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“Why do you look so grumpy?” Alto asked when he opened his door. His apartment was four houses down from my own. I tried to get him to move into the one next to mine, but there was a tree Niall weirdly became obsessed with.
I lost to a darn tree.
Rophan chuckled. “Because she is.”
“Shush,” I said. “It’s not a laughing matter. Zen didn’t do what I told him to.”
“Do you really think it’d be that easy?”
“It should be,” I grumbled. Zen’s report this morning didn’t have any new information.
“Well, come in,” Alto said with his gorgeously warm smile. “Niall is finishing with setting up the table for breakfast.”
“Good, I’m hungry,” I said, slipping by him. “By the way, add me to that phone chat you have going on.”
“Why? So you can be nosy?” Rophan asked.
“Because if you’re talking about me, then I might as well be in the chat.”
“Do you even carry a phone?” Alto asked, looking me over. I wasn’t carrying much, not even a purse. I had my badge attached to the strap of my suspenders and my skirt obviously didn’t have pockets. A constant annoyance to the female population.
“Would you like to check?” I asked in a low purr.
When his face turned red, I laughed and went deeper into the apartment.
Alto’s apartment was almost an exact replica of my own, the only difference being that it was flipped and he had an extra bedroom on the second floor, so the rooms were a little bigger.
“Addie!” Niall called out and came running over, scooping me into his arms. With a huge grin, he squeezed me tight as he spun us around. “I haven’t seen you in days.”
I laughed and patted his shoulder, desperately hoping he’d put me down so I could breathe again.
“I was beginning to think you were avoiding me,” I teased.
“No! Never. I’d never do that to you.”
I rubbed his hair. “I know, Niall. So what did you cook me?”
He pulled me over to the dining room table and forced me into a chair. I gaped at the table overburdened by more plates than I knew could fit on it. Each plate had heaping servings of food.
“Are we feeding an army?” I asked.
“He got enthusiastic,” Alto said, sitting across from me. Rophan sat next to him, leaving the chair next to me for Niall. He returned a moment later with a pitcher of orange juice, being the perfect host as he filled our glasses.
“What do you have?” I asked him, knowing he’d have fun explaining everything he did for breakfast.
He didn’t disappoint, going into a long story about the pancakes, French toast, potatoes, eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, hash, toast, and fresh fruit. Niall was able to do most of it himself and that excited him. The entire time he talked, I grinned big, loving to see him so happy. Cooking had quickly become his favorite thing. At first, his results would end in everyone fighting to use the bathroom, but he was a fast learner, and even spent time with a chef or two.
The memory of the first time I saw him transposed itself onto the moment. The sunken cheeks, scraggly frame, and dirty skin. Nothing like how he was now. His black hair was kept short, unlike his brother, and he managed to bulk up from all the labor he’d been doing to help his brother out.
Definitely the sweetest man I knew. Even Alto didn’t compare to him and he was sweet too. Breakfast was delicious and fun as Niall kept the chatter going, moving from one topic to another. My head whirled from trying to keep up with him. The atmosphere remained fun and lighthearted as he regaled us with stories of his victory over the frying pan and toaster.
I was practically skipping to my next class, high on the energy that Niall expelled.
The moment I entered class, I snickered, spotting my troublemaker sitting at the back. Wanting to put him on the spot, I gave him a cheeky finger wave that had him slouching in his seat as students turned to gape at him. His blue eyes were wide with embarrassment as a cute blush worked its way down his neck. Andres was so adorable. He was most likely going to regret deciding to take my class. I’d need to find out how he figured out this was my class.
Unless he really was that unlucky? Which was possible, especially if it was Dany who made the changes to his schedule.
All of them had the same reaction as the students from yesterday. I was only teaching these two classes, that ran every other day, twice a week, and leaving my Friday free.
“Hello, students,” I said and went into the same spiel as I’d done yesterday.
As I was about to get into the exercise, a student raised their hand.
“Mr. Huntson?”
“So it’s true. There aren’t any myths? Like bigfoot is real. The loch ness monster. Cave monsters?”
“Plenty of myths are real. There are explanations, like bigfoot are really shifters in half form. Only powerful warrior shifters are able to obtain that form and it isn’t a surprise that they’ve been spotted, especially if they weren’t being careful.”
“So what myths are really just myths?” a female student asked.
“The Kraken is not real. I do apologize for anyone wishing to get the deadliest catch. The wendigo is though. So are manticores, griffins, and chimeras.”
“Wendigo?” the same female student asked.
“A human who ate human flesh,” another student answered before I could.
“Cannibals?” Her face curled up in disgust.
“Yes,” I answered. “Cannibals. They become wendigos. The so-called myths began in Native American cultures, especially those living in the north. It’s hard to say what exactly creates a wendigo, but only because there are cultures with cannibalistic rituals and none of them turn into the creatures. Some say it’s the greed of the person. That they are so desperate to live, so determined, that they were willing to kill their companions and eat them to survive. There are a lot of rumors surrounding it, which is where the myths come from. But don’t be mistaken, wendigos exist, and if you ever come in contact with one, running won’t be able to help you. They’re faster than most Natural beings. I know maybe one person who could potentially outrun them. I know I can’t, and I can be very fast when I’m motivated.”
“And all this because of humans who don’t know how to not do something so disgusting?” a student said in the back, his lip curling in disgust.
“Plenty of Naturals eat humans. You cannot condemn anyone for doing the same.”
“They eat humans, but they don’t eat their kind. Isn’t that what cannibalism is. Eating your own kind.”
I nodded. “True.”
“I don’t know any Naturals who have those practices.”
I chuckled. The kid had me there. I didn’t know either.
“Humans are stupid,” someone else said. There was a grumble of agreement spreading around the room. I let them work out their frustrations. I gave them all of ten seconds.
“So, you all think humans are stupid?” I asked.
“Yes.” There was a chorus of the answer from more than half the class.
Sighing, I moved behind the desk, doing my best to hide my disappointment. I knew we were in for a long battle with their prejudice against humans. I wasn’t so sure it was something I’d be able to get rid of in my time period. But I was willing to try.
“It’s unfortunate that you think like that,” I said truthfully.
That caught their attention and they settled down.
“Why?” a male student asked. He sat by the window, probably to daydream through the period, but the conversation had caught his attention. I noted that he hadn’t been one of the ones who had spoken up against humans. I wasn’t sure if it was because he couldn’t be bothered to take part in the conversation at the time, or because he didn’t hold that belief.
I wanted to believe it was the latter.
“Are we smarter and faster than them?” I shrugged. “Sure, most definitely. But it doesn’t mean we’re better. In some ways, they’ll outdo us every time.”
Students shifted in their seats and shared glances. Oh, they didn’t like that remark. Good.
“Name one thing that they are better at,” a brave soul at the front challenged. He looked like he believed I was spouting nonsense with a heavy dose of make-believe.
“Okay.” I leaned forward, over my desk. “Advancement.”
There were varying degrees of confusion. I glanced at my troublemaker, and he looked interested. So did the student by the window.
“A human’s lifespan, if they’re lucky is a century long. That’s common knowledge. They have fast lives. For most Naturals, that’s nothing, not when we can live a few hundred years, or forever. To many of us, a human has a lifespan of a gnat.”
“That doesn’t sound like an advantage,” Andres said.
“No it isn’t. It really isn’t. But it does allow for one thing. Humans get shit done. It’s as simple as that. They don’t hem and haw over something. When they think of an idea, and they want to make that idea a reality, they do it. They don’t let years waste on by before considering it. They don’t mull over ideas, let it marinate for decades, before going back to it. They don’t have that kind of time. So they dive right in and do as much as they can as fast as they can.”
I made a point to look around the room, pointing out tablets, cellphones, earbuds, and even their watches.
“All those gadgets you like to play with, those conveniences and utilities that make our lives so much easier, even as Naturals, are because of those humans you despise so much. They were desperate for them and found a solution. It takes Naturals longer to invent something because we have the ability to go slow, to mull over an idea for decades or centuries. Humans don’t have that luxury.”
No one had anything to say to me after that, and I was able to get class back on track. I must have given them a lot to think about. Hopefully, they didn’t overthink it too much. They needed to understand that humans had their own merits too.
Just as I was wrapping up class, Dany’s head popped up in the window of the door. Her expression was twisted with worry. My gaze met Rophan’s, and he moved to the door to speak with her while I gave everyone the same rundown of their homework like the last class.
The moment the bell rang, the kiddies didn’t hesitate in running out the door. Dany slipped inside with Rophan. She still looked worried, her face pallid. Rophan was a blank wall, not giving anything away. No good news was coming my way.
“Don’t drag it out. Just tell me.”
“I’m sorry, I tried to stop it, but they’re all stubborn, and I don’t have that kind of power.”
“What is it?” I asked.
She sighed. “The council is here. They wish to speak with you.
I rolled my eyes. “Of course they do. They want to all gang up on me. Do you think the waterworks will work this round?” I asked.
“This isn’t a laughing matter,” Rophan said.
“My question was very serious. I’m not laughing at all.”
“No,” Dany said. “Cael is on a mission, and he’s rallying up support.”
“Is everyone here already?” I asked.
She nodded. “Waiting for you.”
“Of course they are.”
“They’d been waiting for almost an hour now. I told them since it was unscheduled, they’d need to wait until you got out of class. Most weren’t too happy about that.”
I couldn’t stop it as the grin formed on my face. “Think we should make them wait longer?”
“I’d advise against that,” Rophan said. “They’ll already be irritated and without knowing what they’re here for, we probably don’t want to anger them further.”
Sighing, I said, “Fine. Let’s go face the music.” I playfully poked Rophan’s stomach. “Always ruining my fun.”
