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"Basically, Lucas Bowne is the 'popular guy' around here."

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LIRA PACED AROUND us momentarily as if she was giving us a moment to catch up, her hands swinging by her side as she turned back to face us with a sigh, her back against the door as she folded her arms.

"As I was saying, Rangi and Lwangi are easier to get along with, friendly to some extent, however as moderators they are more like goody two shoes in my opinion," she huffed, glancing over her fingernails before bringing them to her mouth.

My eyes dropped at the action, wincing a little as she plucked at them. It was such a bad habit, a habit I had taken months to get over thanks to Zali who said it was very un-princess-like. I watched as she spat out what I assumed was a fingernail, somewhere in the direction of Claire's wardrobe and I inwardly cringed, more than glad when she continued explaining the so-called hierarchy I had subtly noticed to some rough extent.

"How About Lucas Bowne? Where does he fit into all this," Claire asked, yet her eyes were on me with a knowing smirk. I frowned at this not at all enjoying her teasing.

"Lucas Bowne is ...eh," she trailed off with a slight shrug, "what can I say, he is the Alpha of the shifter world, thanks to his lineage of royal whatever the hell they were," she mumbled, "Lucas is more like Mr. Kingsland if Kingsland was a beauty pageant," she continued to further explain, her hands moving along with her words, seeming as if she was trying to meld them together.

"Much like little Miss Lawrence," she began glancing at me, "he is well-liked by the Prime teachers, which is understandable as he was one of the first students on this island. I would say he is fairly okay, the dude is extremely loyal, very authoritative, he runs the greens," she huffed, "and oh- never get on his bad side- it's just common sense when it comes to a Gigan-" I could see her visibly shiver for a moment before shaking her head, "I could honestly say Lucas is one of the most powerful converts on Kingsland- there is a reason why he doesn't have to go through the Kings Trails- until the King's Round of course," she muttered.

My eyebrows furrowed at this. He didn't have to go through the Kings' Trials just because he was powerful. That didn't seem fair at all, and it looked like Kingsland had its favorites for allowing that. But then, who could blame them?

Talk about pretty privilege, or was it power privilege?

"Wow- lower your upper lip a bit more and you'll be stuck frowning for life," Lira mocked, eyes on me. My eyes snapped back to her watching her laugh.

"I know what you're thinking, Reddy," she grinned, "but-" she raised a finger standing up straight, "I have done the math, there is no convert here whose power has been displayed that could even have a decent chance of defeating him, his hulk strength, coupled by his swiftness, his shifter forms and sizes is a hard take for a lot of converts- he is also immune to magic," she added looking down at us both.

My eyebrows arched at this important fact, eyes lowering on Lira, "That's right, not even you reds are a match for him, well to be fair he is immune to most magic- especially raw..." she trailed off, "by raw I mean magic drawn from spells, mostly."

"Spells," Claire stared blankly, seemingly enamored too.

"It's complicated don't think about it too much, from what I can tell he is immune to basic magic but I honestly can't be sure to what extent," she trailed off, her eyebrows arching seeming to be fazed by her thoughts, her tone lowering, "Old magic, however, seems to affect him slightly..."

I raised an eyebrow at this, but she shook awake from whatever small trance she had been taking a deep breath out, "Basically Lucas Bowne is the 'popular' guy here," she quoted popular in speech tags, "usually found with his pack and of course, Daya Lawrence."

I tried to show no emotion as she said this, even though I could feel both their eyes on me as if they expected me to blow up. I found that hilarious- there was no claim I had on the boy I had only met for ten minutes, heck I didn't even want to lay one in the first place. If Lira was right then anything to do with Luca meant being in the spotlight. That was the last thing I wanted or desired.

"So apart from... rare magic," Claire hinted, "he doesn't have any weakness? What- he's all-powerful?" she grunted, definitely sounding like she was not buying this at all.

Lira's gaze narrowed at her roommate, "Of course, he's not as powerful as the prime, that I know- but if you'd ask me, I would say he could defeat a good number of the King's Knights," she said unapologetically.

"Even Carter Solomon?" Claire asked her tone deep and challenging.

"I said most," Lira huffed, "he might be powerful, and admittedly that Amaroq wolf of his provides him with a high IQ. But I don't think he is pro-genius smart. Carter is an asshole but I'm sure he would have found a weakness; the only problem is he may not be able to find it in the 4.5 seconds it would take for Lucas' Amaroq to speed across the dome and catch him in the throat."

I blinked blankly at that bloody explanation, Claire's expression contorting at the sound of that.

"However," she dragged slyly, "there is one person he doesn't get along with. While I have no idea if this said person could defeat him, I would say they are perfect opponents."

"You mean Harvest," Claire retorted. I believe she was not up for the 'beating around the bush' game Lira wanted to play.

Lira's smirk dropped, looking down at her roommate with a scowl.

"Yes reddy, Harvest." she grunted, notably displeased with Claire's outburst, "Harvest Adams."

Claire pulled her knees up to her chest, eyes on her, "what does he do? He seems so mysterious..." she trailed off a light blush dancing across her creamy cheeks.

Mysterious she said- as casually as if we were watching Nancy Drew.

DANGEROUS was the word. His eyes were cold as ice, he loved the dark and creatures that hiss... A shiver crept up my body when I thought of that feeling- that ugly feeling of being completely helpless. Out of control. A feeling I've felt all my life, and yet seemed amplified a billion times under that icy gaze.

"He's a yellow'

Called it.

"Honestly one of the most impressive I have ever seen and trust me his dilect is just as mysterious as he is," she huffed, "mind control, body control," she trailed off sitting on her bed, across from us, "they say he can kill you in a second, all he has to say is stop!" she popped the p, leaning in, her tone low and scratchy which made me very uneasy, "and your heart goes flat."

My heart thudded harshly inside me as she spoke. I could feel my fingers shake and my breathing pace lower because I knew, somehow deep within me, he didn't need to say anything to get my heart to stop. He could kill me in an instant from across a whole Arena of people and everybody would just think I had a heart attack.

I see you.

I see you.

I was in Danger, wasn't I?

Danger, danger, danger-

My mind came back to reality with a snap that came a few inches from my face.

"Come back to our world reddy, I swear it's so easy to scare you little pop tarts," Lira grunted. I looked at her and then at Claire who looked very much baffled by the power Lira explained Hallway Boy, Harvest had.

"Body and mind control," Lira grunted with a shrug, "He's the only one I've seen with a power that has developed to that point of-"

"Of what?" Claire pushed.

Lira looked up at her, looking lost for a second, before moving back further on her bed, her head against the wall as she gazed up at the ceiling, "the point of rendering someone completely useless..." she looked back at us, "now tell me, how would one even start fighting that sort of convert? He could shut down your body in a second and you would just be a pool of blood and bones and fat..." Lira scoffed, she chuckled at our reaction which honestly only reflected her dark explanations of the boy aiming a deadly arrow at my back just by using his eyes.

"Anyways, put that kind of Boy in the arena with Lucas Bowne, and then you'll see a true fight."

"It seems like that's a recipe for a blood bath," Claire muttered.

"I'm counting on it," Lira grinned, "see those two hate each other's guts. I honestly have never seen a feud as deep as the one they have got going for each other for reasons beyond what I could ever fathom," she rolled her eyes, "from petty things like the Duo Inter Color Games, Captain Position in the King's Trials and of course, Daya Lawrence."

I raised an eyebrow at the inclusion of Daya, Looking up at her confused.

Lira chuckled, getting up from bed and back to her desk with a slight yawn, "that's the cliffhanger for tonight," she yawned, getting back to work.

Claire's jaw dropped, "You can't be serious. You just got to the juicy part!"

"That's why it's called a cliffhanger, reddy," Lira muttered back, eyes focused on whatever she was doing now.

It was one hell of a cliffhanger.

Why on earth would Harvest and Luca fight over Daya?

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