Hi... I'M SO SORRY! Things have not been going to well lately in my life so i haven't been able to write in forever! now that it's winter break though I believe i'll be able to update faster. To everyone who has read/ reviewed/ followed/ favorited this story thank you sooo much. I don't deserve your kindness. So a relatively short chapter for now, hopefully i'll be able to get the next one done soon.

disclaimer: don't own a thing

Chapter 3

In the lazy afternoon sunshine on the roof of the boy's dorms lay a handsome blond boy with eyes the color of the ocean. In his outstretched hand was a picture of a younger version of himself and another young boy with short messy blond locks and bright green eyes. The former was laughing playfully as he cuffed the other around the neck. A nostalgic chuckle escaped the boy's throat. There really was far too much resemblance for it to be a coincidence. But that's all it was wasn't it? After all, the little green-eyed boy in the picture had died in that fire all those years ago. He shut his eyes and dreamed of dancing green eyes and innocent times.

For the rest of the day Arthur Kirkland did not attend his classes. Alfred had two of his afternoon classes with the boy and when he saw the empty seat in each class he became slightly worried. What could have happened? Alfred mentally made a note to find out later. But for the rest of the day his focus would always stray towards the empty seat in each of his shared classes with Arthur. It wasn't until his last period of the day, Physical Education, that Alfred caught sight of the English boy. Arthur was running around campus carrying around a rucksack and a small leather-bound notebook. Wondering what he was doing (and how he could be playing truant on campus and not get caught) the American's eyes followed the figure of the smaller blond as he walked and periodically stopped to take notes or collect a bit of dirt or plant life from seemingly random locations. At that moment a softball flew right at his head,

"Watch out!" shouted a voice, Alfred caught the projectile out of reflex only breaking his gaze on the British boy when he saw Elizabeta Hedevary, another girl in their year, head toward him.

"I'm so sorry Alfred! You aren't hurt are you?" Alfred grinned and gave her back her ball.

"Nope! Heroes don't get hurt!" Elizaveta's face slowly changed to one that belonged on a trashy tabloid writer when she had discovered some juicy tidbit of information. Alfred cringed a bit on the inside but didn't let it show.

"Really? Just this morning I heard you tripped over your own two feet and landed on your face after talking with the new British transfer. And just now you were staring at him. Do you have a crush Alfred?" Her tone was hushed and calm but the excited shine in her eyes made her thoughts obvious enough.

"No Liz, we're just friends is all!" she looked surprised at this,

"Really? I thought he had made it perfectly clear that he didn't want to be friends with you." Ouch, Alfred admit that had stung a bit. True he wasn't used to people rejecting becoming his friend but for some reason the fact that Arthur Kirkland didn't like him made him almost sad. The tiny wince didn't escape the Hungarian girl's attention. A small smirk made an appearance on her face before being quickly covered up with and innocent smile.

"I see, well, thanks for the ball Alfred. Catch you later!" and with that she left towards the girl's PE class. Alfred had a bad feeling about this, everyone on campus knew the girl's strange ability to be on top of the gossip and her strange infatuation with boy-love, and how she could easily use her wide array of information to get her desired results. The American had a feeling that he was now involved in her latest experiment. Remembering what he was doing before the interruption, Alfred went back to looking around for the British boy. Apparently while he was talking to Elizaveta he had left. Darn, well, he'll just ask him what he was doing tomorrow and went back to his assignment of jogging laps feeling a little downcast.

Arthur didn't return to classes after the incident with his locker. There were more pressing matters to attend to. He had Lilac (the name of the young fairy) inform the others to start a widespread lookout for anything worth noting. He himself was going to also have to start being more aware. An actual warning had been given to him, and judging from how it was delivered their foe was very intelligent. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the cuff of his sleeve. Even though he was in the forest adjacent to the campus in the background he could still hear the bell toll eight-o-clock. He looked at the data he had collected throughout the afternoon. Little jars hanging from an ancient rucksack were filled with plants and soil samples and the leather notebook was crammed with neatly organized notes. The sun was drifting dangerously close the the horizon, if he stayed out any longer it would become too dark to see clearly. With reluctance the green-eyed blond headed back towards his dorm. Principal Vargas had provided him with a private room so there would be none of the problems that came with a roommate. The sun slowly sunk into the horizon and the lamps flickered on along the walkway. A chill rippled down Arthur's spine. Something was wrong; it was far too quiet, and could faintly feel the presence of another magical being he never noticed before. All of the sudden a scream penetrated the air pushing Arthur into motion so that he was running frantically to find the source of the sound. There, next to the science building was a girl collapsed in the doorway with a dark figure above her. Anger flooded his veins as Arthur chanted a quick spell releasing a burst of energy that chased the figure away. He then immediately checked on the girl. Unconscious, but breathing, that was good. He breathed a sigh of relief and whipped out his cell phone. He quickly dialed the number of the school office.

"This is Principal Vargas speaking," came after a few dial tones,

"Mr. Vargas, it's Arthur, something happened,"

"What do you mean?" the voice became concerned,

"A student was attacked, she's currently unconscious, we're in one of the science rooms,"

"I'll be over with the nurse soon," with that he hung up. Arthur stood up and inspected the area where the figure had stood. It stunk of sinister energy. He flicked on the light switch to help him see if there was anything left behind and let out a gasp at what he saw,

LET THIS BE A WARNING ARTHUR KIRKLAND, DO NOT INTERFERE

was written in bright scarlet oil based paint crudely mimicking the color of blood. The boy walked over to the wall and ghosted his hand over the letters tentatively; there was not a single trace of magic. Arthur couldn't track the culprit down with this; obviously this was done by someone very clever and very careful. This really did not bode well.

comments or suggestions are welcome!