Professor Nadig found Shannon Malone before classes started on the following Monday morning. Shannon had gone in early that day, hoping to meet up with Caleb and Allison before they had to go to class. She'd successfully located Caleb with Ollie, Ginger, Jared, and Dexter, but Allison was nowhere to be found. Ollie's injury had healed up fine; the gauze pad had been removed, and the bite marks could barely be seen. She'd dolefully related how her older siblings Archie and Eve had raised hell when they'd seen it, but she'd successfully come up with a plausible story involving a safety pin that had fooled them. Of course her parents had not been home to see.
They talked sparingly of the events of the past Friday. It was the topic all of them most wanted to breach, but none really knew what to say. The truth was plain: vampires still existed and at least two were in Clearwater. That went without saying. All the deeper issues...no one had quite collected their thoughts on those. Shannon had been pulled away before anyone could.
To be brutally honest, Professor Nadig scared Shannon. At least, she did in this instance. The only experiences Shannon had had with her were after the cow head incident and after Dougie Wein's skull had been found. This was hardly a vote of confidence as Professor Nadig sought her out and asked if she could have a word with her in her office. The faces of her friendsâcaught somewhere between surprised and she's-just-been-sentenced-to-deathâwere in no way helpful.
Professor Nadig did not begin to speak immediately when they reached her office. She offered Shannon a chair and began to rifle through desk drawers, humming softly. Shannon had almost begun to believe that the woman had forgotten she was there when she looked up, folded her hands, and regarded Shannon with a perfectly arched brow.
"Miss Malone," she said delicately, "I hate very much to do this, but Headmistress Lea and I think that it is perhaps for the best."
In those first moments after hearing that, Shannon's mind went to expulsion. She could think of nothing else that Headmistress Lea would be concerned about with regards to her. She had only seen Lea twice: at the beginning of the year banquet and the night of cow head incident. The headmistress was still quite a mystery to her.
The thought of expulsion made an odd pang in her chest. She was still so much an interloper here, but she had grown to like it. It was quite a dangerous world she was trespassing on, but she'd made friends, and she liked her professors. The mixed feelings confused her, made her uncomfortable.
"Now, I'm no fool," Professor Nadig continued. "I've been here since the school reopened in 1937, and I know my students quite well. I know they have a way of...bending the rules. I can't say I always disagree with them."
She looked to the other wall, lost in a train of thought. Shannon stared at her, confusion taking over and fogging her thoughts.
"But that's unimportant," Professor Nadig said with a flip of her hand. She looked at Shannon again. "But I don't think I am wrong in my assessment that some of the friends you have made here have let slip little things about what we really do at this school, am I?"
Shannon blinked. Her own expulsion seemed less likely now, but she wondered if this was some sort of trap to implicate her friends. Perhaps Signora Moretti had not kept quiet about what had happened the other night like she said she would. She did not know how much trouble the others would be in if she told Professor Nadig how much they had told her, but it was obvious it would be serious. Shannon felt suddenly like she should be apologizing, though she wasn't quite sure for what.
"Um..." she said intelligently.
"You don't have to name any names, dear," Professor Nadig said. "No one's going to get in trouble for this. I'd have to discipline most of the school if I went after every student who had a little slip of the tongue or a small conversation."
Shannon let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. Maybe it was foolish, but she thought Professor Nadig was being sincere. She didn't seem upset. The real problem was that Shannon could not tell what it was that she seemed.
"I might have heard some stuff," she said hesitantly.
Professor Nadig smiled. "I thought as much. There is only so much a person can do to keep a lid on the gossip. Do you mind telling me what you've heard? As I said, you don't have to tell me who you heard it from."
Slowly, thinking every word through thoroughly, weighing each one's consequences in her mind, she said, "I have heard that this is sort of a magic school, or something like that. That the students can do thingsâsupernatural things."
Professor Nadig nodded. "Miss Malone, I'm afraid your presence here is quite irregular. What you said is perfectly true: this is, indeed, a magic school. Of course, as you know, we do not make it very well-known, but that is another matter entirely. The fact remains that under normal circumstances we would not have asked you to attend Briargate."
Shannon flushed. She knew that already, but it had never been said so bluntly. She could not hold it against Professor Nadig, however; it was only the truth.
"There have been no normal circumstances lately though." Professor Nadig said that more to herself than to Shannon. She looked at Shannon with sympathy. "Perhaps it is a mistake to tell you all of this. But then, perhaps it was a mistake to have kept it from you in the first place. But I think things have gone too far to keep it from you any longer. Miss Malone, you were invited to Briargate because you are in a great deal of danger."
Now Shannon knew that very well. Still, she was wary of telling Professor Nadig too much, so she did not say anything.
"It was brought to our attention at the beginning of the year that...well, that someone may wish to do you harm," Professor Nadig said lightly. "You were invited to Briargate as a way to try to keep you safe. We may have been foolish in believing we could keep you shielded from the truth about the school, but we'd never been in this situation before. Never before had someone quite like you been invited to Briargate. But, as I said, there is too much happening as of late to try to hide it anymore. That's why I'm talking to you now, and why Headmistress Lea and I believe we should very soon have a discussion with your parents."
"No!" Shannon cried, surprising herself as much as Professor Nadig. The word seemed to escape without her permission, like it had a mind of its own.
"Miss Malone, this is a very serious matter," Professor Nadig said calmly but firmly. "I can't see how your family can be left in the dark any longer. You will still be invited to attend BriargateâI don't see how we could let you leave with the current state of affairsâbut I think it is very important that your parents be made aware of exactly the type of school their daughter is attending. It's a much better idea than them finding out on accident."
Shannon understood all of this. She thought she did, at least. But the thought of her parents finding out the truth about Briargate made her scalp prickle. They'd never believe it; she knew they wouldn't. They'd decry the whole lot of staff and students as liars or insane. And it'd get out. They'd tell, and soon enough the whole town would know. And the whole of Clearwater would take it even worse than her parents would.
And Shannon supposed Headmistress Lea and Professor Nadigâand anybody else who was in on itâhad calculated this risk, but they did not know her parents like she did. It was different when the secret a person was keeping was not their own.
"NoâI mean, yes, I know," Shannon said disconnectedly. "Butâmaybeâcould I tell them?"
Professor Nadig quirked one of those delicate brows again. "Miss Malone, it is really preferable that those of us at the school speak with your parents. This is, as you well know, a very serious matter."
Shannon nodded vigorously, saying as politely as she could, "I know, I know. I do. It's just...I don't know how they'll take it. Orâwhat I mean is I think they'll take it better if I tell them."
"It is highly inadvisable." Professor Nadig regarded Shannon intently, but she looked almost amused.
"Please?" Shannon could not quite articulate why she was so set against this, besides her parents' likely reactions. But she could not fathom having her parents brought here to school and told that all the fantastic things people talk about in books and films were real. It had not gone over so well for her; she could only imagine what it would be like for them.
Professor Nadig's lips twisted upwards. "I suppose if you are quite set on it, we can allow it. But they must be told."
"I understand, Professor," Shannon said.
Professor Nadig nodded primly, satisfied. "You are free to be on your way then. But I advise you to head to the dining hall; Headmistress Lea is calling a school assembly before the first classes."
It occurred to Shannon to ask what the assembly pertained to, but she had a bad feeling about it. After all, she'd only seen Lea twice. If the headmistress herself was addressing the school, the message had to be serious. She left without a word.
The student body had already gathered in the dining hall when she got there. She spotted her group of friendsâwith Allison this timeâin their usual spot at the tables. Headmistress Lea had yet to make her appearance, and as such there was a steady drone of conversation smothering the room. Her friends, however, were quiet, barely acknowledging her as she joined them.
"What's going on?" she asked. Caleb shrugged and shook his head, Dexter making almost the exact movement a second later. Ollie made eye contact with Shannon and frowned, looking like she was trying to tell her something that Shannon could not pick up on.
Allison sat across from her, and Shannon noticed that she truly did not look any better than she had the last time Shannon saw her. Her skin had a green cast to it that made her look sick. Her eyes were half-lidded and bloodshot. Her gaze was directed at the staff table and she had not looked round even when Shannon had spoken.
A moment or two passed with not a one of them adding to the din of the room. When Headmistress Lea opened the door to the dining hall, the student body fell silent almost immediately, anxious eyes fixing themselves on her. She walked briskly through the throng of students to the staff table, keeping her dark eyes on the back wall. She stood with her back to them for quite some time, and when she finally turned it was with an air of regret.
Shannon Malone soon forgot much of what was said that day. The specifics did not matter much anyway. What it boiled down to was this: a studentâanother studentâhad gone missing on Friday night. Lester Ames, fifth year. Police had been notified; an investigation was ongoing. The joke of it was that the students of Briargate had gotten rather used to having the police be in and out of the school after Dougie Wein's skull had been found.
The conversation shifted then, and Shannon understood the importance of Professor Nadig speaking with her that morning. With a pragmatism that was almost unnerving, Headmistress Lea described how it had been brought to her attention that there may be vampires on the loose in Clearwater. For Shannon, it was surreal. This thingâthis belief in the supernatural had never been discussed on a scale such as this, and certainly not by an adult. It seemed like a dream, but if it were, it had been going on for months. Stark reality was plain for her to see.
Shannon would recall Headmistress Lea speaking very cautiouslyâif unfeelinglyâeven if she would not remember her exact words. It was a balancing act: talking about that which was never supposed to be talked about. Lea handled it expertly; Shannon's first encounters with the headmistress did not lend her much knowledge about the woman, but she did come to know Lea had a very interesting and effective way with words. Obviously the goal was to not allow hysteria to mount. Many students truthfully knew about as much about monsters as Shannon did, and the last thing that was needed was a panic.
Headmistress Lea ended by advising them all to be very careful, something that went without saying. She had successfully averted a large-scale frenzy, but many of the students young and old looked agitated and afraid. There was next to no time to process; everyone was told to report to their first class. Even Shannon's head was reeling, and she had gone into this with some beforehand knowledge of the situation. Of course, she had not realized another student had disappeared.
Shannon looked to her friends as the room slowly began to clear out, but, save one, she found them inscrutable. It was Allison who was intriguing; she looked thoroughly shaken up, but at the same time nearly relieved. She was wringing her hands aggressively. Without saying one word to any of them, she hurried off towards the door, knocking shoulders and pushing against bodies in her haste.
"Is she okay?" Ginger asked, watching her go. A simple question that came with a variety of caveats.
"She got what she wanted," Shannon said, catching a last glimpse of Allison's blonde hair. She frowned. "In a way. The teachers have to be doing something now. That's what she wanted this whole time."
"Yeah," Caleb agreed, "but is it too late?"
Shannon looked at Caleb, studied him long and hard. She wouldn't have been surprised if he was thinking the same thing she was; she wouldn't have been surprised if they all were. It was months too late, maybe even years. And perhaps it wasn't anyone's fault.
I heard she was delicious.
Small comfort.
"I don't know," Shannon said softly. She cut her eyes in the direction that Allison had just gone before looking back at Caleb.
"The boy," Ollie said nervously. "Lester. He disappeared sometime Friday night." She glanced around the group like she was terrified of what she would find on their faces. "You don't...do you think...?"
It was too much for her to say. She looked at the ground like she was ashamed.
The vampire froze, sniffing the air. Disappear.
"Honestly," Shannon said, "yeah."
Ollie nodded, rubbing her palms on the side of her skirt. A deep frown marred her face. "Me too."
The six of them looked between each other expectantly, though not a one of them knew what to do or say. Finally, trying to sound assured, Shannon said, "But I don't think we have to worry about it anymore. I don't think there's anything else we can do."
Caleb cocked his head to the side and nodded. Swept up with the moving group of students, Shannon, Caleb, Ollie, Ginger, Jared, and Dexter left the dining hall.
Shannon herself did not quite believe what she said, but she forced herself to take stock in it. She deliberately ignored the voice in her head that was reminding her of the night with the vampires. The voice that was telling her that something had nailed a cow head to a wall specifically for Allison's birthday.
This was far from over. The game had not yet been played out.
***What's this? An update? What a novel idea! Thanks to everyone who has voted and commented, I really appreciate it :)***