*****

The next day the students gather in the school's underground training facility—a vast, vaulted space carved out from the castle's undercroft. Built partially underground with a dirt floor and large stone arches, the space has enough natural light streaming in that no artificial lighting is necessary during the day.

Rudimentary weight and practice equipment sit tucked in every corner of the facility and a quarter of the floor is layered with large blue gym mats. The students sit on benches or stand awkwardly around the makeshift sparring floor waiting to begin.

Their instructor, Master Ibrahim Achebe—a tall, muscular man with fierce eyes, sculpted African features and a dazzling white smile—stands before them.

"Good morning, class. My name is Master Achebe, and I will be your combat instructor during your time here," he announces. "I will also be your Ancient History and Languages Professor, but we'll tackle that at another time. For those of you who are curious—and I'm certain many of you are--I am a panther shifter, not that you'll witness my shifting prowess any time soon." He chuckles to himself, then begins to pace before them.

"Regardless," Master Achebe continues, "there are two things you need to know about me: One, I am the law in this gym—period. Two, I am a fair and simple man. Remember those two things and we'll get along just fine." He flashes them his dazzling smile and adds, "I also have two ground rules: One, other than illness or death, if you miss my class more than once within a two-week period, you will be expelled from the school immediately. And two, no magic or supernatural practices in my combat class until you're authorized to do so. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Master Achebe," the kids respond in unison.

"Good! Good!" He claps enthusiastically and says, "All right, then! Let's begin!" He walks over to the edge of the mats and props his fists gingerly on his hips. "Now, the objective for today is for me to assess where you are with your combat training and what skills you've been taught by your previous instructors. There will be no interracial sparring—not yet anyway—as I don't think you're quite ready for that. So, we'll begin with the Shifters. Patrick, Jake." He crooks his finger at them, then points to the mat.

Jake looks at Master Achebe expectantly and asks, "What do you want us to do?"

Master Achebe replies with a shrug and a smile. "Show me what you've got."

Jake and Patrick take their positions on the mat. Patrick has about 40 pounds on Jake, but Jake doesn't look too nervous. They hold their fists up before them and begin to dance around each other like two boxers in the ring. Patrick takes a swing at Jake, but Jake ducks out of the way. Patrick takes another swing at him, but this time Jake bobs, ducks, and pops back up with a right-hook to Patrick's jaw. Patrick stumbles back, then rights himself. A slow smile cracks across his face. Okay, now we're getting serious.

Before you know it, Jake and Patrick are twirling at a miraculous speed and throwing punches and kicks at each other—Mixed Martial Arts style—Jake landing the more skillful blows, but Patrick's brute force eventually taking its toll. But after a few minutes they're wheezing like old men and Master Achebe decides to call time. He thanks them, then asks Jake to stay on the floor. He motions for Ava to join Jake on the mats.

Ava, taken aback, rests a questioning hand on her chest.

"Yes, Miss Liwanag," Master Achebe confirms, and then he adds, "you look surprised."

Ava's mouth still hangs open. "Um, well, I guess I kinda am."

Master Achebe bends his head, shakes it, then chuckles. He holds up a finger and says, "You see, I don't discriminate in my class. And demons certainly don't discriminate, Miss Liwanag. They simply don't care about your gender." He tilts his head. "Haven't you ever sparred with your compatriots before?"

"Well... um... yeah, a few times. But we typically wear padding or safety equipment." Ava says.

"Yes, well, demons don't care about that either," Master Achebe replies. His smile fades and he points at the mat. "Onto the floor."

Ava makes her way to the floor and she and Jake face each other, fists up, knees bent, ready to go at it when Master Achebe's whistle blows.

They dance around each other, and surprisingly, Ava gets in the first blow—a side kick to Jake's gut. He stumbles back, and she uses her petite size, agility, and Jake's fatigue to her advantage, landing kick after kick to his abdomen, trying her best not to give him a chance to fight back. After taking a half-hearted punch to her gut from Jake, Ava lands a precise kick to his chest and knocks him off his feet, right onto his ass.

Master Achebe calls time.

He laughs and says, "Good, very good, Ava. You—all of you—have been trained quite well."

He dismisses Jake and Ava and points to Cameron and Aidan. They take their places on the mat, then bow to each other Judo-style, since Enchanteds are trained in the art of Judo, a much more defensive style of fighting that relies on turning an opponent's force to one's own advantage as opposed to beating them to a pulp like the Shifter kids do.

At the whistle, Cameron and Aidan begin to wrestle each other. It takes Cameron, who's built like a soccer player, all of fifteen seconds to get Aidan, who's built like a science geek, twisted like a pretzel beneath him. Aidan slaps the mat twice, a gesture indicating that he's ready to quit and Cameron immediately releases him. Cameron extends a hand to help Aidan up, and you can tell by the look on Aidan's face this is usually how their sparring ends.

Master Achebe sighs and murmurs to himself. That Aidan is going to take some work. Pushing aside the thought of the extra training he'll have to do with the boy, Master Achebe orders Inez to join Cameron on the floor. Inez straightens and sucks in a breath, as if summoning enough moxie to ensure she impresses Master Achebe with her skills. She hands her glasses to Aidan, then joins Cameron on the mat.

As they slowly bow, Inez looks up and whispers...

"Cam, please, don't hold back."

Still bent over, Cameron arches a brow and whispers back to her, "Are you sure?"

Inez nods emphatically.

"All right, then," he replies.

They stand opposite each other and wait for the whistle. Once it blows, and only because Inez asked him to, Cameron immediately goes on the attack. He grabs Inez by the shoulders and tries to get her into a position where he can hook his right ankle behind her calf, sweep her legs out from under her, and quickly take her down. But Inez is far too agile. She squirms skillfully out of Cameron's grasp and hops back so all that he gets is air.

Now that Cameron's unstable, Inez grabs his shirt and with both hands crouches down, drops onto her back like a beetle, plants her feet on his thighs, and flips him over her head and drops him--oomph!--flat on his back like a bag of wet cement.

With his arms and legs spread wide and his eyes closed, Cameron doesn't move for quite awhile. And then, groaning, he pushes himself up onto his elbows and mutters, "Well, someone's been practicing..." under his breath.

Inez jumps up onto her feet and the room erupts in applause. Shyly, she scoots off the mat, seeking to take the spotlight off of her and blend back in with the other students. But as she puts her glasses on, she smiles discreetly, reveling in the fact that no one saw her little maneuver coming.

"Nice job, Inez. Very good." Master Achebe says while nodding and clapping in support.

Finally, it's time for the Vampyr kids to strut their stuff. Master Achebe turns to Fiona, Farid, and Sebastian.

"Now I understand Vampyrs are quite skilled at weaponry," Master Achebe states. Is that true?"

The vampyr kids nod in unison.

"Good!" He says. "So, Fiona, let's start with you. What is your weapon of choice?"

Fiona reaches into the side pocket of her cargo pants and pulls out a stack of hira-shuriken, or ninja throwing stars, and holds them up for Master Achebe to see.

He leans in and frowns. "Hmmm... interesting," he says, completely unfamiliar with the weapon. He straightens. "Why don't you just show us what you can do? You can use that target over there," he points to a straw filled dummy sitting on the other side of the room. Then he smiles. "I can't afford to lose a student this early in our training."

Fiona smiles back and nods, then positions herself about 25 feet away from the target. She takes a deep breath, gauges her aim with one eye, then in one seemingly fluid motion, throws eight of the ninja stars, one right after the other—thwack, thwack, thwack—forming a smiley face in the middle of the dummy's chest.

Master Achebe's eyes go wide. "Oh my, you're quite handy with those things, aren't you?" He nods his head in admiration. "Well done, Fiona, well done." He turns to all of the students. "I must say, I'm very pleased with what I'm seeing so far. I'm surprised by the level of training you all got. Now, for our final demonstration. Sebastian, Farid... what do you have to show me?"

Farid and Sebastian both reach into their gym bags and pull out exquisitely shiny, intricately carved 18th century swords. Granted, Sebastian's is a bit heftier and a bit more elaborately decorated than Farid's is, but with expertly cut rubies embedded in each hilt, they are nothing short of astonishing.

Audible gasps escape from the rest of the students. They've all heard the rumors about Vampyrs being trained in weaponry from a very early age and having to choose a weapon to specialize in by the age of twelve, but no non-Vampyr ever knew, for sure, if the rumor was true.

"Those are some very fine weapons, boys. Very fine," Master Achebe gushes. After a beat he steps back to give them room. "All right. The floor is yours."

Sebastian and Farid take their positions, and with their left hands tucked behind them and their right hands holding their swords before them, they both say "En Garde," as tradition dictates, then prepare to fight.

Sebastian makes the first move and lunges at Farid, but Farid hops back with ease and skillfully parries the blow, knocking Sebastian's sword aside with his own. Smiling, they begin to circle each other. This time it's Farid who sees the opening. He raises his sword high, and then with a flourish, lowers it quickly beneath Sebastian's sword, swiping at his brother's leg. But Sebastian manages to twist himself sideways, escaping most of the blow and only suffering a tiny split in his gym pants as a result.

From there, the boys embark on a delicate dance—a series of thrusts and counter-thrusts—the beauty and danger of the movements amplified by the clashing of steel on steel. They fight furiously and seem equally matched, until Farid doubles his efforts, forcing Sebastian back and eventually pinning him up against a stone pillar in the middle of the room.

Holding his sword precariously beneath Sebastian's chin, Farid's smile widens, as he stands there, victorious. Then, he sees the look of utter humiliation in his brother's eyes, and he swallows hard. In that moment, he realizes just how much this public exhibition means to his brother, far more than it ever would to him.

With a barely visible nod to Sebastian, Farid takes a step back and subtly loosens the grip on his weapon. Sebastian, comprehending the gesture, takes advantage of the opening his brother has given him and with a flick of his wrist, circles Farid's sword right out of his hand.

Most of the students clap in response, and Master Achebe shouts out, "Well done, Sebastian, well done! I must admit, I've only ever seen that sort of maneuver in the movies. Impressive, very impressive!"

Sebastian takes a showy bow, while Farid finds himself a bit annoyed, having to take a step back to let his brother shine, yet again. But he has to admit, he's also amused. Wherever they go, Sebastian just has to be in the limelight.

As he steps off to the side of the mats to let his brother bask in the moment by himself, it seems none of the students, nor Master Achebe, caught on to what he did...

...except for one.

Ava could tell that Farid had intentionally let his brother win the match as some sort of gesture, perhaps tied to the whole First Son, Second Son thing. Fascinating. She finds day-by-day, her interest in the Vampyric culture is growing, and her interest in Farid, in particular, most definitely piqued.

But as Farid and Sebastian leave the floor, they pass by the Shifter kids, and Patrick glowers at them, refusing to be impressed.

"You're really skilled with pretty toys, aren't you boys?" he mutters under his breath.

The comment stops Farid and Sebastian in their tracks. Sebastian starts to approach Patrick to give him a piece of his mind, but Farid's hand shoots out to stop him. Instead, Farid gets up in Patrick's face and calmly asks, "What's your problem, dude? You seem angry, like, 24/7."

Patrick narrows his eyes and takes a bold step forward, bringing him mere inches from Farid's face. Through gritted teeth, he says, "I don't have a problem, dude," the deliberate emphasis on the word dude clearly intended to be a slight. "I just don't see how effective your little swordplay is gonna be when we're actually fighting demons."

Master Achebe notices the confrontation and claps his hands to get the kids' attention. "All Right, that's it!" he bellows and takes a deep breath. "I think we've had enough for today. Let's do this: in order to clear your head and give you a chance to cool down, I want each of you to give me ten laps around the courtyard."

A collective groan rises up as the students slowly disperse. And as Farid passes her by, Ava tries to catch his eye and give him a repentant look, essentially trying to apologize for Patrick's behavior. But, unfortunately, Farid is far too pissed to even acknowledge her gesture.

Once he's gone, Ava whips around, blocking Patrick's path out of the gym. "What the heck is going on with you, Patrick? Seriously! You've got to take it down a notch, okay?"

"Why?" Patrick retorts with a defiant shrug.

Jake quietly joins them and adds, "Um, dude. You really need to chill out."

Patrick whirls on Jake and grimaces, as if Jake had just betrayed him. "No, I'm serious. I'm asking you both a question. Why?" He pounds his chest. "Why am I the one who has to hold back? Just so we can look nice and domesticated in front of those losers?!"

"Patrick!" Ava chastises him. "You know this has nothing to do with those other students!" She lowers her voice. "You've been like this ever since your father kicked Stephen out of the tribe."

Patrick gnashes his teeth. Although his fists are clenched at his sides and his face is turning red, he'd never hurt Ava, never. But just because he wouldn't, it certainly doesn't mean he has to stick around for any of this bullshit. "You know this has nothing to do with Stephen, Ava! So just back off!" he snarls.

"Okay, okay!" Ava holds her hands up and literally takes a step back, realizing she's just crossed a line. But she's nothing if not persistent. She softens her tone even further. "You know, it's alright if you're still hurting or if you're scared because you haven't heard from Stephen. What your father did is completely out of—"

"Stop, Ava!" Patrick barks out. "Just stop!" He straightens to put some distance between them.

"But, Patrick," Ava implores. "I'm really worried about you."

"Well, you know what?" Patrick says, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's not your job to worry about me. You know, by our laws, it's my job to worry about you." He begins to turn away. "We each have our role to play," he practically shouts as he storms off. "And don't you forget that!" he says, leaving Jake and Ava standing there, at a complete and utter loss.

"I've never seen him like this before," Ava says, her shoulders droop as she sighs heavily. "He's so out of control. I think he's in a very, very bad place right now."

"Yeah, well..." Jake shrugs helplessly. "Wouldn't you be if your father had your boyfriend beaten up, then Cast Out like garbage and banished from the community? I mean in less than an hour, not only was Stephen punished, but he lost his home, his lover, and his family," Jake adds. "Chief Meska was so harsh because he wanted to make an example out of Stephen, and only the gods know what he did to Patrick, his own son. I want to say give Patrick some time to process everything, but..." he shakes his head solemnly, "I don't know. I'm not sure he's going to recover from this one."

They stand in silence for a moment before Jake gives Ava a supportive squeeze on the shoulder and turns to leave. He has no idea how to help his best friend.

Worried, Ava stews for a moment longer. She hates to see Patrick hurting like this. But he won't open up to anyone, not even Jake. This is clearly too much for Patrick to handle. And starting at this new school couldn't have helped. But now that she thinks about it, he probably agreed to come to the Academy just to get as far away from his father as he possibly could.

Frustrated and sad, Ava blows out a breath.

Like Jake, there's nothing more that she can do, so she just hangs her head and follows him out of the gym.

-- END OF EPISODE ONE --

A/N - All right! That's it! SO... what did you think of the chapter? 

And for you new readers, what do you think of the story so far??? I'm dying to know. 

Those who read the scripted version have a sense who everyone is and where everything is going, but I hope your enjoying the additional story and character moments. :-)

As I mentioned before in my announcement, I'm moving to a weekly schedule, publishing every Saturday, although there may be some additional surprise postings, on occasion, on Wednesdays. It all depends on how the rewrite goes.

So, I hope everyone is doing well, and I guess I'll see you next Friday!

~ Paula ❤️