Chapter 4 The Boy In Her Dreams

• The sun had barely dipped beneath the horizon when the Academy truly woke.
• Around here, classes began at dusk. The Skies had turned violet, and the trees cast longer shadows. Evana, even then, had yet to fully settle.
• She did not think she was ever going to settle in such a place.
• Faye had been eager to drag Evana through every hallway, show her every shortcut and was quick to whisper warnings about who not to talk to or make eye contact with.
• Evana still found it hard to get used to Faye's chatter, which was nonstop; growing up with Troy and Helena, all she had ever known was the silence that loomed above like a curse. She had grown to love it.
• It wasn't until they reached the main rotunda that Evana truly saw it— the divide.
• It was subtle yet jarring. Paradoxical in every sense.
• Students sat in pairs. They filled in by the dozens, all dressed in black uniforms trimmed with different colors. Silver. Crimson. Golden and Midnight blue.
• Evana was quick to notice this because her uniform, which was freshly pressed and slightly stiff, bore no trim. It was plain black. She wondered why.
• A thought nagged at the back of her mind, the trims must have been according to the color of their eyes... She snuck a glance at Faye by her side. Faye had a silver trim. Almost like her eyes. Almost.
• Faye's chatter seemed to dwindle as they entered the upper tier of the hall, styled like an amphitheatre. "Them."
• Her eyes, Evana noticed that they twinkled with adoration towards whomever. She jerked her eyes to see the people Faye referred to.
• Crimson. They sat apart from the rest of the students, sprawled across the plush velvet seating like royalty. They were definitely the big dogs around here. One of them, lean and devastatingly beautiful, laughed at something, baring his perfect teeth that glinted too white to be natural.
• These creatures and their teeth...
• Evana also found it intriguing yet scary that every single person she laid her eyes on were beautiful and handsome in different ways. She just couldn't place it. She heard they were all beautiful, just like the ones she had seen during hunts, but she had thought it was all a bluff.
• Seeing different faces at once seemed to confirm this. She only felt even more tense at this discovery.
• She remembered her hunt lessons, "they lure you in, with whispers of sweet nothings, they get into your head and soon, they dig their fangs into you to drink of you."
• It all made sense now...how they could lure one in. Humans loved everything beautiful.
• "Purebloods," Faye whispered, dragging Evana out of her head.
• Evana narrowed her eyes.
• "They come from the oldest bloodline, old money. Despite the unity around, it's clear that everyone fears them after all. They have the unadulterated bloodline, the ones who have not turned, which makes them formidable. They are the strongest around here— oh, you would know that, there I go again. Yapping on and on." Faye paused and smiled sheepishly.
• Oh no! There goes her information... Evana cried imaginary tears. She needed Faye to yap. She needed it so badly especially right now.
• Apparently, the information she was fed at the Agency was barely anything to work with, they were all surface level, and if she relied on just that, she would be toast by the cock crow.
• Truly like Helena, her foster mother had said, she was really on her own.
• "What is your bloodline, you seem to shroud yours with magic. We do that a lot when we are among humans but in the Academy, you can be your true self!" Fray whispered.
• "Why are we whispering?" Evana whispered back.
• Faye chuckled, "Right." She cleared her throat.
• "That's the first full sentence you've said to me since you got here, you know."
• Evana's eyes flashed with a glint she hid quickly. She refused to feel guilty. She cleared her throat, "Really? I'm not much of a talker."
• That was the first true statement she made since her arrival at this place.
• She thought back to what Faye had said earlier. Indeed, the Vampires did not go around the city with their eyes glowing with unnatural colors. It had to be an enchantment. Like the way the outskirts of the school were an enchantment...an illusion that looked exactly like the real Academy.
• The Classism around here was bloodline-centred. Meaning, to have any standing around here, one had to have a bloodline.
• What to do? The Agency left this information out, too. She was able to divert Faye's attention to that, but for how long? And why hadn't the Headmaster called on her bluff since she had no trim?
• Evana was not appreciative of the new puzzles that formed in her head.
• At this rate, she might get caught sooner rather than later. That thought sent shivers down her spine.
• She tuned in on what Faye was saying, "...same reason the Night court nobles still hold influence, even in the Academy."
• Evana cursed silently at herself for zoning out, now she had missed out on another important information. The Night Court nobles? She also never heard of this in the Agency.
• The realization that there were a lot of gaps holes in the Information she knew about the Vampires did not make her feel good in any way. She had to do a lot of research. She needed more than just a talkative roommate.
• She scanned the room again. Beneath the purebloods sat the students with silver trims; they seemed to be the descendants of the high-ranking hybrids of purebloods and Vampires turned by purebloods.
• Right below them were the golden trims; they were obviously the ones who were descendants of humans turned Vampires by the silver trims, while some were descendants of a union between Vampires from the silver bloodline and the golden bloodline.
• The blue-trimmed they seemed to be the general population, the ones from the generations of the golden bloods and humans. The lowest in the hierarchy.
• Evana could feel it already...how eyes skimmed past her, scanning her and perceiving her. If there was going to be a catch, she knew it was not going to be the authorities of the school but the students themselves.
• What if they smelled something off about her? She struggled with the urge to melt away. But at the thought that they underestimated her, her resolve strengthened. She could see the contempt in their eyes. She was obviously currently at the food chain.
• That exact moment must have been when she saw him. The crimson-eyed young man.
• Her breath hitched, and her lungs twisted.
• Him. The boy from her dreams, she was sure.
• He sat alone at the far edge of the pureblood circle, half in Shadow. It would have been easy to blend in from where he sat, but he stood out alright. His face was sharp, sculpted, eerily familiar and devastatingly handsome.
• Dangerous.
• He tilted his head slightly, as if he recognized her. His brows shot up, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
• It was a knowing look.
• "Hey, are you okay?" Faye nudged her.
• Evana tore her gaze away from him immediately. "Fine," she said absent-mindedly.
• "Let's have our seat, you can come sit with my house till you figure your trim issue out, or you can simply just identify with your bloodline right now, trim or not," Faye suggested, peering up and into Evana's eyes as if to decipher the true color of her eyes.
• Evana wanted to look away, but it would seem suspicious, so she maintained contact. "It's fine, I'll simply stay at an empty table till I can figure my things out. You can go on ahead to your...house."
• The bloodlines were called houses here. Evana figured.
• Faye shook her head, "Alright, I'll sit with you until you figure it out. Honestly, my house is boring anyway."
• Evana shrugged, a little grateful for Faye's thoughtfulness and a little regretful of an alone time to gather her thoughts.
• "Come on, let's get you some food. After now, classes will commence. A good wine would help."
• Tch! Wine or blood? Evana's disgust resurfaced. Anger and fear fought a battle in her chest, fighting for which one would take over.
• Anger that these people drank people's blood for fun, they called it wine! They probably had a cellar filled with dead bodies from which they milked the wine.
• Fear because she did not want to be subjected to drinking human blood like these monsters in order to blend in, or whatever hideous meal they ate.
• This turmoil was causing havoc in her system, so much so that she wanted to puke. Evana took a deep breath and allowed herself to be led to the food court.
• It was a buffet style. Evana had guessed. She heard the Vampires were lavish, and from the varieties of food around, she could attest to that.
• To her surprise, there were normal meals here. Just extravagant. Veggies and lots of meat. Were some humans? She wondered. Some were obviously beef or chicken. She imagined her body chopped and served for dinner if she was caught, and she shivered at that thought.
• "Come on — faux wine or the real deal?" Faye did not catch the way Evana's expression flickered and the glint in her eyes that vanished just as fast.
• "Real deal..." Evana paused, "You mean, human blood?" Her brows rose, and her voice dropped an octave lower.
• Faye chuckled while pouring herself a glass from the dispenser, "Your sense of humor is quite dark. Yes, if Lamb blood qualifies as human blood too, you... Which is —" Faye paused and glanced at Evana, "Really dark, even for you, well, yes, Faux blood is right there." She pointed at the other dispenser.
• Evana forced a cheerful chuckle. A break in character. But her brain was racing a mile. Faye looked at her weird when she assumed it was human blood, like it was an absurd thing to say.
• Evana was starting to question the information she had received at the Agency.