Empire of Vampires ✔️

Chapter Thirty-Seven

All the science labs were on the top-most floor and after the break they went back down to their usual classroom for physics theory. Andrew took his seat between the twins who sat right behind Evan and Jesse. 

Evan was still moaning about his burnt finger, feeling the pain now that the excitement was over. He had made Jesse ice it for him during break; it was just slightly red and not life-threatening like how he made it out to be.

Physics was taught by Mr. Larken and he was Marie's favourite teacher because he was really excitable and easily distracted.

'Look at these new sunglasses I got!' he exclaimed now, showing off a pair to the classroom, 'Guess from where?'

'The southern marketplace, sir,' the class chorused in unison. He gushed about this same place during every lesson and they were used to hearing it by now.

'Yes! An Amazing place!' He looked around the entire classroom. 'Have I told you where to find it?'

'No! Where is it?' Marie asked, feigning interest. 

He told them every week but she always asked in an effort to keep him on topic. More time spent on discussing his latest purchase meant less time spent on physics and everyone was on board with that.

The students mainly used his classes as a place to relax and chill out, some even brought food to snack on or little game consoles. Andrew and James were currently secretly playing four-in-a-row under the tables to pass the time.

You don't know where it is?' Mr. Larken demanded, aghast that his students still didn't know the whereabouts of the best marketplace on Ather, 'It's right next to the train station, near the base of the southern mountain.'

'You should really go,' he continued, 'I got an electric mixer as well for just one-tenth the price of what's in our marketplace. I tried it yesterday and it was so good... fantastic-

He paused for a moment, thinking about it's amazingness. 'Anyway,' he continued, 'You just go to the crater and take a train around the circumference till you reach the southern mountain, it's directly opposite from here. Then you take two more trains up the side of the mountain and you're there! You'll see it the moment you get down from the train, you can't miss it,' he rambled on.

'But sir, that's so far,' Evan exclaimed like he did each week, he winked at Marie who grinned back at him.

'NO! Not far!' the teacher insisted, 'It's barely a two days journey and you can go in the weekend. It's a must-see place, you can find everything that's there at the Northern market and buy it at the Southern market instead.' He paused to catch his breath. 'Everything PLUS more, see I got these sunglasses that are not even available here. You know they ship all the goods from the islands, they have some great stuff.'

'But sir, it isn't really sunny enough to wear it here, it would only be useful in the islands,' Evan pointed out.

'No but, you can still have it, see.' Mr. Larken flipped his sunglasses in mid-air to show it off. 'You can hold it and carry it around. Anyway, you all should just go. Go check it out, really, I'm telling you—fantastic.' He paused again, shaking his head in silent admiration. 'You can even skip physics on Friday afternoon and go after the break; I don't mind! It's less than two days to go, so you can go and be back by Monday morning latest,' he added.

Marie's ears perked up at this. 'Really sir? I might go this weekend.'

'Really? That's wonderful!' Mr. Larken was beside himself with excitement. 'You won't regret it! I'd even let you go right now, but you have some other class tomorrow morning. You can't cut it, is it?'

'No sir, it's literature!'

'Ah no, then you can't,' the teacher agreed in disappointment. Mr. Branson was known to be quite strict when it came to attendance; he even kept a record. Mr. Larken let the students keep the record themselves and trusted them implicitly to be honest with it; although he wouldn't mind them faking one entry to visit the marvelous Southern marketplace.

'We'll start the lesson now,' he said, much to the students' disappointment.

James and Andrew were still neck and neck in a four-in-a-row battle and they were paying only half their attention to the lesson in momentum. They got a few problems to solve and did it haltingly with their free hands.

They were halfway through the lesson now and Mr. Larken was drawing some pulleys on the board. A token slipped from James's fingers and dropped to the floor. Before he could grab it, it started rolling— all the way to the teacher's feet. It knocked the side of Mr. Larken's shoe and he looked down in surprise.

'What's this?' Mr. Larken demanded. He strode towards the two boys with a quick pace and they had no time to hide their game. Finally noticing what they were up to, Mr. Larken snatched the game out of their hands and held it up to inspect it. 'You brought a game?'

The whole class went silent in fear at his tone. Andrew could feel his heart slamming into his ribs and glanced over at James who was chewing on his bottom lip. Mr. Larken stared at the offending object for a long moment and the students held their breath.

'This is a nice one, did you buy it from the Southern Market?'

Andrew shamefacedly admitted that he had got it from the marketplace that was just fifteen minutes away.

'Unacceptable,' Mr. Larken grumbled as he confiscated the game and threw it in his desk drawer, 'You should go with Marie tomorrow and buy a proper one.'

He was distracted from the lesson once more as he immediately went into a tirade of the evils of the terrible goods that the Northern market thrust upon them.

Once the bell rang he made them stay back in class after the others left. Andrew thought they were in trouble but he just handed them a few coins and asked them to buy him something from the market when they go.

'Anything is fine and as many as you get,' he instructed and then shooed them away. They gladly agreed and promised to find him something nice as they left the classroom.