him away.

I smile at him and greet Caleb and Celine next.

“Are you feeling better?” Celine asks me and my eyes go wide, trying to signal her to change the subject. I don’t want my moms to even dream about what happened earlier.

She doesn’t get it but fortunately Caleb does.

“Do you know anything else about the new student?” He asks me. “Mom and Dad don’t have much information either”

“My mom told me they found him in the woods” I say.

“It turns out he was raised by wolves and isn’t very sociable with people” Yara adds.

“He was raised by werewolves?” Celine asks. “I didn’t know there were any other packs outside”

“No, Cece, actual wolves” Yara says. “Cyla said that’s why he looks frail”

“Oh…” Celine mumbles, and we know she is once again feeling sorry for the new kid.

“HEEEEEY!” We hear a familiar voice coming from the crowd behind us.

She always manages to cause an uproar wherever she goes, clashing and pushing the crowd to be able to get through to us.

When she finally manages to reach us, her hair is a mess, and her clothes are all torn. We girls sigh and proceed to fix her up again.

“Where are your parents?” Caleb asks, trying to place a rogue strand of hair back into her ponytail.

“They are with the HPS group” Felix answers. “I think they needed help bring in the new kid”

The HPS group is an acronym for Humans Protecting Supernaturals. As the name suggests, they are a group of highly trained humans working along with us actively searching for any supernaturals that may have been left behind in the outside world. These humans are about the last ones that are still amicable towards us.

I have heard they used to be a part of the Organization dedicated to hunting us down and killing us but that is so hard to imagine now.

“We are going to have to head there too” Lady Naiya says, suddenly approaching us. She is holding a communication device in her hand, one which all teachers and major staff members have.

“It seems the kid is getting nervous, and it won’t be good if he suddenly unleashes his powers like he did at the village” Alpha Soren adds.

“We are all going there to help” My mom Cyla says.

“Stay here until we say something” My mom Anastacia says. “We might have to cancel the announcement. Or at least do it without the new student”

We all watch as they leave, feeling a little bit nervous. I have an ominous feeling that something is about to go wrong.

Everyone is eagerly waiting for the announcement of the new student who will appear on the balcony above, which looks a bit like a stage of sorts, if everything goes well.

Truth is, we haven’t heard anything else from our parents and it has been a while. People are getting jittery with all the waiting.

We soon hear a little commotion coming from the corridor that leads up to the balcony, but we don’t have much time to speculate on what is going on.

Suddenly, we hear an unfamiliar roar and the surprised shouts of our parents echo from the corridors to the Main Hall.

There is a short moment of silence when everyone in the hall is stunned, waiting for something to happen, when suddenly, a man, who I recognize to be Raphael, comes running out shouting.

“GET DOWN!”

We barely have time to listen to what he says before a strange creature comes barging out of the corridor right behind him. Fortunately, everyone manages to duck just in time for it to fly over their heads.

Still shocked by what is happening, I manage to take a peek at the creature and what I see blows my mind.

A creature that I have only seen in history books is here, and it’s real. A creature considered so powerful and dangerous that it is said angels came down to earth to exterminate it. They are considered to be extinct.

Leviathans.

But there is no denying that the creature now frantically flying above our heads is one of them. However, it does look rather small compared to how they are described in the books.

The creature resembles a large snake, but he has tiny arms and legs. His scales shine with a bluish color but their actual color is hard to grasp when he is flying around so fast.

His black snout nearly crashes into me and my friends when he flies lower, clearly trying to find a way out. I get a glimpse of his greenish-blue eyes before he avoids contact with us and flies upward again.

The poor creature is in a panic.

Acting quickly, Raphael and his wife Renee set up a trap to bring him down and shoot up a net that is meant to seclude him. It does work, at first, but with an angry growl, the creature rips the net to shreds and ascends to the ceiling.

Realizing what he is about to do, I cover my head just in time to hear him crashing against the ceiling above, breaking it to pieces and sending the shards falling on us.

Fortunately, the powerful warlocks in our midst join forces and conjure a spell to keep the glass shards suspended midair, saving our people from injury.

This commotion allows for the creature to fly away through the large hole in the glass and into the outer world. I manage to watch as the HPS group members present here rush to get outside as quickly as possible.

There is a human village only a few miles away from here. If they see the creature, we are all doomed as our location would be revealed to the rest of the world.

My mom Cyla joins the group leaving the hall in a hurry and I can’t help but feel worried about her.

“Let’s keep calm!” The stern voice of our Headmaster echoes through the hall, clearly being enhanced by magic or a mechanical device.

The crowd is still in a panic after what just happened, and it is not easy for them to calm down. I stay close to Yara as the rest seem to be on the verge of running away from here in a panic.

“Calm down!” Headmaster Charlotte repeats, her voice sounding louder. “The incident is being dealt with. There is no reason to panic”

The crowd doesn’t seem to agree with her, though. There are still people trying to reach the exit, but it is too crowded for anyone to leave in a hurry.

“ENOUGH!” Headmaster Charlotte’s voice rings in our ears louder than ever before and I am forced to cover my ears in pain.

“Everything will be alright” She says, straightening her dark pink and black dress. “I advise you to orderly return to your quarters, calmly” She emphasizes the word ‘calmly’. “The ones closer to the exit should go first and allow the rest to follow. Do not try to run or surpass the people already existing. As I said, the situation is under control and there is no reason to panic or leave in a hurry”

As usual, her commanding tone calms the people down and everyone does what she says. Pleased with her work, she fixes her pink hair, which was certainly messed with during the incident and enters the corridor to leave the balcony. Sometimes, even I forget our Headmaster is just a mermaid and not an Alpha werewolf.

We watch as people slowly leave the Main Hall to head back to their rooms and apartments, but we stay behind.

My close friends stay behind with us as their parents also went after the runaway creature.

“What was that?” Felix asks, looking scared. Her hair has turned black, discerning from her usual light brown. Her hair regularly changes color according to her emotions.

“Was that the new student?” Caleb asks, also looking scared.

“I don’t know” I say. “But was that really a Leviathan?”

“I think it was” Caleb says. “It looked just like in the pictures…”

“But they are supposed to be extinct, right?” Felix asks.

We don’t get to talk much more than that, as the professors that were left behind lead us and the remaining people on the Main Hall out into the corridors.

However, we are too restless to go back to our dorms.

“He looked so scared…” Celine mumbles as we linger on one of the corridors that lead outside. Hopefully, Owen won’t find us here.

“What if they can’t capture him?” Claus says.

“They have to, right?” Caleb says. “We will be in a lot of trouble if they don’t”

“Would it help if his mate drew him out?” Celine suddenly says and we all turn to face her.

“Where did you even get that idea?” Caleb asks.

“He is a Leviathan” Yara says. “As far as we know, he has no mate”

“But he does!” Celine insists.

“Enough, Cece” Claus says, crossing his arms. “That is not going to work. It’s just like Aunt Anastacia said. We just have to stay calm and wait”

I eye my boyfriend knowingly and notice how tightly he is holding his arms against his chest. He is the most eager of us all to go out there and help the Organization capture the creature.

“But I can help” Celine continues insisting.

“There’s nothing we can do to help!” Claus suddenly explodes. “We can’t just barge out there and face a creature we know almost nothing about! We just have to let them deal with it!”

“I CAN HELP!” Celine explodes back. “I can draw him out!”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” Claus shouts.

“I do know!” Celine shouts. “I can calm him down!”

“That’s impossible!” Claus shouts. “You don’t even know him!”

“I don’t have to!” Celine insists.

“What do you mean, Cece?” Yara interferes before their argument becomes even worse.

“I’m his mate!” Celine finally blurts out.

There is a short moment of silence in which everyone looks at Celine in astonishment.

“You’re his what?!”