• Chapter Four: The Passage Tree

    “You were chosen to go to the Cave of Unity?” Savanna gasped.
    I nodded. “But, what is the Cave of Unity?” I asked.
    “The Cave of Unity is a place where enemies become allies.” Cai explained. “It’s also the location that the headmasters go to for their ‘secret’ meetings.”
    “So, Master Lee expects me to go to the Cave of Unity, and talk to the headmasters of all the schools about the attacker?” I said.
    “No, my theory is that Master Lee is sending you because, my Master is sending me to the Cave of Unity too, remember. It could mean that other students are being sent to the Cave of Unity to talk about the attacks.” Cai said.
    I looked at the star message; I wonder why Master Lee chose me instead of a seventh year? I’m only a third year student, still learning how to control my powers. Does Master Lee trust me that much?
    Savanna put her hand on my shoulder. “What time does the meeting commences?” she asked.
    “Midnight.”
    By the look on Savanna’s face, she didn’t look pleased.
    “Don’t worry, I will protect her,” Cai said, putting his hand on my other shoulder.
    “I thought vampires are lying, cold-hearted, untrustworthy fiends.” Savanna spat.
    “You can trust me, I won’t harm Ai.” Cai promised.
    “I don’t…” Before Savanna could finish, I stepped in.
    “You two stop!” I glared at Cai. “I can take care of myself,” taking a deep breath. “Savanna, you can trust this vampire, don’t ask me why, but he is a good being.”
    Savanna looked away. “Fine, if you say so Aisha, I trust you more than him. So if you say he is a good being…I believe you.” She said.
    “Thank you,” I looked at Cai, he didn’t look at me. “Okay, I’m going to go see Master Lee,” I said, grabbing Cai’s arm. “Cai, you’re coming with me.” Tugging him out of the room, and went in the wrong direction. Instead of Master Lee’s quarters, I’m taking Cai somewhere else.
    “I thought you were going to see Master Lee, why do you need me to come?” Cai asked.
    “We are not going to see Master Lee.” I said, walking towards a huge tree. “We’re here.”
    Cai looked up, and scratched his head. “You took me to a tree?” He pondered.
    “This is not just a tree,” I said, tapping the trunk of the tree. The trunk opened like a door. “This tree is called the passage tree; I found this when I started school.” I said, stepping into the tree, holding out my hand. “Coming?”
    Cai grabbed my hand, and stood by me. The trunk closed, it was dark. I released Cai’s hand, and snapped my fingers. A small flame lit on my finger tips. There were three different tunnels in front of us. “Which way do we go?” Cai asked.
    “The right leads to the lake, the middle leads to the mountain, and the left leads to the forest. Speaking of which, where is the Cave of Unity located?” I asked.
    “The Cave of Unity is located in the forest, so I assume we go in the middle tunnel,” Cai said, walking to the middle tunnel.
    I followed him. Walking next to him, and under the light, I felt my heart pounding. What is this feeling? I thought, looking at Cai. No, it can’t be that I like him. I don’t know anything about him.
    Cai turned around. “Ai, something wrong?” he asked.
    I shook my head. “Nothing’s wrong,” I said, walking passed him.
    “Do you trust me?” he asked.
    I turned around. “Why do you ask?”
    “Back there when you told your friend to trust me to protect you, do you honestly trust me?” he asked.
    “I…I…I…” I couldn’t think of anything, I don’t know what to say. “I want to trust you, but I don’t know anything about you.” I finally said.
    Cai looked at me, shocked. “I see; I too would want to know more about you.” Cai said, reaching out and grabbed my hand. “Let’s get to know each other.” He insisted, leading the way.
    Cai’s life was completely different from what I have thought it was. The vampires are divided into clans, per bloods, half bloods, and created. They all have certain blood they must drink to stay sane, or they become carnivorous demons. He added that if a half blood drinks a per blood’s blood, they would become a full fledge vampires within days.
    “Half bloods that drank per bloods’ blood would go through rigorous pain starting from their half dead hearts, to no pulse; their skin would turn from tinted pink to white, and then their eyes will change to blood red. However, once they become a per blood, they are banished from the clan.” Cai said.
    “Wow, where do the banished go?” I asked.
    He shrugged. “Some say they roam the forest searching for blood to live off of. Others say they go to the per blood clan, but who knows, because I don’t know.”
    “Cai, are you a per blood?”
    Cai shook his head. “I’m a half blood.”
    I looked at him in disbelief. “When I first saw you…” He cut me off.
    “Everyone thought that too. My mother was a warrior, her skin was as white snow; her comrades called her the snow solider, but when she met my father, he thought she was a vampire,” Cai took a deep breath. “When my father found out she was a warrior, he still loved her. When I was born; my father told my mother to keep me in the warrior camp, because I looked more like a warrior than a vampire.”
    “What made you go to the vampires?” I asked.
    He took a deep breath. “I drank a warrior’s blood. The council found out that I was a vampire, and tried to kill me, but my mother took me to the border line, and there I met my father,” he said. “My father took me to the half blood clan, and he told me that I will be safe there, and from then on I lived there.”
    “What happened to your mother?” I asked.
    “She was killed in my place.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said. Then I tripped over something.
    I landed in Cai’s arms. “Sorry,” I repeated, but he held me in an embrace.
    “Thanks,” he said.
    My face started to burn, was I blushing? “What did I do?”
    “You’re the first person that listened. At the academy, no one knows that I’m a half blood, or my past.”
    “Sure, no problem,” I said. I looked away from his stare, and looked at what I tripped over. It was a root.
    I squeezed out from Cai’s embraced and followed the root. The root stopped at the ground wall. When I looked up, I saw a person trapped in the wall. “AHHH!”
    “What?” Cai asked, as I ran back into his arm.
    “S-S-Someone is in the wall,” I stuttered, pointing the flame towards the wall.
    The person in the wall had a female figure; its face looked like it was frozen in time. Then I took a closer look, she had a patch on her chest; two swords crossing each other looking like an “X”. It’s the warrior crest, only the top warrior guards are allowed to wear those patches.
    Cai walked closer to the wall, and he touched the person’s face. “Mom.” He whispered.