When the Sky Comes Down

Chapter 3

[Alexia’s P.O.V.]

‘Welcome to the Hellgate campus,’ the lady behind the front desks says. She looks friendly. She has large, grey eyes, a jolly belly and sleek, blonde hair. ‘Welcome back Keith. Year?’ she asks. She seems to already know, as she starts to go through the papers of a map at the middle of her desk. I wonder why she asks.

‘Hi Evelina, lovely seeing you.’ She smiles at him. ‘I’m fifth this year,’ Keith answers. ‘And my sister here starts her first year.’

‘Ah,’ she gives me a small smile. She might be a vampire, vampires always smile like that. Or perhaps a werewolf, they too have the tendency to cover most of their teeth. ‘Well, in that case…’ She starts grabbing all sorts of flyers from her desks and hands them over to me. ‘These are the campus- and school rules, a map to the buildings, and some other general information about the school. Though I am sure your brother has told you plenty about it.’ She looks over at Keith, who smiles. She turns back to me. ‘What’s your name sweetheart?’

‘Alexia Wildheart,’ I answer a little shy. She goes through the records in a speedy manner, then puts a cross behind my name. ‘You will be in room 356,’ she says. She walks to a cupboard against the wall and opens it. Thousands of keys are ringing as she opens the doors. She doesn’t hesitate a second and simply reaches to the right keys. ‘That’s in the East wing.’

I see Keith frown. ‘I had hoped she would be a bit closer to me,’ he says.

‘Sorry Keith, you know we base the rooms based on those that have become free.’ She hands me the key to my room and then hands Keith his. He mumbles dissatisfied, but doesn’t go against it. ‘Will you show her the way, or do I need to call Mr. Baric?’

‘I’ll show her,’ he quickly responds. She nods. ‘Come on Lex, let’s go get our stuff.’

My room is at the third floor of the East wing. It is quite far from the main entrance, but not too far from the east entrance. Keith is in the West wing, fourth floor. It’s quite far apart. He doesn’t like it and I’m not sure I do. However, I won’t be lonely. I’ll have to share my room with two others. That’s how it works, Keith explained earlier. It’s because we don’t pay for our room and board. Those who do, they either only share with one person, or even have a private room. They even get different food. Not that I mind, I’m already happy that the school is mandatory to take in those who cannot pay. Courtesy of our king and ruler Lucifer.

‘Have you settled in?’ Keith asks, standing in the door opening. We both spend some time packing out our stuff. I took the bed closest to the window, so I can have a view over the garden. My bed is in the far end corner. With three desks right beside it, followed by another bed in the corner near the door. At the other wall, opposite to my bed, there’s a closet, followed by another, then a bed. The last closet is right next to the door, at the footboard of the bed closest to it. The walls are covered with shelves.

‘Almost done,’ I say, as I put my books on the self above my desk.

‘The kitchen is open till 8.’ I feel him following my every move, as I make my way to my suitcase and close it. ‘I checked, there are already a few other people on campus.’ Just as I wonder whether these people might be in the same situation as us, he answers my question. ‘Most of them are here because their parents both have to work and needed to dump them.’ I look up at him as I feel that his gaze is no longer fixed on me. He is looking at his hands. Sometimes I wonder what he’s thinking.

I put my suitcase underneath my bed and walk up to him. ‘What time is it now?’

‘Just past 6.’ He reaches his arms out to me and pulls me in for a hug. ‘How are you feeling?’

How am I feeling? I am a bit nauseous, so nervous. I feel curious, but also hopeful. Stressed, maybe? ‘I’m feeling a lot,’ I answer. I feel him chuckle. He might be my big brother, but sometimes he feels more like my guardian. I feel more safe with him than with my own mother. I lay my head against his chest and close my eyes. ‘Do you think we’ll finally find out what I am?’ I whisper.

Keith softly pets my head. ‘If not here, I wouldn’t know where else.’ I am not sure if I like that answer, but I suppose it’ll have to do.

[Keith’s P.O.V]

‘Do you think we’ll finally find out what I am?’ Lexi whispers. For a moment I am not sure what to answer. We have tried everything to find the answer to that question, even gone as far as to ask mom. So far, we haven’t found out. She’s the only person in our weird and twisted little family who has no idea where she comes from. I don’t want to give her too much hope, but at the same time, I don’t want her to feel as if she doesn’t belong.

I softly pet her head, in an attempt to make her feel more at ease. I can only imagine how nervous she must be, not knowing who it is she is. ‘If not here, I wouldn’t know where else,’ I answer. I kiss the crown of her head and then let go of her. ‘Let’s grab something to eat.’ She just nods in response. I can see on her face that I haven’t given the answer she was hoping for. I can’t give her anything better.

In all her 16 years of life, we haven’t been able to answer that question and my hopes of finding out were now solemnly focussed upon school. I myself knew what I was the moment I turned twelve and the instincts of my inner wolf popped up, like a second soul trapped in my body, reshaping my mind. Though it was never clear whether that part of me came from mom, or my unknown father. Liath’s identity was known the moment she was born. She might not have had her sharp teeth yet, but the green of her ears gave her away. Jackle was known not long after birth too, as even baby vampires don’t drink anything but blood. As for Beck, I was there the moment his powers kicked in. He almost set fire to mom’s dress when the sparks flew from his fingers. Though one could wonder whether he was a mage or wizard. Even we don’t know, because he never wanted to tell us whether he had a mage mark hidden somewhere. They generally start to appear around the time the powers manifest. A mark can be as obvious as stag horns on the top of the head, or fox tail, or as easily to hide as a couple of extra toes or furry legs. Ferril was another wolf, like me. I remember the day he died. It felt like I lost the one person who was just like me, the one person who was just as dedicated to our strange family as if it was a pack.

I glance over to Lexi, who seems to be caught up in her own train of thoughts. Just like her, I have always wondered what it is she is. Maybe she’s some sort of hybrid. Although they are rare, they aren’t unheard off. If she is, if she even has inherited a little bid of mom’s wolf gens, then perhaps we can enter a pack together. I can’t help but hope. The only reason I haven’t found a pack yet is because of her. Unlike my older brothers and sister, I feel obliged to take care of her until the moment she doesn’t need me anymore. Let’s be honest, that might take a while.

We enter the canteen. There are few people there. Most of them I know by face or some even by name, but only one is actually in my class. Unlike most, I tend to take the time to learn people. I might not know everybody, which is near to impossible with a school this size, but I try to get familiar with those I cross paths with.

I hand Lexi a tray, before heading to the lunch lady. Despite the fact that they hand out meals at least three times a day, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, everybody still calls them lunch ladies. She hands us a plate with food, so that the food is equally distributed amongst the students present. ‘Thank you Lydia.’ I give her my warmest smile. People like these sadly do not receive a lot of friendly attention, if people even bother at all to give them any attention. She kindly smiles back at me.

‘Last year, am I right Keith?’ she asks. I nod. ‘Have you already thought about what you’d like to do afterwards?’ I know what she is about to ask. She has been trying to recruit me to her pack ever since she knew I didn’t have one. She is convinced that I might find my mate there.

‘I will probably get a place to live, so my little sister can join me as often as she’d like.’ I look over at Lexi, who gives me a shy smile. She doesn’t have a lot of social practice, except for with family and the occasional merchant.

‘Oh,’ Lydia says. Her eyes go over my sister and I am fairly sure she is trying to figure out whether Lexi is a werewolf too. Eventually she turns back to me. ‘Well, do know that the offer always stands.’ She gives me another smile.

‘Thank you Lydia,’ I say as I quickly take Lexi away.

‘What offer?’ Lexi asks. I was afraid of that.

‘It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.’ She growls a little. That would be a typical wolf response, though she might have simply taken over some of my habits. ‘Come, I’ll introduce you to Nicole.’

[Nicole’s P.O.V.]

Just as every summer, I am dumped early by my parents. “It’s for the best,” mom always says. I suppose I can’t blame them. Mom always does her best to take some time off during the big summer break. It’s hard, as she works at the palace of Lucifer. My dad, well he has a full time job, being the alpha of our pack and all. Whenever I am home, I truly feel at home. The pack is my family and I miss them intensely whenever I need to leave again. The problem is that my mom doesn’t like it when I am without parental supervision. When she can’t take the day off, she makes sure one of my aunts or uncles is looking over it. “Just to be sure,” she always says. I’m fairly sure she’s just afraid that I’ll get impregnated and have to drop out of school. Thus she brings me right back to school the moment the campus opens, so she doesn’t have to worry about finding someone to keep an eye out on me anymore.

I look up as I am suddenly joined by two people. ‘Keith,’ I exclaim in surprise. He never starts school early. He smiles at me and I feel my cheeks heat up. If Keith had been part of my pack, I would sure as hell let him impregnate me and I am sure nobody would blame me for it. Keith is beloved by all the pack children who have met him at school. I am sure most of the girls feel the same about him as I do. He is kind, just and has a great sense of leadership. Furthermore, he is absolutely drop dead gorgeous. He has pearl white teeth, dark blonde curls, cinnamon coloured skin and bright blue eyes you could just drown in.

‘Hi Nicole,’ he says. My eyes wonder to the girl he brought with him. She looks a little younger than he does. She has big, innocent eyes, shaped like almonds. They are green, seemingly going to an almost golden colour. Her skin is a bit darker than that of Keith, with more of an olive undertone. Her long, black curls frame her face perfectly. She is beautiful. I feel a sting of jealousy. I was hoping Keith would finally take Lydia up on her offer and join our pack, but I suspect all hope has gone now. ‘I’d like you to meet my little sister,’ he then says.

It’s like a balloon swells up in my chest. ‘Your little sister?’ I repeat. I couldn’t have been more happier. I feel like I am gloating as I stretch out my hand to meet hers. ‘It’s so nice to finally meet you. Alexia, right?’

She gives a shy smile and nods. ‘But everyone calls me Lexi,’ she says softly. She’s endearing. I can understand why Keith is as fond of her as he is, and this while I have only known her for a few seconds.

‘Well, welcome Lexi. I am sure you’ll enjoy yourself at Hellgate.’ She isn’t the first who starts out as shy as she does. Most go through a complete transformation and are almost unrecognisable by the end of their first year. ‘Which room are you in?’ I ask.

‘365, East wing,’ she responds. I can see Keith has made sure she has that imprinted in her mind. Before I know it I am smiling. ‘I’m just a floor underneath you. Room 283. If you ever need a friend, or just feel like popping by, feel free to do so.’ If she’s in the same wing as me, even if it’s a floor up, that means Keith will probably spend a lot more time around my wing. Maybe I can finally get him to realise that we’re potential mates. Maybe I can finally convince him to be more than just friends. With the both of them being at school early, I would actually have some time to spend with him alone. Away from competition. I bet Jerissa will feel so stupid when she finds out he arrived early. She could have joined me, but decided not to. I can’t help but smile to myself. This might actually be my chance to win over his heart.