Ash knew there was only a certain range that he would be allowed in, and he had no hope of over powering a hippo or running away from him, so he did the only thing he could hope to do: he hopped over the head of the hippo and onto it’s back.

Consequently, at the same time, the hippo had opened its jaws and closed them over the chain that held onto his ankle. The hippo chomped right through the metal, and that left Ash plenty of room to run if he wanted to, but he realized that the safest place for him was actually on the hippo’s back.

All of a sudden, the hippo changed in its tracks towards the other boys, and it started to lumber back to the place it had come from. Ash tried to slip off his body while he was still on dry land, but to no avail, he landed in the water.

As it was cold in the little courtyard, it was freezing in the water. Ash spluttered in the knee-deep water as it started to run down his face and arms. He got up out of the water and tried to keep himself from shivering as he hugged his small frame.

“Nice one, Jeremy.” A kid behind the hippo mage said.

“It’s true then.” The boy said with wide eyes. “He really is completely white.”

“Aside from the cuts and bruises, yeah.” Answered another boy.

“We still can’t see his eyes though. I bet it’s just a rumor about them being white.”

At that moment, Marcus marched over to where Ash stood shivering. “Guess you still haven’t learned your lesson. You tried to escape before I even put you in the shackles, and you purposely had that hippo break them for you.”

“But…” He said in a shaky voice.

“Guess I’ll add insubordination to the list. Boys,” He called out to the group of boys watching. “Your lessons are over for the day. You have free time for the rest of the day.”

“What’s going to happen to him?” Asked one of the newest boys.