Welcome To The School

15

Eijeh raised an eyebrow at Blair, almost laughing at Ellowyn's behaviour, and received one back. Zia smiled at Ellowyn and stepped out of her room before closing the door gently. "So why did you decide to call on us?"
"Well, uh...It's my sparring match with Alodia tonight, and she said I could bring anyone I liked, so...There's all of us going, and we were wondering if you wanted to come with us?"
Hayden scoffed. "I wasn't." Eijeh went to put a hand on his best friend's shoulder, but Hayden moved away.
"Hay..."
"We almost got killed, Ei. You almost got killed. So shut the hell up. You can be stupid all you like, but I don't want you dead! We've only been in class for a day, and you almost died in Training, and again in Trickery and Disguise, and that time it was my fault! And just now Zia's psycho roommate throws a knife at your head, and if it wasn't for Blair you wouldn't be standing there! You'd be lying on the floor, or decapitated, or—" There was a choked sob. "I'm still going to the match, but it's now only because I don't want to let Pluto down by being a no-show, and because I want to make sure you don't get hurt too badly!"
Ellowyn and Zia looked surprised at the outburst, and Eijeh felt as though his heart had been ripped in two. But he also felt as though Hayden was being overly dramatic, and so what if he was a little reckless? He was fine, wasn't he? His heart superglued itself together again and hardened. Hayden was being ridiculous, as usual. He was ridiculous about Zia, and Eijeh too. He opened his mouth to say so, but the sight of Blair shaking his head slightly warned him not to. Zia took a deep breath and smiled winningly. "I would love to come and watch! Thank you!" She adjusted her butterfly hair accessory and linked her arm with Eijeh's. Blair rolled his eyes slightly and kept walking, leading the way to wherever it was they were going.

Zia gave a little squeal of delight as they entered an amphitheatre, not unlike how Eijeh imagined the famed Colosseum in Rome. No...He remembered going there as a kid, gripping tightly onto someone's hand. He felt it as though he was there, and the figure knelt down, smiling. Their face came into view, and...And Eijeh was jolted out of his thoughts by the sound of shouting. They ran through the arch, Blair first, followed by Ellowyn, then Eijeh and Zia, and lastly Hayden.

Inside the arena, four people were arguing. Well, two were screaming at each other, with the other two chipping in now and then and nodding. The one on the right had the all-too familiar sheet of silvery hair. Pluto Alodia hadn't noticed them yet, as she was too busy yelling at the other people. The one who seemed in charge of the three remaining people was sneering, and had dark hair covering one eye, along with extremely pale skin. The other two both had auburn hair and looked like they were twins. They had the same posture, the same expression, the same everything. Eijeh and the others crept closer to try and find out what was going on, but Hayden immediately ran to try and reach Alodia before things got too bad.

"SHUT UP, ZAK! IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"
Zak, the one with black hair and pale skin, rolled his eyes. They were bright blue, which slightly ruined the effect his hair and skin had together. When he spoke, his voice was a mocking drawl. "Poor little rich boy. Did you not see this coming?" Alodia stiffened. "Vince, you should have known. You can't pay people off and expect them to not care. Take your stupid money, and why don't you leave our dorm? We'll even pay you for it. Sound fair, Vincent?" Eijeh frowned. Vincent? Who was Zak talking about. Before he could ponder this further, the twins stepped forward.
"Zak..." the first one began.
"...Maybe you went a bit too far." The other finished.
Zak laughed. It was an unpleasant sound. "Nonsense. He doesn't mind, do you Vince?" He walked forward until he was directly in front of Alodia. He spat at her and hissed, "Freak," before turning on his heel and beginning to lead the twins out of the amphitheatre. Suddenly, he stopped and began swatting the air around him, even though there was nothing there. Then he screamed, a scream of pure terror, and put his hands in front of his face, seemingly trying to protect himself from nothing. It was then that he felt a nudge from Ellowyn, who nodded to the auburn-haired twins. They were frowning in concentration, beads of sweat rolling down their faces. The harder they focused, the more Zak cowered. They probably would have kept going, but a calm, measured voice called out, "Stop. You've done enough. Thank you." The twins turned to a box in the stands — The emperor's box, Eijeh presumed — and nodded grimly. Then they grabbed one of Zak's arms each and hauled him away. The blue-eyed boy raised his head and managed to shout, "Watch out, Vincent! You'll regret this one, I promise!"

Eijeh, Zia, Blair, and Ellowyn shivered, and began making their way down to the arena floor.