86 Chapter 85: The disciplinary committee

"What do I get in return?" Lloyd mouthed.

Elize quickly looked away, unsettled by the Kelpie's actions. 

"What a flirt!" She whispered under her breath.

"Huh?" Agatha asked, confused.

"It's nothing." Elize said, dismissively. That's when she noticed that the blood on her friend's hand had dried. She quickly grabbed the witch's hand and checked her wound. She was surprised, seeing that the cut had completely healed and had not even left a trace of a mark behind.

"How?!" She asked, her eyes wide.

"That was a special spell." Agatha whispered with a wink.

"Did yours heal?" Legolas asked, putting his head in between the two.

"Uhhh..yeah you could say so." Elize lied, laughing awkwardly.

"You don't even have dried blood on your hand!" The elf exclaimed.

For a moment, she thought that she was going to get caught in her lies. Her eyes widened in fright as Legolas leaned towards her. But just as he reached out to grab her hand, Agatha swatted his hand away with an irritated look. The elf shrank back, confused.

"She's a neat freak." The witch explained. Turning him back to face the direction of the stage she said, "Now eyes ahead boy, we've not been dismissed yet."

Elize sighed in relief, looking at her friend gratefully.

"Now that you all have taken the pledge," Principal Mirembe's voice echoed the room once again. "I'd like to introduce all my dearest freshers to the fiercest witch on the campus- myself."

The entire crowd burst out laughing. Elize rolled her eyes at the poor joke.

"I am principal Mirembe and I will be your host during your entire academy years. I expect nothing short of excellence from my students. The ones in the gray capes are your seniors and the ones in the red capes are the senior most students of our academy. I expect all the freshers to behave with utmost respect towards all your seniors, as they will be the ones to guide you in our absence." The principal said in a stern tone. Pointing towards the man standing on her left she continued, "This is your headmaster Mister Lang Fu Shen. He is a werewolf and a war veteran. Hence you all better behave around him if you don't want your heads bitten off."

The hall filled with laughter again. This time, Elize too laughed along, seeing the surprised expression on headmaster Fu Shen's face.

"Last but not the least," Mirembe said, turning toward the Kelpie with a wide smile. "This is Lloyd Irving the second, your new Vice Principal."

As soon as the Kelpie stepped forward with a smile, the crowd went crazy. Girls were screaming out confessions of love and waving their hands at him. Elize scoffed at the reaction. What a boisterous name! If only they knew what an old geezer he was, she thought.

"My Lord marry me!"

"My Lord one date!"

"My Lord you're so handsome!"

"Such a show off! They wouldn't be screaming like this if they knew how old the horse was." She whispered to Agatha.

Agatha chuckled. "He's quite young for a Kelpie you know. His kind lives for centuries." She remarked, smiling at the crowd.

For centuries?! Elize thought, surprised. She knew that werewolves and witches had a long lifespan- they lived till a hundred and fifty years in some cases, ageing slightly slower from the moment they had full control of their powers. But centuries? It was way too long for any being to live. It was quite close to the immortality of Gods. Does that make them superior to others? Did other faeries share the same span of life time too? She wondered.

"You guys know the Lord?" Legolas's question brought her back to the reality. 

"Ahh you could say so." Agatha said with a shrug. "We met him yesterday in the Principal's office." 

"Woah! He's a big deal alright. I wonder why he took over the position at such a young age." The elf said, deep in thought.

The shouts and the cries from the crowd was only getting louder. Elize's ears were starting to hurt from all the noise. Just when it started to get out of control, she heard a loud thunder like noise shake the very base of the the arena. The whole crowd fell into silence, fear reflecting in their eyes. Elize's head snapped back to the dais in shock. What was that?!

She could see that the people in red capes on the stage had moved from their previous position. Now all three of them were standing in some sort of weird triangular formation beside Mirembe.

"They're the infamous Disciplinary Committee." Legolas whispered, leaning in.

"The what?" Elize asked, confused.

"Do you notice anything special about their robes?" Agatha asked, pointing towards the dais.

Elize narrowed her eyes at the students in red standing on the stage. She didn't notice anything odd about their capes until her eyes landed on a silver toned crescent moon on one of their chests. If not for the particular angle at which the girl in front was standing, she would have barely noticed it. Now that she'd seen it, her eyes searched for the same symbol on the rest of them. They all seemed to have the exact same symbol on their capes, on a spot lightly towards the right of the position of where one's heart should be.

"I see a crescent." She said in awe.

"That's their insignia. The committee has a total of sixteen members, consisting of the two most powerful students each from witches, werewolves, faeries, demi Gods and the four element spirits, although there are only three of them present here today. The girl you see to the left of Principal Mirembe is a water spirit and the two guys behind her are earth and air spirits. It was their combined energy that made the noise spell just now." Legolas paused. With a serious expression he continued, "Believe me, you wouldn't want to be caught anywhere near them. They're a ruthless bunch."

Elize nodded, deep in thought. A disciplinary committee huh? This academy must have a lot going on inside its four walls, she guessed. Her attention was once again diverted to the dais as Mirembe cleared her throat.

"Now that you've been introduced to the Disciplinary Committee, I hope you all will remember that our academy has no place for the unruly. Ladies, remember your manners at all times." The principal warned, her cold gaze sweeping through the crowd.

The woman had serious mood swings, Elize thought.

A deep laughter suddenly pierced the silent air. "I'm sure that they will, my dearest madame." The Kelpie said with a blindingly beautiful smile. Placing a soft hand on the old woman's shoulder, he continued, "It's a day of celebration. Why don't we cut them some slack?"

Mirembe raised a brow at Lloyd, clearly unimpressed. But she eventually nodded her head, turned her back to the crowd and walked away. The headmaster quickly fell into pace with her while the Kelpie stood back on the dais, grinning widely at the crowd.

"I am glad to take over the position that my late brother and my father before him had occupied. Don't worry, I'm not as adamant about discipline as your Principal is." He said with a wink.

"We love you!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

"Such a sweet talker." Elize remarked, shaking her head.

Lloyd laughed. "But I'm afraid that since we're in school premises, you all will have to remember to keep the school decorum." He said with an overtly sweet smile, the green in his eyes twinkling in mischief. "Everything else can be sorted out between us if you come to my office." 

"Yuck! I'll puke if he continues." Elize said, as some of the girls faked fainting.

She saw him turn to the the water spirit and say something in her ear. The girl smiled shyly at first and nodded her head excitedly. With a final wave to the crowd, the Vice Principal turned around and walked away.

"Hoods down!" The girl in the disciplinary committee commanded.

Soon everyone had their hoods down, sighing in relief. 

"What now?" Elize asked turning towards her friends.

"The best part." Legolas said patting his tummy.

Her tummy growled in response. Agatha laughed, shaking her head at her. Elize was relieved that she had gotten through half the night with nothing to worry at all. Now that the time had come to serve her famished stomach, she was happy. 

"Students disperse!" The water spirit's command rose above the murmurs.

"Hail the Goddess!" The crowd echoed in unison. 

"Finally! Let's go get food before the brownies finish all the dessert." Agatha said, pulling Elize and Legolas towards the exit.

Elize complied, pushing through the steady flow of students going out from the auditorium. Legolas followed behind the two girls, protecting them from the push and shove from all sides. As the trio moved towards the exit, they seemed like old friends, chatting and laughing with each other excitedly.