The popcorn in Luka’s mouth fell out. These girls didn’t come to play. They were going to hurt each other. This type of bestial match didn’t only happen among the Greek organizations. Even Erebus itself officiated this brutality. 

In Erebus, there were three ways people could solve their problems. First, by discussion. Second, by voting. And third, by dueling. Some problems required the first two steps to be taken before they could ask for a duel. Some others could only be solved by a duel.

"I thought it's gonna be a sing off or something," Matthew mumbled between his nachos.

Then host began the duel. The mermaids wielded their tridents and swam forward from each side. They kept the distance from each other, carefully looking for a way to attack. Madeline struck. Vanessa dodged it. The crowd sighed.

"Don't mermaids have magic?" Castor shrunk on his chair watching the intense fight. "Why don't they use it?"

"Their magic is somewhat useless underwater,” answered Finlay. “If they're up against other race, then things will get more exciting.”

Vanessa swung her trident above her head. Madeline pulled her head down. She pierced Vanessa right on her stomach. Vanessa was pushed backward. Her armor dented. She charged furiously, hitting Madeline on the side of her neck.

"Do you guys realize how terribly heavy it would be for them?" Matthew asked. "They're wearing armors, fighting with tridents, under water."

"Doesn't look very heavy to me," said Castor. The tridents clashed. "They're doing fine."

"Mohan says girls can kick our asses harder than any evil overlord," said Luka. "Now I understand." 

"Hear that, Castor?" asked Finlay.

"Why me?" protested Castor.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The mermaids got heated up. Their frequency of attack increased. The tridents kept clashing, forcing them to overpower each other. Vanessa pushed Madeline. Madeline swirled backward. The crowd cheered.

"There's our gymnastic captain!" a girl shouted. Her friends were whistling and howling for Vanessa. She shortly was dubbed as the winner of the duel.

After the duel ended, Castor joined them instead of teleporting himself as they ambled along the Main Lane back to Olympus Hall, between the red and golden trees, among other pedestrians who were in such hurry. Three guys were playing Frisbee on the grass. A few girls were sitting and chattering on the wooden benches. Their squeaky, high-pitched laughter was sounding all over the open space. The smell of dried leaves filled the air as the gentle autumn breeze blew the tip of their hair. 

They were discussing the fact that Castor was only one year older than Florian when on a spur of moment Finlay was stunned. He stopped moving all at once. His eyes stared straight to the front. When Luka asked what was going on, Finlay whispered, "Eunyoung's incoming. Twelve o'clock." 

The other three boys looked at the same direction and found the Asian witch who saved the kitchen from being engulfed by fire. She was coming their way with a bunch of her friends. 

"What are we looking at?" asked Matthew. 

"The firefighting witch who stole Finlay's heart," teased Luka. 

"What do I do? What do I do?" Finlay panicked as she's getting closer. 

“Just ask for it back,” answered Castor.

“No, Castor,” Luka remembered that Castor probably didn’t know the meaning of that phrase yet. “What I mean is Finlay is in love with her.”

“Oh, just ask her on a date then,” Castor shrugged. Eunyoung's friends went separate ways. Now she strutted toward them alone. “You’ve already exchanged names. What else there is to wait?” 

“As you can see he’s not a muscle-bound mannequin like you, Cas,” Matthew gestured at the fuming fairy. “So the chance of him getting a ‘yes’ is pretty low. Also, I doubt he knows her name through a face to face contact.”

"Oh, feck off, ET, did you lie about not being a mind reader?" grunted Finlay.

“It only takes common sense to read that,” Matthew smugly smiled. "Now are you gonna say hi?" he smoothed his black hair. Eunyoung was only a few steps in front of them. "'Cause if you're not, I am."

She's right in front of them and going sideways. 

"Hi!" Finlay kind of shouted. Matthew had to hide behind Castor's wings so Eunyoung wouldn't see his almost-explode-with-laughter face. Eunyoung had a gander up to him and stopped walking. Her expressionless face only made things more unbearable. "Um, hi... yeah, I just wanna tell you..." 

"You're beautiful," Matthew's voice popped in Finlay's mind. 

"That we're sorry," Finlay continued his sentence with a louder voice so he didn't have to listen to Matthew. "For disturbing you last night." He pulled Luka and tapped his chest, "I've told him to be more careful, but he just wouldn't listen." 

Luka was deadpanned when he was dragged into this conversation. Was that some kind of sign? Should he say something? 

Eunyoung only stared back for a few seconds. "Oh, that fire," she just remembered. "It's okay. No big deal." 

Castor poked Finlay from behind, telling him to keep talking. 

"And uh... thank you for saving our lives, I mean, the kitchen." 

"Glad I could help." 

She gave a quick smile and turned around, continuing her walk. 

Matthew bombarded Finlay's brain, "Ask for her name, ask for her name, ask for her name." 

"You never tell me your name," Finlay shouted again. 

Eunyoung turned to him, "I never plan to." 

Matthew, Castor and Luka were inches away from giving each other a high five for that reply. 

Finlay's shoes felt like flooding. "I'm Finlay," he said as he didn't know what else to say. 

"And you're a fairy," continued Eunyoung. "While I'm a witch." 

"Well, hello, Witch," Matthew showed up behind Castor. "I'm Matthew." 

"I'm Castor," the horned guy waved. 

"I'm Luka," Luka said, understanding Matthew's action. "Nice to meet you." 

Eunyoung glared disapprovingly at them. 

"Is that what you want us to address you?" asked Finlay. "Just 'a witch'?" 

She looked away, as if she was thinking. "I'm Eunyoung," she finally said, feeling everything was brighter when four guys in front of her were smiling, three smiles of gratitude and one smile of genuine happiness. 

Luka tapped Finlay's back, telling him to stay confident. 

"Ah, Korean?" Finlay showed more interest. "Kim Eunyoung?" 

"Boo." 

"Boo?" Finlay's eyes sparkled. "Can I call ya Boo? 'Cause ye can totally call me 'Bae'." 

Ten minutes later...

Finlay slammed his bedroom door opened and blasted to the window. He opened the window, stepped on the windowsill and ready to jump when Luka caught the back of his sweater. 

"Let me go!" Finlay yelled. "I wanna die! I wanna die! Please let me die!" 

"Are you insane?" barked Luka, struggling to stand his ground. 

Castor emerged in the middle of the room, confused with all that just happened. 

Matthew came last. He was too busy laughing that he ran out of breath to catch up with them. "Bae? Bahahaha. Bae?" He fell to the floor, couldn't handle Finlay's foolishness. 

"Why did I have to say that? Oh, God whyyyyy?" Finlay wailed. 

"Is it that bad?" asked Castor. Matthew's laugh was so infectious that he smiled too, but he also wanted to help Luka. "I thought it's a normal human conversation with a pun." 

"No, that is a bad example of how to swoon a girl," Matthew shook his head and his pointer finger. "That is bad, corny and racist. Never ever do that." 

"Let go of me, Luka," growled Finlay. "For fuck's sake, I'm a fairy, I can fly." 

"If I let you go, I'll fall too," blurted Luka. 

"Let him go, Luka," Matthew sat with his back on the wall. "I'll catch you. Let him go." 

Luka let go of his grip, feeling his body pulled back to the floor. Finlay screamed as he fell from the fifth floor down to the ground. Well, more like three inches to the ground. Then he let go of his magic and dropped himself carefully and safely. He just lied there watching Luka, Castor and Matthew watching him. 

"Are you okay?" Luka asked. 

"Oh, stop it, of course he's okay," replied Matthew. He shouted to Finlay, "You're doing amazing, sweetie!" 

Finlay just flipped at him. 

On the evening, Luka and Matthew had to do another house visit. This time, they could go to wherever house they wanted to go. Luka tried out his luck at Phi Delta while Matthew went to all the houses except Iota Alpha, Theta Epsilon and Mu Pi Upsilon. The two met again at Beta Alpha's house. The place was racked pretty quickly that they had to leave for Delta Pi Kappa's house. They spent longer time there, even until Kiowa kicked them out of his room because he had to do his homework. 

In the next morning, when Luka had breakfast with his gang, Matthew told him that he received an invitation from Gamma Theta Pi. 

"Should I go?" he seemed conflicted. "I mean, their due must be more than $1,000 a semester. My mom's gonna kill me." 

"Cheers from a fellow son of murderous mams," Finlay raised his teacup. 

"What makes you think they're gonna recruit you in the end?" asked Castor. "It's an invitation, not a bid." 

"Oh, right." 

Therefore, Matthew agreed to come and make sure they made a wrong decision to want him. Once they're done with their breakfast, they went separate ways, Castor to the dorm, Finlay to Zarate Hall, while Luka and Matthew to Nyx Hall. 

Two hours later, Luka came out of his class. While marching on the hallway to leave the building, he texted Matthew asking his whereabouts. Before he even tap the 'send' button, a familiar voice shouted. 

"Hey, Pup." 

Luka looked up and found Mohan passed by.

"'Sup, man," Luka approached them. 

"We're having water walking on Lake Pavlopetri tomorrow," notified the guy in off white V-neck top and black ripped denim. "You should come." 

Luka's face lightened up. Even though he wasn't sure about Beta Alpha, thanks to Finlay, he was glad they invited him to go to their event. "Sure. Anything I should bring?" 

"For the love of everything that is holy, do not show up with only swimming trunks." 

Luka grinned. "Okay, if you insist." 

"Alright, see you tomorrow." 

Mohan turned around only to see Brayden on the other end. He and Noe just popped out of Nyx Hall with Matthew tailing right behind them. 

It would be so much fun if Jackson was also there. It would be the meeting of the fraternity giants. But what was this cold stare between them? Were they... rivals? 

"Momo!" Brayden opened his arms and greeted him with a big smile on his face. 

"McArsekiss!" Mohan raised his normal pitch. "What a surprise to see you came out of a lecture building." 

"Don't embarrass me in front of my potential pledges," Brayden flipped his arms downward and put his fists on his waist. He glanced at Luka, "I see you two are getting along really well. I mean, yeah, of course. Luka must have sold himself to Beta Alpha too." 

"We've been getting along since I helped him out during move in day, haven't we, Pup?"

"No, you can't be..." Brayden stared at Luka. He gave him a confirming nod. "What a funny coincidence. Do you know that he's a Delta legacy?" 

Hearing that, Mohan quickly glared at Luka. The freshman gulped. Uh-oh. He should have been more straightforward with Mohan. 

"So, you didn't know," Brayden kept gloating. "He's the cousin of the Bjorneviks, one of the coolest families in Delta's history. A werewolf family to be exact. You know that right?"  

"Yes," Mohan answered rather calmly. "And we have the same view about racial disharmony. Something that you clearly oppose to." 

"Racial disharmony?" Brayden laughed. "Luka, did you seriously try to make Mohan bid for you? Don't you think that he just wants to do that to keep the Agmi Cup? Or, I don't know, rub it in my face?" 

"Not everything has to be about you, Brayden," stated Mohan. He sounded tired, as if it wasn't the first time he said it. 

"I don't even know that you and Mohan know each other," Luka defended himself. 

"Of course we know each other," blurted Brayden. "We’ve known each other for far too long now." 

"Well, if you had no intention to become a veteran in Erebus, you could have avoided that," Mohan didn't lose a beat. "Your fraternity brothers have shown you a sign to get your arse out of here by making Wayne the new president. What other signs do you need to convince yourself that you're no longer wanted here?" 

Mohan might say all that in an elegant way, but it must be like a spit in the eye for Brayden. The guy in Delta hoodie tightened his fists. 

"Dude, what the fuck is going on?" Matthew's voice buzzed in Luka’s head. 

"I don't know," he replied while peering to his alien friend. Noe just stepped in front of Matthew, as if he was protecting him. His chest was pumping up and down. "Why don't you ask Noe? He must know something, right?" 

Matthew contacted Noe's mind. The merman answered, "I don't know the real story behind this, but Brayden and Mohan have been on each other's nerves forever. The seniors have been trying to avoid them from bumping on each other, because it can get pretty bloody." 

"They're gonna fight? Now? Here?" Matthew was distressed. "What are they? Cat and dog?" 

Before Noe replied, Brayden barked at Mohan, "Don't talk bullshit about my brothers. They're nothing like the cheating ones you have." 

Luka could almost see smoke steaming out of Mohan's ears. Then there was a shout from the distance. "Let's go, Mohan," an Asian guy who already stood on the Main Lane called him. It's Sanzhar, the vice president of Beta. "Our business here is done." 

Mohan exhaled. His orange eyes slid to Luka. "My invitation still stands." Then he peered at the black haired boy standing behind Noe, "You're also invited, Matthew. I’ll see you guys tomorrow on Lake Pavlopetri." 

After saying that, he turned around and walked to his Beta brother. 

"Lake Pavlopetri, huh?" Brayden had not finished just yet. "What? You need that much water to wash the blood off your hands?" 

Sanzhar did not get a chance to grab Mohan when he turned back and dashed toward Brayden. His orange eyes glowed in anger. His canine teeth was threatening when he roared. In just a second, his face and body enlarged as he transformed into a hulking tiger. 

Luka stepped back, tripped and fell to the floor. He had thought Mohan was just a more mature version of Brayden, possibly his frenemy. But no, he's something else completely.