Call Out My Name

EPISODE ONE

The earth had smelt like death and despair when they first stepped into the light. Screams were torn from the throats of those who saw their last hope diminish with the dawn of the new reign. I was born two hundred years after and by then, the world had learnt to adapt, tolerate and harbour our new rulers. They were peculiar. Nothing like humans. Who could blame them?

They weren't human after all.

The world was overrun by supernatural creatures in 1821--two hundred years before my birth. They called themselves, the higher breed. Vampires, faeries, werewolves, demons, goblins. Every creature in the myths, the legends, the fairy tales, came to life. They were supposed to stay in the books--figments of the wild imagination of humans but they all existed and two hundred years ago, they decided to take their place among humans, out of hiding.

Witches were the only exception. According to the other creatures, witches were extinct and dangerous. If the books I had read were anything to go by, it was a good thing they were extinct. Creatures that powerful should have never existed in the first place.

At first, the higher breeds appealed to our government to allow them to live amongst us, grow amongst us, and lead us. For the first time in the world's existence, humans took a stand together. Every village, every town, every city, every state and all the leaders in the world denied them that right.

Chaos. Death. Pain. Fear. Grief.

Humans thought they knew the meaning of those words until the great black war ensued and they found themselves redefining it.

"Alphea!" my mother's loud voice distracted me briefly from my morning reading. I ignored her and turned my focus back to the book. Just a few more pages and I'd be glad to hop into the ugly black school bus.

"Alphea!" my mother's voice came through again, this time, I could hear the anger seeping out of her voice as she called my name.

Huffing, I slammed my textbook shut and stomped downstairs.

"Mother" I pouted.

"It's a new year Alphea, you can't afford to be late to school or skip classes. They'll kick you out and the next school for only lower breeds is thousands of miles away" she complained, handing me my lunch bag.

"I could survive in a mixed school" I frowned. "I'm not weak"

"No. You're not"

When I smiled at her, she scowled at me--a terrifying sight. "When was the last time you dyed your hair?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"um...I.....I"

"Alphea!" she grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me for good measure. "I don't know how many times I have to warn you about this"

"I know. I know. Okay. The darker my hair, the blinder they are"

"Good" she nodded. "Once you get back, I'll dye your hair myself. For now, hide that strand". I did as I was told and looked into the hallway mirror to make sure the offending strand was hidden beneath my ponytail.

"Why do I have to keep dying my hair anyways?" I asked, spinning around to face my mother.

"You know why. I can't keep explaining this to you every single day. You have to remind yourself and stop asking me to rehash this topic every time you get tired of dying your hair." she scolded.

"I just.....there are a lot of girls with....with....with hair similar to mine in my school"

"You said it yourself, similar. None like yours"

My shoulders sagged. She was right. My mother was always right. The bus honked a few moments later, my mother sighed with relief, she probably didn't want to start an argument

"Love you, mum. I'll see you at six" I waved with a big grin on my face and rushed outside and hopped on the bus.

The bus pulled up in the parking lot of Regan high, breaking my train of thoughts. I schooled my facial expression to a blank look as I hurried off the bus. Brady's red hair stood out amongst the sea of heads entering the school. Her eyes glanced around desperately. She was trying to find me. I smiled.

"Bree" I called out, jumping and waving madly. Her green eyes found mine and she ran towards me. The force of her hug sent us sprawling on the ground. Students snickered around us whiles others glared with unconcealed disgust in their eyes.

"I've been terribly lonely without you" she pushed out her bottom lip.

"I missed you too Bree" I laughed.

Brady stood and helped me off the floor. After dusting ourselves off, we joined the swarm of students entering the school. The teachers ushered us quietly into the assembly hall. Apart from a few grumbles of distaste, there were no other protests.

"I heard some big news from my dad. I'm sure that's why we are headed to the assembly hall now" Brady whispered.

"What news?"

"Regan high is officially going to become Regan Malthus high"

"Malthus? Malthus Landor as in the high king?" I was confused, the king had constantly refused to allow the last lower-breed schools including ours to admit higher-breed students. What had changed?

"According to my father, this is one of the huge steps in ending the segregation. King Malthus bought out the six remaining single-breed schools in the world" Brady explained.

"Does that mean......"

"I don't know. I hope not" Brady cut in.

She nibbled furiously at her nails. She was anxious and so was I. I grabbed her hand, intertwining our fingers. She smiled nervously at me.

As we took our seats, I could feel the tension rolling off the students in waves. We were all nervous, most of us, scared. They must have heard rumours of the takeover by now and they feared its meaning. Regan had been a lower-breed school for two hundred years, the school had been broken and rebuilt, torn apart and renovated.

After the great black war, Regan was one of the six schools in the world that hadn't been turned into a mixed breed school. No one would admit it but it had been a fraction of everything else that had given humans hope. Hope that someday, we would rule again. It was foolish of us to hope. The Malthus' had just snuffed it out.

Principle Hagan took the stand. He looked around the hall before he spoke. His announcement had the whole hall bursting into murmurs.

He had just confirmed our worst fears.

"While we were all away enjoying our vacation, a good innovative step was taken by the high king" Principle Hagan was going straight to the point. He cleared his throat and smoothed his tie before proceeding.

"King Malthus has bought out the six remaining lower breed schools worldwide. Regan high has been given the same privilege and as....and as....and as such" he cleared his throat again. "All the different breeds of many nationalities were allowed to turn in an admission request a month ago and some were admitted after passing our rigorous tests and strict requirements" The students burst into an outrage, making their dissatisfaction known. Our shared nightmare had come to play with a few sentences.

"Silence!" he bellowed. The murmurs died down as we all stared wide-eyed at the ginger-haired man. He had never raised his voice like that. Never.

"You are to treat them with respect and be hospitable and welcoming to them. If you have a problem with the new arrangements, you can take it up with the high king himself. Thank you."

Just like that, we were dismissed.

Brady and I walked quietly to our class. We had literature together. We took a seat at the back and watched the rest of the students file in. My breath caught in my throat as we stared at the creatures filing in. Nine vampires, three demons, four werewolves, six faces and a boy whose breed I couldn't tell.

"s**t" I cussed, realization finally dawning on me. Our teacher was a siren, his glowing alluring blue eyes gave it away. We were the only humans in class. Brady must have noticed too because she burst out into one of her most psychotic laughter, I couldn't help but join my best friend.

We were so fortunate witches were extinct. Otherwise, I would have dropped out of school.

When the bell rang for lunchtime, Brady and I grabbed our bags and rushed out before Mr Quinn could finish giving his announcements. The hallway was packed with creatures of all kinds. Humans chattered in front of lockers and higher breeds laughed with their friends as if this was normal. As if they had always been here. At the cafeteria, there were new food stands. A blood bank for vampires, fae fruits and other delicacies for faes, raw meat for werewolves who were interested and the list went on and on.

Brady and I settled for steak with chips and a juice box. It looked like the takeover came with better lunch for humans too. We settled for a table beside a window in the far corner where Carl and Toby joined us. Leah joined us when we were already digging into our food.

"Check this out" Carl smirked cockily as he slid his tablet across the table for Leah, Brady and I. I squinted at the screen with Brady and Leah huddled beside me.

It was a news headline.

"HEIR TO THE LANDOR THRONE TO ENROLL IN ONE OF THE NEW MIXED BREED SCHOOLS, PARUS HIGH IN LONDON"

"I thought he was in Elite high?" Leah asked the question I was dying to ask.

"The high king is doing this to encourage other high breeds to attend new mixed breed schools. We all know that the chance of rebellion in newly turned mixed-breed schools is high. They end with the deaths of fifty or so low breeds and six or more high breeds. Humans have the numbers in most mixed-breed schools. King Malthus is trying to even the ratio. If the high prince is attending a mixed breed school, others are sure to fall in line especially since he's so dreamy and all" Toby explained.

I chewed thoughtfully on a piece of steak. "I've never seen him before" I muttered under my breath but Carl's sharp hearing picked it up.

Laughter bubbled out of him.

"You've never seen the high prince before?" he guffawed. "How did I not know this? Do you live under a rock or something?"

I glared at him.

"No. But we never watch tv at home. Mum is always busy and I'm always reading. Besides, I don't want to see him. It makes all of this" I swirled my fork around. "Seem unreal" I finished, stuffing a huge piece of steak in my mouth to keep me from over-explaining.

The rest of our meal went by as we made small talk here and there. I laughed at Leah's jokes as the three of us made our way to class.

The moment the final bell rang, I headed out for my next appointment.