And so it began. Raoul finally threatened to show his power. Luka was never the one who looked for trouble and he was not going to do it now. But there was this imminent push that made him want to challenge him. 

What was it? Was it the wolf? Raoul wouldn't even bother to glance at him if it wasn't because of the wolf inside him. Come to think of it, none of it would even happen if it weren't there in the first place. 

Luka took a glimpse at Bashar. It was so subtle, but the guy in headscarf clearly shook his head. Again, he tried to prevent them from fighting each other, just like after that accident. 

Then a realization hit Luka. He wasn't there to romanticize the rivalry between vampires and werewolves. He's there to get an education. And if it meant that he had to submit into this mogul's son, so be it. 

"Sure." 

Raoul didn't give much reaction, but the answer caught him by surprise. Bashar, on the other hand, nodded gratefully at Luka. 

Before Raoul even said something, a man with trimmed beard came into the room. He was dressed in gray shirt, with black tie, black pants and black leather shoes. 

"Oh, wow," he chimed. "First day of class and the students are here first. That's the spirit." 

Raoul scoffed. He then got up from his seat and left the classroom, making the man who was setting up his desk surprised. Bashar tailed him right away, while Luka and Finlay waited until they're actually gone. 

"You're not my students," the young man squinted at the remaining boys, "are you?" 

They only grinned. 

Luka and Finlay left the building while talking about what just happened. Just when they glided through the Middle Path, somebody just bumped on Luka.

"Yoo-hoo..." Ariane greeted them. "Oh, come on, cheer up. This is only day one. You still have... oh, hello. You must be Luka's new friend." 

"And ya must be Luka's family," Finlay stared at the cousins as if he was seeing two supposedly extinct animals. 

Luka quickly introduced the two of them. Although Ariane had a difficulty to understand Finlay's thick accent and colorful analogy, they got along just fine. 

"Anything interesting happened?" asked Ariane as they crossed the bridge over a pond. Crickets sang their autumn song while the wind made the cattails dance to it.

"I wouldn't say interesting," Finlay chuckled. 

"Why?" 

"Because it was more of scary." 

"Wait, what happened?" Ariane stopped them from walking further. "Did you just..." she left Luka and turned to Finlay instead, "did he stumble into another vampire?" 

"No," Finlay shook his head. "Not another vampire. The exact same one." 

"What?" 

"Finlay, it would be helpful if you just keep it to ourselves, yeah?" asked Luka. 

"Did they get in the fight again?" Ariane ignored Luka. 

"No," answered Finlay. 

"Did they talk?" 

"Yes." 

"Finlay!" growled Luka. 

"Ssshh... Finlay's a fairy, he can't lie," ordered Ariane. Luka's jaw almost dropped hearing that. "So what did they talk about?" 

"Nothing, okay?" Luka cut Finlay off before he recited the exact same words they just had earlier. “He just doesn't wanna see me anymore. Which is a problem because we have the same class together.”

“What?” Ariane frowned. “Who does he think he is? Can’t you take his eyes out then so he doesn’t see you anymore?” Seeing the horrified look on Finlay’s face, Ariane quickly added, “I’m joking. Duh?”

“Wait until you found out who that guy is,” Finlay wiggled his pointer finger.

Before Luka could say anything else, Ariane asked, “Who?”

“Raoul d’Auvrecher. Son of Jean-Philippe d’Auvrecher.”

 "Oh my God, then just change the class,” Ariane was easily swayed. "We still have this entire week to reschedule everything. Is it possible for you to reschedule?" 

Luka sighed, "We'll see about that." 

Announcement tone chimed through the campus. “Good afternoon, fellow Erebuzzers,” a girl gave a shout. “Panhellenic and Interfraternity Council proudly announce that the sorority and fraternity recruitment week will start next week. The formal house visit will be held this Saturday, so make sure you apply before that. All you need to do is to fill the form on Greek Life section on your handbook. Your schedule will be sent afterward. Have a great rush!” 

"There you go," beamed Ariane. "Something to look forward after all. Let’s hope being busy with Delta will get you even farther away from him." 

"Wait, ye're going to join a fraternity?" Finlay looked up at the taller cousin. 

"Uhh... yeah. Why?" 

There was a slight change in the way Finlay saw Luka. “Ye’re not gonna survive there, mate.”

“Um, my brothers are all frat boys, Finlay,” informed Ariane. “I’m sure Luka’s gonna be fine.”

“Well, I’ll be blowed,” Finlay’s eyes widened. “Hmm, then maybe it’s just Conall’s case then. Oh well. I gotta go. Nice to meet ya, Ariane.”

He then left the group to join a group of incredibly white guys who were heading to The Hub. 

"That sounded pretty foreboding," Ariane watched as they went into the building. Then she saw someone going into the same place. “Oh, I think I gotta go too. Reschedule your classes first, then fill the application form, okay?”

She sprinted across the Main Lane to get into The Hub. Luka stood alone, wondering what’s going on in there. Then he shrugged and went on his way back to the dorm.

The elevator finally reached Luka's floor. He paused on the threshold seeing his room. Castor just had whooped the desk again and he had done his best to put everything back up. Luka pulled his chair, sat there and started cleaning his desk. 

He put stuffs he rarely needed in the cabinet, to avoid being swept off by Castor's clumsy wings again. While he made room in the cabinet, his eyes caught a star studded dark blue book. It's Spaceborn: Supernova, the fifth installment of Spaceborn series that he had yet to read.

If it wasn’t because of Daisy, he wouldn’t have kept up this far with that series. He never thought he’d be this invested with the life of an alien spy and her friends, especially since he read the first book to just have something to talk about with her.

Once he finished tidying up his desk, he jumped on the bed with the Spaceborn book in his hand. He read three chapters of the book before he replaced it with his phone. It's already 10:02. Too late for a catch-up call, too early to assume she's already sleeping. He ended up stalking her through her social media. 

She didn't update as often as she used to. There were only photos of a building, a video of the night view from her dorm and a tweet about a fact she just found out during her class.

He fell into the endless hole of Instagram explore until his stomach screamed for food. Hemera Hall was a few meters away and the nocturnal students would be there to accompany him, but he's too lazy to walk that far. 

He opened the mini fridge and took out the frozen bacon his mom prepped for him, then went straight to the communal kitchen. It was empty of people but full of cooking utensils. While his bacon was simmering on the pan, he inspected the cabinet and found a complete set of ingredients. There was a jar of chocolate drink powder and a box of ricotta cheese. Great. A glass of hot chocolate and a humble sandwich would suffice, wouldn’t it? So, he paced back to his room to grab a baguette that he took that morning from Hemera Hall.

"Oi, mate," a voice called him out. He turned around and found Finlay and three other guys coming out of the elevator. "So ya live on this floor, huh?”

“Yeah,” answered Luka. His mind recalled the ‘foreboding’ message Finlay had said earlier. “Are you busy? I wonder what’s your actual take about the whole fraternity thing.”

“Alright.” Finlay then told his friends that he would join them momentarily. They went into one of the rooms while Finlay followed Luka into his.

“How come yer room is bigger than all of ours?” the fairy put his hands on his hips as he looked around. “Ya can’t be rooming with another d’Auvrecher, can ya?”

“Of course not,” Luka sat on his bed. “My roommate is an incubus.”

“Right, no wonder why ya need a room this size,” Finlay took the chair by the desk. He noticed the baguette in his hand, "What's the craic with that bread?"

"Oh, I was just going to make a sandwich," Luka tapped the bread. “So, who is this Conall and what is up with him?”

"He's me cousin," explained Finlay. "And let me have the honor for letting ya know that he's the most bealin' ballbeg I've ever met."

"Bealin' what?" 

"He's a cunt." 

"Oh," now Luka understood. “But my cousins are the exact opposite of that. That's why I'm convinced that it's good for me.”

"Is that right? They're not some self-absorbed, oversexed, pompous wankers like they turned Conall to be?"

"Not at all. Besides, we can't get intoxicated with alcohol, so it's fine." 

"But they will intoxicate you with other things. A certain type of masculinity comes to mind." 

"They're active in philanthropy. Some even give out scholarships and all that. Not to mention the important networking and leadership training. It's not always that bad." 

Finlay crossed his hands on his chest and leaned on the back of the chair. "Fair point. Still, I personally don't suggest ya to join them. Shit, I can't remember the other thing I wanted to tell ya." 

All of a sudden, a thousand black particles formed together and brought Castor into view. He landed right on top of Finlay's feet. The fairy yowled, startling Castor that he turned around, stepped back and hit everything with his wings. 

"Oh, shit, sorry, sorry," hearing all the noises made Castor move left to right. The mess got worse. "Aw, man, this place is too small for the three of us." 

"This place is too small for one of ya!" grumbled Finlay, pushing the wheeled chair backward. 

"Are you hurt?" Castor approached him. 

"No! Stay right where ye are!" 

Castor froze on his spot. Meanwhile, Luka could only take a deep breath seeing the room acting out a train wreck scene once again. 

"Did you forget something?" he asked the guy in beige long sleeve top. "I thought you had a class." 

"Yeah, I forgot to change my shoes," Castor sat on his bed with his slippers and looked for a shoebox under the bed. 

"Finlay, this is my roommate, Castor," Luka introduced them to each other. "Castor, meet Finlay." 

"Hi," Castor flashed a smile at the curly haired guy while putting on his white sneakers. "Does anyone ever tell you how amazing you smell?" 

Finlay blue-screened. He didn't expect him to say that to him at all. Luka cleared his throat. "So, uh... we were talking about fraternities. I remember you seemed to dislike that concept as well." 

"Oh, yeah," Castor nodded. "I agree with Kjell. It's just not for everybody. By everybody I mean me." 

"Why?" 

"Because of the hazing." 

Finlay clapped and pointed at Castor. "That's it! Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep going." 

"I don't know if you know much about incubi and succubi," Castor kept tying his shoes, "because before we have offspring, we are as vulnerable as humans. With the 'supernatural hazing' that's happening in Erebus fraternities, I am totally gonna die if I go there." 

"True," added Finlay. "Anyway, as an incubus, ye don't need to join social organization. Ye don't need to come to Erebus at all." 

"For real?" Castor's shoulders dropped. "But my mom said I have to get a job to support myself. She said I can't get a well-paying job without a college degree. Even she went to Erebus and joined a sorority. She's a model now and on track to launch her own clothing line. All thanks to Pi Tau. Even my clothes are her design." 

"Nice," said Luka. "That's a genius clothing design for winged people. And very stylish too." 

"Can't ya... I don't know, become a sugar baby or a kept man or something?" Finlay asked the incubus. "It's not like ya need to have money to buy food. And if ya live off an affair, ya'd have nothing to worry about." 

"Wait, wait, time out, time out," Luka stopped them from talking more. "What the hell are we talking about? Sugar baby?" 

"Don't ya know what’s inside incubi dining hall?" Finlay lowered his eyebrows.

Luka inspected Castor. His imagination ran wild. He remembered the myth about incubi, the famous painting, the fact that they didn't eat the way he did. "Don't tell me. That's how you eat?!"  

"I thought you knew," replied Castor as if Luka was asking whether ice creams are cold. 

"I'd be careful with all my holes, if I were ye," whispered Finlay. 

"So he's..."

"As long as I'm on top," Castor nodded. "Incubi don't have buttholes, you know, so we can't be bottom." 

"You mean you can't fart?!" somehow, to Luka, this was the most baffling fact about Castor. 

"He's not human, Luka, his insides are not like yer insides," Finlay reminded him.

“My insides? Not our insides?”

“Anyway, back to the main topic,” Finlay refused to further explain their anatomy. “Castor's bang on about the hazing. I remember they have this annual group fighting match." 

"Oh, I know," Luka refocused. "The fundraiser one, right? Agónas Dŷnami and Agónas Mageia?"

"Aye, that's it," answered Finlay. "Agmi and Agma. Agma involves magic, strictly for magic students. While Agmi is pure physical fight, but strictly for students with superhuman strength. 

"The family was in uproar when Conall had a brain injury after fighting on Agma. I mean, he's a fecking fairy. He biologically cannot have any kind of injury, moreover a brain one. And that's why I think ya won't survive in there. It's corrupt and violent." 

"Well, I can always not participate in that kind of match, right?" replied Luka. "Also, the violence you're speaking of is only a part of Erebus tradition, isn't it? It's still under supervision of the university as an official fighting match?" 

"Yes, but don't ya understand?" Finlay was surprised witnessing how unfazed Luka was. "In this match, they are allowed to break yer bones. And trust me, they must have training and exercise in which worse things could also happen. They can beat ya if ya fail to win."

"But they won't kill me. They can't." 

Castor put his hand to cover his mouth from Luka as he talked out loud to Finlay, "Why does he sound like he already has a brain injury?" 

"I know!" Finlay replied in the same manner. "He must have busted his cranium or there's something important that he wants from them." 

"Guys, I'm just thinking about my future," Luka looked away. "You know, with the networking and all." 

"Bollocks! We all are just thinking about our future, yet only you who believes that it will be sorted out by joining a fraternity. Besides, ya can't have a future if ya torture yerself to death by hanging out with them. So why do ya even bother?" 

"Because... because I need... distraction."

Finlay and Castor traded glances before turned back to Luka and asked, "From what?"