A/N - Wow, it's been so, so, long since I've written. After waffling for hours about whether or not to actually publish, this is me posting chapter one before I lose my nerve! Guess we'll see where this goes. Trying to set things up for down the road - hopefully some people will come along for the ride.
Outdoor magazine in hand, Imogen wandered the now quiet halls of the school. It always surprised her just how empty the castle seemed without the hustle and bustle that accompanied the young witches who populated the school. After a long semester, it was nice to get a brief reprieve.
She made her way to the staff room and situated herself at the small table. She had barely finished the first article when the door cracked open and Amelia made her way inside. Imogen looked up, giving a smile to the Headmistress.
"About ready to head out, are you?" she inquired, laying the magazine down on the table. Amelia nodded in the affirmative.
"Yes, all packed up. You'll be quite alright, yes? It's not often you stay here over the holidays," Amelia leaned a hand against the table as she looked down upon Imogen.
"Oh don't worry about me. Erin will be here by dinner and she's quite eager to take in the sights and sounds of castle life," Imogen smirked.
"Ah yes, this friend of yours," came the voice from nowhere, succeeding once again at startling Imogen and causing her to jump in her seat. She shook her head and gave a slight huff; she would never be used to Constance Hardbroom and her apparitions from nowhere.
Constance gave a look to both women before casting her eyes to Amelia. "Really Miss Cackle; allowing Miss Drill to make a spectacle of the school over the holidays. Evidently we now moonlight as a roadside exhibit, do we?"
Imogen rolled her eyes, this line of conversation now well trodden and still not buried. "As I've indicated, many, many times before, Erin is intrigued by the concept of the school and looks forward to seeing it."
"I'm sure she looks forward to seeing monkeys in their cages at your zoos as well," Constance replied, her lips in a thin line.
Amelia eyed both women with a sigh of resignation. This argument had been going on for weeks now and seemed would not reach an end. "Well then, it's right about time for me to be on my way. Constance, do try and enjoy the break."
"Indeed, Miss Cackle. I have many plans -"
"-To hide yourself away in the potions lab?" Imogen finished with a laugh, receiving a glare from Constance in return.
Amelia sighed audibly. The pair's bickering was exhausting, and by end of term she had had quite enough of it. "Very well, you two." she shook her head, opening her mouth to say something else before thinking better of it. "We'll see you again in a few weeks now." with that, Amelia exited the room and made her way outside. As she mounted her broom she shook her head a final time at her coworkers. The break was quite perfectly timed indeed.
With a glaring eye up to the sun, now high in the sky and leaving sweltering heat in its wake, Erin slammed the tailgate of the truck up to close it. She surveyed the equipment packed into the back and, satisfied, began tying the loose objects down. As her task neared completion she felt the buzz of her phone in her pocket and she pulled it out to take a look. Erin smiled when she saw who the text was from.
Erin had been beyond excited when she had been asked to do field research and even more so when she had learned the project would take her overseas. The icing on the cake had been the sheer luck landing her mere hours away from a close friend she hadn't seen in many years.
Satisfied everything was secure in the back, Erin escaped the heat of the sun and sought refuge in the bed of the beater of a truck she had been loaned. Focusing her attention back to her phone, she hit send and waited for a voice on the other end.
"Erin?" hearing her name made her smile and she nodded in the affirmative even though the person on the other end certainly could not see her.
"Im! It's so great to finally hear your voice! Actually, it's pretty great to hear any voice; I think the closest thing to company I've had in the last few weeks is a mouse that tried to sneak into my tent," she shrugged. "How's things?!" Erin turned the key in the truck and rolled her eyes as the engine groaned.
"They're good! The girls have all left for the holidays; things are finally quiet." Imogen looked up into the sky, where not that long before young witches had dotted the air. "So you're all finished up then?"
"Yeah, just got out of the bush this morning. I'm taking equipment back to the lab and then I'm on my way. I can't wait to see this school of yours," Erin shook her head. "Still can't believe you're holed up in a castle hidden in the country. If you're taking me for a ride, I'm going to be so beyond annoyed."
Imogen rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's always been my dream to send you on a wild goose chase scampering merrily in meadows. So you'll be in by dinner then?"
Erin pushed the truck down into drive and rolled out onto the gravel road. "Should be, yeah. Hour or so to the lab, grab a shower, couple more hours on the road. Looking forward to this; it's been ages."
"It has. I'll see you then, then. Get your eyes on the road - they have laws against distracted driving you know." Erin laughed.
"You're right, mom - I might hit a tumbleweed sneaking out of the bush." she smirked. "See you in a few." with that, Erin ended the call, tossing the phone onto the seat beside her. Left with nothing to do but drive, she reached over to turn up the old truck's radio, hoping she might get lucky and get actual music this time around.
It took Erin just over an hour to make her way back into the city and another hour to unpack everything she had to. A thirdhour was spent scraping a month's worth of grime from underneath her fingernails and making herself vaguely presentable. Packing for her trip up to see Imogen took her the least amount of her time - a hoodie here, some shirts there. She tossed everything into a well used duffel bag, which she then threw over the side of the truck where it clanged on the dented metal bottom.
The drive back out of the city was pleasant; Erin was for the most part alone on the roads, taking in the pristine countryside views. Sometimes she wondered why she had ever left.
"Life gets in the way sometimes," she muttered aloud, before turning the truck off the highway, having finally found the exit. It wasn't much long after that she pulled up to tall metal gates. Killing the engine, Erin stared beyond the gates to the structure inside. Stone, turrets...Imogen hadn't been kidding.
Constance gazed out the window from the staff room, her brow furrowing at the sight of the old white truck coming up the drive. "Your friend seems to have arrived," she stated plainly, as Imogen looked up from her magazine. "In what appears to be the finest of rusty wagons."
Imogen rolled her eyes. "I didn't take you for a vehicle aficionado." she replied, before exiting the staff room and making her way outside. She arrived at the gates and placed her hands on the bars, catching the eyes of a familiar face.
"No solicitors, be on your way," she called out, bringing a smirk to Erin's face.
"But I come bearing only the finest of spirits!" she reached into the back of the truck and pulled out a case of beer, accentuating her point with a shake that clinked the glass bottles together. "Come, let us drink and be merry, fair maiden of the castle!"
Imogen laughed as she pulled the gates open, hinges creaking as she did so. "Well, when you put it that way -" her words were cut off as Erin flung herself towards Imogen and wrapped her in a solid bear hug.
"You never could turn down a good bevvy," Erin remarked, before moving from a hug to an arm around Imogen's shoulders. "This place looks fantastic. What a trip,"
"So glad we meet your standards for entertainment." Constance's voice hung ghostly in the air and Erin raised an eyebrow before jumping back at the sight of a woman appearing before her eyes. The case in her hands dropped from her fingers, clinging as the glass hit the soft ground.
The two women eyed each other. Erin blinked several times in quick succession, still not quite having processed what had just happened. It was one thing for Imogen to have mentioned she worked at a witches school; it was quite another to see evidence of just what that meant.
"Will your gawking perhaps cease shortly?" Constance inquired, crossing her arms at her chest. The cross question seemed to pull Erin out of her shock and she gave a smile to the newly appeared stranger.
"Sorry about that; I've never been good with surprises," she shrugged a little. "I've always figured I had a run in with a jack-in-the-box way back when and never quite recovered." she held a hand out. "Erin Evans. And you are?"
Constance regarded the hand held out to her but did not take it, instead letting her eyes appraise this friend of Imogen's. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, although loose hairs framed her face. She was taller than the gym teacher, but several inches shorter than Constance herself. Similar to Imogen, it was obvious she was athletic, musculature evident through the silhouette of her clothing. She was dressed most casually in a pair of faded jeans and a red raglan shirt with white sleeves, and Constance looked down at a pair of black flip flops with disdain.
"Deputy Headmistress Hardroom," Constance replied, still having not taken the offered hand. Erin let it down with a shrug and dropped down to one knee instead, inspecting the fallen case of beer. The bottles all appeared intact.
"Well Deputy Headmistress Hardbroom, I have good news!" Erin returned to standing. "Not a single bottle broken! We really should celebrate." her eyes wandered back to Imogen, who had been taking in the banter between the pair, and Erin wrapped an arm around Imogen's shoulders once more. "You'll join us for a drink, yeah?"
The eye roll came quickly, followed by a click of the tongue to emphasize it. Ignoring the question, she instead addressed Imogen. "Do try to remember this is a house of learning, not a den of iniquity." Before either could reply, Constance had disappeared.
"Iniquity? I was anticipating a chill night catching up," Erin said with a laugh. "I would definitely settle for iniquity...but only if I can get her involved." Imogen's eyes widened, and she gave Erin's a shoulder a shove.
"You do realize I have to work with her on a daily basis?"
"Well yeah," Erin replied with a nod. "Looks and personality. I dig it."
"You're terrible."
"Some things never change," as Erin spoke, she put a hand on the gate, swinging herself inside to the grounds. As she crossed the threshold, a strange feeling came over her. A tingling sensation reverberated through her limbs and she lost her hold on the gate, instead finding herself stumbling and awkwardly falling to both knees. A sharp pain raced through her her head, and she brought her hands up involuntarily to grab at her temples. As quickly as it came on, it was gone.
"...the hell?!" Imogen exclaimed, bridging the distance between the two of them. As she reached down to help her friend, Erin began trying to stand. "What's gotten into you?" Imogen inquired, concern plain in her voice.
Erin shook her head, taking Imogen's hand as she clambered back to her feet. "I'm good. I'm good." she replied, closing her eyes and re-opening them slowly, clearing her head. "I must have gotten too much sun over the last few or something." she shrugged. "I'm fine, I promise." she looked down at the ground where the case of beer once again lay and pursed her lips. "You think lightning strikes twice and they've all still survived?"
Imogen reached down for the cardboard case, now looking a little worse for wear. "I think this was why we used to buy cans…" she remarked, shaking the bottles together and listening for the sounds of broken glass.
"We're older and wiser now. I may not be able to walk through a gate, but dammit, I can drink an adult beverage from the finest of glass canisters." she cast a glance up to the castle. "Lead the way, fair maiden of Castle Overblow. We must safely deposit our fragile cargo in your chambers, before responsibly drinking them in a fashion befitting an establishment of learning." the pair began walking towards the castle.
"I seem to recall you having some rather loose interpretations of what befit an establishment of learning. I'm currently having visions of Constance Hardbroom scolding the pair of us later this evening as if we were first years out of bed after lights out." They reached the doors of the castle, which Imogen opened, ushering her friend inside.
"I'm a 'responsible adult' now Im," Erin replied, her hands making air quotes as she spoke. "I'm sure everything will be entirely uneventful."