Three

The storm broke at dawn. I slipped into the surge of Disciples heading into Sanctuary block as the first raindrops hit the ground. Pounding the concrete entrance stairs, I wheeled through the other bodies to get to the Hall before the bell rung. I skidded to a stop. Sanctuary Hall had cracked black marble floors and scuffed ivory walls. Electricity was hard to generate so the radiators stayed off until winter, and the temperature was on the cool side, but I liked it.

Draped across the clunky furniture, and each other, in erratic clusters the Disciples of the Sect wore two colors, black and green. Boys tended to leave their chests bare under the green blazers, and the girls rocked them shorn at the elbow or tied around the waist to show off their tattoos. Nearly all humans were marked now days; protective sigils coerced from defeated wiccans. I myself avoided it. The idea of someone so close made me sweat, no matter how pretty the ink.

I wondered what would happen if I shouted out "I'm a fairy and there's a vampire in my wardrobe." It would be very dramatic.

Reflexively, my gaze travelled across the bobbing heads. Alex sat alone at our bench. She noticed me and wiggled her fingers, animated by my arrival like I was something special. Rake thin and inked from head to toe, Alex confused people when they first saw her. She was too pretty to look at straight on and most slid looks her way to digest her beauty like jolts of lightening, rather than get a fist in the gut at the sight of her. Long blonde hair and sultry blue eyes contrasted startlingly with her deeply tanned skin, a few shades shy of rich chocolate.

She smiled, and the blue runes prettily decorating her cheekbones crinkled. "Hai," she said and chucked a can at me.

I caught it one handed and tipped my chin up as thanks. Popping the top, I took a few slurping gulps and grinned at her, breakfast done.

Alex's general attitude to life was, 'And what?' She didn't give a damn what people thought of her, or what she did. If the upper dwells gave her hell or looked down on her for coming from the slums, she'd punch them in the face then ask who was next. She took the same approach in her friendships. This was why she was my only friend. She didn't care I was a freak since she figured she was already one too.

Ambling over to our bench, I sat on the table surface and tucked a leg under my butt, left the other hanging.

Stuffing a bread roll into her mouth, Alex pretended to roll her eyes in the back of her head. "It's all bad, Rae. Real bad," she said around her mouthful. "I slept terrible, and there's a bad storm coming in. My hair be all static."

She made a big hair gesture with her hands.

Overly excited or emotional, Alex tended to slip deeper into her colloquial roots to twang like crazy. I used to have to concentrate on what she was saying when we first enrolled, her slum speak was one of the most broken and slow I'd ever heard, but after a year or so I understood her babble easy.

Relaying the horror of how a third grade had tried to ask her out, but puked, she paused to screw her eyes up. "S'up with you? You look all shiny and more frazzled than usual."

I should take up cards because my face didn't twitch. Keeping a neutral expression I shrugged. "Not that much."

Her eyebrow climbed. Maybe my face was a little too composed. "You gonna share or keep evading? Don't make me beat it out of you. I went to your room this morning to eat breakfast, but you weren't there. Where you go? I tore this place up looking." She leaned in, her voice hinting at naughtiness as she said, "You do something prohibited?"

My gaze flicked to then from hers, down to the floor. "I met a boy," I said and felt my cheeks warm.

Gods, could I have not managed anything better? I knew what she'd think I'd been doing.

"I knew it, a secret rendezvous. Tell me. Is it Jono? He's an ass, but I won't mind if you like him. Honest. Zoe has her she-devil eyes on him but he's had a big thing for you for months."

I ignored the comment, held down a sigh. "You won't understand."

"What's not to understand? I don't mind who you fool with." She slid a considering look my way. "That is, as long as it's not Ro."

I rubbed at my scratchy eyes and pushed some hair out of my face. Taking a second to think on it, I decided it'd cause no harm to tell a little more of what happened. "This morning, I went for a run and I-" I frowned and searched for words that wouldn't make her freak out. Alex had a penchant for the melodramatic. "This boy," I said and flushed when I thought of Breandan. "He bumped into me. Or rather I bumped into him since he seemed to expect me. It was the weirdest feeling, like I was meant to be with him."

"Was he familiar? Someone you'd met in the upper dwells, perhaps." She sounded suspicious.

I couldn't help but smile at comparing the magnificent mental image of Breandan, next to one of the skinny, pot-hole-faced pubescent boys the dwells produced in an alarming quantity considering the human race was near extinction.

"No. He was not from the slums either before you ask. His name's Breandan."

"Hold up." She pinched the bridge of her nose then rubbed at the runes on her cheek. This told me she was agitated and I braced myself for a lecture. "This boy you met was Outside, as in beyond the Wall?"

Fiddling with the skin peeking through a slash in my jeans, I nodded. "I know what you're thinking but it's fine. Do not tell anybody. I'm dealing with it."

Her eyes widened and I realized my mistake. "You know what he is don't you? What kind of demon he is." I said nothing. To open my mouth at such a point would be a bad thing. I'd already told her much more than I had meant to. But it was nice to tell someone, who would not think I was clinically insane, and release some pressure.

"You know I won't tell anybody, but you need to never go out there again."

She looked worried, but I couldn't help but add, "He touched me, held my hand and I'd wanted him to."

It would have sounded stupid to the average person, and if it had been anyone but Alex, I would have kept my mouth shut.

As little as I'd told her, Alex's mouth popped open. "No lie, touching? You willingly placed your hand in another? Like actual skin contact."

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't tell her what really happened with the fairy-boy. It was weird, admittedly not weirder than the vampire slumbering in my wardrobe, but still pretty messed up. Even if I tried to tell her the boy was a fairy she'd take me to get my head checked. If I said the word 'vampire' she'd probably hit the klaxon as a reflex.

"Only you could make a demon friend," she said, and to my amazement sounded jealous.

I placed a finger on my lips and shot her a look. Did she want the whole world to know?

"Keep it down, I was safe." She peered at me, seeking the truth and I composed my face to blank. It wasn't a lie per se. I just didn't divulge all details that no doubt would horrify her. "I guess you could call him a friend," I said slowly. "I don't think he'd ever hurt me in fact he helped me out of a pretty tight jam. I only told you so much because it was odd, and you would've bugged me until I told you something semi believable."

I shrugged to give the impression of nonchalance.

She was not convinced, and her pinched face told me so. "You gonna get yourself dead. I told you to forget about that damn hole. I should've made you tell a Cleric."

My voice was flat when I replied, "Whoever he was, he's long gone."

Drumming her nails on the table she shrugged. "Say-so. Let's move."

She went to grab my hand but I flinched. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed my blazer lapel instead and dragged me behind her.

Half way down the hall the morning bell rung and the corridor filled with bodies.

I gripped the strap of my bag tightly. I knew I had a class, I'd spent all morning trying to get back in time for it, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what. "What we dealing with first period?"

"Demon Theory," Alex shot over her shoulder.

A jaw-cracker of a yawn took me by surprise, and I shook off a little sleepiness. Damn straight I was on my way to class even after my pre dawn drama. I could not skip class; the punishment was not worth it. I was pretty much good at everything I tried and took eight classes instead of the six most Disciples preferred; Martial Arts, Explosives, Subterfuge, Entomology, Demon Theory, Equestrianism and Alchemy. I was tired, and could feel a grump coming on, but I vowed to keep it together a few more hours for the sake of maintaining. My plan was to get through the day with my head down, deal with the dead thing in my closet then sleep and wake up to everything being back to normal. Rather, as normal as they were before.

Alex caught my yawn. "That must have been some run."

I nodded faintly. Someone pushed past and bashed my shoulder. I winced. I got another shoulder bash after two more steps and became freaky alert. I hated walking the halls during period changes. Usually I'd be early or late to class and avoid the masses, but Alex liked to be on time.

I hung my head and lowered my voice. "The next person to touch me is going to be in a world of pain."

She sent me a consolatory look then shrugged. There wasn't much of anything you could say to make someone like me feel better.

I'd always had problems with getting close to other people. Physical contact made my skin crawl. I could only bear to be a more than a foot close for a few seconds before some peculiar reflex took over, and this horrible hissing noise started to break from my throat. It was embarrassing and practically a disability. As I child my blood had been tested a gazillion times because the Sect suspected I had demon blood, but the tests always came back negative for shifter or witch genes. The month people thought I was a witch was bad, and if I'm honest the worst of my life. Freaky and unexplainable stuff started happening when I was nearby. Naturally, the solution thought up by the community was to blame the weird kid. Having no family to protect me I had been mocked, beaten to a pulp and ridiculed. People had spat at me and even thrown stones. The matrons at the orphanage were afraid of me and did nothing; they probably hoped someone would kick me in the head too hard and take me off their hands. But I'd always been resilient and a quick healer. Bearing the burden of being hated and feared had set me apart as strong, and the Sect enrolled me in the Cleric training programme less than a season later.

As a Disciple my life was better, still difficult but better. I even had friend now.

Walking into the class, ignoring the other Disciples already in the room, I sat down and rested my cheek on my palm as Alex wandered off to mingle.

Mind drifting, a memory of silver eyes had my heart picking up speed and turned my breathing shallow. Feeling the heat in my cheeks, a glance around showed everyone was too wrapped in their own world to notice my heaving chest. Not that people paid me much mind. Why was I getting all hot and heavy over a fairy-boy I would never see again? He said he was going to come for me, and I had used this to help me get through my encounter with the vampire, but there was no way he would risk coming onto the Temple grounds. That would be stupid, and Breandan seemed anything but stupid, right?

Bored of waiting for the lesson to start, I stood to stretch, and the satisfying pangs of my muscles loosening helped chase away some of the dull drum. Wandering from my desk, I twisted my fingers together and paced the room. There had to be something to inspire a break of remembering those cold and mad eyes. Why was he mad? He was definitely upset about having to help me back to the Temple, but why?

There was no way in hell I was ever stepping another toe past the Wall ever again, so I had to stop tormenting myself with the questions eating away at my composure. Questions like who was he? Who were the 'we' he kept referring to and how did he know I was a fairy? Why was I given up at birth? Were my parents still alive?

I thought I would go mad. If only I could see him one more time, talk to him again, I might actually learn something instead of being left confused and uneasy.

Glancing out the window I did a double take. Calm and still, a figure stood on the grass outside. Breandan stared at me. His eyes followed my steps as the wind and rain lashed his body. He'd found me, and he did not look happy. What could I have possibly done to make him more upset? Lifting a hand he held it out, and crooked a finger. Pulled as if tethered, I took a step forward then another. His eyes widened, face became troubled. He beckoned to me again but waved his whole hand. My pace quickened into a skip in my hurry to reach him. I fully intended on smashing through the wall and glass.

Colliding head first into a chest, I staggered back. "Excuse me," I mumbled and cringed all over.

Body contact was difficult for me when I was focused and prepared. Unexpected, it was like experiencing a full body hiccup.

Forced to spare a glance at the boy I bumped, I felt a thrill at the heart shaped face and green eyes watching me. It was my lucky day because he was the third boy I'd seen that morning who was delightful to look at. The thought had me veering of course. Breandan was beautiful; he was a fairy, which was one of the more attractive demons in existence. The only other boy I'd seen was the vampire-boy, Tomas. Did I really think a dead guy was attractive? Hadn't I already decided his look did not appeal to me? Uh, what a nasty thought. I shouldn't find a blood drinker sexy.

I reeled myself back in and focused. Devlin, the boy I had headbutted, was a Disciple like me. He was smart, quick and strong, as most of us were, but he was also popular. The kind of Cleric in training the Priests like to parade around the civilians to inspire hope and obedience. He'd started about a month ago and was pretty much perfect at everything he did. He was adored by the girls and worshiped by the teaching Clerics. Strangely enough, he had always tried to talk to me and be nice. I'd never paid attention and ignored him because the friendliness had always seemed, forced, and had an undercurrent of falsehood. But still, I smiled back when he grinned at me, or bobbed my head when we past in the hallway since he made a big show of saying hai. Most didn't understand his interest in me, and for a while I'd been higher on everyone's radar, but after a week or so things returned to normal. When I say normal, I mean I ignored everyone and everyone ignored me. Devlin remained perfect and gorgeous, of course.

His blonde hair so light it was white, and when he smiled I had to blink. "You are excused," he said and an expression flickered across his face too fast for me to catch.

At his steady appraisal I became flustered, but I did remember I needed to get outside. I navigated around him then faltered. The space outside was empty. Rushing to the windowsill, I pressed my face to the glass and turned my head at every angle. There was nothing but well-tended grounds, Northhouse - the boy's dormitories - and the outer wall snaking around the Temple. Crushing disappointment shook me up. Stomping back to my seat I knocked into someone as I sat down. I focused on my lap and sucked it up; trying to figure out if I'd lost my mind before the next period started. A difficult task when I was not sure I was fully sane to begin with. Maybe I'd cracked at some point but hadn't recognized it yet.

Alex yanked out her seat, dumped her bag and slid into a chair beside me as the bell chimed.

Pulling myself together, I knew I needed to show good manners, and looked over my shoulder with an apology for the person I had knocked. I stiffened then looked forward, but the damage was already done. Not feeling up for a confrontation, I tried to make myself as small as possible in my seat. You know how people say if you stand up to bullies they'll back down, leave you alone, and show respect? It's a load of bull in my experience. I stood up to Zoe on my first day; I wasn't a pushover after all. She'd never laid a finger on me again, but swapped physical beatings for mental torture. Zoe was a large, sharp, pain in my ass. I wanted to be left alone to do my own thing, but she couldn't help but make me feel more like a misfit. I peeked to see if she was going to start something.

She glared at me, her heavily freckled face twisted. "Reject," she spat dragging a brush through masses of over dyed purple hair. Her sleeve fell down with the stroke and I saw she'd been marked now, a snake eating its own tail wrapped around her wrist.

Alex heard her, and whilst I sunk further down in my seat, she twisted round to flip the finger so forcefully the table rocked. She added a mouthed 'screw you' for good measure.

"You see her mark?" Alex said in a low aside to me. "Takes more than the power of the Ouroboros to purify a she-devil."

This exchange hadn't gone unnoticed, and the other Disciples turned to look at me. My morning was slowly tumbling into hell, and my best friend was not helping. Alex was older than me in age not maturity. She'd turned twenty a few months before and was a few weeks behind me in classes. I had hoped she would take the final exam the same time as me so we could go over to the Temple together. It wouldn't happen if she failed her physical. She'd have to retake the whole of grade six, and I didn't want to have to fail another exam to keep pace with her.

A milky brown skinned boy with thick cornrows threw a wad of paper at the back of Zoe's head. "Not cool, Zo. Leave her be." His black-rimmed eyes looked overly large in his thin face, and his blazer hung open to show his naked chest, belly piercing and marks. Jeans worn and slashed at the knee, his boots were scuffed and unlaced.

I smiled warmly. "Hai, Ro. Where have you been?"

"Slums, on assignment," he replied. His eyes were on Alex who now stared at the table.

I twisted round further in my seat and bit my lip. I had loads of questions I wanted to ask. The slums were melting pots of every religion, race and minority you could think of. So intermixed there was little distinction between skin colors. Occasionally you got the odd throw backs, like Alex, who were dark and some, were pale or oriental in appearance and feature, but most were a creamy tan.

Slum shacks were shabby structures tacked onto old buildings. Made from wood, plastics, metal basically any material you could get your hands on. Nothing was wasted but then nothing was fixed either. The result was a mish-mash of junk and bric-a-brac homes, riddled with drug dens and whorehouses. The occasional Sect church stood out like a bleeding human in a hungry vampire nest. The Sect took over the churches and gutted the insides to fill them with literature preaching the Doctrine that kept us safe. The luxuries held in Sect churches, like books, candles and fabric were never stolen. Not unless you wanted to be stung up naked outside the Wall for a hungry demon to come teach you a fatal lesson.

As bad as the slums were, it was the place where the most talented and down to earth people lived. For every drug dealer selling slammers, the most popular narcotic of choice since the Rupture since it suppressed the appetite, there was a talented musician strumming a tune and singing a song. For every streetwalker there was a crew of dancers doing their thing. Artists drew on the floors and sides of buildings with chunks of rough chalk, knowing that rains that came every day would wash it away, but still happy to sketch all day long. Yeah, there was good in the slums. As Disciples we had no spare time, and only got to leave the Temple grounds to either train or complete an assignment. I'd only ever had one that had taken me into the heart of the slums. I'd been dying to go back ever since.

Ro saw all the questions on my face and winked at me. "We talk all about it later and I say hai proper," he said.

It didn't take long for my mind to wander. The fairy-boy from that morning was running around the Temple looking for me, waiting for me. I hoped no one else saw him. No human could appear and disappear without a trace so quickly, and it would be clear he was 'other'. That he was a demon that had managed to get around the Wall without tripping the klaxon; after all I'd done it too. The thought of him being discovered was making me feel slightly sick. I even threw up in my mouth a little.

I heard, rather than saw Cleric Tu step into the room. I knew what he'd look like from memory. His hair was a messy confusion of dark curls, and his shoulders were broad. He was young, cheerful and nice to look at. He was also a murderer. Few would call him that since most humans would see the death of a demon as belated justice, even the death of a demon-child.

I took a deep breath and looked up. It wasn't so bad. I didn't recoil or blanch at the sight of him. My stomach turned over but no one could see that.

Perched on the edge of his desk, he took a crunching bite of apple. My mouth watered. An apple? Fruit. Where the hell had he gotten that? He definitely had friends in high places, because there weren't many fruit bearing trees inside the Wall, and getting any fresh produce was rare. Our dietary staples were caffeine, sugar and bread. There were few people wandering around who were not emancipated looking, and it was usually a sure sign the person was a Priest or related to one. Only they could afford to eat enough to be anything other than thin. Maybe it was like a bonus scheme. Kill a demon-child and get an apple. Chucking his crimson blazer and satchel behind him, he smiled, stretched, and a few girls and guys sighed as the muscles on his torso rippled under his thin tunic.

"Who can tell me the standard attributes of identifying a demon?" he asked. Dead silence was broken by a giggle, and the squeak of a shifting chair. His eyebrows rose high at the lack of enthusiasm, mouth pulling down. "Don't make me pick you one by one."

A few hands climbed lazily.

I was too busy doodling a picture of silver eyes on my notepad to lift mine. Hs eyes had calmed me down that morning when I was half out of my mind. Maybe on paper they could help too.

"Yes, Jono," Tu said.

"Vampires," Jono, a decent looking boy from the upper dwells, began and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his crooked nose, "have a body temperature below fifteen, descendible canine teeth, fixed cellular activity and the appetite for plasma most easily found in-"

"Aint it cruel to call them demons?" Alex cut in thoughtfully. "It be like the vampires calling us bloodsacks."

Jono sent a scathing look her way, continued as if she hadn't spoken, "Shifters, can change to a single other form and this metamorphosis tends to present itself during-"

"Why we humans always gotta be placing names on things," she added after a few beats.

"Then there are witches," said Jono through his teeth, face twisted sourly, "Who can be male or female, and manipulate matter with the power of-"

"They evil and that's that," Ro told Alex and sent her a slow smile. "What else we call them?"

"I'm speaking," Jono spat, his glare switching between the both of them.

Alex dragged her eyes from Ro's chest and glared at Jono. "Dwells," she muttered. "Think reading and writing good makes you better than us." Tipping her chin up, her voice rose. "I got as much right to talk as you do."

He sneered at her. "Life sucking mambo."

She lurched up, knocked her seat over and waved him forward. "You talk much. Let us see how you do with no teeth."

Mambos were the name of voodoo Sorcerers eradicated by the Sect nearly a decade before. It was well known that Alex's mother had dabbled in black magic, and was whispered that not only had she dabbled, but was a proficient Sorceress of the craft. Her dark past was not something the upper dwells let Alex forget, and though she did not embrace her origins, she didn't deny them either.

The sound of Tu slamming his fist on a desk cut above the shouts of encouragement from the other Disciples. "Show disrespect to the slum dwells and you disrespect me," he said and made eye contact with everyone. "Anybody does it again and we'll have a problem. Alex, cool it. "

Setting her chair right, Alex sat back down and shot daggers at everybody, mumbling obscenities under her breath. I caught her eye and saw the tears there. I wasn't the only one, for Jono flushed, the colour spreading out from his cheeks to kiss his hairline and darken his neck.

Satisfied the peace had been restored, Tu's handsome face returned to its normal cheerful mien. "Carry on," he said.

"Of course, Lord Cleric," Jono replied somberly.

Ro, not one to forgive and forget, mimed a neck slicing action at him. He would have to watch his step in the days to come. Ro had come from the slums too, born into one of the gang families who were rumored to have a Bokor in their ranks; a man with white hair who called malevolent corpses back from the grave. I myself thought it was simply the skewed reputation of an old man who was good with herbs and medicine, as did the Temple Priests. The slums had been searched for practitioners of witchcraft and black magic, and none had been found.

"The last is goblin," Jono continued in a somewhat humbler voice than before. "The gene presents itself from conception and is visible from birth. Disfigurement of the humanoid form can vary from slight to severe. Goblins show increased strength and animal like senses, but have notably low levels of intelligence."

I rolled my eyes. Demon species classification was easy; a panhandler could have told Tu that information. After all, you should know the full extent of how screwed you were if a demon managed to breach the Wall and cross your path, apart from me, of course. I took a long moment to feel special then scolded myself, because my situation was dangerous and creepy, not special.

"Impressive," Tu said dryly. "But I think you'll find you forgot one."

Jono looked confused. "I named all demons known to man." He flicked a page of his textbook. His eyes widened and he pushed the book away. "I named all real demons; I didn't think we needed to reference extinct species. Should I have mentioned the silver backed ape as well?"

A smattering of Disciples laughed, but I found nothing funny about it. So many animals had been lost during the Rupture. During the fighting it seemed everyone forgot that there were other creatures than the ones that could talk, and be heard by fighting back. Nevertheless, intrigued like others around me, I flicked to the relevant chapter in my book. I paused and scanned the summary of demons, and my eyes snagged on the name.

Tu said, "Fairy. There have been eighty-seven recorded sightings of creatures with humanoid appearance in the last year."

I stifled a little bubble of hysteria. A grin stretched my face until I thought my lips would split down the middle. Alex sent me an odd look, and quirked her eyebrow as if to ask 'what's so funny?' I pulled my face together and waved her away.

"Lord Cleric, you're asking us to consider fairies flying around the region sprinkling dust and spouting riddles?" Jono's was incredulous. "They're practically extinct."

Ro snorted a laugh and it smothered out the wild giggle I couldn't seem to contain.

"I think on it, and can't believe it," he said. "No Cleric has confirmed sighting of a fairy." Flicking the side of his nose a few times with his thumb, he snorted again.

He caught Alex watching him from the corner of her eye and winked. She fought a smile. Looked like they were going to make up and play nice again. Ro was a complicated endeavor that Alex could not seem to get a handle on. They were always breaking up, seeing other people then coming back together again. Ro liked Alex, a lot, but he liked guys too, and it seemed to be something she couldn't get her head around.

The class kept up this train of topic for a while and I tuned out, lazily scratching pictures into the table surface with my pen cap.

"That's an interesting necklace you have on," said a hushed voice.

My hand slid to cover the leather tie and circular golden pendant that hung from it. Devlin was leaning out of his chair, closer to me.

"Ta," I said and turned back around. He moved closer. I shifted away and tried to focus on what Ro was saying, but he wasn't finished.

"Can I see it?"

"No," I answered frankly without looking at him.

"It's important to you."

"Yes."

"May I ask why?"

He was not getting that arms crossed, face turned away signaled I did not want to talk. Scowling, I faced him. "It's all I have from my past."

He gave me an apologetic look. "It reminds you of your family."

I smiled tightly. "It reminds me every day that people can throw you away like trash, and to trust no one but yourself."

"You sound bitter," he said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, well." I was done with the conversation. I turned away again, slid deeper into my chair but found my hand rising. Tu signaled to me with a nod. "Sorry if this is random, I haven't been following the conversation." I shot a pointed look at Devlin. "Why all of a sudden are we focusing on fairies? I've noticed my classes in the last month keep picking it up as the main study topic."

"We have orders to increase your training on lesser known beings, in particular fairies. There has been increased activity and sightings near the Wall."

My heart tripped a little in my chest. "Increased?"

"Forty in the last month."

"Where?"

Tu's gaze bored into mine. "Here, around the Temple."

I swallowed and scrunched my hands into fists on my knees. The silence thickened, and several sharp intakes of breath sounded throughout the room.

"Do we know why?" asked Devlin.

"No," Tu replied. "But we can make an educated guess. This is where the greatest protectors of our race are trained. A demon gaining access to this Temple would be disastrous. They know this, and since we first came here we've suffered the odd attack." He pushed his hands out in an open and calming gesture. "And that is why you should not worry. Every attack made by a demon on this Temple has failed. The Wall keeps us safe, and when it is breached we erase the danger."

He paused and paced back and forth across the classroom floor, hands behind his back, and his eyes on the floor. His face had become drawn, dark. Is that what he thought he'd done earlier, erased a danger? My stomach lurched as my eyes wandered over his crimson blazer. It was hard to look at him straight. I wanted to stand and shout and point and tell everyone how sick and twisted he was.

"Tell me, how you would identify a fairy?" he asked as if plucking the question from the air.

"Textbooks say fairies are the most diverse of all demon kind," Jono started. "Some have bright colored hair and funny colored eyes but all are noted to have an in-depth connection with nature, and possess inhuman strength, speed and regenerative ability." Jono's mouth opened, breathing in deeply, no doubt about to spew more statistical nonsense.

My hand shot up.

Dark eyebrows climbing at the forceful thrust of my hand, Tu jerked his chin at me. "Rae, you have something else to add?" There was faint surprise in his tone.

I could admit I was a more sit in silence then ace all my exams type. But just looking at him had all sorts of questions swirling around my mind.

"Lord Cleric," I said thickly then had to grunt a few times to clear my windpipe, for bile had risen at having to address this man with the honorific. "I know despite the reports of sightings that fairies are rare, but have Have you ever seen one? Up close, I mean? "

He stopped pacing, and his mouth opened then closed. He stared at me hard before rubbing a large hand over his face. "No. I have never seen a fairy. They are incredibly rare demons."

I cocked my head and my mouth won out over logic. "Have the Clerics ever caught a fairy? They hunt vampires and shifters all the time, but I've never heard of them actually catching that particular type of demon."

From the corner of my eye I saw Devlin shift in his chair. I was not surprised. People didn't question Clerics like this. The only reason I was managing it is because I'd seen Tu in his most base form. He had lost all my respect so it was nothing to talk to him as an equal.

His eyes went wild, glassy with repressed panic. Could no one else see it? "Like I said they are so rare-"

The direction of my thought changed abruptly, "If they haven't," I interrupted and tapped Alex's textbook with a finger, "how does the Sect know to put such detail in our books?"

Now I'd looked, they'd even described different variations of fairy coloring. Once you'd seen it, it was so striking it was not something you could ever forget. How could the Sect know that, and why had I not noticed before?

His eyes darted to and from mine. He placed his palms up, pushed them out. "Such beings are commonly-"

My mind flashed to the fairy in the clearing, all that blood and sizzling skin. The ruthless way he had behaved made my gut churn and my expression darken. "The Sect is lying." Someone to my left made a choking sound of disbelief. "They must have studied these demons, and for some reason you don't want us to-"

Tu slammed his beefy hand on the desk. "Enough," he barked.

I jumped, snapped my mouth shut.

Stunned at his own outburst, he blustered around with some papers on his desk and cleared his throat. "That is enough on this subject for today." His voice was quiet, distracted. "Team up and turn to page sixteen of your textbooks to discuss and summarize the proposed vampire reproduction. Start. I'll be back shortly to check your progress." He spun on his heel, avoided looking at me and left the class.

Snapped from my single-minded quest for truth, I flushed at the number of people staring at me. I shot a look at Alex who was wide eyed, pouty mouth hanging with a chocolate bar resting on her bottom lip. It was foolish for me to call such attention to myself, and plain stupid to insult the Sect. Pulling my hood up, I breathed out, and tried think of a reasonable explanation for my behavior. Skipping out of class wouldn't help; it would confirm any suspicions. Tu was one of the Clerics who had hunted me this morning. No doubt he was on his way to inform the others of my weird behavior and the direction of my questions. Great, talk about staying under the radar.

A sharp pain on my arm made me yelp. Alex's face popped into view. "Damn, Rae. You zoned hard."

"What class is next?" I asked. I wondered if I should consider ditching. If the Clerics thought I was a danger maybe I needed to leave now. If they found out I was a demon Wait. How would they ever know that? Gods, I was becoming melodramatic.

"We got Subterfuge," Alex replied, "but I might ditch."

I eyed her like she'd lost it. Why would she do that on a whim? Disciples who were caught ditching had to do bereavement duty. It meant helping the morgue deal with the remains of any poor misfortunate's that got taken out by demons who'd breached the Wall. You helped cremate dead bodies and notified any next of kin. Most times it was kids who'd stayed out too late, or had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was the Clerics duty to protect, and when they failed they made sure they grieved with the families, and showed them respect. I only considered it because my life might be on the line.

The class divided up into little clicks and Ro came over. He made a silly face at me then grinned. I built myself up mentally, knowing what was about to come next. Hauling me up, he wrapped his arms around mine and kissed my cheek. "I missed you, Rae." He was several heads taller than me, and my feet lifted from the floor as he squeezed. Roland, Alex's on off steady, was nice. He'd always talk to me if he saw me around the compound even when he and Alex were on outs. I wouldn't call him a friend since I only knew him and maintained a relationship because he was important to Alex.

And that's why I let him hug me, didn't punch him in the face and said, "You too." I shifted, a subtle signal for him to let go, but he remained uncomfortably close. I extracted myself. "How was it? The assignment, I mean."

I was genuinely curious. I hadn't lived in the slums before I came to the Academy. I had been tied to the Sect since birth, and held in orphanages in the upper dwells. I was one of the lucky ones. Those without parents generally became panhandlers, beggars prey for any hungry demons that hid behind the Wall. Plus, I loved the creative atmosphere of the place.

"A goblin kid hid in a shack close to the Sect church, a simple catch and release." He shrugged, shifted on the spot. "Same old thing. Dirty and cold, but it be my home, y'know?" He paused and made a clicking noise with his tongue, a sound one made unconsciously before bringing up a touchy or dangerous subject. It was a slum dwell habit I knew he'd been trying to get rid of for a while. "Something happened to you this morning?"

I pressed my lips together. Ro was perceptive, more than was usual for a boy his age. That or I looked worse than I thought. I worked hard to keep most of the kooky crap I did away from Alex. It would only worry her. The stuff from this morning would probably give her grey hairs. Ro looked like he was ready to buckle down and figure what was wrong with me. Maybe his well timed words and snorts earlier were trying to accomplish more than just derision. Maybe he was trying to cover up the fact I was giggling like a banshee during what was supposed to be a serious discussion. Whatever issues I had about how cooped up we were behind the Wall or how purist the teachings of Sect had become, the Temple was my home. Suggestions bound to get me into serious trouble stayed locked firmly inside my mind, most of the time. Disciples who'd voiced radical ideas like my own ended up failing the final exam or kicked out of the Sect. Then there were the ones who disappeared entirely. That was not going to happen to me. Ro and I had had a few very brief discussions about this. Touched on the subject more than once, how some things the Sect did and said didn't quite add up. How Disciples going missing, after they had spoken up about the treatment of demons we captured, was just plain wrong. Ro had always been keen to talk more, but I'd always pulled back.

"I went Outside," I said and lifted my chin. "I ran in the forest."

Alex groaned and plucked at the skin of her throat as if it irritated her. She'd already known this and her reaction was purely knee jerk.

Ro didn't look surprised, if anything mildly impressed. "Did something happen?"

I tilted my head, hearing something unspoken in the words. "Why'd you think that?"

"You on edge, and earlier you went pale like you seen you a ghost. You got so shook up you forgot yourself and walked right into Devlin. Rae, you always so careful and cautious about touching, and you got so distracted you forgot?" He shook his head. "I don't think so, something big happened."

I swallowed before I answered, "I saw-" Was I really going to tell him?

"I'll tell you something else," Ro began, speaking slowly and looking down at his hands looped in his jean pockets. "Maybe on my way to class, I hear a Lord and Lady Cleric talking about a problem with a demon Outside this morning. Maybe I hear them talking about a Disciple who broke Doctrine and went beyond the Wall. They say a Disciple disobeyed and even struck out, gave the Lady Cleric a black eye." He looked up at me and lowered his voice an octave. "You need to be careful now, you feel me? Think about the questions you ask in class and the way you react to some words. Likefairy, eh?"

"What are you getting at?" I tried to pretend the shrillness of my voice was natural.

I couldn't tell them what had happened, if the Clerics were looking for me there was only a matter of time before they found me. I was bound to slip up again. I had a bloody vampire snoozing in my wardrobe for gods sake. I had decided the best was to play this was to not confirm or deny anything else. Ro would try to help me and his heart would be in the right place, but I couldn't risk it.

As for Alex "You do remember the Rupture? What happened to people like you who wouldn't get in line and act right," she said angrily.

She was not happy and I could sense a long, rambling speech coming on. With all the information I'd told her and Ro's speculations, she would have been able to piece together quite a bit by now.

Opening my mouth to tell her to shut the hell up, I saw Tu enter the room talking to a thin woman. She was dressed in a crimson blazer with a swollen eye and bandaged arm. A Lady Cleric, the Lady Cleric from that morning.