IN THE DEN OF THE LYCAN PRINCES

ADALYDE They told me my name is Adalyde. That was the first thing that Gertrudia had said to me when she brought me into the Sanctuary to join the other girls. With a sharp glint in her blue eyes and a wide smile on her pale white face, one that eerily stretched her red lips to the corners of her strangely pointy ears, she welcomed me into my brooding, graveyard-quiet dorm room. I remember thinking about how Adalyde felt like such an unusual name. However, I couldn’t pin down what made me feel this way. It just seemed like there was something delicate about the way it rolled out of her tongue when she pronounced it, an odd elegance that came off with the name. Softness. Elegance. Frankly, those were words that were very much far from any description of me. Coincidentally, they were the perfect words to describe Gertrudia. For a woman who looked like the ghost of a young nun that died a hundred years ago, she was oddly exquisite. Strangely beautiful. And for some strange reason, she thought I was special. It was strange to me, how Gertrudia singled me out from all the other girls of the Sanctuary, giving me more privileges and advantages on the grounds that I was ‘special’. How was I special? I never understood this. Was my ‘special tag’ just biased to the fact that I looked much different from the other girls? Was it because I was as snow, everywhere, from the lush of my pale skin to the silk of my long, flowing white hair? Even down to my thick, nearly nonexistent eyebrows and the white long lashes that cornered the lids of my greyish-glasswhite eyes. I thought it was just questionable, really, how for some reason, I didn’t seem to have ‘colour’ like every other girl in the Sanctuary. Something felt wrong. And it wasn’t just the bizarre favoritism, it was me. I often wondered if the other girls in the Sanctuary could also control the weather too; or, if they could raise storms and trigger earthquakes with their emotions too. I wondered if they had to be careful about the thoughts that lingered in their heads or the words that slipped out of their mouths, for the fear that they could accidentally or subconsciously alter the natural workings of the world… Did they have to walk on eggshells everyday, like me, too? Was it their utmost priority to control every little action they made, in order to avoid making mistakes? Be it little mistakes like unintentionally causing a stranger to drop dead, because they looked too deeply into my eyes? Or big mistakes like reflexively causing the sun to dim out for all eternity. Or was it just me? Could it be that there was something that distinguished me from the other girls, asides from my looks? I once learned in Biology class how people came to be. And, often I wondered if I was also made that way. However, there was no recollection in my brain of me surrounded by some sticky liquid in a weird place called a ‘womb’. So, I failed to believe this method applied to me. The first memory of my first day of Life started from the day that Gertrudia brought me into the Sanctuary. And, the more I was segregated from the other girls – being given special meals, special house gowns, special curfews, and even a place to lie on that was not like the regular bunk beds the other girls slept on– the more I realised that I was not like the other girls in the Sanctuary. “So,” I often dared to ask Gertrudia, “What am I?” Her response never changed, not even for a second. “You are my daughter, Adalyde,” she answered, her eyes always glinting with a questionable spark everytime that she told me so. I was never satisfied with that answer. Frankly, it only raised more questions in my head everytime that she gave such an ambiguous answer. No one could convince me otherwise, but I felt like I dropped from nowhere. I preferred to call myself a miracle born. And, besides, the other girls had stories to tell about their lives before the Sanctuary. Meanwhile, I had none. I knew no life before the Sanctuary. I had no specific origin, I just sort of came to be. I never believed Gertrudia when she said I was her daughter. Not for one second. “You’re lying.” Surprisingly, I had the audacity to accuse her. Frankly, to this day, I can’t vouch where I had suddenly gotten such boldness to defy Gertrudia from. Gertrudia was a nice woman, who always smiled and never wore a frown. However, being the most powerful red-haired in the country, the woman was never to be defied. Her respect and influence was so heavy that it erupted fear; she had the power to destroy anyone she would have wanted to destroy, and even if she seemed too gentle and eerily kind to do so, everyone just sort of had it imprinted in their minds how powerful she was and how much of a living hell she could make a person’s life to become, if only she could decide she wanted to devious enough to do it. Hence, no one had ever gone against her. Nor even bought the damn audacity to throw wide accusations at her. Well… Not until I did it first. “You’re lying,” I accused her again. “I am not your daughter.” My wild accusation seemed to have the most subtle effect on her, as I watched how her crystal blue eyes seemed to flicker, its lids twitching slightly, even though that plastic smile remained fixed on her pale face. “Excuse me?” She said, her tone strangely polite. “What about the other girls?” I challenged her, “You may give me special treatment, but you also feed them too and give them a roof over their heads. You make us all dress the same; we have to wear the same long, grey uniformed gowns every single day. You make us all follow the same routine too, and you never let us do any chores or any work. So, what are we really?” Her smile never broke; her long lean frame straightened up nicely as she promptly answered me; “You are all my daughters, Adalyde.” It was her odd calmness, I think. Probably that was what caused her response to send a trickle of chills running down the marrow of my spine. Either that or the way her smile never seemed to twitch. “Okay,” I said, staring back impassively into those glowing orbs of crystal blue, “So, there are exactly one thousand, eight hundred and seventy five girls living in the Sanctuary, all picked from a variety of races all the way from the continent of Asia and down to Africa; six hundred and twenty one are white girls of caucasian decency and that leaves about a hundred and ninety-nine hispanics, fifty-two filipinos, thirty-seven Indians, eighty-one Bengalis, seventeen arabians, twenty five koreans, nineteen Nigerians–” “–Heavens.” She gasped, seemingly in awe of my accuracy. I hated that she had to cut me off. I still had about eight hundred and twenty four more races of girls I needed to call forth in my bid to prove her lies to her face. “And the oldest girl, Shannon, is 27,” I said to Gertrudia, c*****g my head slightly to the side as my brain, reflexively, did the next calculation, “And the youngest is Ifoma, who will be brought out from her teenage mother’s womb in the next four minutes and thirty three seconds.–” “–How did you know?–” “–It just makes no sense to me,” I said firmly, folding my arms as I looked up at Gertrudia, “how you can be the mother of so many girls, from so many different races and close age groups all at once, while just being in your thirties. Are you a morbidly infertile, Gertrudia? Could this just be a disturbing case of promiscuity? Or, tell me the truth, are you an immortal supernatural being putting on the disguise of a human cloak?” There was a flash of surprise in her crystal blue orbs, but it was gone faster than it appeared. “Oh, Adalyde,” she said, tsking, “You really are a special child.” And that was all she said, before sashaying away. For some reason, that little conversation made Gertrudia certain that I was a ‘genius’. It amazed me how the littlest things I did, the literal bare minimum, were always put and praised on a high pedestal. Once again, it gave way for more special treatment. Gertrudia had a talk with her husband, apparently, and the final decision was that they would invest more in my education than they did with the other girls in the Sanctuary. It took Gertrudia and Dominus Farroway five years before the couple transferred me to Prestige Academy. And as I walked down the busy, yet spacious, hallways of this jungle, dark parka hoodie hovering broodingly over my head as I quietly slipped past a few bodies emitting aura ray lights, I shielded those physical features of mine that I had learned here were ‘abnormal’, while wallowing in the harsh reality that Prestige Academy was nothing like The Sanctuary. Effortlessly, Prestige Academy flaunted an elite status, being one of the most luxurious schools in the country. It was a sight for sore eyes, with its tall magnificent buildings, fancy glass-tiled classrooms with spiral tables and desks, a Cafeteria that looked like a royal family’s diner, and the white -walled, spacious hallways with porcelain-tiled floors that shimmered and shined so bright that you could see your reflection in it… Amidst all these, this high school of total toxicity taught me that not everything in life is all about beauty. “Dammit.” I cussed, adjusting the dark fur of my hoodie over the streak of my shining white hair that was forced into view after getting bumped into by a loud girl and her cheerleader friends. “Yuck!” One of them commented behind me, “She looks like a ghost!” And, maybe my sense of humour was dead, because I didn’t and have never understood what was so funny about the constant jabs thrown at me that, surprisingly, always got everyone laughing. Everyone except for me. I barely gave them a glance over my shoulder, before stuffing my hands into my coat pockets and resorting to ignoring them. Indeed, life in the Sanctuary was much different from Prestige Academy. I wasn’t as special here; I was rather chastised, and shockingly, for the most petty reason being how I looked. The other kids in the Academy had colour too, just like the Sanctuary girls. Again, I was left to wonder why I had no colour whatsoever. In the Sanctuary, it made me feel unique. Here, it made me feel unsafe. It didn’t help matters that for a school that was reputable for its extravagance, luxury, and top class quality, these rich people’s children were the wildest things I had ever encountered. From the loud catcalls in the Cafeteria, unashamed bullying in the Hallways, to the recklessness of the Jocks in the classrooms, and even the sinful and public show of promiscuity at every nook, cranny and corner of the School building. Prestige Students were the scariest things I had ever known. And being at the very bottom of the hierarchy, I think it was safe to say that my life was slowly turning into one big miserable hell. To make matters worse, almost nobody in this godforsaken school had aura ray lights emitting off them. Or, at least, not like in The Sanctuary. I never understood what the deal was with the aura rays; why it was so that some people had these specific rays of colours of lights hovering over them by the second and some, had none. I never understood what these lights indicated, but I came to the understanding that only I could see them lingering on people, following them. Whatever they were supposed to indicate, they made me feel safer… More at peace. However, here in Prestige Academy, when only two in twenty people had these aura ray lights hovering on them, I felt, for some reason, that I needed to put my guard up. “Move it, Sanctuary Girl!” A gruff male voice came at me from behind, a wickedly cacking girl’s voice following the taunts as she brushed past, cuddling the mountain-tall jock to herself. I scoffed, humorlessly. The girl barely had an aura ray over her, the little flickers of neon lights were fading off every second she took a step. “Hey, Addie!” I had barely turned myself fully around when Melanie bumped into me from behind, startling me with a playful collison. “You look like s**t!” She commented at first glance at me, green eyes surveying me, incredulously, from the top of my parka hood to the bottom ream of my baggy jeans. Melanie’s motives were hard to figure out when she did things like this: throwing effortless insults at my face. But, on most days, she was nice to me. So, I knew that the moment she spun around with hands akimbo and started walking ahead of me, long perfect blonde hair bobbing at her back with every flashy and efficient step she took, she expected me to catch up with her. “So, like, I was in the girls’ bathroom with Stacy and Precious Valerie,” Melanie’s steps didn’t slow, even as I quickened mine to try and meet up, “And, like girl, you would NOT believe what they told me!” “What?” I asked impassively, even if a larger part of me could genuinely not bring myself to care less. “Guess.” She demanded, gum popping as her heels clicked louder against the porcelain tiles, an indication that she had started walking faster and again, I had to catch up. I knew I had to ‘guess’. A girl like Melanie hated to have her orders defied, no matter how little they were. It was only a new flex that the most popular girl in school had befriended me just two weeks ago; and with the way that the crowd around us seemed to part like the Red Sea the second that Melanie walked through – with me following behind her back – even though she made it a point of duty to cast the most condescending looks at everyone around her who wasn’t me, it made it clear to me that keeping myself in Mel’s good books may eventually help me survive my stay in this godforsaken high school. She was by far every guy’s dream and every girl’s nightmare. And, I never got a clear understanding of what provoked Melanie into making friends with me. Often, I wondered if it was because she was also Gertrudia’s daughter too. However, unlike the rest of us whose last names were Sanctuary, Melanie took the last name of Gertrudia and Dominus Farroway, and had special perks of living in the Farroway mansion. She also occasionally went on flights called ‘Farroway Family Trips’ with Gertrudia and Dominus too; when I asked her why she got more special treatment than me, she had visibly looked disgusted and ended up giving me the most vague answer ever; “Ew. Mum and Dad would never let me live in that Sanctuary dump with you guys!” Interestingly, just like Gertrudia and Dominus, Melanie Farroway had made a name for herself. Not just in Prestige Academy as the school’s queen bee and golden girl, but also on a wild and untamed place called the Internet, where rumours had it that she had her own Wikipedia profile, as well as millions of followers on both i********: and t****k. I wasn’t much surprised at how quickly she seemed to be pulling attention to her name; Melanie was the prettiest girl I knew, with lots of colour: beaming green eyes, luscious blonde hair, rosy-red lips. I heard she had surgery done to get her lips that plump, and I may have heard a thing or two about her doing the same thing to get the curves she had on her slim thick build. However, I knew those were all lies. “Okay, fine, I’ll spill!” Melanie said, spinning around to face me as she stopped right there in the middle of the large, busy hallway. “Oscar likes you, Addie!” I blinked, dumbfounded. “Excuse me?” “So, the cheerleaders overheard it from the guys and told Stacie who told Precious Valerie who told me,” her green eyes were ecstatic with excitement, “that Oscar said you are the prettiest girl in school and he wants to go on a date with you, Addie!” I couldn’t ignore the shock waves that washed over me on hearing Melanie say such a thing, and with so much excitement in her tone. “Oscar?” I had to clarify. “You mean, Oscar Mitchell, the Star quarterback of the football team?” “Yes, girl, you are so lucky!” She squealed, nearly exploding from the thrill. “Stacie was telling me that this would be the best way to officially declare you as one of us, and I totally agree! You and Oscar could be the highlight of our senior year, everyone would love you!” I tilted my head, oddly interested. “Really?” “Are you kidding? Yes!” She exclaimed. “I already declared a party at my house tonight, and only the people I choose get to be invited. Asides me, Oscar is literally like the main character of the School, and my goal is to matchmake you two and have the both of you be the love birds of the school by tomorrow morning!” “Wha–I–You’ve never invited me to any of your party before, Mel–” “–Eep! I am so excited for your new quest to find Love, Addie!” She cut me off with a squeal, flinging her hair in style as she waved me off goodbye. “Sit with us in the Cafeteria today, Addie! Bye, chica!” And, she was out of my sight before I could even utter a word in agreement or disagreement. I stared behind at Melanie’s retreating figure as the crowd in the hallway – on realising my shield was gone– started to cover me up, bodies hitting against me as they walked to and fro, voices scorning at me as they passed by, and eyes, judging me as hard as they could, at every glance. I hated to be this shallow, but I anticipated tonight. Girls like me felt nothing for guys like Oscar. However, girls like me deserve a break too.