Flavia stared blankly at the board in front of her.

Why. Why would I need to know about the Pythagorean Theorem? She stayed quiet, not wanting to anger her math teacher. This is boring. Her eyes began to drop but she forced herself to stay awake. Curse you for being at the last block!

"Flavia, would you like to tell me what is the answer to question 3?"

The girl raised her head and looked at the board before down at her notebook, it was empty. Looking at the board again she tried to solve it quickly mentally.

"Seven-point eight-one."

She didn't need to look behind her to know it was Julian who whispered it, "What?"

"The answer is seven point eight-one."

"Um, seven-point eighty-one?" The teacher raised an eyebrow, "It's seven-point eight-one." Flavia said with more confidence trying to pass it off as if she actually knew what she was talking about.

"Well done. Do you know why?"

"Um–"

"You are looking for b, so instead of the equation being aˆ2 plus bˆ2 equals cˆ2–"

Flavia repeated the words he said.

"–the equation would be b equals to aˆ2 plus bˆ2 by the power of the square root."

She continued on saying what he said changing the words here and there to not raise suspicion, and by the time they were done the teacher gave her a bright smile. Flavia wasn't called out on for the continuation of the class and she couldn't be happier, after writing down the answer/explanation Julian gave her she turned to face him.

"Thank you."

He flashed her a grin, "No problem. Thought it would be nice to help you, it's the least I could do with much you help everyone else in the class."

Flavia gave him a soft smile, "Thanks."

She turned to face the board once more with a bright smile. Maybe math isn't so bad.

-----

"Did anyone understand shit?" Nalia groaned once they left the Math classroom, "Algebra sucks."

"I'm going to fail," Flavia whined as she adjusted her grip on her books. "This is the end! I cannot possibly pass this test and get exempt from the semestral exams!"

"But you answered the question right!"

Flavia stares at Paula as if she had grown an extra head, "Did nobody see Julian whispering the answers?" She pointed to the boy beside her who was in deep conversation with Markus. "I would not have gotten the answer if Julian didn't tell me!"

María gasped, "Flavia cheated?!" Everyone around them turned to look at Flavia.

Self-conscious of all the attention her friend brought she sends her a glare while tugging the sleeve of the jacket she was wearing, it was as if her marks were burning in hopes to burn through the cloth. Nalia noticed and was about to make a comment, but Flavia grabbed Julian's arm and dragged him to the direction of her locker.

Attention is bad, she told herself as she ducked between students. Riders can't bring attention. I can't bring attention.

"Watch where you are going!"

Flavia ignored the student she pushed through her grip on Julian never weakening. Her mind was racing, she never had a problem with María's over-dramatic but it was different now. Sadly, she knew why it was different before she didn't fear capture as much as now. Mostly because she had never been so close to it but after the events of Haven Central she couldn't shake the feeling her time was numbered.

That's why I'm going, she reminded herself. They will be freed. They will be saved.

"Flavia?" She ignored Julian as she opened her locker. "Hey, 'Via. What's wrong?"

She hesitated before turning to look at him, "In all honesty?" She whispered, "I can't get the thought of dying out of my head."

Julian tensed at the words. How can you comfort someone who is afraid of death and has every right to be? The truth is you don't, you can't. Julian hated it. So, instead of comforting words or gestures, Julian wrapped an arm around the girl. "Hey, how about we go get some ice-cream?"

Flavia looked at her bag, which was filled with all the homework she needed to do. She hesitated before shouldering it and locking her locker, she nodded. With a smile, Julian led her towards the entrance of the school not looking back and unaware of the smile Nalia had on her face. From the little interaction she watched, she knew her best friend was in good hands. With a satisfied nod, she turned on her heel to head to her locker. Her friend was safe and that was what mattered.

-----

"Wait, so you met Fawn in this park?"

Julian looked at the park with newfound meaning. Flavia laughed at his face. His eyes were wide letting her see every shade of green, his mouth was wide opened and from where she stood she could count some of the many freckles that dusted his nose. She looked away quickly, realizing that she was staring and let out another chuckle before licking her chocolate ice-cream.

"Yeah. If you live in Miami you'll find yourself drawn to this park at some point. Usually at the age of ten, but sometimes it's younger and other times when you are older."

"Why?"

Her eyes darkened but the fire in them never died down. It just became more ruthless as if waiting to be let out so it could burn anything in its path, "One of our... homes were here."

"Were. you used 'were.'" Julian looked down at her, his mint chocolate ice-cream forgotten. "What happened?"

Flavia looked down at her ice-cream, "The images I showed you. You probably heard of the 'lairs' humans found."

"Yeah, there is one in Miami–that's–?"

She nodded, "Uhu, we call them Havens. The one in Miami is Haven Central. Then there is Haven North, Haven South, Haven West, and Haven East."

"Wait, so all the lairs–"

"Havens." She growled her eyes narrowing, "They aren't lairs. They are havens, found to keep us safe from humans." She hissed at the final word if Flavia could spit poison Julian was sure she would have done it. He flinched at the words, her eyes widened. "Sorry, I didn't mean–sorry..." Julian shook his head, giving her a small nod. "Look, they are hidden from humans, or at least they were." She shook her head, "I... I just don't know who would reveal such a protected secret, such a crucial secret."

"Hey, maybe nobody told and it was just figured out." Julian offered with a smile ignoring his dripping ice-cream.

"Yeah. Sure."

Flavia smiled at him, but it was forced. She knew the truth. Someone told a human the location of Haven West, the first haven to have been... captured. From there it was easy to find the others since each Haven had a rock with a general location of its sisters. A human just needed to have patience, enough resources and begin a process of elimination to find the others.

The first step of all that was for someone to have told them the location of one, and like dominos, everything would end up falling eventually.

But this time we found an obstacle. Flavia looked down at her dripping ice-cream before throwing it away, The dominos are going to stop falling, and Drake and I will be right there to see it happen. She wiped her sticky fingers with a napkin before turning to Julian with a beaming smile.

Julian grinned at her, and for a moment Flavia felt normal. Just another girl hanging out with her friend. No death threats. No lies. No secrets. No markings. Just her and him.

And she loved it more than anything. On the back of her mind, Fawn crooned in agreement.

============

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~Dani