Raven lasted as long as she could have before getting fed up with her companions. It was no secret among her friends that she was an introvert at heart, and despite her stunningly high levels of patience, she had reached her limit with them several times before. The combination of the naked prancing around, repeated attempts to get her into the ocean, and the incessant giggling from Summer, Willow, and especially Kali had sent her right up to the edge. Receiving no response from Taiyang after her text was the final straw, and what caused Raven to put her top back on, grab her katana, and fold up her towel. With a terse apology, Raven had decided to make her way back to the beach house without a plan to occupy herself for the rest of the day. Fortunately, she found she didn't need one as she approached the front door.
Unfortunately, that lack of need stemmed from the fact that the door to the deck was unlocked.
Raven knew that the door had been locked before they left for the beach- she was the last of the girls out of the house and had double-checked that the building was secured. Unless the boys had unlocked the deck for some unknown reason before leaving, Raven wasn't alone. Her suspicions were confirmed as she stepped inside, one hand on the hilt of her sword as she held it at her side. The front door was cracked open, swaying gently in the breeze.
"…hello?" Raven called into the house with considerable volume, her shoulders tense. "If you don't belong here, I'm a huntress, and armed. Consider this fair warning."
"What a coincidence. So am I."
Raven jumped in spite of her training as a voice came from her immediate left. Somehow, she hadn't noticed Maria Calavera sitting upon one of the stools in the kitchen. The woman was swirling a martini glass in her hand and wearing an outfit unlike any Raven had ever seen the woman in before. Gone was the toolbelt, goggles, robe, and mask that Raven had come to associate with her professor. Instead, Professor Calavera was wearing only a deep red tube top with orange flowers upon it and a patterned white sarong, along with golden hoop earrings. Raven had never tried to guess just how much older her professor was, but suddenly, she had a feeling that they didn't share nearly as much of an age gap as she had previously suspected.
"Professor?" Raven asked, staring at the woman in disbelief.
"Raven," the woman replied before taking a sip of her drink. "Nice of you students to keep all this alcohol around for when I visit, considering you're all too young to drink."
"…of course," Raven said, averting her eyes from the woman and toward the front door as she blushed ever so slightly. "It's all for you. Is… someone else home already? How did you get in here?"
"Not so far as I can tell," Professor Calavera replied before taking a sip of her drink. "But the front door was open when I got here. I figured you were trying to get a cross-breeze. Vacuo is unforgiving in the middle of the day."
"…what?" Raven asked. "That's not right. The boys wouldn't have just been that careless… and the deck was unlocked, too."
"…then perhaps we're not alone, after all. I figured at least one of you was upstairs in the bathroom, or asleep," Professor Calavera said as she slipped off her stool and grabbed her weapon from below the counter. "I'll help you check the house."
"Thanks," Raven offered as she cast her eyes up to the ceiling and began to check the corners. "Willow must have cameras in here. We can get a definitive answer once she gets back, if we don't find anything."
"She honestly might not," Professor Calavera warned as she moved out of the kitchen area and split her weapon into dual scythes. "The rich tend to get complacent after enough time, and with a tower of armed guards usually outside, I could see Arcturus skimping on internal security."
"Wonderful," Raven muttered. "I don't want to call the others back unless we have to. You haven't noticed anything strange since you've been here?"
"I've only been here about fifteen minutes, but no," Professor Calavera answered as she walked through the bottom floor with Raven, keeping her back to the younger huntress'. "Quite a nice place she's got here."
"You could certainly say that," Raven agreed as she leaned forward and pressed the front door closed. "Professor?"
"Call me Maria."
Of all the surprising situations Raven had found herself in that day, hearing that had been the one that caught her most off guard.
"…what?"
"I'm off the clock," Maria answered. "This was intended to be an entirely friendly visit to check in on all of you. There's no need for formalities in a private beach house, Raven."
Raven made an uncomfortable little noise of frustration as she looked toward the staircase and shook her head.
"I… I don't like it," Raven admitted. "It doesn't feel right. I was going to ask you to check the basement while I handle the upstairs…"
"Consider it done," Maria replied as she headed off toward the door beneath the staircase. "Watch your back, and yell if you need support. No shame in it."
"Sure," Raven said, her voice full of uncertainty. "But I think I'll be able to handle myself."
"Can you?"
Raven paused to shoot her professor a venomous look. Maria kept her expression totally neutral and free of malice, which only spurred Raven to further annoyance.
"…see you in a few."
Without another word, Raven began to ascend the steps, being careful to keep her footfalls light. The young woman held her breath and kept her hand upon the hilt of her katana, ready to draw at a moment's notice. A single creaking board halfway up the steps gave her pause as a jolt of adrenaline surged through her chest. With a few deep breaths, she continued up the remainder of the staircase, managing to reach the top floor without any additional mishaps.
Staring down the hallway leading to the bedrooms, Raven saw that all of the doorways were wide open. She couldn't remember if she had closed hers, or what state the other doors had been in when the rest of the girls went downstairs. An irritating, persistent sense of dread lingered within her as her mind raced to recall the insignificant details. Raven knew that she would never know for sure no matter how long she stood there, and that the doors could have been opened for any number of reasons after she left. Even so, the sight only served to add new and exciting scenarios of terrible things that could befall her at any second.
Raven reached the first doorway in short order and pressed her back up against the wall next to the frame. After taking a few deep breaths to steady herself, she spun to the side and drew a bright red blade from within her mechanical sheath before leveling the weapon in front of her body at an angle. The only thing that greeted her was an unmade bed with wrinkled sheets and a set of suitcases lined up against the long dresser that occupied much of the perpendicular wall. The TV atop the piece of furniture was on and muted, showing a local news channel. Suddenly, Raven realized that the display could have been set up as a distraction, and so, she whirled around and brought the hilt of her katana up to the side of her face, letting the blade stick out parallel to the ground before her.
There was nothing waiting behind her but another open bedroom door.
Raven let out a shuddering breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. All of her training had taught her to maintain breath control, and yet, she had become so worked up inside of her own head that it had all fallen to the wayside. Her mouth was dry, her hands were sweaty, and the tip of her sword shook ever so slightly as she kept the weapon held aloft. Raven hated that she was legitimately upset and knew well that if an attacker was waiting in the other rooms, she would be at a disadvantage. For a moment, she considered calling out for her professor. With a frustrated exhale, she decided that she would never let herself live it down if she did so.
With utmost care, Raven stepped forward and poked her head into the bedroom across the hall. It was a similar scene- everything appeared untouched, and once again, the television was on and muted. Though she had no idea what, something was wrong, and the idea that someone was in the house firmly cemented itself in Raven's mind. Barring the scenario that Professor Maria Calavera had developed a rather sick sense of humor and had decided to mess with them all, she could think of no other explanation for the odd circumstances.
"…alright, enough with this," Raven said aloud as she stepped back into the hallway. "If you're still here, come out and face me. If you're just some thief, I'll even let you go if you return whatever it is you came here for."
Raven waited a moment for a response, only to receive nothing of the sort. Again, she took a few breaths before running the remainder of the hall and stepping aggressively into the bedroom she shared with Taiyang. The first thing she noticed was that the window was open, its drapery fluttering in a gentle breeze. Secondly, Raven realized that the television was off, breaking the pattern of the other bedrooms. Finally, she caught sight of her luggage wide open upon the floor, her clothing in tatters and scattered all about haphazardly. Raven ran toward the window and stuck her head outside, looking in all directions to try to catch whoever had invaded her privacy. All that she saw was the guard tower and endless sands stretching as far as she could see, with the hazy silhouette of Shade Academy in the distance.
"Shit," Raven cursed as she turned around and began to scour the bedroom. As she walked across the carpet, she began to notice that it wasn't just her clothing, but Taiyang's as well that had been rummaged through and torn apart with some sort of bladed weapon. "Who the hell…"
"Basement's clear!" a voice echoed from the staircase as footsteps began to carry down the hall. "I'm making my way up to you!"
"Someone was here!" Raven called back as she moved toward the bathroom. "Some of our stuff is destroyed, and the T.V.s were on! They left through my bedroom window!"
"Did you see them?" Maria asked as she reached the top of the stairs and hurried toward Raven.
"No, I…" Raven began as she leaned into the bathroom to inspect the space.
Everything glass had been shattered- the mirror, Taiyang's bottle of cologne, and even the shower door were mere fragments across the tile floor. Her hairbrush had been snapped in half, and several of their personal effects were scattered around the room. Raven's eyes darted back and forth as she desperately tried to locate one item in particular, only to come up with nothing.
"Are you alright?" Maria asked, causing Raven to jump slightly as she stepped into the bathroom and whirled to face the woman. "It's just me!"
"Sorry, I…" Raven began, only to shake her head. "They wrecked our room. I-I didn't check the one across from here…"
"Hold on," Maria replied before dipping back out into the hall. Mere seconds later, she returned to Raven's room, her weapons still in hand. "It's clear. Television on, as you said before."
"Who would do something like this?" Raven asked rhetorically as she resigned herself to sitting upon the closed toilet. "Can't we get a single moment of peace while on vacation? It's been nothing but stress since we got here…"
"That sounds about right, yes," Maria commiserated as she carefully stepped over the broken glass and into the bathroom. "Call Willow, and hope that her parents had the sense to put cameras in this place."
"…what difference will it make?" Raven sulked as she sheathed her sword and leaned the weapon against the side of the tub. "I'd rather just let everyone have the rest of the day without worrying about this. We can deal with it when they get back."
"While you suffer alone," Maria pointed out. "That seems to be a common theme in your approach to things, Miss Branwen."
"And what do you care?" Raven snapped. "You've hated me since day one of your class."
Maria blinked in surprise, and for a moment, her usual stoic and uncaring expression faltered to one of disappointment.
"…that isn't true at all," the woman replied, "and I don't know why you would think such a thing. Come. I'll make you some tea, and we can talk this over. Is anything valuable missing?"
Raven looked up at Maria's offered hand and let out a sigh as she took it to stand up.
"…whoever did this took my mask…"
Author's Note:
It was Reverse-Raven from another dimension!
-RD
