The Island rang with the sound of faerie bells calling everyone to wake for the day. Merlin glared as he'd only gotten a few hours of sleep, and it was already time to wake.

Puck bounced up, and went to drag his friend and fellow Faerie Fonoderee out of his bed. Of course he'd be hung-over, but Puck had a potion to fix that right up.

Cassandra, Lauraina, and Serpensorcia moved from different directions toward the breakfast hall.

KID AND GHOST

Kid woke to the sound of faerie bells.

As he was braiding his hair he nudged Ghost with his toe and said,

"Wake up, Sleepy-head! Where were you, so late last night?"

Ghost smiled (in his racoony way) and did a complete body stretch as he answered,simply, "Met Keats for a late night snack." He licked his lips and re-washed his paws ('coons are very clean critters)as he fondly remembered the mackerel and other goodies he had "set aside" from the dinner table for thier little, middle-of-the-night food fest.

"So what's for breakfast?"

Kid laughed,"Well, how about we go find out. Let's see if we can find the Breakfast Hall." They did find it and stopped at the entrance to see if they could find any of thier new friends from the night before...

BILLY AND OBSCURE

Billy muttered in her sleep...

"Mmm...no...Iuwanna...mer..."

That's when Obscure burped.

:Iiiiiyyyaaaaahhh!! Head! Head! More RUM!! It's the Hollers, I mean Howlers, I mean, MORE RUM!!!:

"Gyah!!--Awwn..."

Billy quickly threw off her covers, getting the mesh that was the linen a bit tangled up beforehand. She then rushed to her kitty, and batted Obscure's nose.

"No. We're getting you MILK."

:RUM!:

"MILK. That headache is what RUM gives you, and MILK will make it go away."

:Noo...:

Shrugging, Billy quickly collected her cat, and threw a purple-and-silver cloak about her quickly. She huffed, and then she walked (barefoot) to the breakfast area.

LOUIS

He could hear the sound of rushing water, the twittering of birds. The sun was bright and beautiful. Louis smiled, relaxing back in the green meadow. He sighed with contentment. Ahhh, peace at last, peace and sleep. He closed his eyes. He swore he could here fairy bells in the distance. "Umm, pretty sound," he murmered, rolling over in the grass, feeling the warmth of the sun. His brow furrowed as the fairy bells seemed to be getting louder....and louder..... "Ung!!" he leapt out of bed, stumbling into the bedside table, and ended up sprawled on the floor. "Oh, this is great, juuust great," he growled, pulling himself up with the aid of his desk nearby. This was no meadow, there were no birds, but those fairy bells were definately to be heard!!! "Gee, must have had, what....two hours of sleep all told? Lovely." He pushed his long black hair out of his eyes, just to have most of it fall back over his face again. He pulled it back, looking around the room for his clothes. "Suitcase, wonderful. Creases galore." He pulled out the only white shirt that did not look creased and put it on with his black pants from the night before. He threw on a black cotton jacket, and stuck his bare feet into his shoes. "No socks, can't find em." he mumbled, "No one's going to look at my feet anyway." He took a brush to his unruly hair, finally brushing it into something that looked less frighful, and headed for the door. "Come on Keats, I'm not hungry, but I want to get you fed, and take a look around." He left his room, carefully looking around to see if anyone was around. Nope. Good. No new people today. He headed out of his House, and towards what he figured was the breakfast room. "Interesting. All we seem to do is eat here." He smiled. :I'm not hungry, but I'll follow: Keats said, running to keep up with Louis ungainly strides. Louis looked back at the cat. "Why not hungry-- Did you sneak off for a snack last night?" Louis said accusitorily. :No, well, yes and no. I went with a friend, so it wasn't actually just ME who....: "Keats, never mind, I'm too exhausted to get into a philisophical discussion with you on what, where, and whom." Louis reached the dining room, seeing Kid there, he nodded a good morning. Keats went over to Ghost, whispering away. Louis could tell that Ghost was Keat's philosophical "what, where and whom". "Good morning Kid, it looks like you slept well."

GIRLS

Serpensorcia ate quietly as did Lauraina, who gave kid a shy smile. Cassandra was talking with the commander Agamemnon, and looking rather tired.

Attention Students:

Are you at a loss when someone starts talking to you about faeries?

Do you often find yourself in faery, or elvish company and wish you knew how to handle yourself?

Want to learn the techniques to avoid those pesky pixies?

Want to know what it was that you said that insulted that faerie queene so horribly?

Now, for the first time, all your faery questions can be answered. Wolfbane's Academy of Magery and Sorcery is proud to present our newest professor, Madame Mornedhel, as our resident faery expert.

Sign up today for classes!

Year One: Basics to Faery Culture

Year Two: Faery Distinction

Year Three: Faery Politics

Year Four: Working with the Faeries

MORGYN

Morgyn had all of her things unpacked in the Air Hall Dormitory. The room was empty when she left. She was half excited to meet her new roommate whenever she arrived.

Now Morgyn roamed the campus, taking in all the scenery. It was beautiful, much like Hogwart's where she attended in the past. But Wolfbane's was much more modern.

She gave a wistful sigh, turning her blue eyes up to the small sliver of the moon up in the sky. The night before had been a new moon, and she thought this was very convenient since it marked new beginnings. Attending the new school where she knew no one was definitely a new beginning for her.

She shook out her black and red-streaked hair from the slight drizzle that had begun to fall, and made her way back inside. Once inside, she stopped to look at the bulletin board with announcements posted all over it. Her attention was caught by a blue flier with red lettering.

Madame Mornedhel's Faerie Culture? This should prove to be interesting, Morgyn thought with a wry grin. She quickly signed her name to the paper, the first name to appear incidentally. She should be able to squeeze the class in between her Herbology 101 and Magery class.

With a small smile on her lips, Morgyn made her way back to the dormroom, curious whether her roommate was there or not.

KID

"I did." Kid replied with a smile, "Hi Louis, good morning Keats. Hey, did you notice that notice on the notice board?" Kid stopped, realizing that what he had just said sounded kind of silly, "er...anyways...The one about fairy studies? I think I am going to sign up for that one. It seems like half the people here have at least some fairy blood in them and I might as well learn something about them. My mom didn't teach me much about fairies or elves. She concentrated more on Defense against the Dark Arts and Herbology." Kid stopped again looking at Louis couriously, "Which makes me wonder...How are you able to be up and about at this time of the day,Louis? My Mom told me that only the very oldest Vampires can stand the daylight and you are only a couple of hundred years old."

GHOST

Ghost greeted Keats as he and his master entered the hall,"Hello my friend, are you ready for breakfast? It smells delicious."

JESSICA

Jessica was woked up by Pandora an hour before the bells rang, not that she was really sleeping. She was up all night with what she had told Louis. She showered and went down and ate breakfast. No one else was there. So she went to her first class of the day in which no one was in the room yet. Her First class was Defense Against of Alteration. She opened her Text book and began to read.

BILLY AND OBSCURE

Billy finally reached the breakfast area, and looked at the announcement.

"Hyummm...Faerie culture? Eh, I'm already learning that stuff about ghosts! Tah!"

Billy passed by the announcement without a further thought to it, and saw a group people gathered.

Obscure jumped from her arms, and ran up to the other familiars.

"Dah! Obscure-oh, do what you want! Ah, Hullo everyone!" Billy smiled.

Obscure, meanwhile, went straight to Ghost.

:The head...the pain...it huurrrrtzzzzz...:

She rubbed her head in Ghost's side, as if she was trying to get something out of her head.

Before Ghost could say anything, Obscure removed her head, and plopped on the floor.

She rolled around a bit--

:HEAD. HURTS. RUM.:

Billy turned from where she was--

"NO RUM, Obscure. NO."

CELESTE

The next morning when Celeste came down for breakfast she made sure Kushiel came down too. She had finished eating and saw that all the students had finished their breakfast so she stood up and said, "My name Celeste and I am the School Counsoler and the Healing teacher. I would like to be able to talk to all of you sometime this week. My counsloer hours are 8:00am to 10:00 am and again at 3:30pm to 5:30pm. Please feel free to come in on your on at those times." She left the room.

PATRICLES AND TITANIA

"Hm...this food is good" Patricles said aloud, not paying attention to Celeste. Some of the other students looked at him strangely, since he hadn't been there earlier.

"Eh--oh, right, where's Luxor? Buddy..."

The brunette man, dressed in a robe with a leather jacket, rubbed the strange-looking golden choker around his neck with his index finger....

"Luxor..."

A happy-looking golden dog then approached the man, and nudged Patricles--

"Hehe, There you are!"

"Um....what are you doing here? Don't the professors eat elsewheres?"

"Eh?"

Patricles turned, and saw a small girl with black pigtails and oddly shaped eyes staring at him.

"Ah...well, I dunno. Do they?"

Titania frowned.

*sigh*

Patricles looked at Titania, just a bit weary.

"Uhm, d'ya think you'd let me finish my brekkie? Eh?"

Titania frowned at the Necromancy Proffessor.

"Fine."

And she turned her head away in a huff, stomping away (that is, if it could be considered stomping).

Patricles looked on, confused, and rubbed behind Luxor's golden ears.

"Rather bizzare Fae, wouldn't you agree?"

ASHLEIGH

Ashleigh growled.

"I hate waking up" he said to no one in particular, and then got out of bed...

And took a shower...

And fixed his hair...

And got his face perfect...

And got dressed.

"Ready for the day!" he cheered smugly to himself, and proceeded downstairs to the hallway.

He stopped by the Announcemnt.

"Faerie culture...hmm. Must be some new course."

He tapped his chin.

/Would Billy do this? Prolly not...Alright then!/

Ashleigh decided that this would be perfect.

LOUIS

"Hmmm," Louis checked his schedule. "Yup, I can squeeze that one in, might as well. I agree, we should all learn about each other," he told Kid, adding his name to the list after Kid's. Why am I up?" Louis answered,"partially because I'm pretty strong by now, and also Merlin," Louis felt the excitment again, "gave me this potion made by Professor Snape,of all people, to help me cope less painfully with the daylight. It really works well!! I could actually tolerate the sunrise without feeling nauseated and feverish. Hey, wait a minute, I hardly talked to you last night, how did you know how old I was?" Louis was not being defensive, just interested that someone would know anything about him no matter how old he was.

He waited curiously for Kid's answer.

As Ashleigh wondered about the Fairy class, Louis leaned over and whispered: "Billy bypassed it, might as well join us, Ashleigh." He looked at Obscure with some concern. "That poor cat has one bad hangover. I think I should tell Billy to take him to the vet here, maybe they can give him something. Poor kitty."

KEATS

Keats sat down, staring in amazement at Ghost. :You want to eat more?? I couldn't put an ounce into my little round belly: Keats licked at his belly :See? All this fat!! No good, a small black FAT cat. I could barely keep up with Louis this morning: He rubbed against Ghost, :But, Good Morning and nice to see you again: He rubbed up against Obscure, and caught a whiff of his breath. :Whew, you smell like a pirate's parrot. Rum, yech!!: He gave Obscure a cat- smile anyways. :Hey, anyone see that cat, Angel?? She was sooo cuuuttee:

KID

Kid was confused "Actually, you told me. Last night. Remember? I asked you?" Kid checked his schedule and smiled,

"Cool...I have Venternary care of Magical Ceatures first class." Just then he noticed that Ghost was signalling him to come over. "Excuse me" He said to Louis and Ashleigh, "But it looks like we have critter problems." As he walked over to where Ghost was he noticed one of the cats laying stretched out on the floor. --what's going on?-- he quietly asked Ghost. --hang-over-- said Ghost --a real bad one. From that dish...last night...remember?-- --oh yeah, damn. there must have been a lot of booze in that dish. Well, I have Vet class first, maybe I should take her to see my teacher, Kushiel.-- He looked around for Obscure's mistress, didn't see her and said to Ghost and Keats --If you see Billy around tell her where I took her cat, please-- and scooping Obscure up he carried her off with him to his first class...

GHOST After Kid had left with Obscure, Ghost looked at Keats "Well, what now? Want to see if we can find the kitchen?" He laughed at Keats's look of astonishment. "Kid says I must have the metabolism of a hummingbird. I can eat and eat and eat and never gain an ounce. Good thing, too, 'cause I love to eat!" He licked his lips, "So? What do you say? Up to a bit of exploring?"

ANGEL

Angel woke up and streched. As usual Morine had slept through the sounding of the bells. Jumping up onto the bed, she proceeded to lick her master's face until she stirred and got out of bed. She was of course not very nice to Angel at that time but she had grown used to that. She strolled over to the door and waited for Morine to open it. Thankfully she didn't have to wait long. She hoped she could find the dining room from memory and after a few turns she did. She saw some of the other familiars gathered together and wandered over to them. :Good morning everyone! Did you guys sleep good? It's always a little strange in a new place, huh?:

MORINE

Morine felt Angel jump up on the bed and knew it was time to get up. Even though she really didn't want to she knew she had to so she sat up. Angel was already at the door wanting out. How she wished she had half the energy of that cat!! After opening the door for her she turned around to get her clothes on. She was a little late for breakfast but then again she wasn't really hungry. Now that she was awake she took in her surroudings a little more than she had when she went to bed last night. She saw from other stuff in the room that she had a roommate (OC I'm going off of Daryl's post that Morine and Morgyn wound up roomies, I'll change this post if that's not okay). She was looking forward to meeting her, hoping they would get along. Secretly she was a little worried about how the girl would react to her, she just couldn't yet get over that there were people out there that didn't care that she had faerie and human ancestors. Sighing, she finished buttoning up her shirt and turning heard the door to the room open. In walked a girl with black and red hair.

"Um...hi. I'm Morine, I guess we're roommates?" She said, sticking out her little hand.

GHOST

"Good morning, Angel" Ghost replied, "I had a great night!" He said with a wink to Keats, "How about you? I was just asking Keats here if he was interested in exploring the school. Would you be? We could start off by trying to find the kitchen." Ghost smiled and licked his lips.

MORGYN

Morgyn looked the girl with the extended arm up and down. She didn't look preppy. That was good. She could handle it.

Slowly Morgyn's features spread into a smile. "Hello, Morine. I'm Morgyn. And yeah, I suppose we are roommates." She shook the nervous-appearing girl's hand. "You missed a good breakfast. I saw you sleeping but didn't want to wake you up. I normally wake at dawn, but hopefully that won't be a problem since I'm really quiet. I always go outside to greet the sun and talk with the faeries before I start my day.

MORINE

"What year are you? This is my first year here, going for the full-out Priestess major. What about you? What's your first class?" Morgyn hoped she was giving Morine enough time to answer. She was always a bit buzzed after talking with faeries. Before she had come back to the dormitory, she had carried a small portion of her breakfast to the where the forest right off campus began. She always made it a habit to leave offerings for the faeries.

KUSHIEL

Kushiel was in his human form when Kid came in to the room with a cat in his arms. Kushiel saw that the cat was sick. He rushed over to the cat and took it from Kid. "What happened to this poor animal?" Kushiel asked to be nice but just by touching it he knew wahat was wrong. Kushiel conentrated and put all of his magic into helping the cat and he pushed the illness out of it. the cat looked up and meowed at him. Kushiel put it down in the pile of furs by his desk and gave the cat a bowl of milk with some medicane in it. "How are you this morning Kid?" Kushiel asked. Kushiel also sent a mental message to his sister Celeste sorry about this morning. Glad you woke me up. I owe you one. He turned all his attention to Kid in front of him.

PANDORA AND SERENA

Since Jessica had gone to class Pandora and Serena went to find the other animals. Aile was sleeping. Serena saw Ghost and she and pandora went over to him. Good mornig every one. How are you all thissss morning? Serena asked.

Pandora said Merry Meet good familiars. How art you all this morn? Pandora reverted back to her the speack she had learned when she had origonaly hatched in the morning when she was still tired.

CELESTE

Celeste left the nurse and decied to send for Louis . He would be her first person in her guiedenss counsolers office that day. She had to make up file on the students. She already had one on Jessica James. She went to her office and sat down to wait for Loius to come in.

KEATS

Keats watched in relief as Obscure was carried off. He hoped it wasn't more than an hangover. Poor little girl. :Obscure, we're here for you, m'lady, keep your whiskers up!!: Keats gave a cat smile as Pandora and Serena joined himself and Ghost. :And a wonderful morning to you both. Where's Aile?: Finding out Aile was still sleeping, Keats narrowed his eyes. :Must be nice to sleep, Louis kept me up all night, tossing and turning and doing that night dreaming crap that those two legged things do. Most annoying: He said 'Hello' to Angel, brushing up against the orange cat. In answer to her comment about being in a strange place, Keats sat down, washing his whiskers. :I got so used to being in the same place, I was nervous crossing the street!! I had my territory all mapped out, then smarty pants in there decided he wanted to leave home and educate himself. What, Louisianna University is not good enough?: He whispered; :Just my way of saying I hate strange places.: Louder he stated :But I'm SO glad I met all of you!! Ghost mentioned to me earlier about exploring this place. Shall we?:

LOUIS

Louis walked into his first class, nose already buried in the textbook. "This is amazing. So many ways to heal, so many ways to diagnose," he thought to himself, eyes skimming the pages. He noticed someone blocking his path.

"You have an appointment with the Guidance Counselor, Louis, please go to her now, before class. You can join us as soon as you're done." (OOC: That was whatever teacher Louis has for his first class)

He walked briskly down the hall, watching for the room number. In one classroom he passed, he saw Jessica. He stopped for a moment. She was reading her textbook. :Good morning, bookworm: he sent her the message, waved to her, and continued on his way. As he reached Celeste's door he got nervous. Was this about last night? Had she seen him talking to Jessica and gotten upset? "I have to get a grip, for all I know neither of them wants anymore to do with me.

I'm being an idiot," Louis thought as he gripped the doorhandle. "And I happen to like both of them," That thought stopped him dead. He groaned, moving away from the door to lean on the wall. What was he getting into? But, as Celeste had said last night -"Let the fates decide". He swallowed, knocked on the door of Celeste's office, and entered.

KID

"Er... I'm fine, sir, thank you." Kid replied, then, pointing to Obscure he said, "That was amazing! I was expecting a potion ...or a charm of some sort. How did you do that? Are you going to teach that to us?" He indicated the other students now trickling in. (ooc- assuming there are more students in this class. lol) Class was starting in a minute and Kid was looking forward to this class more than any other, because of his special connection with animals due to his secret Talent. He already liked his Professor. Kushiel really seemed to care. He was hoping that he would be able to talk about his secret with someone other than Merlin. Merlin had known about his Talent for many years, had even spent a few summer weeks studying and testing Kid's abilities over the years, but, as the High Druid and Headmaster of Wolfbanes, was not exactly the most approachable person here. Kid went over to where Obscure was resting and speaking in cat language said :how are you feeling now, Obscure? are you comfortable? should I go find Billy?

GHOST

:Good morning Ssserena and good morn unto thee, Lady Pandora,: Ghost said with a bow. :I'm ready, Keats. Would you ladies like to join us in an exploratory mission? I'd really like to locate the kitchen, at least. Everything after that is a bonus.: Ghost laughed at himself, :I know,I know.: He said, :I look like a raccoon, but really I'm a pig. But at least I'm a happy pig: He laughs again....

LOUIS

When Louis came in to the room Celest was sitting behind her desk. She motioned for him to sit. "You probaly are wanting to know why I have asked you here. You see I must have a file on all the students I have some old school files on some of the students. I have also researched you but like i thought I don't have much on you exept I found alot on the man Lesat. Very interesting that man. So tell me all you are cofertable in telling me." She had said her piece very well she thought. Don't worry I'm not mad at you my vampire. She thought.

KUSHIEL

"Only if they or you have that some power as I" Kushiel whispered to Kid. Kushiel felt something coming from the boy. He had POWER. Real power. He could be taught to control that power and he could be a great healer. "Kid see me after class please?" Kushiel asked him.

SERENA

I'll come with you maybe I can find sssome ratss or with what to a snake would be a grin but to everyone else something else a particualy young cat or raccon. Serena said . Alas I must deline thou's kind invatation. I wish to visit with Merlin or his wife. I have a question for them I wilt find you good sires later. with that Pandora took of in search of the druid.

KID AND KUSHIEL

"Only if they or you have that some power as I" Kushiel whispered to kid.

--hmmm -- Kid thought to himself, -- I wonder...-- When Kid had watched Kushiel cure Obscure he had felt it. The power that had eminated from Kushiel was like nothing he had ever felt before but he had felt it. It hadn't been like his own power but some of the elements had felt the same. --I wonder if I could do that.-- He concentrated and started manipulating the power within himself and his surroundings.

Kushiel: "Kid see me after class please?"

Kid jumped and lost his train of thought, "er... Yes, sir." He quickly whispered :I'll check on you later: to Obscure and took his seat.

MERLIN AND NYMUE

Merlin and Nymue were sitting outside to eat in quiet corner. When they saw her approaching, they both waved her over, Nymue with a slight smile on her lips.

MORINE

As soon as Morgyn mentioned faeries, Morine's day brightened. "Faeries? You talk to faeries?! That's amazing! I usually do the same thing myself every morning!!" she realized she was probably scaring her new roommate with her energy and forced herself to calm down. "Um...as for the other stuff, it's my first year here as well. I'm majoring in herbs myself. Not sure about my first class, I guess there's a list somewhere?? I am so out of sorts this morning, this is so unlike me."

ANGEL

:I would be happy to join you: Angel laughed. :Though I would like to wait for Oz: as she said this, the wolf came walking into the room.

:Good morning, all. Sorry so late, had to wake my master up. He has no roommate as of right now and so will be as lazy as he can. What is on the agenda?:

Angel grimaced at the thought of Riley being in the room alone. :Ghost here was just asking if we wanted to go exploring. I'd love to and you're welcome to join us.:

:Oh, of course, of course! I'd love to. Led the way, my friends!:

LOUIS

Louis smiled and felt at ease at Celeste's thought to him, that she was not angry. Lestat? Why would she want to know of him? "Um, I don't know what to tell you. Lestat is a very jealous creature, I was his possession, he couldn't stand anyone being near me. He was always afraid I would leave with them." Louis hesitated. He hadn't thought about his and Lestat's relationship in a long time. He still couldn't settle within his own mind what their relationship entailed. "Lestat and I were at odds from the beginning. He didn't give me much of a choice in becoming a vampire." Louis laughed,"It was either become a vampire or die. I chose not to die." He stopped for a moment. "He claimed he made me so I could share this so called 'gift' with him, but I really never understood why he chose me. And why he kept me with him for so long. For the last ten years or so, I couldn't even leave our home without him, and if any other creature as much as tried to be polite to me, he got testy. I felt somewhat like a prisoner. But, yet, I could have left...." Louis trailed off, mulling over everything in his mind. "I think I dread being alone as much as he does. We were locked together out of loneliness. But, I finally had to go, and came here." His green eyes met hers, "Why do you want to know of Lestat?"

FAMILIARS

:Wolf,good morning!!: Keats rubbed up against Wolf's soft fur. :You'd make a good napping spot. Whenever you want to nap, let me know, I'd love to curl up in your fur: Keats turned to the others, :Well, we're off. Myself, I'd like to find a place to clean my claws. No, it's not scratching, it's cleaning and excercise: Keats grinned and fell into place behind Ghost.

:I wish to talk to you about my friend Jessica. Is that all right?: Pandora asked them.

CELESTE

"He is part of you and well," she looks away, "I want to know you."

FAMILIARS

Wolf smiled at Keats. :You may have to beat Angel off of me, my friend. She likes to do the same thing: he said, falling in behind the others alongside Angel. She gave a low friendly growl that he knew meant she had liked his joke.

:No, it's not scratching, I agree. My pads start to hurt if I don't get a chance to do it all that often. So where are we heading first then, still the kitchen?: Angel asked

MORGYN

Morgyn smiled brightly at Morine. "Oh..." she looked around the room. "There was a sealed envelope addressed to you that was slipped under the door this morning. I had one as well. It's a schedule of our classes." She showed hers to Morine:

"You do know that they're offering a last-minute registration class for Faery Culture, right? I'm taking it right after my Healing class." She motioned to the envelope now in Morine's hand. "What about yours?"

LOUIS AND CELESTE

"He's a part of you, and well, I want to get to know you." Louis felt stunned by Celeste's words. He sat there, speechless. She was an instructor here! A guidance counselor! "and you, Louis, are a 213 year old vampire in the mortal body of a 25 year old," he reasoned to himself. He cleared his throat.

"Celeste, I didn't mean to sound defensive. Yes, Lestat is part of me. He is my maker, we have been together for almost 200 years. He is - was my lover, I'm not sure at this time. As I mentioned to you before, he smothered me. I had to get out. He was starting to frighten me, practically locking me away, hence I stipulated that I would prefer him not to come to me here. If he even knows I am here." He willed her to look at him.

"I came here mainly to learn, to use some of my knowledge and gain more knowledge and do something good with my life. I also came with the hope I would make new friends, move on with my life." He hesitated. "Celeste, I am glad I met you last night. I enjoyed our time together." He looked down at his folded hands. "I also, hope to get to know you better. You fascinate me. Your boldness, your graciousness, your - beauty," he looked up at her again, then quickly back down to his hands, which were now gripping painfully. He took a deep breath, looking up at her with his gentle smile. "So, feel free to ask of me anything you want. Then it's my turn to ask you. Is that all right?"

" You have the right to ask me anything. You need to face your past to get to the future." Celeste said. "Ask me a question then i will ask you one."

Louis pushed his hair back from his face. He looked at her, wondering. He decided to plunge right in. Chances were something Louis was always reluctant to jump into. But, something about being here, being around all these wonderful people, was changing him. He wanted his fear to be part of his past.

He looked directly into Celeste's eyes.

"Why do you want to know me? What is it about me that made you speak to me, to me of all people?"

GHOST

Ghost, who had been trying to decide which way to go, looked at the two cats, the snake and the wolf gathered behind him and said with a grin, "Well, I don't think this is going to be a dangerous mission. The only dangerous thing I've spotted so far is that other snake and I don't think that one is going to be much problem. The only thing, that I can think of, that we may run into are house-elves, if they have them here, and they are almost always friendly. I suggest that we head down this way." He pointed towards a small archway covered with a beautiful silk curtain partly obscuring his view of a flight of stairs decending steeply out of sight around a corner. "I can smell food and hear what sound like pots and pans clanging. Who knows what we may find on the way, but I'll bet we can find something that you two can claw, if that's what you need," He said to the cats. He glanced at Oz, "What do you think, big guy? You probably have the best sniffer. Do you want to lead the way?...

KID

While Kid was waiting for class to end he checked his class schedule to see what he had next. He hoped Professor Kushiel didn't keep him to long after class. He did not want to be late for his first Healing class. He turned his attention back to class.

CELESTE

"You are different then the people here. I feel as if you know me. Do you understand that? " Celeste told him. How do i tell him I feel as if he is a part of me. That I felt him before i even saw him? she thought.

SERENA

Serena flicks her tongue out. She tastes the air. There isss food there. And lotsss of micessss. She says. Letsss go I am now hungry.

KUSHIEL

After class Kushiel held Kid after for a little bit. "Do you have any free periods?" He asked kid.

Tantalus, Cassandra's snake had finally given her the slip when she was all gugu over that commander who'd taken her away in the first place. Silly girl! He thought there were much better things he could be doing. He silently came up behind the other animals, and watched.

Meanwhile, somewhere, Obscure snapped out of it. :Baaaaaahahahahahha!!! The headache is gone, I am FREEEE!!! WOOT!! Now, I must make haste to find myself some vittles--hey, who are you?:

Quite glad that the young fae lass had let him be, Patricles munched on his toast. He absentmindedly sratched Luxor behind the ears, while Luxor rubbed his head against Patricles' leg.

He smirked.

"Luxor, my boy, begging for affection never gets you anywhere...oh, what the hey" he smiled at his dog, and gave the golden lab the rest of his toast, which Luxor gobbled up happily.

:Thank you, master!! I love you!!:

Luxor jumped up, toast still in mouth, and licked the Proffessor's face--

"Hahaha!! Down, boy! You silly--"

Patricles then saw the clock on the other side of the hall..

"Whoah! I'd better head off to the classroom, Luxor--I don't want to be the last one to my own classroom, eh?"

Luxor whined.

"Now, now--you're coming with me, of course!"

Luxor gave a goody doggy grin, and licked the Proffessor one last time, and then got off of the proffessor's lap.

"Right then--off we go" he started, and Luxor followed... ...past the Familiar group...

Luxor just had to act the dog that he had become.

Luxor barked at the cats.

"I have some time during lunchbreak, after my next class or I can meet you after school," Kid said. He looked at Kushiel, "Would you like me to meet you here for lunch?"

Obscure snapped her head up and stared at the very strange-looking people in the room. She hadn't seen either of them before. At least, she didn't remember seeing them before, but then again, she was flat-out DRUNK last night, so of course she didn't remember. She squinted her eyes, shoulders hunched.

:Right. Where have you taken me, and who sent you???:

"Hi Obscure" Kid Laughed, "I'm Kid and this is Professor Kushiel. I brought you here to help you get rid of that nasty hangover you had. I'm sure you remember Ghost? The albino racoon? He is my friend and he and the other critters were pretty worried about you. If you want to find them they were in the dining hall the last time I saw them."

Obscure's eyes went big.

:An albino raccoon? I think I'd remember someone like that...Maybe I was more smashed than I thought I was: she frowned (as much as cats can frown).

:I think I shall go over there now and see if I can remember anything...phew:

Obscure jumped from the top of the desk, and scampered off down the hall to where she..ah...thought the dining hall was located.

And she made it, and saw some other familiars--

And a very scary-feeling yellow lab.

Obscure's fur stood on end

:You! You're no animal!:

"Actually meet me in the stables. There is a sick animal out there and it might be an learning experince for you." Kushiel told him. "Now get to your class."

When Kid left Kushiel saw that Obscure was awake now. Hello my feline friend. How dod you feel now? Kushiel asked him

Louis read Celeste's thoughts, and listened to her answers. "Celeste, why don't you just say you feel like I'm a part of you. You don't have to hide your feelings from me. Please don't. Yes, I am different from the others here, as are you. We are in a sense kindred spirits. I was very comfortable with you last night, and that says a lot about me. I'm usually terrified of being near anyone. But, with you, I just melded. It was very strange for me. Very strange indeed. Everyone else made me a bit nervous, but I felt like I belonged with you. Am I saying too much here?" Louis laughed, a gentle, soft laugh. His green eyes caught her gaze, and held.

:Okey, Ghost, lead the way, kitchen sounds good, I could use some nice spring water.: As Keats followed up at the rear, he heard a slithering behind him. He stopped. Serena was ahead of him. Keats narrowed his eyes, and turned. He glared in Tantalus' eyes. :Oh, so it's YOU. Eater of the innocent.: Loudly, Keats exclaimed to the others, in a sarcastic voice :Oh, lookie here, it's Miss Tantalus, the overly, just a bit too friendly snakie: He turned again, growling.

Celeste jumped when Louis told her what she was thinking. She was not used to anyone other than Kushiel knowing what she thought. "You're not saying to much. Your saying what i am to chicken to."Celeste said.

:Lead on, Ghost my man, I could use a visit to the kitchen, I really need some spring water.: Keats followed up at the rear, and heard a slithering behind him. He stopped, :Funny, Serena is ahead of me:, he thought and turned. His eyes stared into Tantalus'. He turned back to the others. :Oh, lookie here, it's the overly friendly Mr. Tantalus, eater of the innocent.: he drawled sarcastically. He turned back to Tantalus, growling. :Can't you at least try to make nice?:

Serena looked at the other snake. Don't you touch thessse animalssss here. I will make you regret it. Serena left with the others after she said that.

Luxor barked at the snake.

"Hey, hey! Boy, you're sure jumpy today, boy" Patricles muttered, and grabbed his yellow lab up and lifted him.

Luxor yelped with surprise, but then licked the Proffessor's face again.

"Sheesh, you tricky..."

He looked at the familiars.

"Sorry to bother you--my Luxor pal here's loving his life as a dog."

The snake hissed a laugh of amusement. "Why?" He asked the cat. He did not move closer, nor did he move away as his forked tongue licked the air.

Tantalus ignored the other snake, considering her not worth his time, and certainly not a threat.

:Why? Oh, never mind, you old nasty you: Keats turned around, tail in the air, and joined the others, but his ears remained pointed behind him, listening carefully. He grinned as Luxor barked at Tantalus, and his owner apologized. :Not to worry, Luxor is doing just fine, just fine indeed: Keats' eyes glared again at Tantalus. "I'm telling Louis next time I see him, he's good with all creatures, maybe he can talk some sense into this nasty reptile," Keats thought to himself.

"Too chicken to?" Louis smiled, staring at his shoes. He remembered he hadn't worn any socks. "Why should you be afraid to say something to me? I'm open to anything you say, in fact I need to hear from you. I need your honesty. Honesty is what I go on. I can't deal any other way anymore. Those days are over." No longer would he live his life as a lie, pretending to himself that he was okey, and that his life had been okey. It hadn't been, and now he wanted to fix it, and he wanted to learn here so he could do something useful with his life, besides living endlessly day to day for eternity. "I hope you can understand why I insist on this. I need people of honesty and integrity around me from now on. I've lived most of my life in the shadows and need some light. I believe you can give me that, but you must be honest with me. Tell me how you feel, I need to know." He looked at her earnestly, feeling a bond with her he hadn't felt with anyone in a very long time. Not since Claudia, his beloved Claudia.

"Hm? Ah, that's good" Patricles noted. "Well then, we're off--"

:Master, the snake won't leave! It's bad!:

Patricles sighed, and grabbed Luxor up--

"You're a dog now...snakes can't hurt you they way they used to."

Luxor whined, but gave into Patrcles' words and consented to being carried off.

"Yes, sir." Kid replied and headed off for Herbal Therapy class.

As Ghost started towards the curtained off stairway he noted some sort of altercation happening behind him and turned to see Keats and Serena facing down Tantalus. "This is silly," He said to Oz. "What do two cats, a snake, a wolf and a racoon have to fear from one snake, anyways? Ooops, make that three cats 'cause here comes Obscure, too."

Just then he noticed a man and his dog walking by and was about to call to the dog to join them when he got a good look at the dog. "What is that?" He asked. "I mean, it looks like a dog with my eyes but it doesn't look like a dog with anything else. If you know what I mean." He shrugged his shoulders, remembering where he was, and, hearing his stomach growling, remembered where he was going. He headed through the curtain and started down the stairs. The stairwell spiraled down out of sight and just before he turned the first corner he turned to see who was coming with him....

The snake stared disdainfully after the cat, and thought that most of these animals were not worth his time. Neither were they up to anything interesting. He sighed. Oh well. Would he spend the day under a cool rock, or stay with Cassandra who would surely want him to. How dull the classes would be though. Nothing at all that a snake would care about. As he thought he rose in to the air, and balanced on his tail, weaving back and forth in somewhat of a snake dance.

Serena flicked out her tongue tasting the air as the dog passed them. The reassson it dosn't look like a dog isss becausse it isss not a real dog. She said.

"Yes to chicken. A wolf must be brave but i never could have a relationship with anyone execpt the one with my twin. no one wanted a werewolf as a friend so i hide myself from them. I'm glad i don't have to hide from you." She told him.

Obscure trotted up, and looked at the dog as it passed by, cradled in his master's arms.

:Billy told me something about that--that man is no doubt a necromancer, and that creature was a...er. Whatever Billy said it was: Obscure idly commented, and rushed up to the others.

:You wouldn't believe where they took me! It was a weird room, with weird people, and it smelled like strange stuff! I got outta there as soon as they started to ask me questions...:

Obscure then crinkled her cat nose.

:Right. What was your name again, you--cat, and you--raccoon, and you...um...snake? And you, other cat--I was smashed, and I can't remember a blitzy thing.:

Ashleigh frowned.

He was lost.

His schedule was also incomprehensive, ever since that girl at that table waaaay over there had scribbled all of her personal info onto it.

/I mean, I know I'm gorgeous, but would it kill them to not deface my property like that?/

Ashleigh finally saw another person--

"Ah--hey, can you read past the scribbles on this thing?" he asked, after tapping the person in front of him on the shoulder.

Titania grimmaced.

Only shortly after she had left the oresence of that all too strange proffessor, had she come in contact with another bizzare person.

"Er, Hi...Billy."

"Titania! Are you taking that Faerie culture class...thing?" Billy inquired, with a very strange smile on her face.

"Er...no" Titania curtly replied, already sick of her heritage.

"Cool! Me neither" Billy cheerfully replied--

"Eh? Is that your schedule, Billy? What'd you DO to it?" Titania snatched it up and frowned at all the various scribbles on the parchment.

"Hey, I didn't do it! That weirdo girl over there did it--all her personal info I think" Billy cheerfully replied.

Titania cast a quick glance in the direction Billy motioned, but saw no one who looked otherwise deranged. She stared more closely at the parchement.

"Uhm. Billy? This looks more like a spell than anything else."

"Eh? What?" Billy shrieked, and took another look at it.

Both girls furrowed their brows.

"Let's ask Merlin about this" the two chorused, and made their way over to where Merlin was.

The girl chuckled a bit to herself from outside of the hall, still in shadow.

/What luck to find two very over-confident vampiric students...Whole bloody place must be flooded with them!/

She tucked back a bit of the light hair that had fallen into her eyes, and look at her time gem.

/Speaking of vampires, I've got to make that meeting with the real deals/ she warned herself, and faded into shadow...

Morine took the paper from her roommate. "Oh, thank you. I feel so out of place for some reason this morning." She looked at the paper, looked at Morgyn's and then back at her own. "Well, it looks like we basically have the same classes, except for first thing in the mornings. My first class is at 10, so I've only got 3 a day. So I guess I'll see you in Herbal Therapy at 10? I should probably go find my brother and make sure he's okay. It was really good to meet you." Morine turned and walked out the door, hoping she'd be able to find her brother's room.

"It's better to be safe than sorry, I suppose" Oz said. He watched as the man carrying what looked like a dog in his arms. Something wasn't right there, he thought. He gathered Angel next to him, though she gave him a low growl. He noticed that Ghost had turned back to the stairwell. "Hey! Wait for us!!" Oz said, pulling Angel along with him.

"Of course you don't have to hide from me, as I hope I can be perfectly honest with you. You sound like you need a confidant, someone to come to, to talk to, to trust. You can trust me Celeste, trust me completely. I understand about not having someone to to talk to, to be with. Believe me, it's been my whole existance as a vampire. It's hard, but we can get through this together."

Keats walked up to Obscure. :I am Keats, this is Angel, this is Serena, the wolf to my left is Oz and this here is my pal Ghost. Are you okey? My what did they give you? I hope not to get any of that!!: Keats rubbed against Obscure, hopefully calming her. He watched as a dog was carried through one of the rooms they were in. :What the?? I hope they don't experiment on animals in there. Yuck: Keats noticed Ghost and the others wandering off. :Hey!! Wait up gang!: He scampered after them.

"Drugs are useful...and bring great pleasure, and mental expansion if used properly. You obviously did not use what ever you had properly." The snake Tantalus managed to make the hiss haughty as he raised his head.

Obscure purred (a little TOO loudly, one might note) when Keats rubbed her for comfort. She then hurried after the others, and gave one last look at Tantalus.

:...Who are you?--Baah, never mind:

And scampered off

"Air for brains!"Tantalus hissed. "DIE HARD, FURBALL!" He showed his fangs, and stretched.

"I know i don't have to. God look at the time. You should get to your next class. We'll talk later." Celeste said.

Keats, bringing up the rear, heard Tantalus' evil hiss and turned to see poor Obscure racing towards them for dear life. Keats' fur stood on end. :Serena? Help, please. I KNEW Tantalus would turn out to be a problem. I KNEW it!!: Keats let out a cat yowl, loud enough for any animal or human to hear.

Serena turned toward Tantalus and hissed Leave usss now unless you want to get hurt you sssorry exxcusse for a sssnake. I don't want to hurt you but if you harm one hair on anyone of thesse animalsss i will kill you. She was furious.

Obscure, of course, hadn't realized that she was in imminent danger.

Only after she'd scampered back to group and turned her head around did she understand.

:Huh?:

Okay, maybe not.

:...Oooo, you need a tic-tac, mister snake: she chided, and then inched away slooowly...

Leave usss now unless you want to get hurt you sssory exxcusse for a sssnake. I don't want to hurt you but if you harm one hair on anyone of thesse animalsss I will kill you.

:Er, what she said: Obscure added, and hissed at Talantuls, finally grasping that the jerk had nearly bit her. In a bad way.

Louis pulled his schedule out of his pocket and headed to his next class. He noticed Kid was in his class, he didn't have time to see if anyone else he knew was there, as he was already late. He sat next to Kid, smiling at him, and turned his attention to the instructor. He pushed his meeting with Celeste out of his mind for the moment. He would mull over it later. Right now, he was finally in a classroom, learning, something he had always wanted to do!!

Louis was enthralled.

Tantalus wished for all the world that he could imitate a cat sound! Gods the unfairness of life! He only stopped to curl around a decretive wooden post with vines climbing up it. It was now time to relax it seemed.

Morgan leFae, once at the arranged meeting spot, let her fair-haired, dimple-eyed disguise fall, revealing the dark strands flowing down and shaping her deep, sharp green eyes.

She then whispered to the air, and her eyes flashed at the news it brought...

"Lestat. Good to see that you are coming as I had hoped you would."

Ashleigh frowned.

Okay, THAT person had just walked off and NOT helped him.

Great.

He couldn't read his schedule because some giddy girl wrote down everything about herself on it (ooc--not true!!bic), and he couldn't see through the letters.

Great, again.

Ashleigh stormed down the hallways until--

"Ah, Louis--oh, hi! Ahem...er..."

Well, this was awkward.

Louis stepped out of the classroom as the instructor went around getting everyone's information. He needed the textbook for his next class. He hurried to his room, digging through the books on his desk. Lestat would have a fit if he saw the mess of this room. Louis looked up, suddenly feeling sad. Did he honestly miss Lestat? Was he mad? He shook away the thought and quickly collected the book. He hurried back to the class, and literally ran into Ashleigh, looking lost and forlorn in the hallway.

"Ashleigh, good morning! Are you okey?" He looked at Ashleigh's scribbled on schedule. "Oh my, she even wrote her cup size on this." Louis burst out laughing. "Ashleigh, we are in Herbal Therapy, this way," he steered his friend down the hall, giggling the whole way. "Please throw away that schedule. The instructor will ask to see it, and......I don't think she should." Louis again burst out laughing. He entered the room with Ashleigh and took his seat. Morgan smiled. The pieces had been set. The game was about to begin-- Only one pawn was missing. Billy pondered what Titania meant, a spell... "EEEEEEE!!!!" "GYAH!--oh, Titania, what the..." "I missed a class! OH, bother--YOU! You take this to Merlin, get it sorted out right away! Oh, bother, bother, bother..." Titania rushed off without further ado. Billy shrugged. "Right then." She walked over to Merlin-- "Er...'scuse me, headmaster, but--ah. Titania said that this is a spell written on my schedule, but...All I see is personal information. What do you see?" Ashleigh nodded, then-- "Her cup size? Lemme see that--" Ashleigh stared at the parchement, searching for the measurement. "Ah, yeah. Right there. Hmph, I must be pretty damn hot, eh?"Ashleigh joked. But for some reason, he felt cold. He frowned. "You know, I'd expect that looking at something like that would make me hot, but--is it just me, or is it cold in these halls?" Luxor sniffed the air. :Master! Bad things in the air!: "Hush, then. Luxor, you've been quite the talker today"Pat noted, with dog still in arms. "Maybe it's this school?" :Master! Dark Magic!: Patricles froze in his tracks. "...Where?" Louis shushed Ashleigh, "Ashleigh, we're in class. Let me see that," he smiled as he took the schedule back from Ashleigh. He stared at it again. He couldn't find what he had seen before. The words seemed all muddled all of the sudden. He turned the sheet this way and that. He agreed with Ashleigh, it did feel cold in the room all of a sudden. "Maybe the air conditioner is too high," he mumbled to Ashleigh, looking intensely at the schedule. "Something is very weird here. I can't make sense of it like I did before. It's some kind of----message of some sort. Who wrote this Ashleigh?" Louis whispered, so as not to catch the instructor's attention. "Er" Ashleigh gulped, trying to pay attention to the proffessor up ahead. "Some blonde chick. Very pretty....I don't think I saw her last night, though" Ashleigh added, in a whisper. "..Why? Can I have that back now?" The walk to the Healing classroom after talking with Kushiel was just a daze in Kid's head. He was wondering what kind of creature the professor had in the stables, what was wrong with it and did he, himself, have the power that was needed to do that amazing act of magical healing he had witnessed Kushiel perform on Obscure???... When he walked into his first Healing class he stopped to let his eyes adjust from the bright sun outside. As he continued on to take a seat in the middle of the room he glanced around at his classmates. He smiled and waved to Jessica, whom he recognized from the night before. A minute after he sat down Louis walked in and sat down a couple of rows over and smiled at him. He smiled and nodded back. A few minutes later he watched Louis leaving and then returning with Ashliegh. Ashliegh sat in the seat between Kid and Louis. He was Kid's new roomate, but they had hardly even spoken to each other. Kid was sleeping when Ashliegh came in the night before and Ashliegh was still asleep when Kid had left the room that morning. When he saw Louis and Ashliegh passing what looked like Ashliegh's class list back and forth between them and looking at it like it was poisonous his curiosity got the better of him and he leaned over towards Ashliegh and whispered, "What's wrong, Roomie?"... Ashleigh blinked. "oh, er" he whispered, and tried to pay attention to the teacher. He slid down in his seat a bit, and whispered so Kid could hear: "Some girl scribbled weird stuff all over my schedule. It's kinda...odd." Morgyn followed the crowd heading into the Herbal Therapy class. She had just returned from High Magic for Enchanters with a heavy book and two pages' worth of notes. But she looked forward to seeing Morine, her roommate, in this class. Then afterwards they could probably go to lunch together. She took a seat up front and waited for Morine to come in, hopefully she could save a seat. She looked around the crowded room, noticing some very good looking guys. She smiled to herself remembering how she made sure she wanted to be single when she left Hogwarts. Poor Christopher just couldn't understand that he was even a level below puppy love for her. As Morgyn sat waiting she pulled out her favorite quill pen and some parchment; doesn't hurt to be prepared. Kid was REALLY curious now. "Can I see?" Ashleigh shrugged, feeling a bit reluctant to let the paper loose... But why? Ashleigh continued to hold his head foreward, but nodded, and slid the paper to Kid. He felt a strange spark when the paper left his hand... /HUH?? This is NOT normal./ Louis handed the schedule back to Ashleigh, muddling over what it said. Something, something, but he wasn't sure. "I need to know who wrote that, Ashleigh, because the person may be trying to tell you something. There'a a message of some sort in all that scribbling." Louis watched as Ashleigh passed the schedule quietly to Kid. He noticed Ashleigh's expression change when he released the paper. Like a smatter of electricity had passed through him. Louis got worried. He watched to see if Kid had any reaction. None. None like he and Ashleigh had felt, in particular Ashleigh. "Ashleigh, I think we should show this schedule to Celeste. I trust her, she's very knowledgable. Do you want to show it to her?" As Louis waited with Kid and Ashleigh for Celeste to get around to them, he noticed a girl a few seats ahead of him using a particularily beautiful quill pen. He hadn't seen one of those in years!! He leaned forward, addressing the girl. "Excuse me, I don't mean to disturb you, but that is a very beautiful pen. Is it authentic?" Ashleigh muttered a small "sure" over to Louis, and nervously looked back up at the proff, hoping Kid wouldn't take TOO long looking at his schedule... :Master...it's in the building.: "Lead me to it, Luxor" :Yes, but--dead smell everywhere!: "What? Whaddyu mean, dead smell?" Luxor blinked, and looked back up at Pat. :Those who walk by day amonst your kind as the living, but who's bodies are dead. Those who live from the blood of others...Vampires. That smell, everywhere..: "Oh shit." Patricles smacked his head. This was going to be a bit difficult... "Well, Luxor" Patricles began, "We have students here that just happen to be vampires. Well, one in particular"--he had been warned earlier of Louis' situation--"And then there are a few that have that blood within them...Is it that you smell?" Luxor blinked. :I smell bad magic. Magic linked to dead blood. It is of them, and not of them. It is the same but different--it is human and demonic forces that compel this...smell.: Patricles groaned. "A dark sorceror, then. So you smell the remnants of the spell?" :It is still alive. It calls upon the dead.: Then Patricles understood. "So that's why you can sense it....good boy" Patricles scratched behind Luxor's golden ears, "Then you must find it fast. This is dark necromancy on the loose..." Morgan walked through the trees, feeling the leaves caress her face, the tresses of her rich robes refusing to get tangled amongst the vines. She then sat on a stump in a clearing, and held herself close. "Forest, you serve as my shadow, my shelter, and my source..." She smiled as her tones echoed amongst the trees. "I now ask that you grant of me another gift of guise.." She stood up, and walked towards a great oak that was before her. She placed her hand upon the firmament of the trunk, and muttered a language only understandable to the birds and the forest, and closed her eyes. Her face changed, lines and wrinkles etching themselves all around her features and her arms. Her dark hair thickened, and then thinned and whitened. She opened her eyes, which had now dulled from their bright green to a dull brown. And Morgan leFae's whithered lips smiled upon the sapling before her. Merlin's sharp blue eyes fell on the spell and he stared at it fora long time. Could it be Morgan? Did the foolish woman dare to start her evil weavings here of all places? He tore the schedule in half, and quickly wrote another. "There you are." He smiled slightly as he tried to decide exactly how much alarm needed to be given. With a slight shake of his head of flowingwhite hair, he said nothing. Only foolish tricks. Tell anyone else to bring such matters to me directly." Then he turned away reaching for his casting bones to see the future. "Eep" was the only sound that escaped from Billy's mouth when Merlin ripped the schedule to shreds She shakily accepted the new one, and looked up at the headmaster through her dark black bangs "There you are. Only foolish tricks. Tell anyone else to bring such matters to me directly." "Oookaaay" Billy softly mumbled, and turned around, wondering.. /Only foolish tricks, and then 'such matters to go to me directly'...that doesn't work in my brain, for some reason./ Billy looked at her schedule. "Oi. I should find that class then.." And Billy rushed off. Nymue was hugging herself as she stood behind Merlin. Then with a cry of rage after speaking to a bird outside the window she dashed out of the room, and in to the forest, forgetting totally about her ancient curses class. "What?" Merlin swore under his breath, and then turned back to the bones. Celeste rushed in to her class. "Sorry I'm late. I lost track of the time. Put eveything away but your quills." with a wave of her hand a paper appeared on everyone's desk. "This test will not be part of your final grades. It is to only find out how much about healing you know." She started to walk around the room as the students started the test. She was nearing Ashleigh when she started to feel as if someone or something was watching her. Kid took a quick look at Ashliegh's class list and quickly passed it back. It just had a bunch of scribbling on it, but didn't seem strange otherwise. Just then Celeste rushed in and gave them a test to do and he forgot all about Ashliegh's messy class list as he started answering the questions Ashleigh grimaced, and shuffled the schedule into his bag as he begrudingly took the test and started writing. Even if he wasn't getting graded, Ashleigh still hated tests. Morgyn looked up at the voice, the owner looking to be in his early twenties. Rich black hair and a pale face framing bright green eyes. Morgyn blinked, enthralled. She loved this class already. She looked down at the quill that the guy was referring to. "Authentic as in is it real? Yes, I made it myself. A last-minute thrown together class back in high school taught us how to make these. This one is my personal favorite. I have another if you'd like one." She reached into the bag hung on the back of her chair and pulled out a glossy black quill as nearly a foot long. "This one's from a raven," she explained, handing it to the guy. "But it's nicely generic...no glitter," she said with a wink. Morgyn quickly put aside her books, throwing the guy once last glance and a quick smile. She looked down at the paper in front of her. It had questions on miscellaneous healing herb uses, which some of them she easily knew the answers to, but there were some with folk names she didn't recognize. When it asked about other unorthodox forms of healing, Morgyn wrote all she knew about faery healing and casual spellwork. Louis looked at the girl, shocked. "You're giving me that beautiful quill? You are so kind, thank you so much." He held the pen in his hands, enthralled. "Everyone I've met here is wonderful," he thought. He smiled back at the girl, then turned his attention to the test in front of him. Some of the terms sounded familiar. Like certain types of thyme used to heal cuts and scrapes. And some fruits and nuts that were good for digestion. He remembered these from his days as a mortal running a plantation. All the slaves had used many roots and herbs to heal their sick. His mother had learned a lot from them. He couldn't believe these terms were written on here!! He was going to love this course!! He noticed Ashleigh stuffing his schedule into his bag. "Ashleigh, give it to her. Please my friend." he whispered pleadingly. Morgyn smiled at the look of pure joy on the guy's face. "It's no problem, really. I make them all the time. Besides, it kinda suits you." Unfortunately for Louis, Ashleigh was having a lot more difficulty with the test than he was. So completely confused by a lot of the terms on the test, Ashleigh didn't even HEAR Louis try to talk to him. /The heck? Acorns? And Beeswax on...what??/ Ashleigh rubbed his forehead in frustration, sweeping the soft blonde hairs out of his eyes for just a bit. ~~ Morgan felt the snap in the air. "Looks like I must take leave of the forest...for now" Morgan sighed, and wrapped herself up within a ratty cloak, and disappeared. /To find the last pawn.../ ~~ :Master, it's stopped. I can't sense it..: "Damn" Pat cursed, and rubbed the golden collar around his neck-- :Keekee, that tickles!: "Oh, sorry" the proffessor apologized."But what could that have been.." :Um...Master? You have a class.: "Oooh...oops." Patricles turned and walked back into the room he had left before. "Heheh...sorry about that, everyone--hey, where were you earlier?" Billy gulped. /Crap./ Serpensorcia sat in the back of the class staring at the vampire. Oh if she could only get a bit of his blood for potions. Her social skills were not the best, though, as her father had never taught her to be polite, and she'd found it hard to listen to Mum about such things when all her friends except for Professor Flitwick were Gits themselves. So how should she ask him for blood? Just a sample mind. She grinned slightly to herself. She'd offer him a magical favor. Perhaps he'd not already made enough close friends who would do things like that for free. She sighed. ******* Cassandra sat eagerly in the front of the class. Healing had always interested her, though she didn't know how good she'd prove to be at the art. She'd been feeling oddly all day, and couldn't place it. Agamemnon was sure that it meant another vision was coming on, and it probably was. "It isn't like anyone ill believe me anyway,"She murmured to Tantalus who had returned to her shoulders, and lay there lazily. Jessica looked at her test. Most of this i learned in that muggle college! this one is goimg to be so easy. She started tp fly through the pages of her test. She was almost done with it when the hairs on her neck stood on end. She looked up at the window that was behind Louis. She saw HIM. She screamed and fainted. Celeste heard Jessica's scream and hurried to her. As she passed Louis she had the feeling someone was there and looked toward the window. There was a single red rose with a note on the ledge. Celeste went over and picked it up. The note was addressed to Jessica and it smelled evil. Not as in the letter was evil but the sender was. Kushiel come here quickly. Something is happening in my healing class. She called to her brother. Kushiel come here quickly. Something is happening in my healing class. Kushiel started. His sister sounded distressed. I'm coming. Don't worry I'm coming. He told her then changed in to his centaur form and ran to her classroom. when he went in he looked at Celeste and knew something was wrong. Morgyn's quill writing furiously on the paper in front of her gashed a deep black line across the parchment as a girl nearby screamed and fainted. Like a wave, everyone in the class turned their heads to watch the professor walk towards the fainted girl. But as she passed by the guy that had been talking with Morgyn earlier, the professor stopped and went to the window. She held up a red rose and a piece of paper, reading. The look the professor wore was one of fright. Morgyn knew she was thinking what everyone else was, What is going on? Patrciles sighed. "It's okaym I suppose" He joked, "I was late too, eh?" He nodded, and looked at the rest of the class, watching a few start to laugh. /Quite a small crowd this year, isn't it?/ "Right then," Pat began, "Before we get into introductions, first day of class begins with a test of what you know about Necromancy before we begin. Just so I know where to start--" The students waited for him to hand out tests, but... He sighed. "First, we're going to test your senses, and see which ones you need work on. What spirits can you feel right now?" Some students fidgeted in their seats, and a few tapped into something... "There's one over there" One boy in the back said, "It's small.." "Good" Patricles said, and looked at the front... Where Billy was excitedly wriggling. "There!! Right there, sir!" she said, pointing to Luxor. ~~ Ashleigh noticed something odd in the air before the scream. It smelled...bizzarely familiar-like. ...Smelled?? Ashleigh perked up and looked over at the window where the girl fainted. "Is that..." Ashleigh began, but too afraid to intone, /Vampiric aura?/ --This is easy!-- Kid thought to himself as he wrote the answers down. --Tsawass taught me all this stuff years ago.-- Thinking of the Native shaman that, along with his mom, had been his only teacher in the Arts, brought a smile to his face. --Plants and animals. Who better than an indian wizard to teach about plants and animals.-- although some of the names were different none of it was beyond his grasp. Just as he was getting near the end of the last page there was a scream and Kid jumped like he had been poked. --What the...?-- He looked up to see Jessica falling to floor and Celeste rushing over.When the professor turned and went over to the window instead, Kid hurried over to Jessica and kneeling beside her realized that she wasn't hurt but had only fainted and was quickly recovering. "Are you ok?? What happened?"... Jessica looked at the window wide eyed. HE was not there but the proffesor was holding a letter and a rose in her hand. "HE was here. Oh my God why was HE here. How did HE find me. I have to go. I must leave. OH God why did He come here." she rambled. She kept looking round. SHe looked at Kid and stopped talking. No one knows who I'm talking about. No one. Wait Louis. I told Louis about him. Jessica thought. She looked at Louis and said. "Remember the man I told you about? He is here." Celeste walked over to Jessica with the note and anded it to her. Jessica opened it and read it. She thought about what it said and tried to send the message to Louis through her thoughts. It said: My dearest Jesse, I have come back for you. And i have brought a friend. We will get you. Lesat promised me so. We are watching you and your friend. With all my undieing love, Lucas. Kushiel saw the look on Jessicas face and went to get Merlin. Morgyn, along with the rest of the class, watched as the girl spoke to the green-eyed guy from before. If possible, the girl's pale skin paled even more when she read the note the professor had handed to her. The centaur that had crashed loudly into the room now turned and ran back out the door, to get help Morgyn presumed. Morgyn turned back around in her seat, staring out the window. This was indeed going to prove to be an interesting, if albeit nervewracking school year.

ASHLEIGH

Ashleigh felt oddly sick. He didn't really understand WHY he felt sick.

Just...sick.

For one thing, he'd only gotten to about question 8--and had skipped about 3.

For another thing, this was happening.

He tried to ignore the pandemonium, but then that centaurian professor just happened to smash into the room, causing Ashleigh to snap his quill in two.

/DAMN/

He ducked his hand into his bag to get another quill-

*spark*

He'd touched the paper.

/Damn this.../

PATRICLES

A few sniggers escaped the class at Billy's seemingly outrageous pointing towards the dog--

"That's right, Miss Strauss. Luxor is, in fact, a type of creature that the rest of you are going to learn about more later this year"

The class fell silent.

"Now that that's all sorted out" the teacher began, "The tests will be handed out to you now--"

And then, piles of the tests fluttered out, mysteriously up, from the desk.

The students who hadn't sensed anything before freaked out. "It suits me? Why, thank you. You're so kind. My name is Louis," he said to the girl who had given him the quill. Suddenly Louis felt a chill up his back. At that moment Jessica turned in his direction, her eyes flitting to the window. Then she screamed and fainted. Louis froze for a moment, slowly turning towards the window. Nothing. He saw no one or anything there. He rose from his seat to go to Jessica, but Kid was there by her side. He watched as she got up and moved to Celeste, who had some kind of a note in her hand. Jessica looked at him, "Remember the man I told you about? He's here." Louis moved to her side immediately. "Santino?" Louis disbelieved,"That's impossible. He's not like myself, he can't move around during the day. Jessica, please, I told you I won't let him hurt you and I meant it." Jessica sent a message to Louis' mind, regarding the contents of the note. "Lestat promised? Jessica, Lestat hates Santino. Santino is very dangerous to me, he would kill me in a heartbeat. Lestat would make no deals with him,or anyone involved with him, trust me." Or maybe he had, since Louis had fled. Louis felt faint. "Oh, god. I have to---I can't. I- I need to use a phone. I have to call Lestat now. Celeste,there is something going on here, please check Ashleigh's schedule and tell me if it looks like a spell of some sort. Trust me, Lestat has to be told about this note. I hate to say this, but I need him right now." Louis moved towards the door, then came back for Jessica, "Come with me. It's okey, I'm here. I won't leave you, Jessica." As he passed Serpenscorpia, he muttered to her in response to her previous thoughts on getting some of his blood, "Maybe not my blood, but some other vampires's. And you can have as much of his as you want, I'll see to that." Eyes glittering dangerously, Louis headed for the school office to use the phone. Jessica followed him. I'll look. And Louis be carefull if you need me call. Celeste told Louis. Then she went to Ashleigh. "Let me see that schedual." She told him. A shiver went up her back as she stood there Ashleigh blinked. "Oh. Um..." Ashleigh rummaged through his bags, feeling that tingling sensation pass through him. He snatched it from his bag, and held it out to the teacher-- --and screamed like a girl as it burst into flame. "GYAAHH!!!" Ashleigh felt the flames lick his hands-- /The heck?? Spontaneous combustion??/ The fire changed color and flickered, and Ashleigh felt a strange sensation pass through him. And then, a stinging sensation filled his entire body!! "Gaaack.." The fire dissappated as soon as it had appeared. "Oww..." Celeste watch the paper combust. This is not a good thing She thought. "Let me see your hand." she told Ashleigh. Celeste took Ashleigh's hand looked at it than covered it with her own and the burn was gone. Celeste then gathered the ashes of the paper and put them in a bag. She was going to give them to Merlin when he came with Kushiel. Morgyn didn't get the chance to speak her own name when the pandemonium started. But she watched as the guy, Louis, talked quietly with the upset girl and led her out of the classroom. Great, thought Morgyn. There goes my entertainment for the class period. She looked around then, remembering that she was hoping to meet up with Morine, her roommate for lunch after this class let out. Morine was supposed to be in this class as well, and in fact Morgyn had tried the seat next to her empty for Morine, but she wasn't anywhere in sight. Morgyn wondered if Morine had gotten lost or lost track of time. Well there's excitement in this class but no notes so Morine won't have to worry. And this little test doesn't count so I guess if you were to miss a day, this would be it. Ashleigh grimaced, and looked at his hand, healed. Amazed, he waved his hand around a bit to test it. Perfectly fine. He sighed, and frowning, got back into his seat, waiting for the rest of the class to settle down. Which, it didn't. "Ah, Louis--eh? Where's he off to?" "Thank you, Celeste, I will." Louis put a comforting arm around Jessica. "It's okey. Trust me, it could not have been Santino. Lestat and I are the only ones who can walk during the day. And without this potion that Merlin gave me, it actually causes me great pain to be out in the day, so Santino it could not have been." At least Louis hoped not. It made no sense. Unless, of course, Santino had gotten a hold of something that allowed him access to the daylight. And Lestat? Working with Santino? Could Lestat be vengeful enough to send Santino in search of him? That meant torment, if not death, if Santino got his hands on him. And Louis certainly would not let him touch Jessica, not on his life!! "My life for her," Louis vowed silently to himself, careful to shield that thought from Jessica. They entered Wolfsbane's main office and Louis requested to use the phone. "It's an emergency. I will just be leaving a message for someone. They sleep during the day." Upon getting permission, he stepped into an empty office room and dialed his and Lestat's number. It rang incessantly, as he knew it would, before the machine kicked in. "Lestat, it's me,Louis." Louis hesitated. He sighed. "I'm at a school called Wolfsbane College (he stated the address and phone number). I need to speak with you, it's urgent. Lestat, please, call me." Louis' voice faltered and he hung up the phone. He stood there for a moment, his hand on the receiver. "He'll call. Definately." he said in a dull tone. He turned to Jessica. "Well, so much for my freedom." A single blood tinged tear rolled down his cheek. "You will remain free. No matter what happens. Does Lestat like trades?" Jessica asked. Determaned not to let anouther person she was begining to care about down. Of course someone had to scream, and break her focus! Serpensorcia tossed down the quill, as she was basically done, and glared around. ******* Cassandra had been trying to feel for a vision, whatever had been lurking on the edge of her mind, when the scream snatched her from her thoughts. Her eyes wide, she looked around for the trouble, and then followed Louis, the vampire, over to the girl's side. "Can I help?"She asked quietly. Serpensorcia was behind the rest when she saw that the noisy one had been her own cousin. This was odd. The family would be embarrassed she thought with another soft sigh. Louis swiped angrily at the tear coursing down his cheek. "Jessica, don't. Trades? Lestat has had many opportunities to toss me out of his life. But he hasn't. And who were you thinking of trading me for? Sweet Jessica," he held her tightly to him, her head on his shoulder. "To think I could meet someone like you....." He let go of her, leaving his arm around her shoulders. "Come. We should go back. You can come and sit with Ashleigh, Kid and I." He walked slowly back towards the classroom. He was very concerned about what had been written on Ashleigh's schedule and in particular by whom. He hoped that Celeste had been able to decipher something. Or maybe even Merlin was there by now. He dreaded the night, it would come too soon, and tomorrow would be even worse. Lestat would probably be there by tomorrow. There to take him back. Maybe, someday, he could return, but for now he had to keep Jessica and the rest safe. His heart had almost broken at Jessica's words. This gentle girl really cared about him. He was going to hate to leave her, but if that's what it took...It wouldn't be the first time Louis had sacrificed his own happiness. Ashleigh grimaced, staring at the hand that only recently had been burning with an unreal light. Very much different than what he was used to, fresh out of Hogwarts and what. He sighed, and listened in on the conversation that Louis and Jessica were talking about. /...Eh? Lestat?/ Ashleigh frowned. That name sounded familiar for some reason...But why... /Probably has something to do with Pops, what with Louis being a vampire and all that/ Ashleigh shrugged. /Lestat....hmm./ "Hey, who's this Lestat guy?" Ashleigh very nonchanantly asked, oblivious that maybe this was something he shouldn't have heard. Very similar to how he was oblivious about the scrawling on his schedule being something he shouldn't have read. Just then, Titania looked up from her test. She crinkled her nose. There was a scent in the air that reminded her of...that stuff she'd seen scrawled all over Billy's schedule.She also noted that very few people were paying attention to actually completing their tests. She frowned. Titania went up to the proffessor and handed her the test, looking around warily. She smelled it strongly on that boy--that brother of Billy's. In fact, she also smelled something like that on Louis, too. Very odd. ~~ Proffessor Patricles shook his head in dismay. "Ooookaay, well! I know one thing we're going to have to work on, for starters" he began. "I'm just going to tell you all right now, that Necromancy has absolutely NOTHING to do with vampires. Just in case any of you were confused..." Luxor sneezed. Billy scoffed to herself. What idiot had made that mistake? It is my fault he had to call HIM I will fix it no matter what i have to do.Jessica thought blocking it from Louis. she was determined to set this write and stop Lucas "Who's Lestat?" Louis cringed at Ashleigh's question. He must have overheard... "Um, Lestat is my maker. All vampires are made through a blood exchange by another. He "made" me, for lack of a better word, in 1791." Louis sat down, lost in thought. He was not afraid of Lestat coming here in regards to anyone at Wolfbane's. Lestat was not a killer, a murderer. He would not hurt anyone. Santino on the other hand...he held very little regard for life. And who knows how this Lucas had turned out? If he had followed Santino's guidance, he could be very dangerous to Jessica. Louis, as strong as he was, was not able to battle Santino on his own. Lestat could very well crush the vampire into ashes. Louis hoped so, he fervently hoped so. Quickly bringing himself around Louis asked Ashleigh, "What happened with the schedule? Did Celeste see it? Did she decipher anything?" Lestat woke from his deep slumber, pulling himself up from the hard floor. "One thing I hate about travelling are the damnable vampire accommodations," he mumbled, staring around the old mausoleum he had bedded down in the day before. He decided to hunt, might as well now while he had the time. By the time he got to Wolfbane's he wouldn't have the time. He had too much to say to Louis. This time he had to make it right. No more lies, no more deceit. And this Morgan, who was she, and why did she tell him where Louis was? Was she another vampire? An instructor there? It made no sense why a perfect stranger would take the time to get involved in his life and inform him where his lover was. Even members of his Coven, who probably knew through the Mind Gift, would not devulge where Louis was to him. Lestat was puzzled. Now that he had time to think about it, it bothered him. He hoped Louis was not in any kind of trouble, or that he, Lestat was not heading straight into a trap. "But, Louis' there, she verified that with me, he's registered there," Lestat thought. He hid his bag of clothing, and headed out of the mausoleum, searching for the bad side of town. In Greece it was hard to tell, everything looked and felt kind of bad and sneaky to him. He spied a man whose mind told him he had just murdered his wife. "Oh, you're pleasant. Well, justifies my killing you, now doesn't it?" Lestat thought as he stalked the man through the streets. Soon he would be airborne, and be at Wolfbane's by their nightfall. "First I find Louis, then this Morgan. Maybe Louis knows her. Damn,he better talk to me, listen to me. If there are any Gods out there, please help me. Please." :Hey, guys, check this out. MAJOR fish stash!! It's all frozen, but if we pull them out like so: Keasts grabbed one of the large bass by the tail and pulled it out of the cold storage, laying it in a patch of sunlight,:soon it will be thawed. Then, lunch!!!: :Come on Ghost, Obscure, Angel. Wolf, do you like fish? I hope so, Serena, check the larder, I bet you there are tons of oversized mice in there: Keats started to pull another fish out, his eyes as big as saucers at the thought of the delicious lunch that awaited. Obscure sniffed. :Ooooohohohohohohoho...: She dragged out another bass from the larder, and dragged that out. :Wonder if they have any octopus here? Those are tasty: Obscure offered. :Oo, shrimp is good too, the way it wriggles...nyaa~~nyaa...: "Ah." Ashleigh grimmaced. "You saw they way the paper burned on my hand, right? I doubt she even was able to touch it" Ashleigh sulked, and tapped his left hand on his right. "The name Lestat sounds familiar, though...I dunno why.." "Is it because you're related to vampires?" Titania perked in. Ashleigh stared. "Gaaaah? You're that weird faerie chick!" Titania huffed. "That's 'weird faerie princess' to you, mister Strauss" Titania pouted. "I heard you and Billy talking about your relations. You smell of vampiric blood, even more so than yesterday!" Titania sighed. "You guys were talking about a schedule thing with scribbles, right? Your sister had one earlier, you know. But I sent her straight to Merlin, that I did!" Titania stretched her arms. "That spell had dark magic written all over it, you know. Smelled like you--" she looked at Louis. "At least, smelled like vampires' blood." Ashleigh stared. "Haaaah??" /She sure likes to talk, doesn't she???/ "Uh, no, Ashleigh, I didn't. I just came back. I had to make a call. It burned up in your hand? All of it? Are you alright?" He took Ashleigh hand, examining it, no marks could be seen. At that point, another girl in the class, a faerie, inturrupted their conversation. Louis couldn't help it, he glared at her,"Miss - or Princess - Tatania, excuse me, but maybe Ashleigh doesn't like to discuss his relations, or what he is. And that conversation was private, I do not remember having it with you." He turned to Ashleigh and the others, "Sorry, but my nerves are starting to go. And I distinctly do not remember having any kind of a conversation with her, and yes, she does talk to much." Louis sat back in his chair, arms across his chest, clearly not pleased. "And if you think we smell, then move farther away from us, it's simple. Thank you and good night." "Oh, god, I'm loosing it, totally loosing it," he whispered to the group. "I can't stand the thought of returning to Lestat. I can't, it's making me crazy." "Um, sorry, Miss. I'm not having a good day." he said to Tatania. "What exactly is going on?" Merlin was standing in the doorway with his blue eyes snapping ice and fire. His glare was on the new professor that Nymue had hired. "What is this chaos about?" ******** Serpensorcia was looking interested as well as shocked. Oh would she ever have something interesting to write about to Mum and Daddy! Cassandra was looking almost blank as she stared in to space Ashleigh sighed. "Oh." He didn't exactly know HOW he felt about Louis examing his hand like that. It definitely felt weird. It was like his hand was...well, burning on the inside or something. Very odd. Titania nodded at Louis. "It's fine--I just want you to know that I wasn't insulting you, only trying to help--" That's when Merlin barged in. /Ack!/ Titania sat down in a seat, looking a bit miffed. /Why do people think that just because I smell them, I'm insulting them? I was only trying to say that someone went after his sister, too.../ Ashleigh looked at Titania's miffed expression, and tried to recall what she was saying. /Family...Oh yeah, my line's derived from vampires. Forgot...Hmm.../ He scratched his head with the previously burned hand. /Billy would know why 'Lestat' sounds familiar, then.../ Ashleigh looked up at Merlin, remembering what Titania had said. /Wait...Billy got one, too?/ Ashleigh blushed. /Gads, she's loony./ "Merlin, something strange is going on here. Jessica just screamed and fainted. I found a rose and a note that smelled evil by the window. And Ashleigh here well his scheadul had weird writing on it but before I could look at it it burst into flames. Here are the ashes I put them into this baggie. I can't touch them they burn me." Celeste told him in a rush of word. Merlin frowned and put up a spell where only the professor could hear his words. "The notes, we're almost sure are Morgan's doing. She seems to have come out of hiding again. We are trying to handle it without spreading alarm. Look at everyone's schedules, and please remove anything odd." Then he dropped the spell and turned to Jessica. "What is the meaning of this, young lady?" "Yes sir."Celeste said. Then Merlin turned to jessica and said, "What is the meaning of this, young lady?" "I know not, sir. I just thought i saw something but it was only my imagination," Jessica answered. She lied to him only to protect herself and her animals. Had Merlin only know what had really happened she was afraid he would ha thrown her out of the school. That little whore. She thinks she is better than me does she? I know she saw me there. Told her little vampire lover now. Ha. He can't help her no one can not even that bastard Merlin. She believes her lovers's maker comes after her. Like he would care like mine does. I will have her if i can't no one will. thought a tall black figure outside the healing classroom window who was watching Jessica inside. Ghost by-passed the frozen food section and headed for fresher consumables. Across the room he spotted a low table and on it was a large platter with a huge slab of venison bleeding all over it. As he headed over towards it, about to call to the others, from out of a doorway, next to the low table, ran a tiny little woman. Dressed all in white and waving a gigantic meat cleaver she was yelling at the top of her lungs, "WHAT ON ALL THE EARTHS IS GOING ON IN HERE??? I LEAVE THE ROOM FOR TWO MINUTES AND GET INVADED BY A ZOO!!!" She stopped in the middle of the room and planted her fists, still holding the giant cleaver, on her hips and stared around her. "Well??..." Ghost wasn't sure whether to run for the stairs or actually answer the tiny lady.Until he saw the twinkle in her eyes. :Errr...who are you?: he asked slowly, ready to dash for the stairway if she showed any sign of using that cleaver for anything other than waving around. "Don't you sass me, young 'coon! This is MY kitchen and I ask the questions around here." With a flick of her finger she sent the fish that the cats had dragged out back into the cold storage locker. "For your information my name is Loasaufdh Bguyrr and I am the chief cook-and-bottle-washer for the whole school. This is MY kitchen." she repeated, "If you are hungry or need something to drink I'm the person to ask, BUT DON'T EVER SNEAK IN HERE AGAIN!!" With that she flipped the huge cleaver into the air where it hung, spinning faster than the eye could follow,for a few seconds before coming down onto the low table splitting the slab of venison in two. She turned to the animals and suddenly an enormous smile lit up her face. "Now... what can I get for you?"... Merlin's eyes became hard, but his voice was deadly soft. "Lie to me again and you;'re out of here. That goes for you or anyone else who dares to lie to the Once and still current arch druid of Britannia." The class was still and silent, as he made sure they all heard his words. His eyes were blue ice as they stared in to hers. "Nothing shall endanger my students." Tantalus stretched off Cassandra's shoulder, and toward the window. He balanced on his tail, and hissed fury at the wooden shutters Louis sat in the back of the room, feeling miserable. This had all gone wrong, terribly wrong. He listened to Merlin's voice, of course he should be upset. The first day of classes and already things were out of hand. "Ashleigh, don't worry over it, being a vampire is not so bad. Only some vampires are bad," he whispered to his friend. Suddenly Louis heard an unfamiliar immortal voice in his head. "That little whore. She thinks she is better than me does she? I know she saw me there. Told her little vampire lover now. Ha. He can't help her no one can not even that bastard Merlin. She believes her lovers's maker comes after her. Like he would care like mine does. I will have her if i can't no one will." The hair stood stiff on Louis neck. The voice was totally unfamiliar, but it was definately a vampire. Louis gauged the voice as coming from directly below their window. He watched as Tantalus, Cassandra's snake, hissed in defiance at that same window. Louis glanced at Merlin, he couldn't very well just walk past him. Shielding his mind to everyone else, he sent a message to the outsider. "Who the hell are you? If you are the one responsible for all this, I will burn you to ashes. You had better not be threatening a certain someone in this room, and if your comment about my maker is true, if I don't burn you, he certainly will." Louis sat back in his seat trying to look relaxed, but his whole being was poised for a fight, either physical or mental. Keats dropped his head, feeling guilty at his pranks. When he tried this at home, even Louis would get angry. He watched wistfully as his Fish Surprise went whooshing back into the cold storage. He looked up, big ole sad faced, at the tiny lady brandishing A CLEAVER. The hell with playing "I'm so sorry" she had a cleaver!! "Mrrrowwww," Keats backed up, his rump smacking into a nearby chairleg. He looked up at her, waiting to see the ax fall, and looked into twinkling eyes, and a sunny smile. "So, what can I get for you all?" Keats purred, winding around her ankles. :Mommy!! I want you to be my Mommy: Obscure nyaa~ed, and looked up at the person with the big, sharp, knife-like object. Oblivious to danger, as Obscure usually was, she grinned (as much as a cat can grin) up to the kitchen mistress: :Ya got any rum, Missy?: Serena laughed in her own snake-like way. That woman was funny. ant the way the others reacted. The lady would not mind if she ate a few mice in here would she? Serena began to hunt. Listening into private thoughts now are we? You will necer have her, never. She is mine and she always will be. HAHAHAHAHAHA. I will kill you when you least aspect it I will rip your dead heart out. You don't know her like I do. She is evil. She will be MINE. Never yours never. The black figure outside the window dissappeared. :Private thoughts? Learn how to shield, child. As to your threats, I am not concerned. I'll see you some time soon, I'm sure, and we'll end this here and now. You are NOT to touch her, speak to her, approach her. Understood? By the way, I take your threats as a challenge. Until then....: Louis' eyes glittered dangerously. By nature he was a gentle, humanistic vampire, but if cornered he could be dangerous, very very dangerous. And threatening anyone he cared for made him a dangerous creature indeed. Tantalus in a snap of his long body was at the window, and striking at the wooden shutters. Cassandra stood looking alarmed. "Something is out there." Merlin reached a hand, tossing magic. "It is gone now." His voice was low and grim. Cassandra now wished for a vision, but got none. It was right on the edges of her mind, as it had been all day, but was just out of reach for some reason. She'd (Nymue) dashed out in a mad rage. Had not Morgan done enough? "Die!" She hissed to the air as she dashed through the trees, branches and sharp leaves catching on her robes and in her hair as well as tarring at her face and arms. She did not slow however until she reached the center of the sacred grove. The one only used by herself and Merlin. The place radiated ancient power and for a moment the woman just stood still drinking it in and catching her breath. Then she stood and began to listen to the trees. The aged Morgan felt a twinge upon her hand. She lifted it, and noted than one of the strings tied around her fingers had tightened, and her finger had started to bleed. A slow, calculating smile spread across her lips. They were falling. She then unwravled the bloody string from her finger, and tied it into a knot. She whispered spells whilst tying, and then-- The knot came to life, and took the form of a bird...a bird that smelled of blood. "You have a message to carry, my pet" she crooned, and lifted her hand in the air, allowing the magicked bird to fly free... Santino stood by the Greek shoreline, at the appointed place, waiting. All around him mortals darted here and there, finishing up their nightly errands before heading home for some peace and respite. Santino knew that at least one of them would not make it home. As soon as he got his message. It would take him no longer than an hour to reach his destination. He grew impatient. Santino heard a soft twittering, and turned his head to see a black bird crouched on his shoulder. A slow smile crept it's way across his thick, red lips. He looked into the bird's black eyes, then a low laugh escaped him. It grew in intensity, into a maniacal sound that caused more than one passerby to flee from this handsome, but yet obviously mad, individual. He turned back to the bird, who was still perched on his shoulder. :So, you have Lucas there for me, and also another treat?? Pardon my laughter, Morgan, it was a moment of triumph for me. Whatever it is you want from me must be very valuable. You are sacrificing not only Lucas into my hands, but Lestat's own precious one - his Louis. I will reach you by nightfall at Wolfsbane. Seek me out, you shall find me. Adios: Santino turned away as the bird took flight to return with his message.Santino turned to the people passing him by. He watched them for quite a while, trying to find just the right one. One that would help him celebrate this night, his blessed return. His blessed revenge. There!! He saw him - a slim, black haired youth, and yes, with lovely green eyes. He blocked the young man's path, a slow smile crossing his lips. "Good evening," he said in Greek. "I wonder if you would indulge me. I am leaving this night on a journey and require your assistance, just for a moment. Please." The youth looked Santino up and down, he seemed harmless enough. The youth smiled. "Certainly, sir. You need help with your bags?" "Something like that," Santino slipped an arm around the boy's shoulders, careful not to startle him. He led him away from the alredy diminishing crowds, towards the beach. Carefully watching around him, he turned the boy to face him. "Thank you, handsome one. You've been a great help. May God speed you to your destination." As the youth looked at him, startled, Santino struck, sinking his fangs into the boy's tender neck. Minutes later, he let the body drop at his feet. "No need to clean up as they say. I certainly won't be back for a while." He looked down at the boy's dead face. "You could be Lucas. You could be Louis. If either one of them tries to escape from me, they will be dead, like you." Santino saluted the corpse, and headed back up to the roads above. He headed towards his pension, where he could collect a few things, and again wait. Wait until he could be on his way. "Damn you Lestat de Lioncourt. This time I've won. And you have definately lost." He pondered out loud, laughing softly. He continued on, humming to himself. Louis tried to concentrate on Celeste's words, but found his mind wandering to the earlier interruption only he had deemed. Except perhaps Merlin had also been aware. As class ended, he realized it was lunch. Well, lunch for some. He had no desire to feed, nor a need. "Hey guys," he directed to Ashleigh, Kid and Jessica, "why don't we head to the dinning room? Or do they serve lunch in another area? You all must be starving," he looked at Jessica in particular. She had been through enough today. Some nourishment would hopefully help her. :Don't worry, I'll be by your side: he sent to her. Patricles's board quill broke. "Hm. Guess it's time to go stuff yourselves silly--right then, class, remember what I've talked about today, and keep it in mind for the next session..." :Master, I'm hungry: Patricles bent down and pat Luxor's head as students filed out of the classroom. "I bet, huh?" ~~ Billy walked by the Proffessor, and rushed out the door-- /Maybe that demon-guy will be there during lunch again--Oh! I can talk to Titania about that weird behavior Merlin used with the schedule.../ Billy dashed down the hallways, oblivious of other people. ~~ Ashleigh nodded. "Lunch...lunch sounds good right about now" he nodded, and got up from his seat. "I mean, hey, my arm's okay, I should be able to eat..." But, oddly enough, he didn't feel too hungry. "Er, what are you going to eat, anyways, Louis? Out of curiosity?" Titania walked up behind him. "Thee hast a bold tongue! Bubble, bubble..." Titania swung her bag over her shoulder, eyes still holding Ashleigh's firmly in place. "I would hope that thee'd be wise to make sure to keep it, and be wary of hornets!"--and then turned. She nearly swooped out of the class, murmuring "buzz, buzz..." Ashleigh stared. And then something hit him. /Her ears.../ "Hey! She's a half-faerie, isn't she?" ~~ Grizzled Morgan breathed in the air... "I see. The appointment.." Morgan then took out a small pouch from her sleeve, and took out two vials. One was black, and the other was a fair blue, with a red rim at the top. "Only one, hmm? Alas and alack...ah well. One pays well." Morgan then shuffled away the vials back into the red pouch, and ambled on her way. Jessica gasped as Louis told her he be with her. She was not used to his speaking in her head. BUt she was determain to get used to it. :Thank you I need someone with me if i am to survive this: She sent back to him Kid was in a daze--Holy Smoke-- he thought --That was some crrrrraaaaazzzy class-- "Actually, Louis, I'm supposed to meet Prof.Kushiel at the stables. Something about a sick creature, he didn't really say what is was or anything, just that he wants me to meet him there." He looked closer at Ashleigh and Jessica then turning to Louis said "These two don't look so good, what with Jessie fainting and Ash getting burnt, they're both kinda paler than usual. Kushiel is a Healer and you did miss first class when you got called to Prof. Celestes office." Kid realized that he was babbling and slowed down. "What I'm trying to say is this: What ever Kushiel has in the stables is bound to be more interesting than sitting in the Dining hall and we can go past there on the way to the stables and grab something to eat.If you would be interested in coming with me?" Kid was embarassed, but these were his friends and he figured --What the hell, you only live once-- "Besides which," he smiled at Louis, "you weren't really going to eat were you?"... Merlin was still glaring at the girl waiting for a response. "I've already told you that lies have no place here, and nor do the fools who think they can lie to me."His calm tone was now more sharp. "You have one last chance to tell me what is going on. All of it, or you may pack hour things and have an escort from this island. I have to think of the best interests of everyone here, and you are in the way of that just now." Louis laughed at Kid's remark about his "eating habits". "I hardly ever feed, Kid, and when I do, whatever or whomever I feed from does not die. I have very powerful blood in my veins from my maker. Plus I dont care to :dine" in my fashion, so call me the Anorexic Vampire." "I would be more than happy to join you. Ashleigh, Jessica? Are we in? But, Kid is right, food is definately in the schedule for both of you, especially you Jessica." He gently took her hand. Where ever they went he would keep an eye on her. For all he knew, Lucas could be prowling about. This made him very nervous. He could walk around during the day due to his blood, as well as the potion Merlin had given him. What powers did Lucas have? After all, he was a young fledgling. What kind of powers did Santino have now? Louis shuddered to think of it. Jessica looked at Merlin. "I don't know what is going on. I can't tell you what i don't know." Jessica cried out. Jessica smiled at Louis. He was concerned for her. "I'm in if you are. We can just stop in and grab something to eat and go to the stables." She said Morgyn sat at an empty table in the Dining Hall, munching on her near inedibles. The food was nothing like Hogwarts. She sighed, glancing every few seconds at the double doors at the entrance. Where was Morine? They were supposed to have class together and then come to lunch, but she never showed up for class and now it looks like she wouldn't make lunch either. Morgyn decided she would finish her lunch and then afterwards head back to the dormitory really quick to see if Morine had somehow went back to their room. Perhaps she had gotten sick or something. Morgyn continued chewing her food, waiting, but feeling slightly better now that she had a plan. Titania skipped her way to the dining hall, and grabbed some small victuals to eat. She glanced around. There was a table relatively empty, so Titania took the chance to associate. She plopped down her tray, the food shaking with the impact. "Yo-ho, what's your name?" Titania asked, a smiled upon her impish features. /Getting away from the weirdos!/ Merlin stared hard at her. "Well you've already lied once. What does the rose mean, and who would have need to trouble you, and why?" He then spoke more softly. "If you wish to speak to me of this alone, that can be arranged, but it shall be now." Serpensorcia was sitting at the table, and frowning slightly at her cousin. What in the hell had she gotten in to then? Morgyn looked up, alarmed, at the...spritely (no other word came to Morgyn's mind) woman who had just sat down at her table. "Morgyn Hailsworth," she mumbled, eyeing the lady more closely. Yep, the more she studied her, the more she looked like a sprite. Louis moved quickly to Jessica's side as she spoke with Merlin. "Sir, it's all my fault." Louis looked at Merlin, the fear spreading theough him. "Here we go," he thought to himself. He had to explain to Merlin. Merlin could help Jessica. As soon as Lestat found him......he would be pulled away from this wonderful world anyway, back to the darkness. "Might as well be good on my word, and see that she and the others are protected." he thought. Merlin sighed. "Do tell. Do you need it in private?" He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Such drama!" He shook his head. Titania cocked her head. "Yo-lo, Morgyn. You have upon your countenance an expression of concentration.." Titania fixed her head upright, sat down, and then peered back at Morgyn, purple eyes unblinking at Morgyn "I can't tell you, though you are a great druid you still are a mortal man and i swore never to revile him to mortal humans. I can't tell you even though i wish i could." Jessica said Merlin looked grim. "Than as things seem to be happening, I'll have to ask you to leave." Louis took a deep breath. He couldn't let Jessica be thrown out of here! Not on account of his past. "Umm, sir. Please. This is not her fault. It is all mine. Please. After I leave it will all be over. Believe me." "Sir, I came here to learn, along with all these other students. I came here to find a new life, but unfortunately my past won't allow me to do that. Please, please don't blame this girl. She didn't do anything." He turned to Jessica. "Jessica, maybe you should explain it all to Merlin. He can protect you, keep you safe. If he understood, I know he would. Please, tell him." Merlin didn't really want the harmless vampire to leave, as he felt sorry for him, and also thought he could be of use to the school. He knew the vampire could read his mind as he did not bother to block it, but the girl could not. "Both of you tell me what is going on, and what has gone on, or you leave together." His tome was firm, and his eyes,looking hard, did not show his kind thought of a second ago. Suddenly Nymue came dashing up, still looking a mess with leaves, and twigs still caught on her robes and in her badly tangled hair. She was gasping for breath, and slumped against Merlin who put a supporting arm about her. "She's back, Merlin! The trees say so! She's killed an animal for the blood that tells. The ravens say..." Ashleigh, meanwhile, leaned on one of the desks, wondering if this was really any of his business.. Then-- "She's here!!" Nymue dashed in, nearly giving Ash-kid a heart attack. "She killed an animal for the blood...a raven said..." Ashleigh blanched. "Who....?" It almost seemed as if the blood within him stretched and thinned like piano wire. Kid wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but he really didn't want to see his new friends have to leave Wolfbanes. He also knew that it was none of his business and trusted that Merlin would always do the right thing. So he sat back in his seat and watched as things developed and hoped that Louis and Jessica were savvy enough to trust in Merlin, too. Suddenly Nymue came rushing in, breathing hard and covered in sticks and leaves. From his own experiences, Kid could tell that she had been running hard through the forest. And she seemed angry... "She's back, Merlin! The trees say so! She's killed an animal for the blood that tells. The ravens say..." --Who's back?-- Kid wondered,--What's going on now? Does this have anything to do with what was going on with Jessica? or is this something else entirely?-- Curiosity was burning inside him. He noticed Ashleigh, leaning on a nearby desk, was looking very tense, so he slowly got out of his seat and went to stand next to his new roommate and putting a hand on his shoulder asked, "Are you all right, Ash? Do you know what's going on here?"... Ashleigh flinched. "Er, not really" he nervously said. "Just...I felt weird when she said, 'blood that tells'..." Ashleigh bit his black lip. "Maybe there's a connection between that and the weirdo schedule?" ~~ Obscure chewed on her fish ever-so-sloppily. :Goooood food....deeh-heeh-heeh...: Kid could feel Ashleigh trembling "I don't know, but I think you should sit down. You don't look so good." Kid hoped that Kushiel would wait and not be too mad if he was late, but there was no way he was leaving here until he knew SOMETHING about what was going on here... Ashleigh bristled, but then-- "Hey...you need to see that teacher though, right? He's a healer, right?" Ashleigh asked. "Maybe he'd know..." He choked on the words, and felt the world go woozy... /What's happening?? My vision is blurring.../ Louis caught Merlin's thoughts before his stern words. He sent his thoughts back to him. :Sir, I will have no choice, Lestat, my maker, will remove me from this school. He ownes me, I have no choice. But, thank you for your kind thoughts: He steeled himself at Merlin's next words, and grasping Jessica's hand in comfort, he answered him: "I - we - will tell you. It's important. You have to know. Jessica will need your help when I leave. Can we go somewhere private? After getting Jessica some lunch first, if we may." Just then Nymue came into the room, at a dead run, twigs and leaves sticking in her hair. She informed Merlin of Morgan's presense, and that she? had killed some animal "for the blood that tells" Louis backed away, giving Merlin's wife some room. Now what? he thought. Who was Morgan? As he turned to inform Kid and Ashleigh that he would be late in joining them, he noticed Ashleigh looking very pale, and unsteady. He released Jessica's hand, assuring her her would return, then moved carefully to Ashleigh's side. "Ashleigh? You alright? Sit, please. Kid, what happened?" He looked at Kid, who looked confused at the goings on. Louis felt sympathy for his new friend. "Kid, I think you should sit also," he said softly. He looked to Merlin, letting him know with his mind that Ashleigh was feeling ill. "I feel..." Ashleigh grappled with the word in his head. Asiatic, aphrodisiac, animated, animate... "I feel...er...anemic." That's what it was. As soon as he said it, he felt a whole lot worse. Why the heck did a burn on his arm make him feel this way? And that woman's name, too. His body was reacting in a strange way... "That schedule...it must have been written in the blood that tells..." "I'm ok, Louis, it's Ashleigh. There's something wrong with him. He says he feels... anemic... Isn't that a blood disorder of some kind?" Kid was worried about his new friend. Ashleigh was looking worse every second.He looked around and saw Merlin still standing with Jessica, "Merlin, sir," Kid called to the Hedamaster, "we have a problem over here. Ever since Asleigh's class schedule burnt his hand he seems to be getting sicker and sicker. Would you mind having a look at him? Please?" .... Nymue leaned against Merlin trying to catch her breath, basically ignoring the clustered students. Merlin, however, was still watching the students. "And so it is." He glanced toward Nymue for a moment before looking back to the students. "I'm still waiting." His eyes were still grim. "She can eat while we talk." He snapped. "We'll go in my chambers now." He strode off, and Nymue followed looking annoyed. Morgyn glanced once more at the double entry doors and then back down at her excuse for food. "I was just wondering where my roommate was. She wasn't in Healing, and we were supposed to meet at lunch..." Morgyn shrugged. She knew it was rude to stare at the fey, so she kept her eyes averted, looking only when she spoke which was polite. "Sir, what I had meant was even though you are a very powerful druid you still are human so i can't tell you about him. I swore i would never reveal him to human mortals so i cant tell you. but i could tell someone who was not human." She looked at Louis :Tell him what i told you, for if i tell i forfeit my life to that vamoire who took Lucas: She told Louis through her thoughts. "Your friend...Healing...Well, you could inquire around" Titania supplied. "Aftereall, she can't have gone too far from here. Mayhaps she got lost? That would indeed be tragic..." Titania looked around, and then started to nibble away at the food on her plate. One would note that there was no meat...and that she used wooden sticks to eat. Morgyn nodded. "I suppose so. Once I've finished eating I was going to go run back to the dormitory really quick to see if she's there. Perhaps she got sick or something. Then if not I'll ask around. She told me that she has a brother here as well, but I don't remember his name and I've never met him so I wouldn't know who to look for." She shrugged again. "I just hope she's all right." Louis nodded to Merlin, glancing at Kid. "Kid, Jessica and I have to talk to Merlin. He wants to see us in his office, I guess. Ashleigh, please eat something. Protein. Anything with protein. Please. Kid, Ashleigh, we'll meet you by the stables with Kushiel," Louis looked at both his friends, feeling bad. He hated to leave Ashleigh like this, but Merlin had summoned him. He took Jessica's hand, giving it a squeeze, and headed out behind Merlin and Nymue. "Don't worry, Jessica. I'll do most of the talking. I won't have you endanger yourself any further. Once Lestat calls me, we'll sort this business out with Lucas and Santino." He was nervous about talking to Merlin, but at the same time was glad the wizard was getting involved. For all his tough demeanor, Louis knew Merlin had a heart. 2100^^ Nymue looked rather eager as they walked to Merlin's office, as the tossed glances at the following 2 students over one thin shoulder. Merlin looked grim, as he lead them in to a cluttered room. Dust lay everywhere, and so did animal skins. Jars lined the shelves, and bones hung down from the rafters. He sneezed and told them to sit down. Ashleigh nodded, sickishly (ooc--yush, that is no word I know of, but I decided I will pull a shakespheare. bic). "Protein...right..." His vision blurred a bit more... Protein... But something else in the back of his mind locked onto that word... Protein... ~~ Billy sighed. That neat half-demon wasn't anywhere to be seen. Oh well. She then pondered... /I guess Obscure is off eating with her friends.../ She walked around the cafeteria for a bit, momentarily aimless.. When a thought struck her. "Is Ashleigh avoiding me again? Goodness, that brother..." She tsked to herself, and then saw a familiar head of black-- "Titan! Oh, hey, you...Morrie?" Billy said, guessing the name. Titania ulped, a bit startled. "Billy...your countenance betrays perplexion." "Er..Morgyn," Morgyn corrected. "Morgyn Hailsworth." Billy laughed. "Close enough, aye? Morgyn, then." Billy then leaned on Titania's head, arms crossed over the fae's hair, and looked around. "Have either of you two seen my brother?" "Yes, actually" Titania stated. "He was in my last class, and you should be very greatful that I told you to get rid of that schedule." Billy froze. "He got one, too?" "Yes. Can you let go of my head now?" Louis took one of the seats across from Merlin's desk. He looked with concern at Jessica. "Um. Excuse me, sir, while I collect my thoughts." Louis took a moment. His main concern was Jessica, as his time here would be shortened, by Lestat. "You know my background, I explained that to you before I came here, that I did not want anyone to know I was here, in particular my maker who has treated me unkindly as of late. Well, apparently an enemy of my maker and our Coven has discovered my presence here and poses a threat to me, and possibly to others. I believe someone here has told of my existence, as I have kept my mind closed to all but the inhabitants of this school, none of which know me. This girl, Jessica, has told me a rather sad tale in which her fiancee was made into a vampire by this said enemy. This fiancee has in turn been hunting her down. No mere coincidence that both of us have been discovered at this school. I fear someone here has been communicating with this Santino in regards to her and I. You know about the note, left on the windowsill in Ms. Celeste's class. There is also some strange spell of sorts that was found on Ashleigh's schedule. I, in order to assist, have placed a call to my maker, Lestat de Lioncourt, who will receive this call by nighfall and contact me. He will definately remove me from here, that I cannot control, but I am hoping before he leaves that he can assist in riding the school of Santino's presence in order to keep Jessica safe. I am powerful, but Lestat is much more powerful. I was also hoping you, sir, would assist Jessica." Still having no idea of what was going on, Kid watched Louis and Jessica follow Merlin and Nymue away. "Ok then, well, what do you say Ash? Do you think you can make it to the Dining Hall?" Ashleigh's vision swirled. "Hehe, sure" he faked, and tried to steady himself against the chair to stand up. Of course, he missed it by about 4 inches. He clattered to the floor (and his high-heeled boots didn't help him out, either), and managed to grab hold of the chair while falling down. "...Okay, I meant to do that." Merlin listened silently frowning. "Well he can not "remove" you from this school if you do not wish it. Do you allow him that much control over you? And I'm sure none of our students would have done the telling here." "It is her, I'm sure!" Nymue said, and told them about Morgan. "She's always wanted what we have,"She said angrily. "She needs to die!" "Madame, why would she care about hurting Louis and I?" Jessica asked Nymue. :Louis i told you before he will not have you not if I can help it and i can help it.: Jessica miundtalked to Louis getting ahang of it. As Ashleigh fell Kid tried to grab him, but was to late as Ashleigh, pulling the chair down with him, collapsed to the floor. --Damn-- Kid was really worried now. His new roommate looked terrible. Kid helped him back up onto the uprighted chair and looked around the classroom. Everyone seemed to have left, either to lunch or with Merlin. "Just sit here, ok?" He said, "I have to find someone... " He was thinking hard as he left the Healing classroom and looked off through the forest. Merlin was busy...He wasn't sure where Celeste had got to... He didn't know where to find the school nurse... that only left one person that he knew might be able to help Ashleigh. Kushiel! He had to get to the stables as quickly as he could. :*POP*: Bats don't much like daylight but they are very fast. As he flew through the forest and across the meadow towards the stables he hoped that Kushiel would be there. In moments he flew through the open stable doors and :*POP*: Kid called softly, "Professor Kushiel? ......Kushiel? Are you here?..." ... "Morgan uses what she can." Nymue snapped to the girl. "How am I supposed to know? But trust me, it shall fall in to place. It is simply too odd that she's back and playing while the 2 of you are having dark troubles as well." Merlin nodded slightly, but made no other comment yet. Louis smiled warmly at Merlin's words. "I know what you promise, but it's so complicated... I thank you, maybe you CAN reason with him, I've never been able to. As to him controlling me? He's my maker, I belong to him." Louis stared at the floor. Damn, he hated this!! Why did Lestat have to be such a brute? Louis could have loved him, wanted to love him, many many years ago. But, he had never been good enough for Lestat. Louis sighed. He smiled at Jessica's promise, not to let Lestat take him. He squeezed her hand. "I know none of the students or teachers here would be in contact with Lestat over me, but who is this Morgan?" Louis turned to Nymue. "Maybe you're right, she might have something to do with it. I mean, Santino coming here. It's all too coincidental." Kushiel heard someone call him and saw Kid heading toward him. He left the stall he was in. "May i help you Kid? " He asked. Celeste was in her room preparing her potion. God I hope this one is the one tat will help. She thought as she started to drink it. Pandora felt her mistresses pain and she knew what she had to do. That vampire mentioned a more powerfull one than he. His name was Lestat. She would find him and bring him to the school if she thought he would be able to help them and not hurt. So Pandora flew off to find the Vampire Lestat. Serena was about to strike the rat in front of her when her mistress worries be came her on. She knew Jessica need her so she slithered pass the rat and toward the direction Jessica was. Aile woke up when she felt Jessicas pain as her own and she took off to her. She knew Jessica would need her now. Louis said,"He's my maker. I belong to him." Nymue crossed her arms, hugging herself. She could say the same for Merlin. He's taken her, the orphaned slave child, and made her a druid in training. When she was old enough he'd courted her, and made her his lover. All she had become was because of the old druid, and she knew it. Still she'd turned on him when she'd had to. For revenge. She left her mind open to the vampire and asked,"Can you not do the same? It has to be about you sometimes. For you." "Please, sir," Kid said. "It's my friend Ashleigh. I'm not sure what's wrong with him but something sure is. Could you please come and help him? He's in Prof. Celeste's Healing classroom... Please?" Ghost looked up from his venison steak startled. Kid had Changed. Ghost could not tell what Kid had become, but this was the first time he had felt Kid use his Talent since they had come to this place. Moments later he felt Kid Change again. --Back into human form before someone sees him, I'll bet,-- Ghost thought to himself. --I wonder what's up with him.-- Knowing that Kid could look after himself, Ghost wasn't worried, having eaten his fill of meat,(a piece approximatly the size of himself) he decide to wander back up the stairs to the Dining Hall to see if there was any sign of dessert or if maybe Kid showed up or maybe just find a nice comfy chair to curl up on for a nap. Whatever... Obscure screwed her head up. :What's eatin' him out?: ~~ Ashleigh, in the meantime, whilst Nymue, Merlin, Louis and Jessica were all in a tizzy with their strange story to converse about, was still on the floor, looking very much--well, to find a good word--half-dead. "Urk..." Why the heck is my vision so blurry? Ashleigh felt a burning within his arm again. He clutched his arm, feeling the searing pain go throughout him. The world spun... And that's when something strange happened. His heartbeat stopped--for just a second... ~~ Billy felt an electric charge down her spine. "EIYAH!" She unconsciously squeezed Titania's neck in the process-- "Uwack, lemme go, lemme go!" Billy did so, which surprised Titania. She looked up at Billy-- --who's expression was, for once, entirely serious. "I--I have to go--" "I'm coming boy. I'll call Celeste even though it is not a good time for her." Kushiel looks at Kid "What are you waiting for. Climb on." Celeste go to your classroom now it is irgent He mind sent to Celeste "I understand what you are trying to tell me, Nymue, but it's different between Lestat and I. He's - he's....."What was different? Louis found himself wondering. Could he not just walk away from Lestat? No, he couldn't. "Nymue, Lestat could destroy me in one snap of his fingers. And he would if I stepped out of line, which I have" he trailed off. Sudenly he felt another vampire presence in the school. His mind checked around- was it Lucas again? No,it was......Ashleigh? Louis checked again. Ashleigh, definately. He had known Ashleigh was part vampiric, but wholly? He shook his head, sending out a message to his friend. "Ashleigh, are you all right? Is something wrong?" Inside he wanted to run to his friend, but this conversation with Merlin was important, for all of them in the school. Anxiously, he waited for Ashleigh's response. If he didn't respond, Louis would have to do something. Keats yawned and stretched, his belly full. That new cook in the kitchen was, in keats eyes, his best friend. Next to his Louis of course. Louis!! Keats hadn't been away from his owner this long ever!! But, he had been having so much fun. :Louis?: he sent. :In Merlin's office.: His owner's message had a hint of great anxiety to it. With a little 'mrowlll', Keats jumped off the comfortable chair he was in and fled down the hall, sniffing out this Merlin. "He is only stronger if you allow him to be,and I hope that one of ours isn't that weak,Louis." Her eyes hardened for a moment, lost in her own memories. "I was stronger than Merlin once. If I could be so can anyone who wants to be. How could Lestat destroy you that you could not turn upon him?" Ashleigh felt a jolt in his brain-- "Ashleigh, are you alright? Is something wrong?" The searing pain that had been swelling in Ashleigh's mind was burst, like a pin popping a balloon. A great cacouphany of shrill shrieks, agonized wavelengths, and otherwise unpleasant vibrations rocketed themselves over to Louis...for Ashleigh found himself unable to open his mouth. Just then-- "Where's my--ASHLEIGH!!!" "He made me, madam, so he can destroy me. I could let him, and be done with it, but unfortunately I'm a coward," Louis lowered his head,staring at his shoes. Again, he noticed he wasn't wearing socks. Where could his socks be? He raised his head, facing Merlin and Nymue. After sending a message to Ashleigh, the response caused Louis to almost faint. Ashleigh was screaming, screaming in constant pain. "Merlin, I'm sure he heard that. Something is wrong with Ashleigh. Can you help me? Somethings wrong with his blood." Keats had found the "trail" to Merlin's office. He trotted along the hall, dodging out of the way of other student's feet. Sudenly he yowled, as if his tail had been stepped on. He could feel a scream riccocheting from another's mind to Louis'. He turned from his direction, heading in the direction of the screams. Merlin hated this! He knew no way to help a vampire. His eyes went momentarily to Nymue who shrugged. "Lead the way, and then go for the healer. I know nothing of your kind, but I can look for a spell, though if it is in the blood..." "Sir, I can help," Louis faltered, after all this was Merlin, how dare he address him in this manner? But, Louis was afraid for his friend. "I can help, if you will allow me, Sir. I can try anyway." He knew Lestat, with his all powerful blood, would definately be able to solve this. For the first time since he was at Wolfsbane, he wished Lestat was here. They hurried down the hall to Celeste's classroom, where Ashleigh was still on the floor. Louis knelt by his side, first checking his mind. It was intact, but he was somehow changing. Changing into what? Louis worried. He felt something from Ashleigh. He was becoming more of a vampire!! But how? Louis checked his neck, no bite marks. He started to fret. "Ashleigh? It's Louis. Please, tell me how you feel, exactly what you are feeling." He gave Billy's arm a reassuring squeeze. Billy bit her lip. "I can't believe this! It's so-so-so-so weird!!" she shrieked out, but hung back, afraid to mess with anything they were doing to help her brother. Ashleigh's mind groaned. /Burning! Burning! There's fire in me, all throughout me!!/ He convulsed, and cluthced himself. Billy watched, worriedly. And then something clicked. Even though she had no idea of the conversation before, she did know that it had to do with that schedule thing. How was it possible to take someone and turn them into a vampire, without, well...biting them? /It's flowing...My brain hurts...vision blurry.../ It wasn't possible. But then again, neither of the Strauss twins were entirely human. They had the blood of vampires running through them.... "It has to be that." "Yes, by all means, do what you can,only tell me." He frowned, not knowing what was happening, and not liking not to know. Billy bit her lip. "I got one of those messed-up schedule thingies, too" she began, looking down at her brother. "And--Merlin tore it up before it could do anything" she continued. "My father told me something about it--you know, he's very involved in the darker side of the magical strata--it's a...blood something, blood...bloody...ack! What was it??" Billy bit her finger hard, and a small cut was opened. Ashleigh's body snarled from the ground, and continued to writhe-- "EIYAA!!" There was a great wave within Ashleigh's mind--it hit Louis's thoughts like a typhoon smashing against a dam-- /Blood! Blood of my--family--no--why is it different???/ "Blood curse!" Billy shrieked out in surprise. ~~ Obscure, following her curiosity, had started to follow after Keats (the cute little furry that he was, nyo), and felt something click in her brain. :Eh? Master is petrified...That can never be a good thing.: She sniffed the air. :Strange--it's coming from where Keats was going.: She padded along softly. :Lucky me!: She hurried up her pace to a light dash. Louis turned to Merlin, "Thank you sir. I will most definately keep you informed. I'm sorry for all of this. I will do my best to have it stopped, fixed, corrected...."Louis had NO idea what he was going to do. He could feel a lot of pain from Ashleigh, his blood was mixing badly. Should he? Would it help if Ashleigh took some of his blood? He needed his permission. Louis had his ethics. He would not proceed without a word from Ashleigh. He would only give him enough blood to settle down his system. "Ashleigh, listen to me. Listen hard. You're blood is mixed badly. I can't explain it. I'm not sure if this is harming you or not. I am willing to give you some of my blood, to calm down your system, then with the help of Merlin and others at the school, we can get to the bottom of this. I need your permission. The blood I am giving you will not overly affect you, it will not change you, only help you heal somewhat. I require your permission, I will not do this without your consent." He waited anxiously for Ashleigh's answer. Keats hurried along the hall. Something about blood. Something wrong with one of the students. Ashleigh, Louis' new friend. As he rounded a corner,he could sense another one of his own friends. He turned, almost skidding into the wall. Damn this floor polish that two feeters insisted on using!! :Obscure!! Come with me, something is going on, I don't like it, not one bit: He waited for Obscure to catch up so he could continue on. Lestat continued on his way towards Wolfsbane, making perfect time. He tried to concentrate on his flying, keeping his mind clear. All of a sudden, a large birdlike creature almost intercepted his path. "What the??" Lestat tried to move around it, it seemed to be coming right at him. "Damn!" Slowly he settled himself onto the earth. As he was about to move up again, the creature landed near him. He growled at it, trying to scare it off. What did the creature think he was, a mate?? He took notice of the intelligence in the bird's eyes. On closer scrutiny he realized it was a phoenix. A phoenix?? Those were, legends, not real!!! Lestat stared at the phoenix. He really didn't have the time for this, but it seemed to be trying to communicate with him. "What do you want?" he said, softly. At the same time inside he was panicking, every second he was away from Louis was torture to the vampire, he longed to be on his way. Ashleigh's mind pricked. "BLOOD!" Well, if that wasn't an "A-O-Kay" from Ashleigh on the blood issue, Billy didn't know what else was. She bit her lip (for about the umpteenth time), and looked to Louis-- "I'm gonna have to call Father. He's into this whole sort of thing--and maybe we can get one of our vampire relatives to tell us something" she supplied, hopefully. Obscure caught up to Keats. :Me neither. When my master's freaked out, that's pretty bad: she noted, keeping her pace. :What did you catch?: Kid was astonished that Kushiel would actually offer to let him ride, but as worried as he was about Ashleigh, Kid was not about to let this opportunity pass. "Actually, sir," Kid said as he placed his hand on Kushiel's flank, "I don't need a ride, but thank you anyways." He concentrated for a second..and...:*POP*:...Standing beside Kushiel now was a young Centaur. A Centaur with Kid's face and upper torso and the body of a fine chestnut coloured horse with a tail the same colour as Kid's midnight black hair. He looked Kushiel in the eyes and said quietly, "I'll explain later, sir, but right now we have to go help Ashleigh." With this, Kid turned and with a flick of his tail raced out of the stables and off across the meadow towards the classroom where he had left Ashleigh, glancing back only once to see if Kushiel was coming... Kushiel smiled when Kid changed. He had felt the boy was different. When Kid took off Kushiel was right behind him. He had called his sister and she was on her way to help. When they stopped running Kushiel turned Human so he might help. Celeste was already there. She looked a bit pale but as it was a full moon that night it was to be expected. "Whats wrong here?" She asked. Pandora looked deep into this vampires eyes and she know he was to be trusted even though he might ruin some peoples lives like her mistress' and her mistress new friend. You are the Vampire Lestat? I am right on that. There is trouble at the school and Louis and my mistress are both involved and u can help them. I will let you know the moment one of them is hurt you will suffer. You are not to take the Vampire Louis away from my mistress she has more need of him then you do. As i said that take a hold of my tail and I'll get us to Wolfbane faster than you can get there yourself. With that Pandora turned around and offered Lestat her tail. When he grabed it she took off and with a pop they were at Wolfbane. Kid reverted to human form before he went into Celeste's classroom to see how Ashleigh was. "What's wrong here?" Celeste asked when she saw her brother and Kid arrive. "It's Ashleigh." Kid replied, "There is something wrong. It's his blood, I think." When they entered the classroom they found Merlin already there with Louis and Billy hovering over Ashleigh. Kid stood off to the side to watch what happened next... Louis felt relief at Ashleigh's agreement. He looked to Billy: "Billy, if they need to be called, do it now, immediately. I can't just leave him like this, I don't know how much damage has already been done. Please, Billy, hurry!" He held Ashleigh in his lap, fretting over him. But, if Billy felt her relatives could help, he could only wait. But, he would not wait for long. He didn't want Ashleigh to go mad, of worse yet, possibly die. He looked up as Kushiel, Kid and Celeste came into the room. "What's going on here?" Celeste asked. "His blood, he's becoming more vampiric for some reason. I don't know why. Billy has gone to call her relatives. I don't know how long I can wait. Ashleigh has already agreed to take enough of my blood to heal this." Louis looked pleadingly to Merlin and Celeste. "I can't wait too long." Lestat stared at the phoenix, feeling a bit of his old anger coming through. "Louis is needed by YOUR mistress, more than by me??? Louis is my child, I created him. I love him. As for me taking him from Wolfsbane?? If he choses to leave I will take him. If he choses to stay, he will remain. I have been searching for Louis for quite some time. He left me, I can surely understand why. I have a lot of explaining to do to my poor Louis. I hid things from him, only to keep him safe, but it's gone all wrong. All wrong," Lestat felt burdened by sadness. He hoped in his heart of hearts that it wasn't to late. That Louis would listen to him, understand why and remain by his side. At the phoenix's offer to help him get there by nighfall, Lestat smiled a little. "Thank you, I appeciate it. You are most kind." As he rose into the air, the phoenix by his side, he asked her: "By the way, who is your mistress? And what does she have to do with Louis? Your mistress is not named Morgan perchance? Because that is who summoned me to Wolfsbane, she found Louis for me. Strange, why someone I am not acquainted with, and is not acqainted with me, would be concerned if I found Louis. This is you mistress, is it not? This Morgan?" Billy rushed out of the room, deciding that there was too much commotion in there to contact her parents. She dug into her vest pocket, and took out a talisman-- The Strauss family crest. Every child born to the Strauss family was crafted and bestowed the talisman bearing their crest at their birth. It was a tradition. The "crest" wasn't much to look at, if you weren't an expert in dark magics. Just what looked like to be symbols and scribbles of writing everywhere. Billy held the talisman in her palm, and read the inscriptions... "Leethea Muuria Fenesa Haida, Luuluru Bentahaimin Luuruli Bentat, Oiiilishe Fooleylain Leerelu Luulia, Paathanain Peeteru Gondria Peeledu...Sarutaruhaousu Houruwardo Feeilia Shaaouru.." (translation: Across the tides and beyond the gates, I call upon the souls devout and devoted to me and my family. Give me passage to the family of Strauss, Howard who is head.) Definitely, anyone who had been around would have noticed the confusing nature of the tongue, apparently a mix between the language of the dead, english, and aulde vampire. At least, to the learned scholar. To others, it was just gibberish. Billy then dropped the talisman from her hand, letting it dangle upon the beaded string that it hung from. It swung like a pendulum, and Billy brought it gradually upwards until the pendulum was on eye level-- A spark. "Ho? Ho, hey!" (translated from the earlier tongue) The talisan had stopped moving, and on the talisman, the engraving that looked like a mirror opened up like an eye, and a picture of her father appeared. "Poppa, Ashleigh's in trouble" Billy started, speaking in the mixed tongue (the official language of the Strauss House! Whyo'd a thunk, aye?) "Goodness, Billy--you worry too much--already the first day of university, and you're talking to me?" He chortled merrily. Billy frowned. "This is serious, Poppa. Someone has been playing with Ashleigh's blood." The chuckling stopped. "His blood? What in hells do you mean?" "They changed him, Poppa. Someone altered his blood, and he's verging on insanity...they altered his blood and tipped him to the vampiric blood." The image on the talisman grew grave. "That seems very...very unlikely. But it is possible--Billy, I have to see him. Bring me over to where Ashleigh is, would you dear?" Billy consented, nodding her head, and walked back into the room-- She grabbed the string it was attatched to, bringing it closer to her hand, and then tilted it (she was standing a ways back, afterall) to where he could see his son... "PANDERING POLTERGEISTS!! HE LOOKS DEAD AS A DOORNAIL!!" (to others, though, if they could hear, it would have sounded something like this: PUULEN ALAI POOORONI! FIILONO MOORULU NA PEELIHUIDO HA!) Merlin quickly sent a letter to Queen Maeb, who he'd never gotten along with, but some things had to be done nevertheless. Still he couldn't hold back a deep sigh while writing. As he wrote, he kept an eye on the vampire and his work from time to time. Nymue, meanwhile, was fascinated, and didn't take her eyes away from the exchange.\ Merlin Writes: Maeb, It seems that there is vampire trouble, and more going on of a darker nature. We are sure that Morgan is back, and responsible for at least part of this if not all of it. I must request that you have your best fae guards put up to give the school even more protection than usual. Sadly enough I must say that it is a good thing that the Greek commander is teaching war tactics here now. Merlin PS I wish to hear nothing, and shall read nothing from you stating how all of this is my fault which it is not. Had I not been about, Morgan would have much more power. He then sent the letter off with a wave of his hand, and a gust of magic. It went right in to the hand of Queen Maeb. She read the letter, and then tossed it to her Gnome husband,Fric. Louis' vampiric hearing picked up a strange, tiney voice coming from - somewhere. He looked up and noticed Billy standing nearby, dangling a locket, he looked around the room, his attention again drawn to the locket as a voice emerged from it. A voice and an animated face, speaking from the locket. Louis stared, transfixed. "I'm afraid to ask what that is, Billy. Ummmm, what is that??" Suddenly Ashleigh moved in an agitated state on his lap, his hands trying to cover his eyes. Louis was brought to attention. "Someone, please close the windows!! Damn, block out the sun. Please." He held himself over Ashleigh's limp form, trying to protect him from the mid afternoon rays. The rays didn't disturb him, but Ashleigh was unprotected at this moment. He thought of the potion, sitting in his room. "Damn," he thought. He couldn't very well leave Ashleigh right now, nor could he be sure the potion would work for Ashleigh. Not with this strange blood mixture. Keats came running into the room, darting between the other student's legs. :Louis? What is wrong? Why are you panicked?: He went to his master's side, his green eyes widened when he saw Ashleigh's state. Morgan? Who is she? My mistress is Jessica Sna...I mean James. She has more need of Louis then you do. You want a slave someone to fawn over you while she needs a friend a compain, someone to care for and help. Pandora said. Celeste rushed over to Ashleigh. She got very dizzy. She was pale. "I think i have something that can help him a little till we know what the problem is but we must get him to my lab and Louis i will need some of your blood for this to work. I have only use this potion on myself, so i know it will work on a werewolf but it is real iffy on a vampire. Come on lets move." She demanded. :Morgan? Who is she? My mistress is Jessica Sna...I mean James. She has more need of Louis then you do. You want a slave someone to fawn over you while she needs a friend a compain, someone to care for and help.:Pandora said. Lestat almost lost his balance again. "Um, er, I- damn it, I cannot fly and talk at the same time." He pointed to a high hill below them and landed there, agitated. "Look, Louis is not my slave. He may think he is, and that's my fault. I have made many, many mistakes with him, and I hope I can work them out." Lestat looked at Pandora closely. "I love him. I've loved him since the day I made him. That's why I made him. My own stubborn pride, and his puritanical ethics kept us at each other's throats for over a century. Lately, with Santino's threats to him, it's gotten worse. Yes, I keep him hidden, for lack of a better word, there are some that would take him away from me. And no, not to be nice to him either. As for your Jessica? If she needs him, Louis is an independant man, he will be there for her no matter what I say. Louis is known as the most human of us vampires, and it suits him. He never let go of that mortal coil. Part of the reason I so love him. Don't worry, I'm not here to take him away, or take him from Jessica or anyone else. I just want him back, that's all. Back as my partner, nothing more. Now, can we please keep going?? I want to get there as soon as possible." He smiled encouragingly at Pandora. As they again rose into the night air, Lestat wondered again who this Morgan was. He figured he'd find out once he got there. As you wish but we will do it my way..with that there was a big falsh of golden light and a pop then they were at Wolfsbane. in the front hall. Pandora looked at Lestat We are here follow me I'll take you to them. Louis looked up thankfully at Celeste. His eyes met hers. "Thank you Celeste, we can try. Should we get Merlin involved? He knows all the magic there is to know, and may be able to assist us." Louis moved to lift Ashleigh from the floor, careful to cradle his head against his shoulder. He turned to Billy, "Come with us, and bring - him- uh, the locket with you." He whispered to Billy, "Is that - you father in there?" As they moved to the classroom doorway, Louis stopped. "We can't take him into the sunlight. Another other way?" As Kid watched Louis and the others prepare to move Ashleigh to Celeste's lab he realized that he was not going to be able to help his new friend any more.Wellll...."Uh,... Kushiel, sir?....Did you still want some help down at the stables?" Celeste took her wand out from her hair. Then she mumbled a few word and all was dark. "Lets go now and hurry." She rushed from the room. Kushiel jumped when Kid spoke. "Yes my boy i do. You see i have a sick threstel in there and i need help curing her. Let's go." and off they went. Kid wasn't sure what a threstel was but if it was sick or injured he definitly wanted to help it.He followed Kushiel back to the stables. "What's wrong with her, sir?" Fric gingerly picked up the letter Maeb had just thrown in his direction. After reading the letter he let out a resigned sigh. "At the risk of agreeing with Merlin, I think posting guards is an excellent idea. I'm sure it would make you happier if I disagreed with Merlin, wouldn't it? Might I suggest bringing in some of the faeries?" Fric asked in a mild tone. Fric hoped that by looking like himself, he'd spare himself just a little of Maeb's wrath. Needlessly to say, he wasn't looking forward to the next few days. Maeb glared at him for a moment. "Yes. Agree with your former master,Fric." Her tone was vicious, but quiet enough, which was a good sign for her. "I'll put Robin on it, I suppose, and shall send for more from faerie."She called for one of her messenger birds, and sent it away with a message to faerie for more guards. "Some of the little ones shall do for most of the guards," She told Fric. "Vampires! Yuck. They are almost as bad as Morgan,Fric! What a disgusting way to live!" She shuddered. "I'm sure Robin won't thank you very much for that but it's necessary nevertheless. I feel the same as you about vampires but just to a lesser degree. I especially feel for those who wouldn't have chosen to live as they are now. Can you at leas find sympathy for those? I must admit the thought of living on the blood of others makes me feel rather ill," he told her. Fric hoped privately to distract her from thinking of Merlin. He was pleasantly surprised at how well she was handling the situation however. "Sympathy?" Maeb thought for a moment before shaking her head. "No." Her tone was final as she turned away. "I don't want them here, but Merlin insists upon bringing everything here that I hate. I'd not even be here if not for Vivian." Puck then dashed up after receiving his letter, and took his orders solemnly. "To tell you the truth Kid I don't know what is wrong. She wont eat or sleep. She is not acting as a Threstel should..Winter Rain...that is what i call her ...she is acting like a real horse but she is not one." Kushiel said to kid. "Yes, it would appear Merlin is doing just that. If it means anything to you I think you're handling this very well," he told her privately hoping this wouldn't set her off. He decided to leave her for a while and go see his children. Lauraina was more than happy to get the letter from Darken that Uncle Adrian had finally been able to get him in to school upon the promise that he be very good. This was only because Mother knew the queen she was sure, but perhaps she'd fit in better with Darken here. Gods how she'd hated her brother when they were kids. He was always tormenting her after all. Now she was dashing to the water to look for his incoming boat. Louis looked from a prone Ashleigh to the locket in Billy's hand. He stared at the man's image in amazement. "Your - father??" The man in the image appeared to be speaking to Louis, who smiled faintly in return. He could not understand a word the man said, but he heard the name "Lestat". Louis frowned slightly, dropping his head, his hair cascading over his face. He turned his attention back to Ashleigh and Celeste. "Of course, Celeste, you may use my blood," He thought about how to move Ashleight, he couldn't be exposed to sunlight if he was now, indeed, becoming a full vampire. "My potion!!" Louis suddenly thought. If they had to move Ashleigh into sunlight, maybe his potion would help? Not wanting to disturb Ashleigh, Louis called out gently to Merlin: "Sir? Would the potion you gave to me help Ashleigh so we can move him to Celeste's quarters?" "It should help, but a shield of darkness would be faster, as getting anything in to him just now shall be a challenge that we probably shouldn't waste time on now." With that, and with a nod to Nymue he instructed the others on how to cast a spell of darkness. "I'll need help from all of you to keep it up. Vampires need more darkness than others, else Nymue and I could do it alone. Look at the light, and think about the darkness. It is black. Black is really all colors, so pull all the colors in the surrounding light to make darkness. Form it with the rest of us in to a blanket that covers him. It should span several feet." Lifting his hands he began the shield, and the light from the room shifted, and turned to darkness as his wife also lifted her hands at his side. Darkness wavered and began to cover Ashley. "I'd like to know how this happened!" Merlin growled. He didn't take at all kindly to his students being attacked, and he was sure this was an attack, but exactly why was what he was after. Darken got off the boat and walked slowly toward his sister. He couldn't believe he'd actually been accepted. He greeted Lauraina in his customary way allowing the ground to drop 20 feet. "The question is are you still glad I've arrived? How's school going? Whose a likely target? Don't worry, I'm really going to try to be good, just for you but I have to have some harmless fun. Everyone sends their love and I have presents for you from all if I decide to give them to you," he told her. "Goddamnit,Darken!" Lauraina was usually quiet, but her brother knew how to make her angry. Somehow she'd managed to forget that. "Who is Everyone? I'm guessing not Mother?" Kylae, the goblin queen, hadn't seemed to think very kindly of her now that she'd seemed to "grow in to a small uncle Adrian." Well whatever. She shrugged the thought away, wishing that Kylae could've been different and that things could've been different for Kylae. Returning the "world drop" to her brother she moved to give him a hug and help him with his bags that he'd somehow managed not to drop. "Yes, Darken. Do try to be good. There is a vampire here, and more odd types. A guy that kind of looks like a girl, maybe he's gay, but not like Daddy and Uncle Adrian. He really seems to want to look pretty." She frowned for a moment before going on. "He's kind though, and his sister is strange in her own right, but funny. Then there are some humans, and faeries, and a gnome/faerie, Maeb's son, you know." She took a breath. She'd not said so much in days. Kid stared into the stall that Kushiel had indicated held the mysterious threstel. It was empty! Was Kushiel playing a joke on him? There was nothing in the stall but hay, and a bucket. "Sir?" Kid asked, "Err...Where is she???"... Louis watched, fascinated, as darkness decended into the room, basically covering Ashleigh. Again, he was utterly amazed at Merlin's powers. "I'd like to know how this happened," Merlin asked. "Sir, I don't quite know. It had something to do with his schedule. Some kind of a spell was written on it, but when Ashleigh went to bring it to you, it burnt up in his hand. Celeste saw it," Louis looked to Celeste for confirmation,"she told us it was a spell, then we got that strange note from Jessica's Lucas. I really don't understand any of it." Louis looked pleadingly at Merlin. He felt terrible, but as these incidents went on, he realized he did not have anything to do with them. He could only hope that Lestat would call him, so he could ask for some help. He turned back to Ashleigh on the floor, "Celeste, take however much blood of mine that you need, just please please help him." "No, mother didn't send you anything but greetings but everyone else send you enough stuff to make up for it. I had to bring stuff from the Antera kitchen for you. I think Uncle Adrian feels no one else can feed you as well and you might die if you don't get enough deserts but it was easier to bring the stuff than fight with him. I think he's depressed because all of us are leaving. Anyway, why would a man want to look pretty? That's a rhetorical question, I doubt you can answer it. That's interesting to say the least. Is there anyone here you think it would be useful to ally myself with. How are you liking school and why don't you have friends yet. We should be accepted here," he said to his sister all the while hoping they were headed to get food. "Perhaps the guy wants to look like a woman?" Lauraina asked in return. There is a half faerie/half demon guy here that hangs out with the odd gang. You may like that,"Lauraina made a face. "I'll take you to get food as soon as we put your things down." She lead him to the boy's dorms. "Be nice to whoever you live with. Don't play with them,Please!" She sighed and lead him to the kitchens. "I'd like to befriend Maeb's daughter Titania, as she seems nice, but I never know what to say to people, Darken!" She said in answer to his wanting to know why she'd not made friends yet. "She is behind this and working with vampires?" Nymue's eyes widened and she suddenly laughed a insane laugh, tossing back her head of wild tangled hair. "My how she comes up in the world!" "That is not funny,Nymue!" Merlin snapped. "Oh yes it is!" The woman still laughed, but it had come down to a chuckle. To Louis, and the others Merlin said,"She is a dangerous woman, who is more angry each time she is tharted. I don't see how she managed to do this through a letter...to effect his blood...to illustrate such a change." He frowned in deep thought. "Why would anyone want to look different than they are? That's a rather disturbing thought. Why don't you ever know what to say to people? I'll try to be nice to my roommate. I mean I want to stay here and there's no reason to start trouble. I'm going to have so much fun. After I eat, take me around and introduce me to people. It might help you make friends as well. After all, you'll have to talk to them to introduce me. I knew part of the reason I came was to help you do things you wouldn't normally accomplish without me, he said smiling at his sister. The small voice emanated from the locket-- "I know! I know" Howard piped up, still speaking in the mixed-up tongue. "Though, I'm a bit curious about this Morgan woman--she must have ties to the Moo'doxk clan of dark magic" he posed (still speaking in the funky tongue). "Um," Billy says to everyone, "Poppa seems to have an idea of how this might have happened..." Merlin seemed to understand the man well enough. "How do you think this happened then?" He stared hard at the locket. "Gods, Darken but you have an ego!" Lauraina shook her head. "IT is simply that Anteara is a small kingdom, and we don't see much." While he ate, she told him of Maeb's other daughter,Titania. "I think they've only been dealing with her for a few years, but I'm not really sure. It isn't really our affair, so don't go asking." Then at his glare she said,"Well one never knows with you,Darken, but the daughter of Maeb is not a playtoy for you the way most [people are, so don't get stupid. I really like her from what I've seen. She seems to favor her father,Fric a lot." She scried quickly for her, and lead Darken to meet her. Kushiel looked at kid Damn he thought "Kid have you ever seen someone die?" Kushiel asked. "Oh" Billy held out the locket to Merlin. The locket shook with enthusiasm. "Quite simple, really" Howard began, emanating in the mixed tongue, "The Moo'doxk clan is a part--well, far-off, distant, very off-off-off part--of our family that specializes in studying change--transmogrification, transfiguration, the lot. Except they hardly ever touch the living, you know--life holds light, and blinds them. They work with spirits; the essence, the aura, the being. It's child's play for them to confuse the dead, and prevent them from passing, as they change, and can't make a proper connection to the world. Blood is the only living thing they can touch, so they have special ways of having fun with it. They can touch blood, afterall, because the nature of blood is so fickle; it lives and dies very quickly. They have it well within their powers to turn the blood of a dog to that of a bound spirit--easily turn blood of the living into blood of the dead. They call it 'blood burn'. It requires complicated magic of inscribing the blood of a dead spirit into a charm, and by virtue of the spell being absorbed by a living entity of the opposing force--say, a dark ghoul's blood is even with the blood of a common human being--and the energies of the blood become switched. Though, switching from dark to light is a rather complicated process--if the match is uneven, there's usually a leftover product that comes about--depending on where the excess is, you can either have fire or ashes--hence the name, 'blood burn'. Very painful stuff!" The locket rocked to the side a bit. "Seems as though whoever this lass is, is still a bit inexperience--she didn't balance out her factors right! Too much fire left over at the end--a good switchover would have been unnoticed...She probably picked some low-life ghoul, and overestimated the amount of vampiric blood within my son" Merlin frowned in thought. "And is that how you're in that locket?"He asked. "How could Morgan get this information though? Would she be related to you, and why would she be after the boy?" He shook his head wondering if he was totally confused. Nymue watched in deep thought, but did not speak. Howard, from the locket, frowned. "By sneakery, no doubt" he postulated. "The Moo'Doxk keep their secrets veeeery closely guarded. They only use it for light entertainment, afterall" *at this point, Howard coughed*. "And whatever this Morgan person wants, well--I have no idea why she wants my son to become a full vampire! I could understand me, or someone else in the family--older! But Ashleigh..I doubt he even realizes that he's part vampire." "I told it to him yesterday" Billy interjected. "Oh. WELL, that changes things...hmm.." Morgyn finished her food and stood up to leave. "Well I guess I'll see around in classes or something. It was nice meeting you. I'm gonna check in the dorms really quick to see if Morine has passed through. Toodle-loo." Morgyn took the long way through the campus lawn to get to the dormitories at the far end. She paused where the lawn mingled with dark woodland. Entering the woods, making sure no one was watching as the woods were forbidden, she found a nice small clearing, and she emptied her napkin of what had remained of her lunch. It was always her custom to leave offerings to faeries. Balling the empty napkin back up, making sure not to leave it on the forest floor, she stepped out of the woods to slowly walk along the edge, not quite in, and made her way to her dormitory. A small pixy stared at the food offering, and then after eating a bit, flew behind the girl. Her curly red hair framed a pointed face, and her long green velvet dress flowed behind her. One of the many daughters of King Oberon, Wyn saw this girl as a perfect power target. She made sure not to be seen, only watching herself, and staying far enough behind. "Yes! It is time to make a friend." She whispered to herself. "Morgyn!" The tall, half-goblin girl,Lauraina Estell called out. "At least I think that is her name," She murmured to her older brother in an under tone. "Hi. I'm showing my big brother about. He's a student here for as long as he is good and out of trouble." She smiled slightly. Titania slurped her drink, staring after the girl as she left. "Offy rush�d she went, billy-buzzzz" she spattered off to herself, then, with one last slurp, took out her schedule from her bag. "Hmm...next is..." Morgyn had heard her name and whirled around. She thought she felt something hit her arm, but threw the idea off to maybe a bug slapping against her. Smiling, Morgyn said, "Well it's nice to meet you, er...what's your name? It's only the first day of school, and I still haven't got everyone's names down yet. What's your schedule? Perhaps we have some classes together? What about you too?" she asked, looking at Lauraina. Don't have the blasted schedule with me,"Lauraina laughed,but my name is Lauraina Estell and this is my brother Darken. We were looking for Titania, but I wanted him to meet everyone." She blushed slightly. "He thinks it is also a good way for me to meet everyone as I tend not to say much." Titania tilted her head up from the paper. "I see then--well, Bubble!" She jerked up from her chair, knocking it over in the process (but she caught it, too) Titania then cracked her knuckles, and flung her bag over her shoulder-- "Pithy-Pilly pathering polly! Off, and off, and up goeth I..." She then walked off in a strange direction (that involved clearing some tables in spirited jumps) Darken held a hand out to Morgyn. "Nice to meet you. I plan to be here for a while. I really have no choice in the matter,: he said to Morgyn in an undertone. "You see, Lauraina really needs me. She has trouble functioning at her full capacity when I'm not around. I guess that's just the duty of a big brother,: he said. "Well that's ok, I'll just see you around then. I had left Titania in the dining hall just a minute ago, so she might still be lingering around. If you see me in any class or anything, just come up to me, now that we know each other, and you won't have to worry about being shy." Morgyn looked at Darken. "That goes for you too, Darken." Morgyn took the hand that was offered to her. "Oh..." she breathed softly. "I see. Well then it's a good thing you're here to take care of her. And if I'm around and you're not, then I'll try my best to do my part as well, if that's all right?" Darken smiled charmingly at Morgyn. "Thanks, my sister could use any assistance you could give. Sometimes even brothers need to relax and have fun. Have you met anyone else interesting here?" he said to Morgyn. Morgyn shrugged. "I'm looking for my roommate, she's pretty cool. At least she was this morning. And I met a couple of people in class, Louis something-or-other, and that Titania that you were looking for. And I met a girl named Billy in passing. And now you two. So that's about it for, but not bad considering it's still the first day and only lunchtime." A thought struck her and she hurriedly glanced down at her watch. "Oh, speaking of which, I have to run if I want to get to the dorms before the next class start. Maybe I'll see you around. Bye!" And then she was off, running to the dorms, her red and black hair bouncing behind her. Lauraina glared hotly at both of them. To Morgyn she said,"My brother was being sarcastic and annoying which is what he's good at. I need no one to take care of me." With that she swept off leaving them alone. Lauraina was walking fast and in a bit of rage which was unlike her. Did she look like a helpless child simply because she didn't know what to say to most other young people? If they'd lived the dull court life she had perhaps they'd understand but she wanted to tell no one of that. She'd not be liked because she was a bloody princess. Never! She stopped short when she almost crashed in to Titania. "Oh I'm so sorry. I usually know how to look where I'm going." She smiled slightly. Well, that's more people than I've met today. Darken felt rather alone after Lauraina's departure and went looking for her. He hoped his sister would come more out of her shell. He'd never admit to Lauraina that he felt a little lost among these strangers. Titania merely stared, then leaned backwards. "Good going for the apology!" She then bounced back forward. "I don't beleive I know your name" she inquired, looking up at Lauraina. She furrowed her brow. "Do I? My memory fades and goes." "My mum knows yours a bit, actually. I'm Lauraina Estell and my Mum is the Goblin Kylae. I don't want most people to know about the royal stuff. My brother just got here, and he's being..." Then she saw darken walking up to her on his lanky legs, and she stopped and glared. "Kid have you ever seen someone die?" Kushiel asked. Kid stepped back and prepared to defend himself. Was Kushiel going to attack him? Was this some kind of wierd joke? First Kushiel tells him there is a sick or wounded creature in the stables, then shows him an empty stall and now is asking him about dead people. Kushiel did not look like he was going to attack. Actually he looked kind of frustrated, so Kid answered, "No, sir, I've never seen anyone die and I hope I never do." 2200^^ Titania stared up. She snapped her fingers-- "AH! Right--you visited sometimes when we were younger, no?" Titania inquired. Who knew if she visited later? Titania herself hadn't been in the faerie realm since the age of nine, afterall... Titania then cocked her head at Lauraina's pained expression, then swiveled her head around. Her body then matched the motion. "Oh?" "then u will not see her she is a threstel. only those who have seen death can see a threstle." Kushiel sighed. Darken couldn't hide the look of relief that passed across his face as he caught up to Lauraina. "All right, he said to Lauraina, I'll try to do better. You never appreciated my sarcasm. Hello, you look vaguely familiar," Darken said holding out a hand to Titania. Titania stared up at him. She snapped her fingers. "Darken. You're Darken! Goodness, it's been a while, mmm?" Titania slapped her small hand into Darken's (with an admirable amount of force) and shook his hand vigorously. "I'm Titania--you remember, right?" Dorian who had been thoroughly enjoying his classes so far and had eaten a large lunch was walking down the hall when he heard voices. He turned a corner and smiled grimly at one of the foul queen's offspring and...oh, who was this? And the tall goblin girl beside him. He smiled at them and introduced himself. Hello, I'm Dorian. He had been so absorbed in his studies and had been another class, elementals, that he had no clue of the happenings in the other classes. Fanoderee looked at Puck who he'd been conversing with when the message came. Oh, lordy, here we go again. I promised myself to remain sober today but if whatever this is is bad, I might have to break that pledge. Mind if I come along? If Puck agreed, he would follow and silently observe the conversation in the classroom and lend any aid he could. Darken laughed heartily at Titania. "Wow, you've got quite a grip. Well, now you've impressed me and that's not a good thing for you because I've decided to hang out with you now. I think we might even be friends. Isn't it cool how I decide things like that? Yes, Titania I do remember you. It's been so long I wasn't quite sure," Darken said. "Who is Lordy, by the way?" Puck asked his friend with a grin. "Sure I can use the help but you can not drink. Can not!!!!! And vampires plus Morgan is not a good thing. Bloody bleeding bothers!" Suddenly Kid thought he understood! "She's invisible!!" He said. How interesting! He'd never seen an invisible animal before...well, of course not. He laughed at himself and reached out to touch the invisible threstel. He felt her!! She was hot and ...scaly? He could feel her bones under her...skin? He tried his power but there was nothing. He did not think there would be, not with that skin. She definitely wasn't mammalian. Not completly, anyway. "I don't think I'm going to be much help here, Proffesor." Kid said saddly. "I can't even see her." He glanced out the door trying to judge the time, "Sorry sir, but I have to run or I'm going to be late for my next class." When Kid got outside he checked his class list to see what was next. "Basics of Faery Culture - Amberly Mornedhel" --Well, this should be interesting-- Kid thought as he turned into a centaur and galloped off through the forest towards the place that Proffessor Mornedhel was conducting her Fairie Culture class, turning back into a human just before he got there... She cocked her head. /Cool...?/ "I see. You don't seem to have changed all that much from the last time I saw you" Titania bubbled. "It is good to see you two" she looked to the siblings. "How are things with your mum and pop, anyways?" Ain't nobody, Pucky. Yes, Fanoderee said in a more serious voice. Morgan is very serious. Why the bloody hell can't she just leave well enough alone? Of course the bogle was speaking rhetorically for everyone knew that Morgan would never leave well enough alone. "Well let's see, my parents broke up years ago because my dad ended up sleeping with my brother and they decided they were soul mates. I wish this wasn't public knowledge, but my dad and uncle Adrian never were as good at hiding their relationship as they thought they were. And even if they were, my mother has absolutely no reason to keep their secret. Most people give us strange looks and whisper behind our back but it's not our fault. We didn't do it and we shouldn't have to pay for what our parent and uncle did. Anyway, don't tell anyone who we are. Lauraina doesn't want to be liked for who she is and they already know we're siblings. I guess I see Lauraina's point. I only told you because you asked and most everyone knows including your mom and dad. You look so much like your father. So what have you been up too since I last saw you so long ago?" Darken asked. Meadowlark (whom everyone called Lark) waited impatiently for Narcissus to finish packing. If he hadn't procrastinated until the very last minute, they would already be at school. However, Narcissus had scried and said everyone was eating so they weren't missing much. Meadowlark was so excited about the prospect of attending school. When Narcissus was finally ready, Lark made him wait wile she hugged her mother Dewdrop good-bye. Then, she went to say good-bye to the WestCraven family with whom she'd always been close. Now I'm ready," she said to Narcissus and they went to board the boat that would take them to the school. When they arrived Lark and Narcissus got their room assignments and put their things away. Then, they joined everyone in the dining hall. Narcissus and Lark went to stand with Darken, Lauraina and Titania since they weren't familiar with anyone else. "Hi, everyone,' Lark said brightly and Narcissus nodded a greeting. At various points in the story, Titania gave a lively performance of expressions; "My parents broke up--" A small nod, and a perplexed look "--because my dad ended up sleeping with my brother--" Eyes flew open, and jaw opened. "--and decided they were soul mates." Her eyebrows knit skeptically. "I wish this wasn't public knowledge..." A nod of understanding, still holding the earlier face, which eventually melted to a very emphatic look. "...Anyway, don't tell anyone who we are--" Here the expression of empathy dropped to one of puzzlement, and she cocked her head. "--Lauraina doesn't want to be liked for who she is, and they already know we're siblings." Titania's eyes blinked understandingly. She held her lips resolute, and saluted. "I only told you because most everyone knows including your mom and your dad. You look so much like your father". Here Titania was taken aback. /I look like Poppa?/ Her lips pursed, obviously contemplating whether she should believe it or not. "So what have you been up to since I saw you last?" Titania smiled. "Well--" "Hello!" A girl waved to the group, and Titania looked over at the one who interrupted. "Ah? Meadow Lark?...It is Meadow Lark, right?" she asked, checking if her memory had played tricks on her in the past near-decade. Darken smiled at Titania and nodded to Meadowlark and Narcissus. "Yes, you really look like your father. Has no one ever told you that," he asked "Yes, I'm Meadowlark, but everyone calls me Lark. I believe we are to be roommates this year. It's been so long since I've seen you. What have you been up too? You haven't missed a lot in the ferry realm. Nothing ever really changes," Lark said to Titania "Hello, Titania," Narcissus said holding out a hand to her not sure what kind of reception he should expect. After all, it wasn't his fault Titania had problems with their mother. He resolved to try to get to know Titania better. Titania smiled. "No--people just told me I looked like Mab" she replied, an icy tone in the name "Mab" She turned to Lark-- "Really?" she asked. She hadn't known she was going to have a roomate."That's nice" she noted, "I haven't been doing all that much, really..." She thought of Albus. "Er, well, I had to break up with my boyfriend, though...He's in France.." Her face had fallen a bit. "Why did you break up?" Lauraina asked. "I'm a bit of a romantic, but perhaps things can be fixed?" She grinned suddenly. "Perhaps we could help?" Then looking from Titania to Narcissus, Well, the queen is fare of coloring, and both of you may have her eyes, but you look a lot like the gnome side of your father's family." She smiled. "We kids of 2 different magical backgrounds have a neat opportunity. Faerie and gnome for you all, human and faerie from the look of you,Lark, and human and goblin for my shit of a brother and I." She grinned at Darken thinking that she'd not talked so much in ages. Yes. It was good to have him here. As Kid stood outside Proffessor Mornedhel's classroom he glanced up at the sky again and noticed that he still had some time before class started. He noticed that he was hungry and decided to go to the Dining Hall for a quick bite and to see if he could find Louis or Ashleigh. As he approached the DH he noticed a group of students standing around right outside. He recognized a couple of the faces from the night before but most were new to him. "Hi," he said. "Would any of you know Louis or Ashleigh? Louis is a good looking vampire type and Ash dresses like a girl. I was just hoping to find out how Ashleigh is doing." Darken glared briefly at his sister before nodding in agreement. "Anything we can do to help you with your failed relationship will be a pleasure, that is if there is anything that can be done," he said to Titania. Larks eyes lit up at the prospect of the new project they would hopefully be embarking on. She'd been bored most of her life and so she seized any opportunity presented to her. "Count me in as well. I see a lot more of your father in the 2 of you. What is there to do around here after school. Are we allowed to go out or what? she asked. Titania bowed her head low. "No...we just agreed that it'd be better to not have any attatchhments like that when we're off in different parts of the world" she said, slowly (and very melancholy-like). "Plus...well, life just got strange when I was trying to deal with finding out who my real father was" she said. She looked up at Narcissus, and sighed. "It's so weird to see my brother after all this time, too" she sighed. /I wonder what they'd think of my boyfriend being a half-giant?/ she thought to herself-- "Kid? Aren't they still in that room?" Titania inquired, remembering when she'd left off. "Why, has it got worse?" "Um...yeah." Lauraina smiled at him. He was so attractive, but all the girls flocked to him. "I've seen them both, but not lately. Is something wrong?" Louis turned to Billy, "Make sure your father remains in contact with us. I am not sure how much blood he needs. I don't want anything to go wrong." He turned his attention to the prone Ashleigh. He tore at his wrist, holding it to Ashleigh's mouth. "Ashleigh, drink, please," Louis said tremously. He hated this, hated it. He had sworn he would never turn anyone into the creature he was. But, wasn't Ashleigh part vampire to begin with? Still, it disturbed him. Nightfall couldn't come fast enough for Louis. He needed to hear from Lestat. Meanwhile, he hoped this all went well. He couldn't help the tears that fell from his eyes. He felt something warm against his leg, and looked down to see Keats by his side, his large green eyes filled with the same sorrow as his master's. :Louis, you have to do this, you can't let him die.: Darken was beginning to get restless. They'd been standing here for quite a while. "If we're not having classes, why don't we go and do something. Maybe Titania and Lauraina can show us around," Darken asked hopefully Narcissus"'I hope we can get to know each other better, Titania. While I understand what mother did, I don't blame you for your feelings toward her,' Narcissus said thinking honesty was the best policy. Titania cocked her head to the right. "Don't worry about it" she slapped Narcissus on the shoulder. Translation; don't talk about it, I don't want to worry about it. She then turned to Darken-- "Certainly--I have a free period right now" Narcissus looked relieved that Titania had no issue with him. Darken was happy to be doing something. They followed behind Titania, Darken looking to see if Lauraina was coming with them. "Tell me about the people here? Lark asked as they walked along. Billy made a tentative whimper, "okay..." Ashleigh groaned, and lurched forward... But then a shout erupted-- "You will not kill my son!" came out in plain english from the Strauss family head. Ashleigh froze in his spot. "He needs to balance the living blood within him first! Billy--oh blast, that won't work" he muttered, slipping back into the bizzare dialect... Billy nodded her head. "Ashleigh needs blood from someone who is completely alive..." "Where are we going?"Lauraina asked Titania with a slight smile. Then to Lark,"There are most kinds here, really. A lot of half-breeds, which actually help me feel like I can fit in somewhat. Half human and half Faeries, Vampires, and even demons, and Darken and I are the goblin parts." She chuckled. "A human student has a harpy, and there is a centaur professor." Kid smiled back at the beautiful goblin girl and tried to explain what had happened to Jessica and then about Ashliegh and the bespelled class list, "I'm not really sure what it was all about, but Ashliegh was in pretty rough shape the last time I saw him and they were taking him to Prof. Celeste's lab to see if they could help him." He grinned sheepishly, "and then I had to meet Prof. Kushiel at stables and lost track of what was happening with Ash. Now I have a class but was hoping to find out something first." ... "Oh wow!" Lauraina's eyes widened. "Well things are already crazy and my brother hasn't even done anything yet." She then quickly introduced Kid to the new comers. "Titania's brother Narcissus, my brother Darken, and Meadow Lark." With a final nod to the half faerie half human girl." As Kid greeted the new people he looked them over carefully. Having only met Lauraina and Titania the night before and then only in passing, this was the first chance he had to get to know them. He got sort of a wierd feeling from both Lauraina and her brother, Darken. Not a bad feeling but more of a wariness. Titania and Narcissus were as different looking from Lauraina and Darken as Kid had ever seen. Where the Goblins were tall and dark the Faerie were small and fair. MeadowLark too was small and fair. And beautiful. They were all beautiful. Even the guys. "I'd love to stay and talk," Kid said, meaning it, "but I have a class to get to and I'm starving. I'm going in here," indicating the Dining Hall, "to grab a bite and see if maybe somebody knows something about Ashliegh. Maybe I'll see you all later?..." Meadowlark smiled at Kid. "Very well, it was nice meeting you. See you later. Enjoy your meal,"she called after him. Kid smiled and waved back. "Later. Thanks." As he went into the DH he glanced around to see if he could spot anyone he knew. He thought he saw Serpensorcia over in a corner, but before he could see if it was her he saw Ghost stretched out in a couch fast asleep. He looked over at the hourglass set in a nook in the wall. He still had about 15 minutes until class. He crept up to where the white racoon was laying (very few people could creep as quietly as Kid) and as he reached out to tickle the exposed belly Ghost opened one eye and said, *Don't you dare!* Kid laughed and gave it a rub anyway. As they wrestled around Kid asked Ghost where all his freinds had got off to. *They all went off looking for their masters. Something about your vampire friend and the other one, the part vampire. I could feel you changing and running around from here to there, so I just waited here. I knew you would have to show up here sooner or later.* He grinned his toothy grin at Kid. Ghost was as practical as a 'coon could be. And as lazy. "Well Im starving," Kid said, rubbing his own stomach. "Where can I grab a quick bite?" "I've got just the place," Ghost replied and led him off through the silk hanging and down the spiral staircase to the Kitchen. Lucy was chopping some echinacea root for one of old Doc Webster's concoctions when she saw Ghost appear at the bottom of the stairwell. "WHAT? You back already??" Then she spotted the tall, dark young man following the racoon down the stairs and into her kitchen. She smiled her most dazzling smile and swept into a full courtly curtsey, "And what may I get for you, my fine young sir?" Kid was enchanted. The tiny woman whipped him up a sandwich in about 10 seconds, after he had finally stammered out his request. As he was munching he stared at the cook with astonishment as she whirled around the kitchen and in and out of the pantry in a blaze of activity. She used a huge cleaver as a wand, waving it around and pointing it at things. Pots, pans and dishes of all shapes and sizes were flying around amidst a storm of vegetables and other foodstuffs that were preparing themselves on the large tables and counters in the room. It looked totally chaotic but after a few minutes of watching Kid noticed that everything was always exactly where it was supposed to be at any given time. "Do you mind me being here?" Kid asked tentativly around a mouthfull of bread and venison. Lucy glanced up from the table where she was once again hand chopping the special ingredients for the school doctor's special anti-flatulence serum. "Of course not," she smiled that beautiful smile at him again. "I like having company. Just don't bring too many people with you at a time. It's dangerous when it gets crowded in here." she said with a glance and a wave towards the cylone of activity that was happening all around them. As Kid was leaving for class Lucy told him to come back any time and he told her that he would be back soon. With a call to Ghost and a wave to Lucy he headed back up the spiral srairwell to the DH. "Well that was interesting," Kid said to Ghost, "but now I REALLy have to go to my next class. Would you like to join me?" "No thanks," Ghost replied "I'm just going to stretch out right here and I will see you at supper time." Kid laughed and rubbed Ghost's head one more time before he headed out the big Dining Hall doors towards his next class. When he got to Prof. Mornedhel's classroom and took his seat he looked around the room to see who was there that he knew... "He has to have the blood from somebody who's alive," Louis' stomach lurched at Billy's words. He couldn't, he wouldn't do it. Find Ashleigh a victim? Turn him into a killer? Like he used to be. He mind whirled with possibilities. "Can - Can it be---Mr. Strauss, can it be an animal?" Louis looked at the image in the locket pleadingly. "Please, let it be possible," Louis thought. There was no way he would be able to find a "suitable" living being. "Suitable" to Louis meant an evil doer. And there were certainly no evildoers here at Wolfsbane. "Are you completely positive, Mr. Stauss? My blood is from my maker, who got his blood from Queen Akasha. Doesn't that make a difference, at least in this case? Can it hold him over, until I can get him to the mainland? There I can hunt down someone." Louis shivered. The mere thought of hunting again after all these years was repulsing him. Keats and Obscure sat on either side of him, their eyes filled with sympathy. Mr. Strauss smiled from the pendant, and continued calmly in the mixed tongue-- "Of course it's alright to use an animal! It's living blood, afterall." Billy blanked, relieved. Her hand unconsciously strayed to Obscure, who was at her side... Obscure felt an odd chill go down her kitty spine. :Master, you must be joking: A smile spread on Billy's lips. "He only needs a liiittle bit, right, Poppa?" "Well, yes--in proportion to stabilize the living blood quotient..."(here he went on to babble incensantly of the balancing of properties that dark alchemists all pain to learn when studying that sort of thing.) Louis looked at Billy sternly. "Billy," he picked up Obscure and placed her beside Keats. Keats proceeded to rub against her, calming her. :My master won't use us. Remember the deer last night at dinner? My master left it alive.: Louis smiled at Keats. "There is a deer, an old deer, who is dying anyway. I fed a bit from it last night. It is still alive. I could ask Frick to fetch it for us. I'm sure Frick wouldn't mind." Louis got up and headed towards the offices, searching frantically for Frick. He couldn't believe his luck!! The deer would suit perfectly. Animal blood!! Louis himself had survived on it for many years, his repulsion to kill would not allow him to take a human life during the first years of his vampiric existence. Lestat had not fully explained the killing to him. Lestat. Louis looked at the time. Still hours till nighfall. He was getting anxious to hear from Lestat. He hoped that he or one of the othe elders could shed some light on what was happening here. Merlin watched as the vampire dashed out, but he remained still, waiting with the others. Nymue's eyes were flashing with eagerness, but she as well was still and silent though she thought that another vampire would strengthen them even more against whatever it was that Morgan was up to. Queen Maeb was having lunch in Fric's classroom with him. "So they should be here now. If Narcissus is not here today I'll have his hide!" She was saying when Louis came in. She tried not to shrink back. Vampires, demons, and such had always bothered her as she considered them creepy and vulgar. She turned to see Fric giving the boy a friendly smile. Of course, she thought. Billy frowned, as if to say, "I was only joking, you silly" Obscure hissed. But then continued to snuggle against Keats. :When opportunity knocks: she thought to herself. "Narcissus should be here any time now," Fric was saying as Louis came in. He smiled at Louis briefly before noticing something was wrong. "Hello, you don't look as if your day is going well. Is there something I can help you with," Fric asked. Louis stopped dead in his tracks upon entering the office where Fric was. He had just rushed in there, without knocking!!! He felt badly. Noticing the look of discomfort from Queen Maeb, Louis apologized: "I'm sorry, Madam, but this is an emergency. I am terribly sorry to have disturbed you," he bowed to her from the waist then turned to Fric. "No, I am not having a good day. Really bad one. Ummm, remember that deer you offered me at the Banquet? He is still alive, I did not need to feed that much. Could you help me bring him to someone? Ummm, it's really important." Fric took no pleasure in Louis's discomfort. After all, Louis couldn't help what he was and he shouldn't have to apologize for it. Aw, well, he'd always loved and accepted Maeb, shortcomings and all. And Fric didn't delude himself by thinking he was perfect either. "Of course, I'll go and help you bring the deer back," Fric said walking hastily out the door with Louis. He wondered what the emergency was, but he kept his silence. Fric knew if Louis wanted it known he'd tell it. "Fric, thank you so much," Louis stated firmly, taking the deer's bridle from Fric. He noticed Fric's curiosity. "Merlin didn't tell you?? There's a boy here, Ashleigh,Strauss, he's half vampire. Well, to make a long story short, some kind of spell, or curse, has caused Ashleigh to start to become a full vampire. He, ummm," Louis looked at the floor,"he needs to feed to live. I was going to give him my blood,but his father recommended the blood had to be live." Louis grimmaced. "I couldn't - I mean - a live person. I - I can't. So, I thought of the deer." He looked up at Fric. "If you would like to assist, it would be most appreciated. I thank you for your kindness." Louis led the deer into the still darkened room, and walked it up to Ashleigh. "Ashleigh," Louis knelt down to his friend, "sit up, just a bit. You need to feed." Louis glanced at the locket for Mr. Strauss' approval. Keats was getting terribly comfortable here with Obscure at his side. Angel he had noticed right away. But, Obscure? Damn, she was cute!! And she had a nice warm body temperature too. Keats was happy. He placed his head across her back, watching all the proceedings around him. He worried about Ashleigh, and about Louis. Louis didn't know it, but Keats had picked up Lestat. Lestat was on his way here. Keats didn't like this, not at all. But, now was not the opportune time to tell Louis. Keats' tail twitched as he picked up another vampire. Another one? Keats shivered. This was not good, not at all. By nightfall both Lestat and this other one would be here. Keats waited anxiously for the proceedings to be over. Even though he was concerned about Ashleigh, his priority lay in his master. "Of course, I'll be glad to assist you in any way I can, just tell me what you need. No, I haven't talked with Merlin so this is news to me. Would it not be better if you fully change him into a vampire or is that not a desirable solution," Fric asked walking in behind Louis and waiting to see how he could be of help. The locket creaked out, "Ah, a wonderful specimen of venison!" Ashleigh needed no further encouragement, and latched on to the deer's neck. Billy gripped the chain of the locket, and watched eagerly. She'd never seen a vampire feeding before! Obscure began to purr, then stopped. :Hey, you feel that aura?: Obscure asked Keats, reffering to the other vampiric aura. "Would it not be better if you fully change him into a vampire or is that not a desirable solution," Fric asked. "No, according to Ashleigh's father, it could mean his death." Louis answered, turning to Fric as he spoke, "I don't know why, but his father knows what's good for him. I am only experienced with full fledgled vampires. I know nothing of half vampires. I'm glad Ashleigh's father interviened. I don't know what would have happened..." Louis trailed off, wanting to avoid those terrible thoughts. He could have destroyed Ashleigh, or made him mad. He looked thankfully into the small face in the locket. "Billy, tell Mr. Strauss thank you for saving Ashleigh," Louis said as he watched Ashleigh feed. He knew when to separate him from the deer and continuted to watch carefully, Fric at his side. Keats shivered again, :I certainly can.: Keats answered Obscure about the feeling of another vampire. :It's Lestat. Lestat and some other vampire. They're coming here. I can feel it. I have to warn Louis. I have to.: Keats tried to relax, not wanting to alarm Louis with his body language right now. He decided to calm himself as cats do: simply, he began to wash. He started at his paws, then down his sides and back, and along his tappering tail. Then, he started on Obscure's ears. If he could just keep this up......Louis wouldn't notice his nervousness. But, boy was his tongue getting tired, he had just washed an hour before, after the pantry fiasco. But, what a way to get acquainted with another cat!! Keats couldn't resist,he started to purr. Billy nodded, and muttered in the strange tongue to the locket. The face smiled, and uttered in gutteral common-speak, "Your welcome". Ashleigh saw red in his mind. Flushing colors, dazzling lights, you name it. His heart beat. His eyes flew open, and he coughed, his vision still blurry. :Lestat? That doesn't sound good. The name's familiar--: Obscure blinked. :OO! That's good! Could you get that spot right there?: she asked, purring. "Good day Fric!" Merlin said warmly to the Gnome. "I must say it is good to have you about. Any suggestions you have are appreciated. I'm sure that Maeb told you about the current trouble?" Cassandra wandered away from the lake, and to the dining hall. Perhaps some others would be hanging about. Agamemnon was still working out his class schedule and she didn't wish to be in his way. She still couldn't believe the commander had actually come here for her! Tantalus shifted about her neck and hissed. She nodded to him. For some reason she always understood him. "I'll ask the kitchen staff for some water, and I'll try to scry and see what I can. Something odd is going on round here, and I could perhaps help now that I'm somewhere I will be believed." Gwydion walked into the room, Selene rubbing against his leg and Math perched on his shoulder, trying to figure out what was going on. "Um, where in the world am I? I just kind of woke up here. What is going on!?" Serpensortia Snape, who was coming in behind him nodded at Cassandra and looked to the boy. "How interesting!"She said sarcastically. "Most of us are invited here...We come on a boat. You just woke up here? Were you drunk when you slept?" The harpy behind the dark haired girl shrieked a laugh, and Cassandra sitting at the table tried hard not to smile. Serpensortia wasn't the most friendly. "I don't drink, I do however know some pretty powerful magick." The candles on the table flared for a moment and settled back to a dim glow. Lark couldn't help smiling briefly at Serpensorcias rather sarcastic comment. "How do you not remember anything about your arrival? Perhaps someone put a forget spell on you. ? Maybe I should take you to a staff member. They will be able to assist you. I'm Lark," she said holding out a hand to the newcomer. 2270^^ "Aren't you special then?"Serpensortia sneered. "He can light a candle, mates." The harpy laughed again, but Cassandra of Troy stood and moved to the new boy's side. Quietly she asked,"Do you think you may have received an invite and forgotten? If not, perhaps I should take you to headmaster Merlin?" Ashleigh finished coughing, then sat up, and looked around dizzily. "B...buh." That, at the current moment, was the only coherent sound he was able to make. Afterall--if one has just narrowly escaped death, speaking properly can be a bit hard. He rubbed his head. "Ow." ~~ Luxor sniffed the air. :Master?: Pat leaned in. "Yes?" he asked, biting into his sandwhich. :I think...I felt death turn to life.: Pat stared. "Huh? You mean, something like yourself?" he inquired. :No--I mean, blood. something.: Pat stared. "Er...wow. I'm going to have to ask you to elaborate on that." ~~ Morgan stared at her vials. The red film that had been slowly permeating the blue vial suddenly shrunk, corroded, and rolled itself into a ball within the vial. Morgan's oldened features crinkled. "Hmm...I guess I need to work on my figures" she spitingly told herself. She tapped the vial where the red dot was-- "No matter. He has tasted blood. That...is good enough for now." ~~ Billy squealed-- "Ash-ling!" She happily glomped him. Somewhere from the locket, Howard Strauss gave a hearty laugh. Obscure wrinkled her nose. :Ya gonna spill the beans on Lestat now?: she inquired Keats. ~~ Titania tugged at one of her black pigtails. "Well, he went off fast" she noted, (in reference to Kid). "Ah! places to go, places to go...Narcissus?" She looked around. Louis sat down with relief as he watched Ashleigh revive. The only thing that bothered him was the fact that Ashleigh was now like him, undead. The thought sickened him. He would now have to feed to survive. Louis sighed, but gave a smile to Billy and Ashleigh, letting them know it was alright. Keats came over to him, rubbing against his left leg. "Something the matter, little one?" he whispered, picking up his little cat. :Louis, Lestat is coming here. I can feel him coming here: Louis blanched. "I just called him today, he would just be getting the message now." :No, he'll be here by tonight. He left way before your message: Keats rested his paws on Louis' shoulder, rubbing his head under Louis' chin. How could this be? How did Lestat know about where he was? Louis shivered. And if he hadn't listened to his message, Lestat would be very angry. Louis didn't need this. "Damn," his whispered. :Louis, another problem, there's another vampire coming here. I'm not sure if he's with Lestat or not, but he's pretty powerful: "Oh,no. Lestat wouldn't. He wouldn't bring others. Oh, god." Louis stood up, Keats in his arms, and went to the window, gazing out over the beautiful landscape. Maybe he should leave now, save these people the trouble. He turned to Ashleigh, hoping he was alright. Would he have to teach him? Be there for him? He returned to Ashleigh's side, watching his face with concern. He set Keats down by Obscure. He couldn't leave Ashleigh, not now. He would have to face Lestat, and whomever he was bringing with him. "Should he drink something else now...Something restorative that is not...er...blood?"He frowned in grumpy annoyance. He hated not being sure of things. As a leader it felt odd. Nymue continued to star fixedly at Ashley. "How do you feel?"She asked wonderingly. Ashleigh blinked. His vision wasn't blurry anymore. "Uhhh...dizzy, I think. Wait, am I? Whoah..." Ashleigh tried to stand up. Billy helped him, looking at him concernedly. "Ash, you okay?" Ashleigh blinked. "What happened?" "You had a dinner of blood,"Nymue informed. Then at the look from Merlin,"Well he did!" He blinked. "I what?" Ashleigh spurted. "What the heck--why--huh?" In the midst of Ashleigh's confusion, Billy grabbed him by his shoulders and took a good sniff. "He's back to normal!" she exclaimed. "It worked!" "WHAT worked?" Obscure watched Keats and Louis with interest while her master was having a nice happy fit over her brother. :This dudn't look like it's gonna be a happy reunion: she said, and looked over to Merlin and Nymue. Narcissus looked back at Titania. Let's just look around. I've never been here and I assume you haven't been here very long. Darken trailed after Narcissus and Titania dragging Lauraina with him. Titania beamed. "Right-o! Hopping along then" she began, with a lively step--" She turned around-- "Say, maybe we should explore to see where all the bathrooms are...you know, in case of facility emergencies." Lauraina laughed. Titania was funny and she liked her a lot. "I was thinking more of forest groves, but you're being practical, so lets go." Titania bobbed her head, and then turned around-- "About that way!" she pointed, "Let's travel down that pathway to discover if there is such a bathroom down here." "Merlin? THE Merlin? The Tuatha De Dannan archmage who is credited with such varied accomplishments as Stonehenge and the Nazca plains? That Merlin? You better believe I want to see him!" Gwydion said, hardly keeping his voice down. He turned to Snape. "I can do a great deal more than light candles." he swung his right hand vaguely toward the center of the room and several of the heavy stones laid into the floor lifted up to head level and began to zip through the air quickly, smoothly avoiding any collissions."Inthe Harvard University Parapsychology program, which I have just mysteriously disappeared from, they had me blasting through steel-reinforced concrete walls." Serpensortia frowned as she watched the boy, now more calm, floating stones about. "You like myself are from the modern world, only you went to Muggle university. Interesting. Merlin must have needed you for something. We have those from all times here it seems." Nodding to Cassandra..."She's from Troy." "Greece now,"Cassandra said sadly. "I can't go back." Serpensortia shrugged. "Anyway as I understand it, time is of no matter here on Fae land." "A pleasure to meet all of you, now let us go see Merlin," Gwydion said. With the first fork of lighting that touched the earth Rath appeared on the ledge outside the castle window, in a matter of moments water coursed down the stone surfaces, but none touched Rath or the dragon on his shoulder, he turned and looked into the window at Gwydion and his new companions, at that moment another fork of lightning leaped across the sky, so that had anyone looked at that moment, they would have seen him clearly. with no effort at all he passed silently through the glass and moved silently into a dark corner, unnoticed while the youth radiated almost visible anger, at least to the eyes of a shade, he thought for a moment that, had not the stone blocks rose into the air the hem of the other man's cloak would likely have burst into flame to channel that energy. He watched cooly the egotistical display of power, and for a moment it reminded him of himself... before... NO! He shook his head as though to shake the rising emotion from his head. For one such as himself emotions were dangerous things, he had come for one purpose, and one purpose only, he could not afford to get any more involved than necessary with these people... If he was to protect them. The harpy shrieked when the think came in. The other humans looked around confused. "What the hell?"Serpensortia asked her harpy. "Something...dark...a shadow...bad!"Morig opened her wings, and shrieked her harpy unease once more. Her voice echoed in the hall and Cassandra shivered. "Can you please get Merlin?"She asked. Viewings danced at the edges of her sight. Did she want to know? The harpy flew from the room in a gust of wind to fetch the old Druid. "The fae queen will do as well,"Cassandra called after her. The bird woman shrieked again, but gave no other answer. :It can't be, Keats. I just phoned Lestat this afternoon, he may just be awakening now, but he could'nt possibly be almost here. And who is the other vampire?: Louis felt panic arise in him. Maybe Lestat had found out about where he was. AFterall, he was pretty powerful. Who was he coming here with? Maharet? To help destroy him? Or possible Marius? Louis shivered. "Well, get it over with, Lestat. I can no longer fight you," he thought to himself. He turned his attention back to Asheleigh, who was his priority for the moment. "Ashleigh, are you alright?" He turned to Merlin and Nymue. "If he is now a true vampire, he may need to feed again." He informed them. Turning back to Ashleigh, he again inquired, "Ashleigh how do you feel?" "Oh yes, please do bring Myrrdin, I am anxious to speak to him." Rath said as he stepped from the shadows and made himself a little more visible. "I must warn him, and thank him for whatever spells he cast that put an end to those blasted aether storms I have to deal with everywhere else." As he spoke he removed the dark cloth wrapped around his face and hands, which exposed only his eyes and mouth. "You have no idea how difficult life is for a shade." The stones Gwydion had levitated dropped immediately and he turned toward the shade. "Oh, and I would not recommend trying to attack me, I am quite literally not all here, you would pass straight through me and find a dagger lodged between your forth and fifth vertibrae before you realized what had happened." Rath continued. "Er..." Ashleigh blinked. "Uh, yes, I guess I'm fine" he replied, still unsure of exactly what had happened to him. /Me? Feed?/ Billy leaned over his shoulder to look at Louis in the eye. "He's just fine! He's got a heartbeat now, anyways" she bluntly stated, putting a finger on Ashleigh's jugular. "Gaa, hands off!" "See? Da-dum, da-dum, just as he should" she sweetly smiled. Giving Billy a sympathetic look, Louis turned to Ashleigh. "Ashleigh, do you feel strong? Steady enough to stand? Walk?" Louis didn't want to push the issue, but if Ashleigh didn't feed enough,he could die, and Louis would NOT let that happen. He held out his hand. "Let Billy and I help you," he offered. He kept an eye on the time. If Keats was right, Lestat would literally arrive here at sundown or shortly thereafter. Louis did not care how angry his maker was, he needed his help with Ashleigh. Then he would deal with Lestat's wrath. He watched Keats pad back to Obscure, twining around her. He smiled. Keats had found a friend. He seemed very fond of Obscure. :I am, Louis. Isn't she cute?: Keats asked. Louis laughed softly. "I think I remember where his office is,"Cassandra said to Serpensortia as she slowly stood. She'd never seen a shade before. Serpensortia had at Hogwarts, but they were...ghosts who were more ghost like, and didn't bother her as much. She frowned looking more annoyed than bothered, though, as she nodded to Cassandra. But the Harpy flew in with the old Druid before anyone else could speak. "What is going on?"He looked at the young man who had been juggling stones. "Oh my! You're early. All the magic has been acting up of late. If you'd Arrived when I'd meant you to, I'd have been able to talk with you. It is now time for me to take your education in hand. I'm your grandfather." He smiled slightly as he waited for that bit of news to be digested. He planned for the boy to befriend Kid. That should work out well enough. Cassandra sat back down looking glad to do so. "Alright, um what is going on exactly?" Gwydion asked, more confused than ever. "Your... my grandfather? And who's he? Where is this place?" "Math help me out here, what in the world is going on here?" He spoke into the hawk's mind. Rath stepped forward. "My sincerest apologies for interrupting this little reunion, but time is short. My name is Rath and I am a shade, field leader of the Raven Guild in the shadow realm of the astral plane, I am counted by many as one of the greatest rogues of all time, it seems you have already run into problems, and I am afraid that you, Maeb, Vivian, and Nimue might be the only survivors if your enemies decide to attack in full as things stand. I would like to offer my services as both security and a professor, no one knows better than a Raven that nothing stays secret for long and if there is an enemy within the school I'll find him... or her, and of course as a professor I can teach a select group of promising students the art shadowcraft which is unknown outside my world, there are only three academies that teach it, and all guard their secrets jealously, no one keeps secrets better than spies you know." He paused for a moment. "I have been watching for some time, I would like you to offer my course to all the fey folk, and the undead, particularily this Louis, also Gwydion here, and the one called Kid. I am not sure what is about them, but something tells me I should be teaching the last two as well." As Merlin was called frantically away by the harpy Nymue stayed with the others, still watching. "I'm sure Fric can find another animal." She gave the gnome a unreadable look before turning her mismatched eyes back to the students. Hugging herself, she wondered what was the matter now to call Merlin away. Ana had been listening in on the conversation from outside in the hall, she could never seem to get walking through walls quite right so she came in "through" the wood of the door of the castle, invisible, and she thought of an exchange between Rath and Rasputin some time ago, Rasputin had returned from a trip and come into the Guild the same way saying "I thought I'd come in the traditional way, through the door." and Rath had replied without a hint of humor "It's traditional to open it first." In her revery she almost missed the crowd gathered around a young man dressed as a woman with a vampire standing next to him. She spoke to the raven on her shoulder was all he answered Ana walked into the room and in an instant made herself visible again in a strategic position to startle the greatest possible number of people the most severly. Nymue lifted her hands in somewhat of a defensive posture. She generally only saw ghosts when she was calling them up to use them or when she was searching for ancient relics in a haunted place. There was no place for them here. "What business have you here,haunt?"She demanded, her good eye, and the blind glass one as well glaring at the ghost girl. She would not show any weakness here. She'd learned that well over time. Weakness was to die. "Don't you have a sense of humor? Can't I have a little fun now and then?" She answered the question with another question. "I'm with Master Rath, he came here to teach, and I followed him. Anastasia Romanov, at your service milady." Ana curtsied slightly. After Darken had drawn a map for all the bathrooms, and with duplicating spells made several to kindly hand out to the other students, Lauraina became serious again. That much laughing had been great, but..."We should find Kid."She told Titania and the rest. "He was worried, and I'd like to make sure all is well." Nymue's face twisted in pain at the name of her son..her baby boy. If he'd only died closer to home, he could've been put in the cauldron by Merlin, and been in 24 hours brought back to life. But no! He'd not been able to be saved, and they'd only found out years later. Merlin and she had left the boy to himself...to be free for a while, and look what had happened. Her mind went back to the time long before that...the time of Arthur's life when Merlin had been busy with druidic affairs of state and left her to handle the magical things of the grove. It had been raided by soldiers...Her eye torn out......She'd been raped by...NO! She'd not think of that either. He had paid for that over and over until she was tired thrice! He'd died scared and screaming! Her eyes were wild with her thoughts, and her hands in fists at her sides before she slowly released the rage...the rage that she'd thought long dead. It was over...She and Merlin had the child years and years later, and he'd been obviously as cursed as they. Merlin did not believe them cursed. Where was he now? Her eyes began to look panicked once more. "I prefer the term spirit by the way. Haunt is such a general term." Ana said. "Hmmm..... you know the name Rath don't you? He wasn't hired by someone to spy on you was he?" Ana paused a moment and thought about that. "No, if he had been you certainly would not have heard of him... Wait! Your someone from his past, the woman he remembers with the strange eye, that MUST be you! Oh wait till I tell him!" Ana turned and ran back the way she came and headed toward the dining hall and Rath. Merlin's face showed complete shock for only a moment. He quickly made his blank once more as he regarded the being speaking to him. His own son, but with no memory of things. Ah well it would come, and the druid would wait. There was then no greeting for the boy, no stupid tears of joy...good then. It was always nice to save dignity. "How did you know of all this?"He lifted one brow as he finally spoke. "For one thing, it is not at all proper to speak of such things in front of students." He nodded to Cassandra,Serpensortia, and his own grandson. "I'm not sure at all that you'll make a good professor." He frowned. He gestured the others sharply to go. Cassandra slowly stood. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but did not. Serpensortia left first, the harpy flying in front of her. Cassandra behind, and the boy last. "Show him about,please."He called after the girls. Then he spoke once more once the room was empty. "You believe that Morgan with her new vampiric friends can bring us down so easily...?" He clucked his tongue. "I'm not at all happy with your confidence in this academy!" Merlin thought that the boy must have gone as mad as Nymue could be at times. She'd given it to him alright. "She's still here. Spirits are not. They live mainly on the other realms."Nymue spoke flatly to the rest of the room. "We can't be having a ghost here. They're troublesome and annoying." Then she slumped against the wall. Where was the old man!? "I suppose so, Mia Culpa! I was never very good as a teacher, but I think they appreciate that I don't lie to them, I'm straight forward with my pupils, always have been. Your students have talent, but no experience, there is more going on than even you realize." Merlin frowned, becoming slightly angry. "So do tell what you profess to know, or leave." He didn't like anyone coming in to his university and acting like an upstart. "This establishment is for learning, so of course they are not experienced. They are a new flock...but very powerful." He thought that what ever happened here, it would strengthen his students for the quest...the most important quest of all. With his missing items...the items from his Gods he'd be able to beat any fool who dared to threaten him or his. Mordred Pendragon hacked through the brush with his serrated sword, he wore black leather and had the dark appearance of his lineage, except of course for the lock of white hair over his forehead, trauma tends to cause that premature greying, and Mordred could think of few things more traumatic than a near-death experience. Even his mother had thought he was dead, he had not seen her in a long time, and he was looking forward to seeing the look in that old bat Merlin's eyes when he rammed his sword through his heart. "Hmmm, for a start did you know Mordred Pendragon was still alive?" Rath said. "I have a really strange feeling about you, like we've met before, but that's impossible. Do you know a woman with a strange eye, it doesn't look like the other one?" Gwydion turned to Cassandra "What was he talking about? Attacked? Who's going to attack us? Merlin is keeping something from us, I don't like this, not one bit." "Well we're students, and he'd want to protect us,"Cassandra began. 'I'm not sure about all of it, but I'm sure he'll tell us as soon as he has all the complete facts. Fear is more of unknown after all. He makes me feel safe and I'd know." She thought for a moment. Know one believed her after all. "Sometimes I just know things." Then changing the subject quickly,'I'll show you about if you promise to be nice to people." Serpensortia snorted, but otherwise made no comment. "Of course he is alive, but not still alive."Merlin's lips twisted slightly in to almost a smile. "His mother has ways of bringing things back to life."He hated Morgan to the core of his being! "The woman you speak of is Nymue. She is my wife, and much like you at times." "Oh I'll be nice, to nice people." Gwydion said with a glare at Serpensorcia. A little bubble of heat formed around her just enough to be uncomfortable and then it disappeared. "He never died, but perhaps you did not know that she is now able to disguise herself, she has already been inside the school. I would not have known her if she had not dropped the disguise. And there is.... Something else." Rath hesitated to mention that last. It was something he did not wish to speak of. "Stop or I'll have you tossed right out of here on your Arse!" Serpensortia hissed her green eyes flashing. "My father is useful and he'll not like hearing about the likes of your crazy ass being let in here!" Cassandra held up a hand. "Please! you're both very important to this place. I'm sure of it! You need to stop power tripping, because we all have our own special powers,"She said to the boy. Then to Serpensortia,"And you need to relax and learn to like things a little." The Snape girl gave her an odd look, but did not argue. Merlin shrugged. "He died. He was brought back by someone who hates me." He thought again of his stolen cauldron. Oh if Arthur had never married! "What else? I've no time for your games."His tone was sharp, though not totally unkind. "Your right, I'm sorry, I suppose I have a bit of a temper, but that's to be expected from a firestarter isnt it?" Gwydion looked sincere enough. "There is another guild like mine, are you familiar with the name Imhotep?" "Thank you, Nymue, I really appreciate it, yes, if you could Fric, please." Louis went to kneel by Ashleigh again, smiling comfortingly at Billy. "It's okey, Billy. He's going to be fine." Louis looked into the locket, "Thank you, also, Mr. Strauss, for your advice. I appreciate everything you've done. My maker, Lestat will be here soon, and he should hopefully know what to do in this matter. But, we will not proceed without yours and Ashleigh's okey." Louis leaned forward, resting his arms against his knees, exhausted. He had missed most, if not all of his classes. He didn't even know what time it was. He sighed. This was turning out to be a nightmare, both for Ashleigh and himself. That spell, it had caused this. There was no doubt about it. Morgan, he had to find out who Morgan was. Obviously this Morgan had done this, but for what purpose? If her motive was to attach Merlin, why bother with Ashleigh? None of this made sense to Louis, none of it. "Well if you want my opinion, these students deserve to know, one of them has been attacked, there was an attempt on another, a threat to a third, and every one of them is not only afraid, but in very real danger. And Mordred was not returned to life, Morganna had not yet learned how to do that, she believed him dead and left, it was his own power that saved him, he has not trained himself, and it is too late to do so now, but he has some magickal skill, he has the longevity and healing ability of his ancestry, he has learned to guide his arrows and his blade by magick, and he knows a single spell, he can negate the magick of others... he will prove a dangerous enemy, especially when you depend so heavily on magick, I may be able to defeat him in combat even without magick, I've been watching him for some time, he's in the forest out there now. He's been mumbling to himself about finding his mother and seeing the look on your face when he kills you... Oh yes, the vampire Santino is in league with her and on his way you know, but for some reason she called Lestat here. There is already a list of students on your desk, once you approve of them I'll personally invite them to join the class, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to look for the Mordred myself, maybe I can head him off, I can't seem to see anything inside the forest from here." With that Rath faded into an insubstancial shadow and walked through the outside wall of the dining hall. Darken had put so much effort into his mapmaking. Narcissus hadn't thought the bathroom search was as funny as Darken but he walked with them smiling slightly and speaking with his sister trying to catch up on her life. He'd missed so much of it. "How can we not make friends when we come bearing such cool gifts. This was a great idea, Titania. Let's go find Kidd. the more the merrier and he probably needs a map," Darken said trying not to burst into laughter. Fric headed out in search of another animal. It took him a little while to return with another deer. It was rather old so if he needed to die to sustain this ones life, it wouldn't be such a great loss and he said this as he returned. "Expected or not, you'll need to curve it if you expect to remain here, or to have any friends any where." Cassandra's tone was not at all unkind, but she looked serious. She started to walk down the hall. "Lets find some of the others. The best thing about this place is the nature! It is beautiful." "Yeah until he burns it up in a fit,"Serpensortia muttered. "Sortia!" Cassandra frowned over her shoulder. Her snake, Tantalus moved in a stretch over her shoulders. "There is another guild like yours?"Merlin repeated with widened eyes. "What guild is yours may I ask. Do speak in a more clear fashion,boy. I have no time for anything else. And no. I've not heard of what ever it is that you babble about." Merlin growled in annoyance. He depended on magic, yes, but also trickery. He'd not believed it Morgan who'd brought the awful child back to life, but it mattered neither here nor there. His own child needed to learn more respect. He'd be sitting in on these blasted classes as well if he thought they were necessary. He sighed. The boy was as mad as Nymue...even worse, and he didn't need this now along with everything else. Where was Vivian? No! Going in a fret to his old friend would be weak, and he had no time for that now. Darken and company were headed down the hall and spotted Cassandra and her group. Darken decided to begin performing his act of kindness for the day. Narcissus groaned inwardly. He liked Darkens sense of humor but he wasn't sure if this group would appreciate it. Hello, my friends and I have taken great pains to find all of the facilities and make a detailed map showing all their locations. I'm not used to doing anything nice as a general rule so I'm going to start small. Anyone want one? Oh, this is my sister Lauraina and my friends Titania Narcissus, and Lark," Darken said to the others. "Thank you, Fric, thank you so much." Louis got up to help with the deer, bringing it closer to Ashleigh. "Ashleigh, sit up, please. I know you can." He helped Ashleigh sit up. He remained beside him, offering him support. 2338^^ Kid left the Fairie Culture classroom completely bemused. It had only been a few minutes into the class when the teacher, Prof. Amberly Mornedhel, had gotten a blank look on her face, gave a shudder, turned and raced for the exit yelling, "I can't take it any more!! I'm leaving!!" She slammed the door behind her and never turned back. Kid and the other students that had made it to class, all stared after her for a few seconds and then looked around at each other in complete confusion. After a bit of squirming in seats and shuffeling of feet they quietly gathered up their stuff and left the room. Kid didn't know what was going to happen with this class, but was glad of the free time. Last class of the day didn't start for a couple of hours yet and he really wanted to find Ash and Louis. He headed off down the trail towards the Dining Hall. Rounding a corner he spotted Lauraina and her group of friends just meeting up with another group of students that included Serpecorcia Snape, whom he recognized from an earlier class. Suddenly he grinned as an idea popped into his head and he quickly stepped off of the trail behind a large old Oak tree. This was a trick he used to play on the children of the Native village where he grew up. Remembering where he was, he first wove a strong spell of protection around himself. It wouldn't do to get blasted for a silly joke. Then he *POP* was a weasel. He slinked towards the group as quietly as only a small forest creature can and crept to within a couple of yards of them. Then *POP* he was a 13 foot tall, 900 pound Alaskan Brown Bear ROARING and waving his LARGE paws about, carefully avoiding actually hitting anybody. He kept this up for about 5 seconds and then *POP* he was a mouse and scurried back undercover in the surrounding forest to watch the results of his appearance. He knew that to the group of students it would have seemed as if the huge bear had suddenly appeared in the midst of them and then disappeared without a trace except for the huge footprints in the soft ground beside the trail. as he watched he *POP* changed back into his human self..... "You're quite welcome. Is there nothing else that can be done at this time. Let me know if you need anything else," Fric said hoping this situation could be resolved one way or the other. He hated to see suffering. Darken stared at the bear for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Hey, whoever you are, come out and play. I've never met a shape shifter before. That is what you are, isn't it? I'm Darken," he said introducing himself to the human that had appeared. This was not exactly the response Kid was used to getting, but these were not exactly the village children, either. He stepped out from behind the tree he thought he was hiding behind and with a big grin said "Hi Darken, it's me." He glanced at the others to make sure no one was too pissed off at him for trying to scare them. Serpensorcia had a sour look on her face, but then she always did. "Hi everyone." He noticed that one of them was someone he had not met yet. A boy about his own age with a confused look in his eye. Looking back at Darken Kid said, "No, actually, I'm not technically a shape-shifter. A shape-shifter can change into almost anything, even inanimate objects. Merlin says I am a Natural Animagus. I can change into different kinds of animals, with two conditions," Kid explained, "I have to have had actual physical contact with that species and it has to be a mammal. I can't turn into a reptile, a fish or a bird." Then with a grin he said, "But who needs to be a bird or a fish when I can fly as a bat or swim as a dolphin or a whale" Holding his hand out to the new guy he said, "Hi, I'm Kid"... Cassandra stared at Darken. Images were moving round him. Dark warring with light and the need for power and importance. The older Darken knelt at his father's side. He had much love for his father. He was a strong healer and was healing him...The boy would have to make a choice between being good or evil, and he'd not like it. She shook herself, blinked, and said hello. "I've already met your kind sister,"She added with a smile to Lauraina who smiled back. Serpensortia smiled to the 2. "I've not seen the 2 of you in years!" She then spoke to the others. "His father works with the headmaster of a wizarding school in the modern world. It is an adult university much like this one. My father knows them that way." Then with a look at the map she shook her head. "No thanks." She chuckled, but Cassandra laughingly took a map. Her Agamemnon would get a fine laugh from it. Morig the harpy held out a hand and touched Kid. "Not sure that a harpy will count as I'm half human, but I'd sure like a guy harpy about to fly with sometimes."She smiled. "Besides...You'll owe me one. If I ever need help from a fish or something...there you are." "Have you learned from the wizard whales or dolphins in the sea yet?"Serpensortia asked. "Daddy says there is lots of great sea magic." Gwydion glared straight back at Serpensorcia, but he knew Cassandra was right, he WOULD need to control his temper, in spite of attempts to cover it up everyone knew about what the media called 'The Lot Six Incident' Charlene Mcgee, the original Firestarter, had killed thirty seven people, and he had no intention of repeating her mistakes, although he guessed with people like Merlin around his powers were unlikely to get away from him like hers had. Gwydion shook Kid's hand briefly and let go, he thought the joke was actually rather funny. "My name's Alec Thompson, but I prefer Gwydion, nice to meet you." Rath turned around and came back. "Imhotep was an Egyptian high-priest and a powerful necromancer, he had an affair with the pharoah's wife and was cursed for it, buried alive under a curse called the Hom-dai, he returned as a shade and started a guild of black magick in a city called Hamunaptra, the city of the dead, he has always been my greatest rival, and I have an idea he has one of your treasures, the cauldron to be specific, Hamunaptra is one of the few places I cannot infiltrate, so I'm not certain yet, but it will be revealed in time." With that he disappeared into the forest and wound his way to the same grove Morgan had not long ago left, he sat down and closed his eyes, both body and mind faded from the world around him and he once again retreated into his memories, the darkness of the shadow realm, the pain of the realm of storms, and before that.. nothing, as always, this time as he tried to remember his past, something inside him broke, like a dam bursting, the wall in his mind shattered and memories flooded back, going to Avalon and apprenticing under Elaine, learning the ways of white magick and light, a force of demons invading the castle and stealing many of the treasures of Avalon, a young man with raven-black hair and sappire blue eyes, he had fought against the invaders, it had been he who had spirited the sword Excalibur away before evil hands could touch it, and for his trouble he had been stabbed in the heart, he hadn't but glimpsed his attacker, a dark man dressed all in black.... Rath's maroon colored eyes snapped open, a sharp contrast to their original color, he remembered, his father... was Merlin. Gwydion was suddenly wracked with pain, he collapsed and writhed with agony, after the spasms passed he sat up and opened his eyes, the blood vessels in his eyes had exploded, leaving them blood-shot and the outer edge of his irises had turned the same deep red as his grandfather's his head was filled with alien memories and it felt as if someone was drilling holes in his head. Kid smiled at the sassy harpy, "Sorry, little one, nice try but it's not your human half that's the problem. It's your bird half. I can do this..." *POP* the centaur he had -learned- from Kushiel. "See? Half human, half horse, all mammal. No problem. If you just want a flying partner some night I'd be happy to oblige, but as a bat. And as a FLYING partner only." He winked at the Harpy and *POP* returned to human as he turned to Serpensorcia, "I'll bet she's a handful." He smiled at her, "As a matter of fact, my Mom is the Ministry of Magic's Ambassador to the Whale People and I have met and learned from a few different wizard whales and also diplomat whales of different species. Most whale magic only works in the ocean,... underwater, but it is very powerful." ... "Nice to meet you,too," Kid shook Gwydion's hand. "My name is really Daniel, but everyone calls me Kid." Suddenly Gwydion was on the ground writhing in apparent agony. Kid stepped back, stunned. What had he done? He realized he hadn't done anything and by now Gwydion was starting to recover from his fit. He stepped forward again and offered his hand to help him stand."Are you alright? What happened? Holy smoke!! Look at your eyes! They're red!" Rath was jolted out of his trance, he felt what had happened to the student he now knew was his grandson and moved with all speed toward Gwydion. "What do mean my eyes are red?" Gwydion asked, a bit dazed. "He means the outer rims of your irises have turned the same color as mine." Rath said. "Whatever just happened to me, also must have affected you, my grandson." "Okay, this is just getting too wild, alright, Merlin is your father, and your my grandfather, and I have a cyclone inside my brain. What is going on around this insane asylum!" Gwydion staggered to his feet and slumped against a tree, holding his head. "Well, that's a really interesting talent. I wouldn't mind having that, but I have talents of my own. We can't all do everything I guess no matter how much we might want too. Approximately how many animals can you change into? I didn't know shape shifters could turn into inanimate objects. That is a rather disturbing concept. How long have you been here? Would you like a map so you know where all the bathrooms are? I put a lot of work into it. What shall all of us do," Darken asked. He was looking for something cool to do. "I just got here yesterday and I wouldn't mind having a map to the bathrooms." Kid laughed, "I'm not sure exactly how many animals I can turn into. My Dad used to take me to the muggle zoo and the zookeepers were friends of his and my Mom's. They let me touch all the animals. It was great. Plus the local wildlife, where I come from, is pretty fabulous. I'd say somewhere around 500 different species," Kid said proudly. "What did you have in mind? We have a couple of hours til next class, but we better not be late because it's Merlin's first class of the year and he's kinda grouchy about things like that." "No, I certainly don't want Merlin mad at me so soon after arriving. . My uncle would have a fit if I got in trouble on my first day at school. Over 500 animals, that's really cool. I assume you have a way with them and so they don't mind being touched? Animals are rather nervous around Lauraina and I because we're goblins. Is there anything else cool around here we haven't seen yet? Who all do you know here and tell us about them. Narcissus is nice but just quiet. Oh, here's a map," Darken said handing one over. "I apologize for Darkens existence," Narcissus said trying not to laugh. "See, when I do say something it's appropriate. What other kinds of cool things can you do," Narcissus inquired. Ana decided to make herself substantial and walked up to the group where Rath was standing. "Hello master Rath." She said with a giggle. "Anastasia Romanov! Exactly what are you doing here? Rasputin told you to stay at the guild didn't he?" Rath said. "He couldn't control me all those centuries ago, what made you think he could control me now?" She replied with a smile. "I thought you might need some help, besides I was curious." "Alright you can stay, but keep out of trouble!" He turned to Kid. "what would you say to replacing your failed fairie culture class with my Shadowcraft? Along with Gwydion here and eight others." Ana disappeared and ran back into the castle. She sought out Louis De Lac and whispered her message in his ear. "I am a spirit, Anastasia Romanov, and I am to ask you if you would like to begin a class on shadowcraft with him, all you have to do is tell master Myrrdin your interested and we'll make sure you know where to go tonight." She wandered around the castle, searching out the others on her list and delivering the same message. "What has the first name to do with the second?"Serpensortia asked in only a slightly condescending tone as she looked at the new boy. Cassandra looked interested in that answer as well. Merlin stared angrily after his child. He needed no history lesson. He who had seen it all, or most of it, and knew of what he'd not seen. It had been a long time that anyone had taught Merlin anything. He sighed sadly at that thought. What a drag it was getting old! He then thought back to his child. To much power...To much madness...To much! He'd have to bind him to himself to better protect and control him. He moved to his personal office and locked the door. Reaching in to a dusty case, being bitten by a mouse, yelling and cursing said mouse, and pulling out a long strand of smoky quartz beads with a smoky quartz pendant hanging from it, he put it around his neck. Then he cast 2 spells upon the stones. The first said that they would not be broken and the second said that they would not be removed from his person. The third spell was the most difficult. It opened the stones, making space for more power in side of them. He made a thread of power from himself to his child. He used the stones for a link, and caught half of his son's power within the crystals. He could now control and feel the actions of his child by using the stones. He sealed the spells before sinking tiredly on to a chair. "Whale magic can reach on to the land, but it is hard for them, and it can't hold for long. Not un less one of them uses a transformation spell to become human and take it on land, but that is hard for them." Serpensortia told him. "I'm not little, and I'm not a *******ing pet." The harpy snapped at him. "And how come you can't become a bird? We've got warm blood." She frowned in a sulky sort of way. Cassandra was looking from one to the other in the group with a thoughtful expression on her face. "If you've got some kind of illness, it shall probably be my father who makes your potion."Serpensortia told him flatly. He did look odd. Hmmmm. Cassandra was staring at the images that moved around him. They told a long and interesting story of his history, but she spoke nothing of it for now. Who would believe her anyway? "Do you begin to think like that animal if you stay in the body long enough?" Serpensortia asked. "Merlin says it depends on the persons power and the type of magic they use, so I wondered how it went for you." Lauraina and Cassandra looked interested as well. Morig, the harpy, sat on a branch still sulking, and muttering about rejection. "I'm always apologizing for Darken,"Lauraina laughed to Narcissus. "When I was a baby I used to say "Darken die,"Because he was mean to me." Rath felt the binding spell immediately, the work of his father,but there was nothing he could do to stop the spell, he knew his father was too powerful, but perhaps.... he awakened the link to his son that had somehow been formed, he tapped into the immense energy that flowed through him, and sent it back along the path of the spell instead of his own, the spell was completed, but not on the intended target. Gwydion would be able to overload the spell if it became necessary, after all he WAS the grandson of the most powerful druid Britannia, and the world, had ever seen, not to mention a firestarter, the power within him was difficult to tap into, but immense in its strength all the same. And besides, Rath despised being being controlled, or attacked by negative spells, particularily by someone who had left him to die, someone he had once called 'father.' Gwydion of course, was totally oblivious to all this. He was in too much pain to roll his eyes at Serpensorcia's rather rude statement. "Serpensorcia Snape, Cassandra, it seems we have an opening in my class, are the two of you interested? Perhaps if it can't be found in the realms of light, a way to break your curse may be found in the realm of shadows." Rath said, opening his eyes after a moment of apparently intense concentration, he looked absolutely exhausted for some reason. Gwydion stood up and took a few steps toward the dining hall, a portal of white light opened up in front of him and he stepped through directly into the dining hall, where he collapsed into a chair with no rememberance of how he had cast the spell, or even that anything had happened, andas unconsciousness took him he remembered crossing a lake in a boat that needed no steering, nor paddling, strange because it was not his own, and yet it was. Rath hardly seemed surprised by Gwydion's sudden disappearance into thin air, though Gwydion alone was able to see the portal. Merlin sighed, and using the power link in the crystals, causing slight pain, forced a release on his grand son's powers. Using the mind link that went along with such bindings he chided in his son's mind,"You should know better. It is hard to be happy that you are alive when you come in here to cause trouble and chaos. You say that you'd like to help, and I believe you. I am glad to see you,my boy, and we have a lot to talk about. Your mother shall be so happy to see you. I'd like you to meet me in my private rooms now. As you seem to know all I'm sure you do not need directions." He couldn't help but smile. He sent his owl off to bring Nymue. Fric had a handle on things for now, and the gnome was a good sort. **** Serpensortia nodded eagerly at the class invite, but wide eyed Cassandra shook her head. "No thank you,"She murmured. "Well, I'll take up some of the apologizing duty for you. You shouldn't have to bear the entire burden alone. So what happened? You seem relatively close now. I know people change but Darken just seems to grow up. He maintains the same personality," Narcissus said bracing himself for some kind of retaliation from Darken who for the moment was only glaring. "Lauraina is close with me now because she sees how much wiser, stronger and braver than her I am. How's your father, Serpensortia," Darken said including everyone in his conversation. "I suspect Lauraina is trying to occupy you in order to save at least a few innocent souls," Narcissus replied. Billy nodded with an alacrity towards Louis, and replied, "Whoohooo!! Toldja!" Ashleigh blinked. Again. He seemed to be doing that a lot recently. Mortimer Strauss watched from the locket, the smiling expression on his face shrouding his deeper worry...Once a revenant(descendant of a vampire) tastes blood, it is not something they can easily wash from their mouths. He had to look into the meddlings of the Mu'udox(? can't remember how I spelled it) clan. "I bid thee farewell, my dear children!" he said aloud, clinging to that ancient vampiric speech. It sounded something like, "Sheeriloo peeledo Kuu". Just then, the spirit Ana popped out of nowhere. "I am a spirit, Anastasia Romanov, and I am to ask you if you would like to begin a class on shadowcraft with him, all you have to do is tell master Myrrdin your interested and we'll make sure you know where to go tonight." Billy and Ashleigh both blinked. "Shadowcraft?" Billy inquired, a bit excited. "Master who?" Ashleigh asked, still wondering a bit baffled by his experience. :Ooo, hey, Keats! It talks!: Obscure pointed her right paw up at the ghost. Titania, meanwhile, had stayed quite throughout the entire bizzarre exchange of pleasantries, not-so-pleasant-ries, banters, changes, *pop*s, and eye-sizzling confusion. She sighed. "I suppose you find yourself fond of founding the cause of frustration?" she inquired to the Shade otherwise known as Rath(ooc--is he still there?), a perplexed look upon her face. Such bizzare folk! ~~ Patricles yawned. He didn't have that many classes. Such a pity. He pat Luxor on his bright head, and scratched behind the ears. "Smell anything funny, boy?" he idly asked, remembering Luxor's earlier fantastic exasperation. :Yes, master!: Luxor bouded, and licked Pat's hand. :It's a shade--: ~~ Morgan eyed the glass vial with the blue liquid in it--the one with the red dot in the center. "Hmm...?" The red dot seemed to vibrate. "Ho! Curiosity is a funny thing, isn't it? Little revenant, Ashleigh..." A smile passed on her changed, ancient features. She shuffled the vial into her pouch, along with its sister. She then leaned back on the branch... Then there was a prick in her mind. Her eyes flew open, and she jerked up, looking around her wildly. "Was that..." Lauraina hit her brother hared on the head. "You can be trusted,Darken. That is why I like you. And you are worse than dI could ever be, so I can feel good about myself." She knew that wasn't what his dumb ego wanted, but oh well. It needed to be popped anyway. Serpensortia tried not to laugh. "Daddy is fine. He misses me, but he and Mum are going to travel a bit which is what she's wanted for a while." Rath hurried off to respond to the silent call, walking through walls along the way. He arrived in Merlin's quarters quickly. "I wish we did not have this ill blood between us father." he said coldly. "But how can I respect you after you abandoned me, Elaine, Morgause, and everyone else on that island? I saw Elaine speaking to someone through her skrying pool in the courtyard, did she not ask you to come to our aid before the attack? Had you been there that tragedy would not have happened. And of course you cannot be happy to see me alive, because I am not alive, for the past eighteen years I've been a walking corpse! And to add insult to injury you tried that binding spell on me, if you were going to do it at all you should have done it before I regained my memories, when I would not have known how to deflect it, A shade is incapable of many of the spells I learned from you and your sisters, but I can still use a magickal hack against such a familiar spell, after all Elaine was one of the best at that particular spell, and I learned from her. I grew up learning your magick, remember? Tell me she never asked for help and I'll believe you, tell me what really happened that day and all is forgiven." Mordred felt his mother's power in waves long before he saw her, but it seemed somehow changed, diminished, nearly unrecognizable as her own. And then he saw why, she had aged herself, a very clever ploy to make certain that old fool Merlin couldn't find her, of course he had no need of such thing because he gave off no where near as much energy as she did. "It has been long since I have seen you Mother! He called from a little distance away, he sheathed his sword as he approached and pulled a wolf's head helm attached to a cloak from the satchel at his waist, he put the familiar headdress on. "Remember this? It is the same thing I wore all those years ago when I killed that buffoon Arthur, at the head of the Saxon army. I thought it was only fitting it be what I wear when I remove his teacher's heart." "Hello children!" Ana called down from a tree. "Let's see if I know all your names. Lauriana, Darken, Cassandra, Sorcia, Kid, and Narcissus right?" Alexei repeated the names in a rough croaking voice. "Oh, Cassandra, little priestess, why don't you want to take our class? It's loads of fun, I wouldn't do it if it wasn't." Nymue was huddled against Merlin's side, having left Fric in charge of Louis and the other student's project. She stared at her child as though she were seeing a ghost! Tears sparkled in the old druid's eyes. "I can only be in one place at once,Son. The bones, and all other viewings said that I must be at the battle. If not all would've been lost. It seemed that all was lost even then, but I managed to save some things for later. For the future children such as my own grandson. Who are his grandmother and mother,by the way? "He left me to my torture and rape when the isle was over run by soldiers." Nymue said flatly. "This is long before you were born. It was hard for me to understand the big picture when I was paying for being the little picture. Emotion doesn't care." Merlin looked at Nymue sidelong. He'd never heard her speak in such a sane way about the hole thing. "He loves me and he loves you." She went on. Her thin lips twisted in to an odd expression. "That doesn't mean that I didn't make him pay for it, but that is not for you to do. He paid in losing you. We both did!" Her voice broke and she fell against Merlin once more. Rath reached out to comfort his mother, but drew back, he had felt almost no emotion since his death, and wasn't sure he was ready to express them now. But the shadows that normally obscured him were completely gone, the only sign of his true nature was his maroon eyes and emotionless face. "I'm sorry, I understand, and I forgive you, can you forgive me in turn? Why must fate be so cruel that no good deed may go unpunished, and that others must always pay for our mistakes, and for our triumphs? Let us begin again, perhaps thanks to you and this school I can begin to recover from the horrors of the past eighteen years, the spells that made this place even absorb the stray energy that causes most of my pain, all I suffer here is the dull ache left by the dagger that pierced my heart. Perhaps I will learn to express these emotions I have kept in check for so long in time." Rath tentatively smiled a thin and pained smile. "History always repeats itself, my boy."Merlin looked sad. "If not now, sooner or later it shall turn again." He sighed. "If I'd had the cauldron I could've saved you, but Arthur's whore of a wife had taken it for her evil gods and misguided ways!" "Stupid whore,"Nymue hissed as she wiped her tears away and looked carefully at her son. "You now look solid. How is that?" Louis jumped as Billy exclaimed: "Whoohooo!! Toldja!" He smiled fondly at her. For all Ashleigh's complaints about Billy, Louis liked her, she had spunk!! "Glad to see it, Billy, and thank you for your help. And Mr. Strauss, thank you for yours. It's been a pleasure??" Louis shrugged. He had never spoken to a being in a locket, but.....things were definately different at Wolfsbane, as he was very quicky discovering. As Mr. Strauss faded away, Louis thought he caught him mentioned Mu'udox (or however Ashleigh spells it. LOL. I think we should call them the Maalox clan. Whaddya think, Kazuko?? Hee). He had heard Lestat mention that name once....some clan Lestat's family had known or something. "Mu'udox, I have to remember that, ask Lestat about it, maybe it has something to do with Ashleigh's condition," Louis thought, closing his mind to others. "Thank you, Fric, as long as Ashleigh stays in this dark room until nightfall,he should be fine. Thank you for your help." He turned to Ashleigh. "I've been informed," he glanced at Keats, "that Lestat is on his way here. I believe he could probably help you more than I can, but you are out of any immediate danger now, Ashleigh." Louis hesitated. "Ashleigh, who or what is Mu'udox? I heard your father mutter it, and it seems familiar." "I-I'm not sure. I think it's something to do with the magick of this place, and the concentration of so many powerful adepts in one place, the positive energy generated seems to weaken whatever magick binds me to the shadow realm... But that's not important now, I think I may know where to find at least one, maybe two of the treasures you seek. there is a group called The Brotherhood of the immortal Sword based in Hamunaptra in Egypt. They are known by the symbol of a cobra curled around a black blade, and the symbol is tatooed on the back of the right hand of every member. At any rate, I believe their leader Imhotep may have both the cauldron and the sword Excalibur, the sword which I kept out of his hands, and the sword I died protecting. But do me a kindness, if we should find the sword, help me cast a spell and let Gwydion have it. To answer your question, I am his father, his mother was a Sioux healer, i did not tell him because it would be such a shock to find out he was adopted, and it was not a good time. I'll tell him when he wakes up." Rath said. Morgan's eyes brimmed with something like tears, and clasped her hands in emotion-- "Oh, Mordred, my son!" she exclaimed, and held her son close. The weathered hands nearly betrayed her true interior; they strongly gripped her believed-gone son. "Oh, my son" she repeated, a bit more calm, "I'm so amazed--happy--confused!How are you still alive? I nearly broke when I heard you to be dead, the pain I felt was...how is this, you are here?" Morgan's eyes brimmed with something like tears, and clasped her hands in emotion-- "Oh, Mordred, my son!" she exclaimed, and held her son close. The weathered hands nearly betrayed her true interior; they strongly gripped her believed-gone son. "Oh, my son" she repeated, a bit more calm, "I'm so amazed--happy--confused!How are you still alive? I nearly broke when I heard you to be dead, the pain I felt was...how is this, you are here?" Mordred returned the embrace, tears in his eyes as well. " I was dead for a while, father bested me with that blasted sword Excalibur, with any luck someone's melted it down for scrap, I hope I never see that thing again! I played on his over-developed sense of honor. I believe my exact words as the sword was at my throat were "Oh father, not another sin. You'd really kill your own son?" The trick gave me just enough time to kill him with my dagger, he drove the sword trough my chest before he died. I am now a lich, a lesser demon rides within me, he keeps me alive, and I give him a way to experience this world again, I need to find that cauldron Guinevere stole to awaken his full power, and not only will I finally take the crown, but I intend to take the whole pitiful mortal world... After I cut out Merlin's heart. I imagine it will be very useful in your spells won't it?" Ashleigh stammered. "Errr..they're relatives. Sort of." he choked, ashamedly not a scholar on the subject. "I remember getting read horror stories about them as a little kid" he noted. "Oh! The Muu'udox!" Billy interjected, her enthusiasm betraying she knew much more about the subject than Ashleigh did. "They specialize in blood alchemy. They were founded in the 17th century about" she began to prattle, "and broke off from their main clan--the Olenphine, something like it" she muttered. "Anyways, there's a nice little rhyme--" She leaned back, recollecting, tongue clicking-- Meanwhile, Ashleigh was trying to pry her arms away from his neck. "AH! Got it", and she started reciting-- "Once upon a time ago, So ont, ont long ago, There were a great nine; And they were led for good To do as aught and should By Lady Muu'udox, Languine; She led her fellows by and by That they might, try and try Conquer dark and mystery; Blood was it, secret kept As together they all wept For companion lonely. And it was Languine, by and by Who risked the chance to die To approach a broody leech; Though she was defeated in't, Their inspiration unwept, We have from her this speech; "I regret non't, but that I could Not save friend fair and should Be shunned by her son; But I have thee, friends Together we stand 'til all end And we shall be as one". And Muu'udox came about Come from Mor, Sepp and Gout And we have their deeds; But watch ye, here's thought; Though founders be kind, naught Pass to their seeds!" Billy beamed, apparently congradulating herself. "Jeez, your memory is too good" Ashleigh murmured, but still amazed. "I also read the history, if you want extra details" she clued in, positively beaming. Morgan's eyes flashed with glee. "Oh, my good boy! How most, most excellent you are!" she exclaimed, and held him out at arms' length, examining him-- "Yes...there is a new presence within you!" she noted, regarding the lesser demon. "Oh, I'll need a use for Merlin before you can slice him, my dear; he has secrets which I need to unlock and use, for our benefit. The treasures--there are things he knows, that either he will reveal to me, or I will keep him from revealing to naught else!" Morgain smiled, then hugged her son again. "Well, then--now! I must inform you of the trap I have already set..." I wonder when HE got those,"Merlin mused. "We knew the whore had lost them,"Nymue reminded. "Yes, but they could've been anywhere. I'd have gotten there soon enough, but it is good to have a starting place. After I find only one, I can use it to help in locating the rest." His eyes gleamed with an old excitement. Then he turned back to his son. "I can not give that sword away. The proper owner shall take it and if it is he, it is his. Vivian shall need to cleans it right away." "Ah, but first you should know what he has given me, the ability to negate even the strongest spells, even Merlin won't be able to throw a single spell against us! Now then, tell me of this trap." "Good, good. I am confident the sword belongs in his hands, only a few have ever been able to use it after all, Vivian, you, Arthur, Elaine, and myself, and not one other has ever truely tapped into its powers. And he IS my son." Morgan blinked. "What spell...what a spell!" she whispered, almost enchanted. "Before that, you must tell me--is it the demon's presence, perhaps, that thus charms you? Or..." A light flickered across her eyes. "Is it his blood?" He is yours, yes, but Arthur's direct blood should get it I'd think." He frowned. None of them are ready for it now, though. Perhaps in a few more generations..." He fell off in to thought for a moment. "As for others controlling it, don't forget about the maker. King Oberon of the fae has full control of it, and can remove it from the hand of anyone who misuses it. Your boy is not ready for that yet. I hope someday he shall grow in to himself, and if then the sword will have him, than he shall have it." He looked out the window for a moment, closing the conversation. "So now what are your plans?" "It is his power that makes it thus, if I find te cauldron, I will gain ALL his powers, first I will have Merlin's head as a trophy, then I will have the crown that is rightfully mine, in a year's time the mortal realm will belong to us. The Lich King in the shadow realm will shudder at the mere mention of our names! Best of all once I have released this unimaginable power you will have all the demon blood you need for your spells, his presence alters my blood, but not my appearance, it has changed some now." Mordred said. "The fae folk here, and the... undead here at the school, as well as Gwydion, Kid, Cassandra, and the Snape girl. I'd like to teach them shadow magick. If your going to get those treasures back you will be competing against Morgan Le Fay, and Imhotep, it won't be easy, and I can teach them thing that will probably save their lives, Agamemnon can teach them how to fight, I can teach them how to avoid a fight. And perhaps how to disable an enemy before he knows they are there so they are in less danger. If a student is unarmed and finds himself facing one of Imhoteps minions, it will be useful to be able to create a weapon out of thin air won't it?" with those words he raised his hands and the shadows throughout the room seemed to pull toward it, a dark mass formed in is palm and shaped itself into a dagger. "I think anything bigger than that will be beyond them, seeing as it would be a strain for me." Morgan eyed her son. "Wonderful--but you must understand, those treasures...I want them to be for naught, once all is through" she reminded him. (ooc--for those of you out there who might be confused at the lack of point in time when she said this--this is all part of their evil plot. that's right. Morgan wants to confuse you. Nyahaha.bic) "Well! My son...I shall have you meet the fine vampires I chanced upon!" "Wonderful! Vampires. Tell me mother, will we really ally ourselves with them,or have you tricked them here so you can kill them for their blood? And before you answer that, I want to show you something, I've been making my way in the mortal world up till now and I found these." he pulled out two very powerful looking guns from his satchel. "Thought I'd go the extra mile and get silver bullets as well as lessons in how to use them. Silver should prove useful in dealing with the undead." Darken returned the hit to his sisters head with interest but he made sure it didn't hurt. The days of him doing things to make his little sister cry were gone a long time ago. "Just what have I ever done to make you think I can be trusted, Lauraina. Maybe it's more beneficial to be trustworthy for the moment. Are you at all envious of your parents traveling plans, Serpensortia? So Kid, tell me about yourself," Darken said to those present. Louis listened to Billy and Ashleigh explain the Mu'urdox. He still felt he should ask Lestat. He had heard the name enough times from Billy and Ashleigh that he was almost certain Lestat had mentioned them. He wondered why. Perhaps because they, too, were from the France of Lestat's time. Louis tucked away the information into his mind, hopefully he would have a civil enough conversation with Lestat in order to mention them. "Ashleigh, you can get up and walk around, but don;t leave this darkened room until sundown. Merlin will hopefully get you a potion such as the one he gave me, so you can stand the sunlight. I'll ask him this evening, right now I would prefer to sit with you. Any books you would like to read? Or I could read to you." Louis offered. Morgan's immeadiete reaction to seeing the weapon in her son's hands was to cringe back. She had no objection to mortals using those crude devices to kill themselves off--it suited her fine. But in the magical world... Morgan repressed a shudder over her entire body. "Mordred--where did you get this?" she asked, a hiss noticeable between her teeth, showing her definite dislike of the object he wielded in his hands. The Greek commander is not showing them how to fight. Only how to understand strategy. They shall use curses that your mother shall teach them, and think like it is war." His mouth was a grim line. "I'll sit in on your class and see what you're teaching. If it is fitting you may continue to do so. For now it is a 3 day trial class." "You know Arthur had no magick, and neither do I, this is as close as I'll ever get." Mordred said. " I know how to use it mother, its not as though you think there is any possibility I might miss." "My first magick lesson begins with a form of meditation which will substitute for sleep when there is not enough time for true sleep." Rath began. "But I intend to begin the class with a bit of stage magic that will teach them not to trust appearances, one of the most important things they will ever know about any form of dark magick is that nothing is ever what it seems." Lark and Narcisus were surprised at the appearance of Anastasia but they recovered quickly. They were interested in attending this class and they would make sure Merlin was informed of their wishes. Lark thought this would be a really cool class and she could hardly wait until tonight. "If there is someplace a little darker you know of I'd be happy o demonstrate what we can teach you." Ana said. Ashleigh peeled his sister away from him, and touched various spots where he thought might be injured. "Err..I feel fine, actually" he answered. "You don't feel any of the symptoms of vampirism, do you?" Billy inquired. "The what?" "The symptoms of vampirism. You start feeling your body die, and there's a push to get living fluids out of your body." Ashleigh blanched. "No! Eew, that's just weird how you know this stuff" he told Billy, who merely grinned in response. "Then you really are okay! Yahoo!!" :Oooh yeah. That's where I heard the name Lestat before: Obscure thought aloud. :It had to do with his mother, or something: she thought to Keats. Titania looked up at the spirit, her lavendar eyes boring into Ana in curiosity. "Why is the class being brought in so suddenly, even though term's already started? Was there another class that got scratched out?" Morgan arched her head upwards. "No, I don't believe you could miss" she replied, still eying the weapon with suspicion. "But such a thing to use! It's machinery will disrupt the natural magic surrounding Wolfsbanes, not doubt to that!" "I just got here a half-hour ago, and I already know that the faerie Culture class is gone, but then, I'm a professional spy." Ana replied, "and of course the professor arrived late, no one even knew there was a shadowcraft class until he offered his services to Merlin and sent me to tell his prospective students, a small hand-picked group of mostly fairies and undead." "Mother you worry too much, even if it does affect the spells here what difference would it make? As i understand it the worst case scenario is that an island would suddenly appear in the middle of the mortal realm just north of England, why should we care?" Merlin frowned. "Not to trust appearances? Fric the gnome is teaching illusion, which is the same thing. Leave it to him." "I suppose so. The dagger looks real enough doesn't it? But it is nothing but shadow, it is only as strong as my willpower makes it, if I stop concentrating on making it solid...." Rath's dagger faded into nothing. "Gone. And if not for my eyes, one would think I was mortal. Appearances." Titania crinkled her nose. So that class was gone already, eh? Good riddance. She still didn't understand, however, how Merlin permitted a subject of shadowcraft. Whatever it was, exactly--it didn't sound like one of the "old ways" that Merlin was preaching about at the opening ceremony. Titania plopped down on the floor (yes, right in the middle of the hallway. She likes doing things like this), and stared at the spirit. "What's your bird's name?" "Because!" his mother stood up, the youthful spirit shining in the "changed" eyes. "Meddling with the spirits is a very tedious task--and they are not forgiving creatures!" Morgan's own change spell required the permission of a spirit--the energy from the spirit she took on would then gradually free itself into the cosmos, bit by bit. Morgan herself knew that spirits refused to be under the control of a magician forever. Which was one reason why she was a bit wary of the demon that now slept within her son. "This is Alexie." Ana said. "and I think I agree, faerie culture sounds boring." "Mother, I've known you far too long, I know what your thinking, and if this demon does become a problem can't you take away its powers with a magickal hacking spell?" Titania's ears twitched. "Hmm. I suppose--hey, Narcissus?" Titania looked around for her brother. "Well there's nothing boring about shadowcraft. That's for sure." Ana continued, seemingly unaware that her audience had lost interest. Narcissus looked at Ana briefly. "I don't find my culture boring," was all he said. He wished his sister would get up off the floor but he said nothing. "My friend, if they offered it here would you want to take a course on Russian history?" She replied with a smug smile, and jumped down from the tree. "I suppose we have not been properly introduced. I am Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaevna Romanov of Russia." She said with a slight curtsey "Rather interesting, my sister's name was Tatiana. Sounds quite a bit like yours." she said, looking at the girl on the ground. Titania looked up at the spirit. Being raised by a wizarding historian/researcher, Titania knew the name sounded somewhat familiar. "Ooo...uh." Couldn't quite recall it, though. Titania then sprung up from the floor, as if she had been struck by inspiration. She stretched her arms out, and cocked her head to one side. Morgan sighed. "Such a skill is only handy when you know where the source of power is coming from" she replied "and since its bonded with you mutually, you should be very well aware that your energies are tied together. What damage might I do to you?" "Shadowcraft? What's that?" Kid glanced around at his new friends and saw that no one seemed to have heard of it before. "It's sounds like Dark magic to me. I wouldn't have to kill anything would I? I mean to make the magic work?" Kid didn't like magic caused by or created through death. "Oh no, there is no killing involved at all, its simply the practice of using shadows to cast spells, but its hard to do in bright light, especially sunlight, and in order to maintain the spells you have to keep putting a little energy and concentration into it, but its worth it. Watch this!" Ana said, excited Ana closed her eyes from a moment and shadows seemed to gather into her open palm, they coalesced into a small knife. She threw it into the air and caught it in both hands, when she opened her hands, it was gone. "I can't maintain a solid form like that for long yet, especially in this light, but I'm getting better." Titania stared at the spirit. She then stared at the shadows gathering in the spirit's hand. Then she stared at the knife being thrown into the air-- /Did it just reflect light??/ she wondered, thinking maybe her imagination had played a trick on her. But then-- She stared at Ana's empty hands. *blink* Titania's own hands clapped together in amazement at Ana's trick. Ana laughed herself, though she was not so easily entertained. "Care to learn how to do that? Rath has offered to teach you, if he didn't think you could do it he wouldn't offer." Titania's thought process went as follows: Hum! It certainly looks like something that will be useful in my lifetime! Oh, but then I'd be taking more than enough classes... But! This is the chance of a lifetime! Grr--I'm already taking Magery, which takes up a lot-- ...This is kinda similar to Magery, if one thinks about it... And thus, she was won over. "O! That Rath person?" she inquired Ana looked closely at her face. "So you'll do it then won't you? And what about the rest of you?" She finished, looking at the others. "Sounds interesting," Kid said. "Actually It sounds really interesting. I'm in." "Oh yah! I'm glad. Um, lets go find Merlin and Rath now." Ana took off through a nearby wall before turning around, realising they couldn't follow. "Um, you lead the way." "I don't think Merlin liked the fae culture class, but it saved we humans from doing anything stupid to Fae kind."Cassandra laughed. "I'd think they'd find us when they want us?"Serpensortia asked dryly, frowning. "I've got to find Agamemnon."Cassandra looked ill as she turned away. "We'll go with you?"Lauraina, the half goblin, half human asked. "You don't look well." She looked from her brother to Cassandra. "Oh,"She didn't seem to really be hearing Lauraina, and quickly moved out the door. Lauraina followed, looking worried. Was shadow magic dark craft? The tall goblin girl couldn't help but wonder as she hurried after Cassandra. With all the evil Kylae, the goblin queen, her mother, had done, she didn't need any thing remotely dark in her future. Uncle Adrian would have a fit! "Well, I'll go with you I suppose. If you want the company." Ana said. " I haven't anything else to do, so I might as well... You don't look so good, precognition isn't it? You've got a feeling something is wrong and you don't know what it is. Right? One of the students at the Raven Guild is a clairvoyant too. Maybe we should tell Merlin about it. It could be important, maybe he'll even let me tell you what's going on." Titania looked on with interest. /Shadowcraft...this could be interesting!/ She then remembered something-- "Oh, hey--Narcissus! We still wanted to look around the school, didn't we?" Titania grabbed the right arm of her older brother, looked up to him and beamed. ~~ "Right, Luxor, lead the way" the youthful Necromancy proffessor urged, and got up from his seat. :Right, master: the lab replied, and walked out of the classroom. /A shade...hm./ His eyebrows went up in perplexion. The memory of what Shades were was starting to pop up in Pat's mind, as he followed behind his trusty creature. Improvisation after death, as his old man had once put to him. He wasn't exactly fond of that metaphor. The hallway then narrowed, and Pat heard voices coming from-- "Ho? Already in the Headmaster's office?" he pondered aloud, and knocked on the Headmaster's door. The knob darkened noticably as Rath turned toward the door and the knob turned. The door swung open. "Welcome proffesor... and who is this? Certainly no ordinary dog, darkness knows its own, and so does a spirit. May I ask what is his name?" Patricles lowered his head politely, and grinned towards the shade. "I mean nothing by intruding, sir" he said to Merlin, "but my buddy here smelled something interesting. Ho, you're special!" the proffessor whistled in admiration. "Hmm--oh? You're perceptive" his smile widened. "This is Luxor--I bound him several years back. In fact, that's why I came here--" :Master, master! Can I...: "Huh? Oh, sure, buddy" the proffessor smiled, and Luxor bounded towards Rath. "He always gets excited when he sees another coherent spirit" Pat explained heartily. "Not too many high-level thinking ones around these days." "I understand perfectly. Most of the others around don't even know their dead. But I meet a few, including my prize pupil Anastasia Romanov." he said, bending down and putting his hand out to the dog, with the other he rubbed on the top of his head. "So you are the necromancy proffesor. Wonderful to meet you. Hmm, you don't go in for all that black magick do you? Ritual sacrifice and all that sort of thing. I certainly hope not." Kid isn't sure who he wants to tag along with. Titania and Narcissus want to go exploring (at least Titania does). Exploring is one of Kid's favorite things to do. The rest of the group seem to be following Cassandra out the door, even the spirit girl is following her. Where were they going? Cassandra didn't look well. At last his Healing instincts took over and he deciced to follow the larger group to see that Cassandra was OK. "Are you sure you won't come with us?" He asked Narcissus, then to Titania, "We may be going somewhere you havn't been yet. That's like exploring, isn't it?" Gwydion awoke with a cyclone in his head, and a cat on his chest, Selene stood on his chest and stared into his eyes. She said. gwydion got up and stumbled as far as Merlin's office, he pushed unceremoniously past the proffesor and sat heavily in a chair. "Step one: Can someone please help me get rid of this bloody headache? Step two: I think several people owe me a great deal of explaination. Like why exactly do I remember leaving Avalon?" He said. "Here eat these, they should temporarily calm that migraine you must have." Rath said, pulling a few small seeds from somewhere in his robes. "The seeds of a plant from my world, they purge negative energy and disease. In fact I should like to work with Severus Snape to find a way to use them to help Cassandra." The chaotic energy radiating from Gwydion was causing him great pain, but Rath refused to show it. Pat appeared to be ready to answer, what with the arched eyebrow trick, when a student stumbled in. A student that this new enigma seemed acquainted with. Somehow, at least. /Avalon? That place?/ the Necromancy proffessor questioned internally, wanting the young lad's questions answered almost as much as he did. Titania cocked her head, still clinging to Narcissus' arm. "Mm. Perhaps--since we have a common goal in mind, what harm could it do?" she lightheartedly agreed. She then let go of Narcissus and clung to Kid, instead. "Lead on, fellows!" she bellowed, an expression of mock seriousness upon her face. Kid laughed, put his arm around her waist, winced as she bellowed in his ear and off they went. Following Cassandra... "How can I explain this? I am your father, your mother was a mystic of the Sioux tribe of the American indians, when the island was attacked your mother got you away, but she was killed before you got far, you were, of course adopted." Rath said. "I know it's a bit of a surprise, but it is the truth, and you do have a right to know." He paused and looked up at Merlin. "It's time the students be told the truth, they deserve to know what is going on, they are not children after all, one of them is centuries old. Are you going to be stubborn, or shall I tell him what's been going on concerning you-know-who?" Pat blinked. "Well, if it's anything to you, gentlemen, the students aren't the only ones who need an explanation" he interjected, just a bit baffled. "Who is this 'you-know-who'? Surely not the one I'm thinking of" Pat wondered aloud. Ana giggled at Titania's exaggerated behavior. She could learn to like this girl. "Okay little sorceress, let us go find Agamemnon!" She said with a smile, she stood no chance of remaining serious for any length of time. Rath stood up and moved close to Pat. "I see no harm in telling the staff, after all if anything happens its up to us to protect them you need to know what your dealing with. Assumed your thinking of Morgan Le Fay you are thinking correctly, she has already made some trouble, a student has been attacked, and I think she tried to attack me and inadvertently restored my memory, the attack did affect Gwydion though, I can't be sure it was her of course, but she is out there." he whispered, making sure Gwydion did not hear. Kid glanced over Titania's shoulder to look at Ana, Then whispered into Titania's ear, "Agamemnon? Why are we going to see him?" Titania likewise looked confused. She didn't exactly remember who Agamemnon was, actually--only that he was someone who Cassandra was close to. She got on her tiptoes and whispered into Kid's ear-- "Don't know--I think we're just following Cassandra right now" she added. "But who knows what we'll see along the way?" she continued, determined to keep this leisurely walk in some sort of adventurous mindset. Pat seemed to have caught a case of the blinks. What a wretched condition! That hadn't exactly whom he had in mind, but no matter. Afterall, Merlin was here-Morgan was sure to have come around sometime sooner or later. "Ah. Er. So's she's moving, then? What a bother" he pronounced. "But how she restored your memory, now--that's something to consider! Wonder what kind of spell that would have been to have that side effect on the dead! Then we can deduce some sort of what she's up to now--" Patricles shuffled out a small pad of paper, while Luxor simply looked around. :Was it that dark dead smell earlier?: Luxor inquired Rath. :It smelled of dead blood--and flame..: "Right!" Kid said, "we're exploring!" All I can say is that the spell was some form of psychic attack." Rath said. The headache seemed a little better, but for some reason Gwydion quickly dropped off to sleep anyway. "I've put a sleep spell on him, He'll need it, at least till his next class starts." Rath said. Pat scratched his chin, the finger making scratchy sounds against the stubble. "Hmmm...a psychic attack that can span over to the dead. Tricky." "Tricky" meant, of course, that there was a large variety of spells to go through that could possibly have that effect. And plenty of spells that had to be looked into that would normally not have that effect, but under certain circumstances... "There has to be a dead factor involved" Pat surmised. "Involving magic that relates to Shades--things like shadows, light vs. dark, possession, shape-shifting, spirit manipulation...well, whatever. Morgan seems to be toying with death, that's for certain." "That bloody witch has always had a fascination with blood and death, that we knew already. But it is difficult to get many spells to work directly on shades, not impossible, but difficult." Rath said. "At any rate things have just become much more difficult for her, it must have been hard enough getting into this place with Merlin and all the rest of you here, but I am a spy by trade, and no one knows more about security, it will be almost impossible for her to cause more trouble from inside the school. if she sets one foot on these grounds,I'll sense it immediately, I raise the alarm, the entire staff is on her in seconds, and it's good-bye Morgan." "Now then, as I asked before, you're not into black magick are you? I may use shadow magick, but it's not black magick, black magick requires the suffering of the innocent, that I do not do." Pat frowned. "Nae. Never touched that stuff. Do you think I'd have such a good friend if I were involved in cutting things to pieces?" Pat commented, scratching Luxor behind the ear. :It's true!: Luxor demanded. :My Master is a world-renowned Necromancer of good intentions, and has been able to send many a lost soul to their peace! He'd never get involved in dark Necromancy, because he's a selfless giver, and dark Necromancy is a tongue of greed!: Luxor's fur was standing on the ends, glaring up at Rath. "Whoah, whoah! Easy, easy, Luxor" he coaxed, and rubbed the golden choker around his neck. Luxor's fur went down, and he turned back to look at Patricles, whining. :You cheat, Master.: :Only because I love ya, boy: he thought back to his good friend. RATH

"Good then, we'll get along just fine, perhaps you would even like to sit in on a few classes now and then?" Patricles laughed. "Certainly, I may stop by once in a while. Very few students are inrolled in Necromancy here, afterall" he added. "A very tragically low number." "Well, It looks as if I'll have no more than fifteen students, all in one class. So we are both to be free a great deal of the time, perhaps you would like to sit in tonight, as soon as it is decided when and where my first class is to be." Rath said. Cassandra looked at the ghost. "I have no idea yet what is the matter. It is to do with that class of yours, I do know that so I doubt you'll be wanting to tell Merlin about it." She moved faster down the hall. OC if you look below at your post, you'll see that the ghost did not say who she was talking to. I guessed Cassandra, but it would help if your interactive writing were more clear. Would Narcissus go exploring with his sister as requested? Cassandra wanted to run away from all of them. A smile flickered across her face. Would the commander treat them warmly or chase them away? She moved quickly toward his class room. If he were not to busy he could come and sit with her at the little scrying pool she'd found. She needed to clear her head to see what was bothering her so much! Trying to ignore the kindly helpful people and the annoying ghost, she made her way along the direct paths of the outside until she arrived at Agamemnon's hut. Merlin glared at everyone who had foolishly come in to his office. "OUT!" He roared. Then with a look to his son and grand son he shook his head,"Except for you 2." Nymue had risen to go as well. "Someone has to keep an eye on things." She said with a sigh. The place was going to hell, or to Morgan other wise and there was not much difference in the 2 as she saw it. As everyone left,Merlin murmured a locking spell to the door who complied. "Morgan is obviously interested in death,because she knows we'll kill her sooner or later."Merlin chuckled. He looked round. "I'm working on a letter explaining everything to all the staff. They all have a right to know. I don't wish to alarm the students, so they'll know as much as they need to, which is basically that Morgan is about again, and so we defend from her. I'm writing a letter for them as well that shall be passed out at dinner right along with the food." He sighed. "Very good father, now I believe the next order of business is arranging a time and place of my first class, and then the boy." Rath said. "Your first class can be tonight at 8."Merlin said flatly. "If it is to much for these students or to dark, it shall be your last, so keep that in mind. I always teach a bit of the darker arts so the students shall know how to fight them. That is Nymue's field, so if I keep the class, perhaps you 2 can work together." The old Druid's eyes softened. "She's missed you." "You'll share a class room with Nymue for now."Merlin turned away. "I've a class now. Don't frighten anyone, don't show off, and do stay out of trouble. It would be nice of you to spend time with your mother." He left the room, charm locking the door. after all, his child didn't need to use it. Going to the classroom he waited for the class that would come in about 15 minutes. He was about to respond when Merlin blew up. "Right" he escaped out the door, wondering how horrific this Morgan person could be, if she was getting Merlin this edgy. Still arm in arm with Titania as they approached Agamemnon,s room, Kid whispered in her ear again "Will you hold me for a sec?" and before she could answer *POP* there was a chipmunk sitting on her shoulder, then *POP* a black squirrel, *POP* a mink wrapped itself around her neck, *POP* a lop-eared rabbit, *POP* a prairie dog, *POP a meerkat, *POP* a red squirrel, *POP an otter, *POP* a mouse which ran down her arm and *POP* was Kid again now holding her hand. With a huge grin on his face he said "For you, a special symphony of my favourite 'cuties'. I hope none of them were too heavy." Agamemnon noticed the obvious tension in Cassandra the moment she came in the hut. "What is troubling you, or should I say who? What exactly is going on," he asked. "So did you." Rath said as Merlin walked away. As moved silently to follow Nimue, and found her quickly Narcissus kept pace with Titania and Kidd not sure what to expect but he had no better ideas. He too wondered why Cassandra was headed for Agamemnon. He hoped so. She wasn't looking very happy at the moment. Gwydion was the first to arrive in Merlin's class, he really had nothing better to do. Ana decided her time was better spent elsewhere, she faded into invisibility and whispered into Cassandra's ear before leaving "You can come by Nimue's room at 8:00 tonight and sit in on the first class of shadowcraft to decide if you like it." With that she vanished and went quickly to catch up to Rath, it didn't take long to find him. Titania watched, amused. "Silly. Of course you weren't heavy" she remarked, as if it were common knowledge. "You do a very good job of capturing the cuteness of the animals" she commented. Lauraina looked sad for a moment before laughing and tossing an arm round Titania's shoulders. "Seems you've got the best looking boy in school!"She laughed. Then to kid with a wide grin,"That is the most unique flirting I've ever seen." Her golden amber eyes sparkled. Cassandra had moved forward to rush in to the arms of the Greek commander. Nymue's eyes were wide and tired as she looked at her son. "So talk to me...What have you been doing?How did you manage to forget everything?"She laughed. "Must have gotten it from me. Merlin thinks I'm strong but sometimes I wonder."She'd never admit that to anyone else. She pressed her face in to his chest. "I don't know.I can't see it yet, but it is going to be bad. Not directly bad, but shall have very bad effects. It is having to do with that shadow craft stuff and Morgan, and everything! I only hope I can help...that I'll be believed when it does come clearly to me. Your people defeated mine because I was not believed."She gave a harsh laugh. "Only by you." She hugged him. RATH

"I think we need to speak in private, if you know somewhere no one is liable to walk in on a conversation I can see about a spell to keep out prying telepaths. Your office perhaps?" NYMUE

"I have no real office. The forest is always good, in the grove."She started to walk. "None pry around here, and those who do are tossed out." "One can never be sure, even the walls have ears, I should know, most of the time at least one of them belongs to me." Rath followed quickly. Ana heard this bit of conversation and turned back the way she had come, having no intention of overhearing Rath's private conversations, his business was probably something she did not want to know. So she went off to find Gwydion. Nymue lead the way in to the druids grove. "We are alone here."She sank down on to the grass, and smiled. "Hmmm, just in case...." Rath raised a hand and the shadows seemed to darken for a moment. "A dampening spell, so even accidently no one will know what we say. I could never tell Merlin this, he doesn't understand pain as both of us do, not only physical but emotional as well, I won't dance around the issue with you, the attack on Avalon in which I was killed, it was my fault... Mordred Pendragon told me he had gathered an army and that they were to attack the island, I made a stupid mistake, I made a pact with him, I arranged to get them inside the castle and for the treasures within to be unguarded and in exchange he promised no one would be hurt, but he lied, they killed several of the priestesses before I raised the alarm, and we lost most of the treasures, I was the one who kept Excalibur out of their hands, and it was Mordred who stabbed me in the heart for it... Obviously I would rather no one else know, but I had to tell someone, if you must tell him you must." Nymue's good eye only widened slightly at this news. "Why did you make the agreement at all?" Her tone was annoyed as she tossed her tangled hair from her face. "You should've given the stupid fool the sword. Oberon would've just come after it and killed him. Where is it now?" Louis stood up, feeling cramped from sitting, tense, for so long. "Ashleigh, are you okey now? Do you require anything of me?" Louis would stay by his friend if need be, but the idea of going to his own room to rest was very tempting.....He would need a rest if what Keats knew was true, and Lestat would be here, along with another vampire, by nightfall. Or shortly thereafter. Whichever, Louis' anxiety level was high at this point. He looked to Billy and Ashleigh, waiting. "The sword is safe, no one is likely to ever find it but me, it was easy enough to send it to my hiding place, but it will take time to bring it back, I'll need a few things from the shadow realm and I'll bring it back tonight, after my class, perhaps you can help, its always easier to cast complex spells like that with two. The other treasures will be much harder to locate." Rath said. Titania blinked. Flirting? She had no idea. All she'd known was that she was stating facts. /He did make those creatures look very cute/ she thought to herself, and wondered if all the conflicts within Lauraina's realm hadn't given her nuts in her brain. Besides, she'd only fairly recently broken up with her last boyfriend. She bit her lip. "Fui'degart" she muttered under her breath. (ooc--translation from "Titania-speech": Ridiculous!" Ashleigh frowned. "Dude, I said I'm fine" he remarked, just a bit tired of being babied for the past several minutes and not understanding why. "Anyways! " Billy interjected, "Shouldn't we be getting to Merlin's class, 'High Codex of Magic'?" Billy inquired, a smirk on her face, waving her pointer finger and middle finger together in harmony, as if in admonition of the two boys. "What? Oh--" Ashleigh's scowl was wiped off of his face, and replaced with a look of worry. "Yikes" he began out the door, "Don't want to be late for the Headmaster's class!" Obscure liked her paws. :I hope this connection between the Muu'udox and your master's master is resolved: she added. Kid saw the look of sadness flicker across Lauraina's face. "I'm sorry," He said to both girls. "I didn't mean to be flirting. Well, maybe a little, but it's just that you guys are the first people I have ever shown this to and I really haven't had a chance to show it off before. I have composed a symphony for you, too," he said to Lauraina. "Would you like to see it now? Or should we head to Merlin's class before we're late and I will show you later?" "I'll help, of course, and I'd also like to learn all you can teach of the shadow realm."She smiled. "I look forward to sitting in on your class. It is not Merlin's usual way, but nor will he keep his students ignorant of a useful magic." Lauraina blushed, and made sure not to look at her brother who would probably tease her. "Um...I suppose we should go to class." She smiled slightly. She still didn't have people figured out yet, and perhaps never would "Since shadow magick originates from the shadow realm, I will be teaching the students at least a little about it, and if enough of them have the right talents I may even be able to guide their powers with my own and take us all there briefly, with Father's permission of course. For now I think I will go sit in on the next class and get a better look at my prospective students." Rath turned to make his way to the classroom. Titania beamed. "Let's goooo!!" she called out, and practically steamrollered Lauraina and Kid into the classroom. She did a small bow at the entrance, and then, after striking a very "adventurous" pose, hopped like a bunny towards a seat in the middle. Surprise doesn't quite describe gwydion's thoughts when he saw the fairy bound into the classroom. He had been practicing his penmanship, a few sheets of paper and a quill pen on the desk in front of him and he levitated the pen to write on the paper independantly, when the others came in the pen fell and dropped to the floor. He held out his hand and it jumped back up into his hand. "Oh, yes, I think it's time we got to at least one class," Louis smirked. He straightened out his bookbag, and waited for Ashleigh and Billy. "Come on, Keats, might as well join us. I don't have time to return you to my room, and I don't want you wandering around getting into anymore trouble." Louis stood at the door, "Ready, guys?" Kid laughed at Titania's antics. "She's funny," Kid said to Lauraina as they watched the fae one find a seat.He looked around to see if Ashleigh or Louis were here yet. Not seeing them he turned back to Lauraina. "Shall we?" he asked, indicating a pair of seats near Titania and Gwydion, in the centre of the room. Gwydion indicated across the room to Kid that he should take the seat next to him, he was looking forward to talking to this one if he got the chance. Ashleigh nodded, and Billy shrieked, "Last one there's molten candle wax!" and rushed off, picking up Obscure rather hastily. "Billy!" Ashleigh groaned, and began to hurry after her, remembering his schoolbag. ~~ Titania beamed at the other classmates. "Tah! I wonder what the first lesson's going to be like...do you think he'll talk about what happened in Healing?" she inquired. Nymue shook her head. "Merlin does not have classes so that others can come and sit in. You can not go about the place as though you own it, darling boy."She smiled. "No harm in scrying, though. I don't think he'd have that blocked. As for taking the students in to the realm of shadow, you'll have to take Merlin and I first to get a feel for it before we can judge it fit for students. We can not take them in to any danger." Merlin did not turn to the class until everyone had come in. Cassandra dashed in last, but not quite late. She'd been calmed somewhat by Agamemnon. He was right. How could she get a vision if she were so upset? "Good day,Class."Merlin smiled slightly. "A lot has been going on to stir up things, and I am almost sorry for that. Almost I say, because this shall give you experience that you can later use in life to fight evil." He seemed to look at each student for a moment before going on. "Some in this realm envy what we have, and would have it for themselves. I'm sure you've all heard of Morgan sister to Arthur...All except for perhaps Cassandra." He smiled at the Trojan girl. "You'll get it in history class." "Everyone else has had that history,"Serpensortia said after raising her hand. "Which is why she shall be doing a lot of private reading from books that I shall provide. I'm not a fool,girl." His eyes flickered over Serpensortia and she flushed and fell still. "I suppose so, I don't have to actually be anywhere, to see it. Best not to interfer." Rath said, "Perhaps there is someplace that could be considered my quarters you could point out to me?" "Sir?" Kid asked hesitantly, "Can you tell us more about the Quest you mentioned earlier?" "I'll give you a room near ours."Nymue smiled at him. "You and Merlin shall get along fine as long as you stop acting as though you own the place. Also try to remember to respect him a bit. When he left me in charge of things, running off with Arthur as he did, I was rapped, and maimed. He thought I could handle it, and that it would make me stronger. The 3 wounds and all that." She gave a bitter laugh as she lead him to his rooms. "Well I'm a wonderfully strong druid thanks to my 3 wounds of spirit, body, and mind, but that didn't stop me being angry with him for leaving me to it. Still, remember that Merlin's job is to see the big picture for greater good." Merlin's eyes danced with pleasure at the question. "While it has nothing directly to do with the current problems at hand, I'll be glad to." He straightened a bit more as he spoke, and his eyes showed his passion for the subject. "The 13 lost items that some believe were made by the gods." His blue eyes showed clearly that he held this belief as well. "With them we unite and return full power to Britton. By the end of this year, after I've had a chance to see all of your strengths and weaknesses I'll know who is best to bring along among those of you who are brave enough to offer." "What do you mean by "unite and return full power to Britton", sir?" Kid was confused. "I mean that Britannia...all of it, shall be united again, and all the magic of the place shall return to us. All the magic that was lost by men and death." His eyes looked far away. "I mean that the gods shall smile upon us once more, Boy!" "Praise Gods," Serpensortia muttered to her harpy. She felt as if she were in church. Kid thought he almost had a glimmer of an idea about what Merlin was talking about. "Do you you mean the old Earth mother magic? Gaia? The one my old teacher called The Great Spirit?" He ignored Serpensortia's sarcasm. This was getting interesting. "Gia is one of her many names, and not the name for her that we druids call her, but it is of no matter. They all have many names. When I speak of the gods, I don't only mean her, but all of those who looked favorably on Britain." He knew this boy was bright, and hoped to win him to the cause. If he could only keep him there in these hard times. "Yes I suppose so, I've never really understood why he has allowed such things to happen, but I think I do now, there would have been worse consequences if he come to our aid, such that only he could forsee them, he is indeed a wise man." Rath said. "Let us go select a specific room and I will bring in a few things." Gwydion raised his hand and spoke, for once ignoring Serpensorcia. "I think I've heard of these treasures, the cauldron you already mentioned, and everyone knows Excalibur, and there was an amulet called the galator, and a key that will open any lock, among others, am I right? I'd especially love to see Excalibur, when you go on this quest, I'd just like to say, you'd have to tie me up and send me home in a burlap sack to keep me from coming along to help in any way I can." Nymue showed him the way to his room, next door to theirs. Giving him a hug she smiled. "it is good to have you home again."She blinked slightly, trying not to cry or show that she was trying not to cry. "if only you were alive." Merlin gave his grandson a proud smile. "I hope you show yourself able to come as well, and I'll be glad to let everyone see all the treasures before they are put away. I'm happy to see your knowledge of them, and you are correct in the facts that you know." He smiled. �You know what they say about love, even death cannot overcome it." Rath said, wiping away her tears. "And if it can melt a heart of stone, than a dead heart should not be difficult, and maybe once we have the cauldron the process can be reversed." He gestured toward the center of the room and mumbled a few words, a black portal formed in the middle of the room and a variety of items began drifting through and arranging themselves around the room, starting with a very ornate mirror, which once postioned immediately displayed, rather than a reflection, an image of Merlin's class, Gwydion was speaking, but the sound was almost inaudible. "Young Arthur got his first look at magick from a similar spell did he not? When Merlin unpacked the things he had bought to the castle where he was to tutor the boy... of course in that case it was a satchel as opposed to a planar rift leading to my private quarters in the shadow realm." He asked, directing the movements of the objects with his waving hands. "Say do you still have that bag of holding? It may come in handy later on." Nymue's eye was wide with interested as things floated in. "What heart of stone? Merlins? He was always soft."She frowned looking distracted. "How are those things solid if they are from shadow? It is all so interesting." Gwydion was relieved he was right, this was all still new to him and he certainly didn't want to look like an idiot, not yet at least, he especially didn't want to play the fool with Cassandra around to see it, it was just a bonus that he could look smugly at that Snape girl. "No one's heart of stone, I was referring to the old saying." Rath chuckled. "Their not made of shadow any more than I am, my world itself is, but these came from this world, and now they are coming back." Ashleigh frowned. Wotta crock. He wondered what exactly some people in the world of magic were really influenced by these days. Billy scratched her head. The whole of Britton? It didn't concern her. She was American. Obscure mewed, as if she kind of understood. :The land of Magic, hmm?: Titania peered up, inquisitively. "Sooo...to recover land lost of time lost, long ago, to gather up treasures for to do so!" She drummed her fingers upon the table. "Does the fair and grizzles headmaster desire to see a land he has not seen for a while? A connection he has not felt? The lost island of Magic--Avalon--come back to us?" her purple eyes stared, examining. --Excaliber?-- Now THAT Kid had heard of. "The sword that only the one true King of Britain can wield? That Excaliber?" Knowing that there could only be one. "King Arthur Pendragon's Excaliber?" He was stunned. He'd had no idea that Merlin's quest was one of such importance. He had been thinking more along the lines of a magic-school field trip. "But, sir, some of us are not British." "I don't think that matters, we are all part of this world, and the recovery of the treasures will benefit the whole world. Can you imagine what the treasure called the flowering harp could do? It would be the end of world hunger easily. And some of the others are even more powerful." Gwydion said, feeling oddly protective of his grandfather's ideals, considering they had just met "But he said they were going to be put away." Kid said to Gwydion. As Merlin spoke to Kid, Cassandra returned the hard look of his grand son. So what he knew of the treasures. And...? She hated show offs as much as her father did. If he thought he had something to prove, then he did. She shrugged, and murmured something to her harpy. Then she raised her hand and spoke to Merlin. "Sir, you are someone anyone with a brain would admire and wish to learn from. I hope to be able to go on the quest. I grew up in modern Britain, so it is my land as well. I hope that my experience with potions can help along the way if anyone needs anything." Merlin gave her a nod, but no other reaction. Nymue looked confused. "They are not made of shadow any more than you are, you say? But are you not made of shadow? You did indeed die, so..." She looked interested as she waited for his answer, and watched him arranging his room. It was wonderful to have him back, no matter how he was there. Merlin chuckled to Kid's words. "One does not have to be from the land of Britain to be a part of helping to restore power. If one is narrow minded enough not to see that, not to see the need to have extremely great and powerful objects returned to the hands of those who could and shall properly use and care for them, they are not needed on this quest." His now hard gaze flickered around the room to land on each student in turn. Merlin smiled at his grand son. "That is a lovely idea, child, and should work, but sadly enough, man kind is to evil, and stupid to allow the end of world hunger." He looked almost sad. "A corpse is not of shadow, I have as much in common with the undead, perhaps more, than I do with spirits. A shade is, of course, one who has a very powerful spirit as well as magickal skill and refuses to leave this plane after death, but refuses to leave this plane, and instead returns to the body as something of a mixture of body and soul in one form, and so I am neither spirit nor body, but both as one, my shadowy appearance is largely because like most of the undead I have difficulty dealing with sunlight, I use that spell to shield myself. Unfortunately I doubt Merlin's potion will work on me, I am no vampire after all, but it seems that the light is becoming less bothersome, and so the shield is withdrawning." Rath said. "Is it possible that somehow I am being healed?" "That is what I meant when I said the others are even more powerful, isn't there one that might help them to change?" Gwydion asked. "Perhaps the Galator?" Meadowlark said nothing about why she should be allowed to go on the quest with Merlin but she desperately wanted some adventure. The faerie realm was so boring and she'd do anything to get out into the world and gain a sense of accomplishment at the same time. She looked at Merlin for a long moment hoping she conveyed her interest but if not she planned to earn the right to go. Lark wasn't opposed to doing hard work. Nymue frowned. "Healed how? Do you mean having life restored? If so, I don't understand how, but the time I spent among the shades and the dying, I wasn't overly...sane." She looked away. Merlin looked at his grandson and laughed. "Nothing or no one can make a whole pig headed race change, boy." He smiled. "In some ways you remind me so of Arthur. Such a charming dreamer." *and he died for it,* He thought but didn't say. "I've had my share of insanity, imagine waking up in the astral plane as a shade after dying from a knife wound." Rath said. "I don't know how it would happen, but I think it may be. And not to change the subject, but what about that bag, we may be able to use it later, imagine trying to carry the cauldron by hand..." Well I am flattered to be compared to someone like Arthur, who, as the saying goes, began a 'reign that would live in the heart long after it had withered on the land' but I rather hope to be better, he was as you say 'a charming dreamer' but he died for it, I don't intend to." Merlin caught the eager look from the faerie,Lark, and returned her smile. He'd watch all the interested ones carefully and have high hopes that they would come through. Nymue laughed. "I'm sure Merlin will find a way to carry things. He is wonderful at thinking things out, but mention it to him when the time comes if you like." She sighed. "It has been such a long few days. I greatly look forward to your class tonight, though." She smiled. "Even I am not to old to learn even if it is from my own son!" Your not old yet mother, even if we both feel ancient after all we've been through." Rath said with a chuckle. "I wonder where Celach has gone off too." He said half to himself. Celach said, coming around a corner. "This castle is amazing!" Ana exclaimed. "Who is your friend?"Nymue asked with a smile. Fact was she was old, and sometimes felt it even if she did not look it. They'd not had their son until many many years after Arthur's death. She sighed, pushing thoughts of age away. �Ana you have met already, my apprentice, Celach here is a firelizard, my familiar, he's a great deal like a tiny dragon, except he doesnt breath fire, just generates heat off his skin." Rath said. "A pleasure to meet you milady." Celach said, his voice rough, but well-spoken, he raised himself into the air with a few flaps of his wings and perched on Rath's shoulder. "And are you also a shade?"Nymue asked looking at the lizard. This was really becoming quite interesting, and it had been waaay to long for that. Kid was completely chagrined, "But I didn't mean...but...I do want to help restore the magic objects." Kid was pretty sure that he was not narrow-minded. He had just wanted to know if this was for the betterment of mankind or the betterment of Britain alone. It wasn't fair that he might not be able to go on the quest now. The grouchy old fart. Then Kid noticed Louis and Ashliegh and Ash's sister, what was her name? Oh yeah, Billy, sitting on the other side of the room. Ashliegh looked pretty healthy compared to the last time Kid had seen him. He looked at Louis. Ghost had mentioned that Louis can mind-talk to the animals like Kid. Kid had never mind-talked to a human ...er ...person before. He thought really loud --HEY, LOUIS, CAN YOU HEAR ME?� Merlin smiled sardonically at Kid. "Who said I was talking specifically about you? Good to see you have an ego,though." He chuckled, and turned back to the class. "If there are no more questions, we'll begin." He opened a large tome. "No, just a dragon, pure and simple." Calech answered. "A baby dragon?"Nymue asked, looking confused. The Faerie queen has a few of the adults here." "well not really a baby, he won't get bigger than this, comparing him to a dragon is like a house cat to a lion." Rath said as he closed the portal behind him. Celach heated his skin up to a scalding temperature at the less than flattering comparison. "I'm no house cat, firelizards are dragons,just very small ones."

MERLIN

Merlin carefully turned the ancient pages. "This was written long before my time by an even more ancient druid." He smiled. "he teaches about magic,spells, and belief. What do all of you think is the basic make up of any "Spell?"

CALECH

"Oh I'm just having a bit of fun." Calech said. He nipped Rath on the ear.

STUDENTS

Gwydion thought he knew the answer. "Isn't it energy from the earth guided by the will of the caster?"

Titania's violet eyes watched carefully as Merlin opened up the tome, and listened.

Billy frowned.

Ashleigh stifled a yawn.

MERLIN

"Well energy from the universe in general, fire, water,earth,air, and ether other wise known as spirit." Merlin told him and the rest of the class. "We'll get to the spirit thing in a moment. The 5 elements are a big part of the casting, but the most important part is will and belief. You never think this will happen you think it is! It is."

NYMUE

Nymue shrugged and looked to her son. "He still could deal with a refresher course." She chuckled thinking of Merlin. Then back to Rath,"So what now then?"

GWYDION

Unlike certain other students, Gwydion took all this quite seriously, he was fascinated by the ancient book, and he wondered if he would ever be able to see what was inside.

RATH

"Shall we look in on the class?" He asked. "This mirror makes scrying so much easier. It was enchanted by Elaine using the same spell that was on her scrying pool on Avalon. It works only for me and shows me most anything I want to see and all I need do is tell it what I want, unfortunately many of the things I am most interested in are protected from scrying. Things like Hamunaptra, and Morgan's location." He walked over to the gold rimmed mirror, which still showed the classroom. He waved a hand in front of the mirror and the sound from the class could be heard.

LARK

Lark raised her hand to answer Merlins question and if called upon she said "Isn't about 95 percent of a spell belief?" Titania stared. Interested. The Strauss twins were still lounging about, about half-listening the both of them. Nymue didn't look overly interested, but she shrugged. "Do as you like.� Merlin smiled at the half faerie/half human girl,Lark. "You're exactly right." Then he proceeded on with his explanation that I already wrote. He hoped that the fae girl would continue to be promising. Merlin frowned at the twins. Magic is also a trick. Do any of you understand that?" He looked at Maeb's daughter, knowing her and her kind would understand that well. His eyes then went to the boy...Narcissus was it? Billy and Ashleigh both looked at the Proffessor. Ashleigh looked confused. /This is soo not what I signed up for/ he thought to himself. Billy looked bored. /I thought this was High magic, not the basics!/ "Uh...trick?" Ashleigh asked. "You mean, not real? But...huh?" Titania continued looking up at Merlin, a look of interest still in her silent features. "You're reffering to illusion?" Titania asked, more than stated. 9 years of living outside the Fae realm had distanced her a bit from some of the "old ways". She understood it vaguely, but...most of the magicks of the Fae realm she still did not know how to utilize. Gwydion didn't know anything more about actual magick than what he had read in his free time, all he knew from experience was that when he opened that imaginary door in his mind all that energy came through him and out into everything around him, and when he opened it too wide it was almost impossible to control all that energy, or even close it off again. Narcissus watched his classmates reactions with interest. He knew exactly what Merlin meant by magic being a trick but he kept silent. He nodded in understanding when Merlin had spoken. He tried to do as little as possible to attract Merlins attention. He had no personal issues with the Druid, but his mother certainly did. Narcissus understood where both sides were coming from. "Of a sort,"Merlin answered Titania. Then to the twins..."You seem to find this class dull. To learn the highest points of magic, one must return to basics. I have not seen either of you answer one of my "basic," questions which leads me to believe that you indeed need to learn them as most of the students in here do. Many wizards have failed because they forgot basic knowledge. If you do not need this part of my class, though, I'll dismiss you until it becomes quite hard. When it does I'll call you back. When you do not pass, you're gone from this school with very bad references. Does that suit?" His sharp blue eyes seemed to stare in to the soul of each twin. Cassandra looked horrified, and Serpensortia looked as though she were trying not to laugh. Lauraina had been nodding to herself in agreement to what the old druid had been saying. Most of her mother's powers came from tricks like that. The goblin queen's tricks were dangerous. She shivered. Titania nodded her head, not exactly satisfied with Merlin's answer. "Something like that" was too much of a roundabout for her. She then looked behind her at the students he was directing his temper at-- Ashleigh shrunk under the gaze. What a grouch! He'd only nearly died less than 10 minutes ago--was the guy a totally insensitive arse, or what? Billy merely frowned. "Of course, sir--The basics of magick are taught to all the girls of the Strauss line, before they enter advanced schools" Billy retorted, bizzarely serious for herself. "Earth, Air, Fire, Water--they all compose the basics of energy, of life, of death even--of everything that we know, and then the encompassing Spirit. I'm just irritated that you can hold such composure after two of your students have been attacked, and then demand answers from the students when you yourself still have some explaining to do." Ashleigh nearly choked, and tried to stomp on his twin's foot to shut that big, impulsive mouth of hers. Obscure twitched. :That was a nasty button to push, Billy: she remarked. :He deserves it: she bit back with uncharacteristic nastiness. "And furthermore--ouch!" Foot connected with other foot. Titania did her best to stop herself from banging her head into the desk. ~~2575