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Miss Akhana Amir teaches blues?"

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"CLOSE YOUR MOUTH pumpkins, or you're going to swallow a fly," Lira commented lazily, then suddenly paused as if thinking it over, "which would be epic on my part...You know what? Go ahead and keep 'em open for me. I want to see something."

Claire immediately slammed her mouth shut whilst I blinked myself out of my lofty haze, gulping down a full glass of water I had requested earlier, still unable to come to terms with Mr. Ogustus's previous scandalized notion of me potentially being surrounded by demi-gods.

Demi-gods?

I must have died in the crash and woken up in an alternative reality. I was sure of it. I choked down another glass and I must have done so too quickly, because, in the next second, I was choking pathetically, slapping my chest eagerly to relieve the burning feeling as the water hit a reverse whoa when it was halfway down my throat, making its way up my windpipe.

Coughing and splattering all over the place it was Claire's frantic rescuing back pats that helped me calm down whilst Lira gingerly took away the glass from my shaking grip, placing it on the study table she was seated before.

I took in a deep breath trying to replace the oxygen I had lost in my bid for survival.

Lira turned slightly in her seat, one elbow over the back of the chair with an amused look on her face as she studied our frames that were seated cross-legged on Clair's bed,

"Newbies," she huffed shaking her head slightly, "so weak even a glass of water can drown 'em," she chuckled, tipping the glass till it rolled on the table, "I take it you finally learned why were called Dilectus?" she grinned, her gaze moving between the two of us interchangeably.

Claire nodded, eyes wide, "Demi-gods," she repeated the exact words that were echoing through my mind.

"Isn't it cool?" Lira asked leaning back with a wide smirk on her features, "who would have thought that in your skinny body would flow the blood of a god?" she grinned, "I on the one hand have always known there was something special about me, I mean the band says it all." she boasted, flashing us her blue band.

"S-so you believe it? You believe this whole Dilectus and Criptus, titans and darkness stuff?" Claire huffed, pulling her knees to her chest, eyes focused on her roommate.

"You would be a fool not to. Mr. Ogustus is your origins teacher, right?' she asked, we both nodded, "I would have killed to have him as ours, but no... instead I got boring stuck-up Carter Solomon-"

"Carter Solomon!" Claire echoed loudly on behalf of both of us.

My eyes were almost leaving their sockets and my ears buried themselves back in my head at the sound of his name.

Carter Solomon.

One of the top five members of Kingsland Superhero elite force the King's Knights. Hair a mild chestnut eyes a burning hazel. He was honestly speaking, one of the most good-looking men that I had ever seen, filled his King's Knights silver outfit well and was the most famously known of the King's Knights, one could even say he led the team of five.

Tall and ridiculously handsome you would think he could shoot laser beams from his eyes, have super strength, fly or maybe even teleport but... he was a nerd in layman's terms.

Yes, it was now proven that nerds had game.

Made it to Forbes list of the top hundred most influential individuals breaking the barrier of the top five. There was no problem, Carter Solomon couldn't solve.

Be it business, or devising tactics for a superhero finale, he was downright the go-to man. He couldn't fly yes, but he had a black belt in jujitsu and karate, a certified doctorate in quantum physics, and a bunch of other PhDs including architecture. I was surprised the man hadn't yet invented time travel!

I knew there were tons of fan websites and groups who were madly in love with him, convert and human, and I was technically a fan but I knew my boundaries.

He was a 35, year-old man, whom I probably would never meet, no- instead, I focused on his achievements marveling at all he had accomplished. I doubted I could accomplish a quarter of what he had done in his young life but if I accomplished an inch, I would die happy.

"Carter Solomon-the billionaire genius- sword-wielding superhero Knight- Carter Solomon?" Claire rephrased leaning in, eyes still as wide as saucers.

Lira scoffed at Claire's fan-Girling but I could hardly blame her, this was Carter Solomon we were talking about after all. There is no girl or woman in the world you could fault for that.

"Firstly," Lira began, "they're called the King's Knights or Prime Knights," Lira replied raising a finger, "you do know what prime means right?" she asked, her tone sounding a little irritated for some reason.

I quickly jotted down the answer, showing her my notebook, she glanced over it nodding,

"That's right, the firsts." She continued schooling us like we were eight-year-olds, "These are the top Knights, so they're called the Prime Knights or the King's Knights. Bottom line is people are going to understand you're referring to the top five-" she shut her eyes as she said this, "top five? That's the best you could come up with? Man....anyway, as I was saying, people will understand you're referring to the top five. ugh," she gagged, " anyone that completes level three of the kings' Trials is eligible to become a knight, but only those who win the King's Round becomes the King's Knight." she huffed, "secondly, Carter Solomon is a pretentious jerk, always thinking that he's better than everyone else-"

"But he kind of is..." Claire put in and I had to agree, he did surpass quite a lot of us, "I mean he is a genius billionaire-"

"As I was saying!" Lira cut raising her voice a little higher, causing Claire to shut up, "he's a jerk," she scowled, leaning back with a slight huff, her eyes narrowing at no one in particular until they zoomed in on us, holding my breath in the instance they did.

Lira could be scary at times, she seemed to be on a short fuse,

"Did you know," she began leaning in slightly, eyes narrowing on our frames, "his real name is Carter Sullivan but changed his last name to Solomon because he claimed to be the wisest man to ever exist, but thank heavens he's not or else we would all suffocate under his enormous ego."

"Really?" Claire cooed, "Then who is the wisest person on earth?"

Lira creepily grinned, lifting her legs on the desk, a habit I realized she had,

"Well," she began, "not that Forbes would know this but Miss... Akhana Amir," She announced with a smirk.

My eyebrows furrowed at this.

Miss Akhana Amir.

The whole world knew that name. She was the face of Kingsland, wherever there was a cross-national event with Kingsland ties, she would be there.

Until last Sunday, I thought she was the owner of Kingsland till of course I discovered or instead, was told it was secretly my father.

Her name and face flashed into my mind from the hundreds of interviews that I had seen her do and the picture of her, hanging beside my fathers in the King's Hall.

Through all the interviews of her I had watched, you could tell she was a very intellectually superior woman indeed and I remember my father repeatedly telling me to answer questions with her wisdom and think like her intellect, as she, he claimed was a perfect role model, second to my mother of course.

I had tried, but sometimes I just couldn't understand how she thought up an answer to smartly or so quickly, I felt Carter Solomon was a much easier specimen to study even though he was still out of my limit.

"Miss Amir taught him everything he knows, how to control, use and most importantly develop his dilect. I know this because obviously as a blue we have the same Prime Dilectus."

"Miss Akhana Amir teaches blues?"

I wrote showing her the words. I would think the lady who was supposed to run a whole organization could not possibly have the time to teach each class, but then again, she wasn't the one that headed it as I had earlier discovered.

Lira tilted her head to the side, raising a handout.

"Eh," She motioned, almost like I had asked if the water was hot or cold and she meant to say warm or just right, "I know Mr. Ogustus is supposed to teach you this, it's one of the last topics in Origins class so I won't go in detail." She began and we both nodded.

We would take whatever it is she could give us.

"You do know that Kingsland existed long before the Conversion even occurred right?"

Again, we nodded.

"It wasn't this magnificent splendor we now know of; it was more like a cabin and trees and stuff..." she trailed off with a disgusted expression on her face as if nature repulsed her, one I had surprisingly taken offense to, "you should also know that the gods have always chosen 7 heroes per generation for the seven continents of the earth. These heroes are what we refer to as the Prime Dilectus or Prime teachers, whichever tickles your pickle. Each presents a different color, for Miss Amir, it's us blues, for Mr. Ogustus." she began looking at us, "It's the greens. Miss Lucile Almulese," the image of the dread-plaited black woman seated beside Mr. Ogustus, during the arena fight, flew in my mind, "It's you guys, the reds. For the yellows, those stupid jerks..." she added with a slight huff, "it's Mr. William Lang."

The name was new to me. So that simply meant I had never seen or heard of him.

"For the elemental oranges, it's Mr. Rudra Rahsad,"

Ooh ...I knew that name, he was the announcer at the Reds match yesterday.

"For the ever-pure whites, it is the lovely Miss Belle Beaumont, and lastly Mr. Gravis Herc for the Silvers."

Gravis was a part of the prime?

Huh, no surprise there, I mean he was in the King's Hall.

"So, there you have it, seven colors, seven continents, seven heroes, Voila."

Claire released a subtle cough, covering her mouth for a bit before asking, "Which one of them comes from Antarctica? No one lives there..." she huffed with a confused expression on her face. It was an excellent question to ask, I mean really...

Why would Antarctica even need a hero?

"That's a good question. Yippee for you Claire, 2 points!" Lira commented with exaggerated applause.

"According to what I've seen," she continued, "you just have to have some form of ancestry from the supposed continent." She barely explained-

"But-"

"No buts Claire for Pete's sake," she huffed, with a slight eye roll.

She probably was baffled about it too I realized, but would not admit it.

"The Prime Dilectus are usually busy but they do drop in from time to time, especially on very important topics, some are more active than others though. Like Mr. Gravis Herc is usually gone for most of the year, I'm surprised he's back," she added, lowering her voice as if she was telling a secret before shrugging, "but I guess so is Miss Amir, I mean someone's got to run Kingsland, the King is practically a ghost so.." she trailed off with another shrug.

My heart hammered against my chess at the sound of my father's title.

I hope I didn't look too guilty but then again, I was known to overthink things. How on earth would they know?

I just had to play it cool, I could do this, just like in every other undercover movie. I mean sure they all usually get caught in the end, but not me, I was too quiet to get noticed and that's meant to be literal.

"Have you ever seen him?" Claire asked lowly, gaze stuck on Lira.

"No one has, he addresses Kingsland on the first day of every year but that's about it. Standing from the top of the jewel tower with powerful protection magic to cover his face, no one ever has. Even his voice is a little distorted. Whoever it is, every new dilect is taught that the King must be protected at all times..."

I breathed out at the sound of this in relief. All right, so no one knows who he is.

Good.

"But I'm going to find out," Lira added with the same sly smirk I was beginning to detest.

"You are?" Claire echoed.

"Yeah, it's like the biggest mystery on Kingsland, and I know I'm not the only one who is trying."

The winged converts. Someone had already found out that for sure. That is why I was now in Kingsland and not with him because I wasn't safe anymore.

It all made sense. Well, parts of it. Someone, please tell me why my human father is leading a bunch of demigods. Please.

"It seems like someone's having an inner battle," Lira commented. My eyes snapped up to her, getting caught in her ever-attentive gaze. I quickly jotted down some words.

"All this is a lot to think about," I signed.

"It sure is," Claire backed.

Lira nodded, shifting her attention off me after a lingering second.

I had to be more careful.

Lira was a blue.

They had hyperintelligence according to their specific power that is. Who knows? Maybe she could even detect lies.

Then I'd be screwed.

"I thought-"

Knock, knock.

All three of our heads turned towards the door at the sudden noise, Claire glancing over at Lira,

"Are you expecting any company today? She asked, "Because I'm not."

Lira frowned for a second before her expression contorted into one of realization,

"Ah, that's right," She began slapping her knees before getting to her feet, "I am expecting someone," she grinned as she moved toward the door, opening it widely.

Leaning against it, a sly smirk crept up onto her features, giving us a perfect view of the boy standing at the doorway with curly brown locks and a lightly freckled face, a firm stance standing at a height that would still be considered appealing for a guy. He wasn't drop-dead gorgeous but did hold his own in some way.

"Andrew Myers," Lira smirked, folding her arms, "to what do I owe such pleasure?" she taunted, clearly messing with the boy that gave her a displeased look, glancing at both Claire and me for a moment.

He offered us a short wave to which Claire whimsically returned whilst I kept my gaze frozen on him, partly because I disliked the fact that a boy was standing right outside the room. Honestly, even the male palace guards weren't allowed near mine, and partly because I believed I had heard of that name before, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Not quite.