Chapter 2: Hidden Staircases

Key for this chapter:

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                                              *Rinzen's Thoughts*

                                         //Anyone Else's Thoughts//

                'Old dialogues memories, spoken out loud thoughts, the past in general...'

                                                 ///Memories///

                                                         POVs

                                 ""Not an Actual Speech or Thought""

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Warning: Alternative POVs

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                                                                                                               Date: 01-04-2113

                                                                                                   Time: 12:30 AM (for Zen)

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After what was a truly fascinating tour of the grounds, half of which Rinzen had already blanked on, and would need to walk around a few dozen times before he could ever be certain where which way went, and what lay there, they were then led to a cafeteria straight (that looked like an extremely expensive five-star restaurant), the standards at this Academy were ridiculous, and he was incredibly grateful he had his wallet on him, and enough Gylden to pay for all of their food. Though James had paid for half and insisted that he'd pay for them all, but the mere idea rubbed Rinzen the wrong way.

And so after a light breakfast-dinner-lunch — ugh — Mess moment where they all operated on different time schedules, and enjoyed their food of deli-sandwiches, the followed James who now had guided them into a large classroom.

Though there were only seven of them, they were in a class of twenty-some students, which confused all of them.

Vani turned to him, "What the hell?" she asked confused.

Rinzen shrugged, "I don't know", he murmured eyes mostly on James.

"Welcome students of the 2113 batch", James addressed spreading his arm out wide and with a gleeful smile that masked more than half of his emotions, he smirked then, "My name is Professor James Haynes, as students of this year, you will all start from here", he walked up to Scarfy, "And introduce yourselves, what's your name, where are you from, what have you come to study at Hale Academy, etcetera", he paused, "For our new students", he pointed at the seven of them, "After Ms. Harris has a counseling session with you about your classes you can instead tell us about your hobbies or subjects that are similar to your interests and we will pair you accordingly", he informed them.

Rinzen nodded along, the man hadn't much changed since their first meeting, but there was a sober seriousness to his personality flair that brought out his stature as a professor at Hale Academy into actual light.

Scarfy nodded, "Alrighty then", he nodded at them all, standing he turned to face the students, "My name is Ray Light", he grinned disarmingly making at least half of the girls and a few of the guys swoon dramatically.

Rinzen and Red rolled their eyes in unison and then looked away to avoid bursting out in laughter, they turned back to listen to him.

"I'm from London I'll be eighteen in May, um… I like History I guess, I'm from England", he repeated unnecessarily, "I mean we have an amazing vibrant historical history", he said for a lack of a better word, shrugging sheepishly, and "I always figured if I ever went to college—it was still up in the air you see—I'd want to study History or Anthropology or something", he stated shrugging weakly and then he sat down.

James hummed, "Thank you, Ray, next", he called.

Behind Ray, Bell sat and she stood up, she bowed once and then straightened;

"Good Morning?" she asked James.

"Afternoon", he corrected.

Nodding she turned to face the class, "Ookami Bell", she paused, "My name is Bell my family name is Ookami. Traditionally we introduce ourselves with first name last", she added and then flailed, "Um… right, uh… I am from Kyoto, Japan", she informed clapping her hands and then swallowing nervously as the sound echoed briefly, "I would like to study Law, and uh, yup that's it", and she sat down quickly.

Six people after them continued and then it was Ash's turn.

Rinzen turned to take him in properly for the first time; he was tall, shorter than Ray, but still relatively tall, around one hundred and seventy-eight centimeters at least, he was built similarly to James but tended to wear more clothes than what would be considered normal, the temperature was about as normal as all hell get out, not too hot not too cold—yet he was dressed in a woolen coat and woolen scarf.

At the distance, they sat his eyes were a captivating grey-ish silver, set in the re-shaped face, a broad forehead, strong cheekbones, and an angular jaw. The pallor of his skin was pale-ish, the man probably never tanned, he looked almost gray but not in a sickly kind of way. it was probably best to call him pale, rather than grey, somehow even as socially inept as Rinzen is, he knew that calling someone grey was just plain stupid.

His complexion complemented his dark brown curly hair, which was styled to really remain crazy on his head; even though Rinzen knew he wasn't some kind of stylist he was aware his up-do was fashionably accurate.

"I'm Ash Roiz-Wolfe from France", he started standing up, "I'm seventeen, my birthday is in June which makes me the Cancer most people like", he grinned cheekily.

Half the class laughed at his dark humor.

"For reasons that don't really make sense to my family, I like understanding how serial killers think. Bad people in general", he stated causing the entire class to stop moving.

Rinzen looked away and struggled to control himself, biting his lip to avoid laughing out loud at Ash's utterly blasé attitude, this guy was definitely someone he could see himself being great friends with, putting his head down, his shoulders shook as he heard Ash continue speaking;

"I mean I just want to know, what compels them to kill people, and how they get away with several murders before the police get to them you know. And the old ones were great like Mary Bell, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy", he paused, "But recent Magick serial killers are really amazing, for example, The Ani Covenant. Those people have sacrificed a lot of innocents to a god no one has even heard of before", he practically gushed. "Or at least not a god I have read anything on. And I've scrolled and reached a lot", he informed them despite their obvious discomfort.

Rinzen's shoulders shook with suppressed laughter, he looked up at a sound and found James turning away and biting his own lip, he also saw Red using her hair to hide the manic grin she was sporting. Actually, most of The Seven were laughing in one way or the other.

"And so I'd really like to study Criminology", he stated and then sat down with a 'so there' attitude.

James cleared his throat, "Well that was— colorful", he concluded and licked his lip and turned, "Next?" he asked Red.

Red stood up, "My name is Vani McCrery, I'm from Ireland", she stated, "I would like to study Art Law, so something related to —I'm not sure which period yet", she answered and then sat down without really saying anything else at all. Which given who she was and how they'd met, spoke volumes.

Red, was gorgeous in that quintessential alluring way that would make most men proclaim their undying love for, or offer to slay a few dragons. Her hair was darker than a normal red but held the same ginger quality he was familiar with, and her eyes definitely had the enchanting magic of belonging to the fey bloodline—a crisp blue-green that when the light hit, seemed a brighter blue he'd only seen at seas, they were basically a siren's thrall, with how enchanting they were. They were almond-shaped and had an almost piercing quality to them that would make most people confess their deepest darkest desires freely.

That coupled with her attitude of: 'Everyone is far beneath me' made her both incredibly desirable and equally insufferable.

A calculated move if ever there was one. A move that made Rinzen salivate, wanting to reach out and unwrap the puzzle she was and find out what made her tick.

James nodded, "Next, you at the back, you seem to be half asleep, why don't you start", he called sharply.

A loud clatter had a boy with dark tanned skin, stand up abruptly;

"Sir! Yes, sorry", he coughed once and continued into an almost comical coughing fit that had almost everyone wincing in sympathy.

Sighing heavily James walked towards him handing him a glass of water, "Drink", he ordered tersely.

"Sir", he grabbed the water and guzzled it, choked much to James's exasperation, and then sputtered once twice before handing the glass back, "Sorry, thank you, uhm… I'm Barry Brown, from Thailand, I mean I'm not Thai, just I live there, was born there. Uhm… I will be studying Microbiology", he answered and then sat down very quickly, trying very hard not to make eye-contact with anyone.

James nodded and turned to the next person.

After three more unnecessary introductions, unnecessary for Rinzen at least, he cared more about James and the other six that had been chosen, than he did the other students in this class, he stood up.

"My name is Zen Ryder", he informed, if he was going to be using an alias, he'd rather put his new nickname and old nickname together so as to not get confused. James had advised against using their actual surnames. "Ryder with a 'y', I'm from USA", he clarified, and then smirked and shot Ash a cheeky wink, "Unlike Ash who focuses entirely on serial killers, I prefer wanting to study the area of the kill site", he smirked as someone groaned at the back of the class, "Like why would a person kill Victim A in Place C and move it to Place B, I mean inevitably the truth will always come out, so why be bothered to make life more complicated, I mean if it's to buy yourself more time, why not start with a plan, if you're going to kill someone, you should already have like ten steps prepared beforehand", he pointed out.

He ruthlessly stifled his laughter as he watched the people around him recoil, he could practically feel eyes on him, in the back one of the girls groaned;

"Oh No!" someone muttered drearily, "God made two of them", he looked away and cleared his throat;

"Anyway, I think I would like to study Criminology and Forensic Sciences. My dad once said, the best cops are like the best murderers, they both think on the same level, alike, are one, practically soulmates, you know—" he smirked shark-like, "Just two different personalities on the same coin", he stated and sat down.

James finger-walked away from his desk, and turned to Zee, "Next", he said a grin barely suppressed.

Zee stood up, Rinzen hummed as he took them in, they were skinny and wore revealing clothes that for one, held a lacy quality to their clothes, sheer in a way but it was black, which both hid everything and put it on display. Slim-fit blazer and long slim fit trousers. Their skin was almost translucent white which accentuated their white hair, red lips, and teal-colored eyes.

Coupled with their unique traits their androgynous features were hard to convey their gender.

"My name Zee García-Hunter," they answered, "And as the name suggests I'm half Spanish half German", they hummed, "I don't identify myself as a boy or a girl, so in conversation, if you ever want to talk about me, please refrain from saying 'he said' or 'she said' and stick to 'they said'", they said answering his unspoken questions, "I would also like to study art, but my medium is mostly sculpting and welding, and I'd like a minor in Cryptologic Linguist because I find it fascinating, which means I'm confused and so I will decide on a major later on", they hummed, "I'm seventeen, my birthday is in July. I like cute things", they paused, "Mostly in black", they grinned amusedly. "And pink", they teased cheekily.

"You're certainly a study in contradictions", James stated quietly.

"Yes", they nodded, "Happy to be, we have evolved a lot of the years, ninety-one years if you know someone had to actually count, and yet prejudice is the one universal thing out there, heck we've even accepted same couple relationships, defined and categorized several sexualities. But tell someone you're confused about your gender and they throw pamphlets at you with the stupidest questions ever, like, 'What do you identify yourself as?' and if I knew that, why would I even visit your clinic or 'Please tick the box that states whether you are Male or Female'… I mean what the hell is up with that?" they demanded angrily. "Anyway, if you must call me anything 'Zee' it is", they said and sat down, elegantly but pointedly ending the conversation entirely.

A stunned silence followed briefly until James asked the next person to speak, and it was off again.

Eight people later, Pajamas (and he really needed to learn her name, or would accidentally call her that in class or worse outside in public. The shame…) stood up and she nodded politely at James;

"My name is Jasmine Singh and though it may look like it, I'm afraid my genie is currently taking a nap and I'm subbing in", she smirked then.

Effectively shutting down all the whispers and leers of 'She's like my wish come true', 'Man I'd bottle her', 'My genie, my wishes', and others…

Not that anyone could be blamed, her clothes, were straight out of a fairytale, unless it was normal in India that is. For one he didn't know what her pants were supposed to be called, but she did look like a genie straight out of a bottle, it didn't help that she was wearing a crop-top t-shirt that was tight in all the ways that mattered, accentuating her figure beautifully. She wore a long sweater, which had to be Chenille yarn, going by the way it moved with her, the sleeves were long and bunched up at the arms, and her shoes were the kind of shoes he'd only ever seen genies in old movies wear.

*I'll have to ask her later, what they're called…*

Her long dark brown-almost-black hair fell in long curls down her back, accentuating her oval face and stood in perfect contrast to her fair skin. The single most unique feature of her ethnic appeal seemed to be her eyes though, they were blue, a bright almost cerulean blue, he knew for a fact weren't common in regards to people of the Asian Descent.

Jasmine hummed, "I'm from Amritsaerlhi, India", she said and then continued, "I like Math", she stated, "And I would really like to spend my life trying to solve every mathematical equation I come across", she grinned happily, "I get this intense high after I spend several hours of my day just solving inexplicable math questions, that make most people stare at it, like some kind of monster with big teeth", she hummed swooning somewhat dramatically.

Rinzen snickered as a girl—probably the same one from earlier— at the back huffed;

"I stand corrected, the newbies are all mad!"

Internally he added;

*Oh you have no idea... *

*~*

TBC...