Chapter Four: Amber Eyes

My wake up call on the first day of school was far from pleasant. I was woken up by a loud and repetitive bang on my bedroom door. I rolled out of bed and shouted "I'm up!" and stumbled into the bathroom. I was exhausted. I had barely slept at all that night and continuously tossed and turned on my uncomfortable mattress. Each time I tried to move, the bed would squeak loudly. I wasn't looking forward to hearing those sounds multiplied by five when the other girls arrived.

I stepped into one of the shower stalls and was pelted in the face with cold water when the old pipes groaned to life. The water never did get hot. I just washed my hair and body as fast as I could and stumbled out. The tile was cold on my feet while I padded back to my wardrobe and pulled on my uniform. My hair dried quickly and I was able to tie it up in a messy bun. I didn't bother with makeup and ran out the door and down to the coatroom.

I don't know what I expected. Dr. Bloor wasn't kidding when he said that the dress code for drama was interpretive compared to the other departments. There were people with feather boas and big hats and glittery shoes. I stuck out like a sore thumb. At this point, I didn't care and gathered all my things. My locker opened easily enough and all my supplies were sitting inside neatly. My schedule was posted on the inside of the door.

The room behind me was full of liveliness and chatter from the students who were actually happy to be here. Their attendance at this school meant that they were all the best at what they did. They were exceptional artists, performers and musicians and had nothing to worry about. The Bloors left them alone and let them live their lives in peace assuming they didn't try to interfere with their evil agenda. None of them were ripped out of their homes overnight, hypnotized into submission or forced to be here. Salem's endowment was very powerful as well. I wondered if he had a hand in any of the terrible things that his family did. It would only make sense that he was a master manipulator to boot.

I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder that ripped me out of my thoughts. When I turned around, a mean looking girl stood behind me. Much like me, she was way too skinny. Her skin was snow white and all of her features were bony and pointed. I was jealous of how beautiful and perfect her hair was. While the rest of her was kind of average, she had the most beautiful and shiny jet black hair I had ever seen. It was long and curly and she seemed to take really good care of it. She was a little bit taller than me, but I was sure that she and I were the same age. "I'm Zelda Dobinski. They placed you in some of the same classes as me so I can show you around." She stated matter-of-factly. "If you don't have a class with me, you'll be with Manfred or Asa Pike. I'm in college level math classes and it seems that you're only smart enough for trigonometry. Huh. I thought they told me you were advanced."

"Do you talk down on everyone you just met?" I asked, shutting my locker. "I don't need your help. I can find everything on my own, I'm sure." Nothing got on my nerves more than being talked down to. I wouldn't stand for it. If this is what I was going to have to hear all day, I would take my chances wandering the halls blind.

"Unless you want to be stuck here another weekend, I suggest you follow me." Zelda narrowed her eyes. I just sighed and gave in and followed her around for the first three classes of the day. I mostly ignored her when she spoke because of her snide comments and I couldn't wait until I could get away from her.

My prayers were answered when we were approached by someone different right before my free period. It was a boy. He was just a little bit taller than me, maybe by three inches. He had bright red hair that stood up in a rough spiked look and it showed off that his ears were pointed. I wondered if it was surgical or natural. He had a nice enough face that was dotted with freckles and a bit of facial hair that was the same color as the hair on his head. He had yellow wolf like eyes that I was almost positive were contacts.

"Your turn to babysit." Zelda said quickly, before turning to walk away. I just rolled my eyes at her.

"I don't need to be babysat. It's fine." I growled, quite sick of my treatment. I didn't want to be treated the same way by him, too.

"Hey, it's fine." He put his hand on his shoulder. "I'm Asa. I promise I'm not as mean as Zelda is. She probably just thinks you're going to steal her boyfriend or something." He had a goofy smile that showed off his teeth. His canine teeth were sharper than the average human's and his two front teeth were slightly crooked.

"She has a boyfriend?" I snorted and returned his smile.

"Yup. Manfred." He motioned for me to start walking with him. "We're going to spend free period in the library, if that's okay with you. I don't have anything else to do, and I'm guessing you don't either considering you just had dramatic arts classes so far."

"Yeah, I have a pretty easy schedule so far. I don't need very many more credits before I can finally graduate, so Dr. Bloor just mostly put me in drama classes so I at least have something to show for being in the drama program."

Asa held the door open for me when we got to the library and I thanked him. He climbed up the stairs all the way to the second floor of the library and I followed behind. "The second floor is only for seniors." He murmured, looking around. "I come up here because there's a few couches and it's usually abandoned except for midterms and finals." He threw his stuff down on the coffee table and lounged out on the leather couch. "C'mon. I won't bite. Sit down. I haven't gotten to hear very much about you." I sat down on the couch next to Asa and he wasn't shy at all. He put his legs out on my lap and folded his hands behind his head. "I heard you were from the states. California, specifically?" He smiled at me again, but instead of the goofy smile he gave me earlier, this one was incredibly charming. I felt my heart begin to beat faster and I couldn't even answer him. I just tried to stammer something out, eventually gave up and just looked down at my hands. I could feel my face turning red.

I had thought Salem was attractive, but I began to instantly feel something for Asa. I couldn't explain it. I didn't know a thing about him and I was already beginning to develop a crush. I think it was because Salem was attractive in a very put-together way, not to mention that he dripped with charisma. Asa was more down to earth and didn't mind having flaws. He didn't try to keep himself put together or impress anyone. "I'm sorry." I finally murmured. "I'm an idiot. I don't know how to talk to people, really. I was home schooled my whole life."

"It shows." He removed his feet from my lap and sat up. "I'm awkward with people too, actually. Everyone just kind of looks at me and instantly knows something is off and I'm not like everyone else." His hand instinctively came up and he fumbled with his ear. "It's just easier talking with people like me, that's why I don't come off as socially awkward like you."

"Oh, thanks." I rolled my eyes and laughed. "So, you're a freak like me? What are you? A werewolf or something?" I joked.

This time a blush crept to Asa's face rather than mine. "It's that obvious, isn't it? Because of that, I never had a very normal childhood. I could never stay the night with friends and I eventually stopped having friends all together until my family moved here and I met Manfred. I mean, he treats me like shit most of the time but he has his moments when he's an okay guy. He takes care of my family because we don't have much money. My parents aren't exactly completely human so they can't work."

"What?" I was puzzled. Asa was pretty much human at least during the day. What kind of weird creature could have spawned him?

"My parents are merromals. We're descended from the king's son Carfal. He was a shapeshifter and he went and explored a land far away and took a merromal for a wife. They're pretty much a beast and human hybrid. They all look different, some look more human than others. My dad is covered in hair while my mom looks a little more human. They stand upright and speak English and are quite intelligent though. I guess you'd have to meet them to understand that they are quite human, just a little… off."

"I had a pretty shitty childhood too but my parents were completely human." I said. Asa looked up at me, grateful that I wasn't repelled by the personal information he had just given me. "I never knew that there was something wrong with me, but with hindsight being 20/20, I understand why my parents kept me secluded like they did. I wasn't allowed to go to normal school and after a while I stopped desiring face-to-face social interaction and just talked to people on the internet. My parents weren't around very much. Dad was always away doing research and mom ran around with her friends. I never got any affection, really."

"That's so awful. I mean, they had to go through a lot to get you and then once they realized you weren't normal, they just started treating you like shit without even telling you why."

I looked up at Asa and furrowed my brow. "How did you know that my mom had to go through in vitro?"

His face blanched. "Uh… Your mom told Manfred. Manfred told me. I don't know why. It's just an arbitrary detail that he decided to mention. I don't know why. Really."

"I was so taken aback by the fact that you decided to nonchalantly slip in that your parents are beast people that I forgot that you mentioned you were friends with Manfred. Why are you being so nice to me when he and Zelda are so mean?"

"I promise Zelda will warm up to you eventually. She's just intimidated that there's a new endowed girl. She's really insecure and thinks that Manfred will leave or something stupid like that. Once she realizes that you're entirely appalled by him she'll probably be nicer. And Manfred is just extra nasty right now because he just lost his mother. Don't tell him I told you."

I frowned. "I actually just lost my dad. His boat was lost at sea a few months ago. Why does Salem seem to be taking it so much better?"

"Mrs. Bloor didn't pass away. I guess I phrased that a bit strangely. She disappeared into thin air. Salem is happy for her because she was unhappy here and wanted nothing more than to get away. Manfred is bitter because he feels abandoned. He's backwards with affection. He simultaneously loved and hated her. Last time she tried to run away, Manfred broke every single finger in her hand." Asa looked down at his own hand and grimaced.

We spent the rest of free period finding more cheerful and less serious things to talk about. It turned out that we had the same taste in movies and he was a total foodie like me. He told me about all the good restaurants in the city and what movies were playing at the multiplex downtown. When the period ended, I was handed off to Manfred to go to my English class. He sat down in the back of the room and pointed at the desk next to him. I wordlessly sat down.

"You and Asa seemed to hit it off." He said while other students began to file into the room. We still had five minutes before class began.

"You catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar, Manfred. You'd do well to follow in his example." I didn't look away from the front of the room. I was afraid to make eye contact with him. I heard him snort at my suggestion and tap his pencil on his desk. "You wouldn't lose people you care about if you didn't try to control them."

"Really? Well, Miss Jones, you'd do well to mind your own damn business about things that have nothing to do with you."

"Only if you pay me the same courtesy." I retorted bravely.

"You better learn your place, and you better learn it fast. You'll find out soon enough what happens to people who don't do what is expected of them." I could hear the malice in his voice.

"Oh, what are you going to do? Drive a car into a quarry and tell my family that I'm dead?" I turned to face him and we both stood to our feet. "You're not going to terrify me into submission, Manfred. I'm not afraid of you."

He put his finger in my face. "You're just as much trouble as your cousin." He snarled.

"Hey." Our exchange of loud and angry words was interrupted by Salem, who took the seat in front of me. "Both of you stop it. You're not being brave, you're being reckless." He pointed at me. "And you need to calm down." He pointed to Manfred. "You're both instigating each other and you're causing a scene. You're supposed to be an example, Manfred. Start acting like one." He turned back around to face his desk, leaving Manfred and I to just stare at each other, inches from each other's faces. Although I was foolish enough to look into Manfred's eyes, I happened to notice that he wasn't trying to hypnotize me. I wasn't sure if it was because Salem's words stuck with him, or if he knew better than to flaunt his endowment in a room full of unendowed. We quietly took our seats and refused to speak to each other for the duration of the period.

During dinner I took a seat between Asa and some other kid I didn't know. We spent dinner ignoring the people around us and discussed Spielberg movies. I learned that his favorite was Saving Private Ryan and of course mine was Jaws considering I had grown up knowing everything that there was to know about sharks.

"Didn't that make you nervous?" He asked me.

"No. I knew that no shark was that unnaturally aggressive or intelligent enough to cause a mass murder like the shark in Jaws did. It was loosely based off of a shark off of the Jersey shore that killed dozens of people, but that shark never picked apart a massive boat full of three men who knew what they were doing." I pushed around the soggy meat on my plate. The food here was disgusting but I knew I couldn't be too picky unless I wanted to starve to death.

"Look alive. Dr. Bloor is coming over to embarrass you in front of the whole academy." Asa nodded his head towards the aisle that Dr. Bloor walked down. He stopped and said something to his sons and continued to me.

"Ah. Just who I was looking for. How was your first day, Miss Jones?"

Make sure you call him "sir". He's already grumpy over hearing about the very public fight you and Manny had in front of the normal students. Be respectful, not stupid. I'm begging you. Salem's voice projected into my head. I saw him staring at me from his spot at the head of the music table.

"It was fine, sir." I murmured. I tried my hardest to make eye contact with Dr. Bloor but he was incredibly intimidating and made me feel very small and insignificant. "Thank you for asking."

"Why don't you stand up, Miss Jones?" I silently complied and Dr. Bloor turned to address the whole dining room. "Can I have everyone's attention?" His thunderous voice bounced off of the walls and the room became eerily silent. "This is Infinity Jones, a new student in the drama department and one of the endowed. " I felt my face turn red as judging and accusing eyes bore into me at all angles. Why did he feel the need to announce that I was a freak? I was hoping to have a chance to try and seem at least a little bit normal.

"Can I sit down now?" I murmured.

"There's no need to be embarrassed!" He put his hand on my shoulder. "What you are able to do is a beautiful and powerful thing! It means you are descended from royalty."

I scanned the room and found Charlie sitting with the music students. He shot me a sympathetic look and mouthed "I'm sorry". Dr. Bloor finally let me sit down and I wasn't in the mood to talk for the rest of dinner.

"Everyone would have found out eventually anyway." Zelda said, leaning forward to make sure that I could hear her over the other students. "It's better that everyone is wary of you now than if they found out later on and just started ignoring you completely. Plus he has to announce it for the safety of others. They deserve to know if one of us is potentially dangerous. Some people have really powerful endowments that they can't control when they get angry, like Asa, Salem and myself. Then there are people like Manfred who can't do harm unless he can make eye contact with you or like Charlie, who can't exactly hurt anyone with is endowment either."

"How can you hurt someone with telepathy?" I asked.

"Salem isn't just telepathic. He can alter your thoughts, memories and even your dreams. He can make himself manifest into them if he knows you're asleep, though he actively avoids doing that. Says dreams are especially private and they freak him out. He could drive you mad if he wanted to, though. He doesn't even have to make eye contact. And he never forgets anything at all." Asa pushed his food around onto his plate. "We're lucky that it's Salem that has that gift and not Manfred. He rarely uses it except for communication. He's afraid to abuse his power. He doesn't think it's fair to take advantage of someone like that."

When dinner was finished, Zelda asked me to follow her to the coatroom to grab some things before we would head to the Red King's room where the endowed students were segregated for homework. I reluctantly agreed because walking with Manfred was the alternative. We weaved our way through the other students. "I guess I should apologize for being so mean to you before." She said finally as we walked. "Everyone has just been singing praises about your potential and I guess I was worried."

"Singing praises about my potential?" I snorted and shook my head at her. "They have barely witnessed anything. I accidentally created a ward in front of them to stop my mother from beating the shit out of me. I didn't even know that I could do it."

"Asa told me you didn't have a very good relationship with your parents. None of us really do either. Manfred had problems with is mother, Salem can't get along with his father and my parents just interact with me as minimally as possible. I've tried to do everything to impress them. I'm a telekinetic genius and that still isn't enough for me to be noticed." She let out a nervous chuckle as we rounded the corner to enter the coatroom. "But I know none of this can be easy for you, with your father passing away and your mother just dropping you off in an unfamiliar country with a family you barely know and then taking off."

"I'm used to handling things on my own. I always have." I watched Zelda remove a few things from her locker and caught a young girl staring at me. It was her hair that caught my eye. It was bleached blonde with bright pink underneath. Her eyes were rimmed with black winged eye liner and glittery gold eye shadow. She wore dangerous looking purple stiletto heels and her nails were perfectly manicured. She dressed like an older girl but I figured she couldn't have been older than thirteen. She smiled at me and waved before ducking out of the room. She seemed to be avoiding Zelda. I wondered if she was endowed as well.

After Zelda gathered the supplies she needed, we finally arrived to the King's room with everyone else. We were the last two to show up. Several students sat at the large round table in the center of the room. Manfred sat in front of a massive painting of a man that I could only assume was the Red King. He had long brown hair and a beard, one black eye and one brown eye. His skin was dark, he wore a beautiful red cloak and there was a shadow over his right shoulder that gave what was supposed to be a simple portrait a very ominous feel.

There was one empty seat to Manfred's left that Zelda quickly filled and Asa sat at his right. Salem took the seat next to Asa and there was one empty seat between him and Charlie that I quietly took. Next to Charlie was a long faced boy with floppy brown hair and sad eyes, next to him was a little boy who couldn't have been older than 8 or 9 with a shock of white hair, large glasses and ruby red eyes. Next to the albino was Emma Tolly, the girl from the book store. She smiled at me and looked back down at the book she was reading. Beside Emma Tolly was a broad shouldered boy with blonde hair that seemed to stick straight up due to static. His eyes were the color of the sky on the clearest of days. Next to him was the only African boy I had seen that day. His hair was dreadlocked and pulled back into a ponytail to stay out of his face. He seemed wise beyond his age (I was assuming that he was maybe 17) and had the warmest and kindest brown eyes I had ever seen. There were several empty chairs after him and on the other side of Zelda was a very chubby girl with rosy cheeks and curly blonde hair.

"You're both late." Manfred growled, not even looking up at us. "Where were you?"

"I forgot something in the coatroom." Zelda answered. "I asked Infinity to come with me."

"What, you can't go by yourself? I thought you were a big girl, Zelda."

I felt bad for her for being mocked by her own boyfriend. Asa was right when he told me not to take Manfred's behavior personal. He seemed to treat even his closest friends poorly. "I'm sorry." Zelda answered. She barely seemed phased by his anger.

"Well, anyways." Manfred looked up. "If you were paying attention during dinner, you would already know that this is Infinity. You all can go around and introduce yourselves if you'd like. Or not. I don't really care. Just make it quick and shut up as soon as you finish saying what you need to say."

"Hi!" The blonde boy with the blonde hair that seemed to radiate with electricity spoke first. "I'm Tancred Torsson. Uh. I'm obviously in the art department and I can control the weather." He flashed a smile of white perfectly straight teeth. "I feel like I should warn you about my endowment because it's very easily affected by my moods. Sometimes I can't control myself and I can send out blasts of wind and rain, even indoors."

"I'm Lysander Sage." The African boy next to him spoke next. He had a powerful voice and a very calming air about him. I could tell that he was a natural born leader and was very respected by most of the people in the room, except for maybe Manfred, Asa and Zelda. "My father is the judge for this precinct and I like to sculpt things. I also run track in the summer for the public school in the city." He omitted his endowment, but that was his own business. I figured most of them would.

"We already met." Emma Tolly said in her soft voice. She seemed to be so kind, innocent and sweet. "It's nice to see you again, though."

"I'm Gabriel Silk." The boy with the sad, long face and floppy hair attempted to push his bangs out of his eyes. "I can feel things… Like emotions of people, if I touch articles of clothing that they wore. I can, uh, show you if you'd like some time. I don't mind." He looked over at the albino boy. "Oh, and that's Billy Raven. He's just being shy."

Billy smiled briefly and looked back down at his homework. Poor kid seemed miserable. I turned my attention over to the chubby girl with frizzy blonde hair. She looked up at me for a few seconds but then looked back down again without saying a word. "Oh, that's Dorcas." Manfred murmured. "That's everyone. Get to work."

I prepared to sit in two hours of awkward silence with a group of people I didn't know who all had gifts as strange as mine (although I knew nothing of my own power). The endowed are split into two, just like the King's children were a thousand years ago. Salem's voice filled my head. I looked lover at him, but he wasn't looking at me. He was very still, focusing on the book that was open in front of him. Manfred and I are descended from Borlath, the most evil and cruel of all of the children. He tortured for fun and burnt down the whole city. That was his endowment. He could control fire. Our great grandfather influences the evil children, using Manfred as a pawn. Things have changed lately, though. I don't quite know who is manipulating who anymore. Manfred seems to be stronger. Charlie is descended from Amoret, the king's youngest child. He is on the side of the good endowed. He and all of his friends stick together.

What about you? I thought. Where do you stand?

I am the mediator. I keep the balance. I refuse to help anyone. I don't mean to brag but I have way more power and control than a single person should ever have. I'm dangerous and if I allowed myself to be influenced by either affiliation then many people would be hurt and one side would just have way too much power.

Your family doesn't force you to take their side?

Every time they get the idea to try to force me to work for them, I make sure that they do not succeed.

"Salem." Manfred's voice snapped Salem out of his trance like state. "Stop distracting whoever it is you're communicating with. The rules apply to you too."

We're the same exact age, but he's about ten minutes older and still uses that as justification to boss me around like a child. Well, that and the fact that I was held back a grade because I got sick and couldn't attend school for a whole year.

"Salem!" Manfred barked again. Salem shot him a dirty look and I didn't hear anything from him for the rest of the period.

When Manfred finally dismissed us, I stood up to leave prompting Charlie to grab my arm.. "Please be careful around them, okay?" He begged.

"You don't have to worry about me." I smiled at him and found that Manfred, Zelda and Salem were waiting for me outside of the room. Asa had already disappeared; probably doing whatever it was that werebeasts did at night. Zelda and Manfred walked ahead of Salem and I.

"Manny walks her to her room every night. I figured I would accompany you so you didn't feel like an awkward third wheel." He offered his arm and I took it even if it was just to humor him. "I'm counting this as our first date." He joked and winked at me. "Even if you are interested in Asa Pike."

I blushed. "I said no such thing."

"I know. It was just a fleeting thought, but I still have to size up my competition." He admitted. "Lucky for you, I'm a good sport and won't manipulate your affections. I'll win you over the old fashioned way with my good looks and boyish charm. You'll figure out what Asa's all about in due time." We didn't say much more while we walked to the dorm. Manfred left Zelda with a simple goodnight and walked away. Salem took my hand, kissed the knuckle and smiled his charming smile. "Goodnight, princess." He teased. I felt my face turn bright red. Salem had a wonderful personality. I couldn't believe that he and Manfred were brothers, let alone twins. They couldn't be any more different if they tried.

However, I had a hard time taking Salem seriously. I had no doubt in my mind that he was only a shameless flirt and I had no desire getting tied up with him in that way. I did, however, see him as being a very good friend and I hoped that he was as honorable and kind as he seemed. I didn't want to assume the worst in him, but it didn't hurt to be wary.