Nightschool chapter 6

The Hunters walked up to one of the gray stone walls of the old, seemingly abandoned church, Teresa leading the way.

Cassidy and Ten held Terrance between them. Teresa had Noh draped over her shoulder, and Jaq was carrying J the same way.

Teresa walked up to a sealed-over doorway and fumbled for a dagger. She cut across her right palm, not letting Noh fall, and slid her bleeding hand across the stone.

"Passage," she said.

The blocks of stone scraped and fell away. A figure wearing all white, an opaque white veil covering their head, holding an oil lamp, stepped out from the shadow.

"Welcome, blood of Eden. Granting you passage." The figure looked at the vampire lingering on the fringes of the group. "But not to this one."

"She still has a reflection," Cassidy explained. "Is Mona around today?"

The figure was silent for a moment. "Go. I will look after her."

"Thank you, taker," Teresa said.

"Wh–what…" the vampire asked.

"It's alright," Ten said. Cassidy slipped Terrance's arm from around her. "This is a friend. Go with her, she'll tell you what you need to know." The four conscious Hunters started through the passage.

"Good luck," Ten said over her shoulder. "Stay away from bad places."

The passage re-sealed behind them. The vampire blinked, confused.

The taker took the veil off, revealing a careworn face framed by messy, short brown hair.

"Hi there," the taker said, smiling. "I am Mona. What's your name?"

The vampire blinked again, trying to understand.

"Oh, you are new," Mona said. "Still not used to the quiet being so loud, huh?"

She put her arm around the girl and lead her off. "It's alright, we'll fix you up."

***

The four of them walked through the tent-cluttered, expansive church, looking around at the other injured Hunters.

Teresa looked over and saw a boy with a black creature clinging to his shoulder.

"Argh!! I'm telling you, damn thing came of nowhere!!" the boy insisted, flinching in pain.

"Hold still," the taker behind him said, pouring something on the creature that made a hissing sound when it hit.

"Yeah, Taka, that's what you always say," the girl standing next to him said, laughing and playing with one of her two short braids.

Cassidy looked over and saw a short-haired girl sitting down, covering her bleeding eyes.

"She triggered a spelltrap," the ponytailed woman standing behind her said, her arms folded over the strap that tied a sword to her back. "Pretty old by the looks of it."

"Well-crafted one, too," the taker standing in front of the girl said. "She'll be blind for several days, I'm afraid."

"We need to find an empty one," Cassidy said.

"Looking," Teresa muttered, glancing around.

She lifted a tarp and looked into the tent to find a scruffy-haired man sitting by one of the six beds, staring down at a boy's body, the face covered by a white sheet.

He looked up at her, his eyes glazed over.

She stayed, looking at him for a moment, sympathy clouding her eyes.

"Can I help you?" a taker behind her asked.

She snapped out of it and looked back.

"Hey, Rese, over here," Cassidy said, waving her over.

A moment later, Terrance and Noh were laying on two of the cots, and Jaq was setting J on a third.

"What's wrong with them?" Teresa asked the taker that stood between her and Cassidy.

The taker walked over to Terrance, studied him for a moment, and turned back to them.

"I do not recognize this condition. Who was the attacker?"

"We… don't know," Cassidy admitted, looking away.

"Can't you do something?!" Ten cried.

The taker turned to her. "There is nothing I can take here. No spells, no injuries. They are feeling no pain." The taker turned to look at Noh. "They are not feeling anything, in fact. Hey are not dead… but they are not alive, either. They–" The taker turned around.

Daemon walked in.

"Teacher!" Teresa said. "How–?"

Marina peeked out from behind him.

Teresa rushed over to her. "Mar!! Are you back?"

Marina nodded.

Daemon looked at the three unconscious Hunters, then turned back to the two he'd left in charge.

"Explain."

***

Alex shuffled through the pile of photographs on the table.

"No, no, no…" she muttered. "She's gone from all of them…"

"Thank you for holding," the mirror behind her said.

"Yes?!" Alex cried, whipping around.

"I am sorry, but this person is not on any of our connection lists."

"That's impossible!" Alex exclaimed. "I talked to her just an hour ago! Are you calling the name right? Sarah, Sarah Treveney."

"That's what you said the last three times, yes, and I triple-checked. This person does not exist. Good night."

The mirror blinked off.

"What is this?" Alex muttered. She brushed her bangs back. "I just talked to her."

She sorted back through the pictures, then realized her best bet.

She looked away, frowning.

"The school."

She took her jacket off of its hook, put it on, grabbed her bag, and stepped through the portal, her Astral following.

***

Daemon, Teresa, Cassidy, and Marina walked back through the graveyard to where they'd found J, Noh, and Terrance. Daemon looked at the set of footsteps that marked the path of the attacker.

"Whose decision was it to retreat instead of Hunt?" he asked.

"Mine, sir," Cassidy confessed after a moment.

"Teresa?" Daemon asked.

"I wanted to Hunt," she said.

Daemon was silent a moment. "Cassidy, excellent call. Teresa?"

"Y-yes?" she asked, gaze moving from Cassidy to the teacher.

"Send a double," he said.

She raised an eyebrow, but complied.

She took out a dagger, cut off a small piece of hair, a couple of inches long, and blew it off of her hand.

The piece of hair slowly formed a copy of Teresa.

The double looked back. Teresa gesture for it to walk forward.

It took a few steps until its foot landed next to one of the footprints, which glowed black with a symbol that looked almost like an eight, white lines like trip wires appearing above it.

Black roots erupted out of the ground, piercing through the double's body.

Teresa hunched over in pain. Cassidy stared at the double.

Its body hissed and fell to the ground, blinking back into a piece of dark hair.

Teresa gasped, clutching her abdomen.

Daemon set a hand on her shoulder. "Steady. Deep breaths."

"Laying spelltraps is illegal now!!" Teresa managed.

Daemon moved his hand back to his side. "Yes. For all that's worth to the night."

"Dammit…" Teresa muttered.

"Are you okay?" Cassidy asked, moving to put a hand on her back.

"I'm FINE!!" she snapped, swatting his hand away.

He moved back, surprised. His glasses clouded over, making his expression unreadable.

He turned away.

Teresa looked at him, regretful. She smiled a bit, sadly.

"See anything?" Daemon asked Marina.

She looked away, eyes gazing over. "Yes."

She saw a figure shrouded in white. It turned toward her, revealing a young, feminine face frame by short white hair, a smile the only feature.

"It's her," Marina whispered. "She… s-she took… time from them. As a warning to us."

"How much?" Daemon asked.

"I can't… I don't know." She thought deeply, frowning, the bags under her eyes growing deeper. "Hours. Days…? Maybe their whole lives."

Cassidy and Teresa stared, alarmed.

"Right," Daemon said, flexing his fingers. "That's definitely something we'll be wanting back."

***

Alex slipped through the other side of the portal and entered the darkened school hallway.

"The lights aren't on?" she thought out loud.

She looked around and started walking, her Astral floating beside her.

"School should still be in session, it's barely midnight…" she muttered. A pool of black slid behind her on the floor, reaching out toward her.

"Hello?" She stopped walking. "Is this the right place?" She looked around. "Can't even see anything…"

She held out her hand. "Light."

A ball of flame appeared, floating above her hand, illuminating the oily black substance surrounding her, reaching up toward her.

"What?" Alex asked, staring at it.

It wrapped around them.

Alex screamed, stuck in place by the web.

"Well, well, well," a figure walking toward them said, eyes glowing white. The figure grinned, revealing sharp teeth.

"Who have we here?"