The Rite of Spring

Chapter 1:

Odette couldn't remember much when she woke up in the coffin but she know for certain she had not fallen asleep there. 'Where was I before this?' She thought as she rubbed her throbbing her head. She couldn't remember she where she had fallen asleep but she knew it wasn't here and she certainly wasn't in this weird robe. 'What the hell is going on?'

Then the lid was creaked open and a gray cat with blue flaming ears stood there. "Give me that robe!" It demanded. His tone didn't please her.

"Excuse me?" She snapped at him as she sat up on her elbows and arched a white eyebrow at him.

"I said give me that robe! I deserve it and not you!" He repeated as pulled on the purple lapels of the black robe.

"And what makes you think that exactly?" Odette challenged as she fully sat up putting the creature in her lap as she did so.

"Because I'm going to be a great mage. The greatest mage this world has ever seen!" He snapped still not letting go of her. His bright blue eyes that matched his flaming ears stared into her teal eyes, she stared right back at him.

"What are you doing up already?" A voice asked.

Odette looked towards the voice to see a tall figure in a dapper suit with a crow mask on.

"Just couldn't wait? Is your familiar that unruly?" He asked as he reached down and pulled the cat like creature away from Odette.

"I'm not her familiar! I'm Grim." Grim snapped swapping at the guy.

"He's not my familiar. I've never seen him before." Odette informed him as she got out of her coffin.

"Well then I will simply get rid of him you will wait here until I return." The man stated then walked off.

Odette stared around the room as she waited for his return, slowly the coffins disappeared from the room and all were nearly gone when the man returned. "Excuse me sir but you never told me who you were or where we are." Odette informed him.

"Ah I must be getting forgetful in my age. I am Dire Crowley the Headmage of the Night Raven College, that's where you are. Don't you remember the Black Carriage bringing you here." Crowley enlightened her.

Odette tried to think of carriage. "Not really." She answered.

"Well that little incident has costed us sometime we need to hurry if you want to make to the opening ceremony." Crowley said as he lead the way towards a pair of double doors. He opened the doors to a large chamber filled with several large portraits, mirrors and filled tot he brim with people. "We have one more." Crowley announced as he made his way to the center of the room with Odette still right beside him.

Everyone in the room turned and stared at them. Odette could feel the heat shoot up her neck and into her face and quickly looked down at the ground as she flipped the hood of her robe over her shoulder length white hair.

"Go on child step up tot he mirror and tell it your name." Crowley said gently pushing her towards the large center mirror.

Odette listened and stepped up on the small platform in front of the large mirror, quickly a large green face appeared in the mirror making Odette gasped.

"What is your name?" The mirror asked booming over the snickers that filled the room.

"Odette Thropp." Odette answered as she stared at the face.

"This soul has no magic, I can not place them." The face stated then disappeared from the mirror.

The room gasped and began to fill with murmurs, and Odette could feel herself blush again. 'This dream is quickly turning into a nightmare.' Odette thought as stepped down from the platform. "So now what?" She asked as she stopped in front of Crowley.

"Everyone please tell your freshman to our dorms and go on as usually." Crowley stated ignoring Odette for a moment.

"No wait!" A shout filled the room. "I still need to be sorted."

'Oh no him again.' Odette thought rolling her eyes.

Grim appeared in the middle of the room looking still arrogant and proud. "I deserve a spot at this school!"

"Not you again! House Wardens grab that beast!" Crowley ordered.

"I'm not a beast! I'm Grim!" Grim snapped. "It won't be easy!" He began to breath blue fire at the guys trying to grab him.

"He breathes fire!" Odette gasped as she jumped away from the flames.

The uproar lasted only a few minutes. Soon Grim was collared and subdued. "Here is your unruly familiar." A short red haired guy snarled pushing Grim into her arms.

"He's not mine." Odette snapped as Grim snapped. "I'm not her familiar."

"Alright everyone let's get back to the program. You two will come with me." Crowley ordered clapping his hands then turning towards Odette and Grim.

He lead them out of the room and to his office. "How did you two end up at this school?" He demanded as he sat down at his desk.

"It wasn't hard." Grim scoffed.

"I don't know sir. I honestly don't remember anything." Odette answered.

"Where are you from?" He demanded.

"Why does it matter?" Grim shrugged.

"Washington? Florida? Somewhere in the United States. I remember a beach." Odette answered furrowing her brows and trying to recall anything and coming up nearly blank.

"I've never heard of any of those places." Crowley informed her. "Neither way you're here and you need to go back. I'll see what I can do but in the meantime you'll need to stay here. You can't stay at any of the normal dorms but luckily we have a place you can stay." Crowley said as he got up from his desk and breezed out of the room.

Crowley took them to the Ramshackle Dorm. 'This place is either haunted or condemned.' Odette thought as she looked over the building in front of her.

"This is the Ramshackle Dorm. It's a dorm no longer in use. This is where you'll be staying." Crowley briefed her.

"You don't really call it that do you?" Grim asked.

"What exactly will be doing here?" Odette asked turning away from the dorm.

"You'll be working as care takers. I'll be back tomorrow around 8 am to explain your duties. Good night." Crowley said then left them on the pouch with a large old fashioned key in her hand.

"How bad can it be?" Odette said as she turned towards the door and unlocked it and pushed it open to reveal a decent size tiled anteroom that had a bench and a coat rack. Beyond that was a small wooden floor foyer that lead to a staircase or a lounge.

"It looks pretty bad to me." Grim muttered as they peeked into the lounge. All the furniture was covered in sheets and the fireplace had nearly an inch of dust on the mantle.

"Nothing some cleaning can't fix. Let's go see what the bedrooms look like." Odette said heading up the stairs. 'It could be worse.' She thought to herself.

"What are you doing here?" A voice called out.

"Who let you in?" Another echoed angrily.

"Headmaster Crowley said I could live here. So this place is haunted. Are you vicious ghosts?" Odette sighed as she stopped at the top of the stairs.

"Are you crazy?" Grim asked.

"Oh no, we just wanted to have some fun with you." Ghost A said, a long thin ghost said as he appeared from the wall.

"We haven't had any visitors in so long. We're a bit surprised." Ghost B a short thicker ghost whined appearing next to Ghost A.

"Well, you'll have lots of company now. I'm Odette Thropp and this is Grim. We can chat more tomorrow. We're a little tired tonight. So what room is in the best condition?" Odette asked.

"Oh this one is the best." Ghost A said leading them down the left hallway and all the way to the end and stopped at the door on the right.

"Oh yes that is best room." Ghost B agreed.

"The opening ceremony is always exhausting." Ghost A sighed.

"Always." Ghost B echoed.

"Thank you for your help. See you in the morning." Odette smiled at them then opened the door to reveal a decent size room with a full sized bed with a small fireplace with a mirror over it. The desk was pushed under the large window that looked over the nearby forest.

"You're weird." Grim stated.

"Yup." Odette said with a shrug. "Now let's clean up this room a bit and then go to bed."

"I'm kinda hungry." Grim whined as he floated down to the bed.

"Yeah so am I but I doubt this place has any food. So hopefully Headmaster Crowley brings us some breakfast tomorrow morning." Odette stated.

Odette opened the closet and found some clothes including a pant of school sweats which she changed into. She found items to clean the room with in the hall closet on the bottom shelf, the rest of the shelves were filled with bedding and towels. 'Well, that makes things a bit easier.' She thought as she grabbed the cleaning supplies and a change of sheets.

"It's not much but it's something." She yawned as she laid down in the bed with Grim after finishing the quick clean up.

"Tomorrow we work on my room." Grim grumbled as she curled up beside.

"Alright." She yawned and closed her eyes and fell asleep nearly instantly.

Thank you for reading the first chapter of my new fanfiction. My OC has taken over my brain and has demanded her own story. So here we are. I hope you enjoyed it so far. If you liked my little ficlets then worry not those scenes will be making reappearance, but this doesn't mean that I've decided who she'll end up with. After all Diasomnia is full of wonderful misfits, the entire school is. So I hope you'll stick around for this journey. Thanks again.