Zoe entered the dining hall (previously room, but the name had been changed when the student body increased considerably) and looked around for Queenie. She saw her talking with a few of the new students. She was laughing and probably cracking jokes about things that had happened in the previous years she had been there. That was something Zoe envied. Her ability to keep a sense of humour, even in the darkest of times.
She walked over to the table she was standing at and smiled at the girls.
"Good morning, Ms. Benson." they said in unison. She blushed slightly and shook her head "Zoe is fine. I've told you all that before." They chuckled and looked over at Queenie.
"I was just telling the new girls about some of the shit we got into last year." Queenie smiled then laughed. Zoe's mind instantly flashed to Madison's limp body, in the sloppy bed of disgusting frat boys. She bit her lip and shook the thought from her head.
"Hope it was nothing too crazy." she joked. They laughed again, along with Queenie.
"Nah, just about 'The Seven Wonders' business mostly." Zoe chuckled and noticed the sudden glum expression of the girls at the table.
"We're really sorry about Misty." the small blonde one said. Zoe remembered Cordelia holding Misty's lifeless body and sobbing while she turned to ash. The other girls nodded and stared down at their plates.
"Yeah." Zoe sighed a little but smiled "We all are." she rubbed her arm awkwardly.
"Uh, Queenie, do you want to join me at the staff table, please?" Zoe pinched the side of Queenie's lion graphic tee. Queenie rolled her eyes but waved 'bye' to the girls and followed Zoe.
The staff table was just the original dining room table that sat her, Queenie, Nan and Madison when they were the only Robichaux students.
Zoe pulled out her chair and saw Kyle walk over with a platter of breakfast food.
"Oh, morning." she said. She felt awkward around him since thinking about the Madison story.
He smiled and lifted a platter cover. "What would you ladies like this morning?" Queenie pointed to the bacon and eggs, grabbing two biscuits off the tray herself.
"Uh, I'll just get an orange from the kitchen later. But thank you." Zoe pulled her sleeves over her hands. Kyle nodded and placed the cover back over the food. He walked away to serve the new students.
"What do you need, girl?" Queenie put a piece of bacon in her mouth.
"I-" Zoe wasn't sure how to explain what had happened the previous night "-something happened last night."
"Oh?" Cordelia was walking up to the table. She sat down and looked at Zoe.
"Oh. Good morning Ms. Cordelia." Zoe smiled at her. Queenie gave a 'yo' and went back to eating.
"Is everything alright, Zoe?" Cordelia placed her hand on Zoe's shoulder.
"Well, I think so…" she grabbed her fork and fiddled with it. "Something kind of weird happened last night."
"Weird how?" Cordelia motioned for Kyle to come over. He poured her a glass of orange juice and placed a few egg whites on her plate. She thanked him and waved him off.
"Well, while I was sleeping, my body sort of…" she looked from Cordelia to Queenie "Froze up." Cordelia unfolded her napkin and placed it in her lap, eyes still on Zoe the whole time.
"I tried to move, or like, fight it off. I thought maybe I was having night terrors or something. But I heard a voice." She put a piece of hair behind her ear. Cordelia and Queenie were both paused in their eating.
"What kind of voice?" Queenie asked.
"I couldn't really tell at first, but all I could figure out eventually was that it was probably a girl." Zoe tapped her fingers against the off-white tablecloth.
"Anything else?" Cordelia asked while cutting her eggs. Zoe nodded. "She needed help…she sounded desperate...whoever she was." Cordelia nodded and took a bite of her food.
"It's not uncommon for witches to be able to hear spirits, as you two know." She wiped her mouth. Zoe nodded, recalling the incident with Misty stuck in the coffin.
"Do you think it's a live spirit?" she traced the edge of the plate. Queenie paused and seemed to think about the question.
"You mean someone who's alive, but not able to conventionally contact the outside world? Like a girl trapped in some serial killer's basement or something?" Queenie looked over at Cordelia, who shot her a disapproving look.
"You know it's not that simple or broad Queenie." Cordelia dabbed at her mouth "Usually the voices we can hear are either those of other witches, the dead, or those who have previously been dead." She took a sip of orange juice. "Can you tell us anything more specific, Zoe?" she rested her hand on her chin.
"Uh...well, she said 'Help!'. And then…" Zoe looked at the both of them "She said 'There's not much time left!'" Zoe imitated the urgent tone. "And lastly she just yelled 'Help!' really loudly." She looked at Cordelia and bit her nails, already close to the skin.
"Hm…" Cordelia laced her fingers and put her chin against them. "And that's all you heard?" Cordelia asked with knit brows. Zoe nodded and placed her hands in her lap.
For some reason she felt bad for bringing the incident up so early in the morning. Maybe because saying it out loud made it seem like a small deal, not a big one. Not something that needed to be addressed on the first day of a new year at a witch academy. That's why she had originally just wanted to talk to Queenie about it.
Cordelia looked deep in thought and Queenie had gone back to her plate of food. Zoe stared down at her lap, twiddling her thumbs. She tried to get lost in the general 'buzz' of the crowd but couldn't stop thinking about the voice.
Her thoughts were partially interrupted when she heard Cordelia scrape a fork against her plate. Zoe and Queenie looked over at her.
"Because of the urgency and vibe I'm picking up..." Cordelia started looking through the window "-I'm at least seventy five percent sure it's a dead spirit."
Zoe almost asked if Cordelia thought it was Misty, but quickly stopped herself and realized that might make her really upset. She remembered her sobbing over Misty's body as she lay limp, the thought in her head again..
"So-" Zoe gulped and clenched her hands into fists "-why did they contact me?" she gnawed at her bottom lip.
"Well, like I said, they're usually dead, witches, or re-animated if we hear them. Maybe the spirit felt really comfortable with you and decided to ask for what sounds like a call for help." Cordelia took another sip of her juice.
"Love you girls, please be careful with the new students." Cordelia scooted and stood up from her chair.
"Whe're you going?" Queenie asked. She was spreading jelly on her biscuit in the process.
"To do some reading." Her heels clicked against the polished wood floor.