Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or this world that they are in and I am making no money out of this. I just want to write a sequel to a really good book that I wish had one.

Chapter 4

The days at the Merchants school were, if Lan was being honest with himself, not as bad as they used to be, and I was all thanks to Kalira they had become friends quite quickly, she often had a cheeky twinkle in her eyes; and sometimes used words that didn't quite fit in with the context she was trying to convey.

On her first day, amazingly neither Tyron or his gang noticed her, and since she was sitting next to Lan nor him either, which was a relief as it allowed him to explain how things at the school worked, how the Sixth Formers were in charge and were, essentially conducting a tyranny.

She accepted it all much more easily than he would have thought possible, considering she would be at the bottom of the pecking order when the Sixth Formers noticed her.

Yet she was still her usual cheerful self, even after the second day when the Sixth Formers finally noticed her.

It was another dreary winter day, the world still unusually, looked as if it had most of its colour washed out, even for winter.

As Lan approached the school, he was careful to avoid the Sixth Formers, who were currently tormenting Tori Scrivens whose eyes seemed to take in everything, and they had nicknamed her Frit short for frightened.

Whenever he thought about these things he got angry, really angry and he usually got a slight headache afterwards, it had been going on for nearly half a year, and he still didn't know what was causing it, he did have a sneaking suspicion that it was connected to his anger.

When he got inside, he met Kalira at the door and they went up to the classroom were she asked him what was wrong he tried to explain what it was like, and then she asked him a weird question, one that didn't make any sense to him.

"Why are you here Lan, why here of all places"

"Because my parents want me to, and I've got nowhere else to go".

The answer didn't seem to be the one she wanted but it seemed to satisfy her though.

At lunch time when all the students were heading down to eat, Lan was going to try a new strategy; where he would stay upstairs in his classroom instead of going down to lunch.

"Tyron didn't notice me yesterday, so naturally he is going to pay extra attention to me today best if I don't go down".

But as luck would have it he wouldn't be allowed to remain, as Kalira took his arm and steered him towards the stairs.

"But Kalira if I go down there Tyron will notice me."

"Lan it will be okay, but if it is going to, you have to face your pain"

"But-"

"But nothing, I am not going down there alone"

After a little more protesting and a bit of convincing, Lan agreed and they went downstairs.

As they entered the Merchants school dining room they were immediately cornered by Tyron and his cronies, two of them immediately circled round and blocked off the stairs, Tyron stepped forward.

"Well well Scrub, I was wondering where you were yesterday! Who's your friend there?"

Lan remembered Kalira words "you have to face your fears" he felt a massive headache building, and then at Tyron's last words he made up his mind.

He pointed at the bench he had sat at yesterday.

And in an even tone with a calm expression on his face, even though he was quaking inside, he looked Tyron in the eye and said "I was right there Tyron. This is Kalira, she arrived here yesterday"

And with that his headache instantly started to fade, he noticed a flicker of fear cross Tyron's face, he felt an odd surge of confidence course through him, just as all the students looked up startled, their postures stiff and alert. Some cowering a little, hoping they wouldn't be noticed.

Tyron's face bristled with anger but he turned instead to Kalira "so you've been here a day, I take it you know the rules of this place!"

She answered in the affirmative and looked down, a smile on her lips.

"So Scrub we need a name for your friend here. I know" he said with a wicked grin, "we'll call you Gran". Looking at Kalira's hair

Lan, with a look of defiance in his eyes said. "She already has a name Tyron". All the students except for Tyron, his cronies, and Kalira; who was smiling, flinched, Tyron turned to him and said "what was that Scrub" his voice had taken a dangerous tone.

"You heard me" Lan retorted. And with that Tyron threw his first punch. But as if he had practiced the movement until it was instinct, he ducked under the blow, sidestepped to the right and threw a solid punch into Tyron's side that sent him staggering.

Then as Lan rolled to the side he got that feeling that he had forgotten something really important and instinctively glanced quickly at Kalira but where she had stood, was a white horse with silver mane and tail, blue eyes and silver hooves.

All he could do was gape, the horse, no "Kalira" he murmured, he didn't know how he recognised her, but he did.

Just then, the moment was broken as Tyron's cronies grabbed him by the shoulders, securing him, he blinked and Kalira was back to normal.

Then Tyron delivered four vicious blows to his gut and was about to deliver a fifth when the bell rang, signalling the return to class.

As he was leaving, Tyron leaned over him and whispered "I hope that was enough to teach you Scrub".

Then with Kalira's help he got back up to class.

"I hope they don't notice me later." He said as he sat down.

"They won't she replied" and for the rest of the day they didn't.

After that, the Sixth Formers continued to treat everyone as usual, Lan asked Kalira about what he had seen but she was vague and Lan almost, almost convinced himself that he had hallucinated, but he still got the feeling he had forgotten something, and that it was tied into what he saw.

Lan continued to help Kalira with her study's, they would laugh and joke, and whenever she looked at him it was with a smile. The days were getting better.

As the days grew warmer Lan couldn't help but notice how odd things seemed, for example how washed out all the colour was, and he knew that he hadn't somehow damaged his eyes because Kalira looked vibrant, as if no one had washed out her colours.

And there was the fact that when he got angry his head no longer hurt and he was more in control.

Coupled with the fact that whenever he caught a glimpse of the Palace, he got an insistent longing, a feeling that that, was where he belonged.

And whenever he thought about these things he usually shoved them to the back of his mind.