Immortal Mate: The Roma Academy

Chapter 5

-Diana's POV-

I smile. "Thinking about something?"

I do it on purpose, trying to tease him.

He quickly looks away with his cheeks changing color.

"Uhm... you will start tomorrow. Today just take it to get to know the facility and people."

We make it downstairs and I nod.

He keeps leading me through the halls and then stops before two open doors.

"This is the common room. Most students and teachers gather here to socialize and watch some TV."

I nod. "Got it."

He continues walking and stops in front of another opened door. This one has many people coming in and out.

"This is the cafeteria." He says as we go in. The room is big and has many tables. "There is always food served all day up until eight at night but after that, if you are hungry, you can go to the kitchen and get something. The kitchen is always open."

I am trying to listen to him but I am very distracted by what I can only assume is the fairy.

I can see her in her ethereal form which means that it is like seeing a normal being but just a bit seethrough. There are also fairy dust particles around her and when she walks, she leaves a trail of it that within a few minutes, disappears.

Fairies are always so beautiful and this one is no exception, though... she seems to be having a bad hair day. I have never seen a bald fairy. They usually have beautiful long hair.

The fairy is following a few of the students but they can't see her. She looks angry and annoyed. Passing through a stack of trays, she looks both ways as if someone could see her but no one can. She then slaps the trays and they all go flying to the floor. It makes a loud noise which prompts everyone to look. Everyone looks spooked and they start to whisper about ghosts and poltergeists.

"Damn Garnet..." I hear Marco mumble under his breath. "Let's go this way." Marco says motioning back to the hall seeming like he is trying to avoid the fairy.

I follow trying not to laugh cause I don't want him to know that I can see her. I would have to explain how is it that I can see her when others can't.

"Have you seen her?" An older man asks walking over to us.

He has strands of gray hair and wears glasses.

"Daniel, this is Diana. She will be our new librarian. Diana, this is Daniel, the school doctor."

The man looks at me with a scrutinizing stare. "Are you anything... special?"

"Uhm... what?"

Before I can answer, Marco answers for me. "She's a witch! Just a normal witch."

"Oh..." The man looks a bit disappointed and now I notice that he is holding a syringe with glowing yellow liquid inside.

"What... is that for?" I ask feeling a bit unsettled.

"Oh, this! It's a concoction I made for the fairy. That is why I am looking for her. It will make her glow and so we would be able to tell where she is but she won't let me test it on her."

"Test?" My eyes widen.

"Well, yeah. It's something new I just made. By the way, have you seen Ezekiel? He is due for his checkup... and I am running low on vampire blood." He mutters the last part.

Marco and I look at each other and I can tell that he is just as creeped out as I am.

Daniel also notices our expressions and smiles. "It is all for... research purposes I assure you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a fairy to catch."

He scurries away with the syringe in hand.

"Is he always that... creepy?" I ask Marco as we watch him.

Marco laughs. "Yeah, he is but he is a good friend."

"And why did you say I was a witch?" I ask as we continue to walk.

"Because I don't think he has ever met a Nymph so he would be very curious to see what makes you tick."

I shiver a bit when he says this.

Best he doesn't know who I really am.

He leads me through some other doors and we are now in the library. "This is the school library, obviously, and where you'll be working."

"Reminds me of my sister's home." I mutter.

"I assume her home is filled with books?" He asks.

"Yes. Sophia has always been the intellectual type out of all of us sisters."

"You have many?" He asks.

"Yeah... seven sisters."

He looks a bit surprised. "Your parents were really gunning for a boy, huh?"

I laugh. "I'm not sure about that...uhm...most of us have different fathers."

"Oh... I see." He says. I can see he is trying not to judge.

I guess that what I said didn't really sound so good.

"It's not like you think." I say but actually, now thinking about it, it might just be how he thinks. It was a common thing for ancient celestial beings to have many offspring with different partners. It is something that is even common with mythology gods. Zeus himself fathered so many demigods—as humans used to call us.

"It is okay. It is none of my business." Marco says. "I mean, I can't judge since the man that fathered me had many children with different women himself as well."

I nod. "I guess we are the same in a way then."

"Oh, Marcoooo..."

Marco makes a face of irritation when he hears someone calling for him and turns around.

"What is it, Abigail."

The girl, Abigail walks up to us. She looks at me and smiles. "Oh hey! What was your name? Sorry, I didn't get it yesterday."

"Diana." I reply.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Abigail and this is my mate, Wolf." She motions to a serious-looking man behind her.

"It's nice to meet you." I say.

She turns to Marco. "I need a favor."

"No." Marco quickly says.

"But you don't even know what I am-"

"Oh, I know. It's the same thing again!" He says and starts walking out of the library. "Diana, you can go explore and get settled to start tomorrow." He says to me.

I smile and nod, watching him be followed by Abigail.

"But whyyyyy? Halloween is soon and it would be soooo much fun!" She says.

"Because you'll go overboard with this. You always do." Marco responds.

"I can't help it. It's my favorite holiday and I am sooo tired of lame costume parties. Why do we have to do the same thing every year?"

"Abigail, what you are askin-"

"Is fun! You no fun guy! You hate fun don't you?!"

I can still hear them in the hall.

"Abigail-"

"This is what we need right now after everything that has happened. A bit of fun..." She continues.

I stand there with a smile until I can't hear them anymore. I then look at the library and nod. "This will do. It does remind me of Sophia's library although it is not as big and honestly, I think any library would remind me of her place.

I walk out and continue exploring the place a bit more but I know I have a lot to see. This place is pretty big for a school.

I stop and think of another thing I have to do. "I need clothes. Can't wear the same thing for days on end"

As I am thinking this, I see the fairy walk in my direction. I have to pretend not to see her but when she sees me, she looks at me with curiosity and stops in front of me. She purposely stays quiet so that I don't hear her.

"Uhm... clothes it is." I say, acting like I am talking to myself.

I move to the side to move around her, forgetting that I am supposed not to know that she is in front of me.

Damn it.

I start walking really fast until I make it outside and see that she is not following me. I am pretty sure she didn't notice... I hope.

Alright! On to explore the area and find a clothing store.

I spend most of my morning doing that. I get a few things but I don't overdue it. I don't know how long I will be here and besides, when I am done, I'll probably just take very few things with me.

In the afternoon, I am already back at the school and spend some of my time putting all my stuff away and the rest of the day, exploring the rest of the school.

At night, I relax a little lying on the bed. Eventually, I get hungry but decide to take a shower first. once I am done, I walk out of the room rubbing a towel on my hair, trying to dry it, and put on a long shirt. I am not used to wearing underwear so I decide to leave it off since it feels uncomfortable. I then put a robe on since I decided to go to the kitchen. Marco said that the kitchen was always open so I should be able to get something to snack on.

It is almost midnight so there is no soul in sight at the moment.

When I make my way down the stairs, I see a shadow with the solute of a man coming from the hall.

Of course, I don't make a big deal about it since this is a school and anyone could be walking around. But when I reach the bottom of the stairs and turn the corner, I see that it is Marco walking in the distance.

I go in his direction but it's because the cafeteria is in this direction as well.

However, I don't know why but I am suddenly curious as to what he is doing. So I go past the kitchen and cafeteria and I follow him.

He immediately stops in front of a heavy-looking door that looks different from the others and is all the way at the end of a hall.

He goes in and of course, I follow after waiting a minute.

It looks like this leads to the basement of the school.

I reach the bottom and there are more halls with doors but I don't have to go far because one of the doors is open and there is light coming from it.

I peek in and see Marco with a guy and he looks familiar. It is the guy I followed into the school, the one who bumped into me. The one that looked sad and almost with no will to live.

Suddenly, my eyes are drawn to a girl's body on a stone table. I can feel so much magic coming from enchantments that have been put all around her and I know it is Aurora's magic.

"Connor, did you eat?" Marco asks the guy.

"I'll eat later." The man says. His voice is void of any emotion.

"No, go get something now."

"Marco-"

"She will be fine, Connor."

"I know. But I don't want to leave right now." Connor says.

They continue talking. I can feel so much sadness coming from both of these men in the way they talk.

I have seen what I have seen and I don't think leaving without them noticing me would be the right thing. Besides, I have a lot of questions.

"Is she...dead?" I softly ask, stepping into the room.

Both Marco and the guy named Connor look at me startled.

Connor abruptly gets up from where he was sitting.

"Who are you!" He shouts.

"Diana! What are you doing here?" Marco says putting a hand on Connor's shoulders trying to calm him down.

"Sorry, I saw you coming down here and I followed."

Marco sighs. "Why did you do that?"

"I... felt like it." I say.

"Who is she, Marco?" Connor asks.

"This is Diana. Our new librarian."

"Is she dead?" I ask again.

"No." Marco responds.

Connor looks at me with suspicion.

"Is she... your mate?" I softly ask him.

This looks like a very sensitive matter for all of them.

Connor's eyes fall. "Yes." He again sits next to the girl with his head and shoulders hunched down.

"What... happened?" I ask.

Marco puts a hand on Connor's shoulder. "Get something to eat, Connor."

He looks at me. "Come. Let him be."

He says and leads me out and back upstairs. Quietly, he walks into the cafeteria and then to the kitchen. He starts taking stuff out from the pantry and then starts the coffee machine up.

He turns around crosses his arms and leans on the counter as he waits for the coffee to brew. "You had no right, Diana." He says but he doesn't sound angry, just tired. "We all have been through a lot and you are a stranger to us all."

"I know, and I am sorry. I can tell that you all have been through a lot. I can feel it."

"You can feel it?"

I nod.

He takes in a deep breath. "Diana, if you want me to open up to you, then you are going to have to do the same. I need to know who you are."

I sigh. I knew eventually I would have to tell him. Didn't think it would be this soon.

"Well... I can tell you..." I say. "...but I am not sure if you'll believe me."

"Let's try it."

I don't have to think about it and I nod.

"Okay, I'll start then." He says.

"Okay."