Once Vorden was ready, she had to wither those trees before they could head into the forest. It was easy to sneak over there and get that done. Then they were off. This was strange for Lana. Back on Earth, she had used the overlay while standing still. Here she was walking with it up. She had never had to concentrate so much while walking before. She was glad she had Vorden with her.
After about 20 minutes of walking, she found the stream Quinn had observed the previous day. She thought a small version of that crocodile thing or some fish might be good for Caser. The water here was crystal clear so he could look over the water and peruse the options like a master reviewing his menu. He didn't see anything that made him salivate so he looked around instead.
Lana saw a cave and decided to see if maybe a nice lizard-type thing would be appetizing. She had seen Quinn investigate a cave but there were no beasts in there so she didn't need to check that one out.
Vorden saw her heading into some place even darker than where they were and had thoughts of the previous day. He didn't want to experience any more wendigos. Lana told him she didn't either. She turned on her light crystal and entered. About 10 feet in, there was loud screeching and bats flew all over the place, even got in their hair. The next thing she knew, there was a huge bat flapping its wings in front of them.
Lana and the bat started at each other. Vorden was going for his swords. He had not touched Cia yet today so he didn't have spirit spear yet.
In Lana's head, she heard, "You have such beautiful energy!" It was a very happy and uplifting voice, a little high pitched. Caser was watching the bat with interest but he wasn't alarmed.
Lana replied in her mind, "thank you. Who are you?"
"Max. I'm looking for someone to travel with. I want to see new things and experience what life has to offer. Can you give me this?"
Lana chuckled, "If not normal is what you're looking for, I'm your girl." Before she could say anything else, the bat became a dark mist and went into her tummy.
Vorden started yelling, asking if she was okay. This thing had entered her and Sil was fighting to take over and protect his girl. It was then Vorden realized he was the only one alarmed. Lana looked more curious than anything. Caser looked… proud? Then he got excited.
Over in the corner was a baby crocodile creature near a spot where water from the river was entering. It was nearly as big as Caser. Lana motioned for Vorden to stay and quietly approached and used her vine to remove its head once again. She placed Caser on the ground to eat. He wrapped a tentacle around her ankle and stretched his neck out to bring breakfast closer to him. He purred while he ate. He consumed everything, including the crystal. He was so full, he couldn't move.
Lana had to pick him up and put him on his perch. He wrapped a tentacle around her throat and was asleep in moments. She made sure to turn off the light crystal as they left the cave but wished she could keep it on. This planet was so dark. If it weren't for the two moons, they would not be able to see.
Lana and Vorden didn't speak. They were both wary there might be others about that they didn't want hearing the conversation. It wasn't until that evening when back in their room he was able to ask, "Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?"
Lana looked around the room, "what elephant?" She was busy cooking again. They decided she would cook Layla's meals in the evening. She would make some for herself as well. The boys were fine with the food pills for now.
Vorden looked annoyed, "the cave. The bat."
She giggled, "what about Max?"
"Max? It has a name?"
"Well, if course he has a name…" She then asked Max to come out and say hi and he did.
Vorden blinked as the black smoke appeared again and formed into a bat. He then looked at Lana. "You have a black bat, a black cat, what's next, a black rat?"
Lana laughed, "maybe!"
Max responded, "there is nothing wrong with liking those with a different method of mobility than biped!"
Vorden was shocked when the bat talked. "What are you?"
"A familiar. They are common in this world. We bond ourselves with the two-legs as long as we have the same goals. This world has become boring. I want to see something new. I promise to protect her in exchange for a change of scenery."
Vorden raised an eyebrow which then began to twitch.
Lana chuckled, "Don't be that way. You're still here as well. Isn't part of your goal that I'm safe?" She was just then finishing cooking, even made some bread for Logan to have a sandwich. She packed all the food up. She set Logan's sandwich aside. Grabbed some fruit which Vorden carried.
The food containers were in the bag. She knocked on Cia's door. She decided to stay in her room when not in class. Lana took the fruit from Vorden and gave it to her. She shut the door without even a thank you.
The deal she had with Layla was to meet her at the border of the two campuses so there would be no issues for either of them. They decided it would go this way as long as they were in this school. Lana would check in with the trees on what was going on with Quinn and update everyone.
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A month after being there, everyone was getting restless. They were afraid of getting caught because they didn't drink blood. Lana didn't eat meat so she had to say she wasn't hungry and was saving her food for later. What was actually happening was the meat she was served at lunch, she prepared that evening for Layla. Logan was frustrated they couldn't find anything new on Fex or Peter. The blood packs were going in Lana's bag and saved for who knows who. But she had them…
The practical exercises over the past week were interesting to say the least. They were supposed to learn blood swipe which was a vampire attack in which a line of blood attacks another. They all, of course, could do no such thing.
Lana thought about throwing out a vine or something but she imagined a vampire trying to say the tenth were trees instead of vampires. She was already standing out with Caser on her back. She didn't need to stand out more. The group was happy Lana said they should say they were from the tenth as it ended up being a blessing. They got laughed at but no one questioned when they were "too weak" to perform basic vampire skills. Xander never got the opportunity to go after Vorden.
Silver announced the practical for the day was going to be an exercise with the Class C students. Cia was so happy she shouted, "YES!"
They were to pair up with a student from the other class and learn about them then tell the class what they learned. Two classes were to work with category B and two with category C. Once outside, Xander and Vorden locked eyes.
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