Mogget and the Seven Bells (And Orannis Too)

By Leah and Gretchen

A/n – Just so you know, this has absolutely nothing to do with Snow White. Don't expect it.

Disclaimer – Unless you are completely blind, it would be pretty difficult to confuse us with Garth Nix. Because for one thing, he's a man. Also, there are two of us. Whatever. Wenot owning. Younot suing.

Ranna was the first bell, the Sleeper. She was a night person, and liked to sleep until noon.

Mosrael was the second bell, the Waker. She was a morning person, and liked to wake people up. She greatly annoyed Ranna.

Kibeth was the third bell, the Walker. She liked to run and was incapable of standing still. Her favorite morning activity was using the treadmill at 3 AM. This also greatly annoyed Ranna.

Dyrim was the fourth bell, the Speaker. He was very talkative and it was nearly impossible to get him to shut up. When he was not talking, he was singing sad songs which made everyone cry, especially Astarael, but she was always crying so it didn't really count.

Belgaer was the fifth bell, the Thinker. He liked to think. When he wasn't thinking, he was reading or doing math problems. He was somewhat of a voyeuristic nerd.

Saraneth was the sixth bell, the Binder. Saraneth was a control freak who could only be controlled by Mogget (who had all his secrets and could blackmail him.) But Mogget was currently involved with Orannis, so was a bit too busy for blackmail.

Astarael was the seventh bell, the Weeper. Astarael was a depressed maniac, who went around crying and killing people.

Mogget was not a bell. He was a cat. He was deeply involved with Orannis and so he only showed up occasionally.

Orannis was also not a bell. He was just kind of there.

For the purposes of this story, we have decided to make all the Bright Shiners – COLLEGE DORMMATES! (w00t!)

And, for ages, we have decided that:

Ranna is a sophomore. She would have been a junior, but she hibernated a year. When she woke up, she was very hungry.

Mosrael is a junior. The reason Ranna failed sophomore year was that she was in a different dorm from Mosrael, and was not woken up.

Kibeth is a freshman who thinks she is very cool because she shares a dorm with older kids.

Dyrim was a junior. He was smart enough to skip a year and be a senior, but he was incapable of shutting up.

Belgaer was actually supposed to be a freshman, but he was disgustingly smart and started college when he was 14. So he was a senior.

Saraneth was a senior, and the head of many, many, many organization type things. These mostly consisted of freshman, because they were easy to control.

Astarael was a senior, but her counselors were considering preventing her from graduating in order to send her to the loony bin. Astarael knew this would not happen, because Mogget was good at blackmail. She also was the one person that Saraneth was afraid to order around. This could be because she was his girlfriend.

Mogget was a junior. He was one of those particularly annoying juniors. He also happened to be gay. Millennia of servitude to the Abhorsens can do that to you.

Orannis was a senior. He was also gay. That could be why he was with Mogget. He enjoyed cross-dressing. He considered this a sign of the Apocalypse. Since he was the Apocalypse, this was fitting.

It was a Monday morning. A very early Monday morning. So early, in fact, that Mosrael was not awake. It was at this time that Kibeth chose to do her morning running routine. She also chose to take this opportunity to play her heavy metal CD's at 100 decibels!

"WILL YOU TURN OFF THE FKING RADIO, KIBETH, YOU IMBECILE!" came Ranna's voice. Because, as it happens, Kibeth's treadmill was located in Ranna's bedroom. As to why, we may never know, but we may have to assume it was Mosrael's doing.

Mosrael, at that time, was jumping out of bed. Quite literally. Next she made her way over to the cappuccino machine. After downing several cups, she ran to the center of the dorm house. "WAKE UP, EVERYBODY!" she screamed.

"GO AWAY!" came Ranna's voice. She was now wearing hi-tech earplugs, as a blatant attempt to drown out Kibeth's music.

"COME ON, UP AND AT 'EM! IT'S ALREADY TWO THIRTY IN THE MORNING! DO YOU WANT TO MISS THE BEST PART OF THE DAY?"

"YES!" Ranna, Dyrim, Belgaer, Saraneth, Mogget, and Orannis yelled in unison.

Astarael was awake as well. She was sitting on her bed, sobbing. As per usual. "How could the biology professor give me a D on my report?" she sobbed, "I spent TWENTY MINUTES on it!"

Dyrim, who shared a bedroom with Astarael, came over and sighed. "That could be because it's so covered in blood that you can't read it, sweetie."

"But I LIKE blood!" Astarael cried, "It's pretty!"

"Hate to break it to you," Dyrim said in what he thought was a comforting manner, "But no one else agrees."

"He says I have a chance to re-do it," Astarael sniffed. "BELGAER! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!"

"What?" said Belgaer, poking his head through the door.

"Rewrite my biology paper for me!" Astarael yelled.

"Why should I?" Belgaer said, not really awake.

Saraneth appeared in the doorway next to him. "BECAUSE I SAID SO, THAT'S WHY!" he yelled.

"Okay, okay, fine," Belgaer said, drawing away from Saraneth. Saraneth was happy. He liked it when he got his way.

"Saraneth!" Kibeth yelled. "Will you make Ranna stop trying to turn off my music?" Saraneth went and made Ranna stop trying to turn off Kibeth's music by moving her to another room.

"Oh my gosh, thank you Belgaer!" Astarael said, holding up her newly written paper and smiling.

"Oh my God!" Yelled Dyrim. "Saraneth took an order from someone else! Astarael is happy! It's a sign that the apocalypse is coming!" At this point, Orannis walked in. "See, I was right!"

"Dyrim! Shut up!" said Saraneth.

"Okay, everything's going back to normal!" Dyrim said, as Mogget and Orannis walked out the door.

"We're going on a date, you guys. Behave yourselves!" said Mogget.

"Saraneth! Take me out to get ice cream!" Said Astarael.

"Can't it wait until six!" Saraneth wanted to know.

"NO!"

"Okay, okay, fine. Let's go."

Dyrim started freaking out. "The apocalypse is coming!"

Orannis walked in the door. "We forgot an umbrella!"

"But it's not raining!"

"So? Mogget doesn't like getting wet!" Orannis walked back out.

TO BE CONTINUED………..