Hi everyone! Happy Friday! And another chapter is ready to go!
Let's see if Claire will be able to get out of her predicament with the help of the headmaster.
Enjoy!
Chapter 2:
"This can't be right!" Claire stared incredulously at the world map or rather a world map that was not of her home. No familiar landmarks jumped out at her, and she saw strange names like Scalding Sands, Land of Pyroxene, and Afterglow Savannah scrawled on the parchment. There were even cities that seemed to be in the middle of the ocean. However, not a single name in front of her was one that she recognized.
"I afraid so. Not only the world map but the name of your home isn't written in any form of history," Crowley said, waving his cane like a conductor.
The stacks of books they had grabbed to read for research slowly rise and skated back towards their respective shelves. Despite her current situation, Claire stared, transfixed by the magic before her.
"You aren't lying to me by chance, are you?" he asked, eyeing tentatively at her, "Are you truly where you say you are from?"
"Of course, I am! Why would I lie about something like this!?" Claire pushed the world map away, irritated at the lack of progress. She propped her elbows onto the lacquer table and rubbed her eyes, trying to keep the exhaustion at bay.
"There is one other possibility…" Crowley mumbled, placing an index finger on his chin. "There is the possibility you're from another world."
Claire snorted with disbelief and shook her head.
"Another world? That's impossible!" But even as she said that the absurd possibility made sense. Unless this was all one big elaborate hoax, why else would she be in a world where flying books, talking raccoons, and magical fire were a normal part of existence?
"What did you have on you when you came here?" Crowley asked, "You must have an identification like a license for a magic car or your information on your shoe?"
"Oh… now that you mention it…" Claire felt stupid for not thinking about that possibility and looked down at her garment for pockets. "I do have my driver's license and a- wait." She patted down robes for pockets and her black dress underneath. "I don't have anything – my wallet and cell phone! They're all gone!"
Claire felt her heart pounding against her chest and slumped back against her chair, her head cradled in her hands. Her sense of stability was crumbling before her.
"This is concerning… I can't let someone without magic stay at this school, but at the same time…" Crowley paused and gave her a concerned look, "I cannot toss a poor wanderer out on the street with no way back home."
"Then…?" She looked up, hope in her eyes. He didn't continue, clearly deep in thought, and Claire waited, silently praying.
"There is an unused building on campus…" he began slowly, "It used to be a dormitory, so if you clean it up a bit, you should at least be able to sleep there… Yes, yes, yes, that could work. Yes, I will allow you to stay there for the time being!"
"Really?" Claire sighed a breath of relief.
"In the meantime, I will also look for a way for you to return home."
"Oh, thank you so much!" She jumped to her feet and bowed her head. "Thank you for all your help!"
"Of course! My graciousness is limitless! I am a model for all professors." Crowley puffed out his chest proudly, pleased with the praise. "Come, let me show you the dormitory! It may be old but there is still a certain charm to it!"
…
"This is…"
When Claire heard about the unused building, she did not expect an abandoned and rundown mansion with peeling paint and thick cobwebs. Although it was dark, she could tell that the lawn was overgrown and needed trimming, and the roof was missing shingles. At the foot of the path was a large sign overgrown with ivy that read – Ramshackle Dorm. She turned to stare in disbelief at Crowley. Was this the place he was making her stay?
"I know, it leaves you speechless, right?" Crowley grinned, still elated by his brilliant plan. "Please, come in." He took out an old polished key from his belt and inserted it into the rusty lock. The door opened with a groan and a shower of dust. The inside was just as bad, if not worst, and Claire gingerly walked into the foyer, avoiding the cobwebs and splintered wooden floor.
"Staying here will at least keep the rain out," Crowley said, leading Claire to the grimy lounge. The wallpaper was peeling, and the grimy paintings on the wall were hung crooked. Several of the chairs were missing parts of their legs, and the table was upended.
Still, Claire kept her mouth shut; she couldn't complain about the free housing when she had nowhere else to go. Even if it looked ready to collapse any second.
"I am going to do some more research. Please make yourself at home. Don't go wandering around this late at night!" Crowley headed to the front door before halting abruptly. "Ah yes, you will need this." He handed her the golden key to the dorm and quickly sauntered off, slamming the door shut behind him in another shower of dust.
Claire stared at the key grimly, wondering who in their right mind would want to live here. She turned on the light, and it flickered for a couple of seconds before keeping a steady glow. Alone now, she threw off her ceremony robes onto the coat stand and assessed her surroundings more carefully.
The floorboards creaked loudly at the slightest change of pressure and the peeling wallpaper revealed unpleasant mildew. The ceiling had cracks and holes and chipped paint which will have to be dealt with later, assuming she can find a toolbox and some supplies. She stared grimly at the rusted pots and pans placed haphazardly everywhere and saw some still had rainwater from previous storms.
Great, another worry to add to the list, she thought grimly. At least the windows were all intact, so she won't have to worry about the weather coming into her living space. She was going to have to take inventory on what she would need if she wanted this place to at least be livable and pass a basic health inspection.
To top things off, the entire room wore a thick layer of dust, looking like it had snowed in here. Feeling the urge to clean, she quickly grabbed a rag and started to wipe everything down to the best of her ability. She removed most of the cobwebs on the ground and the layers of dust on the table and floor. After a couple of minutes, she rubbed her cold and stiff hands and looked around the lounge for a heater of some sort. There was a fireplace but no wood or coal.
Before she could start her search, loud rumbles shook the room, and she quickly glanced out of the window. Almost immediately, sheets of rain started pouring down, splattering against the window with ferocity before sliding down the panes. Sooner or later, the rainwater will come dripping in from the cracks and leaks above.
"Achoo!" A sneeze that didn't belong to Claire came out of nowhere. "It's really coming down!"
Claire whirled around to find that she wasn't the only one in this house.
"YOU!" she yelled. "What are you doing here?"
"What's with that look?" Grim snickered at Claire's wide-open eyes and dropped jaw. "You look like a bat who got shot with a water gun!"
"How did you get in here?" she demanded as she inched as far away as possible. If this stupid raccoon decided to use his fire, the dorm will burn to the ground.
"It's easy to sneak back into the school," Grim smirked, "If you think getting thrown out once is going to make me give up, well, you got another thing coming."
"Why do you want to come to this school?" she asked, despite herself.
"Well, that's simple. I am a genius destined to become the greatest mage in the world!" Grim declared. "I've been waiting for the carriage to come pick me up every day, but…" His head and gray ears with blue fire drooped, and Claire put two and two together on the situation.
"The Dark Mirror doesn't have an eye for this," Grim continued grumbling. "Anyways, that's why I'm here. It would be a loss to mankind if this school doesn't accept me."
"Well, you're persistent. I'll give you that." The conversation was cut short when Claire noticed a drop of water falling from the ceiling. She looked up and stared in slow horror as more and more came falling down.
"Ah! So cold!" Grim cried as a drop hit his head. He rubbed his head and shuddered. "Why is the roof leaking? My charming fire is going to go out!" The flames coming from his ear seemed to sputter with every drop of rain.
"Urgh, this was what I was afraid of," Claire said and immediately started to grab the pots and pans. "Hey, help me get those pots under the leaks. We need to keep this place dry as much as we can"
"Why go through all that trouble? Just use magic to fix the leaks," Grim said, nonchalantly, flickering his forked tail.
"You can do that?" She looked up with surprise.
Grim looked at her strangely. "What do you mean? Just wave your wand and be done with it."
"Do you have short-term memory?" she said, grabbing a pan and balancing it on one of the chairs, "I don't have magic."
"Oh, that's right, I forgot – wow, you're really useless!" Grim said, puffing out his chest in superiority.
"Is having no magic really that big of a deal?" she asked exasperatedly as she scrambled around, hoping to find an umbrella of some sort.
"Well, everything we do requires magic…" Grim said, still not moving the slightest to help. "Mages are obviously better than people without any."
"Well then, help me if you're so great in magic!" Claire hissed, now carrying ten pots.
"Huh? Help you? No way! I'm just a regular monster hiding out from the rain," Grim said, nose turned up, "If you want my help, you better have a can of tuna ready for me."
"Are you serious?!" Claire said angrily as more leaks formed from above. Her pent-up frustration from tonight was close to its breaking point. "Are all raccoons here selfish brats or is it just you?"
"I'm not a raccoon! I'm the Great Grim!" he retorted back.
"Great at what?!" Claire snarled as she slammed the pots down to the floor, "Complaining?"
Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed a towel and stormed up the old wooden stairs, hoping to find more buckets there. The second floor didn't have the same warmth as downstairs and looked just as bad if not worse. Claire rubbed her arms as she stared down the dark hallway. There were many doors to choose from (probably bedrooms for the students who used to reside here), so she reached for the first one.
"We haven't had guests in a loooong while," said a spooky and eerie voice.
"Grim, not funny," Claire turned around again to find herself standing face-to-face with not Grim but three floating ghosts. Each wore a gray cape and a black top hat, but the similarities stopped there. One was tall and bony, the other was small, and the third was large and rotund.
After several failed attempts of opening and closing her mouth, Claire finally shrieked and stumbled backward.
"What are you screaming about?" Grim said, coming up the stairs before facing the three spirits. "AHHHHH, G-G-GHOST!"
"Wait, why are you surprised?!" Claire said, recovering from the initial shock. "Aren't ghosts common in this world?"
"Depending on the place," the smallest ghost answered politely, "There are quite a few that work in the kitchen at this school, but we haven't had visitors here in ages. Everybody got scared of us and left."
"We've been looking for more ghost pals," the chubby one added. "How about you JOIN US!" He raised his arms like a zombie and floated after them.
Claire couldn't tell if the ghosts were dead serious (no pun intended), but she didn't want to stick around and find out.
"T-The Great Grim isn't scared of anything," Grim sputtered, "Even ghosts!" Despite saying that, the little racoon trembled from head to toe. With great difficulty, he sent out a powerful blast of blue fire, but the ghost merely dodged.
"Where are you aiming?" the skinny tall one taunted. The three continued to circle around them, crackling.
"No fair!" Grim said, sending out another blast of blue flames. This time, they missed and hit the wall, which quickly caught fire.
"Stop it!" Claire ordered, stamping the flames out with the towel. "Why are you closing your eyes?! Are you trying to burn down this house?!"
"Shut up! Don't give me any orders." Grim said, missing again.
"No, you shut up!" Claire yelled, sick and tired of the treatment she had been getting from this mangy raccoon. "You have been nothing but trouble since we first met. You said you want to be the greatest mage, right? Well, now's your chance to prove it! Either start hitting them or let me help you!"
Grim pouted, but it was clear even to him that he was no match against 3.
"Urgh, fine, you – Claire, right? Tell me where they are coming from."
"Right!"
"And I want a can of tuna –"
"I mean RIGHT! RIGHT!" Claire pointed frantically as the ghost came at Grim.
"GAHHH!" Grim panicked but managed to shoot a fireball at the chubby one.
"Oof," the ghost groaned, backing off.
"I-I hit it!" Grim said, overjoyed with shock. "Yes! Let's keep doing this!"
"Straight ahead!" Claire ordered. "Quick behind you! On your left! Your other left!" It took a little bit of work, but Grim managed to blast three balls of fire in succession on all three of the ghosts. By then, the trio seemed to have enough.
"Let's get out of here!" The skinny one finally cried. The other two didn't argue and quickly vanished, leaving Claire and Grim panting with their hearts pounding.
"E-eh? W-we won?" Grim's eyes widened with confusion.
"Yes," Claire sighed in relief and sunk to her knees, "Good job."
"Ha… ha…" Grim sat down, tears in his eyes, "That was scary… No, wait!" He cleared his throat. "I wasn't scared at all! There is nothing that the Great Grim can't do – Take that you ghosts! Ready for round two?!"
He punched with his tiny paws in the direction where the ghosts had fled.
"Right," Claire gave a snort of laughter but stopped abruptly when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
Grim's ears twitched and he raised his tiny fists.
"Who's there?" Claire demanded with a quiver in her voice.
"Good evening!" the flamboyant voice cried out, carrying a silver domed platter, "I have graciously brought you some supper – YOU!" Crowley's eyes widened with shock at the sight of Grim. "I threw you out of school! What are you doing here?!"
"You should be grateful," Grim said, still elated from his victory, "I exterminated the ghost problem!"
"Ghost? What do you mean?" There was a note of confusion in Crowley's voice.
"There were ghosts in this dorm – three of them. They were causing problems, scaring us," Claire explained briefly, "Grim took care of them with his fire magic."
"You got that right!" the raccoon said and pounded his chest proudly. "The Great Grim defeated those pesky ghosts like they were nothing!"
"Hmm, now that you mentioned it…" Crowley said as he set the silver dome platter down on the ground. "There were some ghosts causing troubles to some of the students here before, keeping them away. Which is why this place is now empty – I'd forgotten about that…"
Claire raised her eyebrows in disbelief. How does one forget such a crucial piece of information?
"Still," Crowley continued, still in deep thought, "For you two to work together to get rid of them…"
"Hold it," Grim interrupted, "We didn't work together. She just stood in the corner. I did it all on my own!"
"Excuse me?!" Claire turned to him, stunned. "You weren't able to hit anything until you started following my instructions."
"And I want a can of tuna for my hard work," Grim added, ignoring Claire.
"I can't believe it," Crowley said in wonder and glanced at Claire, "I never thought I would encounter a monster obeying a person… Actually, my teacher-senses were tingling ever since that fiasco during the entrance ceremony that you have talent as an animal or perhaps a monster tamer. But… no matter how…" Crowley continued to mumble, and Claire felt more and more confused by the second.
Monster tamer? What did he mean by that?
Claire glanced over at Grim who flickered his pitchfork tail in irritation due to Crowley's lack of reaction. Although the raccoon was rude and a bit ungrateful, he did help her in handling the ghosts earlier. If he could keep that rude mouth of his in check and think things through, he wouldn't have such a hard time surviving out here all by himself.
Wait… She suddenly remembered what Grim had said earlier and turned back to Crowley.
"Cro- I mean, headmaster," she said, interrupting his thoughts. "Grim really wants to be a student at your school. Is there any chance that you could let him attend?"
Crowley and Grim looked at her, surprised at her humble request.
"He can stay with me," she continued, pointing to the dorm, "There is a possibility that those ghosts will come back later, so I will feel safer if he was here… Please." She added and bowed, hoping for a positive reply.
Grim gazed at Claire with wonder and astonishment. Even Crowley looked mildly surprised.
"I supposed it can't be helped," Crowley said slowly. "We must think things long-term."
"Really?!" Grim said, jumping with joy.
"However! I simply cannot allow someone, let alone a monster, enroll into this school if they were not selected by the Dark Mirror," he said firmly before turning to Claire. "Also, I cannot let you freeload here until we find a way to get you back home."
"What is this… Getting our hopes up for no reason," Grim mumbled, ears flattened.
"Please let me finish – since Claire was summoned here by the Dark Mirror, the school will take responsibility, so for the time being, you will be able to stay here for free." Crowley gestured the Ramshackle Dorm with a hand before continuing. "Any other necessities that you will need, you will need to provide on your own."
"Um, how?" Claire asked, hesitantly.
"No need to fret," he said quickly, "I will hire you to do maintenance work and any odd jobs around campus. From what I have seen downstairs, you seem to have a good hand on cleaning."
"So, like a handyman?" Claire said.
"Exactly," Crowley nodded, "You and Grim can work here as the handyman of this school – you will be paid, have special permission to be on school grounds, and access to the library for any research to go back home – but only after you are done with your work, of course!"
Claire fell silent, contemplating the proposal. It didn't sound too bad; besides, it wasn't like she could negotiate the terms since she literally had nothing to offer.
"But I don't want to be a handyman!" Grim protested, "I want to wear that fancy uniform and learn magic!"
"If you don't like it, I am happy to toss you out again," Crowley said in a finalize tone, turning his attention back to Grim, "This time for good."
"Wha-? No, no, no. I get it, I get it," Grim said hastily. "I'll do it! I'll be a handyman! Or err, would it be handymonster?"
"Same here," Claire nodded her head, "Though it's not like I really have a choice in the matter."
"Excellent! Well, then," Crowley clapped both of them on the shoulders, "Claire and Grim, I welcome you two as Night Raven College's newest handyman and handymonster!"
…
After eating the cold dinner that Crowley brought, Claire quickly got ready for bed. The headmaster had also provided her some clothes and toiletries as a 'down payment'. Claire didn't question much about that; she was just happy that she would finally get that hot shower that she needed so badly.
As the newest and only resident, she had selected the largest room on the second floor as her sleeping quarters. Like the rest of the house, the room required a lot of extensive fixing. The wallpaper was peeling, and the broken clock was lopsided. The only thing that appeared to be intact was the smoky mirror hanging over the fireplace mantle.
She managed to remove most of the cobwebs and dust from the bed, stripped the sheets, and replaced them with clean ones she found in the closet. They smelled musty and felt damp to the touch, but they will have to do for the night.
"Okay, Grim," she said, fluffing up the pillows, "I can get you a basket if you-" The raccoon hopped into the bed before she could finish.
"Good night," Grim said, burrowing under the covers.
After everything that happened today, Claire was too tired to oppose and merely flopped onto the bed as well, ready for sleep to take over. Dozing off, she felt Grim snuggled closer. She didn't know if it was from the flames coming from his ears but his whole body radiated with a comforting warmth.
"I'm going to be the greatest mage…" he mumbled happily.
Smiling for the first time tonight, Claire pulled the covers closer and listened to his purrs as she drifted to sleep.
Author's Notes
Hi everyone! Thanks for reading.
Looks like Claire has a place to stay now! Granted it is haunted and there is a pyromaniac raccoon living with her, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Tomorrow will be a big day, so hopefully (finger's crossed), nothing bad will happen. XP
If you can, please leave me a review or even a simple comment! It'll give me a gauge on the reception of this story and if I should continue afterward.
I'll see you in the next chapter!
-JD