For the past few nights, Evergreen had been experiencing quite fitful sleep. He had several nightmares he couldn't remember once he woke up and tossed and turned, effectively making it almost impossible to fall asleep and downright unheard of to stay asleep. The night after talking with Professor Woods and Miss Agatha though, he found drifting off to be quite easy. He even had a pleasant dream with Miss Agatha where she was wearing an emerald-green ballgown with a matching tiara and they were dancing in that room Evergreen and Seta found. He woke up chuckling to himself. What a silly dream! He couldn't dance.
At breakfast, he ate a lot. He didn't even realize how hungry he had been over the past few days as he was wallowing in self-pity. There was a cinnamon bread pudding, a whole omelet, and several strips of bacon with a green apple and an orange close by that he did away with.
"Someone's hungry." Diva remarked.
"Yeah. I guess I'm feeling a lot more like myself today." Evergreen replied, with a mouthful of bacon.
"You were kind of out of it," Andie added. "We're glad you're feeling better."
"Thanks. Oh, are you going to eat that?" Evergreen asked, pointing to a small blueberry muffin on Andie's plate.
"It's all yours." She replied with a laugh.
He all but inhaled the small pastry. Breakfast was a wonderful affair even though Link still seemed quite preoccupied with something. Evergreen tried to ask him about it, but he just covered his face with his goblet and let his friend know that he was fine, and his friends shouldn't worry. Seta gave Evergreen a look that said Sound familiar? Which it did. He assured his Blackguard friend that if he ever needed to talk about anything, he was there to listen. That's what friends are for, after all.
In Potions class, there was a general sense of unease that Evergreen was picking up on. What else could one expect, with all these Thunderbirds and Horned Serpents together? However, he didn't let it ruin his mood. He chattered along with Valerian in the most chipper way possible. Valerian also stayed very pleasant as well. Evergreen guessed that the other boy picked up on his change of demeanor. During the class, Professor Killian actually asked Evergreen and Valerian to present their findings regarding various classic roots used in potion making. It was a good thing for her to do, to show that two individuals from opposing houses could work together. Who knows how much good it did, though?
During creature care, a few interesting things happened. For starters, there was a Re'em kid that Professor Fangholder brought to the warehouse-barn. It was so cute, even though it was the size of a fully grown deer, so it didn't seem like a baby-baby to Evergreen. A lot of the girls wanted to touch it, but it seemed quite wary of everyone, except for Link. That guy just had an unspeakable magnetism to him. Humans and animals alike could sense it.
While they were doing a little bit of light reading from the materials the round, goateed professor had distributed, Cianan Freeman asked a curious question.
"Professor Fangholder, are skinwalkers and animagi the same thing?"
"Skinwalkers are always dark wizards with cursed magic, animagi aren't."
"Excuse me sir," Evergreen asked, "But what is animagi?"
"Quandary, this is creature care, not wizard-creature care. Ask your transfiguration professor if you must know."
Animagi? That was a curious word. Evergreen knew from his studies in charms that also included basic vocabulary in Latin and Greek that magi is a word that signifies some kind of magician while ani… could mean a number of things… possibly. He'd have to ask Professor Graves at the next chance he could.
When they finally got to their flying class, Evergreen and Diva were playing a similar game that they had played previously. It really was great fun. Diva kept screaming because Evergreen kept flying in almost too close. What? She was a little Asian girl and Evergreen had gotten much taller over the summer. Still a little awkward on the broom, Evergreen exercised much caution to not get himself or her into a truly problematic situation.
They spent most of the class flying to and fro, getting gradually bolder with their actions. Even Link joined them at some point. They were laughing and having a grand time for a long while until they heard a rumbling sound. Looking toward the castle, Evergreen saw the ground was shaking and shuddering again. Dust, small rocks, and other things shook off the building's ramparts. Obviously, because they were in the sky, they didn't feel anything, but they watched as the castle shook.
Just as quickly as it had started, it ceased its shaking. Evergreen looked at the grounds and even though they were thoroughly shaken, the school wasn't apparently damaged in any way. There were no great fissures opened in the earth and no one below them on the ground was hurt, just shaken up a bit. He too was shaken, having witnessed the behemoth rock that was Mount Greylock shudder like a small child on a cold day.
Everyone landed at Coach Frost's request, and they were told to head toward the Steward Courtyard in the back of the castle while Coach Frost essentially canceled class for the rest of their scheduled time. The large wizard first made sure no one was hurt and once he was satisfied, he headed into the school to meet with the headmaster or Deputy Fontaine, depending on who he met first.
What was going on here at Ilvermorny? Last year, there were no earthquakes, this year there has been two within a week of each other. Evergreen knew that he had to find out what was going on. He had a quite curious nature that was a double-edged sword. Sure, it helps him learn quickly and how to apply the things he learns toward the practical sphere, but curiosity did indeed kill the cat. He hadn't died yet, so that spoke to his resourcefulness, but if it wasn't for his curious nature and his stubborn need to see things through, he would have never entered any perilous situation, physically or emotionally.
There at the familiar Steward Courtyard, Evergreen sat with Link and Diva. Andie and Glade were off talking amongst themselves. Link's robes were loosely hanging about his shoulders as they sat around the central fountain with the statue of Mr. Steward there in the center of the water.
"What do you reckon is causing the quakes?" Evergreen asked his friends.
"I don't really know." Diva answered, "I don't think we are near any big fault lines like on the West coast."
"I don't think it's natural." Link said.
"Really?" Diva followed. "What makes you say that?"
"Many large, magical structures, like Ilvermorny and Underhill Market are enchanted against things like large storms, forest fires, and similar things, if Ilvermorny is being affected, it means that whatever this is came to be through magic."
The friends stopped and thought about that for a few moments. Of course, Evergreen thought, it only made sense that the earthquakes were the result of some kind of unstable magic. He wondered what sort of magic could do that? What sort of magic lets out blasts of energy that can even pierce the oldest of enchantments? He knew that he had to head to the library to research what might be going on.
So, that is exactly what he did. It wasn't long until Coach Frost returned to the courtyard and told everyone that they were excused for the evening and were safe to enter the castle. Once they made their way through the round room and a corridor of moving portraits, Evergreen separated from his friends. Link called him a nerd again, of course, when he told them his plans to head toward the library.
He started making his way through a side corridor. The library was three stories tall, as many libraries were in the wizarding world, but Mrs. Montgomery's reference desk was located on the middle level, so he figured that he would go up the short flight of stairs and the ramp. The doors of the first and third floors were, in essence, hidden passageways, but Evergreen found out each and every one that prior year. There in the middle, however, was a massive double door that looked to be an open book, propped up against the wall. The spine, however, opened, revealing a library that could put both Yale AND Harvard to shame.
Mrs. Montgomery was the picture of a southern grandmother, she was about Evergreen's height, but she was hunched over, so she appeared to be much shorter. She had wiry, white hair, impossibly wrinkled brown skin, and never really wore anything that wasn't in earthy tones. Her voice was often strict, but her eyes, nearly hidden by decades of wrinkles, were kind and she took a quick shine to anyone who was a diligent student. Obviously, she enjoyed seeing Evergreen as he was in the library almost every day that previous year. When Link went to one of the school's Quidditch or Quodpot matches, Evergreen was there instead, within the library.
"Mr. Quandary. I must say it is not a surprise to find you here again." She said in her vague accent that could have placed her birthplace literally anywhere in the States.
Mrs. Montgomery was standing behind her desk and had been levitating a number of somewhat large volumes before her. She appeared to have scanned them with her wand for some reason. She had muttered a single word and flicked her wand when she saw Evergreen approaching, causing the volumes to all land in a single, neat pile, with somewhat smaller volumes at the top, making what looked like a slight pyramid.
"No ma'am. I was going to do some research."
"Naturally. Anything I can help you find?"
"Now that you mention it, I would like to see some books about…" he stopped, unsure about going forward. Maybe if she knew he was looking into the earthquakes, she'd try and put a stop to it. No matter. She was always there to help. She helped him study the runes that surrounded his family, she helped him investigate some combat spells and she didn't raise an eyebrow. What the heck? He'd give her the benefit of the doubt. "…earthquakes. Some of my friends were worrying about the quakes and I wanted to be able to say that there was a perfectly logical explanation to them."
The old librarian's face broke out into a wide smile. She let out a slight chuckle thereafter and poked a long scroll of parchment that was behind her. There were two wooden spools, designed to roll the scroll open to certain parts of the parchment. Evergreen had plenty of experience with the scroll. It was, after all, Ilvermorny's master library catalog. When she poked the scroll, the wooden spools glowed and the parchment started moving, unrolling, and rerolling again until it landed on a page with a giant E imprinted like a watermark behind the text.
"You're a sweet boy, Mr. Quandary. Your friends are lucky to have someone like you in their circle."
"Thanks for saying so, ma'am." He replied, his eyes looking toward the catalog.
"Ahh, there we are!" she exclaimed quietly, because it was still a library.
She poked her wand to the parchment again and about half a dozen different titles glowed on the surface of it. Mrs. Montgomery then said a word Evergreen neither heard nor recognized and six different books came flying at them from different areas of the library. They all landed before Mrs. Montgomery, beside her book pyramid and she then pulled out a piece of parchment and scribbled down what Evergreen assumed were the titles and he found out he was right when she handed him the slip to sign, effectively checking out the books for the week.
"Thanks, Mrs. Montgomery." He said, picking up the books.
"Don't mention it." She replied, kindly.
Handing the slip back over to the ancient witch, Evergreen picked up his stack of books and made his way to his favorite spot in the library which was wedged between a goliath bookshelf and a window that showed the lake and waterfall off to the side. It looked wonderful to swim in. His last year proved to be too busy to do so and this year, who knows? All things considered; it would likely be another weird year. He was the son of a mighty sorceress and a world-class musician who was being pursued by magical individuals with jade green and cherry red skin. Weird wasn't even scratching the surface. He just hoped that he saw no more flying monkeys. The one he had ever seen in real life was enough. They were in his nightmares far too much.
Once he sat down, he immediately opened up the first book. It was on large, subterranean beasts. That was promising. He turned to the index and started scanning through it to see if anything jumped out to him. Nothing really did, so he turned back to the table of contents, hoping to find a jumping-off point. What do you know? The beasts were separated by biome, meaning, some beasts of the Northern forests, the Midwestern plains, the Southern deserts, etc. He looked toward the chapter on the Northern forests. He was in Massachusetts, after all. They were North, right? He looked at the map included in the book to be sure. Yeah, Massachusetts was up North, it was part of New England, which was the mess of the Northernmost states.
Looking through the chapter, he saw a bunch of frightening images of the craziest monsters that he had ever considered. There was the Ultra-centipede, native to the New York area that grew from about three feet long to as long as the average basilisk (40-50 feet). That was terrifying! At least they only have a taste for other bugs of alarming size. They weren't violent to humans, whenever they came across them, but they were burrowers indeed. Maybe?
He also came across the Grick. It was a gigantic, worm-like thing with tentacles on its head and a sharp beak, capable of crushing diamonds to dust. According to the text, they were immune to dark magic and could even destroy any dark artifact by merely biting into it, no matter how many protective wards may have covered it! They were pack animals and could be contained only by light magic. If free, they would eat everything they could find, until dying of old age or being eaten by something somehow stronger. Related to the Grick was the Neothelid. They were ten times the length of their Grick cousins, and they didn't have tentacles on their heads, but they came right out of their massive maw and were covered in a sticky mucus that turned rock-hard when dried. They weren't very bright and tried to eat any living thing nearby with a serious hankering for fresh brains, including their own pack. They moved quickly, though, and could be found in any rocky place, whether it be a desert, forest, or otherwise.
There was also the purple worm, and although highly venomous and fire-breathing, they were found only in Europe, so Evergreen was glad not to have to worry about them. Out of all of the beasts he was looking at, they were the most beautiful. Sleek and electric purple with a massive maw and five rows of teeth that cover the inside of it, dripping with acid. They had a great stinger at the end and could be up to 100 feet long. Nope, I'm not going to Europe any time soon, he thought to himself. He read about the Umber Hulks as well. They were massive insects. Specialists didn't yet agree which small insect they most related to, ants or beetles, but they were burrowers as well. They had massive, almost primate-like bodies, but had insect heads and mannerisms. Plus, they had a special kind of magic that allegedly made some wizards lose their memories from within the last few minutes upon getting too close.
He kept reading about other creatures as well. He figured out of all of them, that the Neothelid was probably the most likely candidate out of all the mentioned beasts. They were on the top of a mountain, after all. Rocks were everywhere! Plus, with their massive size, great numbers, and psychic abilities, they really could literally be earthshakers!
Another book talked about dark entities. Amongst these entities was the Obscurus. An Obscurial was a magical child who was forced and abused into suppressing their magic. This suppression led to the creation of an unstoppable force that they unwittingly release which can create some of the wildest destruction the world has ever seen! According to the text, an Obscurus was responsible for the utter destruction of countless city blocks in the heart of busy New York City many decades ago. It took a team of skilled witches and wizards and a giant Thunderbird to repair the damage and to erase the No-Majes' memories of the event. That couldn't be it, the Professors would have found the child by now. At least, he hoped so.
He read through many of the books that Mrs. Montgomery had found for him. He was certain that many of the tomes before him were restricted use, but his close association with the aged witch perhaps spoke for his trustworthiness as far as she was concerned. There were a few more beasts he read about that made it somewhat easier to narrow down. He also read about other magical entities. He saw something called a curse nebula, something else called a ward-crossing, and even charm degeneration. He felt like he was getting way over his head with all of these phrases he had never heard before. He asked Seta what he thought about any of it, but he didn't know what most of it meant, anyway. Magic was slightly different in Oz, according to the bunny. Great. That's helpful.
It was several hours later that Evergreen put all his notes in his bag and returned all of the borrowed books to Mrs. Montgomery at the reference desk.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" she asked.
"I found some possibilities." He answered, "But I came away with more questions than answers, ma'am."
"And such is the learning process. You are at a school for a reason, young man."
With that and a quick thank you, the boy and bunny got up and joined their friends in the commons for dinner. He and Seta went into the large room and took a seat between Andie and Glade. After a jab from Link about Evergreen being a nerd, which he was, proudly. He told them about his findings. Glade said that she had heard of Neothelids and remarked that it could make sense that somehow a Neothelid colony was awakened and now threatened the surface. According to Glade the goo that their skin excreted was a primordial ooze that was older than magic itself and so they could quite possibly break through the school's wards. Link mentioned how he had heard of curse nebulae and how they were often the result of magical disharmony. It was something the Tututni Settlement had faced early on in their history but were quickly able to face because of their resourcefulness.
"You know guys, I think we should eat something and talk about something else; my mind is reeling." Evergreen said after a little while.
"Too much study for you then? That's a first." Link teased.
"Well, we can talk about something else." Diva interjected, "I heard Professor Park talking to Professor Highmore."
"Yes? And?" Evergreen inquired.
"I know what play she's planned for us this year."
A/N: Sorry I have been MIA, my wife and I have been dealing with immigration drama. But, we've submitted all the documents necessary for our case, so I have time again to do things I like. My group of followers, I know you're small, but as a little treat, I figured I would dump a mess of chapters in your lap all at once. Please comment, like, and follow, if you like what you're reading!
Until next time!
-EQ