Chapter 5:

'He seems... charming.' Nova said with a snort of laughter as I just shook my head at her.

'If you mean bipolar and assholeish, then yeah, sure.' I shot back, making her giggle a little more.

'Would you mind filling me in on what you were talking about while I was gone? I was a little distracted.'

'Sure, where would you like to start? Maybe the fact that he just essentially told me that by tomorrow, pretty much this whole place will be hunting us, or the fact that he proved to me exactly how useless I was in any type of fight in about a second flat. Oh, and then he somehow made the fact that he was going to help me sound demeaning. So, essentially, I'm training with him of a night, and if I slip and accidentally kick him in the balls, I won't feel bad in the slightest.' I huffed once more as she just laughed at me. 'You're supposed to be on my side, you know.'

'Yeah, but he's not wrong, Ari, and at least he's going to help you. Sure, he might have done it in a rather rude way, but you can't say that he's entirely an asshole if he's actually helping you. Plus, he gave you a lot more information about this place than anyone else has so far, and from what Bane told me, it's all true. He gave you a fair warning, Ari. Does it really matter how he did it?'

'He still didn't have to be that much of an ass.'

'Would you have actually listened if he hadn't put you in your place?'

I sighed at her. 'Okay, there's no reason for you to call me out like that.' She just snickered once more as I got my room assignment and made my way back up another flight of stairs to finally find my room.

Pushing my key into the lock, I twisted it and opened the door only to find three other girls all looking up at me from the beds that apparently they had claimed while I had been talking to Xavier.

"Did you get lost or something?" A tall blonde girl asked as she looked me over with a raised eyebrow. Her smile was anything but friendly as her bright blue eyes sparkled with something akin to mischief. A bright jade green snake curled over her shoulder and around her neck.

"No, I had to speak with someone," I answered as I walked in and set my bag on the bed they had left for me.

She just scoffed at me before going back to whatever it was she was working on before, and I just rolled my eyes. Of course, I get stuck with the bitch. Looking up from my bag, I locked eyes with the girl whose bed was directly beside mine. I gave her a soft smile, hoping that maybe I could start something off on the right foot with someone at this place. She was tall and far stockier than I was, with molten chocolate-colored eyes, smooth, rich brown skin, and long ebony hair that she kept in two braids running over either shoulder. She looked far more the part of a beautiful warrior. "Don't mind her, she's had that stick up her ass ever since we came here. Honestly, if I were guessing, though, it's probably been up there for far longer." She whispered the last part to me, making me snicker. "I'm Lexi, and that's Genie." She pointed to the small redhead on the other side of the room who gave me a wave with a smile, and I happily waved back. "That's Natasha, not that she'd ever tell you that." Lexi gave me a smile as she flipped the other girl off, and I instantly knew we were going to get along just fine. "Oh, and this is Kira." She pointed down to a gray and white speckled griffin that was currently curled up in a small ball in the space between our beds.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Ari, and this is Nova." I pointed to where Nova sat up on my shoulder, looking over the group briefly before locking her eyes on the snake that was curled around Natasha.

"Hold up, as in one of the first seven Nova? And if I'm not mistaken, she's in her true form too. That's too cool." Genie chimed in this time, and I looked over to where she was sitting on her bed, looking at the two of us like she wanted to come join us, but was scared to go past the viper between us. I smiled and nodded before patting the bed beside me. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"It's not like she's the only one you know. Right now, we're only missing two out of the seven in their original forms. Not to mention that Fiona here is also one of the seven and in her original form." Natasha chided, as she glared at me once more.

"Yeah, but she's also the lowest-ranked one in the first seven. Basilisks are only really powerful because they're huge, but Nova is the second strongest, only to Bane. Not to mention the fact that dragons are just way cooler and far more useful to begin with. I mean, they can fly and breathe fire. How much cooler can you get?" Genie countered, and Natasha just scoffed with another roll of her blue eyes before going back to looking over the book in her hands.

I just smiled as I turned back to Lexi and Genie. Genie didn't have a familiar with her, but her eyes were a bright, lively green, and her complexion was pale, but tinged slightly green as well. She had to have been a type of Fae. Nova jumped off my shoulders and onto the bed between us as I took a seat beside Genie. The two of them seemed nice enough for now, at least. We all leaned in slightly as Genie looked at Nova. She didn't reach to touch her or anything, just simply looked over her glimmering scales. "She's beautiful," she whispered as she took Nova in and smiled. She really was beautiful. "Isn't she normally mated? They say that's why she's always been rare to bond."

I looked down at Nova as both of them watched me. Can I tell them since she already kinda knows? I asked, and she cocked her head, either thinking or talking to Bane, maybe?

'We don't mind. There's no point in hiding it if they already know, so I don't see any harm in it.'

"Yes, she is mated. How do you know all of that?" I asked as I just looked her over.

"I really like to read, and I've read a ton of history of all the kingdoms. It's fascinating, actually. So that dragon on the wall was Bane then, right? Considering how he was checking the two of you out, it's the only thing that would make sense." I just nodded. She was putting things together far faster than I had been anticipating, but it didn't seem like she wanted to bring harm to me with the information, so I just let her be.

"Oh, you mean that huge black dragon that was on the wall? I seriously thought he was about to eat you when he did that. If I were you, I would have absolutely pissed myself then and there." Lexi chimed in, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Honestly, I'm starting to think that his bonded human has more of a bite than the actual dragon does," I said, causing all of us to laugh. We ended up just talking for a little while, getting to know each other, before all three of us changed into the uniforms they had provided us and went out as a group to find all of our classes together.