In a quiet corner of the garden, stood an unlikely group - a werewolf whose sense of smell got attacked each time a representative of a water race would come near, and not one, but two Aquantiens.

Secrets were revealed and there wasn't any doubt left; Mathias found out that I know Professor Cyan was the same race as I was. He found out that I didn't keep a promise I gave him and I was sure he would...

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" It took me some time, but eventually the words Mathias and Ms. Cyan exchanged reached my brain. "Do you mean to say that she knows that you know!?" I threw my question in his face.

"Of course I know that he knows," Ms. Cyan responded instead of him. Her expression led me to believe that she was amused by my confusion. She glanced at Mathias and smiled crookedly. "I can still remember his first Literature class. The moment I walked into the classroom he jumped off his chair, knocking it to the floor in the process. I swear, if the windows had been open, he would have jumped right out. I sent for the headmaster, he escorted Mathias out and after that I did not see him for a month. It was the potion that enabled him to join his classmates in my class again," she said as if she were describing a fond memory.

Mathias crossed his arms and looked away. "I don't like to be reminded of that," he said, but his voice wasn't gruff.

"I never saw anything like that." Professor Cyan decided to sit on the bench again. "His behavior petrified me."

Mathias shrugged his shoulders. "Aquatic races. What can I do?"

"Smell us from afar," I replied with a smile.

Just a second later, his narrowed eyes were on me and his index finger lifted in my direction. "Don't!" he warned me.

"Mathias," Professor Cyan intervened, "she means nothing malevolent by it."

He looked at her. "I know." When he returned his eyes on me, his stare was softened. "I'm sorry."

Wait, did I hear it right? Did he just say that he's sorry? If that 'Hell' humans often talk about truly does exist, it was now frozen.

I wanted to thank Ms. Cyan for preventing a possible argue, but when I looked at her, she was facing away from us. I followed her stare and saw that she was observing freshly bloomed flowers.

"Blue irises," I whispered.

Thanks to Lissa, I could name most of the flowers in the school gardens. Irises had very delicate petals. Three larger sepals had tips that fell gracefully backwards and three smaller that stood up straight in the middle of the flower, looking like a crown.

The irises truly were magnificent. And they came in so many colors; yellow, white, red, purple, blue...

Of course, when Lissa spoke of them, she liked to use more exotic expressions to name their colors. That's why I knew what it meant when she said that we have ivory irises, coral irises, lilac irises, magenta irises, cyan irises...

Cyan irises. Of course! How did I not see it before?

Blue irises.

Iris Cyan.

"Professor Cyan?" I took a few steps closer to her. "May I ask you something?"

She either didn't hear me or didn't want to answer me.

I leaned in, so I was in her field of vision before trying again. "Professor Cyan, did you choose to be named after flowers like these?"

I knew that many representatives of the hidden races choose to bear human names. I was sure she did the same. There were no irises in the depths of the ocean.

"Aren't they beautiful?" she asked while her eyes still rested on the entrancing flowers.

"Yes, they truly are," I concurred and let my eyes wander to the flower bed once again. "How come you decided to take a name inspired by them?"

"They were the first sight of beauty I saw on dry land," she said pensively.

I looked at Mathias and he looked at me. Neither of us said anything.

"After they were done with me," she continued and I knew exactly what she meant by that, "they locked me up in a small, gloomy room. There was only one bed, a table and a wall mounted bench inside it. It only had one window, narrow and placed high on the wall. I was too short to look through it even if I stood on the tips of my toes. But I found that, if I stood on the table, I could catch a glimpse of the outside world. And there, on the other side of the window, I saw not a flower bed but a field of irises as blue as the ocean. They took my name, therefore I gave myself a new one."

She kept staring at the flowers. She hadn't blinked once while she was sharing that part of her past with us. Mathias and I still stood there silently. I tried to catch his eyes, but he lowered his head and was looking at the ground under his feet.

The headmaster was the one who broke the silence. He approached us with Opal right behind him.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, encircling us all with an interrogative look in his eyes the color of dark chocolate.

"Everything is fine, Mr. August," Professor Cyan answered. She even managed to produce a smile.

"Mathias?" The headmaster turned to him.

"I didn't do anything," Mathias replied and, to emphasize it, held both of his palms up.

"They came looking for me to express their concern about my absence," our Professor explained.

"Yeah," I agreed, looking straight into Opal's eyes. I knew she was the one who alerted Mr. August.

The headmaster's stare didn't stay on me for long, but when it shifted to Mathias, it seemed like it was piercing right through him.

"I was worried," Mathias muttered.

Professor Cyan stood up and approached Mr. August. "They did nothing wrong. Like Mathias said, they came looking for me out of concern."

The headmaster's eyes found Mathias one more time, and then shifted to me. "If that's the case," he said, "I propose that we all return to the school building and allow Professor Cyan to have her moment of peace."

°  °  °  °  °  °  °

It seemed as though Monday set the tone for the entire week.

I had to deal with Opal's endless questions which I dodged like a hunted fish would dodge a harpoon. Even worse than Opal's questions was the inquisitive look in Ardea's eyes. On top of that, there was Nia who picked up a bit of both Opal and Ardea's behavior. She would look at me as if she tried to lure the answers and when that approach failed, she would ask me directly about the mysterious conversation between Professor Cyan, Mathias and I.

There was one more person who wanted some answers. Mr. August asked me to come to his office on Wednesday. After telling me that he already knew about my discovery of Ms. Cyan's race, he demanded to hear my explanation.

"I expect nothing but the truth," he said.

"I didn't find out intentionally," I said. I must have sounded like someone who broke a priceless vase that cannot be replaced. "I just had a conversation with her, and the truth somehow surfaced. But I didn't speak about it to anybody!" I rushed to add.

Mr. August, who sat at his desk, leaned forward and intertwined his fingers. "You need to know one thing; as a headmaster, it is my duty to look out for the students attending this school. At the same time, as a headmaster, I have an obligation to look out for my faculty members. Now, I know that to you, being an Aquantien, the fact that there is another representative of your race here, means a great deal. However, do not be intrusive. Professor Cyan cherishes her privacy, and it is up to you to respect that."

"I understand." I nodded humbly, knowing that his words were true.

When I left his office, I came across Mathias. Apparently, Mr. August had another appointment after ours.

Mathias just passed me by, but I couldn't overhear the words he whispered in my proximity.

"If you got me in trouble, I'm taking you with me."

I halted right there, in the middle of the hallway. Did I get him in trouble? No. I didn't even mention his name. Not once. If he gets in trouble, it would be entirely his own fault.

When neither on Thursday, nor on Friday, he didn't indicate that he would have me dismembered, I relaxed a little bit.

With the anticipation of parent's day, my secrets fell to the background, but it only made room for some other worries to be pushed to the front plan. Mathias did not like my human parents. I knew I had to do something about it. I couldn't allow the last parent's day to repeat itself.

Early on a Saturday morning, I set off to find Mathias. I found him in the garden. Do all werewolves enjoy fresh air as much as this one? I wondered.

"Hey, I need a word with you," I said without giving him a chance to protest. "My parents are coming. My human parents. I came to ask you to stay away from them. Or at least to drink a heavy dose of that potion of yours."

"Don't worry. The full Moon is behind us, the wolf isn't as strong any more, I think I will be able to control myself. But, if you suddenly get the urge to introduce us, don't," he replied with a shake of his head.

"Okay, have no fear," I smiled. I turned to leave, but changed my mind. "I didn't get you in trouble," I said. It wasn't a question, I just wanted him to know.

"You didn't," he agreed. "My uncle simply likes to be informed."

I nodded, smiled one more time and returned to the school building.

Opal's parents arrived early. As I walked towards them, I could already see that Opal wasn't giving them a chance to speak. In the dark corner of the hallway I spotted Nia looking at them with her hand covering her mouth. Her body was trembling from the suppressed laughter.

My parents arrived about half an hour later and for the first time that week I forgot about Ms. Cyan.

It was a lovely, warm, spring day. We spent most of it outside. The weather forecast predicted the possibility of rain, but there were only sparse clouds in the sky.

I was pleasantly surprised when Ardea's father came to greet me.

"I have to give you your book back," I remembered.

"You can keep it," he said with a warm smile. "I have more than one copy. That is one of the perks of being a co-author."

"A co-author?" I never realized that. But then again, I was far more interested in the content of the book itself than at the names listed on the covers.

"Did you find it useful?" he asked as he looked at my surprised face. I bet my eyebrows raised so high that they nearly touched my hair line.

"Yes," I answered. "Although a bit disturbing, that was the first time I read something about my race."

"What book?" my mother joined the conversation.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you!" I turned to her and my father. "Doctor Kasian sent me a book where my race was described."

"That was very nice of you," my father said, looking at Doctor Kasian. "But why did she call it disturbing?"

"It's a medical book," I hurried to explain. "It contains information about procedures that allow aquatic races to live on land."

My parents exchanged somewhat concerned looks with Doctor Kasian but before they were able to ask further questions, I interfered. "Doctor Kasian, I have a hypothetical question for you," I said slowly.

"What's on your mind?" he asked. It did not escape my attention that Ardea gave me one of her 'I know you're up to something' looks, only this time, I was positive that she had no idea what I was thinking. 

I would like to thank all my wonderfull readers for reading (naturally), for commenting & voting. You're giving me the motivation to continue, so thank you very much!

And I would like to dedicate this chapter to a very awesome  SilverBeams to thank her for yelling at Mathias and making him finally say those all important words: I'm sorry.

Keep leaving comments, and if you think the story is worth it, consider giving it your vote.
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