No doubt attracted by Rutan's yelling, Rykor pushed through the crowd "What's going on here? Make way!". Once he saw Spooky he fell stumbled back in horror "Spooky? What happened?". He his eyes glared at Silver "You! You murdered my pet! I'll-" "Rykor!". Locke had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers. In seconds, he had swept past them, detached Spooky from the wall "Come with me, Rykor. You three as well" he said to Silver, Coral and Razor. Goeffrey stepped forward "My classroom is closest, Headmaster. Please, feel free" "Thank you, Geoffrey". The crowd parted so they could get to Geoffrey's office. Once they were given some light Locke gently placed Spooky down on one of the tables. Silver, Razor and Coral all exchanged tense looks before sinking into chairs nearby. As Locke, Infinite and Echo all examined Spooky, Geoffrey was pacing around the room making suggestions "It was definitely a curse that killed her. Probably some form of torture". His words were punctured by Rykor's dry sobs, he was sitting ear the front desk with his face in his hands. As much as he hated Rykor, Silver at this moment couldn't help feeling sorry for him. Locke was now muttering strange words and tapped Spooky's chest with the tip of his finger but it had no affect. Geoffrey brought up a story of something similar he encountered once when visiting Spagonia. All of Geoffrey's portraits on the walls nodded I agreement over the story. At last Locke stood up straight "She's not dead, Rykor", Goeffrey stopped abruptly while counting the number of murders he prevented. Rykor finally looked up "Not dead? Then why's she all… Stiff and frozen" "She has been petrified. But how I do not know". Rykor pointed at Silver "Ask him!".
Locke now spoke in a firm voice "No second year could have done this. This was dark magic" "He did it! You saw what he wrote on the wall. He has it out for me. He saw my letter. He knows I'm… I'm a squib". Silver frantically shook his head "Sir, I swear I never touched her… And I don't even know what a Squib is" "Rubbish!" Rykor said. Infinite stepped forward which worried Silver, whatever Infinite had to say it couldn't be good "If I might, Headmaster, perhaps Silver and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time". He had a look which said he doubted it "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was he in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't he at the Halloween feast?". The three of them all burst into story over the Deathday Part "There were hundreds of ghosts. They'll tell you we were there" "But why not join the feast afterwards. Why go to that corridor?". Coral and Razor looked at Silver wondering how much they should say. Silver answered before they could "Because we were tired and wanted to go to bed" "Without any supper?" "We weren't hungry". Infinite looked very sceptical "I suggest, Headmaster, that Silver is not being entirely truthful. It might be a good idea if he were deprived of certain privileges until he is ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel he should be taken off the Shinobi Sky Chase team until he is ready to be honest". Echo scoffed "Oh, really, Infinite? I see no reason to stop the boy playing Sky Chase. This Chao wasn't hit over the head with an Extreme Gear board. There is no evidence at all that Silver has done anything wrong". Locke gave Silver a look which made him feel like he was being x-rayed "Innocent until proven guilty, Infinite". Rykor was furious "My pet has been petrified. I want to see some punishment!" "We will be able to cure her, Rykor. Professor Chrysan recently managed to procure some Meridian Roots. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Spooky".
Geoffrey as usual butted in "I'll make it. I must have brewed it a hundred times" "Excuse me! I believe I'm the Potions Master at this school" Infinite said. There was an awkward pause and then Locke said to the trio "You three may go". The three left as quickly as they could without actually running. They head one floor up and went into one of the unused classrooms, closing the door behind them. Silver looked worried "Do you think I should have told them about the voice". Razor without hesitation answered "No. Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world" "You believe me, don't you?" "Of course. But it is weird". Silver agreed with that "What's the Chamber of Secrets?" "I don't know. I think I heard a story once of a Chamber… It might have been Ash that told me" "And what's a Squib". Razor held in a snigger "Well… It's not actually that funny… But you know it is Rykor. A Squib is someone who was born into a wizarding family but hasn't got any magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but Squibs are quite unusual. If Rykor's trying to learn magic from a Kwikspell course, I reckon he must be a Squib. It would explain a lot. Like why he hates students so much". They heard a clock chime which worried Coral "Midnight. We should get to bed" "Yeah, before Infinite tries to frame us for something else".
For a few days, the school could talk of little else but the attack on Spooky. Rykor kept it fresh in everyone's minds by pacing the spot where she had been attacked, as though he thought the attacker might come back. Silver had seen him trying to scrub the message on the wall, but to no effect; the words still gleamed as brightly as ever on the stone. When Rykor wasn't guarding the scene of the crime, he was skulking red-eyed through the corridors, lunging out at unsuspecting students and trying to put them in detention for things like breathing loudly and looking happy. Blaze seemed very disturbed by what happened to Spooky. Razor spent some of his time reassuring her that his doesn't usually happen at Soleanna. Coral was affected in a different way. She usually read a lot but now it seemed like it was all she did. Silver decided to meet them in the library to find out what she was doing. He ran into Smokey the Bear who upon seeing Silver turned around and went in the opposite direction. Silver had noticed a few people doing this to him since he was caught in the corridor but he never knew why. He found Razor in the back of the library measuring his History of Magic homework. Hawking had told them to do a three foot long essay The Medieval Assembly of Murasia Wizards "I don't believe it, I'm still eight inches short. And Coral's done four and feet seven inches and her writing's tiny".
Speaking of Coral she just emerged from one of the bookshelves looking angry "There's a ten day waiting list on all copies of Soleanna, A History" "Why do you want it?" "The same reason everyone else does. To find out about the Legend of the Chamber of Secrets. I can't find anything on it anywhere else". Razor looked hopeful "Hey, Coral, can I look at your essay?" "No. You had ten days to work on it" "I only need two inches". The bell rang and they headed to History of Magic. The class was as boring as ever, another long read of some ancient history in his monotonous drone. Thirty minutes into the class something happened that never happened before. Coral interrupted him by raising her hand. Hawking looked amazed at the sight "Miss…Uh?" "Coral, sir. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets". Everyone was broken out of their zombie like trances and now had their full attention on Hawking who said "My subject is History of Magic. I deal with facts, Miss Coral, not myths and legends" "But aren't legends grown from facts, sir?" Leeta said. Hawking was amazed by the sudden attention he was getting "Well, I suppose… Yes. However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale".
He considered "Oh, very, well. Let me see". He thought back "You all know of course about the founding of Soleanna. The exact date is unknown but what we do know that it was founded by the four greatest wizards of their time. The four houses are named after them. Shinobi Vigil, the Chameleon, Yagyu Nights, the Bat, Gossamer Reach, the Spider and Raiju Storm, the Lynx. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution. For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Raiju and the others. Raiju wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Soleanna. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Raiju and Shinobi, and Raiju left the school". Hawking rolled his eyes "These historical facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Raiju had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing of. Raiju, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic". There was silence, but not the usual dull silence that was common in Hawking's class but a tense worrisome silence "The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course. Naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber, many times, by the most learned witches and wizards. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible". Coral raised her hand again "Sir… What exactly does the legend say lies within the chamber?" "Something that only the Heir can control. It is said to be the home of a monster". Hawking was very eager to get back to his lesson but nobody was paying attention now. The rest of the lesson was filled with a great feeling of fear.
"I always knew Raiju was a lunatic!" Razor said as the three left the class. They were heading down to the Great Hall for dinner "But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Raiju, I'd' have got the train straight back home…". Coral nodded in agreement but Silver was too distracted. He never told either of them about how Caliburn originally wanted to put him in Raiju. And then it came to him, the people avoiding him, the whispers when he went past groups. Did people think he was Raiju's heir? Smokey was a muggle born after all. He'd have good reason to be afraid of Silver if he thought he was. "Do you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" he asked Coral. On one of these rare occurrences Silver heard Coral say "I don't know". She considered all the evidence "Locke couldn't cure Spooky which tells me whatever did it is powerful". They turned a corner and realised they were back at the corridor where the attack happened. It was the fastest way down to Hall so they moved quickly. It was when they were right in front of the words did Coral hit Silver's arm. She pointed at the window. Silver moved closer and realised what it was. About twenty Mobani spiders were scurrying on the wall towards a small crack in a window. It looked almost like they were fighting each other to get to it "I've never seen spiders act like that" "I don't like spiders" Razor said in a quivering voice.
Silver and Coral both stared at him, he rolled his eyes "Mobani spiders, obviously". Coral giggled, "It's not funny. If you must know, when I was three, Mighty turned my- my teddy bear into a great big filthy spider because I broke his toy board… You wouldn't like them either if you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and…" he shivered. Silver tried to change the subject to spare Razor the shame "Where did the water come from?" "It came from that door" Coral approached it. Razor shook his head "No, we can't go in there. That's the girls toilets" "Oh, Razor, no one comes in here. This is Lah's bathroom". They opened the door and went inside, ignoring the out of order sign. It was the worst bathroom Silver had ever seen. Everything old, broken and mouldy. Coral stepped ahead of them "Hello, Lah". Lah suddenly flew out of one of the toilets and glared at them "This is the girl's toilets. They aren't girls" "I just wanted to show them how, er…nice it is in here". Lah looked sceptical "I heard you whispering outside. I wish people would stop saying things behind my back. I do have feelings, you know, even if I am dead" "No one wants to upset you, Lah" "That's a good one. My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining my death!". Coral kept her cool and spoke in a calm voice "We wanted to ask you if you've seen anything funny lately. Because a Chao was attacked right outside your front door on Halloween". Lah in a melodramatic tone said "I wasn't paying attention. Charmy upset me so much I came in here and tried to kill myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I'm… I'm…" "Already dead" Razor said thinking he was being helpful.
Lah gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived headfirst into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing from sight, although from the direction of her muffled sobs, she had come to rest somewhere in the U-bend. Silver and Razor stood with their mouths hanging open but Coral just shrugged it off "Honestly that was almost cheerful for her. Let's go". They only just got outside and closed the door when a voice made them jump "RAZOR!". Hamlin the Prefect was storming towards them with a look of shock "That is the girl's toilets. What were you doing?" "Just looking around. Clues, you know?" "Well, don't. Don't you care what this looks like? Coming back here while everyone's at dinner". Razor had quite a defiant look that even surprised Silver "Why shouldn't we be here? We didn't hurt that Chao" "I know that but rumours are going around. Blaze thinks you're going to get expelled. I've never seen her upset". Razor got closer to Hamlin "Is Blaze what you're worried about?". He was now right in Hamlin's face "Or are you just worried we're going to mess up your chances of being Head Boy?". Silver was beginning to wonder if he might had not noticed some tension in the O'Hedge house while he was staying there. Hamlin's reaction seemed to support this theory. He looked offended but by no means surprised by Razor's words "Five points from Shinobi. And you'll lose more if you don't get moving". Razor with a glare at his older brother started walking away with Silver and Coral following.
After the feast Razor had returned somewhat to his calm self. They sat together in the common room to discuss "But who would want to scare all the Muggle Borns and Squibs out of Soleanna". Razor who was trying to work on his Charms homework gave a sarcastic shrug "Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?" "Rutan?" "Of course. You heard what he said. 'You'll be next, Mudbloods'". Coral laughed "But Rutan… The Heir of Raiju". Silver couldn't help but agree with Razor "Look at his family. The whole lot of them have been in Raiju; he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Raiju's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough". Razor nodded "Yeah, they could have the key to the chamber for centuries. Passed down from father to son" "Well… I suppose it's possible" "Can we prove it". Coral made sure no one was close enough to hear them "There might be a way. Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect-" "If you plan on telling us sometime this month, that'd be great" Razor said. Coral glared at him "There might be a way to sneak into the Raiju common room and ask Rutan some questions. All we need is the Metamorphia Potion" "The what?" Silver and Razor said together. Coral rolled her eyes "Infinite mentioned in class a few weeks ago" "I have better things to do in Potions than listen to Infinite" Razor said. Coral ignored this and continued "It transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could change into three of the Raijus. No one would know it was us. Rutan would probably tell us anything. He's probably boasting about it in the Raiju common room right now, if only we could hear him". Razor was now eager to listen "Wicked. So how do we make it" "Well, that's going to be the difficult part. The book for it is in the restricted section". They tried to think of a good excuse that wouldn't reveal they wanted to make the potion "We could tell them we're only interested in the theory" "Oh, come on. No teacher would believe that. They'd have to be thick"