Chapter 13: Auror's Storm
Even though it had been a few weeks since Miles had heard the voice, he could not stop thinking about it. The voice had called Miles his son. Was that what his dad had sounded like? Miles was so young when he died that he didn't remember anything about him. He had never seen any pictures of him. There weren't any home movies or anything. Every time he asked Mama about it she would just say, "He's dead. Leave him that way."
Every evening after the last class and before dinner started, Miles sat in the library attempting to write Trey a letter. He knew Trey was the only one who could answer questions about their dad, but he also knew something was not right with Trey. Every two weeks, the same strange letter from before would arrive. The paper or envelope would change, but the message would always be the same. Miles knew he had to figure out what was going with Trey but he had no idea how to.
Right on schedule, the bells began to ring throughout the school letting the students know it was dinner time. Miles then followed his own usual schedule by putting away the blank piece of paper between the pages of Boot's Charms Vol.1 and heading towards the dining hall. As he walked along the corridor, he usually came across other students and maybe a few teachers, but today the corridor was empty. Although he did not notice at first, it became obvious when a groaning noise began to echo through the space.
Miles looked around as the painful noise grew louder. He looked down the corridor both ways and saw nothing. "Aaaaaagh," the voice pleaded again. Miles pulled out his wand and began walking towards the direction of the voice. He walked very slowly down the corridor in the opposite direction of the dining hall. The voice had now become a loud sob. He gripped the wand tighter and continued creeping down the corridor. He finally reached the end, where the corridor met another. He looked right and saw nothing, then left to see Professor Oxendine crouched over in pain and gripping her right arm.
She cried loudly from the deep pain, her tears staining the stone floor beneath her. Miles almost ran to help her, but he saw Nurse Winona and Professor Exeter running down the corridor towards Professor Oxendine. "Akecheta?!" Professor Exeter shouted as he knelt down to help her to her feet, "what has happened to you?" Miles looked and saw that her right hand and arm were now completely red and the veins on her hand and arm were swollen and sticking out.
"I tried to destroy it again," Professor Oxendine said almost out of breath, "It has to be destroyed. Its power is growing." Professor Oxendine tried to tell Professor Exeter something else but she passed out in his arms. "Winona," Professor Exeter said as he lifted Professor Oxendine into his arms, "Take her to the private room of the infirmary, I have to alert MACUSA immediately." Nurse Winona nodded and pulled out her wand, she gave it a quick flick and Professor Oxendine was now floating in the air.
Nurse Winona pulled Professor Oxendine through the air by her pants' leg in one direction and Professor Exeter ran off towards Miles' direction. Miles immediately held his breath and stood still, hoping the headmaster wouldn't see him. Professor Exeter started down the corridor then stopped and looked in Miles' direction. Miles slowly opened one of his eyes, knowing that Professor Exeter was going to be standing there with the meanest look possible on his face.
To his surprise, Professor Exeter was standing there looking directly at him but his facial expression made it appear as he didn't see anything. "I know I heard something," Professor Exeter stated looking directly through Miles. Miles slowly waved his hand in front of Professor Exeter's face, he couldn't see him. It had happened again, Miles was invisible. He decided not to dwell on the experience this time, and quickly ran from in front of Professor Exeter, down the corridor and towards the dining hall as fast as he could.
It was sandwich night in the dining hall, and all the students looked up in awe at the ceiling as all types of hoagies, heroes and other assorted sandwiches floated down and onto their plates. Miles ran over to the table where Drew, Javi, Lillian and Nettie were sitting just as the small bags of potato chips and pretzels began to float down. "Professor Oxendine is hurt," shouted Miles swatting a bag of pretzels out of his face.
"What do you mean hurt?" Nettie asked picking up the bag of pretzels. "I mean her arm is all red and her veins were huge and sticking out," Miles said taking a seat at the table, "She said she was trying to destroy something." The students all exchanged worried looks, except for Nettie who just continued to eat her turkey hoagie. "I think it was the absolute," said Miles, "I think it's here in the castle and she's trying to destroy it before it gets into the wrong hands."
Professor Exeter stomped into the dining hall with a look of anger all over his face. He walked through the sea of students' tables, ignoring greetings and waves from students, and directly to the Professors' table. He took his seat and whispered a message to Professor Cervantes who sat to his left then to Professor Stewart to his right. Professors Stewart and Cervantes then passed the message along to the other Professors, whose facial expressions all turned from happy to worried.
"There's definitely something going on," said Nettie eating her third bag of chips. Miles and the kids at the table watched the professors table closely. They were all fussy and moving about. "And since tomorrow is Halloween, whatever they are all upset about has to do with the ten year anniversary," Nettie added reaching for Drew's bag of pretzels only to have him snatch them away.
"Ten year anniversary of what," Miles asked returning his attention to his classmates. Nettie and Lillian exchanged looks then focus their attention on Drew. "Ten years since the Battle at MACUSA," said Drew, "ten years since the scourers last attack against the magical world." The silence grew tense at the table. After a few seconds, the dinner plates floated up and hundreds of cupcakes began to float down to the students. Just as the cupcakes were about to land at the students' tables, there was a loud clap of lightning.
The cupcakes all dropped to the ground. The chandeliers all lost their light. All of the students were screaming, except for Miles and Javi. "I think the power just went out," Javi said aloud. "There isn't electricity here. Everything is powered by enchantments and spells," Miles explained causing fear to fill Javi's face. "That means someone has cursed the castle. I don't think I wanna wait for Christmas...I wanna go home now," said Javi covering his face.
"Silence!" shouted Professor Exeter. All of the children stopped screaming and focused their attention to the headmaster. "House Advisors," said Professor Exeter, "Take your students back to their respective dormitories and then make sure to return to your own room. Professors, do a quick sweep of your assigned corridors, and then meet me in the sorting hall." The house advisors began herding the students out of the dining hall. Drew looked around for Miles but couldn't find him in the dark crowd. He dropped down to his knees and looked under the table in which they were sitting.
"Found ya!" Drew shouted breaking Miles concentration on hiding, "What are you doing under the table?" Miles put his finger to his lips, giving Drew the signal to be quiet. Just as Drew caught the hint, the table cloth flew up again. "So what's the plan," asked Lillian only to receive the shushing signal from Miles and Drew. Soon the sounds of the crowd were gone, and the room was silent except for the murmurs amongst the professors as they left the room. Miles let go of a deep breath.
"Ok," said Miles preparing to explain the plan to Drew and Lillian, "We have to get up to the balcony of the sorting room." Drew and Lillian looked confused. "The professors are meeting there," Miles explained further, "I'm sure that Professor Exeter is going to explain to them what is going on as well as what happened to Professor Oxendine. We have to listen to that conversation." Lillian and Drew nodded in agreement to the plan. Just as they were plotting the best route to the sorting hall, there was a whooshing sound. There was silence for a few moments, and then the sound happened again, then again.
"What is that," asked Drew peeping under the table cloth. He quickly looked back at Miles and Lillian with a scared look on his face. "What's wrong," asked Lillian. "P...p...p..." Drew stammered. "Spit it out!" Miles shouted. Whoosh! The kids looked and saw the table cloth had flown off the table and standing in front of them were two very aggravated looking Pukwudgies. "What are you little snots doing under the tables?!" growled one of the Pukwudgies.
Miles, Lillian and Drew exchanged looks and then took off towards the door. "Not so fast kiddies!" said the other Pukwudgie as he waved his hand in the air. The main doors of the dining hall slammed shut in the kids' faces. Miles pulled his wand from his pocket and gripped it tight. "Now we are just going to have to teach you all a little lesson about not obeying orders," The first Pukwudgie said stretching out his hands and sending Miles, Drew and Lillian into the air.
Miles looked and saw the stack of floating table cloths behind the Puckwudgies and pointed his wand at it."Viento," shouted Miles and a stream of wind flew from his wand, sending the table cloths through the air. A few tablecloths landed on the Pukwudgies and Miles and his friends dropped to the ground. Drew jumped to his feet and tried to the open the main doors, they wouldn't budge. Lillian tried to use the unlocking charm, as expected it didn't work.
The Pukwudgies had almost found their way out from under the tablecloths but Drew and Lillian still hadn't made any progress on the doors. Miles looked around and saw a small door in the corner of the room. "This way," he instructed as he ran towards the door, weaving between all of the tables in the dining hall. Drew and Lillian took off behind him as the Pukwudgies freed themselves from the table cloths
The pukwudgies chased after the children, throwing small white bolts of energy at them. "We're gonna get you little punks," shouted the Pukwudgie as he sent two bolts of energy towards Drew's feet. After making their way through the dozens of tables, the three made it into the room. "This is a kitchen, " Drew said looking around at the restaurant style kitchen with rows of ovens, and tall shelves of food on one side and several large refrigerators on the opposite side with a row of food prep table down the middle. Lillian heard the pukwudgies approaching. "We have to hide," she said pushing the boys towards into one of the refrigerators.
They crammed into one of the refrigerators, leaving the door slightly cracked. Drew began to shiver from the low temperature while Miles and Lillian listened closely for the Pukwidgies. There was a loud crash, that sounding like a trash can being knocked over. "Damn kids," one the Pukwudgies said breathing loudly, "Gonna be the death of me." Drew's teeth began to chatter prompting Miles and Lillian to hit him in the arms for him to stop. "Looks like there long gone now," said the second Pukwudgie breathing just as hard, "Let's finish cleaning the dining hall so we can be done for the day."
The pukwudgies left the kitchen and the kids tumbled out of the refrigerator to the ground into a pile. Lillian got up first, and then Miles, but Drew stayed on the ground still shivering. "Drew," Miles pleaded, "We don't have time for this. We need to get to the sorting hall." Drew rolled over on his side and continued his dramatic shivering. "I am too cold, "Drew moaned, "Just go on without me." Lillian rolled her eyes and pulled out her wand. "Ictus," said Lillian and a small stream of energy went flew from her wand and stung Drew on his bottom.
"Owwww!" Drew said leaping to his feet, "You stung me on the butt!" Miles and Lillian laughed as Drew rubbed his behind. "I bet that warmed you up," Lillian said, "Now come on. The professors should be in the sorting hall by now." Lillian and Miles ran out of the room and Drew reluctantly followed. They carefully made their way through the castle, as to not run into any pukwudgies or professors. They finally reached the balcony of the sorting room, where they saw Nettie and Javi sitting between the Wampus and Thunderbird sculptures.
"What are you doing here," Miles asked as they approached Nettie and Javi. "You honestly thought I was going to miss this?" Nettie answered pulling a chocolate bar from her pockets. Miles, Lillian and Drew then looked at Javi. "She made me come with her," He answered with a little fear in his voice. Lillian gave Miles a tap on the shoulder; letting him know they should sit down. Drew sat in between Lillian and Nettie, who was finishing the chocolate bar. "I don't see how you eat all that and stay so skinny," Drew said to Nettie, "I mean...where does it all go?" Nettie flipped her hair and looked down into the sorting room alongside Javi, Miles and Lillian.
Professor Exeter stood on the Gordian knot and looked at the other Professors around him. There was a few seconds of silence and then there was the loud clicking of high-heeled shoes across the stone floor. President Wollerwick stood beside Professor Exeter, dressed in all black and even had on dark sunglasses even though it was night time. "She is so dramatic," Nettie whispered.
"Fellow professors," said Professor Exeter, "We are under a strict lockdown issued by MACUSA. The lightning and intense rain were conjured by the aurors to protect the school from any attacks." Professor Stewart scoffed and crossed her arms, "You expect a little rain to keep away scourers?" President Wollerwick removed her sunglasses, looked directly at Professor Stewart and said, "No, but the lightning conjured by my aurors to strike anyone that comes within 100 yards of this castle will."
President Wollerwick began to walk slowly about the room, all of the professors watching her closely. "At seven-thirty this evening, aurors discovered the new meeting place of the scourers," President Wollerwick explained, "There was, of course, a showdown between the two leading the scourers to flee once again. Most of them are being tailed by aurors, and we expect them all to be detained before Halloween. But there is one suspect they lost sight of"
The professors all gasped and exchanged worried looks. "The aurors informed me that the suspect was heard stating he needed to get to Ilvermorny," said President Wollerwick, "That's the reason for the lightning protection of Ilvermorny." The professors continued to whisper amongst themselves. On the balcony, Miles and his classmates were just as worried as their professors. Drew even started back shivering even though the sorting hall was not nearly as cold as a refrigerator.
"As all of you have noticed Professor Oxendine is not with us tonight," said Professor Exeter, "She is currently in the infirmary." The professors, as well as Miles and his classmates all gasped. "She informed me just a few minutes ago that she was injured trying to destroy what the scourers are after," Professor Exeter added. "That means that one of them is here?" Professor Morse questioned, "In the castle?" Professor Exeter nodded.
"There's more than one absolute?" Miles whispered to Lillian who responded with a hard shrug. The children focused their attention back onto the professors. "This means that we have to be extra vigilant," Professor Exeter urged, "And we have to make our students safety our utmost priority, isn't that right Madame President?" President Wollerwick gave a hard sigh and put her sunglasses back on. "The non-American students can stay at the school as it safer than sending them back to their own countries defenseless," President Wollerwick said with an attitude, "But they'll have to pay."
The professors' mouths dropped as did Miles and his friends. "Senna!" shouted Professor Exeter, "How could you do such a thing?" The professors, especially Professor Stewart, all moved closer to President Wollerwick to hear her answer. "My aurors are working overtime to protect this school...they have to be compensated," she answered with a smug smile on her face. "Maybe you could sacrifice one of your diamond necklaces?" Professor Stewart shot back, "That would compensate them quite nicely."
President Wollerwick twisted her lips tight and turned away from Professor Stewart. Miles and Drew laughed at President Wollerwick's expense, causing Lillian to smack them on the arms. Professor Exeter turned and looked in their direction. They all slid back from the balcony. "Do you think he saw us?" Drew asked shivering even harder. "If there are students up there, you all are in store for a punishment so intense that you'll be begging for expulsion!" Professor Exeter shouted.
"Yep he saw us," said Miles running from the balcony. Drew and the others followed close behind. They were running around the perimeter of the balcony, approaching the door that led back into the main part of the castle when a bright light appeared in front of the door. The children stopped in their tracks. "My dad is going to kill me," Drew whimpered. Miles peaked over the balcony and saw that Professor Williams was casting the light with his wand. "We can't stand here all night," Nettie growled under her breath.
Miles pulled out his wand and pointed it at the opposite side of the balcony. "Are you crazy," said Javi, "You can't go up against the teachers!" Miles gave him a stressed look and then looked back at the opposite side of the balcony. "I don't plan to," said Miles flicking the wand in a circle, "Ruina!" A quick stream of gold energy shot from Miles' wand and landed in the wall on the opposite side. There was then a sound of rocks crashing onto the floor of the other side, yet the wall remained solid. Professor Williams quickly moved the light to the other side and the children ran towards the door.
"That was brilliant," Drew said as he, Javi and Miles ran towards the boys' dormitories as Lillian and Nettie ran in the opposite direction, "How did you learn how to do that?" The boys made it through the wall and were now walking down the hallway. "For the one-hundredth time," Miles said catching his breath, "I pay attention in class." The three boys had a laugh, then Javi and Miles headed towards their room. Once inside their room, Javi plopped in his bed and was snoring within seconds. Miles looked out of the window at the heavy rain and thought to himself... "I hope Trey is alright"
...
Heavy rain came down all over Manhattan. Traffic came to brutal halts every couple of seconds. Pedestrians ran into each other left and right on the busy sidewalks. Down a dark alley, a running pair of footsteps made splashes in the large puddles. Trey ran and ran through the rain. He finally reached the covered loading area of a store, where he leaned against the door trying to catch his breath. It had all happened so fast. His mind was still spinning in a million directions. "Miles...Miles," said Trey still out of breath. There was a loud clap of lightning that illuminated the whole alley. He had to start back running, they had found him.
Trey took in the deepest breath possible and started back running down the alley. He pushed his aching body harder and harder to keep moving, all the while thinking "I have to get to my brother before they do...I have to save Miles."