CHAPTER 8: SCIENCE IS FUN

As soon as Athena was summoned into the room, Idia ordered her to take Jill to testing, and then took his leave. The older researcher then led Jill back through the long corridor and through a pair of metallic double doors that opened automatically for the pair.

This room was much larger—it had several monitors all over the walls, and an identical pair of double doors in the back. In the center of the room were two tall chairs with dark leather lining, sitting back-to-back. Jill quickly peeked around the other side, but no one was in the opposite chair. Athena beckoned Jill to sit in the front chair, and the goth was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable it was. Athena then opened a strange box with triangular markings, and produced a black collar.

"Put this on, dear," Athena said. "This collar will measure your magical output. You'll be wearing this for the rest of your stay."

"Will it hurt?" Jill asked.

"Not at all, hold still…" Athena fitted the collar onto Jill's neck, moving her hair out of the way. She even used a metallic key to lock her collar in the back. The collar itself was cold and uncomfortable against Jill's flesh. After that was done, Athena pulled Jill's magestone pen out of her pocket and gave it back to its owner.

"So you're just testing my magic?" Jill asked.

"Exactly. You'll know how it works in just a moment." Athena took out a pair of goggles and fitted them over Jill's eyes. "Just hold still, dear."

The next thing Jill knew, everything went black. When the lights came back on, Athena was gone. Jill was completely on her own.

"Hello?" she called out. "Miss Athena? Idia? …Anyone?"

The doors in the back of the room were wide open, with nothing but darkness past them. Jill had a bad feeling, but she clutched her pen and stepped forward into the unknown. She didn't take but three steps when everything suddenly changed again.

"H-Huh…?" Jill's mind reeled. "I'm… home?"

Her senses had to be betraying her. There was no way that the Styx HQ could lead back to Hallowgrim dorm. And yet, she was in the main foyer, with everything looking as gloomy and gothic as always. The damage to the house was gone, and the ghosts were nowhere to be found.

Something was rotten in Denmark.

"There you are!" Grim snapped, walking in from the kitchen. "You got a lotta nerve to show yourself here!"

Jill flinched. "Grim, look, I'm sorry for losing my temper at you earlier, but—"

"But nothing!" Grim said angrily. "You've been a terrible minion to me! Talkin' back to me, orderin' me around, not listenin' to me… and I haven't forgotten about your overblot attack!"

"You overblotted on me, too—" Jill tried to say.

"Enough! I got permission from the headmage to challenge you," Grim said, crouching low to the floor. "I'm gonna beat you and become housewarden like I should've done months ago!"

Already, Jill knew that something was up. Didn't Grim mention once or twice that he didn't care about the 'housewarden' thing anymore? Plus, there was the matter of how the duo got back to Hallowgrim and how the damage made from Styx was suddenly undone.

Grim launched several blue fireballs at Jill, and she dodged as nimbly as she could. The fire lashed out around the room, but Jill couldn't feel any heat. She touched the side of her head, but the goggles were gone. It was clear by now that she was trapped in some virtual reality; Jill felt stupid for not realizing it right off the bat. This wasn't the real Grim, but she would still have to defend herself.

She launched several freezing-cold water blasts from her pen, and Grim somersaulted out of the way. Jill continued to attack with aqua spells, knowing they were Grim's weakness. She had practiced with water several times in the past, and she always had trouble keeping it steady when she was hitting targets from far away. The water would usually fall apart before it hit the mark… and that was the case here. Jill's aqua spells were spilling onto the ground before they could hit Grim, and the water was further evaporated by the fire everywhere.

"Pathetic!" Grim launched several flora spells. These took the form of razor-sharp leaves; though they cut Jill's skin and clothes, she couldn't feel any actual pain. Still, they looked like they would hurt. Jill stepped back, shocked at the sight of her cuts, and Grim laughed.

"Is that all you've got?" he taunted. "You're nothin' like the Pumpkin King! You're just a scared little girl!"

"You—!" Jill gritted her teeth and fists. "You'll take that back!"

It's not the real Grim, it's not the real Grim, she chanted to herself in her mind. She'd been unconsciously holding back, unable to do serious harm to something with Grim's face. But if she was going to get through this, then she needed to give this her all. She focused on her frustrations towards Grim—all the times he upset her, talked down to her, got her in trouble—and it strengthened her resolve.

"What, are you just gonna—" Grim's remark was cut short when Jill shot a fire spell at him. "Myah!" Grim dodged the ball of fire, falling into the shadow of one of the chairs.

"Now…!" Jill concentrated, and her pen gained a purplish aura. The shadow that Grim was standing on suddenly pulled itself up from the floor, taking Grim with it.

"Myaaaah!" Grim cried in shock. He was encased in a shadowy fist growing out of the ground.

Not good enough, keep going, Jill, the girl told herself. She put more force into the shadowy hand, pulling it completely off of the floor, and had Grim hovering in midair. The direbeast kicked and flailed, but he couldn't get himself free.

"Alright, have some of this!" Grim shot his own aqua spell; a steady stream of water rocketed straight for Jill.

Jill held her pen out in front of her, and it glowed brightly. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!"

A large beam of light shot out of her pen, blinding her for a second. When she regained her sight, she found herself in a large blank chamber with glowing lines separating everything into squares. There was a mangled pile of scrap metal not too far away from her; it looked to be some kind of robot.

Jill doubled over and panted, trying to regain her breath, as she realized the full situation.

So those goggles put Jill's mind in some kind of virtual reality. Hallowgrim dorm was just this blank testing chamber, and Grim was a robot that was attacking her for some sort of test. She knew this was entirely possible for what the Shrouds could do with technology, but this feat still gave her pause. She finally caught her breath and straightened up. Athena came up to Jill from behind to remove her goggles.

"Excellent job," Athena praised. "You defeated the opponent! You did very well using your magic in a stressful situation."

"Thanks, I guess," Jill asked. But she didn't feel victorious. She glanced around. "Where's the real Grim?"

"Subject F? He's nearly done with his questioning," Athena said. "Apollo reported that Subject F is notably stubborn, and that's why he's taking so long. After we've gotten as much info as we can out of him, we're going to test him the same way we did to you."

"So you're going to pit him up against a fake me in a virtual reality?" Jill asked. "Please, I want to be with him. I can do a retest, we can do it together—"

"I'm sorry, but you finished your questioning before Subject F did," Athena said quietly. "That's why you were on your own for this one. You'll have to reside in one of the waiting rooms while he's testing. Once all the subjects are done with this round of tests, we can move onto the next phase. Oh, and you'll have to give us your pen back."

Jill surrendered her pen, feeling more powerless than ever. The last time she had spoken to Grim—which felt like days ago—the little beast was terrified and trying to stay together with Jill. And Jill had angrily rejected him. Not only that, but Grim was being questioned about his overblot right now. He was forced to recount the time when he injured Jill and ran away, almost separated from her forever…

And Jill couldn't even comfort him. He was still going to be alone.

About time he grew up, said a small angry voice in the back of her mind. He can't act like a bratty kid forever.

He has grown up, argued a calmer voice. He helped me with my own overblot. The past Grim wouldn't have done that…

"Dear, I know you're worried about your friend, but he'll be okay," Athena said. "We need to go to the waiting room now. You'll see Subject F shortly."

"Grim," Jill corrected quietly. She rubbed her arms, noting that all the cuts from the flora attacks were gone. She knew the battle wasn't real, but it sure felt that way.

Jill followed Athena out of the room and down the corridor once again. The twenty-four hours would be over soon. This had to end.