When I first arrived in my next class, the teacher insisted that pets weren’t allowed. Fortunately, I didn’t have to argue my case.

Byakko marched up to the teacher and explained, “I am no pet.”

The teacher stopped talking to me and stared at Byakko. He tried to shoo the small tiger from the room but Byakko easily pawed his foot out of the way. He glared and threatened, “Don’t make me magic you out.”

Byakko bristled and growled, “Try it, mortal.”

I examined the teacher.

Name

Lestor LeStat

Class

Historian

Level

13

Affection Level

Strict

He was extremely low level to be challenging my glowing white tiger. Then again, I never had examined Byakko.

Name

Byakko

Class

Avatar - King of the West

Level

~

Affection Level

Bonded

Mr. LeStat drew a wand and pointed it at the tiger, saying, “This is my last warning. Will you go peacefully? You can wait outside in the hall or take up residence in your host.”

I was confused as I watched the standoff, asking, “Wait, what do you mean host? You want him to go inside of me?”

The teacher nodded slightly, not taking his eyes off of Byakko, “Correct. You did summon him, right?”

“Yes”, I muttered, “…but I can’t control him.”

Mr. LeStat scolded me, “The very fact that you summoned him means that you have full control over his actions. Did they not explain that to you in your class?”

I sighed, “I didn’t manage to summon him until after class.”

He lowered the wand temporarily and said, “Try telling him to go inside of you.”

I gasped, “You want me to tell him to go to inside of my body?”

The teacher nodded emphatically, “Yes. Of course, I mean inside of your body. He knows what to do”

Byakko and I locked eyes for a moment before I steeled myself and commanded, “You heard him. Get inside of me.”

The tiger tilted its head at me, “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

I hesitated and Mr. LeStat pressed me, “Yes, that’s what you want. Inform your charge of your decision.”

Glaring at my teacher, I took a deep breath and said, “I want you to go inside of me.”

Byakko turned his back to me, “You are clearly being manipulated by this instructor. Therefore, I am under no obligation to obey.”

Mr. LeStat put the wand away, “Very well. I see you have left me no choice. Melvin, I am kicking you out of class. Please go see the headmaster.”

As I walked through the hall with my new shimmering friend, Kalli laughed at me. You let him get you kicked out of class. That was so funny.

That teacher was weird. He kept telling me that he wanted Byakko inside of me.

Kalli giggled in response. I looked down at the tiger and he looked back up at me, saying, “You should let me eat that instructor.”

I laughed, “Are you sure you could take him?”

Byakko chuffed at me, “I am well aware that you saw his level. He was no match for us.”

Speeding up, I replied, “Perhaps summoning you was a mistake. I don’t want to make enemies with everyone at The Academy.”

He walked silently as he listened to me so I asked, “What did he mean when he said you should get inside of me?”

Byakko chuffed again, “It is a halfway mark between being out and being de-summoned. Not everything you summon can do such a thing, but for me, it would be no problem.”

I glared at the tiger, “Well, why didn’t you do that then?”

Byakko flashed me a terrifying toothy grin. “You didn’t want me to do that, so I didn’t.”

“What if I wanted you to do it now?”, I asked.

Byakko stared at me and asked, “Are you requesting a demonstration?”

I nodded. He dematerialized in front of me and became a ball of light again before rushing at my face. I was temporarily blinded and then Byakko was gone.

It doesn’t feel like he went inside of me.

Expecting to hear Kalli’s reply, I was startled to hear Byakko in my head. I assure you that I am still present.

How? How did you invade mate chat?

The tiger cub chuffed in my head. As I just explained, through our bond, I am a part of you. I am impressed to see you mated at such a young age. Perhaps I can help mentor your cubs when you sire them.

Kalli made my bond yelp when she replied. He is not my mate and most assuredly won’t be siring any offspring with me.

I rubbed my temples. Having two of you yelling in my head is going to make me sick. I need to go find the headmaster.

I expected the headmaster’s office to be up near the conference room where we met him the first time. As it turned out, it was right in the middle of The Academy. My map led me to the double doors at the top of the grand staircase on the main floor. Inside were the administrative offices. Rows of office desks manned by older-looking students filled the room. Mr. Ramsey’s office was located at the back of the room.

He was waiting for me when I got there. “Greetings, young Mr. Murphy. In trouble on the first day, are you? Nice tattoo by the way. It will really make a statement.”

I blanched at the old man, “What are you talking about? I don’t have a tattoo. Also, I’m not really in trouble. I just had a summoning malfunction. I think I got it in order now.”

The headmaster reached into a drawer and took out a small mirror, handing it to me. Byakko had left his mark on my forehead. A strange symbol with three vertical lines crossed with a single horizontal line stood etched into my skin in black ink.

Mr. Ramsey explained, “That is the mark of the king. I assume you summoned something fancy. Why don’t you bring out your summon so that I can have a proper chat with it.”

You heard the man.

Byakko listened for once and the flash of light blinded me once again. When I opened my eyes, the white tiger cub stood at my feet looking up at Mortimer.

The cub yawned loudly and paced around the headmaster saying, “For what reason did you request my presence?”

The man dropped to his knees so that he was eye to eye with Byakko and replied, “It is an honor to have you at our distinguished school, great lord of the west. I’d like to welcome you for as long as you should choose to maintain your bond with our student. However, there are some rules that I must insist that you follow.”

For a moment I thought Byakko was going to tell off yet another instructor. Then he bowed his head and said, “Very well. Since you asked respectfully, I will hear you out.”

Mr. Ramsey bowed in return and said, “The most important rule is to never expose yourself before the unawakened. We share this space with them so you must be vigilant and hide yourself when in public.”

“Naturally”, the tiger replied, yawning.

The headmaster went on, “Additionally, some instructors may have special instructions for you. I request that you listen to them so as not to disrupt the classes.”

Byakko stood his ground for a few minutes before nodding and saying, “It will be so.”

Just like that, we were dismissed. The headmaster didn’t say anything else about Byakko. For the most part, the cub liked to be out while I walked the halls, so he strolled along beside me, playing with the students that I came across.

I answered as many questions as I could about the summon. The other students had a lot of them. Byakko was bound to attract more attention because he was glowing. Also, I was the only student to summon a tiger. Kalli distracted me when I suddenly felt the wind get knocked out of me.

Are you okay?

She grimaced in my mind. Yeah. I just wasn’t expecting that.

What are you doing?

Kalliphae was out of breath. The feeling was also making me gasp for air. I’m in a class that is teaching me something called martial arts. It feels like they want me to get used to pain.

I watched Kalli in my mind’s eye for a few minutes while a group of older students chatted with Byakko. Her class was doing kicking drills and her assigned partner was a little too vigorous and kept sending the poor girl flying when he practiced his kicks. She had a large padded cushion for the boy to kick, but he outweighed her by a good margin.

Why did you choose that class?

Kalli replied as she picked herself up off of the floor. Physical fighting is my weak point. I took this class to get stronger.

As I watched, Kalli continued to get more adept with each practiced kick. At first, she was clumsy, but by the end of the lesson, she executed a perfect roundhouse kick that send the boy flying to the ground.

Nice one.

Kalli was embarrassed. It was just one kick. Don’t you have your next class to be getting to?

I looked at the time and agreed. Byakko was still entertaining the other students, so I asked, “Do you want to stay here or come to my next class with me?”

The tiger bid the kids farewell and returned to my forehead in a flash of light. A blond kid who looked to be a year or two older than me said, “I want one of those.”

I rolled my eyes and made my way to the next classroom.

Magical lineage was taught by a scribe in a special room at the back of the library. I was right at home when I saw the stacks of magical books that filled the three-story room.

Mrs. Hodgins would love this place.

Kalli agreed. We need to invite her up here.

For once, I arrived in class ahead of the rest of the students. The teacher looked up at me curiously, “Can I help you?”

The first thing I did was check out the new teacher.

Name

Morrigan Maxwell

Class

Scribe

Level

19

Affection Level

Serious

I nodded and showed her my class schedule, “Yes, ma’am. I am new in this class.”

She looked over my document and nodded, “I see everything is in order. As you’ve arrived in the middle of our year, you will have to make up ground on some of the families we have studied so far.”

As she handed the schedule back to me, I asked, “Can you tell me anything about a family named M?”

She smiled, “There are a good many families whose names begin with the letter M including my own. You will need to be more specific if you wish to research a specific family.”

I needed to give her more information, “What about a family with the bloodline called M?”

Mrs. Maxwell rubbed her chin thoughtfully, “You raise an interesting question. There are no known bloodlines with single-letter names. It is possible that you could have heard of an abbreviation of a name that somebody was referring to. You would have to tell me more about it. Do you know a lot about bloodlines? That is a part of the lesson plan I was planning to catch you up on.”

I shook my head, “I don’t know a lot about them. I just know that they exist and that they sometimes grant abilities. I recently heard of the Shaw bloodline.”

The instructor sighed, “Ah yes. The Shaw family has been in the news lately. Haven’t they? The new world vampires. It is a real shame that their blood has retreated to the old world.”

Thinking back to my limited experience with Lady Shaw and the way she absorbed my skill without having an active skill or trait telling me she could do something like that, I concluded, “I think the bloodline is a combination of things. While the Shaws did have traits that made them vampires, there was something more about the bloodline trait that gave them added abilities.”

The scribe gaped at me and asked, “How do you know all of this. Unless a member of their family with the bloodline trait told you how it worked, there is no way to know for sure just how they work their magic.”

I hesitated to say more because I didn’t want to let on how I knew about The Shaw bloodline. I continued, “What I’m really interested in is the M bloodline. Where would you go if you wanted to research an unknown bloodline?”

Mrs. Maxwell sighed and gave me a look like I was a petulant child asking the same question over and over again, “The only thing I can suggest is to find a surviving member of the family and ask directly. In this class, I will be teaching you what a basic bloodline generally means. Unless you plan to specialize in research, there is going to be a lot that we just don’t know. The only people to ever truly understand a bloodline would be a member of that bloodline. None of them seem to work the same.”

The class wasn’t much more help than the conversation. The teacher lectured us about famous magical families of past generations without going into detail about their skills or traits. Mrs. Maxwell made it a point to talk about The Shaws and prominent vampire families. I believed she assumed that I was interested in vampirism.

Byakko was just as bored as I was. Why are you interested in bloodlines, mortal?

I want to know more about my bloodline.

The tiger chuffed in my head. It sounded even stranger when he wasn’t physically doing it. You asked about your bloodline without informing your instructor that you were a member of it.

Kalliphae perked up at our conversation and asked a question. You are part of a bloodline Melvin?

I flinched at their combined assault. Byakko knew of my bloodline somehow and Kalli just found out I had one.

Yes. I have a trait called Bloodline: M, but I don’t know anything about it.

I felt Kalli’s mounting excitement. Mel, that’s important. Only nobility gets a bloodline. It takes generations of mana to form one.

Not to be outdone, Byakko chimed in. Not just any bloodline, lass. My bond has the blood of the kingmaker in him.

Wait a second. Byakko? You know about my bloodline? Are you talking about my father?

The tattoo on my forehead was silent. I could feel him contemplating how he wanted to answer. The tiger managed to keep his thoughts private, but his emotions bled through. He finally explained. I do not know who your father is nor what mysterious powers your bloodline contains. When you stood before me in my realm I saw your aura.

You said that I contain the blood of the kingmaker. What is that?

Byakko hesitated again. I have said all that I know on the matter.

I sighed and raised my hand. Mrs. Maxwell stopped teaching and cleared her throat, “Ahem, yes, Melvin? Did you have a question?”

I nodded and asked, “Yes. What can you tell me about a bloodline of kingmakers?”

For her part, the teacher looked perplexed. She replied, “I am unsure what you are referring to. If you wish to learn more. I highly recommend you join a research club. You seem to be after some very specific information. I am afraid that this class just isn’t going to provide it for you.”

I crossed my arms. Byakko had at least given me a part of the answer. Mrs. Maxwell either didn’t know or didn’t care enough to point me in the right direction. Either way, I had some more clues.