Chapter 8 - Welcome to Lamronba

Dante gasped and rubbed his eyes to see if what was in front of him was really there. When it was confirmed he was not in fact dreaming, he whispered to himself, "That's not a school, that's a castle."

He had already seen its photo on the leaflet, but that was nothing compared to in person. It was modern yet gothic, with it's red bricks making the school brighter. Windows covered the front building of the school with grand double doors as the entrance. The other two buildings on either side towered this one with its chimneys and mansard roofs. The whole thing looked so presentable despite it being 'ancient' as Izzy described it. the brick window frames had a pattern of yellow and red bricks. For some reason Dante liked that the most. As a bonus, just standing here he felt instantly at home. He even forgot for a solid minute he was trapped in a magical dome of teleporters, bird-callers and whatever the hell John was again. All the kids around him awed at the sight of the new school, chatting and squealing to the person beside them excitedly. "Alright everyone." one of the kids stood in front of the students, his dark blue eyes flashing with smug confidence. "Don't waste your time on trying to be the 'best draft.' You're already looking at him."

Dante rolled his eyes. This guy was already radiating the same energy as the bullies at his old school. Kimmy spoke up with the same smugness in her voice. "I beg differ. You looking at a blipper right here!" She pressed a finger to her chest proudly. The boy rolled his eyes before tugging his sleeve up to reveal a spikey cuff around his wrist. "Nice bracelet." Dante remarked. The kid smirked before clipping the cuff off and raising his hand in front of Dante and Kimmy. Within a few dry seconds a blue beam fired right out of the kid's palm and right at Dante. Kimmy was quick, grasping her hand and blipping away from the shot at the last possible second. Dante practically felt the heat of the laser at his chest before then. The two re-appeared in front of the lizard man, who wasn't impressed. "You better be able to do better than that." He sighed looking at Dante. He then turned his attention to the rest of the kids. "Everyone, I am your teacher and dorm advisor, Mr. Richardson. Follow me and we'll sort you into all your rooms."

Entering the school was like entering a royal ball. The halls echoed as the doors were forcibly pushed open by Richardson and everyone gawked at the gothic paintings on the ceilings and the many achievements of the school which Izzy said dated back to the 1500's. "The 1500's, huh?" The Russian girl - Jane - said from behind them. "I'm familiar with that time if I do say so myself."

Izzy's nerdy smile stretched out even wider. "YOU researched life in the medieval times, too?"

"Better," Jane said. "I lived it!"

Now Dante had a few questions, "What are you talking about, lived it?"

Before Jane could answer, the dorm advisor spoke up again, he held a list. Presumably of the dorm rooms and who's bunking with who.

"Alright, when your name's called out, you're gonna follow Ms. Winglet here to your dorm room. It should already have all your stuff but if you wanna change, freshen up or change or unpack any surviving items from the crash. You'll have an hour of chill time before class begins and I sort all of you out into your AE classes. Understand, dipsticks?"

Everyone nodded and/or shouted 'Yes sir.' Dante turned to Bernie worriedly. "AE classes?"

"Ability enhancement classes," She explained. "We have normal classes as a group, but when we need to learn about our abilities we go our separate ways and join the AE classes of older years."

"Why older years? Why not our own year?"

"Because THIS is everyone in our own year. And I doubt we all have the same ability."

Dante then realized this whole class, this whole YEAR, had a grand total of twelve children. As if this were the 1960's or something.

Richardson held the note up to his face and read out loud. "Finster, Garcia and Eclipse, room 502."

Bernie, Kimmy and Izzy all grinned excitedly and rushed up to see their room. Bernie turned back a second and nodded at Dante as if to say "We'll be back, we're not leaving forever." which was a relief to Dante since he hadn't bothered socializing with anyone else. The next names we're called out. "Fairheart, Glodwater and Fernsby, room 507."

At least he didn't have to stand here feeling awkward. As he was led away he noticed two things. One, he was sharing a dorm with Pablo and the demon. Crud. Secondly was Ms. Winglet. Dante hadn't been bothered to look at her but now he was there was something strange with her smile. It was almost, LITERALLY blinding. Normally would be a compliment but it just made Dante feel uneasy.

The dorm was to Dante's liking. All his stuff was here, walking into the bathroom was a relief as he saw each boy's toiletries had their own little spot on the sink or their own little cubby in the cupboard. The room itself had a grand scale-window that took up most of the wall. So clearly great for privacy. On the bright side they had an amazing landscape view of the school field. Dante could already see a bunch of kids playing sports and other activities.

"Quite a view, huh?"

Dante whizzed around and let out a breath when it was just Pablo. He forgot this was s shared living place. "God, you scared me-" That's when he noticed it. Pablo didn't have a bed the way he and John did. He was in an aquarium. Beneath the surface, Dante's jaw dropped and the silky, cyan merman tail that shifted back and forth through the waters. Pablo noticed him staring and just chuckled. "I like beds and all, but nothing beats the pure relaxation of drifting through cold water. You get it right?"

All Dante could express was shock. "YOU HAVE A TAIL?"

"Not all the time." He replied casually, his lower half glowing and splitting into two normal legs wearing silk trousers the same color as his tail.

"Of course he has a tail." A voice came from the bathroom. "Everyone called him an Aquarius before, are you dumb?"

It was really hard to listen to what John was saying when his voice was momentarily interrupted by a big 'plop' sound. If Pablo was annoyed, he sure as heck wasn't letting it on. The dude smiled and explained to Dante that he's an Aquarius, meaning a water-bending merman. He also said, a little less proudly, that he can switch between normal legs and a tail because he's a 'land-lubber.' His voice dropped a bit at that point. Even more that whatever John was dropping in the next room. He quickly changed the subject, "So, are you really an organic?"

A flushing sound could be heard, and John swung the bathroom door open to answer the question. "It seems he is." the raaksha said coldly. He walked up to Dante placing his pale hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. Dante just glared at him. "So what if I am?"

John laughed and Dante's attempt at bravery and just whispered in that bone-chilling, layered voice of his, "I'm just saying be careful. We raakshas eat organics for breakfast."

"Hey, hang on a second, you didn't wash your hands!" Pablo pointed out from behind the pair's staring contest. John replied normally as he rubbed his hand on Dante's shoulder, never breaking eye contact. "No I didn't."

Two pieces of seaweed flung onto the boy's heads, breaking the moment of tension. "You guys are funny! I made you some seaweed crowns. Binding for life!" Pablo said, making a third for himself. Dante ripped the plant off his head. "Pablo I'm not wearing this thing on my head."

Pablo's eyes grew wide with sadness. "How would anyone know we're friends then?"

"I'm gonna go scare Dice." John announced as he walked out, not taking the crown off his head. Probably hoping for Lord Fernsby to make a sad return.

The rest of the hour was spent with Pablo and Dante talking about really anything. The thing with Pablo is that he's wonderous, yet weird. Dante could bring up a topic as generic as the weather and Pablo could gush and fantasize for minutes. At one point Dante said, "I really do think clouds are bad for the environment." and Pablo began a full debate-type argument on why clouds are the most wondrous things in the sky. It was nice talking to someone so passionate, even if you haven't a clue what they're on about. He ended his speech with a remark that confused Dante. "Darn clouds are so cute! I hope to see at least one in person someday!"

"I get today is clear skies, but how have you never seen a cloud before?"

"Boys!" Ms. Winglet knocked on the door. "Class is beginning, you don't wanna be late do you?"

Pablo quickly changed into his school trousers before racing Dante down to class, which Dante only agreed to once he walked far ahead of him.

Once they made it, all other ten kids were there. Mr. Richardson was standing at the front with an annoyed look on his face.

"Boys, you're late."