– Everything will be fine, Sally. Like I said, I'm sure your mom had good reasons for leaving you here. But look at it this way: you, like other students, need to develop your abilities. So do just this and by your next meeting you will be able to convince her that you have already learned everything and you have nothing to do here.

Pulling away from the guy, I looked into his emerald eyes and honestly admitted:

“I feel like a boy with a scar.”

– Pf-f-f! – he said mockingly. “You’re much cooler, believe me.” Could he do that?

A moment, and the guy was not on the bench. Turning my head, I saw him already standing on the porch of the freshman building.

– Or so? – he shouted, instantly moving to the fountain.

I even stood up from the bench, my mouth parted in amazement. I definitely saw this for the first time.

– Or so?

Now the guy stood on a thick branch of the tree closest to the bench, relaxing with one hand on the mighty trunk. All this time he moved so quickly that my eyes did not have time to catch anything at all. I stood there, hit on the head like a dust bag, sincerely admiring the abilities of others.

Abilities that brought Nirel straight to me. The last time he stopped a breath away from me – so that I felt his warm breath on my lips.

– Or so? – he whispered, looking first into my eyes, then at my lips.

– Salaman Dragon! – a commanding female voice suddenly called out to me.

Having jumped away from the brunette a good half meter, I looked at the dissatisfied one. She stood right on the porch of the freshman building and held the front door ajar.

– How long will it take to wait for you? You should have come for bed linen an hour ago!

“I’m coming,” I muttered, briefly looking at my guide. – I went. Thank you for telling me so much.

– Dragon! – they hurried me impatiently.

– In general, thank you.

As I climbed the steps to the porch, I allowed myself to turn around at the very door. Nirel continued to stand under the tree right next to the bench. His gaze was fixed on my face, which probably reflected regret and annoyance.

Not because I seem to have lost the kiss. That's exactly what I didn't want to think about right now. But because she didn’t find out anything about the “Recorder”.

When talking with Madame Pelisey, my mother asked her not to let me near this unknown thing, so that I would not suddenly find out who my father was.

But why? Why shouldn't I know this?

This was the second question she never answered.

Someone unceremoniously touched my nose. It tickled the very tip, forcing him to twitch it to get rid of the irritant.

But it didn't work out.

That's why I opened my eyes. She opened it and saw above her, instead of a light ceiling, a bent green plant with small round eyes, a narrow slit that replaced its mouth, and limbs.

The leaves of this creature were wide, but about two-thirds of the length were occupied by elongated arches, similar to fringes or the experiment of a child who was given scissors for the first time. A kind of Frankenstein, created equally from howea and monstera.

If I saw him for the first time now, I would certainly scream in horror, waking up the entire freshman dormitory. But we met this green monster last night, when he tried with all his might to escape from his pot, scattering soil on the only work table in the room.

And on the bedside tables. They stood on either side of the table, next to the single beds. Immediately behind the table there was a large semicircular window with a wide sill, and opposite there was a wardrobe and a door.

The latter led to a common corridor. One of two on the second floor. The layout here was circular.

– Oh, sorry, sorry! I left him for two minutes, and he was already right there. He jumped onto the nightstand again,” the neighbor who returned to the room apologized, but her voice immediately changed, becoming menacing, commanding: “Come on, tidy up your appendages!”

Raising myself on my elbow, I was in no hurry to throw back the black blanket under which I slept. With an inexplicable smile, she watched the green-eyed whirlwind. The red curls jumped up and down funny while D-Rolly scolded her misbehaving pet. The neighbor did not have outstanding height, like me, but she still looked menacing.

In general, she did not at all resemble a pale-skinned vampire. When I saw her for the first time yesterday, I thought that I had been put in the same room with a witch. With a very strange, fussy witch who has a unique gift for controlling plants. She even knew how to revive her charges and endow them with a bit of intelligence.

The numerous books occupying all the free space on her half of the room definitely hinted at the fact that she was still a nerd, but I only saw this as a plus. D-Rolly really knew a lot and was a real treasure to me personally.

As soon as I checked in, she immediately showed me the dining room. While we were having dinner, she told us about local customs. It turned out that the academy occupied vast territories and was divided into four parts by high, enchanted fences. Moreover, not only the territory is divided, but also the main building of the academy.

Part of this gloomy colossus with a separate entrance belonged to werewolf students, another part belonged to witches and witchers – we shared a fence with them, and the last part was empty.

“They used to train hunters there,” she explained, wrapping spaghetti around her fork. – Now all three branches of the academy use this land for common needs and common holidays.

– I wonder why they suddenly decided to leave? – I was curious, trying to find out as many details as possible about the mysterious hunters.

– They say that they equated themselves with people. They stopped considering themselves Midnighters and rebelled against the entire midnight world. Until they left, they were busy catching offenders, and then we all suddenly became criminals for them.

– There must have been some reason for this?

I pushed D-Rolly in the right direction with all my might.

– Don't know. But personally, I wouldn't want to run into any of them. What they tell about them in class instills real fear. Have you finished eating? You need to get in line for the showers.

There were two bathrooms on each floor of the two-story building. In any of them you could find four sinks and a large full-length mirror above them, two showers behind separate doors and two offices for deep thoughts.

Considering that two students lived in each room, and there were eight rooms on the floor in total, this was enough to avoid standing in line for hours.

I was also immensely pleased that the second floor of the building was allocated exclusively for girls. The guys lived on the first floor, and, unlike us, they had noise until the very night yesterday. However, I also heard girls’ voices, which means we were allowed to move between floors.

Between floors, but not between rooms. Both the first and second floors had their own common living rooms, and they were the place for gatherings. The neighbor also showed me the room for washing and drying clothes, the storage room where they got clean towels if yours with the academy emblem became unusable, as well as the curator’s room.

There were five buildings in our part of the academy, depending on the number of years of study. There was a separate building dedicated to the work of healers. They were witches and witchers, and sometimes students were transferred here for practice. This is how D-Rolly met our neighbors in the territory.

– You won’t get lost alone, right? – the neighbor asked for the second time, as soon as we returned from the showers to our room. “I need to transfer Rory to the witches’ side before class.” They have sun there, and it grows better,” she explained, as if apologizing.