Kyle, feeling well, returned to class the next morning. The subject was history, and Dr. and Miss Finch were reminding their students for the upteenth time not to disclose information about the Academy or Familiars to non-Family members, or people who were not aware of Familiars and the Academy's existence. The cousins acknowledged that some planets did know all about everything that went on, and proceeded to explain how complicated these things were on traditionally non-magical planets and so on and so forth, until most of the class was dedicated to them investigating every nook and cranny of "these things". At one point, Kyle began to tune out his professors and really think about this for the first time. All around him was indisputable proof of intelligent life - not only elsewhere, but everywhere - in the universe, as well as of magic and mythical beasts, and he could tell no one about it. How did they ensure no one told? Did they have people follow the students around? Was it really possible that no one in the history of ever had told anyone about it? Maybe they did, and no one believed them. He thought that if someone told him at the start of the school year that there was a magical world where aliens gathered to learn about their mythical pets, he would have backed away slowly and assumed that the person was on some sort of crazy drug.

Eventually, the lesson began, but Kyle was too distracted by his revelation to pay much attention. It lingered with him for the rest of the day. He started to think about the school's history, and wondered if there would be anything in the library. But more importantly, where was the library?

"Maybe it's near the courtyard where we have our free period?" Elvia suggested at dinner.

"That'd be a good place to start," Kyle acknowledged. "We can check next chance we get."

"You could also ask your English or Grammar or whatever teacher," Nixie proposed.

"Grammar," Kyle told her. "I'll do that if I can't find it, but I feel like exploring could help us out."

Nixie cut into a hunk of meat with a stabbing motion. "Tell you what: I'll ask where it is, and I'll watch you two struggle."

Elvia giggled at that. "Why are you so evil?" she laughed.

She stabbed her fork into a chunk of her food. "Some men just wanna watch the world burn."

Kyle sat back a bit and his mind almost immediately returned to his revelation from earlier in the day. "I still can't believe we can't talk about this."

Nixie shrugged. "I guess I can. Like, if someone wanted to kill you, and you knew they did but you didn't know who they were, then would you tell anyone any information about you?"

He let that idea in. "I think I understand what you mean." But once that thought was done processing, he jumped right back his many miscellaneous thoughts of the day. "Does this make the little green man alien caricature racist?"

Nixie and Elvia both shook their heads, but they also laughed at the idea.

During Kyle and Elvia's free period, they searched for the library. They found classrooms and hallways that displayed art and other projects, a set of bathrooms with graffitied doors, a room full of plants, and a room full of mice, spiders, and snakes. They stumbled into the prop room for the school's drama club. They even found Mr. Connolly's office. But the library still escaped them.

"Do you think it's underground?" Elvia suggested at a point.

"Everything else is," Kyle sighed, "don't see why that wouldn't be."

So the two descended to the ground floor. They looked for another stairwell heading down, but at first they had no luck. Once again, it seemed that they could only find classrooms and storage rooms.

"Maybe it's not in this part of the school," Elvia finally sighed. "Plus our period is going to be over soon."

Kyle leaned against the wall. "We could ask Nixie at dinnertime," he suggested. Then he felt himself moving backwards. He saw that Elvia seemed very surprised and confused, then decided it would be a good idea to stand up before he fell flat on his back. He looked, and much to his own astonishment, a part of the wall had rotated ninety-degrees, revealing a path that plunged deep underground.

Elvia peered inside. Skitter-Scamp, who had been hiding in Elvia's bag as usual, hopped out and scampered to the new opening. His tiny hooves clickety-clacked on the stone and echoed into the new tunnel. He let out a curious squeak, and started to venture out. Elvia followed behind, reasoning, "It seems to lead somewhere."

Kyle followed her. "Pretty sure the entire top portion of the school is just a façade," he joked.

"Probably," Elvia chuckled with a not-so-subtle nervousness in her voice. Skitter-Scamp, who was so eager to explore, was now regretting his decision to enter.

Then the doorway closed behind them, and they all regretted their decision to enter.

"Ooh, this was a bad idea," Elvia whined.

Kyle put his arm around her, in part to keep her calm, in part to keep himself calm. "We'll be alright," he assured her as he started to lead them down the stony path. "I don't think the school has any dangerous beasts lurking under its walls."

Skitter-Scamp's hooves clacked just in front of the two students and the other Familiar. He took a few more tiny steps ahead, and then he fell.

"Oh no!" Elvia fell to her knees and quickly began patting the ground in search of the creature. "Scampy, where'd you go? Oh!"

Kyle, too, had gotten on his knees and started searching as well. "What's wrong?" Kyle asked, voice hushed. Meanwhile, Fledermaus had hopped off Kyle's shoulders, but he was having better luck finding Skitter-Scamp. The pads of his feet scraped against the stone, and it was even possible to hear him hop.

"There's a step or gap, or something here!" she explained. She reached further forward and brushed Fledermaus's scaly tail, and let out a surprised squeal.

Kyle lunged forward and started patting the area. He, too, brushed against Fledermaus, but his fingers also grazed the dazed Skitter-Scamp. "Don't worry, it's just Fledermaus," and he scooped up the little Jackalope, "and Skitter-Scamp."

Elvia's hands shook in excitement. She took the little fellow from Kyle's hands and held him close to her face. "Ooh, thank you, Kyle!"

He scooped up Fledermaus and placed him back on his shoulders. "No prob." He stood, then slid a foot forward until it reached the end of the top step. He cautiously shifted himself to the stairs and took a step down. He offered a hand to Elvia and whispered, "Come on."

Elvia hesitated, but then slipped her hand into his and muttered, "Okay."

The two descended the stairs very slowly, taking only one step at a time. Walking down one's own stairs in the dark of the night is a very simple task, but when descending a staircase not even seen for the first time because it is so dark, it is a very, very different, much more difficult mission. The two had no idea how long the staircase was, if it spiraled or continued on straight, or even what was on the bottom. They had also completely forgot about their upcoming class.

After a minute's trip (which would have taken ten, maybe fifteen seconds at a normal speed), the ground evened out once more. They continued at that slow pace across the floor, until they hit a wall.

"Is that it?" Kyle demanded with the purest irritation in his voice.

"That can't be right," Elvia moaned in disappointment. She extended her arm and started to pat the wall, and, just like the one through which they entered, it gently rotated outward. Light poured into the tunnel and stunned the small group, and after a moment, Elvia said, "Look, I was right."

Kyle stuck his head through the opening and looked around. The room was a labyrinth of bookshelves that rose thirty to fifty feet into the air, and on the ground was a mess of tiny grooves that snaked all around the floor. There were tall ladders that could reach the very top shelves, stacked neatly against the wall. Kyle turned his head and smiled at Elvia. "We found the library!" He slipped through the opening and Elvia stumbled out behind him. The room was massive, and they all felt very small.

"You made it!"

The two and their Familiars turned to see Nixie walking briskly towards them.

"Have you been here the whole time?" Elvia giggled.

"Not the whole time, no," Nixie admitted, "just a couple minutes. Class just let out."

"Oh that's right!" Elvia gasped. "We have to go to class soon!"

"I'll try and remember where it was," Kyle muttered to himself.

"What, the door?" Nixie asked. "There are doors everywhere."

Kyle and Elvia looked around. "Really?"

Nixie walked past them and pushed the door shut. "Yep, doors just like these. Make sure you keep them shut, the librarian will flip."

"Don't they close on their own?" Kyle asked as he recalled the door shutting behind him not too long ago.

Nixie shook her head. "They don't. But I'm guessing one closed on you, so what probably happened was someone saw it open and shut it for you." Then she folded her arms with confidence and smirked. "Any more questions?"

Elvia started to giggle once more and joked, "Is there an eighteen and over section?"

Nixie held a hand to the side of her mouth and whispered, "Only if you know where to look."

The three chuckled at this. Kyle was the first to start for the entry way, but it took a few tries to open the wall. "We should get going," he insisted.

Elvia followed close behind. "See you later."

Nixie hung back, grin on her face. "See you here."

Hours later, the trio was back in the library, combing through the history section. They found books about school history, books about the world's history, books about the history of other worlds, books with characters none of them could have ever imagined. They gravitated towards the school history books and almanacs, reasoning that they would be of the most benefit.

"Look for sections about War," Kyle suggested as he scanned another thick tome. He glanced over the pages at Elvia. "Do you know anything that can help us?"

She met his eyes and wore a look a disappointment on her face. "I'm sorry, I don't know anything. Every time my parents tried to tell me about it, they got into a disagreement and just stopped talking."

"Sucks," Nixie muttered as she leafed through a book. "I'm the same way with my step-dad. Or, I guess I was."

"You're probably going to have to go back in the summer," Elvia told her.

"He probably won't even notice," Nixie laughed. "But anyway, do you know anything at all?"

Elvia put a finger to her chin as she thought. "All I can really remember is that it was between the Academy and the Unfamiliars."

Kyle nodded. "Yeah, that's enough," he breathed, focused more on his searching than anything else. He flipped through pages frantically, seeing only one word per page, until one jumped out: Unfamiliar. He threw the book down and pressed his finger on the word so hard his nail turned white. "I think this is it!"

Nixie, Elvia, and their Familiars crowded around Kyle and stared down at the page. Nixie jumped to the beginning of the sentence and read, "The General of Chaos gathered his army of Unfamiliars and, on one freezing cold night in December, marched on the Academy."

"General of Chaos?" Kyle echoed. "That's a dramatic name for a history book."

"Maybe the author was biased?" Elvia suggested as she lifted the back cover of the book in an attempt to find a name.

"Could've just been his title," Nixie offered. "Probably a little bit of both."

Kyle flipped to the previous page. On the left side was the beginning of the chapter, "Raeven Akfernen: The General of Chaos".

"Akfernen?" Nixie read in disbelief.

Kyle's heart sank at that. Nobody had been impressed after all, they only feared him. It would make sense as to why Akora took such a liking to him.

"Maybe it's a different Akfernen?" Elvia scooted a bit closer to him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Even Skitter-Scamp trotted to his side and gave him a warm nuzzle.

"Even if it wasn't, it's not your problem," Nixie assured him. "I know it can feel like it is, but it isn't."

"Is everyone just afraid of me?" he asked, a pathetic tone in his voice. "Is that why everyone goes quiet when they hear my name?"

"Can't be," Nixie told him, shaking her head. "They should take one look at you and know you're nothing to be afraid of. Er, no offense."

"None taken."

Elvia slid the book closer to herself. She skimmed the page, flipped to the next, and continued until she had a general idea of the chapter's contents. "Maybe it was a different Akfernen?"

Kyle shook his head. "It's not exactly a common name. Plus, if we weren't related, why would even the teachers make a big deal about it?"

Nixie crawled across the floor and set herself beside Elvia. She, too, started to leaf through the pages, and said, "It just doesn't make sense."

Kyle stood, defeated, and ran a hand across Fledermaus's head. "It's fine, I think I got what I wanted." Then, he started to walk away.

Nixie closed the book. It was titled, Enemies and Threats Against the Academy. "Maybe we're just looking in the wrong book?"

"Doubt it," he sighed.

The two others stood, and followed after him. "Just wait a minute," Elvia called. "We can keep looking!"

He shook his head. "Not in the mood."

Nixie raised an open hand toward him. "But-"

"I just found out everyone's afraid of me," he interrupted. "I'm sorry, it's just... look, I need some time, that's all." He found the nearest doorway and disappeared through it, closing the wall gently behind himself.

Elvia and Nixie hung back, lost for words and a bit disappointed there was nothing more they could do. Even Skitter-Scamp and Marissa showed signs of distress. Nixie returned to the stack of books they had created and picked one up, cracked its spine open, scanned the pages, and muttered, "There's got to be more."

Kyle lay in bed, staring, emotionless, at the wall. He was troubled by what he had read, and had convinced himself that he was feared by everyone around him. At the moment, it felt as though it only made too much sense. He was a monster in a totally alien world, where children were raised to fear him while he had no idea of their existence. Then he felt lost and confused, and a bit dead inside. There was a lot to take in, and it seemed as though everyone else was handling the situation far better than he. It was so natural to them. He tried to ignore the feelings, but they stayed. It took a great amount of effort to tuck them away and finally become numb to the feeling. Oh, if only he knew what awaited for him.

There came a knock at the door.

He craned his neck to peer over his shoulder. "Come in, it's unlocked."

The door opened silently, and Aoife appeared with Joy perched on her shoulder. "You okay? You've been really bummed all day."

He shrugged. "I should be alright."

Aoife came in proper, then set herself down in the chair at the desk. "You probably shouldn't leave the door unlocked if you're going to lay down. You might fall asleep."

He shrugged again, and turned to face the wall once more.

"Nixie and Elvia told me," she explained.

"What did they say?"

Aoife leaned back. "Oh, just that you think everyone's afraid of you."

"That's what the book said."

She nodded, and told him, "I suppose that's a valid theory."

"Well what do you think?"

She rose from the chair and sauntered to his bed, where she gently sat herself down. "I think that the past is the past," she said plainly. "I think it's more respect than fear."

Fledermaus stood on Kyle's shoulder and studied Aoife. It was clear at least part of Kyle was willing to listen.

"Just think about what I've said," she told him calmly. She stood and walked out of the room, without another word.

And Kyle did think about what she said. When he fell asleep, it followed him into his dreams. It wasn't fear, it was respect, he thought. This did made him feel a bit better, but it did not completely smooth over his feelings.

The next day, Kyle carried himself a bit taller. He started paying attention to the other students, and none of them paid him any mind. He felt invisible again, and, had he been honest, it was a pretty good feeling. He was not used to strangers paying attention to him, he did not like strangers paying attention to him, and it was a relief to realize nobody cared that he was there.

He got through his classes with a renewed confidence, and Nixie and Elvia were relieved to see him doing so much better.

"Just needed time with it, right?" Nixie inquired.

Kyle nodded. "You could say that."

"Well it's good to see you normal again," Elvia beamed.

"Good to be normal again," he sighed with relief. "Well, more normal."

The two laughed. "Yeah. 'Normal' doesn't happen here."

Nixie cleared her throat after her chuckle and switched the subject somewhat, "So I guess we're done in the library for now?"

Kyle nodded. "For now. We'll probably get to the war in history class, and I'll have my answers then. I hope, at least."

Nixie nodded, but she did not appear satisfied with that. She had a look on her face, a look that said she wanted to say more, but was so unsure of the outcome that she decided to stay quiet. Elvia seemed to have that look to an extent as well, but Kyle just assumed it was just something about what they all had read, and that it was still bothering them. At the same time, something told him he should ask what was on their minds. He decided to ignore that feeling. Wanting to push the feeling away, he asked, "So did anything new happen in class?"

Elvia nodded. She, too, seemed relieved to change the subject. "Yeah. My first mission is coming up. We're going to plant some flowers on this planet with really rich soil that's supposed to grow things almost instantly."

"Doesn't sound so bad," Nixie said, returning to her dinner.

Elvia shook her head. "It really doesn't, but knowing my luck, the flowers are going to be carnivorous."