“Only if you’ll be my muse,” he winked at her.
“I guess we could arrange that,” Mina raised her eyebrows and walked out of the classroom like a queen.
“Do you know who that is?” Reeba squealed right into her ear, as they were walking down the busy hallway, towards their lockers.
“Not really but I have a feeling you’re gonna tell me,” Mina smiled.
“Hendrik Zane is like the ultimate heartthrob around here.”
“He’s not bad,” Mina shrugged her shoulders, “but I’m not interested. I have other stuff to attend to.”
“Other stuff?” Reeba shook her jokingly by the elbow. “What’s more important than those eyes, than those lips, than those arms? Seriously, tell me.”
“I need to focus on school right now.”
Mina opened her locker, hiding Reeba from plain view. She wasn’t looking for a sidekick or anything of the sort and she definitely wasn’t looking to get involved with a vampire, while she was searching for her lost brother, who was probably kidnapped by someone here. Why were things always so complicated?
“Who says you can’t focus on school and enjoy some Hendrik candy on the side?”
Despite what she was telling herself, Mina liked Reeba. She seemed funny. A nice girl who wanted to help someone out but she couldn’t get close to anyone. It was too dangerous.
“Listen, that’s all fine and dandy but I gotta head to my next class.”
“What do you have?” Reeba rushed after her. “Is it chemistry?”
“Mhm,” Mina nodded, walking without even looking at her.
“Great! We can go there together!”
Whether she wanted her there or not, Reeba wouldn’t leave her side. She sat next to her during chemistry class and then during every subsequent class that week that they shared together. Somehow, fate would have it that their lockers were next to each other and Mina knew she wouldn’t be able to shake her off that easily.
Then, she started thinking, maybe having someone by her side wouldn’t be so bad. Might come in handy if worse comes to worst. She didn’t know what to expect. So, maybe, just maybe, she could have a friend in this place full of enemies, at least until it was time to lay her cards on the table and reveal her true identity. What would happen later… well, she’d cross that bridge when she got to it.
Chapter 6
After biology class was finished, Mina knew that Reeba wanted to hang out but she just wasn’t up for it. She wanted to snoop a little around their botanical garden and see what kind of plants they had. Actually, she wanted to see what she could use in case she needed to fight any of these vampires, who outnumbered her about a million to one. She never had such bad odds
before, so she knew that she needed any help she could get.
She had dinner at the cafeteria. It was some of the worst foods she’d ever tried but she couldn’t complain. She needed sustenance and couldn’t be picky about either food or drink. She waited a little longer, until she was sure that most of the students were out of the main building and either back in their dorm rooms or just out in the main yard. She hoped no one would be as keen as she was to go to the botanical garden after school hours.
The botanical garden was located in the far west part of the main building. There was no key, it was constantly kept open and Mina was grateful for this little favor. At least she didn’t have to break in there to find out what she needed to know. She went in and, immediately, became impressed by the size of the garden and the number of plant species it contained. It was all arranged neatly, carefully, with little clusters of similar looking flowers and herbs growing cozily next to each other. Big plants with huge leaves hung from the ceiling, ivy hung to the walls, climbing all the way up to the window sill and a few benches were scattered around the place, allowing visitors to enjoy the view while resting.
To the left, there was a door. It was heavy, with only a small window of about four inches and seemed to be locked. There was a red sticker on it but it didn’t really say anything. Mina approached it, pressing on the door handle. It wouldn’t budge. She pressed her face against the cold glass, trying to see inside but all she could see was more greenery. She didn’t really recognize any of the flowers or plants inside. Not that she expected herself to.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” someone told her and she immediately turned around.
“Why?” she asked, now facing a boy slightly taller than she was, wearing a pair of thick rimmed glasses.
His hair was pushed to the side, in a mild pompadour style and it occasionally fell over his square, black glasses.
“Those are the forbidden plants,” he explained, eyeing the door behind her.
“Forbidden plants?” she repeated.
“You know, plants that can harm us?” he explained, but it was more of a question than a statement.
“Like what?” she asked, pretending not to know which plants those were.