Bab 10: Chapter 8
It was a shock for Jayde to hear that it had been a while since a vampire had been around, seeing as how Mr. Crea was a professor at the school. “How long has it been since there was a vampire?”
Ophelia turned away to look across the courtyard, making a ‘hm’ sound as she thought about the question. “Well, if I’m doing the math correctly, it’s been like ten years or so now. Of course, with you starting here that count will reset once you graduate.”
Frowning, Jayde turned to look over the courtyard as well. She pushed stray wisps of hair behind her ear as she watched a couple girls in the fountain climb out. Their skin gleamed with droplets as the water slid down bare legs. “Do you know why there are so few vampires?”
Silence descended between them, Ophelia unsure of how to answer the question since she had no idea, and Jayde tuning into herself as she thought up the possibilities of why vampires weren’t in abundance at the school. Like, maybe vampires were very reclusive like the myths said they were, just like they were mean because of their blood lust, or maybe they just had built their own species network of schools that occurred during the night since vampires were ‘allergic’ to the sun. Talk about having a kryptonite with the sun’s ability to kill them. But surely the vampires weren’t an endangered or dying out people… species… right? Jayde pretty much refused to even consider the thought. Maybe it was just the area they were in and most vampires lived far away from this school, or maybe there were other schools out there that they could go to. That could be because there would be less chances of fights breaking out between werewolves and vampires since stories always had them fighting each other. Oh! Maybe vampires were just home-schooled!
Jayde sighed as she pushed the thoughts away, deciding to focus instead on making friends with the red head sitting beside her. She felt like she had made Ophelia uneasy to be around her, and she couldn’t blame the girl with all the ridiculous things she knew about vampires. But Jayde did have to admit that Ophelia had a great sense of fashion, along with being one of the friendliest girls she had talked to in a long time. Jayde remembered the flash of fear that had passed over Ophelia’s face though. Was everyone afraid of vampires? Or was it just Ophelia? What was Ophelia?
Turning her head, Jayde studied Ophelia a little more. She wasn’t super pale nor really tan, but the burning red curls she had hung down to the middle of her back, and eyes were close to a light leafy green. Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that Jayde knew this wasn’t just a regular human school, she would have thought Ophelia was another human. There weren’t any telling differences and Jayde definitely wouldn’t have known if they had met outside of the school.
“Speaking of species, can I ask what you are then?” Jayde smiled when Ophelia turned to look at her.
Ophelia smiled back. “Believe it or not, but I’m a mermaid. Before you ask, merfolk usually can’t leave the water. However, ages ago now, merfolk made deals with witches, sorcerers, or whoever had the magic, to cast spells on objects that we wear to allow us out of the water. My pod has a long-lasting contract with a nearby coven of witches. They usually enchant jewelry for us to wear, something that would be considered normal to wear on a daily basis. The only downfall that the witches have found, is that the jewelry can only last for about a month before it needs to be enchanted again while we need to go be in the water for the time it takes them to re-magic it.”
It was definitely a shock to hear that Ophelia was a mermaid, more because Jayde hadn’t thought such a water reliant creature could be out of water than because she forgot about merfolk existing. Jayde definitely wouldn’t have been able to guess that Ophelia was a mermaid either. She had been thinking more along the lines of a nymph, or maybe a werewolf. Honestly, she had forgotten about merfolk and those had been the only two species to pop into her mind.
“Besides, can’t you tell?” Ophelia continued, picking up a piece of grass to spin around and twist in her fingers. “I’ve always been told that a vampire has the ability to smell or sense what you are. Something about the unique difference in the blood or whatever. Why aren’t you able to?”
Ophelia looked up at her and Jayde shrugged, looking down to pick up her own piece of grass to maul. “That’s kind of what I would consider a long story, but I pretty much thought I was a human until a little over an hour ago. So, for seventeen years, I’ve lived like and thought that I was a human. Now I’m here for my last year of high school to hopefully learn what I need to know about an entire world in like six months.”
For a short moment, tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke. Thinking about how she’d been lied to for all of her life, been drugged all her life even, made it hard to be where she was now. Ophelia must have sensed there was more to the story and laid a gentle hand on Jayde’s arm.
“That’s actually, and unfortunately, common for a lot of students. Now, they are usually told before high school since that’s when the majority start here, but it’s a frequent occurrence for at least one student per grade to be told that year.” Ophelia squeezed Jayde’s arm reassuringly then stood up. “Do you like video games? Specifically, Guitar Hero? No one here will play with me anymore and I’d love to battle someone. If you do play, you should know I am highly competitive. This is your only warning.”
Ophelia’s grin and outstretched hand helped push the dark, unwelcome thoughts away. Jayde laughed, trying to quickly wipe the tears from her eyes before she accepted the hand up. “Dare I ask just how competitive you are?”
“Hm. On a scale of one to ten, I’d say I’m a solid fifty.”
They laughed together as they walked back to the building. This time they didn’t have to worry too much about the football guys since they had moved farther away, thankfully, and Ophelia waved at the girls still in the fountain.
Once they were back in the girl's dorm, Ophelia showed Jayde to the huge recreation room. There was a small kitchenette with snacks and drinks, then a huge flat screen t.v. that almost took up the whole wall. Ophelia got the PS3 started up, got them onto multiplayer, and they played away.
Hadiah
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