Chapter 10

"Hey Kylie, are you sure you're feeling okay? You know you woke up pretty much everyone in the entire school with that lousy scream of yours?" one of the girls sneered. Probably a Moroi, I wasn't sure since I wasn't really looking. I was specifically ignoring them to avoid any unnecessary violent accidents.

Deep breaths Kai, you don't want to get into a fight with people you could crush in less than five seconds. I warned myself. I recited the mantra a few times before plastering a casual nonchalant smile on my face.

"Oh and Ingrid, hanging around her won't help you pass combat class, you know?" she taunted further and I saw Ingrid's expression change from a cheerful smile to discomfort. I realised that she probably wasn't bold enough to back chat the bitch but I sure as hell was.

"Sorry but, who are you?" I asked with a hand on my hip. I made sure to make my voice light and casual with a hint of spite. Truth be told, I had absolutely no idea. I couldn't really remember most people at this school. Sure there were a few exceptions such as jackass Nick O'Connor but that was because of my dislike towards him. But girls like her, girls who bitched none stop and stopped at almost nothing to gain popularity, I couldn't really remember. I vaguely remembered that she sat on the jock table.

"Aw the little new kid doesn't know who I am," she cooed. I didn't like the way she seemed to speak as though I was some sort of an elementary kid.

"Pfft that's not hard considering how you're pretty much a nobody." I scoffed, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Unlike you, people actually know who I am on day two, can't say the same for a flapping fish though. Unlike my popularity, you're just barely riding the waves and hanging the side lines of the main surfers, Miss Ironing Board."

Her face contorted in fury and the next moment I felt the air lifting beneath my feet throwing me up into the air. Just as I was thrown I grabbed a small grape off someone's tray beside where I was walking and threw it at her tall glass filled with juice. The grape hit at the perfect angle and with enough force that tipped the glass and her pristine white dress was ruined in that single moment. I landed softly on my feet having done a small flip in the air so that I wouldn't land face first. I guessed that she must've been an air user to have flipped me like that and it had backfired completely.

Her screech filled the dining hall as she jumped up and she glared at me.

"Well you sure could use the splash of colour. White washes you out considering your pale complexion and all. If you're going to try being fashionable, at least get it right." I smirked and gave her a cheeky wink.

I gave my three friends high fives as the rest of the dining room either sat there silently in awe or chanted 'fight' or they cheered.

"What the hell did you do?" she screeched as she stormed towards me.

"I don't know what you mean." I told her innocently.

"You did something! You made that glass tip!"

"I don't see how that's possible considering I'm at least four meters away from you. I don't think it's possible to have arms that long."

"I know you did something! Just admit it!"

"You should probably get changed or something because it's starting to look like someone pissed on it." I grimaced and turned my back on her so that I could go get some food from the counter.

I'd gotten about two paces away when I heard her shriek explode again through the dining hall and I heard the rapid footsteps heading towards me. I didn't even bother turning around, instead I just stepped ever so slightly to the side at the last second and discreetly stuck my foot out. She lost her balance, having tripped up on it, and fell towards the ground. She reached out, probably hoping to grab something and what she ended up grabbing was a tray of unfinished food and cold coffee. Someone had stood up at that moment holding up the tray and she'd just grabbed it.

Water dripped down her face and tomato sauce stained her clothes as well as coffee. Even I winced at the situation. This had certainly gotten farther than I had ever intended. I didn't realise she'd be stupid enough to try and attack me from behind and I certainly hadn't anticipated someone standing up with a tray.

"You will pay for this!" she hissed at me and stormed off.

I just stared after her as she left and I noticed the guardians standing on guard by the walls. They all seemed to hold amused gleams in their eyes and some even had small smiles on their faces. No doubt they probably knew who the girl I just pissed off was and from their smiles I guessed that they probably didn't like her much either.

"Sorry about your tray." I smiled apologetically. If I remembered rightly, her name was Mary and she was a dhampir novice like me.

"Don't worry about it; she deserves what she got after all the things she's said about you. How did you pull all of that off?" she marvelled. "It was you who tipped the glass right?"

I gave her a smart grin and helped pick up her plates and cups and put them on her tray. I lifted my arm and pointed at the bunch of grapes two tables back. "Sorry I stole one of your grapes."

"You threw a grape?" he stared at me in shock.

"Yep." I nodded. "I think it landed somewhere around there." I gestured at the table beside where the bitch had sat.

The ones who sat at the table I pointed at immediately looked around on the floor. "Found it!" one of the girls declared and held up a split grape. They all turned to me and I just gave them a shrug.

"Technically speaking I didn't touch her so no rules broken." I grinned.

"You just pissed off Marissa Badica and you're worried about breaking rules?" Ingrid stared at me in shock. "You are crazy Kai."

"Nope, I can handle her in any way I want, guardians are tougher." I shook my head.

"I can't believe you called her an ironing board to her face!" Els burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter after we sat down.

"It was the first insult that came to mind." I smiled sheepishly.

"Actually, telling her that she's pretty much a nobody was your first insult." Roxy pointed out.

"Marissa Badica is a royal so telling that she was a nobody is definitely an insult. She's not a high royal but she is a royal nonetheless." Els explained.

"Oh shit… I cocked it up real bad haven't I? What if she cries to her family or something and causes a scene? That'll make the Headmaster's life hell won't it? Oh crud." I smacked my forehead at my foolishness. I really did have to do something about my awful habit of insulting people I didn't like without a thought. It was going to get me in deep shit one of these days, especially in a school filled with royals.

"That's fine, her family won't be able to do much about it anyway. Marissa isn't that well known here so you didn't really damage her reputation at all. I mean, she's nothing compared to her brother's reputation let alone yours." Ingrid told me.

"It's not much of a secret that people here don't really like her stuck-up, bitchy attitude." Roxy commented with a scoff.

"But did you know? Word has it that she's actually engaged." Ingrid whispered.

"What?" I asked in shock and nearly spat out my drink.

"It's one of those ones which has been arranged by their families," she told me.

"But it's an arranged marriage, I thought people stopped doing that by now. I mean, don't they used to do that in the ancient days?" I frowned.

"Yeah but some of the major families still do this from time to time."

"That must suck so badly." I grimaced. "I can't imagine being forced into an arranged marriage."

"You'd probably just kick their asses to get out of it." Els joked.

"You know, I think you may be right about that." I laughed. "But still, an arranged marriage? Are either of them happy about it?"

"I'm not sure about the guy, but Marissa couldn't care less since she's marrying into even more money. Apparently, he's a pretty successful guy and his family just wanted him married to have grandkids."

"Wow… I guess coming from a family like that has its down sides too huh?" I sighed.

"I for one am glad that I'm not from a royal family of any sort." Els shrugged. "I can't imagine having to face all the politics and stuff, dhampir or Moroi, it can't be easy being a royal."

"You're damn right about that." I scoffed and it wasn't until I said it that I fully registered my words. It was a slip up and a damn big one too if the confused expressions on their faces were anything to go by. "Sorry, I just meant that I can't imagine having to keep up a mask and be someone that everyone would approve of all the time. I mean, being a royal can't be easy right? One wrong comment could start some kind of a family feud." I joked. Realisation dawned on their faces and they agreed. Well, I was out of danger for now. Until the next slip up anyway. This was definitely a lot harder than I first thought!

Then another thought dawned on me. It was going to need to take extra care at any future parties. If I was letting things slip while I was perfectly sober, I didn't even want to know what I might accidentally blurt out when I was tipsy!

"So wait, I was wondering, do you know what you're going to wear on Saturday yet?" Els asked curiously.

"I've got a few things in my drawers but I haven't decided. Why? You want to turn me into your personal mannequin don't you?" I narrowed my eyes at her suspiciously.

"Well…" she trailed off. "I'm not going to lie about it."

"Els has turned both of us into her personal mannequins." Roxy rolled her eyes. "It's just the way she is."

"Hm… if you didn't have to be a Guardian, you'd probably become a fashion designer of co-ordinator right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I still want to do that," she nodded with a shy smile. Aw she was so cute.

"Well I don't really have any objections so knock yourself out with rummaging through my drawer later." I told her with a shrug.

"I have a brilliant idea, how about we have a mini fashion show tonight?" Els grinned with a devious gleam in her eyes.

"We're in a vampire school and you want to have a fashion show?" I stared at her in disbelief. "Are you crazy?"

"Why does it matter if we're in a vampire school or not?" she frowned in confusion.

"There are so many other candidates to choose from." I protested.

"But I don't like them and they're not my friends." Els shrugged nonchalantly. "And I want to see what you'd look like before deciding what we should wear."

"That's what you're after." I groaned.

"Come on Kai, it'll be fun." Roxy said persuasively.

"Pretty please." Ingrid stared at me with wide puppy dog eyes.

"Okay fine but you'll have to promise to never use that kind of voice, it's kind of creepy." I told her with a grin.

After breakfast we headed to lessons and throughout the day most people gave me grins and claps on my shoulder for what I'd done at breakfast to Marissa. In a way I felt guilty for having humiliated her like that, but it was her fault to begin with. I wasn't going to just stand down and let her trample over me like a rug. Not a chance that was ever going to happen.

Another thing that seemed to accompany my day was the horrible nightmare that I'd had that night. There were times when I looked at my friends that I saw their faces covered with blood. Each time that happened I would blink and the blood would be gone. Combat Training was the worst part of the day. Adrenaline and fear rushed through me when I saw Ingrid get smacked down by her partner and I would remind myself that we were still in school and it was only combat class.

I was extra hesitant in striking my opponent who was currently Roxy which earned me a couple of surprisingly hard hits.

"Kai? Are you okay? You seem really out of it," she asked worriedly as she stopped attacking me.

"Yeah sorry, I'm alright…" I nodded hesitantly.

"Does it have anything to do with that dream of yours?" she whispered and grabbed my hand to drag me over to the side so that we could sit down.

"Bull's-eye." I smiled sheepishly.

"Are you going to be okay with class today?"

"Yeah, I can't let it hang over my conscious the whole time or else I won't survive."

"Alright everyone stop!" Joe commanded and it took a couple of moments for everyone in the room to follow his command. "New idea, in about five minutes' time we're going to ring a bell. Once we do that, you all have an hour's time limit to catch Zeklos, the Dragomir twins, Ozera and Valentine. You can work in teams and anyone who manages to capture them and bring them back here within that hour gets to skip out on the six laps around the fields at the end of class and they won't have to do the assault course on Saturday."

"What?" I shouted in surprise as did the other four mentioned people who would be chased after.

"Why us?" Dan demanded.

"It's something to spice up class. If you guys remain free by the end of the hour then you get to skip the laps and the assault course." Crispin shrugged with a mischievous grin.

"You're awful!" I whined.

"There will be designated areas around the campus that you won't be allowed into. They will be marked and there will be other guardians spread around to assess the training." Joe added.

I slowly inched towards the nearest exit to me and waited. I gulped as I noticed the pairs of eyes watching me carefully, waiting for the bell and waiting for me to run for it. When the time came it wasn't fair because the other four Moroi managed to get a head start by using their elements.

I ran as fast as I could and dashed past a pair of stunned dhampirs who were in a different year group.

"Hey, if we work together to bring her down, we can all bail!" I heard some of them suggest.

Damn, they were smarter than I gave them credit for. I picked up my pace and turned a sharp corner. It didn't help that I didn't know the grounds as well as the others so I was already at a disadvantage. The other major disadvantage was I was completely outnumbered! Upon turning the sharp corner, I jumped up onto a small ledge that stuck out from the wall and reached up to a balcony terrace and vaulted my way up onto the roof.

"Hey that's not fair!" I heard someone shout.

"What's not fair are the odds against me!" I called back with a wink before running along the concrete roof of a modern two story block. I mentally thanked myself for wearing dark clothes because as soon as I was out of sight, I blended in with the shadows. Sometimes, having a nocturnal schedule wasn't a complete disaster. It meant that during class the sky was dark and it was easy to find shadows to hide in.

I dodged several pursuers by staying with the shadows and at times I had to press myself up against the wall and hold my breath for them to miss me. Within ten minutes I found a couple of the restricted areas for the purpose of this exercise and I even ran into a Guardian.

"Oh hey wait a minute," he called out to me with a hushed voice so that he wouldn't draw attention. "You're Valentine aren't you? That new kid."

"Yes…" I nodded. "Do you mind if I run off because I'd rather not get caught."

"In a moment yes," he nodded. "There's another part to the game that only the ones being chased should know about. On top of being chased by everyone else, you five also have to gather the signatures of certain Guardians. Each of you have different signatures that you have to collect. I'm one of yours it seems. Here's the list of the others that you have to get."

"So despite the huge disadvantage that we already have, we have another thing to look out for? Just how unfair do they want to make this game? This has to be the toughest game of cops and robbers I've ever heard." I grumbled.

"Hey there she is!" I heard someone holler and I turned to the Guardian frantically before grabbing his hand and running into a random empty classroom.

"Can I have that signature now?" I asked frantically. I watched with a hitched breath as he quickly scribbled on the sheet of paper beside his name before handing it to me. "Thank you!" I smiled before opening one of the windows.

"Hey wait a second that's too dangerous!" he yelled in shock when he realised what I was about to do.

I flashed him another smile before jumping out. Halfway down there was a branch for me to grab onto to reduce my fall and I released it before I was shot back up into the air. As I landed, I bent my knees and squatted as my feet touched the ground to break my fall. I gave a relieved sigh, glad that I managed to pull that one off. Honestly, when I'd first glanced out of the window, I hadn't been sure that would manage it but thankfully that branch was sturdier than I'd thought which helped break my fall.

I did however manage to knick my arm on something during my fall at some point and I only realised it when I felt the small trickle of blood rolling down my arm. I straightened up and patted myself down before taking a look at the cut. And then I glanced up to see a whole class full of people staring at me in shock. I gave them a grin and they seemed to cheer. I could only guess that they had just witnessed me falling from the sky and were cheering because I'd pulled it off.

I took a glance at the list Guardian… Danvers just gave me. There were about six more signatures I needed to get and some of them I knew but there were three whom I didn't.

Jill Drozdov

Raphael Lazar

Guardian Johnson

Guardian Black

Guardian Brent

Guardian Castile

I didn't know who Guardian Johnson, Black or Brent was so I could only guess that they had transferred here after my escape all those years ago. I knew the two Moroi for one simple reason. They were royals so there was no way I wouldn't know. I remembered that they were teachers who helped with the magic classes at this school but I had no idea where they could possibly be so I knew that I had to get some help.

The last name on that list made my heart skip a beat and I swore that I was going to give Joe and earful when I saw him again in practice. It was obvious that he and Crispin had collaborated to make up the list. Joe must've been planning something if he didn't have Guardian Castile's name scratched off my list.

There was a reason why I reacted to his name compared to the others. Alistair Castile was not only a Guardian, but he was still in school when I was still around. And when I was still around, he was my occasional babysitter. We were so close; we might as well have been siblings. If Ali was still as observant as he used to be, there was no way that he wouldn't recognise me. Back then Ali was the one that I ran to if I had anything I couldn't bring myself to tell my parents. Like some of the irritating things that Nick used to do. Ali cared for me, and he took care of me. And as embarrassing as it would be to admit, Ali was also my first crush.

I had no idea what my sudden disappearance did to some of the people I loved and loved me in return. I had no idea how they reacted with the exception of Martin and Joe. I hadn't had the time to have a detailed reminiscence with Joe yet so I didn't know how the others took it. I knew that they were worried, Joe told me as much.

After a lengthy moment of deliberation, I decided to suck it up and not worry about how he'd react and most likely hit me for disappearing without a hint. I turned to face the classroom again and found a couple of students still looking at me curiously. They had to be a class of people younger than me since they obviously weren't the seniors. I gave them a wave before dashing off to find another Guardian or someone who would have any idea about where the people on my list could be.

9