Nightschool chapter 10
Tyron raised a sharp-nailed hand. "I have a question."
"Sure!" Rochelle said brightly.
He turned to Alex. "Are you a boy or a girl?"
She stiffened and folded her arms across her chest, blushing and looking away. "I-I'm a girl."
"'Cause you look like a boy," Tyron observed.
"Well youlook like a dweeb," Alex snapped, looking back at him. "Are you?"
Tyron turned to Devon. "What's a dweeb?"
"Human slang for your kind," the darker-skinned boy said, not looking at him.
"Oh," he said. "And you, are you a–"
"I'm a boy," Devon interrupted, annoyed.
"I was gonna "Weirn"," Tyron said brightly. "All three of you are, aren't you? Hey, show me your Astrals."
Alex and Devon frowned deeply and glared. Rochelle grinned blankly, mouth open.
"Is there a place where we could ditch him…?" Devon muttered, pulling out the map in his guidebook. Alex looked over his shoulder. "Like a shark pit?"
"Hey!" Tyron complained.
"Er…" Rochelle started nervously, waving for everyone to calm down. "Well, we don't have a lot of time, so… Let's start the tour!" She delicately cleared her throat. "We are standing in the main lobby of public Nightschool 13W… also known as the Benjamin Theron Nightschool, named after Sir Benjamin Theron, a Weirn spell scientist from Britain." She pointed up at a painting of a white-haired old man with a handlebar mustache and spectacles. "That's him up there. He's really famous because he revolutionized spell science… by applying the concept of algorithms and axioms!"
Tyron stared, confused.
"Nerd," Devon muttered.
"A-also, um!" Rochelle tried. "He is famous for accidentally sinking an island off the shore of Australia in one of his experiments."
"Whoa, cool," Tyron said, red eyes wide.
"But moving on!" Rochelle said, pulling out the map. "The school layout is a little complicated and changes a lot every night… but the map in the handbook is always updated and shows where you are." She pointed at the glowing symbol on the map. "So we are on the main floor, main hall. These little dots show the available lockers on every floor. Every fifth locker belongs to the Nightschool and has a special lock on it. It's red and black, with the numbers backward… and a tiiiiiinyschool logo on the back. The school offices, cafeteria, gym, and auditorium are all on the main floor, and the–"
"Er, according to this, there is a forest with a lake on the third floor…?" Tyron interrupted.
"Oh!" Rochelle said, as bright as ever. "That's right! Let's go see!"
A few minutes later, she was leading the other three up the stairs to what was, indeed, a forest with a lake.
"I love this place!" the darker-skinned girl gushed. "It's for the cryptozoology class. Though people sneak in to eat lunch here!" She giggled.
"Oh, wow, I'm totally doing that!" Tyron said. "Man, this school is hooked up."
"The third floor also has the alchemistry labs, English, math, ho–" Rochelle started, pointing.
"Uh, fascinating," Devon interrupted, "but I think we can all read a map. Where do we get our textbooks?"
"Oh, um, um, at the library, second floor," Rochelle said, surprised.
"Just down these stairs?" he asked, walking down and looking at the map instead of in front of him.
"And two turns left," Rochelle added.
"See ya," Alex said, looking at her map.
"I guess it is all pretty self-explanatory," Rochelle admitted, looking back at her map, "so–"
She was interrupted by a SPLASH.
"ARGH!" Devon yelled.
The three of them ran down the stairs.
The Weirn was chest-deep in a river, clawing at the dirt.
"WHY IS THERE A RIVER IN THE MIDDLE OF A HALLWAY?" he cried. "It wasn't even marked!" he continued as Alex dragged him out.
"Oh, um, um!" Rochelle panicked as the boy seethed, looking at her map. "It must be temporary, I think it's just for–"
A mermaid rose out of the water, her tail transforming into a pair of legs, leaving behind a human-looking, completely nudewoman.
"Is this Benjamin Theron Nightschool?" she asked with a thick French accent.
Alex and Devon stared wordlessly.
"Boobs," Tyron whispered, wide-eyed.
"U-uh," Rochelle stuttered. "U-um. Yes, this-this is–"
"MISS LAVELLE!" a voice yelled.
The four of them turned and saw Mrs. Murrey running toward them with a white bathrobe.
"I AM!" she continued, gasping. "SO GLAD! THAT YOU! MADE IT!"
She whizzed by them and handed the robe to the mermaid, who quickly and calmly slipped it on.
"Wel-welcome to our school," the teacher managed, struggling to breathe. "We are so happy that you could make the time for us! If you would please follow me…"
"Bien sur," the mermaid said, fixing her hair.
Alex was the only one to notice the river close up behind them. "Huh."
"A-ah!" Rochelle managed. "She must be here as a guest speaker, then. That's, um… Jacqui Lavelle, the famous environmentalist."
"I hate this school," Devon grumbled.
"I like it," Tyron said, nodding and smiling. "Indoor lakes, great guest speakers with… a lot to share with us students…"
Devon glared at him for a moment.
"I'm outta here," he fumed, marching off.
"Oh hey, man, wait!" Tyron said. "I wanna get my textbooks, too!"
"See you in class!" Rochelle yelled after them. She turned to Alex. "Do you want to get your textbo–"
"I want to finish the tour," she interrupted.
"Oh, okay," the darker-skinned girl said. "What do you want to se–"
"Everything," Alex interrupted again. "Every corner."
Rochelle stiffened. "Erk."
Alex pulled out her map and pointed to something on it. "Starting with this–is this some sort of cave?"
"That's for alchemistry, lab work," Rochelle explained.
"And this?" Alex asked, pointing at something else.
"Astral physics. And that's math, beside it."
Marina slowly opened her eyes and looked at the clock. 8:40. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. She walked out of her room, yawning, and looked into the living room.
"Anyone here?" she asked.
Ten looked up. She was laying on the floor, reading a book, with her legs up on the couch, ankles crossed. "Hey, Mar! You sure slept a lot. How are you feeling?"
"I feel great," Marina said, smiling. "I slept like a log."
"Any visions?" the Hunter asked.
The younger girl plopped down on the couch, beaming. "Noooo, just a whole lot of nothing on my mind. I'm going to try reading. I think I should be able to focus."
"Well, be careful," the older girl said, looking back at her book. "The medicine's strong, but it's not magic, you know."
The seer looked around. "Where is everyone? Where's Nadya?"
"Noh, Terrance, and Jay are still out," Ten said. "Jaq's with them. Cassidy and Teresa are trying to kick each other's ribs in."
Marina froze, her eyes wide. "Huh?"
"Training, they are training," Ten said, looking back at her and smiling lightly. "Teacher's still not back, so we're just hanging out and doing homework."
Marina peeked over and looked at her book. It was a foreign manga.
"This is studying!" Ten insisted, shoving it into the other girl's hands. "I took up Korean while you were gone. In Korean, see?"
"Are you sure you're not just looking at the pictures?" Marina asked.
Ten lifted up the couch with her foot, laughing and sending Marina flying against the back. "Mar, you're so funny today!"
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding, put the couch down!" the younger girl cried, laughing.
Cassidy's feet slid back across the floorboard. Teresa's landed firmly, her ankle band and shorts brushing against her legs.
"Sloppy today, Cass," Teresa said, smirking. "You sprain anything fighting the rippers yesterday, poor baby?"
Cassidy wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, not responding.
She lunged at him and punching at his jaw. He avoided it.
She round-kicked where his neck would've been if he hadn't dropped down.
He reached over and tickled the back of her knee.
She laughed, her guard falling.
He smirked, jumped to his feet, and round-kicked her left side.
She cried out in surprise, her feet slipping. She caught herself and landed kneeling, only to find Cassidy grab her face from behind.
"Your neck is one twist away from snapping," he said in her ear. "I win."
She growled. "That wasn't fair!" she accused, her elbow jabbing his knee as he stood up. "You're such an ass!"
He started to walk away, smiling. "Know your enemy's weakness. Use your enemy's weakness until she learns to wear pants to training sessions."
She punched out.
He landed in the middle of the wall across the hall, surrounded by a web of cracks.
Marina froze, wide-eyed, just stepping out of the living room.
"Hey, Rese, you win again!" Ten called across the hall, standing next to the frozen seer and smiling.
"Are you okay?" Marina asked, running over to the boy.
He detached himself from the wall and smiled a bit. "Yeah, I'm fine. Rese is a sore loser, but we all knew that." He got up and stretched.
Teresa walked over to the three. "Hey, look who's awake!" she said. "You have breakfast yet?"
"Not yet," Marina said brightly, "I want to wait for Nadya and the others to come back."
The other three stared at her.
She looked at them, confused. "What?"
"You-you said they were out…" Marina said, eyes wide, staring down at Noh's unconscious form.
"Yeah, sorry, I meant out as in unconscious…" Ten said behind her, nervously scratching the back of her head. "I thought you remembered from yesterday. But I guess you wouldn't, huh."
Marina leaned toward Noh, hand outstretched toward her face, and said something in a foreign language. Her hand touched her cheek.
She stiffened.
"Why is her skin like this?" Marina asked, looking up.
"Huh?" Ten asked.
Jaq looked up, surprised, still sitting next to Jay, reached out a hand to touch the boy's cheek, and stiffened.
Teresa reached out to touch Terrance's face.
"Like sandpaper," she said, eyes wide. She turned to Cassidy, who was standing behind her.
"It…" he started. "It wasn't like that this morning."
Rochelle leaned against the stair rail, panting.
Alex peered under the stairway.
"Are you looking for something?" Rochelle asked.
"No," the white-haired girl said, jotting something down.
"It's almost time for homeroom," the darker-skinned girl said, coming to stand next to her. "You still need your textbooks. I can show you around more during lunch, if you want."
Alex glanced around one more time, looking desperate. "Okay. Thank you…" she said, pulling out her map. "But just one last place. Over there?" She pointed at a large medieval-style, black-iron knocker-ed, wooden door across the hall.
Rochelle walked over and opened the door, Alex looking over her shoulder.
"Wow," the guide said, taking in the giant semi-oval windows, long bookcase, three tiers of seats, and huge double podium. She looked at her map. "This must be Mr. Roi's new classroom. He wrecks the normal rooms on a regular basis with his presentations. I guess Madam Chen finally succeeded in getting him a bigger one."
"Who's Mr. Roi?" Alex asked.
"Heh, only the coolest teacher in school," Rochelle explained. "He teaches advanced spell science and Astral physics… This is the elite class; he only takes the best. His students have even competed on an international level, all kinds of magic competitions… He's really amazing. I bet he could help you."
"Huh?" Alex asked.
"You know," Rochelle said, smiling innocently. "To find whatever it is you weren't looking for all over the school."
"Oh," Alex said, reddening.
"Come on, or we'll be late," Rochelle said, leading Alex down the hall.
The bat-winged student they passed closed a locker and turned toward them, hair still not parting to reveal the student's eyes.
"She's here."