Billie had taken to watching the classroom as they looked in their text books for the answers. Harlow had no clue that he may have caused her some trouble with the actual symbol like for warrior being on the board. Of course, Harlow had no idea of the brand on her side, just as he had tried to hide the same brand on his forearm. Because any demon that knew old demonic knew what it meant. The correct answers came from a familiar source. Molly Jaxson. Billie had tutored her years earlier, back when she was different. 

“Very good.” Billie complimented. “Now, these three symbols are three of the most easy to recognize, but they are also the most modified . Loyalty is often modified under different circumstances, pride is added to other symbols, and warrior has 200 different symbols that revolve around it, and each one is just slightly different from the last.”

Billie erased the board and drew two more symbols. “Can anyone tell me these?”

Adrian spoke this time, much to Billie’s  surprise. “Darkness and purity.”

Billie nodded. “Correct, however, these aren’t common aside from in the old tomes where the laws of hell are written out. These are the most recognizable symbols because humans use them today for a variety of things, completely unaware that if added to they could wreak havoc. For example,” she said, quickly taking a pen and drawing a symbol on her hand before adding to the one that was for purity. The demons in the room began cringing, Harlow not being affected because he had the symbol she had drawn on herself tattooed on the back of his left hand. Probably for this reason.

Cole looked at the floor behind her seeing a demon fall out of his seat before Billie erased the mark, the demons looking at her. Adrian had felt it, but he was half dragon and it only affected him by giving him a troubling headache. “What did you do?” Cole asked. “Why didn’t it affect anyone else?”

“Because, Colette, combining anything like an attack to the purity symbol will affect naïve  demons.” Harlow explained. Billie nodded, and Clary raised her hand.

“What happens if you add to darkness?” she asked.

“It affects angels. You have to consider, the dialect change happened at the beginning of the first angel – demon wars.” She answered, “But if you don’t know what you’re doing the changes can backfire and affect more than what you’re expecting.”

Harlow nodded and saw as Billie waved her hand and he saw all the packets open to the worksheet. “Did I cover enough for the worksheet?” Billie asked.

“Yes you did, go ahead and work on what’s in front of you, the answers can be found between pages 34 and 49. Billie and I are here if you have any other questions.” Harlow said, and Billie saw Clary quickly join the group of Clary, Salazar, and Drakon. Adrian was sitting by himself, staring at the text book, rubbing his head.

Billie could see he was in pain, but she ignored it as she walked over and sat in her seat near Harlow’s desk and opened up her book as she began writing down a few things. 

Cole and Clary had been talking about the assignment for a while before the topic came up. “Does Billie usually lie?” Cole finally asked, and Clary shrugged.

“Not often but she has. She is a demon, it’s in her nature to be deceitful,  even if she has that weird aura thing going on.” Clary explained. “And she didn’t technically lie, she said it was a loose translation, and you saw what a modification to a symbol could do, maybe it’s like that to transfer to other forms.”

Cole nodded, looking at Billie. Her aura right now was a storm cloud grey, where as last night it was the color of smoke. It was odd. She had never seen an aura so fickle before. It was odd, but soon Cole turned her attention back to the assignment. She noted Clary looking around the room, and she saw the demons still half staring Billie down as they did their assignment.

Harlow hadn’t stopped her either though, so obviously he knew it wasn’t too bad. Still, the fact that Old Demonic was just as powerful as Ancient Angelic concerned Cole. That meant that Salazar could be right about his recent visions and Drakon could also be correct in his most recent writings. They were in Ancient Angelic and she often translated for them, but these she wouldn’t tell what they said. They had been speaking of a whole new war of dark versus light. Not angel versus demon.

--

Alex was glad that Jordyn was so willing to help him, and he jotted down the high points of what she was saying. He nearly chuckled at Chambliss catching the group behind them cheating, and finally he answered Jordyn about who Devin was. “Devin is Billie’s ex. He’s the reason that the two groups no longer associate, unless it’s a bloody, fighting mess.” He explained, quietly before deciding to make the healing plant.

Granted, the poison may not have bothered him much, but if it did, he didn’t want to risk hurting anyone. It was an automatic response for him to ball up in fire when he was hurt or not feeling right. To keep people away. It had happened once last year, when he got mad and he trapped Billie in the fire cocoon with him. His true form was trying to bust out because of his rage, but Billie managed to ward away the feeling before it happened. 

He kept referencing back to the book as he went on making the healing rub. He wanted to get it right. He was a perfectionist when it came to school work, and when he was posing as a human ages back and had any job it showed through there. He also wanted to be diverse. His father was close minded, so Alex thought that the first and best way to not be like him was to keep an open mind.

“Does this look right?” he was squinting now. Obviously the Arch Mage needed to reenchant his glasses because the colors weren’t showing up so well anymore. He’d catch him at lunch today if he could about it. “Sorry, I know it should be green… I think that’s green anyway.” He said, trying to make out the color in the picture. It was only a hindrance in these classes, the rest of the time it was just an annoyance. Especially since it was all color he was blind to, so he felt like he lived in an I Love Lucy rerun.