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But I was a human unless I wasn't.

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I STARED BLANKLY at the teacher, glancing down at my notebook, my cheek resting against the palm of my hand as I tried to follow whatever it was he was teaching in Biology.

It seemed so pointless and mundane to keep up with human subjects when there was a whole world out there filled with the supernatural that we were yet to uncover.

What I was yet to uncover.

Glancing up at the teacher again, I waited for a second until he turned away to scribble something on the board before I pulled up the book I had been secretly reading.

I had started reading the book, early this morning, and though there was nothing that particularly stood out I was quite invested in learning of the Brethren.

My eyes trailed over the words, sucking myself back into the story.

The Brethren of the King's Land, now known as the Brotherhood of Kingsland were people charged by the gods to take care of Kingsland.

It spoke of the beginning of the age of man, where the gods decided to as I quote, 'relinquish their immortal thrones,' they decided to leave a group of trusted humans in charge of the place they held dearest-which was Kingsland- the last hold of their existence, the last evidence of their rule.

There was nothing that was too questionable to make me overthink this until I came to a certain paragraph that piqued my intrigue.

It spoke of a time long after the gods had thought to have disappeared and the brethren who took charge of Kingsland began their protection of its lands.

It spoke of a time when the Brethren were hunted, and most of them perished by an unknown order.

My eyebrows arched at this, leaning over the book- reading through. Was this order the Hunters Lucas had talked about?

I wondered, staring up at the teacher yet my mind was far away from anything that he was saying.

No, that couldn't be it. I mean Lucas had said they hunted Deceptions.

Demi-gods weren't deceptions, and they were only seven-so what counter 'order' hunted down the Brethren?

I looked down at the book quite invested to read more.

"The Brethren of the first order, chosen by the god Zeus, selected each of the bloodlines of brethren, by right of birth, by right of ability, and by right of order after fell the first, and so the first was chosen."

My eyes trailed off the rest of the sentence.

That didn't make sense.

The First fell, but the first was chosen again.

The first of what?

I tried to read more but it had ended like that, going off to explain the species that needed protection, even mentioning the Wilting tree as one of the dying species of plants- moving on the species like the white stags, Berhenions boars the Pegasus although not expanding much into detail, ending with the mention of the sirens which piqued my interest, before I could start, I paused there at the bell ringing in my ears, allowing me to finally look up and come back to reality.

A teacher whose name I hadn't even caught dismissed us.

I gathered my books, left my notebook out, and packed the rest in my bag, before grabbing it, and holding it to my chest as I walked out numbly, still in deep thought.

Meeting up with Claire and David we decided to spend some time underneath the Wilting Tree watching out into the King's Court.

With a light flop, I sat cross-legged underneath it, watching as Claire stretched before me, laying down on the green grass underneath the leafy shade

Sighing, she wiggled her back against the bristle of grass.

David was last to sit, once again seemingly struggling with finding a position until finally giving in to just sitting like a grieving widow, only pulling one of his legs up, his back and leaning against the trunk of the tree, the light breeze blowing through his short locks as he sighed taking a deep breath in.

"This is the Life," Claire grinned, her eyes shut, a pile of all our bags near her side, as she wiggled once more, a smile grazing her face, "good going getting us here, T, Lira is probably trashing our room," she grumbled.

I chuckled lightly at this taking out my library book.

Lira was still stressed over that test she was supposed to write right before Combat Classes on Thursday.

For a girl who didn't care about going to classes, she cared a good amount about the tests. Each one seemed to drive her nuts and let's just say no one wanted to be near Lira when she was in that mood.

"I tried to help yesterday but she almost bit my finger off," David scoffed, eyes still stretching out over the King's Court, "that girl does not like to be helped," he mumbled.

"She's under a lot of pressure," Claire defended lightly.

"Yeah pressure she built herself," David replied glancing over at Claire, "you do know why she gets that way right?" he asked.

I knew both Claire and I were completely clueless as to the reason but I also knew Claire wasn't just going to say she was clueless out loud, not to David.

She had confided in me before that whilst she admired David's dilect it did irk her to come to Kingsland and realize she wasn't even in the top 30 percent when it came to being smart.

After all, back in the human world, among humans, she was always passing out first, but here, just because she wasn't a blue or at least a yellow, intelligence was automatically gifted to others.

It wasn't all technically true as I knew Lucas Bowne was also considered smart because of his Amaroq wolf.

I wondered what that would look like in real life, or his other shifter, the ape.

Lira said I only had to imagine King Kong, but I took that as an understatement.

Lucas Bowne was tall but not tall enough to shift into a 337-foot ape. Too amusing to even suggest- I guess I was smart too.

"Just say it," Claire grumbled throwing a hand on her face- not that the sun was being intrusive in a way.

I figured it was just a reaction to well- David.

"It's because when she's put into tight situations she tends to use her Dilect," David broke down slowly, glancing between the two of us, "let's all face it, Lira is smart but she's lazy," he huffed with a slight shake of the head.

"Even though she has the basic capacity to learn on a faster level than any other color as a blue, she isn't the 'hunt for knowledge type."

I thought of the girl with purple turbo gum, her feet up in the air, and her wild, ditching class side.

Yeah-she was not for pro learning. It was obvious she liked being smart, but she didn't enjoy slaving away to prove it.

Both Claire and I grunted at this in acknowledgment.

"Good, you can see that, I was afraid for a second " he paused and my eyes shot at him and so did Claire.

He cleared his throat, "Anyway- because she spends her time anywhere but in classes when the time comes for a test, she's under pressure to ace it- and her dilects already calculated the probability she has passing by the amount of information she's consumed- if that's minimal. She has to well, consume more information- hence the struggle before every test." He clarified.

Claire and I had a look of enlightenment as he explained- yup that about summed Lira right up.

"She's lucky her dilect can store so much data so quickly, because had she been human, Well.." he trailed off leaving the sentence hanging but I filled it up because being a human I knew there was no way I would be able to take in the information Lira did when she was speed studying.

"Yeah, but convert or not, taking all that in, every time on different occasions must be filling her brain up, I mean don't we use on average only ten percent of our brains? High memory capacity or not, she's cramming, erasing, and creating," Claire huffed.

"Yes and no," David countered and I watched him intently as he explained, "the actual 'humans use ten percent of their brains is a myth." He stated plainly, "According to scientists, our brain is always working, when we sleep, we eat- it's always being used so saying it only been running at ten percent is highly debatable. Also, although she is technically cramming," he began glancing down at Claire, "we must also take note that almost every piece of information we are taking in is not entirely new take, for instance when we were younger, we were taught about planets and how we all orbit around the sun.

A few classes later we learn what planets consist of and that the sun is a star- basic information was already given and now we are fed new bits of information over already categorized facts- so in this case, there is no erasing and creating, we're just building from what is already there, which makes it easy to remember and to study," he shrugged.

"Similarly, if you start something and it fails, you build it again this time putting into perspective what failed and creating it better- you don't just erase it all and get a new project"

My thoughts lingered on him for a few seconds, thoughts spinning in my head as I glanced down at my open book.

What if when the first Brethren died, Zeus didn't choose other unique bloodlines, what if he got from where it was already built? What if the firsts- are the first prime- what if the Prime is the Brethren?

I froze at this, suddenly looking straight ahead, the wind racking up in my face, my heart racing as bits and pieces flooded my memory.

Lucas Bowne thought my father was a part of the Brethren, and if he was, then he was a prime.

"Kingsland is an Academy created for converts, a space in which each can be themselves, adding a human to the equation is not ideal for an environment like Kingsland, and it is a risk neither I nor the King would ever make,"

- that's what Miss Amir has said.

But I was a human unless I wasn't.

My eyebrows arched thinking back, my memory flashed back to the beginning of all this as I was falling from a plane- that stray price of metal chasing after me, only to wake up unscathed.

Mom was a mess but I was unharmed.

I looked down at my own hands, my heart thudding inside me- fear crawling up my sleeve

Mr. Ogustus's face soon came to my memory of a conversation I had buried inside me- the one where his wise eyes had searched my face with that knowing twinkle in his eyes.

"You are truly gifted youngling, I see it in you. It has to be you. Do not doubt yourself so much Youngling- Fear does not pick favorites. It comes to all, leaves no one, no matter how small, how big, how weak or how powerful they believe themselves to be. Truly remarkable"

I breathed out lowly, blinking into the faint breeze, my breathing hollow-

"There is much to learn here on Kingsland, much to discover about Kingsland, about your role to play in the order of things."

What if I was a convert?

The sound of a caw, made me look up, catching sight of the bird in the tree, beady eyes on me before it cawed again making my skin crawl.

There were mysteries all around me on Kingsland and I had an option, give in to fear and live my life like I always did, or I could be the stupid teenager in the horror movies that digs too deep and ends up dead-

Let's face it, with my track record, I was already the teen.

I just had to embrace it more.

Baby steps though- I wouldn't walk straight into the haunted house that was for sure, I had to first dig about it.

I swallowed hard my throat dry, yet a sudden whisp of excitement crawled on my skin, Mr. Ogustus's words brewing in my mind-

"There is much to learn here on Kingsland, much to discover about Kingsland, about your role to play in the order of things.

It is a pleasure to meet you, Talanda."

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She's piecing stuff together
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