Chapter 4

A long chapter since the last one wasn't even as half as long as it should have been.

3^rd Person P.O.V

Devyn sat quietly on his bed. Two more days until he started school. It had been three since since he got his books, and his schedule. He had toured the school with his dad, and found where all of his classes were. He had even read at least a chapter out of his four books for classes. Two were on swords, and learning there origins and how to handle them. The other two were on demons. Every demon you could think of �" or summon at least �" was in that book. He had read a few he hadn’t even known existed. Along with the text books he had gotten three notebooks to take notes, and different colored pens and pencils with highlighters. Already, he had cleaned out his old book bag. He wouldn’t need it. Already, he knew he would be able to test out today. All he had to do was go to the school, and ask for it.

Sitting upwards, he grabbed a pair of jeans a black muscle shirt and put them on. Walking out of his room, he made sure the door was closed and the light was off. Walking into the kitchen, he sat down at the table near Kento. Kento smiled at Devyn has he grabbed a few pieces of toast out of the toaster. “Are you ready for classes day after tomorrow?” Devyn nodded silently, buttering the toast. He sat it down on the table to wait for the butter to melt a bit. Kento mumbled a ‘that’s good’, before he grabbed a piece of toast himself. Devyn looked at his dad, and said, “I think I’m going to the school today. To test out. It’ll be too much work to try and juggle both my morning and afternoon school work.”

Kento jerked up, surprised. “Are you now?” He smiled. “Well, if that’s the way you feel, go ahead.” Smiling, Devyn finished his toast. Kento and Devyn made small talk the rest of the hour. They talked about how school would be, how Kento teaches his classes, and how there were going to be many field trips for the first years. After it turned ten o’clock, Devyn left his house.

He made his way towards the school. He would test out. He knew it. This way, he would be able to focus on his afternoon class work. He would be able to find the demon who took his twin from him, and destroy them.

Two hours later…

Devyn sat his pencil down quietly, and picked his paper up off his desk. He handed it to the principal. He smiled at Devyn. There where seven other people behind him. All the people who had been chosen to be part of the Circle. All who he had a guess, had a high chance of testing out. They all were intelligent people, who had proven it more then enough during classes. They all were in advanced classes, and excelled even in those. They would be great for the Circle.

Sitting back down his chair, he put his head in his hands and watched as his paper was graded. Sooner or later, he became bored and drifted off into a day dream. He only jerked back up when his name was called. By the smile on Mr. Brown’s face, he knew he had made a high enough grade to pass. His grade was shown to him �" a 94% - before he was allowed to leave. By then, two other students were leaving along with him, with the others still working or waiting for theirs to be graded.

The two who were being released with him where both students chosen for the Circle. One girl and one boy. Of course he would get stuck with them. Rainer and the boy who wouldn’t stop laughing. He knew know that boy’s name was Joey. The boy had blond, curly hair. He was wearing a blue muscle shirt like him, and jeans. Rainer was wearing tight jeans that looked like they had been painted on, and a shirt sleeve, cyan shirt. Her long, sleek black hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and she was wearing dark blue eyeliner with red lipstick.

It was obvious they were close friends, as Rainer stopped her snotty attitude as soon as she got near Joey. She almost seemed….nice. Kind even. She asked Joey what his plans were now that they were completely free of school, and had a “job” they would be able to do.

Devyn stared straight ahead. He had a different reason for being here, as did they. He didn’t do well with other kids. Most of them never wanted to talk with him anyway, as he had dyed black hair, dark blue eyes that seemed almost unnatural, and never talked unless spoken to. He was never seen with friends. Always by himself, wherever he was.

He was almost taken off guard when he felt Joey slip his arm around Devyn’s neck. Devyn stopped, and turned his head to look at Joey. His emerald eyes flashing with mischief, and a grin spread from ear to ear, he asked, “Rainer over there was dying for me to come ask you if you would like to go get some ice cream with us.”

Rainer’s eyes bulked, as her face turned red. “I did not!” She yelled, before folding her arms and sticking her nose in the air with a ‘hmph.’ Joey laughed softly and wiggled his eyebrows at Devyn. “So, how ‘bout it?” Devyn hung his head and sighed audibly. Even though his original intent would have been to refuse, something told him this boy wouldn’t refuse.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.” Devyn answered softly. Joey jumped for joy, and ran back towards Rainer, who smacked him in the back of the head. Devyn let out a soft ‘eh’ as he watched them. This was a weird bunch. Even so, it wouldn’t hurt to grab an ice cream with them…..Would it?

They finally made it to an ice cream stand after twenty minutes of walking. Rainer ordered a small chocolate ice cream in a cup, while Devyn and Joey ordered a large chocolate in a cone. Sitting down at a near by park bench, with Devyn at the end. Rainer and Joey made small talk as they ate their ice cream. Finally, noticing Devyn wasn’t going to join in on their conversation, he asked, “So, I noticed Mr. Cole had already signed your letter.” Rainer stuck her head out from the other end of the bench to look at him. :Yeah, what was up with that?” Devyn sat quietly, debating on whether it would be a good idea to tell them the truth. Other students hadn’t taken that well, and always tried to bully him for it.

“What, you think you can get your dad to help you because he’s a teacher? Ha! He can’t touch us!”

They had proven that many times. His dad had never been able to get any of the boys suspended, no matter how much he explained to the teachers.r student’s after school. He provokes and intimidate them!”

“Mr. Cole….Kento…. He’s my adoptive father.” Devyn said slowly. Joey nodded as Rainer’s eyes narrowed. “I figured you were someone important to him. Just the way he looks at you.”

“How can we be sure that you’re his kid?” Rainer asked suspiciously. Here it comes. Devyn went to pull out his cell phone. “I can show you pictures of us when I was younger. Birthday parties, Christmas’s, things like that.” He handed his phone to Rainer. She looked through some of the pictures. Seeming satisfied with that, she handed the phone back to it’s owner. “He adopted me when I was just a baby, when I was dropped on his porch by a man. I found out a few years later, I had a twin brother who had been dropped off a few cities over,” Devyn began. “The people he was given to didn’t want him, as he had something wrong with him. So they left him outside in the cold. Alone. Freezing. Not in the least surprising, a demon found him, and took him to the Underworld. I have no idea where he is now, or even if he is alive.”

Joey bit a piece of his ice cream cone off, and ate it. “Is that the reason why you decided to join the Circle? Or was it just because Kento is part of it, and you decided to follow in his footsteps?” Devyn shook his head. “I want to find the demon who took my brother. I will get him back. If he’s still alive. If he’s not, I’ll kill the demon.” Devyn shrugged. “Why did you decide to join the Circle?”

Joey threw his cone to the ground, and stared silently at the dirt. “My family. They were all murdered by a demon. A high ranking one at that, since he had his own body he could use as he pleased. I hadn’t even noticed that he was in my house until I heard my little sister scream. And even then I didn’t see him. Only her dead body, along with my mother and fathers.” He balled his hands up in his pants, his hair covering up his eyes. Rainer patted his shoulder gently. “I have one percent demon blood in me. Every woman in my family is forced to become slaved to a demon named Ren at the age of twenty two. Every one of them must have a child before then, or Ren will completely wipe out the bloodline. My mother decided she didn’t want to become enslaved, and fought. Everyone, but me who had been hidden at the time, was murdered. I was eight at the time. My mother was barely twenty two.”

Devyn silently listened to their stories. They were mostly similar to each other. All of them had lost a family member. Just like him. Except he would see his again. They would never see their brothers and sisters again. They were alone.

“His that how you both became friends?” Devyn asked. They both nodded. “We were in the same orphanage together,” Rainer explained. Devyn nodded, and threw his cone to the birds. It was getting late. He would need to go home soon. They made small talk just before the sun started to go down, and Devyn told them he needed to head home. They said their goodbyes, and parted ways.

As Devyn neared his house, he felt like something was….Off. The sun had set, casting shadows along the sidewalk and roads. Street lamps had turned on so cars passing by could see easier. No one was out. No humans, and definitely no demons. Not even the lower class ones. That was the weirdest thing. Even they would be out.

Devyn unzipped his jacket and jerked it off. Underneath was a short sword slung over his back. If anything attacked him, he would be ready for it. Inspecting every alleyway, and dark spots around him, he made it home without any trouble. But as soon as his small house came in view, he could see a bright light engulfing it. Fire...My house is on fire!! Was the first thought that came to Devyn’s mind. Breaking into a sprint, he hurried towards his house. The entire time he was hoping, despritly that his dad had made it out of the fire alright. Or had at least left before they were even set.

As he neared the house, something exploded, knocking him back ten feet. He hit his head off the sidewalk pavement, knocking him unconsciousness.

When Devyn came to, his father was standing over him. He couldn’t hear what he was saying due to the ringing in his ears, but he could tell that his dad was trying to talk to him, his brown hair hanging from his face, and tears streaming down his cheeks. Reaching up, he grabbed his father’s hand that was cupping his face. “I’m...Alright...” Devyn gasped out. He barely felt his body being lifted up by an unknown force.

Flitting in and out of consious, he couldn’t understand the quiet conversation of his father and one of the other priests short black hair. It was only a garbled, jumbled mess to him. At random times he could hear a few words, like “He’ll live,” or, “Was the sword broken?”, or his father saying his name. Soon, he was rushed out of the van and into a hospital room. They ran tests on him, stuck an IV in his arm, and everything else he could possibly think they could do to him.

When he finally opened his eyes, and they stayed that way, he twisted his head to look at his father, who was sitting beside him. “How are you feeling?” Kento asked softly. Devyn nodded his head, unable to speak for the pain in his head and arm. Kento nodded back, and kept talking. “The only thing they could find wrong with you was a fractured arm, and a gash on the back of your head. But, you don’t have a concusion.” Kento sighed with relief, smiling softly down at his adoptive son. Devyn smiled back as best as he could before he drifted back into darkness again.