"Koschei?"

Theta's voice was a mere whisper.
It was past midnight and he knew they weren't allowed to leave their dorm this late. Besides the crisp snow outside reflected the moonlight, distorting it into a million glistening rays which, unfortunately for Theta, illuminated the vast corridors which were supposed to be empty. Therefore Theta was still holding his breath from all the tiptoeing and peeking around corners.

Koschei was late.
Mind you it was quarter past midnight and Theta should have met Koschei at midnight precisely (Koschei sure was a sucker for drama) but due to a squeaky floorboard and a rather overenthusiastic guard who just had to be awake at duty he had been forced to take a detour through the air ventilation system.
But at least he was here before Koschei, Theta thought smugly. No sign of Koschei so far.
Maybe he had been there, a vicious little voice at the back of his head remarked, but he left since you didn't bother to show up in time.

No, Theta was sure that Koschei would have waited if he had arrived early. Their meeting was of major importance.
At least Theta was convinced that it was this way.
Koschei had sent him a cryptic note, containing just these few words:
"It is here. Meet me at midnight in the lab and we will ascend into glory."
Which in Theta's opinion could only mean one thing. Okay, two things if Theta counted in the possibility of Koschei waiting to jump out at him to scare him.
But Theta was convinced that Koschei must have finished his latest project successfully. Whatever that was.
Lately Koschei had been very busy, most of the time he'd wandered around the corridors absorbed in his own thoughts, babbling incomprehensive nonsense. He'd secreted himself in the lab, staying there throughout day and night.

But now the lab was dark and empty. No sign of Koschei whatsoever.
Theta shivered in the corridor just outside the lab, hopping from one foot to another. Mind you, a third option sprang to his mind.
Koschei could have tricked him into arriving this late at night to be both caught and punished by the guards he'd send after him or it was another one of his 'stress test'.
Theta shuddered at the recollection of the terrible incident involving his mattress being set alight while he'd been sleeping soundly at it or a bucket of cold fish being poured over him during class.
At least in his opinion Koschei should have gotten expelled for this.
But no, they had been so glad Koschei had removed the, by the Vice-president of the Unorthodox Time-distortion committee most hated silver fish from the Academy's pond (zingibris silverus nemesis) they had even given him a small medal for it.
While the smell of old fish had lingered in Theta's clothes for week.

Theta peaked through a crack in the door.
Silence there. And nothing more.
Except for the smacking sounds.

Theta leaned closer, pressing his face against the icy iron door staring through the crack, searching for the rude sounds' origin.

"Koschei?" he asked softly again. Under his weight the door swung back, causing him to stumble into the forlorn room.
The walls, blackened by innumerable experiments gone wrong, were pale and swallowed the dispersed moonlight. But the sounds echoed awkwardly through the shelves stacked with chemicals and one former head of staff's preserved head ("He'd sworn that his face would haunt students even long after he was gone. Quite the joker he was.").

There it was again. The wet and rather obscene sound of lips smacking.
And it came from...

Theta turned and gasped.
By the window, sitting in a small cylindrical was..
A thing.
It could only be described as 'thing with long and sharp teeth' which glistened in the moonlight, snarling across the dark room towards Theta. Oh dear, and now it had started to move in his direction...
Theta ducked under a table and observed the strange little creature hopping oddly across the windowsill. On closer inspection it possessed no legs whatsoever; the lower half of its body disappeared inside the cylinder while it advanced by thrusting its abnormally long arms out and swinging itself forward.

Theta shivered and held his breath. It was completely dark down here; the thing couldn't find him, could it? Unless of course it was nocturnal and fed on innocent students disobeying the Academy's rules, oh no, oh no, it was here, it was so close, it had found him...!

Theta felt several layers of toothpick-like teeth sinking into his hand and yelped as he scrambled backwards, pushing the snarling thing as fast away as he could. He heard the creature whining and growling as he kicked it while getting to his feet and made a run for the door.

Where he bumped his head. On Koschei's forehead.

"Koschei we have to get out of here, it's coming to kill us all!"
With a soft, pitying smirk Koschei caught Theta who had lost his footing and was about to faint as he heard the restless creature snarling behind his back.

"You're so melodramatic," Koschei remarked, adding with a sigh, "Pathetic."
He switched on the light and pulled up a chair to have something to dump Theta on.
The snarling had stopped.
"You're running late, I'm gone for less than two minutes to use the restroom and when I come back you've not only turned off the lights but are shouting at me as well," Koschei said accusingly while folding his arms.
Theta turned his head to take a look at whatever had been attacking him.

He treated the now calm and immobile thing to a scrutinizing glare.
"Looks like a plant," Theta croaked as soon as he'd gained control over his vocal chords again.
"It is a plant," Koschei remarked while picking up the greenish and eyeless shape by its flowerpot tenderly, "I named it Theta II."

"Koschei that thing tried to kill me!" Theta blurted out, pointing an accusing finger at the plant. Two
leaves unfolded to present a mouth-like structure laced with thorns. Theta pulled back his hand immediately.

"Oh, don't be so rude," Koschei said while cooing to Theta II, "You scared it."
"It scared me to death!" Theta snapped, "And it bit me! Look!"
Theta presented his injured hand to Koschei. What had felt like a mortal wound turned out to be a small scratch without even the smallest trace of blood. Theta stared at his own fingers in disappointment. "I swear to you, Koschei, that thing attacked me," Theta insisted.

"It's scared of the dark," Koschei explained, "You must have grazed the switch while sneaking into the room, thereby turning off the light. You have startled my poor Theta II. Isn't that right? Cootchiecoo."
Theta dared to fold the arms in front of his chest as his hearts had stopped pounding as though they would explode and throw open his ribcage any minute.
"Theta II?" Theta asked disbelievingly, still at a loss.
"An honour, isn't it?" Koschei replied while caressing the plant which, Theta could have sworn, was now purring quietly.
"It's… why should I feel flattered? That thing is nothing like me."

"It's afraid of the dark," Koschei replied almost instantly. Theta sighed, too tired and distraught to argue.
"I'll admit it was partially Theta II's fault that your first encounter hasn't played out well," Koschei went on after a while, "But I assure you that Theta II is really sorry and would like to apologize to you. If only it could speak." There Koschei's mind appeared to be occupied by a mad idea once again. "If only it could speak..." he repeated several times before making a mental note on how to improve Theta II's abilities.

Theta felt a hand-like leave brushing over his fingers and looked down. The plant had snuggled up to him before patting the back of his hand, almost apologetically.

He looked back and forth between Koschei and his abominable creation.

"I hate you Koschei."

"I know."