Realistic or Modern Miskatonic Academy Episode 01: Autumn Days, The Curtain Lifts

[TacitLaurel]

[CHECK OVERVIEW FOR WHAT THE RP IS ABOUT]


Episode 01: Autumn Days, The Curtain Lifts


It's a bitterly cold fall day and the clouds look like they will rain sleet on the unsuspecting heads the inhabitants of Miskatonic Academy and Sentinel Hill. The classes are almost over and inexplicably, an warm atmosphere hangs over the school. This peace is broken when an invisible prankster is attacking girls in the hallway. As their screams echo in the hallway, the stage of far grander plan is being set.


Episode List:


Episode 00: End of Summer

Spoiler

It is the beginning of the year. Summer break has finished and students, teachers and staff are coming back to school. Yet even in these peaceful days, there is something afoot in the halls of Miskatonic Academy.


Episode 01: Autumn Days, The Curtain Lifts [CURRENT EPISODE]

 

[TacitLaurel]

Claude was hunched over his desk and was visibly uncomfortable. In addition to the desk being a tight fit for him, he had a sneezing attack recently and he was sure that someone had seen his teeth. They were so embarrassing he could die. He would rather look like a grim faced disciplinarian than have those sticking out of his mouth. He sighed and lamented that he didn't get to class fast enough to secure a window seat. He was stuck in the middle of the class surrounded on all sides by people he didn't know.


Yes he was very uncomfortable. However, he did not regret running late. He was never an overly sentimental person, but the Volunteer Club room had many happy memories inside. So what if he didn't get the seat he wanted because he was reminiscing? There was nothing wrong with that.


After a few minutes, it seemed like the sneezes weren't coming back, so Claude took out his book on the history of boxing and began to read while he waited for the homeroom period to finish. The teacher droned on as he got engrossed in the pages of his book.

 

[Dorothy Hooke]

This was it. Or, Dorothy corrected herself, almost it. The last year of attending Miskatonic University. Absent-mindedly, she began to run her fingers over the wood of the desks. The same style of desk had been in use for 12 years, those creaky and old and uncomfortable ones that most schools had phased out long ago, from what she had gathered from visitors from the city. But, as she knew well from living in Sentinel Hill her entire life, nothing really changed here. She knew these desks probably went back to at least the fifties, judging from the dates scrawled underneath some desks by students long ago. She wouldn't be surprised if they went back further.


She snapped herself out of her random contemplation on wood, of all things, and back to the important subject-matter. Senior year. Dorothy wasn't quite sure how to feel. She wasn't as traditional as her parents or the rest of their generation - she was a young adult, and she felt the pull of the outside world, the means to strike out and make a life of her own. But at the same time... not only was Sentinel Hill her home of almost 18 years, it was also the only place she could find answers. She'd spent the last eight years of her life plumbing its depths and prying the few clues she had found from it. Dorothy wasn't sure she could just abandon so much of her life and pretend it hadn't happened. But she also didn't want to be trapped.


Dorothy sighed. This was too heady for the morning, especially the first day of school. She knew she didn't need to pay much attention to homeroom - it was the same spiel every year, just with the numbers filed off and replaced - but listening attentively always quelled her thoughts. So she did just that.

 

[Paul Grayson]

The heavy clop of booted feet accompanied the squeak of a loose wheel on Paul's bucket as he stalked the halls of the school. He knew what was coming. It was the same thing that happened every year. Things broken, things spilled, stains made, and nobody ever cleaning up their own messes. On the brightside, it paid well enough, provided lodging, and he could eat meals at the school. So, with a contented sigh that had been echoed throughout the halls for the last several years, Paul headed towards the front door. The footprints of a herd of children were a testament that the school was still well enough alive. With a practiced motion he flipped open a small sign and began mopping away at the dirt and muck by the front doors.

 

[Corinne Skye]

The growling voice broke up the monotony of yet another classroom on yet another first day of classes, breaking through Skye's halfhearted focus. "So do you think you'll make valedictorian?"


Skye looked down at the demon, as the beast rested its head on her desk, looking back up at her. A smudge on her glasses obscured part of his face, and she frowned at him through the blur. "I-" she started, cutting herself short. Right, no need to address him out loud and call attention to herself. I know it's mathematically possible, she thought.


Krause grinned, a fang-heavy look that appeared more hungry than happy. "That's not what I asked. It's mathematically possible for your grades to reach valedictorian, but I asked if you thought that you would." He didn't bother to whisper. Nobody but Skye could see or hear him there. Skye wasn't entirely sure if the demon was invisible, or just a hallucination he'd induced on her. He certainly had enough power over her to do that...


Maybe you could help with that, Skye shot back. At the head of the class, the teacher was going over the syllabus for the year, but Skye didn't really need to listen all that closely. The first day was always the same thing, and the syllabus wouldn't be anything she hadn't already read on the paper copy. Instead of just screwing around.


"Well, that is why you brought me here, isn't it," Krause said. "Of course I can make you valedictorian. I can make you the greatest student in Miskatonic. I can make you the greatest student in the world, even!"


Skye looked away. The demon wasn't exactly honest about his capabilities, nor about his willingness to help her. Or you can just mess me up. I didn't need glasses before I dared ask your help on finals week last spring, after all. What will valedictorian cost me? My hearing? My sanity? My soul?


"So dramatic," Krause laughed. "Your soul will be mine another day, Skye. But if you want me to help you in your academics this year, all you need to do is ask. So how about it?" He sat up, looking her in the eye with the amusement of a predator toying with his prey. "Do you want it?"


I... Skye frowned, already knowing the answer but hesitant to admit it. She hadn't come this far to settle for obscurity, and she twirled the ends of her hair in her hand as she delayed answering him. Yes. She focused her attention on him, putting force into her thoughts. You will help me this year.


Krause bowed his head. "And so I shall, Skye." She relaxed a little, certain her order had been heeded. But the demon looked back up at her. "But I think last spring proved how much more difficult it is to simply make you comprehend information all at once," he continued with a grin. "You'll hit the books as hard as I tell you to this year. And you will join a club. I don't care which, any of them will do." Skye felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as he said it, already knowing she had as little choice in the matter as Krause did. She had proudly gone from kindergarten through the eleventh grade avoiding any unnecessary extracurriculars, but the demon had proved adept at toying with her in the year since she had bound him. This year was unlikely to break from that tradition.

 

[Fengar]

"You know, this place is pretty big. Like...damn." Fengar said, not to anyone in particular. He was was surrounded by his stuff, bags and whatnot, in front of the school, not really knowing exactly what to do. He turned around, to ask the man who dropped him off if he had any idea where he was supposed to go, but the car was already in the distance, leaving Fengar all alone.


"Damn, and I tipped him like 5 bucks too. The least he could have done was say goodbye." he grumbled, but he understood. The school was in the middle of nowhere, guy probably had more fares to get to, unless bears in the forests nearby wanted a ride to town. "Excuse me, Mr. Taxi Man, but do you take payment in salmon and berries? I got important bear stuff to do downtown.". Fengar laughed at that, then was suddenly aware he was talking to himself and laughing, and realized how lucky he was no one was around, as they might think he was fucking crazy.


Damn, where the hell should I go? Should I leave my stuff here, try to find someone? He looked at the bags. Then at the school. Then at the bags. He made a frustrated noise. Whatever. its just clothes. plus this place gives out a uniform. I should be fine. Fengar smiled. He strode forward to the school's entrance and pushed the heavy doors and.....and they didn't move.


He pushed again.


Nothing.


He pulled.


The doors swung open easily.


Jesus, I'm such a dork.


He went inside the building, surprised to see how high up the ceiling was, arching over him like some kind of stone sky. He cast his eyes lower, noticing the marble floor, so shiny he could see his reflection. They must have a pretty good janitor or something. No one does that for free he mused. But aside from the really nice floor and high ceiling, Fengar didn't see anything that hinted at where he should go.


"Damn." He brought his watch to his face, 10:20, it read. Its still fairly early in the day, everyone must be in class. Looks like no one is coming to my rescue. Fengar groaned.


I don't have time for this.


"Can anyone help me?" Fengar asked the empty room. Couldn't hurt, right? Worst case scenario, no one answers. This'll save time.





Fengar looked around the empty room.


I really hope someone answers.

 

[Paul Grayson]

"Mind yer feet kid, the sign's up for a reason. I don't need any kids falling and cracking themselves open. They don't pay me enough to mop up blood anymore. If you're looking for the front office, which I can guess from your lack of uniform that you are, it's just down that main hall." Paul continues mopping the long hall, filling it with a strong pine scent. "Yer probably going to want to talk to the VP, Mark, he's usually the one that's on the up and up with new students."

 

[Fengar]

Fengar looked down at his feet, realized that he was tracking in dirt on the clean floor and started to shuffle around, in an attempt to get away from the mess he was causing.


Then he realized that no matter what he did, the dirt on his shoes was always one step behind.


A strong foe indeed. Fengar stopped and thought silently on how to defeat this injustice. Then, he sat on the floor and began taking off his shoes.


"H-Hey, sir, I really don't wanna mess up your nice floor, doesn't seem right, but I don't have anything to clean my shoes with right now. Is it okay if I left my shoes with you, so I could go look for this Mark fella?


Then Fengar thought a moment.


"Wait, did you say you used to mop up blood?"

 

[Paul Grayson]

"Well, yeah. You cram a bunch of kids in a confined area for 8 hours and you're gonna have accidents. Kids running through the halls and bouncing their noggins off the floor, kids jogging with scissors, the usual sort of thing. Also, keep your shoes on, you'll just get your socks dirty."


Paul places the mop into the bucket and begins to walk away down the hall, "Oh and next time just wipe your feet before coming in. It'll save both of us a lot of time."

 

[Fengar]

"Uh, yeah, sure. Sorry about the mess." Fengar looked around, awkwardly.


"Anyway, thanks for the directions, sir. I really appreciate. If you ever need any help, just let me know. Cleaning, yardwork, fighting evil, anything." He waved and smiled. "See you around!" Fengar called out, starting to walk down the main hall, leaving the Janitor behind.


Shit, I didn't even get his name!


But when Fengar turned around to ask, the Janitor was gone.


Wow. Ninja janitor. Another smile lit up Fengar's face. This place is so cool. All the janitors at Clark did was drink and yell slurs at us during lunch. Good guy.


But Fengar had a place to go, to grab a uniform, and maybe get some help with his bags. Just down the hallway, right? Wait, is this the door? He looked around, saw a sign that said in big bold letters Front Office. "I'm gonna guess this is the place." Fengar pushed the door. It didn't budge.


Dammit.


Fengar pulled the door and it swung open quite fast, surprising him, making him catch the door to prevent it from slamming into the wall. He let out a sigh of relief and stepped into the office, ready to greet whoever was inside.


No one was there.


Fengar looked around the room. Still no one. But he saw some chairs, and decided to take a seat. Someone is bound to show up. I can ask them for help.


He leaned back, got comfortable, and set his eyes on a clock on the wall. 10:30


I can rest for a bit, 10 minutes. I'm pretty tired, the plane, the drive, empty campus. Just a little nap. Just..a little...


And with that, Fengar drifted off.


 
Mark Richards was having a good day. He woke up, sun shining, to a new school year. Other people, they saw this job as a burden. having to handle all of the school's business, working behind the scenes, while the Principle got all the credit.


Not him. Mark loved his job. While he wasn't directly involved in the process of shaping young minds, he knew that, without him, it wouldn't happen. He was needed, an vital part of the school, and he made sure to do his part to the best of his ability. If a student had trouble, he was there. If a teacher needed more supplies, he got them. If something broke or was spilled....well, Paul was there, but he had hired Paul, so there.


"Let's see, what to do today..." Mark scanned through his mental to-do list quickly.


I checked around the school, saw if anything needed fixing, talked to the teachers, none of them needed anything, what else, what else.....YES. Transfer student.


Mark though it over quickly. He could of course show the boy around himself, but would that best? He shook his head. No, no.


His eyes lit up and a smile warmed up his face. Claude. Yes, Claude could indeed handle this. The boy was all alone, with all his club members being gone. He looked so gloomy these days. This task would give him something to focus on, maybe even a new friend.


The Vice Principle looked up at the ceiling and sighed.


He was only one man. He wanted to help all these kids, but he was only one man.


He took a pen into his hand and scrawled the note out to Claude, asking him to show around the new student around, Fengar Fuentez.


He smiled and made his way to the Volunteer's Club.


He might not be able to help everyone, but he didn't have too, with nice kids like Claude around.

 

[TacitLaurel]

Claude heard the bell signaling the end of home just as he started a new chapter in his book. Well, the book could always be finished at a later time. He had some free time on his hands. Quickly putting away his book and the various hand outs given out, Claude left his homeroom to go to his first period class. His schedule indicated that the next class was around the same place as the Volunteer Club room so he decided to go and check the requests box before class started.


Making his way through the torrent of students, Claude eventually reached the outside of the club and more importantly, the club box. A quick shake indicated that there was something inside. It was rather surprising because he didn't think there would be something that required the club's attention on the first day of school. Still, he was the leader (and only member) of the Volunteer Club and this made it his duty to carry out any request that came to the club. He took out the folded note in the box and began to read it with his usual impassive way he did most things.

Helloooooo Claude~
It's your ever hard working Vice Principal Richards! I have a very special request for you Claude! There is a new transfer student in the school and we need someone to show him around. I would do it myself, but I am ever so busy (:'(), so I thought to myself who could do this for me. And then my thoughts turned to you, the reliable adorkable upperclassman who is always such a big help~☆


So if you could pretty please come to the office and show the new student around that would be great.


Your Ever Hardworking Vice PrinciPAL,


Mark Richards~☆

Claude's face had contorted into a very pained grimace by the time he had finished reading the request. The atmosphere he was giving off unconsciously made the students heading to their classes give him a wide berth. What was worse was that the VP even drew what he assumed was a miniature self-caricature giving Claude a thumbs up with what Claude assumed was supposed to be a cheeky expression on its face. How much time did the self-proclaimed hardworking vice principal have on his hands anyway? Still, he should have come to expect those kinds of antics from the VP already.


Shaking away his bewilderment, Claude's stoic mask returned hiding away his embarrassing bottom canines once more. A request was a request no matter how dubious the source was. He assumed the VP already took care of things with the teacher and got him excused from class. Folding up the request and putting it in his blazer pocket, Claude headed to the office.

 

[Corinne Skye]

“This big guy looks delicious,” Krause enthused. “Can you believe he’s younger than you?”


Krause rested his head on Claude Stevenson’s shoulders, though of course the younger student couldn’t know he was there. He passed by oblivious, looking at a paper of some kind in his hands. Skye frowned at him. Don’t joke like that.


“Who’s joking?” Krause shot back with a laugh. “He has some meat on his bones, not like you. I could sit here for hours and...nom nom nom.”


Krause always had a macabre sense of humor. Must be a demon thing. Is there a reason you’re fantasizing about eating my fellow students?, she asked, staring him down through her glasses. Part of keeping a demon contained was staying firm with them. I know perfectly well you’re not going to do such a thing.


Claude noticed her, and she realized too late that with Krause’s invisible antics left her staring right at him.


After a second of staring back blankly, Claude switched to a puzzled expression and spoke up. "Is there something you want the Volunteer Club to look into, Miss...?"


“He’s the president of the Volunteer’s Club,” Krause said in an amused tone “Claude Stevenson.”


Very funny, she said, groaning inwardly. “Oh, my name’s Skye. Um, actually, I wanted to know if I could join the Volunteer’s Club” Skye said. The words spilled forth as if on autopilot, compelled from her by Krause. I thought I could choose any club!


“No,” Krause replied, “I just said I didn’t care which and that any club would do.”


It took a few seconds for Claude to process what she said. No one wanted to join the Volunteer Club ever. He expected that the club would be disbanded once he graduated. For the second time that day, Claude had been caught off guard.


"S-sure," he replied hastily before getting himself under control "Actually, give me a second."


He ran into the club room to get the form that Skye needed to fill out in order to join the club. From beyond the closed door, the sounds of heavy objects being moved around could be heard, because if he was being honest with himself, at this point, Claude had forgotten where the sign up forms were kept.


Skye blinked at the closed door, while Krause looked proud of himself. “Did you sense his surprise? You’re not thirty seconds in and you already made somebody’s day, Skye,” the demon said. “You’re a natural fit.”


After almost a minute of searching, Claude found the missing paper (or rather stack of papers) in the filing cabinet with a faulty lock. He exited the classroom with pen and paper in hand. Although he still kept his stoic expression, one could feel the self satisfaction rolling off of him.


"Okay," Claude told Skye as he handed her the form and pen "Just fill out the paper and follow me. We have a request to look into from the vice principal himself and since we have to stop by the office, we can drop off your application there."


Skye thought that she could see the shadow of a grimace when he said "vice principal".


Skye took the form and pen, casting a sidelong glance at Krause. This form certainly has some dust on it. She scanned its contents, filling out her information and placing her signature at the bottom. Her arm worked on autopilot, an unnatural sensation Skye still hadn't entirely gotten used to even after a year.


"You might as well try to sell it, Skye," Krause advised. He seemed pleased with himself, following around behind Claude.


She feigned a smile at her larger classmate. "I just decided it'd be good for me to give something back before I graduate. So what kind of things does the club normally do?"


Claude nodded to himself and gave short contemplative hum. That is why most seniors joined the club, after all. She was the only one who really wanted to help people from the bottom of her heart. To see her again...


His reverie lasted less than a second. He couldn't reminisce for long. He had a question from his new member to answer.


"Well we mostly just help around the school. We clean the town sometimes when the weather permits, do errands for the faculty, assist any clubs who needs the help and take requests from anyone who drops a request into the club's request box," he answered her "For example, right now we are going to show a new transfer student around the school because the vice principle couldn't be bo- excuse me, was too busy."


The last part was done awkwardly, as if he legitimately accidentally said that and tried covering it up with a polite cough. That was most likely the case.


Skye let the slip pass without comment. She knew what it was like trying to keep an inner dialogue under control, she mused with a glance at the demon next to them. For the first few months, she was almost constantly accidentally addressing the creature out loud, and worried she'd come off like a nutcase. "That sounds wonderful," Skye said in a neutral tone. "Um, please lead the way...can I just call you Claude?"


"I don't mind," Claude replied "Follow me."


The first period bell rang as they made their way to the office together.


- - -


Claude and Skye entered the office.


"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to submit your membership application," Claude told her before going to the secretary with her paper in hand "I assume the guy sitting over there with no uniform is the transfer student. Talk to him while I take care of this."


He left Skye with the new student, who sat motionless, not having noticed them. Not for the first time, Skye worried that's how she looked when she talked to Krause, too...


Krause rushed ahead of her, looming over the silent figure. "He's asleep," the demon said. "I wonder what he's dreaming about..."


Skye blinked at the younger student. He hadn't even been here an hour and he'd already fallen asleep? That didn't bode well. On the other hand, if he had transferred here, it was possible he had just moved. Maybe even from another time zone. School wasn't exactly a good place to sleep, but she didn't want to bother him. She shuffled indecisively for a few moments, and then turned and hurried after her new club-mate.


"Wait up, Claude. I think he's asleep."


Excusing himself from the secretary, Claude headed over Skye and the sleeping transfer student.


"Hmm, so he is," Claude said. He crossed his arms, raising one hand to rest his chin on in a pose he called "contemplation pose standing variant".


After a second of contemplation, Claude's eyes lit up. He found his answer.


"I do not want to bother the transfer student so I will take him to his room and we can do the tour another time," he finally said "You are excused from your Volunteer Club duties Skye."


He went back to the secretary to ask where the transfer student's dorm was and for a pair of keys to enter the dorm room. After receiving the keys, he returned and picked said student up in a princess carry.


"I'll see you after school in the club room Skye," he said before leaving.


"Right," Skye replied, glancing down at the transfer student in Claude's arms. She looked away after a moment so as not to stare, smiled at him, and headed for the door. Certainly seems strong enough, she noted to Krause.


As he was leaving, Claude had the feeling that he was forgetting something important, but couldn't exactly figure out what it was.

 

[Hunter Clark]

Hunter, having been at the school only a couple of years, already hated the usual first day non-academic lectures about rules. Today, he thought he'd enjoy the area around the school, sitting next to a tree and possibly napping. The air was crisp, but not too cold and he rather liked that.


Skye walked out of the adjacent building, blinking in the sunlight after spending time in the school office under fluorescent lighting. "I don't know," she said aloud. "I never really saw myself as the save-the-world type. Couldn't I have joined a...chess club or something?" She didn't bother keeping quiet, not outside by herself.


Krause paced next to her, grinning. "That would fit someone aiming for valedictorian, but you're already committed. Complaining about it won't help."


"I guess it could be worse. Claude seems nice enough." She stopped, scanning the familiar campus. She had been here every year since kindergarten, but every year sent her to classes in slightly different locations...there were still buildings she had never even entered. "It's a while before my next class, but I think it's over there."


Hearing a voice, Hunter woke from his nap a little groggy. Looking up, over his body, he saw a red haired girl in glasses casually chatting with herself. Then he remembered, the people at this school can be weird at times and it always seemed like something was up! Drawing out his journal and pen, he quickly jotted what he heard her say, then readied himself to write anything else she spouts.


"It's not a bad way to meet people, either," Krause continued. Skye started to object, but he spoke over her. "Not that that's what you want, but it couldn't hurt. Besides, you already have an admirer."


Skye stopped, confused by Krause's last sentiment. "Huh?"


Krause flashed a fanged grin, walking back across her field of vision, scooting around behind the nearby tree and glancing down at the younger student. "This boy looked up at you, then immediately pulled out this little notebook of his."


Skye blinked, instinctively looking away before repeating the same mistake she had with Claude that morning. Are you sure, or are you just screwing with me?


Krause shook his head. "Well, I don't want anyone too interested in you. Maybe you should see what he's up to?"


Upon the stanger not saying much, Hunter starts scribbling a rough description of her, glancing up constantly with no regard for common decency to strangers. Then she sees him, their eyes almost lock, and he quickly tucks the book and pen back into his pocket, realizing that his first impression shouldn't be him writing her biography. Standing up and brushing himself off a bit, Hunter decided to walk over to the miss.


"Hello!" his voice cracks at his obvious nervousness, "Um... well, I guess I should introduce myself, I'm Hunter. And you?" He extends a hand, hoping she isn't aware he was writing about her.


Skye took his hand, feigning a smile she didn't quite feel. "Skye. Nice to meet you."


Over the younger student's shoulder, Krause snickered and looked over at her. "You should at least look around before you start talking to me, Skye. You don't want a student with magic to get too curious about who you're talking to, do you?"


Skye tried to hide a frown, glancing away. Shut up, Krause. "I was just taking the scenic route to my next class, since it's such a nice day out here. What are you doing?"


Hunter assumed Skye doesn't like eye-contact, and avoided making too much of it.


"I was napping, but I heard you talking. Actually, funny thing, I'm not sure who you were talking to. I don't see anybody..." Hunter glanced around, making sure he wasn't blind to another's presence. Krause met his eye, the invisible demon just a foot away. "So, you mind telling me why you were talking to yourself? I'm rather curious."


Krause looked down, holding his head by Hunter's side pocket. Skye glanced down at him. Krause, look in his notebook and see what he wrote about me. She tried to project force in the thought, taking a firm tone with the command.


[dice]7178[/dice]


"Oh, I was just talking to myself," Skye lied. "I like to think out loud."


Krause snickered. "That would be too easy, Skye. I know you don't like confrontation, but why don't you just ask him what he was writing?"


Skye blurted the question out at Krause's command. "What were you writing?" she asked. Thinking quickly, she added, "Um, just curious. Are you a writer or something?"


Perplexed by her honesty about absent mindedly talking to herself, Hunter answered with, "Oh! My journal!" pulled out his journal, and flipped to the page with her description. "I have a terrible memory when it comes to people and like to ensure I remember when I see them. Especially when they do interesting things like talk to themselves." He then got shoulder-to-shoulder with Skye and showed her the description he wrote:


The odd redhead girl, wearing our school's uniform and some thin frame glasses, appears to be a junior or senior.


Hair: long/straight. Eyes:_______. Facial Features: slightly rounder/rosy cheeks/ slightly higher cheekbones Height: shorter, aprox __ft __in


"Sorry if it sounds offensive, I'm not delicate with words in my personal journal." He looked at the grass as she read what he wrote.


Skye tilted her head as she wrote. Well, no mention of demons. That was a relief. She didn't bother getting worked up at the writing about her, just glad it only described one person.


"Oh, I see," she said, dismissing the journal after scanning its last line. "It's alright, I guess. I was just curious."


"Oh! Let me see your eyes!" He then made very awkward eye contact and jotted Amber-ish into the eyes section.


"Thanks!" He gave her a slightly uncomfortable smile, feeling rather relieved she didn't turn the page back one and see the comments he wrote before her description. That would have been a nightmare. First girl that's made any real interest in him in a while, wouldn't want her seeing he thinks she has lost her marbles. He then closed his notebook, shoving it into his pocket and said,"I ought to be off. I've spent too much time daudling around that tree today."


"Alright," Skye said, a little relieved to get out of the conversation. "See you around."


They departed from each other.

 

[Paul Grayson]

Paul lugged the bucket, now filled with a murky, dirt filled water, through the halls and out through a backdoor. With a glance around he reassured himself that there was nobody around. He quickly reached down and pulled the bucket off it's base, revealing a small magical sigil carved into the plastic and outlined in chalk. Paul then threw the bucket of water into the grass and set empty plastic back onto it's base. A few quick wrings of the mop and he was on his way.


Because there were no students in the hallway, he didn't have to carefully maneuver his bucket through the maze that was students' legs no did he have to dodge any students. Paul made his way to the Janitor's closet in record time. He stored the mop and bucket combo inside and pulled a small shoebox sized, cardboard box. Flipping it open he pulled out a mousetrap from a pile of others inside the box. He had personally enhanced these to deal with the growing rodent problem in the basement and around the school. A thin slab of wood with a small section chiseled out, inside that section was a small sigil designed to attract rodents. This slab of wood was then glued to the underside of the mousetrap. A small hole was drilled from the top layer and into the second layer, so when the trap slapped shut it would place a small piece of iron, a nail, into the sigil, disrupting it. Paul had found out this was a good idea after the last attempt. Nothing sets off the quest for a solution like walking into a basement with more then 300 mice and rats that had been summoned.


Paul set the mousetrap back into the box and headed off for the basement. The amount of kids in the halls had lowered quite a bit in the last few minutes, probably due to the fact class was starting soon. He soon made his way to the basement door and unlocked it with a key from his ring of many similar keys, practiced hands made it an easy task to find it on the first try. After opening the door he stepped through and flicked on the switch by the wall, down inside a single incandescent bulb flickered to life, casting a mediocre attempt at light onto the furnaces and water heaters that made up the heart of the school. Paul made quick work of setting traps up around the dark and damp room, finding more then a few signs of recent activity. He hurried back up the stairs, not liking to spend any more time in the cramped location. He locked the door and checked the handle, making sure it was locked.


He quickly made his way around the school, depositing the traps in different locations, including the kitchen and around back, by the trashcans. Seeing that his box was empty he headed back to his closet and sat in his chair, content in his current work. He poured himself a cup of coffee out of a thermos and flipped open a nearby magazine of Popular Mechanics. It was a newer one, from August, Paul flipped to page 65 and quickly dreams of motorcycles and cruising for chicks began to fill his head.

 

[Corinne Skye]

It was well after the beginning of class, and Skye knocked on the classroom's closed door and waited patiently to be acknowledged before entering.


"You're late, Ms. Skye," Mrs. Finch said. "Do you have a pass?" Inside, every student in the room looked up at the intrusion, and Skye shuffled uncomfortably on her feet at the attention.


"A pass?" Of course, tardiness wasn't exactly smiled upon... "Um, I must have forgotten it at the office. With respect, I've taken enough of the class's time; may I retrieve it at the office later and get it back to you at the end of the day, Mrs. Finch?"


"...have a seat," the teacher allowed. Skye awkwardly shuffled past the rows of old wooden desks, feeling eyes on her still. She settled in for one more class of introductions and syllabi.


First day and I'm already failing to keep up, Skye thought to herself. Most valedictorians have tons of extracurriculars. What if I can't keep up?


"Lesser demons than I have done greater things than improving a teenager's grades, Skye." Krause said, flashing her another fanged grin. "I wouldn't worry."


Meanwhile, in his class, Claude suddenly remembered that he never got around to requesting that Skye be excused from her classes.


Well, it's only the first day of school. She wouldn't be too bothered right? Claude thought to himself.

 

[TacitLaurel]

Time skip: Classes have finished and after school hours have begun.


 
Skye stopped at the club's room door, hesitating before entering. What if I can't juggle the Volunteer Club and studying to keep my grades up?


"I will help you keep studying then," Krause said.


Skye knew how that particular brand of help went. She didn't particularly relish the thought of long nights spent hypnotized, unable to look away from a textbook.


...maybe it'd be better if I just talked to Claude about it. I'm sure there are plenty of other people who might also sign up for the club, so it's not like he'll only have me to rely on. Right?


Skye's entrance broke the usual silence of the Volunteer's Club room, and startled Claude as Skye marched in on what he had long since gotten used to as personal - and frequently alone - time. Scattered game pieces were all that remained of Claude's game of Civilization. Skye noted that he had been playing what was currently a 5 player game by himself. Some of the discarded units suggested that he had been playing with more before she came to the room.


"Hey, Claude," she said, blinking and looking around at the room. "Oh, I'm the first one to show up?"


"Only one actually," Claude replied as he started putting the board, cards and pieces back inside their box. Little point in continuing the game now.


"Other than me, you are the only member of the Volunteer Club," he told her, prompting a fit of laughter from Krause.


Skye consciously tried not to slump her shoulders. "Oh, I see. Well, don't worry, it's only the first day. I'm sure there'll be others."


I will bind you to a squirrel, Krause!


Her threat just prompted more laughter.


"I'm sure there will be," Claude said with a smile that contained no happiness. After a few seconds, it left his face and he went back to his usual stoic expression.


"I know full well what will happen to the club once I graduate, Skye."


Skye frowned, surprised at Claude's sudden change in tone.


"Oh, I see. I hadn't really looked into the club's numbers when I decided to join."


With a glance at Krause, who loomed over Claude's shoulders, she pulled a chair over and sat across from him.


"I need to give a tardy pass to Mrs. Finch. I have her for math again this year, and I was late to her class."


He remembered Mrs. Finch from his previous year and could sympathize. She was a pain to deal with. It was also his fault that she was late in the first place.


"I'll have this dealt with by tomorrow," Claude told her as he took out the small memo pad he kept with him and wrote down a reminder.


After putting the pad back inside his pocket, he picked up the game box and headed to the walk in closet to put it away.


"Thanks," Skye said, with more genuine relief.


Krause paced around the side of the room. "If you were to get some other people to volunteer," he said aloud, as if talking to himself, "you could get out of some of the club's duties without looking bad."


Skye glanced at the demon, but didn't reply. She looked back at Claude and hesitated. "...I'm aiming to become valedictorian," she admitted after a few moments. "If I make straight As this year, I can manage it grades-wise. So I don't want one of my teachers thinking I'm lazy."


"That's an admirable goal," Claude told her from inside the closet "I'm confident in my ability to take care of club business on my own when you aren't here. Focus on your school work."


I don't mind being alone anymore. That was the plan for this club until I graduated anyway. Claude added to himself.


"Is there anything else you need help with," Claude said as he stepped out and went to his seat at the club president's desk.


"No, no, I'm still wanting to be an active part of the club," Skye said, her words coming somewhat involuntarily as Krause glanced at her. She paused a second, trying to keep up. "Being valedictorian isn't just about having the best grades. It's about being part of the school and community." Community had never been her strong suit.


"Claude works closely with the Vice-Principal, Skye," Krause said, coolly "Someone you're going to need to be close with to be elected valedictorian anyway."


Is that why you made me join this club in particular?


"Maybe." A fanged grin.


"Um," Skye paused, not wanting to trail off in her conversation. "Besides, I'd like to help people."


Claude adopted the sitting version of his contemplation pose while thinking about how to solve this.


"Perhaps, you only have to do club duties on certain days of the week," he suggested "or maybe you can just study and do your work in this room. Not many people come here with requests so you're free to do whatever you want in here."


"That will work fine. And don't worry about it, I'm sure I can manage. I don't really do much else but read or watch TV." She paused. "If you don't think anyone will come around, why don't we get some food over at the cafeteria and talk there?"


"Well..." Claude started somewhat akwardly "Alright let's go."


He wasn't used to leaving the clubroom so early and was uncomfortable to break that tradition. He took a breath before getting up and dispelling his unease. He walked to the door and opened it.


"After you."


His grandfather taught him that he must always open the door for guests when they leave. The heir of the Stevenson fortune musn't disgrace the family name by being anything other than the perfect gentleman. Grandfather was never wrong.


According to Grandfather that is.


- - -


The cafeteria was quiet at this time of day. Just after classes, most students were eager to be anywhere other than the school building, and it was too early for the dinner rush for tose students living in the dorms. Skye regularly ate dinner at this quiet hour, and she entered the cafeteria more comfortably than Claude.


"So what about you?" she asked, heading for a self-serve buffet under glowing heat lamps"Why did you decide to run the club - alone, even?"


"When I came here in during freshman year, I knew nobody at the school and no one really wanted to talk to me because of my, well unique appearance," Claude told her sheepishly as he went with her to the self-serve buffet to get some food for himself as well. Beyond them, Krause walked past, snooping around behind the buffet table.


"Then one day, a senior I had never met before came up to me and dragged me to the Volunteer Club room and told me I was their new member. I've been there ever since," he concluded as he kept piling more and more food on his crowded plate "I guess I run the club because of how much I admired her and also for the club members that had already graduated."


A nostalgic smile had crept on to his face when he had finished.


"I see," Skye started, collecting a salad in a large bowl. "I-" Her words were cut off, by a loud SNAP!, a snarl, and an object flying just inches between Claude and Skye's heads. "Ah!"


A surprised grunt came from Claude as he quickly turned around to see what flew past, being careful not to drop his food.


Krause stood behind the buffet, looking furious. It was an unsettling look; Skye had long since gotten used to the beast, but she had never seen him so provoked, his mouth twisted into a terrifying snarl. She blinked, turning and looking at what had flown past them. She left a tray of food on the buffet counter, and walked over, examining several pieces of a small broken wood and metal device. "A...mousetrap?"


Claude walked to the nearest table to put down his tray before going over to the remains of the mousetrap to examine it.


"So it appears," Claude said more to himself "but what made it fly through the air..."


He picked up the remains and turned them over in his hands. It looked like a normal moustrap save for the odd knicks and carvings here and there.


On closer inspection, those knicks and carvings formed a pattern. A rather familiar pattern. On a whim, Claude put two of the pieces together to try and guess what the pattern was and if this really was what he thought it was.


What he saw was a half of a an intricately made circle with what he recognized as scholastic ogham, one of the most commonly used alphabets for rune type magic. The mousetrap suggested an alchemist.


His eyes widened in surprise. Because of his relatively quiet sophomore year, he assumed he wouldn't have that many supernatural incidents to deal with this year. The magic mousetrap on the first day of school dispelled this assumption. It could only be an omen about how busy the rest of the year would be.


Skye stepped back as Claude examined the broken contraption. What the hell, Krause?


"It...caught my eye," the demon snarled back, taking an audible, huffing breath. "That's all."


"Um," Skye said, "maybe it got flipped over and the spring launched it?"


"Perhaps," Claude said distactedly "But we still need to track down whoever placed this. Someone could have been seriously hurt."


More importantly, I need to find whatever set off the magic on the mousetraps Claude thought to himself Mousetraps contain the innate concept of pest removal and more generally territory control and security, which makes it easier to enchant them with spells that would pick up on unwanted presences and attack or inform the alchemist who did the enchantment. Because I can't read runes, this is all guesswork but there is a high probability that this mousetrap was meant for similar secruity purposes. In this case however, unwanted presence could mean anything from magical rats to a demon.


He dismissed the demon possibility immediatley because he doubted a demon would only merely set off traps. They were far more destructive than that.


Still, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared for any encounter


Skye collected her food and set it at the table, then walked over.


Runes. she remarked internally Another magic user is in the building?


"...maybe we should ask the janitor. He might know about any mouse problems on campus."

 

[Hunter Clark]

After a long day of semi-fruitless people watching and skipping the vacuous beginnings of the school year, Hunter retired to his dorm room. He looked at the pile of dirty clothes on the floor, his open, vacant closet and realized he still hadn't done his laundry. Or cleaned for that matter. The room was littered with clothes, his garbage can at the end of the bed was bulging with wrappers of various sorts, and his desk was cluttered with nonsensical theories about why Sentinel Hill has such a queer history. He picked one up and read:


Maybe once there was an alien being that descended from the great beyond, lying in the background


No, there is an ancient being from the before times, now residing under the hill


NO! Most definitely mutants exist! Like in those comic books!


No, no, no


All of it was crossed out, with the last string unfinished, beginning only with another no. Crumpling up the paper and cramming it into the already full trashcan, Hunter then seated himself at his desk, laid his head down, and began recollecting his day in his head.


Then it struck him, there was that weird chick with the glasses! He halfway bounded out of his chair in excitement, the old wooden chair falling behind him and his hand flying into and out of his pocket in overwhelming joy. He hadn't had leads on anything all summer! Flipping to the page with his short description of Skye along with his previously shorter synopsis of her ramblings, he started re-reading his entry.


Someone's talking to no VISIBLE person, she said something about saving the world, a chess club?, and then "Could be worse, Claude seems nice enough (that's that one lone student who runs the Volunteer Club), a while until next class, somewhere over there." lastly a very confused "huh?" after a long pause in speech. Se seems rather odd, maybe crazy.


He then started reviewing the scene in his head, writing down their interactions and his opinions as well as he could remember:


The introduction was brief, but to the point. She seemed friendly and was looking at me while I wrote. Wonder what made her notice me. Sonar like senses... No... Anyhow, she must like the scenery on Sentinel Hill to take scenic routes to class, also she was interested in what I was doing. Not a first, but definitely not a common question from older girls. When questioned about her talking to herself, she said she likes to think aloud, but I think it was something else. Maybe she's a psychic and has telecommunication powers! Possible... that... or she's nuts. Again, shows interest in me and my journal. The more I think, the more weird she is. I'm too plain to be interesting. I must investigate her further.


Hunter then closed his journal, drew some ink from his desk to refill his pen, and did his routine pen maintenance. Finally, it was time for him to rest. Though he napped today, he still felt tired. Probably because it was a Monday. Everyone hated Mondays. So, he shuffled over to his bed, wrapped himself in blankets (that probably need to be washed too), and realized he forgot dinner... again...

 

[Paul Grayson]

A while later, Skye and Claude wandered the halls of the administration building, looking for any of the janitors. "I kinda wish I had some coffee right now," Skye said idly. "I usually get some from a cafe in Sentinel Hill right about now."


"I have some tea back at the club room," Claude offered "We can have some when we finish this business with our mystery janitor."


"That would be lovely," Skye said with a polite tone.


Behind her, Krause rolled his eyes. "What, are you going to have a little tea party with scones and biscuits?"


Careful or I'll make you cook the scones, Skye responded dryly.


Paul glanced at his watch, 4:33 PM. Just about time to start cleaning up the place he thought to himself. Paul set down the magazine and poured himself a large mug of coffee, he then placed it, alongside his almost empty thermos, on top of his utility cart and gathered up his cleaning supplies. With a practiced ritual he opened up the closet door and headed to a nearby bathroom.


"Excuse me!" Skye called out as she spotted the janitor. She quickened her pace and hurried over.


"Can I help you with something?"


"Do you know anything about these mousetraps?" Skye held the broken piece of the mousetrap up.


"Yes. Those are traps used to catch and kill mice. I'd recommend washing your hands after touching them. Also how in the world did that get smashed? Did you run a car over it or something?"


"This mousetrap was triggered by something and was launched into the air at great speed," Claude explained "It ended up breaking after it hit the floor I'm assuming. Someone could have been hurt by this so I suggest replacing these traps with a different brand-"


"One that does not have those runes!" Krause interjected with a snarl.


"- before someone does get hurt."


"So what you're saying is, someone threw a mousetrap across a room, hard enough to break it, and because of that I need to buy new mousetraps of a different brand?"


Skye shook her head. "Nobody else was around where it came from. It was in the cafeteria, at around four. Claude and I were the only people by the buffet table. It flew right past my head so I saw which direction it came from."


Paul chuckled, "I'm sorry, but mousetraps don't just fly around by themselves. Something would have had to throw them around. It's not like they're magic or anything."


Claude gave a polite if a bit exaggerated cough. Skye did as well.


Paul's eyes narrowed, "You've got to be shittin' me."


Claude glanced over at Skye.


What was that cough for? No way she is aware of- No impossible. The supernatural is a tightly kept secret, Claude thought to himself.


"I wonder what he coughed for?" Krause asked, idly. "I doubt a kid like him is aware of beings like us. We're a tightly kept secret amongst you humans."


"...Of course not," Skye said after an awkwardly long pause.


Paul sighed and pushed his cart off to the side, "Come with me, we need to talk." Paul made his way over to the locked basement door and unlocked it, he began the descent down and left the door open behind him.


Skye followed suit, warily. She knew Paul by sight - she had seen him pass by countless times in the past seven years - but she had never gotten to know the man. She cast a glance at Claude behind her as she walked down into the basement.


Claude kept his poker face as he closed the door and descended with them. He wasn't sure what to think right now. The janitor was obviously the alchemist responsible for the traps based on his reaction. However, Skye coughing along with him when Paul claimed the traps weren't magical threw him off balance. This implied that she was aware of the supernatural. He had to be on guard.


Inside the dimly lit basement sat a variety of mousetraps that littered the concrete floor, about half of them had been set off by unfortunate mice. Along the walls sat several water heaters, a mess of gas and water pipes creating a webbing that threw a hodge podge of shadows onto the cinder blocks behind them. In the far corner sat the fuse-box, the door slightly ajar. A slight smell of mildew hung in the air.


"Have a seat," Paul told them as he grabbed a chair.


After waiting for them to be seated, he talked again.


"You both know, don't you?"


"Know what?" Skye and Claude said in unison.


Krause glowered at some of the mousetraps, stepping back and giving a low growl.


"Magic, hocus pocus. You both seem to be aware of the meaning or at least the nature of the runes carved inside of the mousetrap. Not to mention the fact that the mousetrap was glued together to hide the runes, meaning you would have had to rip it apart to get inside of it. So where did you guys pick up on it at?"


Skye glanced at Claude, uncertain. "...I don't suppose you'd believe me if I said I had no idea what you're talking about?"


"No, I wouldn't believe you."


"I have no idea what it is you speak of," Claude said in a neutral tone while adjusting imaginary glasses.


Skye crossed her arms. "...fine," she started, hesitantly. "I've been studying alchemy for several years now."


Well that confirms my suspicions Claude thought to himself Although it is strange that an alchemist, no matter how much of an amateur, would come to join an unpopular club. It is too much of a coincidence.


"Well, in that case I suppose I should come off clean," Claude started.


He cleared his throat before continuing "I have no outstanding supernatural abilities of my own, but I have done exorcisms in this school since my Freshman year as part of my Volunteer Club duties."


"An exorcist," Krause spat. "He's actually one of few kinds of people who could sniff me out here. Perhaps this club wasn't the best choice after all. But so be it - if he did such a thing I'm sure I could manage to hypnotize him."


Well, too bad. I'm kind of liking the club now, Skye shot back dryly.


"Exorcism is nothing to scoff at, never had much of a talent for it myself. I am fairly decent with alchemy though. I learned it from my father and him from his. If you managed to learn alchemy on your own, that's an impressive feat, but I'd be careful. Don't stray too far into the unknown without guidance."


"I wouldn't dream of it," Skye said, staring straight at the invisible demon next to her. "You could end up conjuring a nuisance, or worse. Anyway, what I was really thinking was that it's possible these runes you made attracted something other than mice. That would explain why it was thrown."


"Or perhaps there is something lurking around that would set off the mousetraps' enchantments," Claude added "In which case we should all be on the look out for something as insignificant as a magical mouse to a poltergeist. I doubt a demon would be behind this though as they are far more destructive." Krause loomed over Claude's shoulder at that, humming in approval.


"I agree," Skye said with feigned confidence. "We can rule out anything serious like a demon at least. We'd have more signs than just a tossed mousetrap. It might be an imp or a ghost or something."


"Generally ghosts don't interact with the physical world too much, though anything with a rune could be thought of as slightly reaching into the nonphysical world to draw it's power. It's possible that a ghost was affected by it, but very unlikely. The same goes for an imp, they're pranksters more then anything. More likely they'd have set up the mousetraps to go off on someone in response to them even existing. Demons are usually more... manipulative. They make people do things. They've got better things to do then throw around a petty mousetrap."


"You don't say," Skye said dryly. "Well, maybe it attracted some kind of minor beast, like a...dire rat or something, and it threw it at us in a fit after it snapped?" If I got them to believe that, and then summoned a small creature, they'd likely assume it was at fault and stop looking, she thought to herself. Better they do that than cast some kind of spell that could reveal Krause.


"Well that is a possibility," Claude admitted "But we shouldn't risk it. First thing tomorrow, I'll set up a tracking circle and see if I can reveal what set off the mousetrap."


"Where will you set it up?" Skye asked. It wouldn't do for Krause to walk through one.


"Well, we'll clear the center of the club room and draw one there," Claude answered "I have the necessary materials and reference texts in the closet."


He then turned to Paul. "If there is nothing else, we'll take our leave. Try to make your traps a little less sensitive so someone doesn't get hurt next time."


"Right," Skye agreed. "The runes shouldn't be powerful enough to attract anything bigger than a mouse."


"The traps have nothing to do with it. The runes barely draw any power and can't attract anything more than a few foot away, I can't exactly tone down a mousetrap. It's something that threw it or ripped it apart and then threw it. I can't exactly prepare against that. Also, I swear if you draw that rune on the floor I will find some way to pay you back. Who do you think cleans that shit up?"


Krause growled. "I just got curious when I sensed it. I don't like being in this room full of the damned things, though. Let's leave, Skye."


"We'll be sure to clean up after ourselves," Skye reassured him. "Claude, I'll see you tomorrow morning?"


"I did promise you some tea though," Claude said as he stood up and walked to the stairs.


"Save it for tomorrow morning," Skye suggested. "We'll need to come in early to make a tracking circle for our wayward pest. I'll help you with it."


"It's a date then," Claude said as he went up the stairs "I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good day Mr. Janitor."


"You kids have fun. Oh, and the name's Paul."


"I'll be sure to remember that, Mr. Paul," Claude replied while opening the door.


"The Volunteer Club will let you know what we find out, Mr. Paul," Skye said over her shoulder as she followed Claude up the stairs. "Have a good afternoon."


I'm gonna need a lot more coffee Paul thought to himself as he gathered up the traps in the basement and headed up the flight of stairs.

 

[Corinne Skye]

Time skip: Late at night.


"Wake up, Skye." Krause's low voice growled. "It's a little after midnight."


Skye sat up, blinking away the vestiges of sleepiness. She had fallen asleep on her couch, and the TV in front of her was now playing a droning infomercial advertising The Time Ring by Sato!, some useless product Skye didn't bother gathering details on. She yawned, turning on a lamp and turning the TV off. Her dorm was a two-room suite, with a messy, ill-kept bedroom and a living room she kept more tidy despite never entertaining visitors. A pile of textbooks for this semester was stacked on her desk, and her backpack sat on a chair where she had left it.


It was dark outside the window, and Skye stood and stumbled across the room to look outside. Everything seemed still and quiet outside. She stepped over to the kitchenette, digging around in the fridge and extracting a cup of yogurt. "Time for a little summoning work," Krause said. "Because neither of us can afford to have Claude leaving tracking or revealing runes lying around for too long."


"Just let me eat first," Skye mumbled, already heading to the door nonetheless. She could eat on the way. She quietly made her way out of her dorm, locking her door behind her, and padded down the hall under the half-lit fluorescents, to the stairwell. It was worth keeping quiet - the campus curfew was 10pm, and she could get in trouble if she were caught even before breaking into any of the school buildings.


Miskatonic Academy was a quiet place at night. The streetlights kept the campus well-lit, but trees hid the nearby town of Sentinel Hill, and so at a glance the whole campus seemed surrounded in darkness. Krause followed along, looking around for any other sign of life. "It seems pretty quiet," he observed as Skye stepped outside the dorm building. "Just you and me, Skye."


"I could start singing if you want, now that we're outside" Skye said. "I didn't bring a radio or anything."


"Ugh." Krause growled. "I don't understand you humans and your music at all."


Skye shook away the last vestiges of vague fog of sleepiness, and reached for a recent song she could recall the lyrics of from the radio. "We're no strangers to love!" she started, laughing to herself at Krause's provocation. She kept her voice low, lest she wake anyone up. "You know the rules, and so do I!"


"I will eat your soul if you don't stop," Krause growled. But he didn't mean it, Skye knew. It was his default protest when he didn't like something.


About this time, Hunter had already been prepping for his usual night owl perusing of the campus's night life. He had been going for his keys and journal, both near his window and desk, when he saw some girl casually walking out of the dorm. She appeared to be looking over her shoulder and mouthing words. Then... singing? Her gestures seemed to indicate so. Who sings while meandering into the woods at midnight? Though this was one of the weirdest things Hunter had seen in a while, it didn't stop his nostalgia while he caught up with her. He remembered the times his mother took him to musicals; the people were so alive, so vibrant, and their singing so astonishing. The last one he recalled was a musical by the name of Me and My Girl, with a song the same as the title going:


Me and my girl,


Meant for each other,


Sent for each other,


And liking it so.


Me and my girl,


'Sno use pretending,


We knew the ending a long time ago


It was sung rather dryly by an odd couple wearing clothes from the 40's. It sounded a lot like the two were shouting so the audience could hear, but Hunter didn't remember much else. Dragging himself back to reality, he noticed he was outside already. He looked to the trees where he thought the girl had gone and started his trek forward.


Skye didn't take the walkways around campus - if anyone else were outside, that would be where she'd run into them. Instead, she headed for the trees, taking a shortcut through the treeline to reach the administration building. "Long term commitment's what I'm thinking of. You wouldn't get this from any other guuuuy!"


Hearing some girl's voice, he realized that must be her and promptly kept himself out of whatever he thought line of sight was while skulking. Unable to make out much, he kept to using his ears.


Skye headed through the trees, ceasing her song but laughing at Krause's annoyance. "It's a catchy song."


Hunter thought her laughter was wildly disturbing. She had no one with her! Why is she laughing!


"It's an annoying song. It sounds like the kind of song you'd play just to annoy someone."


"Oh, who would do that?" Skye asked. "Don't be ridiculous."


Perplexed, Hunter began jotting down what she was saying as he walked, hoping it would be legible later.


Skye went quiet as she emerged near the administration building. "At least I have a key," she said in a quieter voice, pulling out a plastic card. She quietly approached the back door of the building, testing the door's handle. It wasn't even locked, and she blinked in surprise before pocketing the card. "Oh." She slipped in, quietly closing the door behind her.


Clinging to the trees on the edge of the surrounding area, Hunter simply watched Skye enter. Taking note of her not using her card to enter. Good, I don't have to break in... again...


Krause took the lead, patrolling for any signs of anyone else being present. But that wasn't likely, Skye figured - it was the first day of classes, so there was no reason for the faculty to work so late at least. She quietly headed up the stairs, down the hall to the Volunteer Club's clubroom. But Krause walked up to the door and tensed. "Stop, Skye. Ssh," he hissed.


About this time, Hunter was just getting through the main hall, endeavoring to follow her footsteps toward the upper floor. Hunter kept to walls in hopes he could stay out of sight. He eventually caught up to her, seeing her stand in the hallway in front of the Volunteer Club's door. She seemed oddly silent all the sudden.


What is it, Krause? Skye tensed, looking around.


"I think Claude is in there...and the janitor, too. I can hear their voices. We can't use their alchemy supplies for this."


Now that she strained her ears, Skye could hear talking from the club room.


"Kid, I don't know who taught you how to do that with your hands, but that was amazing"


"I've been practicing everyday for the proper occasion, although I have to say Mr. Paul, your technique is just sublime"


"Well it's like my father taught me, sometimes you just have to work your fingers right and sometimes you just have to get the whole hand in there and twist."


"I would love to meet your father Mr. Paul. Perhaps we can schedule an appointment for some private lessons."


Right. Skye turned and hastened back down the hall, hurrying as fast as she could walk without making audible footsteps. Krause hustled to move ahead of her.


Flustered by her suddenly walking at him, Hunter attempted to dodge into the nearest room.


Click. Click. The door was locked


That's not conspicuous. He thought to himself as the girl got ever closer. He glanced back and realized she was right there, and there was no way for him to get out of this situation. Think, think! Why am I here! Wait! Isn't that Skye? What is she doing here at this hour?


Krause stopped as he reached the corner. "It's another student," he growled. "I recognize him. The one you met earlier today, with the notebook."


Skye frowned. What was his name...? More importantly, what was he doing here? She hesitated, not sure what to do. Well, he wasn't going to get her in trouble, but she also didn't want anyone talking about having seen her here... She took a breath, and walked around the corner, feigning surprise. "Ah! Uh, what are you doing here?"


"Uh... I can't explain what I'm doing here." Hunter broke the silence, slowly taking his hands off the doorknob.


"...I forgot something from my bag," Skye lied. "I thought it was in the clubroom, but now I think I left it in the library. I kind of need it, so I thought I'd come look for it." With a pause she added, "I didn't see you, you didn't see me. Okay?"


[dice]7300[/dice]


"Wait what? Hold on, I'll agree on one condition. Some time, your choosing, we sit down and talk. You're acting strange, and have been on multiple occasions now. I need to crack this mystery. Agreed?" Hunter spoke slowly at first, speeding up his speech as he felt Skye was tense and trying to get away.


Skye blinked. "Well," she started, thrown by his unusual request. "Fine. I'll see you around sometime this week."


"I didn't see you then. I'll be off now. Good luck finding your... thing." Hunter promptly left with a feeling of accomplishment. Once outside the building, he used the lights to jot down the interaction, closed it, and departed for his room.


---


Wiping the sweat off his brow, Claude stood up and grabbed his blazer from the coat rack.


"All right, looks like the circle is finished," he said "but the heat created by this amount of magical energy is something I've never seen before. You have to show me your methods sometime."


Paul remained on the floor sipping his tea. "Maybe later kid. It's pretty late right now."


"I supposed so," Claude answered "Will you be staying?"


"Yeah I'll be finishing this tea and then I'll be on my way."


"In that case, have a good night Mr. Paul"


"Just call me Paul, kid"


"Hmm, then good night Paul" Claude exited the room and headed to his dorm.


---


A short time later, Skye let herself into the library, heading downstairs into its basement. She knew this building well, and especially the alchemy lab hidden in the basement. It was where she had summoned Krause a year ago.


The runes on the wall were almost impossible to spot if you didn't know exactly what to look for, but they indicated the real purpose of an otherwise unused room. She let herself into the room, jamming the lock with her student ID card. "Ah, I remember this place," Krause said in some amusement. "Get started with the circle while I prepare the runes."


Skye made sure there were cleaning supplies available, as well as a sturdy plastic container for actually catching the small beast. It wouldn't do to leave evidence of a summoning just lying around, and she'd have to get it to the clubroom without Claude noticing. Within an hour, the summoning circle was ready - it was only a small creature, and a demon made for an experienced partner for constructing such things. She laid out a secondary circle around it as a containment field - a worthwhile precaution, should the summoning go wrong somehow.


But still, Skye was nervous. The last time she tried to summon a minor creature, she got accidentally bonded with a demon. What if that happened again? She didn't mind Krause, despite his manipulation and antics he was sadly the closest thing she had to a true personal friend.


And the good news was, she wouldn't have to try to force the small creature to do her bidding. Krause could take care of that for her. She powered the intricate summoning circle with a smaller, more basic pattern, laying out runes to dictate the flow of magical energy in the desired direction. In a few minutes, the largest, most foul-tempered rat Skye had ever seen faded into view, snarling and hissing. That was good - it was large enough, at least, to send the small mousetrap flying.


Krause immediately pounced on it once Skye lowered the containing field, taking the very rare opportunity to reveal himself to anyone other than Skye. He dwarfed the small creature, pinning it down and snarling, showing his gaping maw and fearsome array of pointed teeth to intimidate the small creature into compliance. Fortunately, having a demon around made controlling such a lesser creature much easier.


"Charming as always, Krause." Skye noted dryly. She didn't even bother to avoid saying his name - if anyone were around to witness this, she was in such a world of trouble the demon would scarcely make it worse at that point.


"Thank you, Skye," Krause replied, pleased with the smaller creature's terrified but useless scramble to get away. Krause picked the little creature up, stuffing it in a large plastic bin. So it didn't suffocate it, he punctured air holes into its lid by simply biting down on it. "Let's get back to your dorm. You'll simply need to make sure this little whelp goes through Claude's circle tomorrow."


"Right," Skye said, already gathering everything she needed to erase any trace that the circle had ever been there. "We'll leave in a few minutes."

 

[Lucy K]

The dull splat of wet footsteps echoed through the shadowed halls, as the figure trudged through the halls humming a haunting melody. They cast an imposing figure in the dark, hair hanging over her face, and still-dripping dress.


Lucy quietly promised herself that she wouldn't risk sneaking around the school at night again, but starting a new school year was nerve wracking, and she needed the catharsis - just this once. And really, the night had gone pretty well! She had the whole pool to herself for the evening, which was great. If it wasn't for the fact that all her things had somehow wound up in the water when she wasn't looking, she could pretty happily say it was a perfect night. Fall was starting, so maybe wearing the soaked clothes wasn't the best idea, but all in all she was feeling good enough that the cold barely bothered her - She didn't even notice that she had started humming as she started to make her way back to her dorm room.


Hunter was having one of those good nights, a night where he's fed a happy meal, sent home, and once he's almost home he finds another treat right outside his door. The footsteps and humming really piqued his interest. Seeing as he had no intention on sleeping this night, he began tracing which way he could best get an angle on this mysterious foot flopper.


He eventually found the suspects dripping all over the main hall. Hmm... water. And it reeks of chlorine. What is with all these other students being out late! I am on a lucky streak tonight.


He then followed the water trail, carefully avoiding making splashes nor sound.


Humming? More sirens in the night? Wait! What if it really is a siren! Can I handle her? I must.


He built himself up for another go at nightly skulking and siren hunting. After all, Hunter was a man who loved mysteries and cracking them.


Lucy continued to hum as she made her way through the halls, oblivious to the hunter stalking her. Equally oblivious to the mess she was making of the floor, but that could possibly be forgiven in the dark. It was suddenly noticing a certain lack of weight in her pocket that caused her humming to stop abruptly.


Ugh. My key must have fallen in the pool.


Spinning on a heel, she started to hurry back the way she came.


Hunter, trailing behind the watery path hears the eerie splat of wet footsteps get louder, closer. Suddenly he finds himself face to face with what he previously refered to as a siren, but she was no siren. She was a sea banshee come to steal his soul! Or so he thought, as he sqealed in horror, turn in the other direction, and bolted away from the soaked, ghastly looking girl.


WHAT WAS THAT?! WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD WAS THAT?!


"Hey♪! Wait♫!" Lucy covered her mouth the moment the words escaped.


In astonishment, Hunter promptly lost his footing on the slippery floor he forgot was covered in pool water.


"Ahh..! - Uhp!"


He couldn't help but holler upon slamming his head into the cold, wet, hard floor. Slightly concussed, he endeavors to gain his balance, quickly. Sadly, to no avail. Slamming his head messed with his equilibrium and he simply fell again, much like a drunk.


"Ahg..."


He felt dizzy.


Lucy ran over to the collapsed figure, kneeling down next to him. "Are you okay♪?" She thought for a moment about the notepad in her pocket before realizing it was completely soaked. Struggling for a moment, to make a decision, she finally relented. "Do you need help♪?"


"Uhhhg... You're... Human?" Hunter forces out from his semi-stupored state. "If so, I'd much appreciate it... the room won't quit moving..."


"I'm not really sure what to...♪ Here, take my shoulder♪." Lucy makes an attempt to help Hunter up, offering him a hand.


Hunter accepts Lucy's help graciously. Though his head was spinning, he couldn't help but feel glee at a girl helping him to his room. "My room is on the third floor... And thank you. I'm-" he holds his head in his free hand, feeling his thoughts get cloudier the more he thinks. "I'm sorry for running... Rude..."


"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry♪!" She can't help but repeat herself over and over as they make their way to the room. "I promise I'll...♪ I'll find the nurse or something♪. Or ice at least♪. Do you want ice♪?"


At this point, they are almost to the second floor. Hunter responded slightly steadier "Yes, please."


His thoughts were tangled in an amalgamation of questions, endeavoring to be friendly, and his almost unwilling yes-man reaction to questions. He was subject to responding shortly, sweetly, and too the point, unless he wanted more of a headache than he already had.


"Okay, okay♪. You wait right here, I'm pretty sure there's an ice machine somewhere around here.♪" Lucy tries to leave Hunter outside the second floor door, trying to remember where she had seen that damn ice machine.


"Sounds good." Hunter slumped over next to the door, many thanks to Lucy's help. Leaning his head against the wall. "I think it was near the public showers on this floor. I can't recall, though." He then let himself close his eyes.


It was a few minutes before Lucy returned, ice held inbetween crumpled sheets of paper. "Okay, here, hold this to your head and let's get you to your room♪. Again, I'm really sorry for scaring you♪."


"No... No... Don't be. It was my fault. I let my imagination get to me far more often than not." Hunter sound defeated as he spoke. Like the dull drumming feeling in the back of his head made him realize all his crazy theories had caused this situation more than the strange girl wandering abouts. "Lucy... Could you do me one last favor once we get to my room?" Hunter looked at her mostly from the corner of his eyes to avoid moving his head much.


"What♪? Yes♪! Absolutely♪! Just name it♪!"


"There's paper on my desk. It's messy. Sorry... Please write that you are a good person. In case I struggle to remember this night. Please... I need to know." Hunter's pleading seemed mildly desparate, though the situation wouldn't seem to call for such a level of distress.


Lucy was more than a little confused about the importance Hunter was putting on this but, it would have been pretty rude to say no at this point! "Yeah, let's just get you there and I'll do it first thing♪."


Hunter smiles. Not a wicked smile or anything malicious, but a really stupid one you see on someone who befuddled and oddly appreciative. "Thank you." Wanting to make eye contact, Hunter twitches his head slight in Lucy's direction before realizing that would hurt, then he stopped his efforts.


Eventually they arrived near Hunter's room. "This is it... Here." He slumped off of Lucy's shoulder and pulled out his room's key. "Excuse the mess, please." He opened the door, using it like a cane to get himself closer to his bed.


"No, no it's fine♪! Let me help♪." Lucy attempted to support Hunter the remainder of the space between the door and his bed, keeping an eye out for the desk and paper in question. She easily spots the wooden desk near the only window in the room. It's piled high with arbitrary papers of various shapes and sizes, along with a few books and journals of sorts.


While lying down, Hunter finally gets a serious intrigue forth, "Aren't you scared someone will wake and hear you?" He then slumped into bed with Lucy's beyond generous help. "Umph. Eh?"


She honestly had completely forgotten what time it was, absorbed by guilt. Now that she did... "I'm going to leave as soon as I write this down quick.♪" Scribbling on the first empty paper she could find, Lucy quickly made her way out of the room. Definitely no more sneaking out at night.


"Hey! Make sure to get dry. Don't get sick or I'll be forced to pay you back!" Hunter half hollered after Lucy as she scooted out of the messy room. He then dryly laughed and passed out. Hoping he wouldn't awake after class had started.

 

[TacitLaurel]

Claude woke up at the crack of dawn. He had never needed much sleep for some reason, but even he could feel the effects of only 4 hours of sleep. Not exactly the best way to start your schooling career. Still, he had something far more important to take care of.


He starting making his bed as quietly as he could as to not wake up his roommate, Michael Sims. He didn't need anyone seeing him sneak off to the club room to perform magic.


After about a minute, the bed was made and Claude was slipping on his uniform. As he rushed out of the room, he had the feeling he was forgetting something. Halfway down the hallway, he remembered his school bag.


What a bother he thought to himself.


---


"Oh sure, I carry a struggling creature, you carry the coffee," Krause grumbled, bringing a short smile to Skye's face. She drained the last of the coffee from the cup, and tossed it into a nearby trash can.


Skye knocked on the door to the club room and then entered, looking in. On the floor(?) was a large, unfinished tracing circle, and Skye feigned surprise. "Oh, you already made the circle? It should be easy enough to finish the runes, then."


The sight of the club room door brought back the memory of last night's encounter. I wonder if I'll run into him again today. I wonder what he was even doing in the school last night. I hope he doesn't take too much interest in me. Her thought wasn't specifically directed at Krause, and the demon just shrugged.


Her eyes found Claude who was sitting in his club president's seat. His uniform was still as crisp as ever and he retained his quiet dignity (his reading glasses added to that), but this was all lessened somewhat by the red striped nightcap on his head.


"Paul and I stayed overnight to prepare the circle so that we may start as soon as possible," he replied in his usual fashion "Would you like some tea?"


The way he tilted his head at the end of the question made the end of the nightcap bounce distractingly.


Skye suppressed a smirk. "Ah, that's why you look like you're about ready for bed. Yes, that would be lovely." Behind him, Krause gripped the small creature, occasionally reminding it to behave with a mean look.


The question marks could be seen floating around Claude's head before he put down his tea cup and saucer on the table and slowly reached to the top of his to confirm his suspicion. Skye politely looked away as she laughed at his expression.


Ah, that's what I forgot


Claude took off his nightcap, placing it on the table, before standing up to get Skye's tea cup and saucer that he had poured earlier and allowed to cool from the second table in the club room. He put this down on his desk before picking up his own tea cup and saucer again and quickly turning his high backed swivel chair so that his back was towards Skye. The whole time, a small embarrassed blush was forming on his face.


"Ahem, well back to business Skye," he said as if nothing happened "I assume you know your basic runes and how to use them properly."


"Mhm," Skye confirmed. "It...kinda feels weird to talk about this out loud. But a tracing spell isn't too difficult to do - it's one of the first things you'd need to learn as a summoner, in case whatever your summon gets away."


She gathered some of the materials, drawing a sample rune first to gauge the material's viability before getting to work. "I wonder how many other people around here are in on this kind of thing. I didn't imagine it would be many people - if anyone - but what are the odds the only three alchemists in the Academy walked into a room together?"


"I can confirm that supernatural occurrences are more common in this school than in other places," Claude said contemplatively "Maybe that has something to do with it?"


"Occurrences like small creatures flinging mousetraps at students," Skye noted dryly.


"I can give you our past case files if you're interested in reading up on them," he told her.


She stopped for a moment to trace a series of runes. The patterns would dictate the flow of magic in the area, and a misstep here could have undesirable and unpredictable effects. Once she was done concentrating she replied, "Sure. I mean, I guess it's our club now, so I should at least know what's gone on before." She nodded at the space on the circle directly across from her. "Can you repeat this pattern on that side?"


"G-give me a minute," Claude said in a suddenly awkward voice.


On the other side of the chair, Claude's small blush from forgetting to take off his nightcap earlier had already turned into completely red face while they were having their conversation. He was still embarrassed from but he would not show it if he could help it.


"Oooh," Krause said in a tone that would've been playful from any human, but came out in the same low growl as everything else he said. "I think he likes you."


Skye rolled her eyes, not addressing Krause. "Alright, take your time."


"Thank you," Claude said gratefully.


He finished his tea and a few deep breaths later his face was back under control. He swiveled the chair back around and set his empty cup and saucer on the table. From the desk drawer, he drew out a piece of chalk, his trusty English to Scholastic Ogham dictionary and a ceramonial knife before walking over to where Skye.


"You want this pattern here correct?" he asked pointing the pattern she pointed to before but the wrong circle. He was guessing as he hadn't actually seen her point out what she wanted copied where.


Skye looked up, not at where he pointed, but at his reference book, and then back at the intricate series she had laid out from memory. "Um, this pattern here. They have to be exactly opposite one another to flow properly."


"Ah, I see," Claude said before getting on his knees and painstakingly drawing the pattern as he could.


A comfortable silence had fallen between them as they both worked on their respective part. After a few minutes, Claude broke the silence.


"This pattern and rune array is rather impressive and the fact that you have no guide means this was from memory. You must come from a very impressive magical family," he said trying to start a conversation.


Skye started to reply, but stopped. She couldn't exactly admit to having experience as a summoner, nor to having a demon as a tutor! "...I never met my family, actually," Skye said, hoping it would change the subject. "I don't really remember much before Kindergarten, and I was already here by then."


"Just like those fiction books that are so popular," Claude said good naturedly to try and cheer her up assuming that he had made a mistake and brought up bad memories "You are a real life heroine Skye."


She laughed. "I don't think not having a family makes me a hero. Until a few years ago I was usually taken care of by one of many different nannies, but I lived in the dorms on campus. And once I entered ninth grade they just...stopped showing up." She shrugged. "I don't understand it, but someone paid them - and pays my tuition. It doesn't really bother me anymore."


"So you are a heroine," he said after a short pause "You have a mysterious backer, missing family that you have no memories of and some rather intricate magical circles and rune combinations stored in your head."


She shook her head. "I studied to learn these, nothing more. I actually have a fair number of textbooks on the subject...and you can find more in the library if you know exactly where to look."


"..and here I thought we confiscated all those books," he said more to himself.


Krause growled. "You're having a lovely little chat and all, but could you hurry this up before I decide to stash this little beast in someone's backpack?"


She got to work on another series of runes, at a precise 90-degree angle offset from the other two patterns. "Most of them, I'd guess. They're easy to overlook if you're not specifically seeking them out. Anyway, I mostly just taught myself."


That damnedAlhazred sure is persistent I'll give him that Claude thought to himself.


"Well I suppose it can't be helped," Claude said out loud as he moved on to another circle and opened his reference book for the correct runes "You'll have to take me to the library and show me where those books are so that we may confiscate them as soon as possible."


Skye considered, and nodded. "I suppose they're too dangerous to just leave lying around. Who knows, some poor student could accidentally summon a demon or something." Krause laughed.


Claude nodded in agreement before getting back to work. They only had a little more than an hour and 35 minutes left before classes started.


---


With two people working, the rune arrays didn't take very long to complete. Skye stood, stepping away and surreptitiously signaling Krause to head for the door. "Alright, you can trigger this with the mousetrap I think."


"That was the plan after all," Claude said under his breath.


He put the chalk and reference book on his desk and took the mousetrap from the drawer where he put it for safe keeping. He knelt down to place it in the analyzer circle before walking to the power source circle and brandishing the ceramonial knife. He took a second to brace himself before pricking himself on his finger. A large drop of blood oozed out of the cut.


"Looks good enough," he said to himself as he extended his hand over the circle and let the blood accumulate before it finally grew too heavy and fell of his finger. As soon as that happened, a new drop formed.


"One... two... three... four..." he counted to himself.


The first drop made the entire circle start glowing a faint white-ish blue. Subsequent drops made the glow pulse and return even stronger.


"...and five. That's enough for this tracing spell." he muttered before withdrawing his hand and wrapping his finger in a handkerchief. A glowing image of the circle slowly rose up to be chest height with Claude. He "grabbed" the image with his hands and brought them closer to one another, shrinking the image of the circle. It looked like an abstract compass made of a matrix of light at this size. The chalk circle meanwhile had stopped glowing save for the analysis circle and the power source.


"Now let's see if we can find our mystery creature," Claude said as he went in the direction the intricate circle turned compass pointed.


Skye opened the door, pausing a moment like she was letting Claude out, but really to allow Krause out. He rarely lurked around her in person, instead preferring to stay in her vicinity on the other side of the veil and only appear in vision and hallucination, but his physical presence was needed today. The two students exited, and Krause marched ahead of them, holding the captive creature Skye had summoned. Don't go too far, Krause, we only need to catch it. It doesn't really matter where.


"Yeah, but it'd be a little too coincidental if it was right outside your clubroom. We're not even in the same building the incident occurred in." He continued to march them forward, leading through the halls.


"So when we catch it, you'll banish it back to wherever it came from?" Skye asked, mostly to fill the silence between them.


"It is not recommended to try and capture a possibly hostile entity, but to banish it on sight," Claude said distractedly as he walked "I have inside my blazer's pockets several wooden crosses and ofuda for a quick exorcism and two knuckle bones with runes engraved in case things go bad."


"Well, that should do it." Krause led them outside, behind some of the buildings where they wouldn't draw much attention, and near enough to the cafeteria and food services building. The demon waited until Claude was looking closely at the magical tracer, and then tossed the small creature into a bush, certain the rapid change in direction and the sound from the bush would catch his attention.


Claude's head shot up immediately.


That must be the culprit Claude thought.


"Hold on to this," Claude told Skye as he tossed the tracer over to her. It didn't reach but floated in the air just a few inches away from her. She quickly took it and held it to the side, where Claude wouldn't be able to easily see that it still followed Krause, not the small creature.


Claude reached inside his pockets for the crosses before he quickly tossed five of them into the bush. For a second, it seemed that they would do nothing lay on the ground when suddenly a panicked squealing came from the bush. A few seconds later, the dire rat started rising up from the bush, spikes impaled in it. On closer inspection, the spikes were in fact the small crosses that were now rapidly enlarging in every direction.


With his target completely immobilized, Claude reached into his other pocket and grabbed the ofuda. He quietly thanked Brian and his Asian heritage for introducing the convenient slips of sticky paper to the Volunteer Club before graduating.


"I think one will be enough for you," Claude said absently "You do not belong in this world. Begone."


He threw the paper at dire rat and walked away, the runes written onto the paper making it speed towards its target like a fastball and making sure it hit what the thrower aimed at. The clattering of crosses falling on top of each other confirmed that the rat was no longer in this world. The crosses themselves would later disintegrate now that they were spent. The exorcism took less than 10 seconds to complete.


"Let's go Skye, we have breakfast to eat and classes to prepare for."


With the target gone, Skye hastily dispelled the tracing circles, before Claude could notice it was still tracking a target. "Well done," Krause said, seeming pleased with himself. "I think we're both in the clear."


Next time don't go wandering into mousetraps. Skye nodded. "Sure thing, the cafeteria building is right here anyway."


They headed to the cafeteria as a once hot cup of tea lay forgotten by its recipient on a table in the club room.


---


Eating his breakfast that he brought to the club room, Claude was suddenly struck with the realization that he would have to replace the five crosses and one ofuda he spent on that excorcism. Needless to say, his previously enthusiastic eating had slowed down as he got depressed imagining the sleepless nights that would be spent making replacements.


Skye ate with more enthusiasm, happy to have gotten away from a potential exposure of her bond with Krause.

 

[Corinne Skye]

With a practiced, but half awake hand, Paul reached out and slapped his alarm several times until it eventually stopped it's screeching. He then sat up in bed and stretched his arms, popping his elbows as they strained. He stumbled out of bed half awake and poured himself a cup of coffee, still a bit too hot to drink. Setting it to the side he began his morning routine and quickly hopped into the shower. He threw together a quick sandwich and put it in a bag. A quick bowl of oatmeal and a filled thermos later, Paul was on his way out the door. He juggled coffee, his thermos, and the bag as he fished for his car keys and stepped inside his car, a 2 Door '73 Ford Maverick. It was a bit beat up, the chrome missing from the passenger side, one of the headlights was 6 years newer then the other one and looked it, and there were countless dings and dents all over it, but due to his near constant work on it, Mavvy The Maverick, as Paul affectionately called it, ran just as good as it did when it rolled off the line.


By the time Paul rolled up to the school it was a bit past 11. He set his assorted items in the janitor's closet and headed towards the Volunteer Club room, hoping to catch the kids from yesterday while they were on their lunch.


In the cafeteria, it was lunchtime for the 9-12 grades. Skye went through the line quickly, stopping only to buy a salad and a Pink Lady apple for lunch.


"That janitor might be around here," Krause noted from behind the line of students. "This is around where the mousetrap was sprung."


And I'm sure he wants to know how our little hunt went too. Keep an eye out for him? She didn't need to command the demon for this - the whole hunt had partly been his idea, after all.


Claude paid for his food order and left the cafeteria. Because he was a bit hungry, he balanced his tray on one hand and with another, held the Granny Smith apple he had bought and started eating it.


If I run into Paul again, I have to tell him what happened and thank him for his help Claude thought to himself Maybe I can convince him to teach me some of his tricks. His circles were already starting to draw ambient mana and we didn't even create any mana generators yet. Having access to that kind of expertise would be invaluable.


He had reached the door to the Volunteer Club room while he was musing on recent events and almost bumped into it before he snapped out of his introspection. He placed the half eaten apple back on the tray so that he could open the door and stepped inside. The empty room was a familiar sight to him. Placing his tray on the head desk, he sat down in his club president's chair and started to dig in.


Skye left the cafeteria with her meal, also heading for the Volunteer Club room. Krause stomped after her. "If he's not here, he'll probably look for you where at the clubroom." As they walked, the demon tossed a Granny Smith apple into the air, snapping it out of the air in his large jaws.


Skye blinked. I didn't pay for that, Krause. Have you resorted to petty theft now? With a beat she added, you don't even need to eat our food!


"Doesn't mean I can't," the demon replied, his mouth full.


Besides, those aren't the best apples for eating. They're too sour. They're best used for making applesauce or pies. The demon just shrugged, giving a fanged grin. She shook her head, smiling as she headed into the administration building. She headed upstairs, moving quickly to the Volunteer Club room.


At this same time, Paul turned the corner and began heading towards the room. He spotted the girl from the day the day before as she also neared the room. "Hey...umm... girl with the red hair... how'd things go?" I probably should have asked her name he thought to himself.


Skye looked up at him, blinking. "Oh, Mr. Paul. I'm Skye, by the way." She stopped and fumbled to open the door one-handed while balancing her salad and apple. "We caught the culprit. Come on in!"


Paul stepped in side and closed the door behind Skye, a quick glance around the room and he could see that Claude was also there, eating an apple. Paul felt unprepared, "Should I have brought an apple or something? I feel like I missed a memo. Anywho, what's the happs on the mousetrap?"


"Hi, Claude," Skye said, walking over, setting her salad down and sitting across from him at the table.


"Hello Skye, hello Paul," Claude greeted from his seat "I apologize for not being able to get you an apple. Perhaps next time I can."


"That's okay, not much of a fan of apples. What happened with the circle?" Paul said as he grabbed a seat from the room and dragged it over to the table.


"It worked spectacularly," Claude told him "We were able to locate the Dire Rat and exorcise it. It also shut down without any incident. I'll wipe the floor down after school."


A dire rat? That's unexpected. Someone must have summoned one, I'll have to look into that. "Well, that's good. I'll see what I can do to prevent anymore from getting into the school." Paul stared out the window in thought.


Skye spoke up in between bites of her salad. "Fortunately, we got rid of it without any injuries. And I don't think anyone saw it."


Paul suddenly snapped back to reality and stood up, "Well if you need me, you know where to find me. If there's nothing else, then I'll head off. You both have a good day."


"Thanks for your help, Mr. Paul," Skye said politely. "We'll be sure to let you know if there are any further problems of this kind."


Paul walked to the door and shut it behind him as he left. He then headed off to his usual spot in the janitor's closet and was quickly lost in thought.


Skye looked at Claude. "Well, hopefully our club will only have to deal with more mundane problems from here on out."


"We can only hope," Claude said as he got up "Tea?"


"Sure."

 

[Hunter Clark]

Hunter awoke from his concussed state sometime later. He rolled his head over to look at his alarm clock on his bedstand and saw that it was 10:42.


Damnit! I missed class again.


Slowly at first, he began pulling himself out of bed. The dizziness still coming in waves when his head moved.


What happened last night? I remember encountering Skye, then... I was walking in the dorm halls not too long later... OW!


Trying to remember the events surrounding his concussed state only brought pain to Hunter. His memory was still muddled from the trauma, coming forth in fragments of a complete scene.


There was someone else... did I write anything in my journal?


He grabbed his pocket book, careful not to jossle his upper half too much, and flipped to the latest entries. Nothing. If only he could remember the note he had Lucy write, maybe then some of his memory would come back. At the very least he'd know how he got back to his room and why his head felt like someone slammed an ironing board on top of it, like in those cartoons with that stupid cat and very witty mouse.


Uhg... I really need to eat.


Hunter gradually lifted himself off the bed and headed toward the cafeteria. Pitifully slow, regardless of how hungry he was.


Skye passed by Hunter, the smell of coffee wafting after her. From Hunter's perspective, she seemed distracted by her surroundings, looking off to one side as if looking at the crowd of students in the cafeteria. She held a cup of coffee in her hand, from a cafe in Sentinel Hill.


Crap. I see her everywhere! This is a bad time, but I guess it'd be best to get it over with.


"Hey!" His head throbbed, but Hunter bore through it catching up to her, "Skye, hey, can we talk today. Over..." he paused and looked at his watch, "lunch? I'm starved." His voice became a progressively more meek as he talked.


"Hunter?" Skye asked, caught off-guard. "Um, I actually just ate lunch with Claude...hey, are you okay? You don't look so good."


"Yeah, I think something happened last night. My head feels like it's splitting open at times... but on to the point. We are supposed to talk. I almost want to just get it over with." Hunter looked mildly disappointed in relinquishing his great opportunity for the mock job he thought he was about to do. "So, would you still accompany me? I'm starvedlike I said. No exaggeration either." He looked up at her, still wary of eye-contact due to his previous impression.


Krause slipped past the students standing nearby, staring Hunter in the eye. "I believe he has a concussion, Skye."


Skye frowned, looking concerned. Is he okay? Out loud she added, "If you don't think you should see a nurse or something, first. Sure, let's go."


Krause gave a lazy shrug. "Well, he's still standing. Talk to him now - it'll probably be easier to divert his attention from any uncomfortable questions about last night."


"I... I don't know. How could I explain banging my head in the middle of the night? I don't even know what happened." Hunter began trudging toward the cafeteria while talking. "And thanks. I'm sure you want to get this over with as much as I do right now." He added, cradling his head in a hand every so often as they walked.


"Could you have hit your head on something?" She helped Hunter over to the self-serve line, retrieving a tray for him. "That could be why you don't remember it."


"Thank you. And likely. I doubt anything else would make my head ring and my thoughts cloudy." Hunter grabbed one of the sub sandwiches, a small side salad, and a bit of mixed fruit as he talked. As they walked over to the table, he shot an inquiry in a lowered voice, "Should I get straight to the point?"


Skye sighed. "I imagine you want to know why I was in the administration building last night?" She led Hunter to an empty table, one at the end of the room where they wouldn't be overheard. "I don't have a lot of time before class, but what I was going to retrieve was..." She folded her arms, looking off to the side, feigning embarassment. "It was something personal." Krause hovered off to the side, snickering to himself.


Hunter stared at her for a second, contemplating whether or not he is up to being brash while he stuffed his face. He figured there was no point to this conversation without receiving something less vague. With a mouth of half chewed food, he asked "Care to elaborate or you being dodgy cause it's that embarrassing?" Covering his mouth to avoid being too impolite. He swallowed once he finished chewing, and continued eating.


"Well," Skye started. "If you were a gentleman, you'd allow a girl her privacy." She looked from one end of the room to the other. I'm almost worried how I've become good at lying since I met you, Krause.


Hunter started giggling a bit, but quickly stopped due to his head hurting. Putting his hand to his head, he groaned out, "Ow... if I was a gentleman I wouldn't snoop around so much, nor stalk a lady in the midst of the night out of suspicion." He let his hand down and shoveled a hearty bite of salad into his mouth.


Skye rolled her eyes. "Look, it was a...hygiene product that slipped out of my backpack, and I wanted to recover it before the next day of classes so it wouldn't be found." Wait, did he just say he was stalking me?!


Krause grinned wider, large pointed fangs almost covering his beastly face. "At least his reaction seems to worsen his headache, so he'll likely cut the conversation short. Good choice, Skye." That didn't help, and Skye slumped her shoulders a little. It's not like she was out to torture the poor kid.


Hunter contemplated how much he was willing to throw words around while his head continued its gradual pulses. "I... You know... I could argue that, but I doubt it's worth it at this point. At least not right now." He brought some food up to his mouth, then stopped. "Thank you for helping me get here and get food. I can't handle this today." He continued eating, refusing to make any further eye contact. If one inspected his face, they could see how sullen and defeated he looked as oppose to the previous night when he looked so triumphant.


Skye decided now was a good time to change the subject. "...Do you need help getting to the nurse's office? You could have a concussion, and that needs to be checked out. You seem really out of it."


"Well, I don't know if I have a concussion, but I do know I need to go to the nurse." At this point, Hunter was almost done eating. "I doubt you want to be around me, I can get to her myself. Plus, you should get to class." Hunter finally got to his fruit. A medley of melons in a small bowl and a vine of green grapes.


Skye hesitated. She really could be late to class if she stopped to walk an injured classmate to the nurse's office halfway across campus. On the other hand, no amount of personal reservation justified leaving a concussed classmate to find his way alone. "Why don't I find a passing teacher or something and ask them to take you?" she offered.


Hunter continued on eating his grapes. "That'd be appreciated. Thank you, again, for your help." He then grinned to himself. "Maybe I should get hurt more often, you're really nice when you get around to it." looking more down to hide his silly grin and blushing, Hunter was a little embarassed that he actually let his thoughts spill out that time.


"Um...thanks." Skye stood. "I just saw my AP history teacher walk out of the faculty lounge. Stay here and I'll send him over." Waiting only long enough for acknowledgement, she hurried off.


Hunter nodded in approval. Still trying to hide his face. It felt warmer than he was comfortable with.


A minute later, a teacher in a black suit and the school's blue tie walked into Hunter's view, holding a cigarette lighter in his off-hand. "You must be Hunter, right? I'm Dr. Holly. Can you look at this light for a moment?" With his question, he flicked the lighter, sending up a small gout of flame.


Hunter complied. Holly stared into the student's eye, slowly moving the light from side to side. "...I'd say you must have banged your head pretty good, but I'm sure you'll be okay with a few days' rest. Stand up, I'll take you to the nurse's office."


"Okay. Thanks Mr. Holly." Hunter stood rather slowly, partly to make sure not to jostle himself too much but also because he was rather full. He then followed Holly.


"Doctor Holly," he corrected, before leading the injured student out.

 

[Corinne Skye]

"I just feel bad about it, Krause, that's all."


On her desk, Skye cleared away her textbooks and papers, and instead ground willow bark in a spice grinder. She had already dissolved the vanilla, rosemary, and black cohosh in a small amount of alcohol, and now ground down the last ingredient for a simple healing potion. It wouldn't be very strong, not without better magical enchantment than this, but she didn't want to give him too effective an "herbal tea," lest he grow suspicious about it. She'd already been surprised by two fellow alchemists this week, and didn't really care to add to the list.


Krause loomed over her. "But it's not your fault he got hurt. I'm sure the nurse gave him medicine. So why are you going out of your way to help him?"


"There's not much to be done medically for a low-grade concussion except bed rest," Skye recalled. "Besides, we live in the same dorm building, I'd hardly call that out of my way."


"So you don't think taking an hour out of your afternoon to go to an herbalist in Sentinel Hill is out of your way, then? Besides, he was out because he was following you... I'll be honest, I don't share your sympathies with the boy."


Over in the kitchenette, the water she had boiled for tea was ready, and she strode across the room to steep the tea. She would dilute the healing potion in it, disguising its unusual flavor. "You saw him in the cafeteria, he barely knew which end was up! If I can take a short amount of time and help him out, I don't see why not - especially since it's only the second day of classes. I don't have any homework I need to be doing."


Krause just grumbled, watching her alchemy quietly, occasionally critiquing her alchemy technique. Skye took her time, listening idly to the news, in no hurry. The TV reported that a Soviet orbiter had malfunctioned, and it was unclear if two cosmonauts aboard would be able to return safely to the Earth. An eleven-year-old had become the youngest person in the world to swim entirely across the English Channel.


In the past year, Skye had grown to wonder about record-breakers like that. Krause had made her question many such feats of human endurance. What if the boy in the news had been trained by some aquatic creature? Or what if the boy was some exotic creature? Would Skye some day be a headline like that, performing some great feat that Krause would see as ordinary, being heard of in passing by countless people around the world? It was a strange idea, that others could be in the same position she was in.


It didn't take very long, and she put the tea in a thermos, mixing the ingredients with care to preserve their magical effect. She had consulted a student directory to find Hunter's room, and walked out, taking the stairs down to his floor.


Hunter was lying down; his concussion wasn't so bad he couldn't move, but he liked the excuse to be lazy. He frequently never enjoyed the first few days of school.


I could write, or even practice up on drawing today... The desk met his eyes, he longed to do something productive or... at least semi-productive. Just because I'm using it as an excuse doesn't mean I have to let it rule me.


Slowly, he rose from bed and walked over to his desk. Sometimes, I miss the middle school days when everything seemed simple.


And with a sigh he began grabbing for a blank piece of some of the thicker paper he had lying around. Oddly, Lucy's letter had been buried under a pile of papers that got knocked over and his most recent journal carelessly lain on top . Who knew when he'll find the ticket to pay for his lost memories?


Now, what should I draw? He pondered as he decided on the type of material he would craft his picture with. Ah! I haven't done on of those in a while.


Reaching into one of his lower drawers, he pulled out an array of paints, presumably water colors. I should change if I'm to use these. As quickly as he could, he got up and put on some painter's clothes he kept hidden in his closet, then reseated himself and started.


First, he painted in the background, a large blue sky. Staring at it for a long moment, he wondered whether or not he could make anything out of it. Then, it came to him, and he continued painting in a not-so fervent manner.


Skye knocked on the door. "Hunter, are you in there? It's me, Skye."


Breaking from his focus, he looked at himself, the painting on his desk, the rest of his room, and panic fell across him. I can't clean this in time, especially not in my current condition.


"Uh... Hey! Could you hold on a second?" Hunter got up and headed for the door.


Skye stood there, dressed in her school uniform sans tie, even though it was after classes. She held a thermos in one hand, the thermos sporting the logo of a cafe in Sentinel Hill. "Hey, good afternoon," she said, with a polite but forced smile.


"Good afternoon. One more sec." Hunter slipped out of his room, hardly cracking the door to save himself the embarassment. He stood there in overalls and a plain white T-shirt. "So... what can I do you for? It's rather odd for anyone to visit me." followed by a light chuckle on Hunter's part.


"I bet," Krause said.


Skye ignored the demon's remark. "I just wanted to see if you got to the nurse's office alright. Sorry for running off like that, but my class was on the far side of campus from there."


"No reason to be sorry. And yeah. Holly escorted me just fine, albeit he wasn't the nicest person I've met." Hunter paused for a moment, leaning back on his heels and forgetting his equilibrium was still fickle. Almost falling, he caught himself on his door, and talked as he put himself back on his feet, "What brings you here?"


"I hear that a lot," Skye said, "but I had him for world history and I have him for AP history and he's always been nice to me." She shrugged. Next to the younger boy, Krause snickered at his difficulty with standing up, staying out of his way. "Here, I made you some herbal tea. It's, um, it's an old family recipe. It's supposed to help you feel better if you're sick."


"Oh? Thanks. But I'm not sick. I mean... I'll take it still. I do enjoy tea." Hunter started getting flustered. He really didn't know how to handle situations like this. Looking around, he avoided eye contact more than usual, "I... I don't know. I'm going to stop talking now. Thank you." He eventually got back around to making eye contact, then quickly averting his eyes. Anyone could tell he was struggling to make sense of his thoughts, even without a concussion.


Skye smiled, amused by his nervousness but passing it off as a polite smile. "Please, just take it. I insist. You'll like it, it has vanilla in it."


Hunter reached out and took the thermos. "Can't say I don't like vanilla." Again averting his eyes after a moment of eye contact, his hands visibly shook. Why do I have to be in overalls right now... I could at least look decent when someone is being nice to me... "Thanks again."


"You're making him nervous," Krause noted. "His hands aren't shaking because of a head injury."


"No problem. Get well soon, okay?" Why would I be making him nervous?


Krause paced around behind her. "Well, he did blurt out that he had been following you. That would seem to be the most likely explanation. You have a few years on him, so he could just be nervous dealing with older classmates."


"Uh... yeah. I'll try to. Thanks!" Do I only know how to say thanks? "I guess I'll see you around?" Hunter contemplated asking her if she wanted anything in return, but decided against it. Who knows, Hunter could return the favor someday.


"You're welcome." Skye stepped back, a little thrown by Krause's guess. She was never really the type to intimidate people. Despite being three grades ahead of the younger boy, she wasn't much taller than him. "See you." She stepped back again before turning and heading down the hall to the stairwell.


Hunter half heartedly waved, then slipped back into his room. Once back at his desk, he opened the thermos. Huh, this smells really good.


Drinking deeply from the thermos, he resumed his "art piece". It isn't pretty, but maybe I'll give Skye this when I return the thermos. I wonder if she'd actually keep it. Ha. He smiled and continued working on his watercolor, sipping from the thermos every now and then. The vanilla smell permeated through the room, making the room smell quite nice.


Krause marched ahead of her, making sure nobody was looking before opening the door to the stairwell. "Some people are just naturally intimidated by older students at his age, Skye," Krause pointed out.


Skye shrugged. I doubt that's it. Anyway, aside from being nervous, he sure seemed happy, so it was worth it.


Krause huffed, heading upstairs to Skye's floor. "I suppose that's what you humans value. Kindness. Us demons see it as weakness to rely on the kindness of strangers. We respect strength above anything else."


Strength? Skye rolled her eyes. And you complain that we see demons as brutes!


Krause stopped, turning to look down at her. "I may be strong by human standards, but by the standards of my kind I'm a lightweight, Skye. I've known demons who could go toe-to-toe with medium tanks."


Skye blinked. She'd never heard Krause refer to himself as anything but superior. Are you saying you're weak for your kind?


Krause loomed over her, apparently displeased with the question. "I may be small, but I'm magically powerful and an expert hypnotist, and that makes me strong. There is more than just physical strength. Even just being wise, strong of mind and will, is something I respect!" He turned and marched on, heading back to Skye's room, waiting patiently for her to unlock the door and head inside. "In a way, we see kindness and charity as an insult - as an insinuation that the recipient is not strong enough to make it on their own. It's like being condescending."


Skye closed the door. "Well, I see it as a simple act of community. We're all in this together - if I know someone I can help, and it isn't unduly hard for me to help them, it would be selfish to let it go unaddressed." She didn't mind talking aloud to the demon so long as she was alone.


Krause sat heavily on the floor. "We are more individualistic than that. It's more of a compliment to challenge a demon than to offer us charity."


"It sounds more like pride," Skye noted sourly.


"Yes, something you see as a cardinal sin." Krause paced. "But think about it this way. What would you think if you bombed a test and a teacher took you aside and told you they wrote your grade up as a 100, regardless of what you actually earned, in order to help you make valedictorian?"


Skye started to speak, but Krause cut her off. "I know you'd feel grateful, Skye. But after that, what would you think?"


She frowned. "I guess I'd feel...guilty. I mean, I doubt my competition for the title received such help, so I'd worry I was inferior...ah, I think I see what you're getting at, Krause."


"Good," the demon said, satisfied. "You're learning. Maybe pride is a factor in how you'd feel, but it's more borne of what you humans see as fair and equitable. If someone else outdid you, you'd feel hurt to know they did so in an unfair manner, and so most people, honest people, don't wish to treat others in the same manner."


Skye nodded. "You're...unusually eloquent today, Krause. You're usually more interested in eating people than philosophizing about them."


That brought a big, fanged grin. "Not all of us feel the need to flaunt our intelligence. As I said, strength of mind is no less valid than strength of muscle or magic."


Skye made a mental note as she settled on her couch and turned the TV back on. It was easy to underestimate the demon - physically imposing and magically superior as he was, he always acted more amused and playful than thoughtful. She wondered if his attitude was all an act, perhaps nothing more than a means of disguising his intelligence as well.


---


There, done. Now all that's left is to return this to Skye and give her the painting. He held up the thermos, draining what tea was left in it. Already, Hunter felt rejuvenated. He'd likely be back in school tomorrow. The tea and painting really must've helped.


Painting:

---

 

[TacitLaurel]

Episode 01 Start





Classes had just ended. Most of the trees were bare, save for a few stubborn leaves that refused to accept their death. The students had on scarves, hats, coats, jackets and whatever else to ward off the cold. The clouds looked like they would release some sleet at any moment without warning. Still, despite these gloomy conditions, or perhaps in spite, there was a happy atmosphere at school. People congregated together and there was a noticable increase in couples wandering around.


Inside the club room, Claude had a lukewarm cup of tea on his desk as he went through club paperwork. Skye sat across from him, with a U.S. history textbook propped in front of her. She sipped out of a thermos that smelled of coffee, and looked across the desk at Claude. "It's finally getting colder," she observed. "About time."


"I respectfully disagree," Claude said without looking up from the papers he was filling out.


"You don't like the cold weather?"


"I am not especially fond of it," Claude confirmed.


"I find it peaceful. In spring and summer everyone is outdoors, there's always a lawnmower running somewhere...in winter it's like you have the whole campus to yourself if you want to go outside. And besides, the temperature's not so bad if you have a good jacket." Or one with heating runes inside it...


"I prefer spring and summer. Winter and fall are far too gloomy for my tastes,"


And also there is more ambient mana available to work with during seasons associated with life and birth rather than death and decay.


"Well today doesn't seem so bad," she countered, "everyone around seems in pretty high spirits." Skye had never taken much notice of other students until this year, but Krause was right...grades aside, she'd never make valedictorian if she was a total nobody.


Claude nodded in agreement. He too felt the good atmosphere.


A comfortable silence descended on the class room. After a few minutes, Claude put down his pen, finished with all the papers he had to sign.


"And now to give them to the office," he said while getting up. He did a quick stretch and cracked his fingers.


Skye stood as well. "Sorry I've been in my own little world all week. According to the syllabus, Dr. Holly is giving us a group project...or paired project, rather. We have to give a speech regarding the political attitudes on the eve of the Revolution." She waved up a paper with an assignment on it, but it moved too fast for Claude to read it anyway. "I think we're getting assigned partners tomorrow." Her tone did not convey any enthusiasm at the prospect; she reported on the assignment in the same tone she'd use to describe a trip to the dentist.


Claude sympathized with her. Group projects were always the worst. Before he could say anything though, a shrill scream was heard. The good atmosphere that had covered the school had been shattered.


Skye jumped, and Krause looked up from his usual tuning-out of Skye's mundane activities. "What was that?!"


Claude put down his stack of papers.


"Let's go," he said as he opened the door and ran out in the direction of the scream.


Skye hurried after Claude, adrenaline shaking off the focus study had brought. "I think it came from this way," she said as they passed through the hall.


As they ran to the voice of screaming, the density of people in the halls increased. As they reached the epicenter, the amount of people grew and grew. The formerly deserted halls were now filled with concerned chattering and a female voice screaming at the top of her lungs. Pushing their way through the crowd, Skye and Claude finally got to the front and saw what had caused this. Dangling by her hair from the classroom sign was Samantha McDaniel.


The crowd filled the hall with the din of murmured conversation. "Who did that to her?" "Isn't that Samantha?" "That looks painful!" "Why are we all still here after classes anyway?" "I hope she's okay."


"Skye," Claude said leaning down so he could discreetly convey his instructions to Skye, "grab me some scissors, I'm sure I'm tall enough to get her down from there."


Skye shook her head. "Hold her up by her waist so her weight isn't pulling on her hair, Claude. That'll give us time to figure out how best to get her down. Go, hurry." She slipped past the edge of the crowd to get behind Samantha, leaving Claude to do that while she angled to get a view at what was holding her up.


Claude was a bit depressed at how quickly his idea was shot down, but nodded in agreement. Her plan did sound better than his. He walked forward to Samantha who was screaming and flailing in pain, making sure to avoid her wild kicks and arm swipes.


"Please calm yourself," Claude said as he grabbed Samantha by the waist and lifted her up "we'll get you down from here soon."


Despite his best efforts, he was still getting battered by the girl.


"Her hair is tied to the sign," she announced to Claude. Turning to the crowd, she spoke up. "Can somebody please fetch Mr. Paul with a stepladder?! He should be in the janitor's closet!"


Krause grunted. "Don't make a general call for help, Skye. Pick somebody specific. That way, they'll be pressured into doing it, instead of everybody assuming someone else will do it."


Skye blinked. The crowd had paid attention when she called out, but nobody moved. She didn't recognise anyone in the crowd... "Um, you!" she said, pointing directly at a random student. "Mr. Paul should be in the janitor's closet getting ready to clean the building now that classes have ended. Go and get him, and ask him to bring a stepladder. Please hurry!"


Sure enough, once she singled someone out, the crowd turned to look at them, and the indicated student quickly beat a path to the stairwell. Skye looked up at the struggling girl. "Don't worry, um, Samantha was it? We'll have you down in a second!"


After a few minutes Paul jogged down the hallway, with a stepladder under his arms. Skye waved him through the crowd, speaking up to ensure she'd be heard. "Make way, please!"


"Oh hello there Paul," Claude said, his face fairly battered now. "Glad you could make it."


"Probably not as glad as that girl is," Paul said as he set up the stepladder, then proceed to mumble as he climbed it, "Also why do you think my name is Mr. Paul? That's a first name."


"Just being respectful," Skye muttered, caught off-guard. Above them, Samantha's hair was tied in a smooth knot around a metal sign protruding from above the doorway, with the classroom's number on it. Paul attempted to undo the knot for a few seconds before grunting and sliding the knot off the sign. As he climbed down he again mumbled, "Didn't know you could hear me."


Skye nodded at Claude. "She's free," she said, knowing Claude couldn't look up for fear of losing an eye to flailimg fists and arms. "You can set her down now."


"Will you be okay?" Claude asked the girl. He didn't want to set her down and have her fall because she was too busy flailing to stand up.


"Thank you, Paul," Skye said, rather than waiting for Samantha to collect herself.


"LET ME GO YOU PIECE OF-" Samantha suddenly cut herself off. Her tear stained face morphed from the expression of pain, outrage and embarrasment it had been displaying and to a demure and cutely embarrased expression. She covered her face with her arm. Her eyes seemed to get a bit moist and she sniffled it what some would describe as a cute manner.


"I-I'm alright now thanks to you," she said in a faint voice "You can l-let me down now."


The question marks could be seen floating around Claude's head, but he did as she requested and put her down. He then fast walked behind Paul and Skye, as if to protect himself from the girl who was less than half his size.


Paul looked a bit puzzled by the change in expression, but didn't seem off put, "Mind if I ask how you managed to get up there miss?" Skye nodded at the question, looking at Samantha with concern. Claude couldn't help but nod as well.


"W-well I was just walking and minding my own business w-when," Samantha said shakily before stopping and falling to her knees. She looked like she was about to cry again.


The crowd itself has started dispersing now that Samantha was down. Some laughter could be heard from a group that had Taylor at the center.


Paul gestured with his hand in a rolling motion. "Aaaaaaaannnd then?"


"After that I was just suddenly hanging from the sign," she said without the stutter, although her eyes were still a bit watery.


"You didn't see who did this?" Skye asked, her face furrowing into a frown. "Did someone come up from behind and grab you?"


"No one would want to grab her behind," yelled Taylor from across the hallway.


"WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE? GO AWAY!" Samantha yelled down the hallway, her face angry, as if the crying face from earlier was a lie. Taylor just laughed, prompting a wave of laughter from the friends gathered around her too.


Almost instantly however, it went back to the almost crying "please pity me" face. Skye frowned in the direction of the laughter. "Claude, calm her down, I'll go ask the crowd to leave." After a moment's consideration of their relative size she said, "On second thought, you go ask the crowd to leave, and I'll calm her down."


Claude would rather not have anything to do with Taylor, but he couldn't avoid this. With a resigned sigh, he accepted his fate walked over to Taylor and her posse.