Belinda didn’t feel the progress of time. Her stomach rumbled and woke her up from her concentration.

„It’s enough for today.” Horác looked at the clock.

They walked out of the room. Belinda looked around at the lab. She still didn’t know what kind of work she needed to do here.

„Bertold doesn’t speak much, but you can trust in him.” Horác looked out of the window. „I don’t think anyone told you about the teachers’ helpers. There are a lot of students who were accepted, but almost none of them were registered! When I registered you under my name, your wellbeing becomes my responsibility. So from now on, any question you have, come to me. Don’t tell others about your training or other things. The immortal’s world is crueler than what you can imagine. Don’t trust anyone easily!” he pointed at the room’s door. „The practice we just did, never ever do it with anyone! Letting someone else’s energy enter your body can kill you in seconds.”

Belinda thought back to the feeling of how Horác’s energy circulated in her body. She realized, she was like a fish on the cutting board. The cold ran down on her spine.

„Didn’t you just…”

„I take responsibility.” he smiled meaningfully.

  Don’t make it sounds like we did something else!

„Then at the school, during the test...?”

„That’s different. First of all, if you hurt a kid in front of the others, they’ll not let you test them. It’s just made it harder for your work. And the tests’ days are fixed in every school because some immortals are responsible to watch it. They hide outside and take note of everything. In theory its working good, but it’s possible to use some means to make them close one eye before some things…”

Belinda sighed. Her understanding of this world was too little. Maybe she thought about it too easily, she needed to stop playing around and work harder!

She looked up at Horác.

  Maybe it wasn’t that bad to meet with him.

„Ah, right! Next time don’t go to the dormitory. Most of the time I’m sleeping here. Your card can open the door, so you can come here A.N.Y.T.I.M.E!” he curved up his lips.

  I take that back! It was a curse!

Belinda went out and slapped the laboratory’s door. She felt better after it.

Lunch time already ended. She ate fast and went to the library.

During work, she saw a lot of new faces, yet there weren’t as many students as yesterday. Today was the training, so the first years’ students would be there, yet she met with Gregori. It made her confused. She wanted to ask him about it, but she was afraid the librarians wouldn’t tolerate it. Before she saw they warned some girls who chatted.

After work, Belinda stood in the line to check out and sighed. They already worked on the second floor. With this speed, she couldn’t get too many points before the task finished.

Outside the library, Gregori waited for her.

„Hey! You come again.”

„Hi… Of course.” she didn’t understand why it was so surprising.

„Don’t you need to train or practice?”

„That’s what I want to ask from you. Didn’t you go to train?”

„… Oh, I remember! You weren’t awakened with us.” Gregori became a little disappointed, but he hid his feeling in the next second. „We have training from 6 AM to 10 PM. We are learning hand to hand combat and there are some teachers who correct our pose. Those who slow to learn can stay in the afternoon, but there won’t be any teacher to help. On the first some days I stayed, but without help, I ended up learning one of the moves wrongly. The next day the teacher corrected me again and again because I become used to it…” he grimaced. That day was really embarrassing to him, he never trained alone after that.

They reached the cafeteria. Until they sat down, they didn’t say anything.

„Didn’t they said that we would learn to use every weapon? Why hand to hand combat?” Belinda didn’t understand it.

„Ah, that…” Gregori sighed. „Pedró told that the weapons not eternal. You can lose it or break it… Then during fight how would you survive?”

Belinda’s face paled. She knew it was right, but she didn’t want to learn it. Before she watched boxing on the television. They hit each other’s until blood flow and their skin became blue and purple. She didn’t understand what they enjoyed in it. And now she didn’t need to watch, because it would be her who was hit!

She lost her appetite and just looked in front of herself. After some time she was awakened with a cry.

„Ah, you are here!” Dárius shouted.

He dropped his dinner on the table and sat next to Gregori.

„You bastard! You are so lucky! You were able to leave, but Zotmund dragged me back to train! He didn’t let me go until I hit the puppet 2000 times!”

„Puppet?!” Belinda looked up.

„Yes. We need to train with a puppet as our opponent.” Gregori explained.

„Who is he?” Dárius asked.

Belinda didn’t care about being forgotten. She was happy. At least now they still didn’t need to fight with each other. She wasn’t afraid of pain, really, but if she could she like to evade it.

She finished eating her dinner and didn’t care about the 2 fighting guys. When Naómi came over and made a fuss for the others not waiting for her, she gave her place to her and left without a word.

Gregori looked after her with a complicated look. The other two just cared about themselves and said their own problems. He really hated to be their babysitter…

Belinda went back to her room. She prepared a hot bath and lay in the tub. She felt so comfortable. She hummed some old song and closed her eyes. She slowly recalled the things that Horác taught to her. When she was sure she could do it, she left the bathroom, took on her pajamas, and sat on her bed. She started to practice.

She didn’t saw the butterfly that flew through the closed window. It stopped on the sill and watched the girl.

At midnight, Belinda opened her eyes. She felt satisfied. She was able to feel and follow the energy in her body. The picture that she saw in front of her eyes wasn’t good, but she did a big step. She didn’t feel tired, yet chose to sleep.