Alex's POV:
I couldn't help touching my forehead as we drove in my teachers car for an hour or two to the House Of Houston. Jared was clearly trying not to throw up -- something most newly Marked do. I was perfectly fine, though. I clinched my fist and forced myself to stop touching the Mark. It made the newly skin hurt way too much.
"When we get there, maybe we can make some explosives. I'm sure they have plenty of matches and potassium," I told Jared. That made him smile. "I mean, they must have Potassium -- they have stump remover in powder form for sure."
"So it was you guys who have been putting bombs every where?" Mr Baynes asked. Jared and I fell into a guilty silence. Until Mr. Baynes broke it. "Awesome." Yup, Mr. Baynes is totally the awesomest teacher on the face of the earth.
"Yup.... The small explosives are the easiest, but the smoke bombs -- so long as you have Salt peter (AN: also known as Potassium Nitrate), sugar, and a hot skillet the Smoke bombs are easy too. They take less time." I said.
"Cool." Mr. Baynes smirked. "I used to make Salt bombs as a kid. You can add powdered die when you cook it and the smoke changes colour."
"Awesomeness!" Jared said around his nausea. "We'll have to try that!!"
"Yeah Well you'll have to wait 10 minutes till you get to the House.... I don't want you throwing up in my car. Tell me how it goes." Then the car was silent again.
The House we got to was huge. It looked like an ancient castle stepped out of the old times, covered with pictures of their Goddess. The gate slid open for us as we drove onto campus. We had some vamps frowning at us, but just about immediately Jared stopped looking like he was gonna barf. Mr. Baynes slid into a parking space and I stepped nimbly out of the car. I stood pencil straight an pulled my hat down over my Mark out of instinct. My long black hair whipped around my face in the chilly air and my sapphire eyes narrowed at a large, bulky male vamp who stepped within 10 feet of me. I heard Jared make his way around the car to stand next to me. THIS is one of those times that having a totally strong, pyrotechnic guy-friend comes in total handy.
I reached my hand into my pocket and fingered the box of matches that sat there. I knew Jared was touching his film-case bomb and matches, too. He had probably pulled his hood up to hide his Mark.
"Why are humans on campus?" the one who I had glared at asked in broken English, with a weird accent.
"They have been Marked," Mr. Baynes said calmly. All the vamps broke out in laughter.
"These mere children? I'm sorry you are mistaken. Only teenagers turn!!" he bellowed.
"We have so been Marked!" I yelled indignantly. "And even though we're kids we can make a bomb that can blow all your vamp asses off!"
"Really?" he sounded amused, but he had stopped laughing. Jared and I -- in perfect sinc -- removed the blocks. My Mark began to sting again. The man gave off a tense little laugh.
"The Marks are supposed to be blue. And, boy, yours is backwards. Girl, yours is sideways and backwards. I think you'd have to do better than that with make up!"
"These Marks are real," my voice became threatening.
"And we were Marked just 2 hours ago," Jared finished. All traces of a smile left their faces.
"You will go see Serah. She is our High Priestess. We will see what she makes of you," he said. Mr. Baynes frowned.
"I will stay with them for right now until this is straightened out. And then I'll have your parents mail you your stuff," Mr. Baynes told us. The vamps tensed some, but didn't object. We were surrounded by them and they led us into the building. We followed a bunch of twists and turns through the halls, until we finally came to a door. The vamp lifted his fist to knock but the door opened before he actually touched it. A striking woman with big thick blonde hair and big brown eyes was there. She frowned some at the vamp.
"Traintus. Why are you disturbing me? You should be on the perimeter." Her words would have been harsh if it hadn't been for her affectionate tone.
"We have a human who claims these two children have been Marked," the vamp -- Traintus -- said. Serah turned her attention to Jared and I, with our Marks in plain sight.
"We CLAIM nothing. Some weird vamp showed up and waved his hands at us screaming something about us being Marked by the Goddess, and these things showed up on our heads," Jared growled.
"They might not be the right colour or shape but they are moons and they are Marks," I finished snapping. The High Priestess looked at me cautiously.
"I believe them. But they are odd fledglings. Are you sure you are fledglings? You seem young."
"Yes," I growled. "Maybe. No. Yes. I don't know! The only one that knows is that... that.... that Tracker! I don't know what I am! All I know is that this thing appeared on my head! Whether I'm a Fledgling or not, I have the Mark and Jared here was about to puke his guts up till we got here!"
Serah frowned. Then her eyes got cloudy, and she went really still. She jolted out of it in a few moments.
"Nyx says you are Fledglings.... the House of Night to best care for you though seems to be the House Of Tulsa. They're accustomed to weird things.... they might have had something like you before. We will send out out on a plane soon. But for now you get used to your Mark while they try to calm some turmoil."
"Alright," I said tensely.
"But," Jared added.
"We need to have things explained," I finished.
"Like?"
"Well, we know most of it from school,"I said.
"Like, the mentors, Nyx, the council, etcetera," Jared nodded.
"SO we need to know about the blood, and who's gonna be our mentor," I finished again.
"I can answer that," a short man breezed into the room. He had swords framing his face, and his eyes seemed dark like he had gone through major pain.
"Who are you?" Jared asked.
"I am Dragon Lankford. You may call me Dragon. I am a teacher at the House Of Tulsa, where you will be going -- nice coincidence I was here on business."
"OH! You're the guy that... uh, is good at fencing?" I asked. I remember reading something about him in a book. He smiled, though it seemed strained.
"Yes. That is me. And I will take you into my group. I will be your mentor. That is if Serah deems it fit," Dragon turned to look at the Hight Priestess.
"I deem it fit," she agreed. "But Dragon, can you deal with this so soon after.....?"
"Yes," pain flickered in his eyes. "They will take my mind off things. And maybe when Zoey returns from Italy she will help them fit in. She knows quite a handful about being.... abnormal."
"Zoey?" Jared asked.
"Yes. She is a special fledgling at the House of Tulsa. She's gone to visit the Council over some matter of a fallen immortal."
"Oh," I said. Dragon smiled at that.
"You remind me of someone.... the Twins. That's who. They are always on the same page, just like you and Jared." I frowned some at his words. I guessed these would all be people I'd meet.
"We will leave for Tulsa tomorrow at sunset. Will you have your things by then?" Dragon asked Mr. Baynes now.
"I think I can get their stuff to them by that time. Maybe their parents will even get over their eternal hatred of vamps to come say goodbye."
"Really? How intriguing," Dragon said. "It always seems the children with the least understanding parents end up with the Marks. Especially the ones that are.... different."
"It seems so. The last time one of my students was Marked was when I taught a boy named Erik Night in a 9th grade year."
"Erik Night?" Dragon seemed utterly surprised. "Erik Night is one of the newly turned vamps at the House Of Tulsa. How interesting -- he's the temporary drama teacher."
"He was always into drama," Mr. Baynes recalled. "I'd often catch him reading scripts in my class instead of reading his science book. And then I'd make him do something with himself, so he'd get up in front of the class and preform. If he was going to read in my class he'd make it worth while. And he certainly did. When you return, tell him I'm glad for his success."
"I will," Dragon smiled. "I hope we meet again...?"
"Corey. Corey Baynes," Mr Baynes replied.
"OK Corey. I hope we meet again," Dragon said. "But for now I'm sure these children should sleep."
"They should. I will tell their parents. I hope to meet you again, as well," Mr. Baynes nodded and smiled. They shook hands the vampyre way. And then he left. And. We. Were. Alone. With. A. Bunch. Of. Vampires.
"I'm assuming we will put you in the guest suites. Because I assume you guys will want to be near each other?" Serah gave us an understanding look.
"Yeah," Jared and I said together. "Familiarity is good. Speaking of familiar.... to you happen to have sugar, powdered stump remover, a stove, an old film container, aluminium foil, matches, glue, and a drill??"
"Yeah...." sdhe looked at us suspiciously. "Why?"
Jared shrugged. "Because we -"
"- like to make small bombs."
She just laughed. "You realize this is a hard time to be a vampire? We believe there may be trouble afoot. Bombs might be a good thing to have... could you leave some with us??"
"Sure. If you want stronger ones we'll need gun powder, fertilizer, and gassoline," I said.
"And a few wicks," Jared added.
"Of course," she smiled. "We'll get those. Traintus, show them to their rooms."
CAUTION: THE RECIPIES FOR BOMBS IN THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER ARE REAL AND WILL EXPLODE UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE DO NOT DO AT HOME!!! (even though I will)