Nightschool chapter 2

Alex took a step outside and set one hand on the rail, her spell book under her other arm. She looked up at the waning moon.

"New moon is soon," she said to herself. "Time to go."

She took another step forward, only for the hood of her jacket to snag on something. She turned around and saw her spirit behind her, a hand on her hood. It tugged at it.

Alex frowned and shook her head, fingers arching over her forehead. She turned back to it, a big fake grin on her face.

"Look, when Sarah says "Don't leave the house"… what she actually means is "Don't leave the house unprotected." And since you're with me, you'll  protect me! So there's no problem, right?"

The spirit stared at her, then reached three more hands out to hold onto the building.

"Aw, come onnnn!!" Alex complained, struggling against the three hands holding her and the five gripping the wall. "I have to practice this spell outside!! Argh!! Bad Astral, bad Astral, let go!!"

She stopped struggling, breathing hard, and looked back at the spirit, annoyed. "What if I said there's a cookie in this for you?"

The spirit let go too quickly, and Alex went flying.

"Gah!!"

The spirit fussed around her as she started walking, looking through her purple messenger bag and the pockets of her white hoodie.

"Stoppit, I don't have it on me!!" Alex said, shooing it away from her hair. It dropped behind her and sulked.

"I'll get you one later, settle down," she continued, holding her hands perpendicular to her collar bone. She brought them up to her lips and blew on them gently.

"Out of sight," she whispered, running them parallel to her face.

She disappeared.

"Stop fussing! What Sarah doesn't know won't hurt her."

***

"You don't know this?"

"Um, well," Sarah said meekly. "In-in theory?"

The woman in front of her stared, annoyance and concern fighting in her solid blood red eyes, brightly painted lips in a deep frown. "But this is so basic!"

"Sorry, I'm still learning all the ropes," Sarah said, voice small.

The woman raised a pale hand to her forehead, long, sharp, red nails banging against her glasses and messing up the parted bang in her brown, flipped-out bob. "Oh very well, I supposed I can take some time to explain."

She conjured up a thick, simple looking book. "So, as it clearly states in the Night Student Guidebook…" She flipped through. "Casting spells outside the classroom on school grounds is forbidden. Breaking this rule triggers a special ward that marks the caster… Like so." She pointed to symbol on the forehead of the African American girl sitting in the chair in front of them.

"It was an accident, I swear!" the girl cried. Her Astral floating next to her, trying to comfort her. The black closed-looking eye socket on the white side of its face turned toward her in unreadable concern, the black semicircle on its white cheek rubbing against her shoulder. The white eye on its black side stared at the older teacher in an indecipherable glare. The white circle between the two sides was nearly concealed by the white veil that covered it.

"That's what they always say," the woman said, holding the book out to Sarah. "Excuse #1 in the Night Teacher's Handbook. There's a Top Fifty list, see?"

"Ohhhh!" Sarah said quietly.

"And here!" the woman said, looking over at the African American boy, brunette girl with hair just past her shoulders and eyes like the woman's, and paler boy with spiky black hair sitting against the adjacent wall. "We have a prime example of students who just don't. Know. When to stop."

She smiled, getting an idea. She turned to Sarah quickly, her hair brushing against a pointed ear. "Ms. Treveney, I do believe this is also a case to be taken straight to the night principal's office."

"O-oh, can't we just…" Sarah started.

"And since you are new," the woman continued, "I will put forth the effort and do it myself…"

"Oh no no, that's all right," Sarah panicked, "I can…!"

"And let you deal with this one. A two-hour detention in the Gray Room should do."

The African American girl started.

"Now then, follow me! Time to learn your lesson!" the woman said to the three of them, all smiles.

The brunette put her hand on her forehead.

"Yes, ma'am," the African American boy grumbled. "Mrs. Witch, rhymes with–"

"O-ho-ho, looks like someone isn't in enough trouble already!" the woman said almost evilly. "I'll be delighted to fix that for you."

The four of them disappeared through the door that led to Madame Chen's office.

Sarah looked back at the girl.

"The Room?!!" the girl panicked. "Miss T, it really was an accident, I was just passing by and–"

"I believe you," Sarah interrupted. She held out her head and erased the mark on her forehead, a knuckle brushing against one of the girl's small, curly twin buns. The girl's eyes squeezed shut, emphasizing her long eyelashes. "No detention, but promise to be more careful, okay? And don't tell anyone… Or we'll both be in trouble. Mrs. Murrey will eat us or something." She tilted her head toward the door where the teacher had disappeared.

"So not a problem," the girl said, opening her eyes and shaking her head. She reached out to pet her Astral. "Thank you very much, Miss T. Do you need any help here?"

Sarah turned around and put the books up. "No, I'm all right, thank you. Also, isn't our class going on a field trip tonight?"

"Yes, ma'am! Twilight Lakes."

"Ah, great place. Waters deeper than time and colder than death," Sarah said thoughtfully. "Good spot for annoying some mermaids." She chuckled.

The girl giggled. "I better get back to class then," she said, walking toward the door. "Thanks again!!"

"Anytime!" Sarah called back brightly. She watched her leave, then frowned slightly.

She walked over to her desk and plopped into her chair, face in her hand. "Wish Alex would go…" she said to herself. She sighed. "She better be studying."

***

The gate to the graveyard said "No Trespassing", but that didn't stop a mysterious set of footprints without a source from marching up to it.

"Aww, they fixed the hole!" Alex complained, reappearing.

"Hmm…" she muttered, looking at the wrought iron spikes on top. She looked at her Astral.

"Okay, let's try it," she said. Black wisps of substance wrapped around her.

She stepped back a bit, took a running start, and jumped right over the fence, the Astral still clinging to her.

She had almost landed when a loud RRRIIP snapped her out of it.

"Aw, man!" she complained, looking up at the torn messenger bag stuck on a spike, whose strap left her dangling a foot off the ground. She slipped out from it and tugged at the bag.

"Figures," she grumbled, "that's what I get for lik… for hating it."

She glanced back and saw her Astral looking away, guilty. "Heeey, this wasn't your fault," she said consolingly. She yanked the bag down, ignoring the giant tear in the bottom.

"It's me…" she said quietly, looking away. "I just… I need to get better. Stronger." She took a deep breath. "And I will be. Just you watch."

She looked at her Astral, a translucent white veil suddenly draped over her head.

"I will be the power that shapes the world."

The Astral hissed and slid back.

Alex blinked, surprised, the veil gone. "What was that?" she muttered, hand on her head. The Astral fussed over her. "I'm okay, I'm okay. What was I saying?"

She blinked, dazed. "Well, whatever, let's go." She started walking, slouching and dragging the torn bag behind her. "Sheesh, can I have more weird tonight, please? Hope no one got buried on my practice sight," she grumbled.

A short while later, Alex was crouching behind a gravestone, staring into the middle of the graveyard.

"Aw, come on!!"

A human girl was standing in Alex's practice sight, glancing around quickly. She pulled the hood of her leather, short-sleeved mini-dress over her Rogue-style black hair, a gray-clad wrist brushing back a white strand of it.

"Damn straight I'll kick her out," Alex grumbled. "I've got homework to do… What's a human doing out here so late, anyway?"

The girl continued looking around, not quite nervous, chewing on her bottom, cherry red lip. She jumped, seeing the swirl of leaves, light, and shadow appearing to her right.

A blond teenaged boy appeared, the collar of his leather jacket blowing away from his white long sleeved shirt, which was blowing against his leather pants.

"Nicholas!!" the girl exclaimed. "I thought you weren't going to make it!"

"I wouldn't miss this for the world," the boy said, leaning down toward her, a rose behind his back. "To be honest, I didn't think you'd come."

She put her hands on her hips. "Ha, you don't scare me!" she said, smiling.

"You had to wait," Nicholas said softly. He held the rose out to her and took her blushing face into his hands. "Let me… make it up to you." He leaned in closer and opened his mouth slightly, revealing a pair of fangs.

Alex gagged and turned away from the kissing couple. She glared in their general direction.

Her face brightened with an idea.

"Did I take it?…" she whispered to herself, rummaging through her bag. "Aha!"

She pulled out a notebook entitled, "vampires In Their Natural Habitat, an observational journal by Alexius Treveney" and a pair of binoculars. She opened the notebook on her knees and put the binoculars up to her eyes, smiling. She had a night speciology report to do.

Crunch

The three of them started.

Nicholas and the girl turned toward the source of the sound.

"Who's there?" he growled.

The fall leaves rustled and crunched until a silhouette appeared around the corner of a large tombstone.

A girl in her early teens staggered out, wavy blonde hair half-covering her face and glazed-over eyes, the blood from a deep wound on her neck dripping down and staining the top half of her shirt.

"H-help…" she whispered weakly.

"She's hurt!" the other girl cried, rushing toward her.

Nicholas watched, slightly exasperated.

"C-cold…" the blonde whispered.

The black-haired girl looked her over and turned back to Nicholas. "Nicholas, she's been bitten!! Is she going to turn?!"

"Huh… Hungry…"

"Uh," Nicholas said, raising an eyebrow at her. "She already has."

The blonde girl lunged at the human, shrieking, eyes wild.

The human gasped, closing her eyes.

Nicholas pushed the other vampire away before she could lay a hand on her.

"Hands off, newbie!" he growled. "This one's mine."

The newbie snarled and scratched across Nicholas's face, leaving five deep marks.

He pushed her back and punched her, causing her head to snap back.

"Observation Cycle II, Day 13," Alex jotted down, "vampires–still go for the jugular. Humans–still dumb as lampposts."

He sent her skidding back across the ground.

"I said back off!!" He wiped at the blood on his face.

The other vampire pushed herself up, snarling. Her nails dug into the ground.

"Touch her and you're dust, you hear?" he growled.

"You two need some help killing each other?"

Nicholas turned toward the voice.

Teresa and Cassidy were standing behind them, flanked by the fair-haired Hunter and the African American girl.

"Because I'd volunteer," Teresa finished, a stake in each hand.

Alex stared from her hiding place.

She ducked back behind the tombstone, her notebook clutched to her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Hunters.

She shoved the notebook into her bag, yanked it off the ground by the strap, and made a run for it.

She stopped too suddenly and fell, taken aback by the other three Hunters standing in front of her.

The girl with the braid and red make-up looked off to the side, watching the other four with the vampire.

"Told you there's someone here," the African American boy said.

"Not just someone," J said, smirking. "It's a little Weirn. With her Astral all showing, how cute."

Okay everybody sorry about how long it took to post this!