A month had passed and Lira and her friends were able to adjust with their everyday routine. Lira found it amazing that she was able to find friends in the likeness of Mari and Yumi; the three were inseparable, well for most of the time. But Lira still gave herself some period alone. During her spare time if Mari was busy with her admirers and Yumi was elsewhere mixing liquids and powders to create what she called "the hair color of the century", she spent it in the library rummaging for books. There were so many interesting finds, though there was not a single book of history on the shelf. If not reading, she would use one of the several computers available in the library to send emails and bombard Claire with her stories of the academy. Occasionally she would include snippets of the lessons she received. Claire would probably be able to read her emails sometime later at the end of the month. For them, even the most outdated technology was a luxury they could seldom afford.

If not in the library, Lira would spend a few moments in the garden feeling at home with all the plants and flowers around. The garden reminded her of home. Their small cottage on Isla del Sur was surrounded with potted plants and flowers of which most of it she planted herself, and trees were abundant in the Isla unlike in most places in Northernland and Middleland.

But most of the time, she spent her days with Yumi and Mari. Senior High was, Lira surmised, the best time of her life. But of course, senior year was not complete without bullies to torment her life from time to time. These bullies came in the form of mortal enemy number 1: Matteo de la Vega. He started senior high last year but decided to quit school and instead joined the training for the Vampire Slayer Division, that was also being housed in the academy, to be a full pledge Elite Guard. An Elite Guard, sometimes called Slayer, were task to make sure the vampires adhere to the treaty; they also protect the humans from any vampire attack. In Lira's opinion, the world would be in great peril if Matt, who had an overflowing self-confidence he considered his greatest asset, became a full pledge Elite Guard. For now, he constantly made his presence available to throw some snide remarks here and there whenever possible.

Mortal enemy number 2 spot was dedicated to Lavinia Corazon and her gang of giggly girls. They call themselves the Elites, since they figured out they were all from the First and that they were the most popular among the rest of the clique. Secretly behind their backs, Yumi called Lavinia the Queen Bee Wannabe and her squad of stuck-up snobs. Clara, it would seem, was part of Lavinia's group and appeared as though she was second in command, hanging on to Lavinia's every word. The group would occasionally flaunt their "riches" at Yumi and Lira, and most often would remind the two of their status in society. And although Clara would not take part in their group's antics, she still did not acknowledge Lira.

"Mari attracts boys. I attract bullies. Life is not fair," Lira grumbled during one of those rare days when they were sitting on the grassy field. The clouds completely covered the sun, giving them a wonderful shade and a slight cold temperature.

"And I attract flies," Yumi said, trying to swat a fly on her arm.

"It's because someone left banana peels to decompose," said Ian as he stood, picked up the almost rotting banana peel on the ground and threw it on the garbage. "When will these kids learn to throw their own trash?"

Ian was a tall, lanky boy they befriended. The only clue that he was a brown haired boy was the short brown fringes that peak underneath his black beanie which covered his entire head and the top of his ears. "I have a weird and embarrassing haircut," was his only explanation when they asked him why he always wore the cap. He also had a pair of very intriguing amber colored eyes behind his glasses. He was an awkward looking kid, all skin and bones. He was a bit clumsy, too, as he always seemed to trip whenever he walked and he attracted a few minor accidents along the way. He also had a hard time adjusting to other boys his age; and considering there were only a sporadic number of boys from the same caste where he belonged and since he was considered as a walking disaster by the rest, it was no one's wonder why he had a hard time fitting in. He was a Third like Lira and Yumi, and Lira sort of adopted him in their group.

"Why does Lavinia hate me that much? I understand why Matt dislikes me, with him being born a toad and all. But I never did anything to earn Lavinia's ire? Except that I was born poor," Lira mumbled, drawing her knees near her chest and wrapped her arms around it.

"She hates you because she hates me," Yumi said a matter-of-fact as she swatted another fly.

Mari turned to face Yumi. "What made you say that?"

Yumi seemed to contemplate first before she answered carefully. "We have a history. And it wasn't good."

Lira and Mari decided to let the topic drop since it seemed that Yumi felt uncomfortable talking about it. That was how their friendship worked; they knew when to stop snooping, and they support each other's endeavors. It was usually Mari who would make plans for "fun activities" ("more like trouble", Lira countered) with Yumi bobbing her head in agreement and Lira convincing them that it was a bad idea, with the new addition of Ian to say "I'll bust you out when you get caught."

"Well, I think you should not be treated badly just because of the caste you belong," Lira mumbled to herself. "I wonder what it'll be like if we don't have this kind of system..."

Their friendship was tested one day when Mari looked at them pleadingly and asked them to support her in her cause of snatching Matt's heart by joining the Defense club, since she heard that he was one of the volunteer instructors.

"Sorry Mari, I already signed up for a club this morning," Ian said.

The girls decided to support Mari and signed up for that club since they were required to join one anyway. What harm could a Defense club bring anyway? It was probably a debate club, perfectly harmless. They were so wrong.

Lira and Yumi exchanged a hesitant glance when all the club members were asked to take their positions and follow their instructor's movements.

They were in the Defense club room where they later learned that the club's name was a shortened term for Defense Against Vampire Attacks club or DAVA. It was a club that taught them some basic martial art moves, defense strategies and weaponries that could be used against vampire attacks. It was a rigorous club, with all the jumping and climbing of ropes and a lot of punching and kicking here and there. Clara was also a club member, and Lira was surprised to see someone so lady-like and demure like her joined a club like this. Currently, they were being thought the basic movements for modern arnis.

Lira tried to focus as their female instructor executed a maneuver while holding two rattan sticks. She tried to mimic the move when someone whacked her hand.

"Wrong move," someone said.

Lira inwardly groan when she saw Matt standing near her, his feet planted apart, holding a stick he casually rested atop his shoulder. Lira gave him an angry glare but Matt was unaffected.

"Eyes on the instructor, freakling," he ordered.

She then tried to ignore him and copied the instructor's next move. When she raised her arm upward as if to block someone and moved her foot backwards, she felt a swat on her leg.

"Wrong posture." It was Matt. Again!

Lira eyed him scornfully. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

He twirled the stick he held and said, "You have no idea how much fun I'm having."

They were in the mess hall later that evening when Mari said cheerfully, "I had a great time in DAVA club!"

Lira and Yumi remained silent and continued on their meal. Mari noticed her friends' lack of enthusiasm, and said, "You had an awful time, hadn't you? I'm so sorry I made you join the club. It's okay if you want to switch clubs. Really." She bowed her head and looked crestfallen.

"No, Mari, really, I did enjoy the club." It was Yumi who spoke. "It's just that I was clumsy in the class, dropping the stick and all." Then she added cheerfully, "But I think those moves will come in handy someday."

Mari looked at Lira with the same dejected expression on her face.

Lira sighed and said truthfully, "I did not enjoy the club not one bit. But what Yumi said was right. Who knows, I might meet a stray vampire or two who needed to be taught some lesson. Besides, I love you and you're my friend, Mari. If I'm not there, who knows what you and Yumi might get your selves into?"

Mari looked so happy she threw her arms around Lira and exclaimed "You're the greatest friend in the whole wide cosmos!" drawing few attentions from the crowd.

"You girls seemed so happy," it was Ian, who joined their table.

"We were just talking about club activities," Mari answered.

"What Club did you join?" Lira asked Ian.

"You'll just laugh," Ian answered.

Lira shook her head. "No we won't. Tell us."

Ian lowered his head and mumbled, "Explorers of Mystical and Mythical Creatures Across and Underneath the Earth Club."

Lira chuckled and shook her head. "Seriously, Ian, don't kid me. What club are you in?"

An awkward silence passed.

"You're serious!"

"Yeah well, it's not a great name for a club. But it's the safest club there is. There isn't any beaker full of chemical for me to accidentally blow up, or arrows for me to hurt myself like in the Archery club," Ian explained. "And there are only six of us in the club, including the club facilitator Mr. Rojas, so they were kinda forced to talk to me and include me in their conversations and all."

"So what exactly does your club do?" Yumi asked curiously.

"We read about books on mythical creatures like the tikbalang and the kapre and make debates on whether there are truly manananggals or not. Then there's the diwata, elves and you know, those mystical beings. Mr. Rojas is trying to prove their existence, you see. Since the vampires who we thought were just fiction turned out to be real," Ian said. "He's writing a book on them you see, and we help him with his research."

"Cool!" Yumi said brightly. "Have you discussed about witches?"

Ian shook his head. "Nah. We haven't read about them yet. But I don't think Mr. Rojas wants us to discuss about them witches, with the way people view them as, you know, associated with the devil."

"That is so not true!" Yumi said indignantly. "And does Mr. Rojas thinks manananggals are actually half angels? Jeez."

Lira stifled a chuckle as Yumi and Ian resumed on their conversation. She continued on her meal when she felt a prickling pain on her hand, making her drop her spoon.

"Are you okay Lira?" Mari asked.

"Hey you have a bruise," Ian said as he gently grabbed Lira's hand and examined it.

"It's nothing. Matt whacked my hand earlier when I held the stick wrong," Lira explained.

"He should have been more lenient, you know," Ian said, as he massaged Lira's hand relieving her of the pain. Lira then felt a warm sensation crept upward towards her arm as Ian continued to massage her hand, relieving her of the tense she felt on her shoulder.

They were suddenly disrupted by Matt who tapped on their table and announced "PDAs are not allowed."

"Who died and suddenly made him the school's warden?" Lira asked scathingly, throwing Matt's retreating back a glare.

Lira examined her hand. "Wow, Ian. How did you do that? You made the bruise go. You even healed my shoulder."

Ian shrugged and said, "I just pressed a pressure point to release the tension in your muscle."

"Me next Ian! Me next!" Yumi said and scooted next to Ian.

Lira finished the rest of her meal and rose from her chair. "I'm going to hit the library guys since we don't have any evening class tonight." She went out of the mess hall and made her way outside towards their castle-like school building across their dorms where the library was. Lira found the library almost deserted except for a lone student sitting at the end of the room wearing casual clothing and the librarian sitting behind her desk. Lira could not make out the other student's features but she knew it was a boy about her age.

She went to the shelves and looked for a nice read. When she found one, she extracted it from the shelf and sat on her favorite spot in the library: on the floor between the two shelves. She allowed herself to be immersed in the adventure book she was reading. As she let her eyes picture every words of the book in her mind, she felt every character was real and they were indeed with Lira as they wave their magic wands and vivid colors of green and blue sparked at the tips of their wands, surrounding Lira with streams of magic. It was really that good a book.

Lira was deeply engrossed reading the book, when she later noticed the time on her watch read 9:45p.m. Warning bells alarmed on her mind and she hastily placed the book back on the shelf and ran towards the exit. Both the librarian and the boy were gone, and the librarian didn't even announce that it was almost curfew time! Luckily the door was left opened and she swept outside and swiftly made her way through the flight of stairs. She made it outside the building, but she stopped on her tracks as she surveyed her surroundings. It was dark except for the lane on the left side of the school building that lead towards their dorms, where it was illuminated by light posts. Lira contemplated whether to use the lane or to find another route. The lane curved around the school field, thus making it at least a 15-minute walk, ten if Lira ran. It's much easier to use the garden trail as the end of the trail leads directly to their dorm. The path was straight and she would never get lost. She could make it back at the dorm with the 5-minute walk; she could even make it 3 minutes if she ran. The only problem was the trail was dimly lit except for the light that illuminates the small fountain in the middle of the garden and a few scattered light posts. But she needed to make it before curfew or the she would have to spend the evening outside.

Lira took a deep breath and gathered all the courage she had and ran towards the garden. It was dark and a bit eerie inside the garden with the spindly branches of the looming trees looked like long fingers with sharp claws, and the shadows casted by the plants resembled distorted shapes of trolls and ogres Lira only encountered in books. But Lira braved the dark garden as she continued on her run-walk pace. She was almost near the fountain when, a cold, haunting feeling swept her body, making her shiver with fright. The strong feeling of terror intensified that made her halt on her tracks. It was as if she was frozen in fright and she has no idea why. She ordered her legs to move but it won't budge! She clutched a fist on her chest as if it could stop the wild beating of her heart. A small wind came and rustled the leaves, and then an eerie silence descended. Something was not right. Lira had the uncanny feeling she was not alone.

***

*tikbalang: a creature of Philippine folklore generally described as a tall, bony humanoid creature with disproportionately long limbs, with the head and feet of an animal, most commonly a horse.

*kapre: a Philippine mythical creature that could be characterized as a tree demon.

*manananggal: a mythical creature of the Philippines, an evil, man-eating and blood-sucking monster or witch. It resembles a woman with the ability to detach the two halves of its body at the waist, with the upper half then sprouting bat-like wings enabling it to fly in search of prey.

*diwata: a mythical creature or goddess in Philippine Mythology similar to fairies or nymphs, possessing supernatural powers.