Hadrian's Wall (72 page)

“It will be difficult,” Abby finally said,
with reluctance.

It was obvious she didn’t want my advice and
resented Delilah’s affirmation of it. The poor girl had no idea
that Delilah and I were sharing a great secret.

“Try to hold on,” I said, using a lighter
tone, pretending not to notice her grim face. “He wouldn’t ignore
you if jealousy wasn’t eating him alive.”

Her face suddenly lit up. “You think?”

I shrugged. “Sure!”

I stared at my plate to
hide my expression.
A virgin girl, whose
whole life was created from what she saw on television, you doesn’t
know how to give or receive affection, was giving love advice to
girls much more detached than me...
How
absurd! I wanted to laugh out loud.

What’s worse was that they were taking what
I said seriously! Oh, if they knew my sad reality…

* * *

After breakfast, I accompanied Delilah and
Abby to the bus stop. The girls wanted to show me the best place to
get off the bus, inside the campus.

“Next time, you cannot get lost,” Abby said.
“The Uwall bus usually stops in front of the store where they sell
ornamental plants.

Plants? That reminded me of Keira’s
pansies...

While we waiting, Delilah tried to update me
on things she thought important: Artists who have excelled in the
fashion world recently, winter collections that caused a media
sensation, even the results of a reality show with fashion
designers. Honestly, I didn’t understand how they could lay out the
trends for winter before autumn arrived.

Since I knew nothing about it...the
conversation was unilateral (limited to the two of them since Abby
speaks the same language as Delilah). For my part, I said “Uh-huh”
or “ah, I see” once in a while.

The bus stop was filling up with people.
Most were students on their way to classes. I saw some future “lab
coats” among them, but no sign of Gibbs. I didn’t see Spencer or
any of Sally’s group. As compensation, David joined us. No sooner
had he said “Hello,” when we heard the muffled sound of an engine
from a distance. Soon, the famous Uwall bus turned the corner.

My first impression was
that I was seeing a “dinosaur with four wheels” heading our way.
Immediately, I associated it to the final scene in
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
.
(“Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!”) But the bus body was much bigger than a
common school bus—painted red with yellow stripes on both sides.
The driver parked along the curb and the people got in line. The
freshmen who got aboard handed the driver a kind of ticket. I had
no ticket, so I’d be the first to pay with cash.

When my turn came, I quietly asked the fare.
I glanced furtively behind me and groaned. There was still a long
line waiting to climb aboard. The driver told me the fare. Luckily,
I had money, paid him, and I didn’t hold up the line very long.

Delilah waved frantically
from the back of the bus.
It had to be the
background!
With a sigh, I made my way
along the aisle, all the while being analyzed by the prying eyes of
other passengers. (Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!)

The Uwall bus was moving, turning at the
next corner.

“I think you’d better go to the Student
Support Services office and fill out a form to buy a discounted bus
pass,” she whispered, probably not wanting to draw the attention of
others to the fact that I was the new kid on the block.

As if everyone already
didn’t already know
.

“We’re leaving the town,” she revealed in
whispers. “The university is in the valley.”

Abby, who was sitting with David in the seat
in front of us, turned around and said, “The bus will pick up more
students along the way.”

Indeed, the door opened again, admitting two
giggling girls who stumbled down the aisle—Violet and Janice.

Abby stiffened when Violet saw us. We waited
for her next step. Abby was probably hoping that she wouldn’t sit
near us. As if she knew was Abby was thinking, Violet nodded
coolly, but didn’t approach us. She sat in one of the front seats,
followed by her faithful squire, Janice. The two girl soon began
whispering—talking about us—and Delilah put her hand on Abby’s
shoulder.

“What did I miss?” I asked quietly.

“Oh, nothing at all, except
that Violet is one of the most venomous girls I’ve ever had the
displeasure of knowing. She declared war on us last Saturday. I
always suspected that sooner or later, she’d show her claws. When
she began to play Preston’s confidante—so helpful and so gentle, it
was obvious to me that she was trying to make points. You saw it
... the first day you arrived at McPherson House. Preston was just
starting to go out with Abby and then suddenly everything changed,
as if
someone
had
done something to split them up.”

“Delilah, please!” Abby protested,
embarrassed.

David turned to me, deciding to change the
course of the conversation. “Since this is the first time you’ve
traveled by Uwall bus, we’ll introduce you to the regulars of the
cheapest means of transport here. We have two basic groups: the
“undercover poories” and the “far from the money” guys! I mean, not
counting our friend Delilah, the tissues heiress from Michigan.” In
response, she stuck out her tongue. “Mmm...see those sleepers back
there?”

I turned and saw two boys in white, sprawled
across the last seat, sound asleep.

“They’re second-year nursing students.”

Sophomores
.

“They just got off duty at the hospital and
they’re going straight to class. For your information, the bus
passes through Caledonia, before it arrives at McPherson
House.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Someone dubbed them ‘The Sleeping Beauties’
because they’re always snoring when we board the bus.” He laughed.
I couldn’t resist, so I laughed too.

He then subtly indicated some “lab coats”
sitting across the aisle.

“Those are not ‘undercover poories’—but they
are definitely ‘far from the money.’”

Immediately I thought about Gibbs, but I
dared not ask about him. David then said something about some guys,
Asian exchange students, who were seated ahead. Behind them, David
pointed out two couples who attended the Performing Arts; next down
the aisle were people from “first class” with Expertise in Chemical
Analysis; and then closer to us, the freshmen of Law.

“Now you know what’s up in the Uwall bus.
They’re usually the same faces.”

“Thanks!”

“You’re welcome.” David smiled at me and
then turned to talk to Abby.

I was watching them for a few minutes. David
really was a gentle guy. He finally got her to smile and shortly
thereafter, both were sharing the headphones from his iPod.

I began to quietly observe the other
passengers. Up front, the Oriental boys were talking in their own
language. I couldn’t understand anything.

Following my gaze, Delilah whispered, “Those
two are part of the Fraternity Emma-o, the Asian League of
Observatory of Languages from foreign students. It’s also part of
this league—the Nezha, Xiwangmu, and Ittan Momen fraternities. At
first I thought it was strange that the Japanese and the Chinese
had fraternities only for them, unlike other foreigners. So I
decided to research about it.

Considering the global
crisis, globalization, international relations market, and all that
nonsense that we see on the economy’s news on a rainy night, when
we have nothing else to do, even a visit to the toilet
and…
Oh, God! You’re chattering
again!

Well, it was natural...perhaps even
necessary, that a university adapt their structures, the economic
fluctuations. After all, these produce effects on the labor market
and therefore, in the education of individuals. And, on second
thought...“Asian Tigers” account for, at present, a significant
portion of the production of consumer goods on the planet.

“I think I understand why Asians have
distinguished themselves on this campus,” I said.

“I have a theory about them too...,” She
finally whispered to me.

Mmm...
I’ll bet that it has nothing to do with my brilliant economic
explanation
.

“I think Emma-o is equivalent to the Yellow
Mantles. I have watching them and doing some queries to the
Internet... The four fraternities are somehow interconnected, like
the tentacles of a much larger organization ...I mean, I think they
act as instances from only one entity.

Is it a kind of Asian
Mafia?
I almost laughed. Almost!

“Don’t you dare laugh at me!” she made an
angry face and looked around. “If there were vamp... I mean... if
there were ‘non-humans’ here, we couldn’t talk about it. They
listen to absolutely everything that humans say within a radius
between two and five kilometers. I’m still not sure about
that.”

What nonsense!
Mmm... Would it be possible? Suddenly, I was
worried. What Adrian and Stephen could have heard out of my
distracted mouth? Damn!

“But there are only human people today...
Even if some people are the trash of their species...” She launched
a withering look at Violet’s back. “I think we can talk...”

“According to the articles
I read about Chinese mythology… Well, the Nezhas
are ‘in charge of conducting the spirits of
criminals and rebels in the way of good’, preventing them from
being tempted by demons. They are also responsible for periodic
monitoring of their actions. I think they could be considered as
parole agents of the ghosts, demons and vampires offenders. Unlike
the damphir, they prioritize the rehabilitation of
sinners.”

“Damphir?”

“The damphir are not interested in the
redemption of evil beings. They will hunt and kill—especially the
vampires. Because they are creatures who the damphir hate most in
the entire world. Through its extra powers the damphir can easily
find the vampires since they inherited their powers from vampires,
so damphir descend from vampires, you know?”

“However, the mothers of damphir are not
vampires. They are human and usually die during childbirth. I mean
the ‘baby-monsters’ tear their bodies from the inside out.” She
shook her head, “Whatever!”

Oh, I see, like the creatures from the Alien
movies!

“Vampire fathers just want to have sex.
Obviously, most children born to reckless acts should be left to
their own devices. Anyway, the survivor damphir grow up with a
deadly hatred of their fathers, so they dedicate themselves to
hunting them. But not all children of vampires with human females
develop powers. According to the Internet texts that I read, some
damphir grow up living and dying like ordinary humans and they
don’t even know of their origins.”

She paused to catch her breath, and then
continued.

“Back to Nezhas... There is another
explanation for this name. The Chinese mythology says Nezha was the
son of a general, who was born of a prolonged, three-year
pregnancy. That kid came into the world in the size of an older
child, wearing armor and carrying his own weapons. The Nezha from
this version was a temperamental little fellow, always putting
parents into terrible trouble.”

“Two very different versions for the same
name,” I said, skeptical. “From the information available, we
cannot draw a definite conclusion about what it means to be a Nezha
in Hadrian’s Wall.”

“I guess not...” Delilah said, discouraged.
“About Xiwangmu, I discovered that it is the name of a goddess—the
Queen Mother of the West, which holds the secret of eternal life.
According to some articles on Chinese mythology, she lived in a
jade palace. The illustrations of ancient frescoes available on the
Internet represent her as a fierce creature, with features and
fangs of a tiger. Well...it isn’t a panther, but...I think it’s
like the same...both are cats.”

I had to take my hat off to her. She
investigated the dark gods as much or more than I had.

“Don’t you think they are appropriate
names?” She was saying something that I missed.

“Yes... uh ... Yes, they are appropriate
names!” I replied. For God’s sake! Appropriate for what? I had no
idea what she was getting with all that information.

“That’s what I thought,” she said,
satisfied. “I just don’t understand how the vampires are subjected
to such control by mere...human people. So if humans control
anything here, it’s because they cut a deal. Humans cannot control
immortals.”

Here she comes with her vampires, again!

Just in case, I decided to look more closely
at the two Chinese boys. Even doubting that they were vampire
hunters, there was something suspicious in the air. I felt that
they were having a quiet and fascinating discussion, being
discreet, because neither openly displayed any interest in anything
happening around them. It was fascinating to me, because now it was
fun to guess who was going to be the first to explode. Only their
eloquent eyes were moving, evidencing the critical energy between
them.

Suddenly one of them looked at me. The
colleague also noticed and looked at me with hostility. I smiled,
trying to appear sympathetic, but both reciprocated my gesture with
such contempt that I averted my eyes to the landscape, wishing that
the earth beneath the bus would open up and swallow me.

“You forgot Ittan Momen and Emma-o...” I
said to Delilah just to distract myself.

“Ah, it is! The sites I consulted on the
Internet say that Emma-o is the Japanese god of the underworld.”
She wiggled her eyebrows up and down. “Suggestive, don’t you
think?”

“Too much.” I said in a monotone.