🎃 🎃 🎃
THE twins and I headed straight back to Lion Dorm after our classes.
Young students were playing cricket on the grassy field while a few older boys gathered to discuss the book they were reading for class. An old man who worked for the school was chopping wood to prepare torches for nighttime.
Young and old, innocence and sophistication. Lion and unicorn.
Ark School seemed a lot like an intentional gathering of polar opposites.
We walked around the lawn until the brick dorm building came into view.
The lion statue out front scowled at the passing students with a realistic expression carved into its face. The front door was a rich brown, and the keyhole was gold. I imagined the gold key on Leeds’ keychain was for this dormitory.
Inside was an entrance hall, a living room on the right side, and a washroom and laundry room to the left. That was where I got the water to wash my face in the morning.
We climbed the staircase in the hall to reach the second floor with the students’ rooms. Upperclassmen had their own rooms, but others had to share larger rooms. They faced the wrath of the prefect if they made too much noise chatting after lights out.
There’s lots of passageways someone could sneak through.
There were lots of blind spots, even when keeping guard from the roof of the rectangular building. It seemed like a good idea to have the others guard my room directly, not the area around the dorm.
I sat in my room and worked out this plan. Before I knew it, night had fallen.
I ate dinner, met with Leeds, and said goodbye to the twins as they left for Charles’ room.
Then I changed into my negligee, hung my uniform on a hanger, and yawned.
“Phew… I’m tired.”
“Sleep well, my lady. I’ll be right over here.” Leeds had taken up the spot by the window like a cat. I said goodnight to him and returned to bed.
I must have been exhausted as I drifted into a deep sleep almost instantly.
✦ ✦ ✦
🎃 🎃 🎃
IT was late at night. The twins had taken over for Leeds’ shift and were staring quietly at Alice while she slept. The sight of her red, soft-looking hair spread out on the sheets made their hearts ache.
Dum instinctively reached out to her, but Dee stopped him right away.
“Don’t.”
The younger twin, his equal in body and soul, took his eyes off Alice and shook his head.
“Alice is engaged to Dark.”
“That’s only because we used to be young.”
Alice’s pale hand was sitting on top of the blanket, so Dum placed his own on top. Instead of disappearing into hers, Dum’s hand was big enough to wrap around Alice’s hand now.
“We’re adults now. There’s no need to hold back anymore.”
“Do you think so?”
“I do.”
With light glittering in their eyes, the twins smiled and kissed each of Alice’s cheeks.
“I love you, Alice.”
“I love you, Alice.”
✦ ✦ ✦
🎃 🎃 🎃
WHEN I felt the bed sink, I went flying up.
“What’s going on?!”
I grabbed the handgun under my pillow and looked around.
Nothing at the door. Nothing at the window.
I didn’t see any intruders but knew I felt my bed move. I glanced down and realized Dum and Dee were sleeping on each of my sides. It was a small bed that quickly became cramped with the three of us sharing it.
The movement I felt must have been one of them rolling over. Maybe they were tired after a night of changing shifts guarding me. They’d worked so hard. My heart grew warm as I looked at them sleeping.
“Thank you, Dum, Dee.”
Their eyelids stirred. After a moment, I saw myself reflected in their bright blue eyes. They smiled happily.
“Good morning, Alice.”
“Good morning, Alice.”
“Good morning. It’s not time to wake up yet, but you should go back to your room.”
They sat up sluggishly, exchanged glances with each other, and nodded.
“It’s too hard to go back to Charles’ room every day.”
“What?” I asked.
“We’ll feel better if we move into your room, Alice.”
“I beg your pardon?”
They hopped down to the floor and dashed to the door, throwing it open.
“Charles, we’re moving to Alice’s room!”
“Charles, we’re moving to Alice’s room!”
“You can’t! I was wondering where you were! So you went to Miss Alice’s room?!”
I closed the door softly when I heard Charles shouting back angrily.
I need Dum and Dee to understand that they’re adults right now.
If they clung to me as closely as they always did, they would be treated like perverts.
Racking my brain for how to interact with them now, it was soon time for me to prepare for the rest of the day.
✦ ✦ ✦
🎃 🎃 🎃
WE ate a traditional English breakfast before heading into the school hallway, referencing the map as we walked. Sounds echoed off the tall ceilings, making it feel like a massive crowd of students filled the halls.
“This is the demon studies classroom.”
It was easy to spot the place as the students in front of us were all filing into it. But as soon as we stepped inside, the atmosphere changed dramatically.
“Is this the right place?”
A tapestry of a giant, half-naked man with sheep’s horns hung over the blackboard. Instead of a typical solar system model, the tall podium displayed a model of Hell. The shelves along the wall held books with torn bindings and jars of unidentifiable objects floating in formaldehyde.
I couldn’t describe it as anything other than gaudy. The rest of the students were surveying the room nervously, too.
Demon studies classes at Ark School were separated into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels as part of the required curriculum for students. Dum and Dee were given special permission to join the beginner class as transfer students, but we stood out among the rest.
Upperclassmen were also allowed to sit in if they pleased, so I was glad we weren’t the only ones there.
“Let’s sit here, Alice.”
Dum took me to the very back of the classroom. With the twins at each of my sides, all eyes in the classroom convened on us, though Dum and Dee seemed unbothered.
“It looks like you’re all here.”
It was Headmaster Caterpillar who appeared at the sound of the school bell.
So the headmaster is the one who teaches demon studies.
He walked up to the desk with his robe dragging behind him. His tone was just as relaxed as when he was smoking the hookah pipe.
“Phew… This class will be a place for you to deepen your knowledge of demons. As a demon scholar, Ark School is the only place I can teach such a class. Study hard so you’ll never be charmed by a demon and tricked into giving away your humanity. Now come and get a textbook, everyone.”
The books we received had been used for many generations, evident by the warped leather bindings and the discoloration of the page edges.
“These textbooks contain thorough information regarding demons who influence life here on earth. You’ll be memorizing it entirely before you graduate. Keep in mind, you’ll be submitting a report and taking an exam at the end of the semester, too…”
Some of the students sighed when they heard the word “exam.” Tests were the mortal enemy of students, no matter the era.
“Let’s have one of you read the foreword right away… Any volunteers?”
The room fell silent.
That’s understandable.
The foreword was written in Latin. First-years made up the majority of the beginner class, and they hadn’t even started to study classical languages yet.
I stayed silent, too. That was when a student with a lumpy face like a pinecone raised his hand.
“Can we have the female student read it, Headmaster?”
“Tell me your name when you speak in class for the first time.”
“I’m Fry. I’ve never heard of a girl ever coming to this school in its whole history. But a woman’s voice would make the information about demons’ traits more interesting. You all agree, right, everyone? What about you, Batta?”
“He’s right, Headmaster! She’s a girl who sits with us like equals but gets special treatment from the prefects. Can she even read it at all?”
Batta was eager to provoke me.
Now that Fry had a supporter, he sneered and egged me on.
“What? Can’t you read it? I guess it’s too hard for a girl. What a waste to have such a useless dorm brother. I wish the prefect had a better, smarter student hanging around him.”
Ah, I see what’s going on.
These two were students in Lion Dorm. They were jealous that I’d become Charles’ dorm brother and wanted to embarrass me in front of the headmaster to get me removed from the position.
It was so ridiculous. But I wasn’t the kind of person to ignore them, either. I stood up, holding the textbook open, and traced my finger over the age-worn letters.
“First, the demons who appear in the Bible and scripture do indeed exist in reality and have integrated into human society. At times, they violate the sanctity of human life, branding them with marks that will ensure an eternity of suffering…”
The students stirred the longer I read the passage fluently.
The two boys who’d provoked me were crying, “How can she read it?!”
“But she’s a girl!”