Hi everyone! I would like to inform everyone before we read the next chapter that this is a 'special' chapter! I love seasonal anything, and that includes holiday chapters. I couldn't forgive myself if I passed up the chance to write a special Halloween Chapter, and so that's exactly what I'm going to do here! It's going to be a mere extra to the story, so as far as I have planned out, it's not vital to the plot. It's meant for pure (hehe...get it? "pure"? Pun so intended) amusement, fun, and joy!
I don't believe that I am very good at writing horror. It's usually my friends who drag me into those things. I'm the one who drags them into the fun fluffy stuff that makes you feel all warm inside! Therefor, my idea of horror might not be horrific at all, so if that's the case, I hope you find it humorous instead.
But what am I going on about? We've got a story to get to!
"When bad news comes, realize that it's really good news in disguise."
Black. In every direction he turned, there was black. The ground he stepped on was black, above him was black although he couldn't see a ceiling. By what he could tell, there weren't any walls. There was fog, which was, to his mock surprise, the color black.
The King was infinitely bored, and more so annoyed with the waste of time.
The dream he was in was meaningless. It had no reason to exist, let alone bother him with its presence. It would make more sense if the moment an owl fell alseep they would instantly awake to the coming of night, rather than be tortured by the boredom that he was in now.
The King wandered. Well, what did anyowl expect? It would be more boring to stand there and do nothing in this place of nothingness. At least walking gave him something to focus on.
"Hello?" he yelled out to the vicinity. It was more for the sake of keeping himself occupied than anything else. There was no reply, which was expected.
Even if there was someowl wandering around the place like he was, he doubted that he would be able to see them. Unless they were closer than ten feet, if not five, then the fog would hide them from view.
Tytos, which were superior to all other owl species, had excellent hearing. They were excellent at everything, but their hearing abilities were known to be the most excellent. The King's more so than everyowl else's.
If some sort of noise sounded, the King would hear it. Therefor he would rely on that ability rather than sight for the time being.
"Hello?" the King, having nothing better to do until he woke up from this blasted figment of his imagination, started calling to anyowl that might hear him.
"Hello? Hellooo! He-" Something moist and squishy insulted the King's foot. Glancing down and pulling his now tainted foot away from it, he saw that he had stepped into a blob of red.
Wiping his foot on the floor, he leaned over to inspect the thing. Shapeless and disgusting, it was gooey with the red liquid that had made a puddle around it. It looked like an organ...
...it was an organ. Specifically a heart, and he had just stepped in it.
"Ew..." The King wiped his foot faster, appalled, and backed away from it. He was used to spilling the guts of others, but that didn't mean he enjoyed looking at it. There was pride in being covered in the blood of one's enemies, but touching the organ of one was repulsive.
"That's nasty," the King muttered to himself, ready to abandon the bloody thing and continue with his walking.
"Do you like it?" a silken voice said to him, "She put up quite a fight for it, but I assure you that it was no trouble."
Startled, the King felt his feathers slick down and stick to his form. Whoever had said that was standing behind him, which was impossible. He should have heard footsteps or some flapping before the voice had gotten this close to him. The voice he heard was beautiful, and also high pitched.
He had a hard time thinking, as if his mind had shut off on him, but he was aware that his feet were moving. His body turned, and eventually his head lifted to see the owl before him.
She was breathtaking. The silkiest of black robes wrapped around her gorgeous figure. Deep golden feathers shadowed by the cloak that hung from her shoulders drew him in. Her eyes were huge, framed by spider like lashes that were far longer than naturally possible. Red designs laced through her outfit that swept across the ground.
Her smile was comforting and deceitful. He saw that her nails were as long as claws and painted black as she lifted her talon and gestured for him to come to her. His mind told him not to, but he took a step forward. Then another.
She narrowed her eyes, looking pleased. Her eyes were red but he could see the black of her pupil, crimson lights flashing as she deliberately battered her lashes.
The sense of danger he had about the bird strengthed the closer he came, as well as the desire to continue getting closer. His mind yelled at him to halt, his instincts warning him that he was approaching a threat. He had not a clue to who she was or why she was here, and yet he kept walking, one slow step at a time.
I command you to stop! Turn around this instint! Listen to me! In his mind he shouted to himself, but his physical self ignored him. His eyes refused to blink, not wanting to obstruct the view he was soaking in. He was so eager, too eager, to come closer.
Dark fabric and feathers moved like a stream as she turned her head to the side, letting him press the side of his face against hers. Her eyes shone up at him, hiding under her fluttering lashes.
His heart felt as though it was fluttering too, both in love and in panic.
Flee! FLEE! Get away from her, you impure moron! She dragged her scissory nails down his leg and to his talon, sending pleasant shivers coursing through his body. She kissed the side of his neck and preened the feathers there, making his heart pound so hard it felt like it was trying to break through his rib cage.
Thinking of his heart reminded him of the heart that laid back there. He nuzzled into the feathers of the beautiful owl and spoke in a whisper, "Whose heart is that over there?"
She laughed, a musical note that poisoned him further, and he adored it. "My precious pet," she said, stroking his chest, "Why, don't you know? It's yours..."
What?
"At least it was yours," she added quickly, pulling away and keeping a grip on his shoulders. He leaned into her, a stupid smile plastered on his face. "Now..." she said, "it's mine."
What!? She's crazy! Attack her! Claw her! Fly away! Fly away now! The King's inner conscious yelled at him, but the King was all but able to break away from the beautiful bird in his wings.
She stroked him around the sides of his face and under his beak with her talon, making him dizzy with glee. The King didn't know which terrified him more; whether or not she loved him or whether or not he was falling in love with her.
It was too late and the King knew that. He was at her mercy and there was nothing he could do about it. She took a step back, and all he could do was stand there like an idiot as he gawk at her, eyes glazing over as he did.
A wide smile spread across her face. It kept growing and a flash of white became visible. It glistened in the ill-lighted place, shining bright against her dark form. Then another one appeared on the other side of her beak.
A cold fear spread through the King but he couldn't stop smiling. As she opened her beak he could see that the two white flashes were pointed and shone like a razor's blade. They were similar to teeth, only sharper. They reminded him of the bats that flew around the Canyon Lands.
Some part of the King was horrified and wanted to wake up from this daymare, while the other was engaged by these pearly white fangs. The beautiful owl licked one of them with her tongue, right before the crimson of her eyes brighten until it took over the whole eye.
With a hungry determination clear, her beak opened wider and she struck at him, straight in the face...
"No! No! Stop it! Get off of me! GET-A-WAY!" Although he was starting to become aware of his surroundings, the King continued to thrash around in his nest, kicking and screaming. "Help! Help me!"
His eyes flew opened and he gasped, letting the air fill his body after the racking screams had worn out his lungs. He flung himself over the side of the bed, heaving in deep breaths. Not taking any chances, he glanced around his hollow for anything out of the ordinary while his talons rubbed the frame of the bed, making sure it was real.
He sighed, relieved. He was back in the logically sane world of reality, where everything made sense. He was awake, thank Glaux.
Images of the beautiful owl was still etched vividly in his mind. Those big round eyes and the long lashes. He knew for a sprinking fact that lashes didn't grow that long. They might as well had been spiderwebs. Her goldens feathers had been so soft, it would have made an owl cry. Then there was those two fangs.
Hesitantly, he lifted his talon to his face. He felt around for the bite marks, and to his relief and humiliation, they weren't there. He flinched as he remembered how she had biten him. She had biten him while she kissed him. What sick creature kissed the owl they were sucking the life out of?
His talon went down his face and rubbed the side of his neck, using the excuse that he was calming his nerves when really he was checking for more of those bite marks. He glanced down at his chest, where the beautifully sick owl had dragged her razor blade claws through it. Not across it, through it.
He took a gulp of water from the side of his bed. He despised himself for fearing that daymare, but he loathed himself for enjoying it. It was too sick, twisted, and wrong for his mind to manage at the moment. So with a deep breath, he fell back into his nest and threw the stupid covers over his head.
Unbeknownst to him, a shadow stood at the edge of his room. Too still to be noticed, she appeared like she was part of the furniture. Eyes as black as the dark soon realized he slumbered, and glowed the faintest red.
Those two dazzling fangs were the only source of brightness in the room when her pleased smile revealed them. She watched him with interest, staring as his figure lifted, then settled back down from under the blankets as he breathed.
"Yes, my precious pet," she whispered to him, knowing with satisfaction that he couldn't hear her, "Sleep well..." She sunk back into the darkness and disappeared with it, but just because no owl could see her didn't mean she wasn't there.
"Sweet dreams." A malificent laugh echoed through his room and infiltrated his dreams once more.
Night came, as it does every time the sun goes down, but tonight was different. The moon was at its fullest, sending its gloomy light seeping through the breaks in the Canyon Lands. Shadows crept out, spreading across the unforgiving land, reaching with its tips for anything unsuspecting.
Over the sleeping form of an owl, three shadows rose. Eyes opening and glaring down upon the bird, darkened smiles spread across their faces. The most malicious smile was from the small one with the tiny claws, ready to shred through an owl without mercy.
The three came around the head of the owl, leaning over the bird as they glanced eagerly at each other. Slowly rising up and back before sending the blow, they all came crashing down on her.
"HAPPY PUNKIE NIGHT!"
Dusty shrieked and scrambled out of her nest, stumbling over twice in panic. Her heart beat twice the rate it was supposed to, her mind buzzed and ear slits ringing. Eyes darting around, she found the figures of her three roommates throwing themselves on the floor as they roared with laughter.
It took a moment for her to fully wake up before she realized what had happened. "You..." she seethed, body shaking with fury, "You..."
Isabelle's hiccuping giggles made her gasp, coming too quickly for her to catch a breath. "It-It-hu-u-urts!" she laughed out, clutching her sides.
"I can't breath!" Gia was coiled up, her body puffing up with each of her ugly sounding laughs.
Jo was more contained, but she too snorted and chuckled with laughter. One wing attempting to hide her smiling face, she turned away from the raging Dusty as if she didn't do it, "I never did understand how pleasure could come from enjoying another's humiliation."
Waves of hatred came at Jo as Dusty glared at her, her ruffled feathers rising and falling with each breath she sucked in.
The Red Masked Owl let her eyes look away, but it was useless to try and hide her smile. "Although..." she snorted, and placed a wing over her beak when she did, "...I did indeed find pleasure in it."
That was the spark needed to light the fuse for Dusty. At first she tried to contain it, making a strangling motion with her wings, then she blew up. "I'm gonna kill you!"
All three recruits shrieked in shock and darted in random directions as the rampaging Sooty charged. Dusty went for Jo, wanting to beat her up the most, and chased the larger recruit around the Dorm with a purpose of ripping a talonful of feathers out.
Gia, with a quivering Barn Owl behind her, stood and watched the entertainment from a distance. It was all quite amusing until Dusty and Jo made a sudden turn to the right, which happened to be where she and Isabelle were standing.
Stunned for a silent moment, Gia started smacking Isabelle back into motion. They fleed for the entrance and screamed as the two others smashed into them, sending the four into a giant rolling ball of feathers.
After rolling like a snowball going downhill for a few dizzying moments, the ball of feathers crashed apart when it hit something. Whatever they hit was as strong as a wall, since it felt like they had rammed into one.
The four young she-owls glanced up from their fallen positions, whether it be upside down or lopsided, and stared at their instructor whom stood over them. Flight Instructor Cinder fumed with a silence that was sure not to last long.
Gia pointed a wing at Dusty, who in the same moment pointed at Jo, who found the coincidence amusing and pointed at Gia for the sake of dignity.
"She started it," they spoke in near unison. This made poor Jo, unfamiliar with the joy of fun, lose her slipping control and burst into a guffaw of giggles. Gia and Dusty, panicked, jumped at her and covered her beak with their wings.
Dusty took some pleasure in holding the Red Masked Owl down, so Gia turned to Instructor Cinder since Isabelle couldn't be trusted to be able to give an answer. She tried to make restraining an owl look casual, and for all she knew maybe it was in the Pure One's world.
"Flight Instructor Cinder," Gia addressed, curtsying while trying to keep a hold on the laughing Jo. "My most humble of apologies," she said, then blinked bright eyed and added, "Happy Punkie Night."
"What is the explanation you have planned out this time for all this-" Instructor Cinder cut herself off, 53-28's words regestering in her mind. She was confused, which fanned the flames of her sparked anger. Of course Cinder's anger was forever sparked, but it was how hot it could get in a night which was the question. Or better yet, how much it could burn in the process.
She blinked and stared suspiciously at her most reckless of students. "What did you say to me? Repeat it."
"Uh..." 53-28 glanced around nervously before answering, "Happy Punkie Night."
"Yes, that," Cinder said, stepping closer, "What is that?"
Gia's beak almost fell open. It didn't seem real that her flight instructor didn't know what Punkie Night was. It was an annual holiday celebrated by owls all across the Southern Kingdoms. Last she checked in her book of Kingdom maps, the Canyon Lands were in the Southern Kingdoms.
"It's a holiday," she answered.
"Holiday?" Cinder said, the words feeling odd on her tongue, "It is absurd to come up with such fantasies when you could be working, like you are supposed to do at an exact certain time every night." She towered over her student expecting that it would strike fear and obedience into her.
That was not the case. "I didn't make it up, it's real! It has been for hundreds to thousands of years!" 53-28 said, putting much more personality into the words she spoke than she usually did with her instructor.
"On the last night of the first moon cycle of the Copper-Rose Rain, owls dress up as different species of owls to disguise themselves. For on that night, spirits from another world cross paths with ours, and we have to disguise ourselves to hide from the spooky ones," 53-28 continued, making waving motions with her wings as she said the word "spooky". Cinder stared at her like she was short on intellegence.
"I used to dress up as a Snowy Owl on Punkie Night. All the owlets would go to hollow to hollow and preform crazy tricks and sing Punkie Night songs in exchange for sweets. It's called trick-or-treating." Taking great pleasure in tutoring her tutor, 53-28 went on about the joys of Punkie Night.
She had never actually gone trick-and-treating before, since she was never allowed to leave her tree. No owls ever came trick-and-treating to her tree either, because she lived in an abandoned part of the jungle. Her aunt did her best to make it up to her, but to miss out on such festivities every year was depressing when she added up all the missed out years.
Eighteen long, lonesome years of being too afraid to look out the hollow's entrance as she eagerly waited for her Auntie to return home. Not fearful of the spirits on Punkie Night, not even the spooky ones, but of the thugs and ruffians that lurked about out there. Those thugs and ruffians, itching to get their dirty claws on a young Golden Masked Owl like herself.
At the best she got to dress up as a different kind of owl. Her favorite species was a Snowy Owl. They were so fierce and majestic, and not in the least afraid to show themselves to the world. Her books on Snowy Owls said they took much pride in their species, and more so if they were part of a royal bloodline.
On Punkie Night she was able to forget her nearly extincted species, all dressed up in a fluffy Snowy costume with a feathery mask that she had crafted herself. Hugging her owlipoppen, Mrs. Pretty, that kept her company while she listened to Auntie's stories. Reading books upon books about Punkie Night, living the holiday through the words on the page. She took in as much celebration as she could through her imagination.
She had researched everything she could get her talons on about Punkie Night, yet she had never experienced it. How could she describe a holiday to someowl if she didn't ever celebrate it in the ways owls were supposed to?
"53-28!" Cinder screamed, smacking the back of her wing into the side of Gia's face. Gia fell onto the ground, a slice of pain inflaming where she was hit. Dazed, she rubbed the tender spot and shook her head. Talons and wings of her friends hosted her back up, keeping her balance for her while she came back to reality.
Had she blacked out?
"Answer me when I am talking to you!" her flight instructor said, wings spread out in aggravation.
Yeah, she had blacked out.
Shame fell down on Gia, the disrespect she had shown her instructor filling her with guilt. Her chest tightened at the idea of her tuning out the world, merely to remember the grief she had lived in with every night in that Earleaf Tree.
Layers of pain she known had been there, which she had ignored efficiently up till now, was ripped away. It left her bleeding, the sorrow seeping out too fast for her control. She wanted to pull it back, pack it up and store it away. Place it somewhere deep down where she could never find it.
The dam had been broken, and misery that had been hidden deep down bubbled to the top and broke the surface.
"Gia..." Isabelle said, daring to stretch her wing tip out to touch her. Cinder flashed her a villianous glare at what she said, making her gulp. "Uh...I mean...Gee ah, are you okay, 53-28?"
Jo and Dusty whipped their heads around, faces seeming to be screaming in panic. Isabelle stuttered as she realized she had slipped a question in front of their instructor. She coughed. "I mean...I wonder why 53-28 is so...uh, so-"
"Yes, I wonder that, too," Jo filled in for her as she placed a wing on the shoulders of the Golden Masked Owl. "Gee ah, you appear unstable, 53-28. If there is something out of the ordinary with you, we would appreciate you informing us now."
"We would?" Cinder said, beak snarling at the smallest student before her. She was shuddering as if she were cold, but her eyes were wide like she was frightened by something. Frustrated at her weakness, Cinder wasted no time raising her wing and slapping her across the face again.
"Stand up straight, soldier!" Instructor Cinder shouted, standing over the shaking student.
Tears rolled down her eyes. She tried to choke it down, but with several huffy breaths, Gia fell into a sob. Quickly her face was sodden with streaks slipping down her face, blurring her vision. She tried to wipe it away with her wing but then her eyes would fill back up again.
Humiliated and hating herself for being this feeble, she stood up and shoved away her friends and instructor. Crying for a reason she despised, she flew out of the Dorm.
"Gee ah, 53-28!" Isabelle called out, being the first to fly out of Dorm Room 5 after her.
Jo did not understand the expressing of tears. She had believed that it came from intense pain when inflicted on a weak owl, but Gia was not injured. Perplexed and somewhat fascinated, she gave a look to Dusty before flying past Cinder and out the entrance.
Infuriated that her students would dare leave without being excuse, and all the more angered by 53-28's display, Instructor Cinder turned to the remaining student in her presence. She would have to descipline the others later, for now she had to knock some sense into 53-05.
"Now look what you'd done!" Dusty roared, shocking Cinder as she was about to raise her own voice.
The young Sooty stood tall before the instructor with her beak grinding. The flight instructor watched as her student puffed to twice her size. She could have sworn that, shining at the edges of her eyes, was the hint of the red glow of a Pure One.
Shoving Cinder out of the way with more strength than Cinder would have expected from a Sooty, 53-05 marched off fuming before taking flight. Cinder watched the recruit as she flapped to where the others had gone.
What had happened in the past seven or so minutes Cinder didn't understand. It was discombobulating, even without the topic of Punkie Night in the mix. She was too confused to remember to be angry about it.
Honestly, everything about that student of hers, 53-28, was confusing. It had been that way from the first night she came to the Academy. It seemed that anyowl that was exposed to her became strange like she was as well. 53-17 had been a good student before she had moved in with that golden feathered Masked Owl.
As she continued to stare in the direction where her students had left, even when 53-05 had long disappeared, something moved from behind her. Being the trained soldier she was, she spun around and prepared a defense stance. Nothing was there.
She blinked. That was...odd. It had felt more like the wind than an owl, but there wasn't any possible way that a breeze could get through the impenetrable Dormitory she was in.
Shrugging it off, she went to turn away. It annoyed her that something that wasn't there had caught her attention, and therefor wasted it. When something annoyed her she usually yelled at it, but in this case she couldn't do that.
Her eyes scrolled down for whatever reason as she spread out her wings to fly out of the entrance. She stiffened, her blood freezing at what she saw. This time her attention wasn't wasted on nothing.
Scribbled in the dirt in large letters were the words "HOW DARE YOU".
Cinder couldn't blink because her eyelids, all three of them on both eyes, felt as flexible as stone. She glanced around and behind herself, yet she knew that no owl else was here. The four students who lived here had flown out after the smallest one had thrown a sobbing fit.
If one of them had written the words for her because she had slapped one of their roommates, Cinder would had noticed it. She had them all in her sights when she had been scolding them for their ridiculous antics. Besides, she wasn't certain if any of them knew how to write or not.
Still, she stared at the words as she tried to figure out how they got there. She glanced around again, but as before there were no owls in the vicinity. See? Even the Dorm that the Masked Owl slept in became weird because she was using it.
Taking one last look at the eerie words, the flight instructor rose her wings and took flight. There was a full night ahead of her, and the sooner she started it the sooner it would finish. This night in particular, this "Punkie Night" as the golden one had put it, she was eager to end.
Thanks to her four most pesky recruits, those words on the ground would be etched in her mind for the rest of the night. With a bit of luck, the rough hours of work she had to complete would take her mind off of such things.
Seconds after she had turned the corner, another gust of wind blew out through Dorm Room 5. It kicked up dirt and debris in a puff of dust that covered the words scratched on the ground. When the puff of smoke cleared, the words were gone.
She didn't get it. 53-28 was worthless, so there should had been no reason for anyowl to fret over her. Jatt and Jutt had informed her of what the Third Class Masked Owl had done in the Punishment Class, and she had graudated. That didn't matter. No owl should go out of there way to coddle some weakling, whether she was sucessful or not.
Pure Ones looked out for themselves. It was survival of the purest. Cinder intended to not only survive, but thrive.
That was pitiful hope, though. It might as well be a dream. Sooties hardly survive in the world of Purity, let alone thrive in it. Hope was nothing more than a figment of imagination, as were dreams. Useless they were. They had no purpose. At least she did.
Perhaps the reason why the owls of Dorm Room 5 stayed close together was because three out of four of them were Third Class. She had seen in some cases where the weaklings would stick with each other in a corner somewhere, betting on the hope that with the more numbers there were the less of a chance it would be of them being the one to get hurt.
Although, 53-17 was a First Class Masked Owl. It didn't make sense that she would lower herself to the level of other Third Class owls. It was a shame. 53-17 had such obedience and potential. If she was as smart as she appeared, she would drop those other owls and request to move into another Dorm Room.
Then again, 53-24 was a Barn Owl. Although she was Third Class, being of a higher purity automatically placed her above the ranks of any lower species.
Then there was 53-28. As low in ranking and as weak as she was, she still held a higher place than the Sooty Owl in their group, yet Cinder always seemed to find her with that Sooty Owl by her side.
Those four fledglings had no sense of purity.
"Good evening, Ugly," said a voice behind her. For such an insulting name, the amount of fake hospitality in it nearly made it sound sincere. Cinder was not fooled.
"Go grovel at the Queen's feet, you sprinkin' insect. I don't have time for any of your tomfoolery," Cinder said without turning around.
"My, someowl's in a mood tonight."
Walking up from behind her, Fight Instructor Major quickened his pace to match hers. "What's the matter?" he said, though not sounding interested, "Did one of your students fall flat on his face during a race, or did you just get demoted again?"
The insult stung. With feathers rising in fury, Cinder lifted her wings and flew down the rest of the pathway. She knew he was following her from the sound of his wings flapping. They were steadily getting louder as he came near.
She made a quick turn down a tight hallway that required her to fold her wings. Landing, she continued the rest of the way without turning around. Anger bubbled up from inside her, threatening to explode.
"Yeesh, that bad, eh?" Major knew of how irritated she could get when he touched her, so he kept making himself trip on rocks so that he would bump into her in the confined space. "Come on, Ugly. Talk to me. What happened thats got your feathers all ruffled up?"
"Why don't you bother a purer owl before I beat your tailfeathers." Cinder shoved him away with her shoulder. She took a good leap in front of her to create some distance between them, which took merely a moment for Major to fill in again.
"Lemme guess," Major continued to harass her, pretending to think of an explanation. His face brightened and he snapped his talons, as if he had figured out the answer. "The King found out that you're a Sooty Owl and realized his mistake in the promotions."
Cinder halted. With her feathers puffing up, she swelled twice her size.
This didn't unnerve Major in the slightest. He snapped his talons again, but this time in a way as if it he had heard a bad update (Kind of like how Swiper the Fox does). "Ah, darn! I was starting to think you could actually hold on to that promotion," he snorted, then added under his breath, "for at least another week."
That did it. Spinning around as best she could in the narrow hallway, she rose her wing and slapped the bothersome Barn Owl up the face. Unlike she had with 53-28, she put a good amount of hurt into it.
He didn't stumble back or move. He stood as still as a statue, the mark she had given him quickly reddening across his face. It soon spread and his whole face went a deep crimson, except most of it was caused by his rising blood pressure.
Cinder didn't bother sticking around to listen to his wrath. She continued down the hallway like she didn't give a flying feather about it, which she didn't. That bird could get himself gutted by the Guardians for all she cared, and if did then good riddance. That would take one thing off her list to look forward to every night.
"How dare you..."
Cinder stiffened when she heard his breathy voice, vicious with those three words. She hated herself for it, but fear trickled down her spine. Major wasn't the one that had frightened her, but the words. The words frightened her.
Major recovered from the strike and started marching down the hallway after her. Getting faster as he went, he lifted his claw to draw blood from the Sooty when she turned around.
Her body shrunk down from her previously puffed up size, eyes widening. Feathers clung to her small figure and her beak opened with a gasp. It confused Major and he stopped. Not once had he ever seen her like this. He had he really scared this badly? He had gotten into a fight with her many times before.
What Major didn't know was that she was gawking at something else. He hadn't caused her to tremble. No, she could take him on any night. But the transparent form behind him did.
She shrieked, another thing that Major had never witnessed her do before, and it cause him to jump back in startled confusion. He turned around in a swift movement, knocking the flailing Sooty over with his wing while doing so. There wasn't anything behind him, except for the rest of the hallway. A faint light glowed at the end of it from where they had entered from.
"What?" Major asked, his eye looking to her, to the entrance, and back to her again, "What did you see?"
Cinder, with her chest rising and falling as she recovered from shock, pulled herself to her feet. She leaned against the wall and took deep breaths, trying to erase the image from her mind.
"Hey, Ugly," Major said, nudging her. Calling her by that insulting nickname and touching her, even if it was lightly, was usually enough to light back up her irritation. However, that didn't work.
"I'm fine," she said. It sounded like she was talking to herself, like she would say those words if he hadn't been there. She wiped her face with her wing and went to go back down the hallway.
Shrugging, Major went to follow, when another shriek blasted his earslits. His highly advanced hearing ability was tuned out by a painful ringing, which distracted him until Cinder attempted to fly in reverse of all things in the tight confinement. Being as sturdy as he was she didn't knock him over, but she did knock the wind out of him.
She clung onto his wings and squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to look at what she saw.
After his hearing came back, Major looked down at the Sooty Owl in his wings. Once more his face reddened, but not from his anger nor from an incision to his face. A fiery blush was spreading over his features, and he thanked Glaux that Cinder was too busy keeping her eyes closed to see it.
Trying to make the blush go away as fast as he could, he coughed and shook Cinder to wake her out of her curled up position. She whined and clung onto him harder, her claws sinking into his wings. He sucked in a breath of pain, then he saw that his chest feathers were stained red.
It wasn't the red from the paint that identified a Pure One. It was blood, he more than familiar with it, but it wasn't his blood. Tentatively, he brushed back the feathers on Cinder's face. He saw a gash going horizontal that went right under her eye. The wound seemed like it went further but he couldn't see the rest since most of her face was pressed against his chest.
"You..." his voice cracked with how nervous he was getting. He coughed and tried not to sound stupid. "You okay?"
She shook her head, more blood dripping down her face and smearing against his chest as she did. "Please tell me that I'm not the only one who can see that."
He blinked as she pointed a talon at the wall on his left, still keeping her face buried in his feathers. Raising his head, he felt himself shrink as he saw words spelled out on the wall. Three words, written in red. Red? Where did the...?
He glanced down at Cinder. Touching her as little as he possible could, he pushed her head back, which took some force since she was persistant with holding onto him. Going from one side of her face to the other, there was a slash bleeding across her face. It was a sensitive spot that could bleed consistantly, and the blood was smudged over her face and chest. His chest too.
Major swiveled his head around to look behind him, then he glanced down the other way. He did this twice to be efficient, but the only owls here were him and Cinder.
Feeling awkward, he turned back to the Sooty still in his grasp. As casually as the circumstances allowed, he let go of her and took a step away. "Uh...Your face is bleeding."
No kidding, he said to himself. He was surprised that Cinder didn't say that to him. She would take any chance she got to make him look like a fool.
He watched, uncomfortable, as she lifted her head to look at him. They stared at each other for several seconds, Major veering his only eye in other directions to avoid making eye contact. He did notice, though, when her eyes began to water.
Sprink! He cursed to himself, panicked. He had never seen an owl cry before and by Glaux he wasn't going to start tonight.
"It's okay!" he said, not knowing what else to say. Bringing as much comfort as an owl like him could, he placed a wing around her shoulder. "Blood looks good on you," he said the first thing that came to mind.
She glared at him with watery eyes. "Shut up," she said, spitting the words and jerking her shoulder away. Her head turned away from him, her eyes closed so she wouldn't see the words on the wall.
"No, really! I mean it, I think you look beautiful," he said, then his mind exploded as he realized what he just said outloud. He clamped his beak shut as her head swiveled back around. The words had slipped out, and there was no way to take them back.
His face flushed and she saw it. Humiliated beyond repair, he hid himself with a wing. It wasn't like he could damage his reputation further with his hiding. She teased him about everything she could manage to insult him with. Still she hadn't dropped the fact that her entire class graduated, which he hadn't thought was possible, and his hadn't.
Her wing pushed away his and he flinched back, preparing for her to punch him in the beak. Instead, she came up, standing on the two front talons of her feet to reach him. He jerked his head away, thinking that she was going to bite his face. She had done that before; nearly took out one of his three eyelids.
Using her wing tip, she moved his head to face her. He peeked open his only eye as she slowly pressed her beak against his, causing his eye to blink open. Just as quickly he closed it, leaning into her gentle touch. Another thing he had never seen was Cinder being gentle, and yet here she was, being gentle with him.
Either there was an apocolyse no owl was telling him about or a blue moon, because many things he had never thought possible were happening tonight, all in the past fifteen minutes.
Shyness got the best of Cinder, and she pulled away. She squirmed out of Major's grip but he didn't want her to stop. Wrapping his wings around her in a lock, he pushed his beak to hers and continued the kiss.
"She did what?" Gia gasped with delight, excitement overpowering her as she began bouncing around the Dorm Room like she had consume too much sugar. "No way!" she squealed, clapping her wings as she bounced.
On the other side of the wall, Dusty was arguing with Jo over something about Punkie Night. Isabelle had strolled up ahead, not wanting to be around the squabble. Being a Tyto, she had excellent hearing, and since Dusty and Jo were proccupied at the moment, she heard Gia talking first.
Cocking her head to hear better, she caught the sound of another voice. It was faint and somewhat whispy, as if it were broken up by the currents of wind on a stormy night.
"Annabella, I believe that you are hearing something. You should tell us what it is," Jo said, putting a lot of effort into trying to sound casual. She had waved off Dusty with a wing, which infuriated the Sooty further, and flew up ahead by the Barn Owl's side.
"Her name is Isabelle," Dusty corrected when she caught up with them. Jo and Isabelle had the side of their heads pressed against the wall, and so Dusty followed suit.
An uproar of laughter boomed through the walls. "You did not do that! Oh, you should know better. What would your mama say?" Gia's squeaky voice died down, as if she were listening to some owl else.
All three recruits strained themselves to hear if there was another bird in the conversation. Only Isabelle heard parts of the words when they tuned into clarity.
"...After I...screaming...they went...before...endearing." A cackling laughter followed after the last audible words were voiced.
Gia's voice lifted an octave, startling the three recruits as they had been focusing hard to listen to the faint sounds from within. "Ruining a romantic moment like that! Karma's gonna bite you in the tailfeathers, buddy. You had better watch out."
A feeling of betrayal invaded Dusty. Shoving Jo to the side, and with Isabelle scrambling out of the way, she went past the wall and marched into the Dorm Room. If there was another owl that Gia was meeting up with then she wanted to know about it. Her dimwitted friend could be talking to a complete creep right now and she would have never known.
"Hey! What's going on in here?" she shouted.
Gia lifted her head up from her outrageous position. She was leaning over upside down on her back on the ledge of her nest as she had been chatting, making drmamatic gestures with her wings and talons while coming up with facial expressions to emphasize the idea.
Her eyes brightened when she saw her best friend. "Dusty!" she shrieked with joy, and flipped off the ledge. It was an impressive flip until she stumbled and fell on the landing, but she brushed it off and rushed over to Dusty. The angry appearing Sooty was tapping her talons on the ground, glaring. Gia was too chirpy to either notice or mind.
Jo, with Isabelle behind her, came in. "I want to know who you were talking to," she said. It would have seemed like an order, but from the Red Masked Owl's perspective it was her way of asking Gia something without daring to make an actual question.
"Guess what!?" she screamed, too excited to answer the question. The three recruits stumbled away from her, concerned.
Catching herself and covering her beak, she blushed and lowered her voice. Her eyes were loud enough to describe the amount of glee that she was feeling, but to keep her voice low was a challenge when the happiness in her was about to burst.
"What is it, Gia?" Isabelle said, sounding quieter than ever when compared to Gia's volume.
She ushered for them to gather around. She lowered her voice as if she were about to reveal a nasty secret before speaking. "Guess what two certain instructors did early tonight?"
"Killed each other!?" Dusty guessed, forgetting her temper with the joy of the idea.
Gia gave her friend an unamused stare before clearing her throat and continuing. "No," she answered, "They were kissing in one of those hallways to the Insturctor's Rooms."
After saying this, Gia fell into a fit of giggles. Surprisingly, Isabelle did the same, poking the Masked Owl and repeating the words "Really? Really?" in between puffs of breath. Isabelle's laughter was much more pleasant sounding than Gia's.
Blinking, Dusty and Jo glanced at each other, not understanding the humor behind this. Jo was at a complete befuddlement, but Dusty got at the most that this was a kind of gossip. She knew of it from the many times Fiona had caused it, and she had no desire to join in.
"I do not understand why this is interesting," Jo said, her eyes searching the Dorm as if it had the answer.
Dusty had never thought that Gia would be one to find amusement in gossip, let alone shy and quiet Isabelle. Then a thought occurred to her: Where had Gia heard this rumor from anyway? If it was from Fiona then she was going to be getting one hagsmire of a beating.
"And you heard this from whom?" Dusty asked, raising an eye distrustfully.
Snorting a bit, Gia fixed her bright eyes on Dusty. "Oh, just a friend," she said, rolling her eyes as several chuckles escaped her beak.
This frustrated Dusty, her feathers puffing when she inhaled. She was about to speak when Gia returned to the topic.
"Guess who were the turtle doves?" she asked, glancing around at her trio of roommates.
"What are those?" Jo asked, too confused to find a way around the question.
"A kind of bird," said Isabelle.
"I did not realize there was a kind of bird that was part turtle."
Gia sighed and shook her head, but kept her joyous smile. It surprised her that Jo didn't know what a turtle dove was, but if she lived most of her life in the Canyon Land's it would make sense. There weren't many creatures besides Pure Ones that lived here.
"Anyway..." Gia bit her beak, eyes sparkling. "Guess who the two lovebirds were?"
"Instructor Razor," was Jo's immediate answer. She didn't understand what they were doing but it turned out to be, indeed, interesting.
Dusty wingpalmed. Now Jo was infected with the entertainment of gossip. "Where did you find this information?" Dusty pressed.
"Instructor Razor and Instructor Grace!" Isabelle said, adding on to what Jo had guessed. Her voice rose higher than usual as she was enjoying the game they had created.
Gia shook her head, her beak clamped and smiling widely.
Dusty growled but it caught no owl's attention. "Where-"
"Instructor Teoraq?"
"Instructor Kalygx!"
With a face scrunched up in aggravation, Dusty glared at the three of them. "Hey-"
"I bet it was Bifp."
"Jyraptsi!"
"Conrad."
"Are they even instructors?"
"HEY!" Dusty shrieked, standing in the center of the triangle of roommates. She pointed a talon at Gia, who blinked at it. "You answer me right now. Where did you get this info?" She spoke the words slowly, making sure that her easily distracted friend understood.
To her shock and irritation, Gia laughed and pushed her talon away. "You need to learn to relax, Dusty. I didn't even expect that to happen when Tony told me what he did."
The three recruits stared at her in a unison of confusement. Dusty was the only one to blink as she recalled the names she had heard over her years of training in the Academy. Jo didn't know many names since she often went by numbers, and Isabelle preferred to communicate with her friends only.
No Tony came to mind. Dusty gave a glare at Gia, who tilted her head innocently. "And who..." She gave herself another moment to try and remember, but nothing came from it. "...is Tony?"
"A friend," Gia answered.
"I mean more specifically!"
Startled but not surprised by her shouting, Gia lifted her wings and made calming gestures. "My goodness, take a deep breath, Dusty. Tony is a trusty friend, believe me. I've known him since we've moved in here."
Although she said this with a reassuring smile, this did not effect Dusty's mood in a positive way. Wings crossed, the angered Sooty Owl breathed in a deep breath that caused her feathers to rise until she swelled twice her size.
Gia didn't understand why she was this upset over Tony. He was merely a friend, like Jo and Isabelle were. Like she was. Besides, she had figured that she would have met Tony by now. How could she not take notice of him?
In that case, perhaps it wasn't Tony that was making her angry. Since she had brought up about what had happened between the two lovestruck instructors, Dusty hadn't been acting all that pleasant. Gia took a moment to think it through, then the puzzle pieces came together.
Realizing what her roommate had been thinking, Gia dropped to the floor and wailed out in laughter. She slapped a wing over her face and coiled up, her sides aching from the pressure of her hideous laughing.
That was it. Dusty unfolded her wings and shriek, beyond ticked off. Isabelle hid while Jo enjoyed the entertainment.
"This isn't funny!" Dusty snatched Gia by the back of her neck and yanked her to her feet.
In between gasps, she chuckled out the words while trying to recompose herself. "It is funny!" After another outburst of guffaws, all the while with Dusty glaring at her, Gia pulled herself together.
"Oh, no, Dusty. You've got it all wrong. What, you think I eavesdrop and spread rumors? You think I enjoy listening to that silly gossip from recruits like that? Like Fiona?"
Her feathers began to fall back into place as Dusty relaxed, letting her wings fold by her sides naturally. She raised an eye at her, wondering.
Gia took a moment to think, her eyes veering upwards. "Well...the truth is I do like that, but that's besides the point!" she quickly added as she saw Dusty begin to rise again, "I'm not like Fiona, and Tony assured me that all he did was spook Cinder and Major a bit. It's nothing more than harmless fun. I used to scare my aunt all the time on Punkie Night! In fact, this one time I-"
"Woah, woah, wait!" Dusty said, flapping her wings and making a halting motion, "Did you say..." her voice trailed off. A quavering smile twitched across her beak and she hated herself for it.
Jo and Isabelle looked at each other, wide eyed, and a big smile spread over their faces as well.
"Major?" said Jo's unbelieving voice.
"Cinder?" Isabelle's voice went so high that it cracked at the end of the name.
Bobbing her head, her eyes beaming with the returning of the cheer, she clapped her wings and sang, "Yes!"
With that, the four young recruits freaked out.
It was a half an hour later, and the thought was flying through their minds just as feverishly as before.
While Isabelle was showing Jo how to properly preen one's feathers, Dusty was rearranged her nest once more that night. Her thoughts were elsewhere and the activity was merely to give herself something active to do.
She had known her flight instructor for a huge portion of her life. Cinder had been the owl to teach her how to speak, to walk, to eat. She had taught her how to fly, which was recently. For as much she could remember, Cinder might had been there when she had hatched if she was brought to St. Aegolius in an egg. Maybe it was Cinder who had been the owl to snatch her.
That last thought was unlikely, since it was often the Impure Servants who served as Snatchers. Flight Instructor Cinder was a Sooty Owl, and was pretty low in ranking, but she was still in the ranks of Purity.
The idea of her being there when she had hatched wasn't much of a possibility, either, unless Cinder had been a Caretaker before she had become an Instructor. Dusty couldn't imagine her moody instructor caring for a clutch of owlets. The thought was outrageous.
If an owl had mistaken Cinder as Dusty's mother figure then she would have spat in his face. Cinder was anything but that. She was more of a cranky teacher that followed her around with a whipping stick in case she did something that displeased her.
As she pulled in more small rocks for her nest, Dusty thought about the idea of Cinder being with Major. It was absurd in retrospeck. Owls weren't suppose to marry outside their species. It was strictly forbidden not only in St. Aegolius but all around the world. Owls that did that were shunned away by the world, forced to live as outcasts.
As much as Cinder pestered her, Dusty would hate to see that happen to her. Sooties and Barns were Tyto Owls, Pure Owls, and therefor related, but they were labeled as different species. The differences were as obvious as the resemblances.
Then there was another thing. Since when did her stickling instructor take a liking to the Fight Instructor across the pathway to their Training Room? Dusty had thought that they had hated each other, because they sure acted like it. They had been rivals since before she could remember.
It was hard to imagine Cinder as affectionate. She didn't think that the owl had a romantic feather anywhere on her body, and same went for Major. In fact...Dusty didn't know if any Pure Ones in the Canyon Lands had any idea of what romance was.
As she thought that, Dusty's eyes wondered off to Gia's direction, where she was saying something quickly to the other two roommates. Well, almost all the owls in the Canyons Lands. Then again, Gia wasn't a fully graduated Pure One yet so she didn't count.
Besides, what did Dusty know about romance? If she had shared her thoughts with Jo she would have gotten herself a slap across the face and a mocking laugh.
Just then, Gia glided up to Dusty's ledge. She folded her wings and came next to her, smiling brightly.
"I'm going out now. I'll be back before nesting time. I'll tell the guards that I'm just stretching my wings before they give the word to rest."
"And where do you think you're going?" Dusty asked, stopping what she was doing.
Gia's smile faltered a bit, but then came back twice as bright. "I've got to go find the Bluebird and make sure he's alright."
"Bluebird?"
"The one from the Final Test Race. You know, the little blue fella that got attacked yesternight in the Punishment Class?" Gia said, a look of concern coming over her face.
Dusty sighed. "Gia...You can't-"
"Oh, please!" Gia grabbed her shoulders, startling the Sooty. "I have to make sure he's alright! He could be hurt, Dusty. He could be hurt really badly after what that...that..."
A mild flash of anger ignited in her eyes. She clenched her beak and puffed up as she tried to think of the nastiest word she could say. "...after what that not nice owl did to him. Who knows how injured he could be?"
Dusty despised the pitiful expression she saw in her friend's face. It killed her to look at it. Blowing out a huff of air, she gave a halfhearted glare and said, "You had better be back before the guards give the word."
"You're the best!" Gia hugged Dusty so suddenly that she gasped. Taking her enthusiastic friend's wings off of her, Dusty smiled and shooed her away.
Sighing happily, which was something Dusty didn't do often, the young Sooty watched as Gia glided down to the Dorm Room's floor in a flash of bright gold. Once landed, she folded her wings and hopped over to the entrance.
While staring, Dusty became aware of a delicate breeze going through her feathers. Her eyes darted left and right for the source of it, and while doing so she caught the sight of Gia's shadow. There was a fainter color that surrounded one side of it, which moved in similar, but not the same, directions as she did.
Gia turned, a sweet and eager smile brightening her face like a sunny day. Her long lashes blinked over her eyes as she giggled, staring in a direction as if something was there. Making a gesture to follow in the same direction, she spoke three words before leaving the Dorm.
"Come on, Tony."
This was so much fun! I did not see a smidgen of any of this happening! It came to me completely by surprise, from the moment this idea hit me to when I was writing it. It started with me as I was writing a random daymare scene for the sake of Halloween, and it soon grew into something much more. Then Punkie Night, which was from the book series that the movie Legend of the Guardians is based off of, came to mind, and BOOM! A Halloween Chapter fledged!
I didn't expect the vampire owl to be in Metal Beak's daymare, and I certainly didn't expect her to be in his room. I didn't expect Gia to start crying, personally I thought she was tougher than that. I knew that there was a scroom in the room (hehe...that rhymes), but I didn't know anything more of it than that, let alone that he had a name.
Speaking of which, the "Come on, Tony" in the end was inspired by Paranormal Activity 3, which is the first horror flick I have ever seen. It is also the only horror flick I have ever seen.
Returning back to the topic of this chapter, what struck me as the most unforeseen was what happened with Cinder. Specifically what happened with Cinder and Major. Where the heck did that come from? I'm with Dusty on this one: I thought that they were bitter rivals.
If you would like to, let me know what y'all think of Cinder and Major, since I (once again) don't know what to think of it. I'm the writer, for goodness sake! How can I not know what to think of my own story? Then again, discovering new things is what makes writing a story exciting! I wonder what will happen next...
All I know is that I am shocked but pleasantly surprised. I love romance and surprises, so this was a wonderful mix!
Also, for Halloween I will be dressing up as a genie! Costumes are my favorite part of the holiday, and when I give out candy to all the trick-or-treaters I will say things like "How may I serve you?" and "I shall grant your every wish...in candy!"
One more thing I must add: Here are the number names of the commonly used student characters in this story, just in case anybody became confused with them while reading this chapter. That's perfectly understandable, because that's happened to me before when reading a book. Instead of having to do research and read back previous chapters to remember, I'll post it here for y'all and save you the trouble.
Gia: 53-28.
Dusty: 53-05.
Josephina: 53-17.
Isabelle: 53-24.
Fiona: 53-09.
Emmanuel: 53-08.
I didn't pick the number names randomly. I actually have a system to why their number names are like that, but I won't bore you with that information.
Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. I also do not own Paranormal Activity 3, and I do not own Dora the Explorer ( I have no desire to own Paranormal or Dora).
However, I do own this story, and you may not use it in any way.
This chapter has made me happy, and I hope that y'all feel the same!
Have a Happy Halloween, and make sure you wear "spooky" costume!
-GG