Seth and the Prometheus Guild

The Guild

The human kits were scared of him.

It took Seth a while to notice, because he usually didn't pay attention to his fellow students, apart from those few that forced their presence upon him. But it was quite obvious once he started catching the little signs - for one, no one looked him in the eye. When he chose a seat the tables around him were carefully scooted away. Chatter was silenced with just one glance.

And, most telling of all, the stench of nervousness and fear in the air had gotten heavier which each minute he continued to spend in their presence.

Seth really liked it. It was the same way pack animals would treat an alpha - fear and respect were, in Seth's opinion, one and the same.

Sadly, not everyone seemed to share the majority's newfound respect for him. While Mary Ann, Himiko and Mouse were keeping their distance, Kaya walked right up to his desk, dragging Merlin along.

"Are you alright?"

Seth tilted his head. "Of course." Why wouldn't he be?

"Do you know what happened to Mr. Donovan? No one's seen him since your ... fight," Merlin blanched a bit. Contrary to Kaya, who smelled of home like always, he was exuding a satisfactory amount of anxiety.

Seth smiled, happy to deliver this information. "Elaine sawed his leg off."

This time Merlin wasn't the only one who paled. The desks in his vicinity were pushed a bit farther away.

"What about school? Will you be allowed to participate in the Novice program?" Kaya asked.

Before Seth could answer the door opened and Mr. Lennox, the Creature Theory teacher, bustled into the room. Everyone hurried back to their seats and the students' attention fixed on him with unusual eagerness.

"Alright, everyone, just so you have an idea about how today is going to go: I'll post the results of your Evaluation - I know you're probably dying to know with whom you were paired, and I don't intend to torture you, so you can find out right now - and after my class we'll assemble in the big courtyard where carriages will be waiting to take you to Hamperstead. I'll hang the list of pairings right here next to the blackboard and you can come forward in an - wait, wait - in an orderly fashion, please."

The students were already standing up and rushing forward to study the piece of paper in Mr. Lennox' hands, giving him barely enough space to even put the stupid thing up.

Seth didn't bother joining the throng. He couldn't read anyway and would just guess who'd been paired with him depending on the expression of horror on their faces.

To his surprise, no one cried out or fainted.

Maybe he hadn't been paired with anyone. It worked for him and it would make sense if The Director didn't want to endanger another student.

He was distracted by a familiar, soothing scent. Looking up, he noticed Kaya walking in his direction, stopping in front of his desk again. This time she hadn't towed Merlin along with her.

"We're a team," she told him, sounding neither disappointed nor happy about that fact.

Well, if a human had to tag along, Seth was glad it was one who wasn't intolerable. So he just nodded his agreement.

Kaya went back to her seat, but the other humans weren't finished that quickly. They talked to each other and tried to start a discussion with the teacher about the process - something about racism, Seth gathered, because all those with mixed-blood, namely Merlin, Braeden, Kaya, someone named Fabian and surprisingly Mouse, had been paired with each other - or Seth, who was even farther from a normal human.