Chapter 9 - The Curse

"Please take your seats, roll call is about to begin."

Pablo and Dante both sat at the last two free seats near the back. Once Dante was settled, he noticed everyone's eyes on him. So he was late. Was it the first time? No, but it would certainly be the last at this new school. However long he's staying here before the truth gets out.

Ms. Winglet let herself in moments later, taking a stool and sitting awfully close to Pablo. He didn't seem to notice as he took in the old-school look the classroom had. A chalkboard with a clock hanging over it with cream walls and those sparkly tiled ceilings you build. Dante wasn't sure why the Aquarius so fascinated with a standard classroom, but it was clear from the earlier talk he doesn't get out much.

The adult up front spoke again. "Afternoon class, I hope you're not too shaken by the hold up this morning. I'm Mr. Richardson and I'll be teaching you little dipsticks for the next six years. Or however long you survive. Or even I survive. When I call your name I'll need confirmation your here and also your ability so I can mark which AE class your in. Bernadette Finster."

Bernie raised her hand. "Here, and bird-caller."

Dante's heart stopped all of a sudden. He'd have to come clean and get humiliated like he did on the bus.

"Isadora Eclipse."

"Here, and enchantress, sir."

"Kimberly Garcia."

"Yes, blipper."

"Johnathon Fernsby?"

"The almighty raaksha is at your presence." That earned John a few groans from his peers.

"Pablo Goldwater?" Mr. Richardson asked again.

"Here, and aquarius."

"Dicemino Tiego? Did I pronounce that right?"

"Here sir, you did and I'm a conjurer."

"Clarissa Smith?"

"Here sir," Claire said from the front. "Telepath."

A telepath? Dante thought That sounds cool.

"Janette Petrova?"

"Present sir. My abilities include walking, talking, reading, writing, though Claire had to help with that-"

"Uh Jane?" Claire intervened. "Not what he meant. You're ABILITY?"

"OHHH. Lingua?"

The teacher rolled his eyes and continued, "Lucky Hulnuk?"

"Here," stammered a ginger. "And also alchemist."

Teach squinted at this next name, "Jewelry Cooper?"

"OH OH HERE!" A girl with messy black hair and unique turquoise eyes sprung up from beside Dante and Pablo's table. "Here sir! Also an enchantress."

"Okay, Jewelry. Leonardo McClain?"

A boy beside Jewelry let out a deep belch, amusing some of the class. Richardson did not look amused. "Look are you Leonardo or not?"

The boy spoke without looking up. "I'm a Leon, if you must know Rich."

"It's Mr. Richardson if you want any respect."

"Luckily for you I don't give a crap about your respect, Rich. I'm a fiston by the way."

That's when Dante noticed it. This was the same smart kid that almost blasted him outside. In fact it was the same smart kid earlier that laughed at his name. He had deep blue eyes and musty uncombed hair, like the girl beside him, neither seemed to care about proper hair hygiene.

Rich - sorry the name was bound to start catching on soon - looked at the last name on the list. "Dante Fairheart?"

Once again, Leon let out a scoff and muttered. "It's like a magical elf's name."

"Here." Dante answered, ignoring Leon as best as he could. Rich looked at him as if to say, "Well?"

"And my ability is...um...blipping?"

"You sure about that?" Leon turned to face him.

Dante gave him a dirty look before nodding with more confidence. "Yes, I am definitely, a blipper."

Izzy, Kimmy and Bernie all looked at Dante with great concern while everyone else's faces read, "That's not what we heard on the bus."

Rich cocked an eyebrow at the kid before putting down his clipboard and writing on the board with blue chalk. Dante knew he was busted, he could tell from Rich's body language that he didn't believe him for a second. Seconds passed like hours as Rich's chalk squeaking on the board was the only thing keeping from dreadful silence. That's when John blew it.

"Didn't you say you were an organic on the bus?" He said all innocently, as if he wasn't doing this deliberately. Rich dropped his chalk and said, "Knew it." before whirling around and gesturing for Dante to stand up. "C'mon, you and I are going for a walk." He stormed out the door not even waiting for Dante. A portion of the class went 'oooooh' while Dante's real friends looked at him with pity as he walked out the door.

Dante followed Rich down the royal, packed corridor. Rich tutted to himself furiously. Dante caught up with him enough to hear. "How did this happen? I thought the school was smarter than this." Rich made a left turn into the staff room while Dante waited outside the door nervously. All that was coming to his mind right now was John whispering threat. We eat organics for lunch.

Rich turned to the child and snapped impatiently, "What are you doing? Go on, get in!"

It was a standard staff room with a fridge in the corner, counter, oven, cupboards, dishwasher. There was a roundtable in the middle and on the left there was a poster of the school crest that laid on the floor.

Dante walked in and saw a man waiting there. At least he thought it was a man. While his head, legs and body were the same, out of his sleeves where his arms should be were slimy pink tentacles. The organic almost gagged.

"Principal Smooch." Rich greeted the man. Now Dante wanted to laugh. He wore a standard black business suit with glasses enlarging his blue eyes and a paper clip that held his blonde manbun together. The man's eyes darted to Dante, then Rich, then it seemed to go back and forth between them for an eternity. "This," Rich said reluctantly, already sensing the man's response "Is an organic."

Smooch's eyes now nailed themselves to Dante. "So it IS TRUE!" panic rose in his voice "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT, IT'S THE CURSE!"

"Sir, it surely can't be. I know we got drafts this year but-"

"It's the curse! it's the curse! it's the curse!" Smooch yelled over every rational argument Rich gave. Dante backed away to the door ready to jog all the way home if he had to. Smooch noticed his sense of escape and stretched out a tentacle to the boy, wrapping it around him and lifting him off his feet. Smooch looked him dead in the eye in a way that was somehow scarier than John. "You did this to us. YOU RUINED US!"

"I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Dante yelled, struggling to slip out of Smooch's sticky grip. "I just know my dad accidentally enrolled me here and paid the school for a slot in. I was supposed to attend Laronda's but he must've mixed up the leaflets or something! Now LET ME GO! I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!"

"Oh no no no no no no no." Smooch sneered. He set the boy down on the table and unwrapped his tentacle. "This was all DEFINETELY supposed to happen. You can't just sit here- EXSITING in front of me, HERE of all places and tell my it was an accident. No young lad, you're SUPPOSED to be here. It's all apart of the curse."

"Okay okay okay, firstly, WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING?" Dante yelled. Rich opened his mouth but Dante gave him the hand. "I've been too calm for too long, trying to act like I belong here. I so clearly don't but I need to find out how I got here anyway. And you, you meth head with octopus limbs in front of me screaming about a curse is not helping at all!"

After a long silence Dante sighed, still baffled at what was going on. "So let me get this straight, Mr. Smooch. You're saying, I was sent here on PURPOSE?"

"No!" Rich exclaimed. Smooch walked up to the white board at the back of the room and pulled out a marker from the utensils drawer. "Lemme break it down for you..."

"Long ago, back in Pangea, while there were dinosaurs there were also four beautiful goddesses that walked the land. These were the first ever entities."

"Entities," Dante cut off "That's everyone here except me?"

"Yes," Rich replied and continued the story.

"They created entities of all kinds of variety. Reptilians and Octopians like Smooch and I. Along with enchantresses and enchanters, telepaths, blippers, aquarius' raakshas, basically everyone you saw in class today."

Smooch took over the tale. "Everything was fine, we adapted and blended in with human kind over the centuries as we knew the four goddesses in the sky were looking over us. There names were Sivva, Reek, Blivo and their mother, Truth."

"But organics- like you- began devolving," Rich continued. "They grew paranoid after witnessing an enchantress at work and called out the first 'witch' in the 1400's. Then began the witch trials."

"Witch trials?" Dante asked "Wasn't that just a bunch of stupid humans killing other humans?"

"Yes; there was senseless violence toward humans, too, but none suffered more than the entities." Rich replied. "The goddesses were furious, they wanted the earth to burn for what they did."

"But something incredible happened." Smooch mused. "Entities managed to rebuild, use their powers to create little invisible countries and towns all over the map. They built schools for their young to use and contain their powers, for when organics are ready to learn about us and hopefully not burn us alive at stake."

"Is that what the dome-like portal-thing we passed through was?" Dante's head was spinning, but things were beginning to all tie together.

"Yes," Rich answered. "Lamronba was the first school for entities created in the 1700's."

"I don't understand," Dante said "What does any of that have to do with curses? And quite frankly, me?"

"We're getting to it!" Smooch snapped. "The almighty ladies didn't want us to rebuild, they wanted us entities to use our powers to our full advantage and burn down the earth."

"But we refused revenge," Rich finished off the story at last. "We went against our makers and for that, the maiden's put a curse on the first land of safety entities ever had. This school. They cursed it so that one year, when the outside world slithers its way into ours, that new year at the school would have to face their wrath."

Dante pondered this for a few moments. Outside world reaping it's way into this one? It must be him stumbling here in this school. And now his year have to face off angry goddesses?

"Wait, so I WAS sent here on purpose?" He wouldn't put it past his mother.

"Doesn't matter," Rich said flatly "You're here now and we're all gonna die."

Dante began thinking back to when his dad foolishly took the Lamronba leaflet out of his hands. Maybe going to Laronda's Reform Rebuild secondary school wasn't such a bad idea.

"So what now?" He asked.

"Now," Rich said, "You're going to begin training."