Chapter 7

Verity

I'd barely been at Duel Academy a week and I already felt like screaming. Or digging a hole and staying in it.

Every student here wanted to stop and stare at me, and none of them knew squat about shielding their thoughts. And since my own shielding was pretty much useless, and my telepathy control worse than that, I got to hear every dog-joke and every speculation about how far my fur spread under my clothes.

It gets old.

I did eventually dig a hole under the Slifer dorm…more like a den, actually. I just couldn't stand being around the stares anymore.

It was actually pretty roomy, more so than the room I'd been using in the building itself. It had some earth support beams and the ceiling wasn't exactly high enough for me to stand in, but I could get around just fine. A bed made out of blankets and a pillow, a closet made from a wooden box, and a desk made out of another wooden box, and my room was done.

The place didn't have any lights, and my 'doorway' wasn't exactly built for visitors, but I highly doubted that anyone would want to come visit me anyway.

Then a meeting was called in the main hall. According to Chancellor Shepherd, we had a transfer student. "I trust you'll all make him feel welcome. Everyone, meet Abidos Kaiba."

The boy who came out stepped onto the stage as if he owned it. And…I've seen Seto Kaiba, as well as Kisara. If this guy was related to them, it was only barely: his skin was definitely darker. His hair and eyes matched Mister Kaiba's, though, besides the fact that he was wearing his hair right around shoulder-length.

Then he looked straight at me. And that was when I knew that he was to be my partner in breaking this curse.

Abidos

I held what Lady Kisara had said to me before I'd exited the helicopter firmly in mind:

"I will only tell you one thing about your partner: you will know her when you see her."

"Everyone, meet Abidos Kaiba."

That's my cue. I pulled all of my experience as a pharaoh to the fore and walked out with my head held high, studying the crowd of children my age.

Then my eyes landed squarely on one particular red-jacket girl. She was hard to miss…what with those large furry ears and amber eyes.

Of course; what else would it be?

Verity

I heard his thoughts as plainly as if he'd spoken aloud. He saw me as an unusual creature and wasn't sure how well we'd manage to work together.

I tried to keep my own thoughts rational. After all, we probably didn't look like a very good team on paper. But the notation still hurt, especially since this was the boy I was supposed to try and work with.

I turned and slowly started inching my way through the crowds again. I wasn't about to attempt to speak to him in this environment. Besides, I still needed to tend to the new slash he'd given my heart.

Abidos

As I watched, she turned – it didn't surprise me that she had a tail – and started weaving through the crowds, heading for the nearest exit. It left me wondering why her ears were drooping.

Oh, ah, Highness?

I jumped at the voice in my head. Was that Maximar?

It sure was. Kisara was awfully mean to your partner just now, sending you in there without at least telling you about her telepathy control, or rather her lack of it.

That brought me to a halt. So…she can…

You got it. Her ability to read minds is really good, and her shielding is erratic. Plus, mind reading becomes that much better with eye contact, which you did right as your own mind dropped its first thought about her.

So…that means…oh, great.

Yeah…you just hurt her feelings. I guarantee you, though, that if you cross paths with her again, her lack of control will aid in your apology leaking over to her. I mean, obviously you can't apologize to her verbally, because technically as far as the majority of the school's concerned you weren't here long enough to do anything yet.

I sighed. This would be tricky. I had knowledge of how women in this time preferred to be treated, but I also had ancient Egyptian reflexes, and I wasn't sure how I could mix the two when they weren't exactly compatible.

You'll figure it out. You know, though, if I had to guess, I'd say my sister didn't think the girl's feelings would be hurt as badly as they just were. Wonder what criteria she had been using... And then I was alone in my head again, without a clue what I was supposed to do.

As the auditorium cleared out, however, I spotted someone I remembered! Well, actually, I saw three people I remembered: a small boy with lots of blue hair, a taller boy with a black jacket and black hair, and…

I waved. It felt strange, but Jaden did this to call my attention to him way back then. "Alexis!"

I will be charitable and call it only mildly entertaining to watch her jump. Then she turned, stood and waited as I came down to her. Her expression was suspicious. I didn't blame her; there was no way I would have known her name when we hadn't been introduced. "Do I know you?"

"Actually, yes, after a fashion; you told me your name yourself, which is why I remember it. I had been raised from the dead to duel Jaden."

The little boy stepped back, his eyes getting even bigger. "Wait a minute…you're Pharaoh Abidos the Third?!"

Before I could answer, the black-jacket boy asked, rather snidely I might add, "Back for another round of trying to destroy the world?"

"Trying to save it, actually. Listen, could we go talk somewhere else? This gets complicated."

We went to the Slifer dorm. On the way there, I was properly introduced to Syrus and Chazz, along with being newly introduced to a large-muscled boy in a yellow jacket who was named Hassleberry and a young girl in a red jacket named Blair.

"Alrighty, Mister Pharaoh," he opened, "start talking. First off, if you went back to the afterlife or whatever after the Sarge beat you, what are you doing here?"

"If by 'sarge' you mean Jaden, then what you said is accurate. Lady Kisara…" I sighed. "I still have a hard time thinking of her as 'mother,' even though that's how she brought me back to life, along with a fair amount of magic."

Chazz interrupted me. "Why would she bother doing that?"

"I'm getting to that. Apparently there's a curse taking form that's threatening the entire universe, and when she sought answers, she discovered that two people working together could break the curse."

Syrus proved to be rather quick. "And you're one of them?"

"Yes."

Alexis suddenly got a look on her face that I couldn't read. "So…that girl with the large ears and the tail…"

"She's my partner, though I don't know her name." I rubbed at the back of my head. "Actually, I'm a little embarrassed right now: apparently, though I didn't learn of it until afterwards, she's a telepath with almost no control over that power, and she took my thoughts upon seeing her personally. I…have no experience with apologizing, especially not to a girl." That was a bit of a blow to my pride, but it was true. "One thing I learned, though, was that apparently Kisara had told me so little about my partner because she didn't think my first thought would cause as much pain as it did." Suddenly, I had a suspicion. "Has, ah, anyone tried to make friends with her?"

Nobody in the room made eye contact with me. That was answer enough.

I sighed. "Did it occur to any of you that she would have a hard time approaching people because of her appearance? If she'd had any friends here before I came, she would have been braced better for my own first reaction, and we could start officially working on a solution sooner. Now, though, I have to make up with her before we can figure out the way to break the curse!"

"Okay, first of all," Alexis grabbed my shoulder, "stop complaining. Second, about the only time she can truly be cornered is at mealtimes. Third, her name's Verity." Then she noticed that everyone else in the room was staring at her. "What? I looked it up!"

"Verity…" That wasn't the first name I'd have guessed. "Does she have a last name?"

"If she does, it isn't on the website."

"And…not that finding her there would be particularly appropriate for me, but where's her room?"

"It was across from mine," Blair piped up.

"Was?"

"She hasn't been in it for over a week, and all her stuff was cleared out. I don't know where she's staying now."

Alexis let go of my shoulder. I sat down and tried to think. Unknown sleeping arrangements, mealtimes the easiest time to corner her…

"Plus, nobody sits anywhere near her during classes…or anytime, really, although I get the feeling that mealtimes that's a personal choice."

Syrus sighed. "If Jaden were here, he'd make the first move. He'd walk right up to her and say, 'hey what's up? Say, you've got,' um…" he sat back, stumped. "I'm not sure…maybe something about how sweet her ears are?"

I thought for a minute. Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed a low shadow in the doorway. We hadn't closed the door because we knew we'd hear someone coming, but I hadn't heard a thing. But considering the shadow had a large pointed ear, I wasn't too surprised. Eavesdropping, Verity? …Just as well.

Not giving myself much time to think, I stated, "It would be easier on me, at least, if she made the first move and showed that she actually wanted to be friends with someone."

Alexis must have noticed the way my eyes had slanted towards the door, for she followed up with, "Yeah…she isn't exactly acting sociable, which is probably why most of the students are avoiding her."

Syrus tried to give her some defense. "Well, if she was picked on a lot, then it makes sense she's hesitant about trying to get any friends…"

"True," Alexis countered, "but there's a difference between hesitant and passively hostile. Unfortunately, I'm not sure Verity knows she's using the second option."

I watched the shadow ear. It had bounced up and down a few times, clearly showing that she was feeling a couple of different emotions, both positive and negative. Which way was she going to jump?