Chapter 1: Handkerchiefs and Nosebleeds
"Children, I'd like you to meet your newest classmate, Mr... uh… Zee-vic-can, is it?" Mrs. Richardson butchered the pronunciation of Xevikans's name as she stood at the head of the classroom, alongside Xev himself, who stood with his hood over his head and eyes trained on the ground. Richardson raked a disapproving stare over Xev and his unconventional, all-black clothing as Nick cleared his throat from the back of the class to correct the English teacher.
"Zev-uh-con. His name is Zev-uh-con Dah-rah-zuhr-cees." Nick stiffened in his chair as he felt the simultaneous glares of Mrs. Richardson and Caleb fall on him and his tacky orange shirt.
"Yes, thank you, Mr. Gah-tee-aaa. But I believe that I can take it from here, seeing as how I am the teacher of this class." Mrs. Richardson narrowed her gaze on Nick even further. "Wouldn't you agree? Or perhaps you'd like to teach the class from now on and introduce Mr. Zee-vic-can yourself?"
Nick sighed mentally as he ground his teeth and put on his best suck-up smile. "No ma'am."
Mrs. Richardson grinned her smug, tight-lipped smile. "That's what I thought." As she carried on with her introduction of Xev, Nick blocked out the awful sound of her voice and turned to Caleb, who sat to the right of him. The half-demon was still glaring at him, and now entered his thoughts.
You shouldn't defend him or his name, Nick. He doesn't deserve defense.
I'd do the same for you, C. You know I would. Nick thought back, frowning at Caleb's bitter tone.
Because I'm your friend. That monster over there… Caleb flicked his deep brown eyes up to the front of the room to Xev and then back to Nick. …is not your friend. Don't you ever make that mistake.
Nick rolled his eyes at Caleb's harped-on angry lecture and let out an audible sigh, catching the attention and glare of Mrs. Richardson. "Is there a problem, Mr. Gah-tee-aaa? You seem to be most dissatisfied with the way I've chosen to conduct class today."
Nick held back another sigh and bit back a snarky response, choosing to play the obedient role that Mrs. Richardson wanted from him. "No ma'am."
"Then perhaps I can carry on introducing your new classmate, with no further interruptions?" That tight-lipped smile returned to Richardson's face as her mouse-like eyes shot daggers at Nick.
"Yes ma'am."
"Excellent. Now, Mr. Zee-vic-can, is there anything you'd like to tell the class about yourself?"
Before Nick could stop himself, he blurted out the correct pronunciation of Xev's name once again. "Zev-uh-con. His name is Xevikan, remember?" Caleb shook his head of dark hair and trained his eyes on the desk before him.
Mrs. Richardson cocked her head at Nick in a way that reminded him of a hawk focusing on its prey. "Gah-tee-aaa, front and center. You can give your seat to Mr. Zee-vic-can."
Nick winced, glancing an apology at Caleb. The daeve's scowl deepened as he slowly flexed his hands under his desk. Nick slowly gathered up his books and backpack and moved to the front of the room, directly in front of Mrs. Richardson, as Xev kept his hood down and moved to the back of the classroom, taking Nick's vacant seat as his own. Xev, now sitting to the left of Caleb, kept his head of multicolored hair hidden within his dark hood and slouched in his chair, refusing to look at the demon next to him. Caleb did the same, developing a sudden interest in the pen on his desk and refusing to acknowledge the blood relative beside him.
Mrs. Richardson clapped her hands at the head of the class, still glaring at Nick but addressing the whole class in her sarcastic tone. "Now that we've had that troubling little matter taken care of, we can have some fun." Richardson's tone sobered to her normal, monotone voice, but her eyes remained fixed on Nick. "You have the remainder of the hour to compose a 1000 word essay on the significance of Desdemona's handkerchief in Act III, Scene IV." The class sighed collectively. "Due at the end of the hour. I suggest you get started."
Nick struggled to hold the gaze of his English teacher as she continued to stare at him while the rest of the class took out paper to begin their essay. All he really wanted to do was turn around and make sure that Caleb and Xevikan hadn't killed anyone yet. Namely each other. Mrs. Richardson leaned in and whispered to Nick with her putrid breath. "Correct me in front of my class again, Gah-tee-aaa, and you'll find yourself another new seat, in Mr. Head's office."
Nick winced at her pronunciation of his name as she practically spit it in his face. Nick sighed and gave Mrs. Richardson one of his stock answers of the day: "Yes ma'am." Nick wanted to correct her; he took no greater pleasure in life than in talking back to Richardson and authority figures who abused their power like she did. He knew he couldn't risk defending his own commonly abused name, though, and leave Caleb and Xev in a room together without him to stop them from mauling each other's faces.
As Mrs. Richardson strutted to the back of the classroom to her desk, Nick turned to verify that both Caleb and Xevikan still had their innards intact. He breathed a short sigh of relief when he saw both boys bent over their desk, staring intently at the papers before them. Caleb was furiously scribbling out his essay in his black pen, but Xev seemed to be having some difficulty. He had pulled a pen and some paper from his backpack, laying the paper out on the desk in front of him and gripping his pen tightly in his left hand. He did not write, however, and wore a frustrated expression on his partially visible face.
Xev's hand quivered over the paper, as if he had the words he wanted to say in his head but couldn't transfer them to the paper. And then it dawned on Nick: Xev couldn't write in English. If he had ever learned how, that knowledge was probably long gone by now. Nick had no doubt that Xev was incredibly intelligent, but realized then how unlikely it was that he would have ever had the chance to practice his writing, let alone that of a language not his own, in all the years he had spent locked away. Nick felt a pang of guilt for the creature's suffering, despite the fact that he was really the one to have ended it when he released Xev against Caleb's will.
Nick glanced around the room, eagerly looking for a way to help his new friend out, but couldn't find one. He briefly considered asking Caleb to help Xev, but then scolded himself mentally for what a terrible idea that was. Nick sighed quietly, wishing that Nekoda was in this class and that she would have a way of helping Xev. As he continued glancing around the room, Nick's bright blue eyes sparkled with a hint of daring as they focused on the one object in the room that might just help him: the fire alarm.
Nick scolded himself again for ever coming up with such a bone-headed plan, but he didn't see another option. Xev couldn't turn in a blank essay without humiliating himself and flunking Richardson's class. Nick couldn't just walk to the back of the classroom and help Xev without getting reprimanded by Mrs. Richardson and embarrassing himself and his friend in front of their classmates. Even if he could, what would he do? Re-teach Xev how to write in upper and lower case Latin characters and still get his own essay done in 40 minutes? It just wouldn't happen. If he were to pull the fire alarm, though… Well, Richardson couldn't grade an in-class essay if the entire class were outside in the parking lot, waiting for the fire department to put out a non-existent fire.
Groaning mentally at his own stupidity, Nick held onto his pen tightly and pretended to be writing his essay as he focused his eyes on the fire alarm that was positioned on the wall to the left of him. He couldn't just walk up to the fire alarm and pull it; Richardson would see him and get him suspended, maybe even expelled. He'd have to be more discreet. Racking his brain for a demonic power that might help him, Nick realized that pulling fire alarms from across the room wasn't exactly in his skill set. But maybe it could be. He had once set Stone on fire in chem class without knowing how to, all because of an emotional trigger. Maybe he could trigger some other kind of emotion and pull the fire alarm with his mind.
Nick glanced back to Xev and watched him struggle for a few seconds before catching Caleb's eye. Caleb scowled, glancing at Xev and then at Nick, trying to figure out what moronic plan the young Malachai had devised this time. Nick shrugged an apology and turned his head back to the fire alarm, now fiercely determined to help his friend in need and refusing to let anyone suffer humiliation like he did. Caleb's eyes widened and flashed a shade of orange as he realized what Nick was attempting to do. Gautier, don't you-
Nick breathed a sigh of relief as the fire alarm sounded, eliciting cheers from his classmates and a sharp gasp from Mrs. Richardson. He sat dazed in his chair for a few seconds before realizing that he had given himself a nosebleed. Nick quickly wiped his nose, determined not to let either of his friends see evidence of his struggle. He met Caleb's angered gaze as the daeve completed his sentence out loud, "-dare." Nick ignored his irritated friend and rushed back to the confused Xev, who stood slowly from his desk chair, unaware of why all the students had jumped up and headed for the door when the alarm sounded. Nick grabbed Xevikan by the arm and pulled him to his full height as he grinned.
"Come on, Mr. Zee-vic-can, no essay for you today," Nick winked at his friend, teasing him with the terrible moniker Mrs. Richardson had stuck him with. Xev met Nick's eyes and squinted at him suspiciously until he realized what the boy had done for him. Xev widened his eyes and gave Nick a solemn nod of appreciation that Nick reciprocated. Nick continued to grin as he pushed Caleb ahead of him and pulled Xevikan behind him, leading the unconventional trio of students to the door and out of the building behind the rest of the students.