Alvira stood in the cramped room with all the other seniors in the school. They were all dressed in some formal attire, be it a dress or a suit, celebrating. They had just finished their quick graduation ceremony (which no one was terribly invested in, not even the teachers) and were officially free from Port Baile High School forever.

The seniors were supposed to have a party afterwards in the school's cafeteria, but usually they only stayed long enough for the food to disappear before running back to their homes or their friends' homes to have a real party.

Alvira had already said goodbye to her school friends. She was sad to be separated from them, but they'd known this was coming for months now. She maybe regretted never telling them that she was an Aviad... no, she didn't regret it. She loved her friends, but she didn't trust them with a secret that big.

She glanced over at the dancing circle of a few of the boys. They were stamping their feet and chanting rap lyrics in what could almost be described as a Satan circle, while one poor kid Fortnite-danced in the middle like his life depended on it. She caught Atlas standing in the circle, awkwardly chanting with them. He was clearly uncomfortable, and probably only there because the other sports people were.

I should probably go rescue this poor man, she sighed in her head, before he faints.

She snuck up behind the circle and tapped Atlas on the shoulder. He whipped around, probably startled.

"You wanna get out of here?" She shouted over the other kids.

He nodded and squeezed himself out of the crowd.

She walked him outside into the sunlight and he stretched his arms.

"Thank you," he gasped. "I don't know how I was planning to get out of that if you hadn't saved me."

"Don't thank me for that. I didn't save you from anything, you would have been fine." She slapped him on the shoulder. "You bring that stuff on yourself for ever getting involved in that Satanic ritual."

"Actually, this gives me a good chance to ask you about the trip tomorrow," Atlas stuttered. Alvira remembered that last night they'd invited all the new people on the retreat if they wanted to come. No surprise that all three of them accepted, even though they only had two nights to prepare. "Do I need to drive myself there, or are you expecting me to fly? Because I can't do that yet. Is it just a vacation kind of thing or are we going to be learning things, like how to fly and how to shapeshift-"

"You won't have to drive or fly," Alvira interrupted him before she could drown in his questions. "We're renting a van so we can all go together. I think Mads is bringing her mixtape of old Taylor Swift so we can all go deaf on the way there. When we get there, it's basically whatever we want. We have nothing planned, or at least no schedule, so if you want we can probably teach you how to fly or shapeshift. It's not that difficult, though." She shrugged.

"Thanks," Atlas said. "I'm going to go pack some stuff, then..."

"Me too," Alvira said back. "See you."

They went their separate ways.

✵✵✵

Sabine held almost five shopping bags in her hands as she followed Madison around the mall. Mads and she had been saving their money (or Sawyer's money, who knows...) for a quick shopping spree before their trip. Madison was still wearing her light green dress from her school's graduation ceremony, but Sabine was comfortably in jeans and a sweater as she didn't attend school.

"Look at that one!" Madison said excitedly, pointing at an open-backed one piece swimsuit. "Y'know, before I was an Aviad, I was always so weirded out about how much skin was always showing in trending clothes, but now it's just convenient."

"Do you want to buy it?" Seb asked. "We have a few dollars left, we can probably afford it." She tried not to think about the five bags full of random things she was already holding up.

A man suddenly gripped Sabine's arm.

She whirled around to face him, probably failing to hide the shock in her eyes.

"Are you an Aviad?" The man asked scratchily, his eyes wide and wild. His hair was long and unkempt, and he had scruff built up on his chin and jawline. It was clear he hadn't washed himself in days, if not weeks. His pupils were roaming her body, dark and dilated to the point of being frightening. They darted back and forth so fast it made her dizzy.

"I don't know what your talking about," she managed to choke out.

Madison scooted over and looked at the man with a serious, cold stare. "Hey, get off her. She clearly doesn't want you touching her."

The man's grip was like iron, but he managed to pry himself off her. The minute Seb was free, she moved closed to Mads' side.

"What were you even talking about anyway?" Mads asked like the experienced liar she was. "Aviads? What are those? Some kind of club?"

The man looked back and forth at the two girls for a minute before growling, "Nothing," in a voice like gravel in a blender. He turned away and stalked off, probably to terrorize someone else.

"That man is a Dualiad," Seb blurted as soon as the man was out of earshot. "We have to warn the flock. We have to tell Sawyer."

"Woah, woah, woah," Madison said. "First of all, we don't know that he's a Dualiad."

"Are you kidding? Did you see the look in his eyes?"

"Sawyer has enough to deal with already. We have three new members of the flock, a vacation to plan, not to mention Col-" Mads stopped herself in the middle of her sentence.

"Not to mention what?"

"Forget about it." Mads stared at Seb with a dire look in her eyes that Seb thought might burn a hole through her forehead. "Don't tell Sawyer anything."

A/N: I know, I know, Madison made a stupid decision, but it's not her fault. I may or may not have used the Plot Stone on her...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed today's short chapter, point out any error that are definitely in there, and don't forget to vote and comment!