After Mrs. Vire knocked Skye out of her state of bloodlust, the girl was sent to the infirmary. Even though Mrs. Vire said class was over, the period wasn't actually over—she had just ended the class prematurely. Both Luka and Riven were in the infirmary with the girl. Riven relayed what happened to the others through the link, and they all agreed to talk more when they got to their Awakening Class. The two boys were just sitting beside Skye while she was sleeping in a nursery bed.
The sound of an opening door was heard. Both Riven and Luka turned their heads toward the sound, and there they saw a boy with white hair and hints of black patches all around it.
"Is there something you want?" Luka asked, with him and Riven standing up and looking the student in the eyes.
"Just checking out the competition. I'm guessing you're her friend?" The boy was Michael Clark, the brother of Matthew.
"Hey, quick question— is it true that she was going head-to-head with Sarah?" Michael asked.
"Head-to-head?" Riven chuckled at the question, confusing Michael.
"If she went all out from the start, it would've been no contest," Luka replied.
"No contest, huh?" a voice called out. But it wasn't from any of the three boys in the room, nor Skye. They all looked toward a corner, where another boy stood with shadows flowing under him.
"Matthew," Michael called out.
Both Riven and Luka didn't know who Matthew was, but Luka remembered the boy deflecting Joey's light beam before. The two boys then looked at both Matthew and Michael over and over again, coming to the conclusion that they looked similar. The only difference was that Matthew had one large dark spot in his white hair, while Michael had several smaller ones.
"Yeah, no contest. What's it to you? And another thing—how long have you been here for?" Luka asked curiously.
"What are you doing here, Matthew?" Michael asked, cutting off Luka's question.
"Come on, is that a way to talk to your older brother?" This sentence told Luka and Riven the obvious—the two were brothers.
"But you know rumor goes around fast here, which is exactly why you're here. Obviously, this girl has potential, and if I take her under our wing, she should be able to become a powerful person for us."
"Us?" Riven thought, questioning how Matthew was talking.
"Now obviously, when we got the top 10 for the first years, we all went through their information— you guys included." When Matthew said the last part, Michael knew he was talking about the second years. "Now obviously, there were some surprises here and there—one of them being the fact that some of the top 10 were Wallborn. Two, the fact that a good margin of the top 10 have a true awakening form. And number three—her." Matthew pointed at Skye's still-unconscious body. "Now at first, I was originally going to stop at the top 10, but I got curious and went through the rest of the people who didn't make it into the top 10, yet still within the dean's and principal's eye. That's when I ran across her—Skye Vank… or should I say, Skye Zale."
"Zale?" Riven questioned out loud, shock on his face.
The Zale family was one of the main families in the Black Halo. The main five families weren't created by just one person or a handful of people—many wealthy and powerful families combined with one another to make one huge one, with the Zale family being the most known in the Black Halo. They were outspoken, loving to make announcements either about a new child being born or about gaining a new power for themselves. Yet Skye was a child that had never been heard of from the Zale family.
"I can see the confusion on your face, which tells me you didn't know. Truthfully, I had the same expression when I found out. Whoever it was that made it so she was a part of the Vank family took extreme measures to make sure this girl was never found out. And you can tell another thing…"
Riven knew what Matthew was getting at. Skye worked similar yet different from the Zale family children. Thinking back to her original twin ponytails, he couldn't see it—but with her hair now down, he could somewhat see the resemblance. Still, she didn't look exactly like them; the Zale family had silver-gray hair, yet Skye's hair was brown. The young girl could have just dyed her hair brown, but a couple of words rang in Riven's head—
"You really are a bastard child."
Those were the words Sarah had said before Skye went into a frenzy, and they told Riven all he needed to know. Looking at Luka, he could see the green-haired boy had also put the dots together.
"By your faces, I'm guessing you realize Skye Zale is a bastard child—meaning the beloved Lucian Zale had an affair. Most likely the woman gave Skye her last name, and Lucian paid her to keep silent. But obviously, if people see her like this, they'll be able to put some things together."
"And there's the fact that you guys found out somehow," Luka said, looking at the two brothers with suspicious eyes.
"Hey, I advise you to pipe down. I was originally gonna kick you guys' asses for talking to a second year like that, but after finding this out, I want you all to join us—the Dawn family. I mean, I read you and your brother's file—both of you are from the Dawn Wallborn. So why not join the family?"
"And you?" Riven asked, looking at Michael.
"What about me?" the boy asked.
"Sarah also knew Skye was a part of the Zale family—meaning you guys have some outside help as well," Luka deduced.
"The Evolaris family," Michael replied.
"I'm surprised you guys are saying this so casually."
"Don't worry, I took down the cameras as soon as you two entered the room. So what do you say?" Matthew even had his hand out, wanting a handshake, a devious grin on his face. But it soon turned into a frown when he saw Riven shaking his head no.
"There's no point. A new family is going to rise up soon, so I advise you guys to look out."
After getting a recap of their time with Phineas, Luka knew he was talking about the Storm Guild. But that led to the question—who would the Storm Guild team up with to make themselves stronger, since they could only do so much while being at the Academy?
"You sound confident in your words. I like you. The offer still holds, so when you want to join, come to the third-year dorm room and ask for me. Trust me, they'll take you right to me." Matthew then made his way out.
The two boys then looked at Michael, who was the only one remaining.
"You guys should probably be careful—since you defeated Sarah, John probably wants to see your power and will also want to make you a part of the—" But Michael suddenly stopped and walked out.
The two boys were confused at this gesture, but looking around, Luka could see a light that was once red turn green—most likely showing the cameras and microphones were back on.
They both sat back down, but when they did, Skye rose up, shocking the two.
"So now you know," Skye said in a defeated tone.
"So what?" Luka replied.
"He's right. I can see why you didn't want anyone else to know, but now that we do, we won't let anyone else hear about it. But at some point, it will come out."
"Yeah, I know." Skye then got herself out of the bed.
"You sure you should be getting up so soon?" Luka questioned.
"Yeah, I'm good. And plus—" Skye looked at the time, with the other two looking at it as well. "It's time for us to go to our Awakening Class. No point in talking about something we already know." Skye then walked out of the nurse's room, with the other two following her. It was time for their Awakening Class.
Michael was walking in Sigil Gate City. The Academy didn't care if a person didn't go to class or not—the classes were to help a person survive and get stronger. The Academy wouldn't think someone would actually skip a class that would help them in the real world. The boy then made his way into a café. It was empty—no customers, no service, nobody. He sat at a booth, waiting.
Then another person walked in—it was his brother Matthew.
"Why did you want to meet here?" Michael questioned.
"I wanted to check on you. It's been a while since we talked. I'm glad to see you're alive."
"Oh, don't try to be a big brother now. You abandoned me. If it wasn't for the Evolaris family, I would've died."
"I didn't leave you, I swear. I didn't leave you—not on my own volition. Olivia—"
But Michael cut Matthew off.
"Olivia did nothing, don't try to blame her. You had years to find me, or even talk to me in my first year of coming here, yet nothing. You just looked at me and walked away. But now look at you—you score the top spot out of all the third years, making you the strongest student in the school, maybe even stronger than most of the teachers. And look at me—pitiful Michael. I'm only in third place of the second years. I see the way John and Emily look at me—they look at me with disgust and anger. They're mad they got the weaker brother of the family." Michael was going to continue until a man walked into the café. Matthew stared at the man, which gave him shivers, and the man soon walked out. "You know what—forget it," Michael said while walking out of the café himself.
"Shit," Matthew sighed as he got up and left the café. "All right, you can open up now. But next time, when I say do not come inside and you do, you will regret it. Do you understand?"
After Matthew threatened the man, he nodded viciously as Matthew walked away.
The group got back together, all walking to their new class—the Awakening Class.
Riven told everyone what happened and what they found out about Skye, but not without first asking for her permission to tell the others, which she agreed to. Skye knew that at some point, the rest of the group was going to find out somehow, but unlike what she thought before, none of them really looked at her differently. Some of them did act differently, though.
"Oh, my royalty highness—" Harkel joked, with Skye kicking him in the gut. Skye also made sure her hair was back to normal in her twin buns. Riven noted that she looked a bit similar to the Zale family when her hair was down, so she decided to keep her hair up.
They all then made it to the class. When Riven opened the door, a big white flash brightened his eyes, and in the next second, he saw he was in a big orange arena. Then more white flashes followed, with the others appearing on him, crushing Riven to the ground.
"Get off of me!" the boy yelled.
"Welcome to your Awakening Class, kids," a voice called out. When they all looked at the man who said this, they realized who it was.
"Damien.?"