[IC] The New York Academy of the Magic Arts.

[Gisk]

River chased Hale down the street, around the corner.

Her long legs outpaced his distance and her lungs outstripped his endurance in time. People parted saw her towering veiled form coming and made way for her, while jack had to dodge and tangle through the crowd.

She was glad that Auntie had not outfitted her in heels.

They were away from the bulk of the crowds when she caught him by the scruff of his shirt. She pulled him back and turned him about, looking down at him through her skull-makeup.

"It isn't funny to throw strange charms at people! Is it something nasty? Do you have an antidote?" Her face was hot, boiling actually. The run had been long and her costume was heavy, her corset constricted her panting lungs.

"What do he ever do to you anyhow?"

~~~

"Hey!" Adelfonsus said. At first he meant to snap at their attacker but the flashy poof of whatever glomped in Richard's face. "Rich!" Fonsus grabbed at his best friend's shoulder and swung him around to inspect his face. He didn't notice River flounced off with the power of a bull chasing down a red flag. His hands automatically shot to his bag or wand for a napkin, handkerchief or some spell to aid Rich. But he had neither.

Fonsus squawked as he felt hands grab at him and arm slink around somewhere. It sent shivers - not the good kind - down his spine when he found it was Rich who was pressed against him and staring up at him with an odd starry expression.

"Uhhh...." Fonsus' mind blanked at Richard's question. That arm was really distracting. "Uhm. Uh." Fonsus glanced around wildly. The little nook that kept the trio safe out of the crowd was feeling far, far different.

"Hahaha" he laughed nervously as he realized River was no longer with them. "Yeah, lets, uh, go somewhere else." And so, focusing on something not Starry Richard, Fonsus tried prying his friend off, and thinking quickly, he resorted to their Halloween plans. He headed into the crowd to find a party.

Jack produced a wand from somewhere and pressed it against the angry skull girl's chest. "Easy now, don't make me jinx you. It was just a little bit of love potion, harmless fun. But maybe I should have used it on you?" By now his companions had fled the scene, apparently not wanting to get involved in yet another illegal duel. Jack, on the other hand, seemed to be very ornery lately.

~~

Richard followed behind, practically skipping in his happiness. He kept reaching his hand forward to hold Addie's, but Addie kept shaking it off. "So where are we going? Are we going to be alone?" A strange conflicting expression came over his face for a moment. "You're not going to tell Cae, are you?"
~~~
"We're going - to - a - stop that." Fonsus pulled his hand away from Rich for the fiftieth time. "Party." He shoved his hands in his pockets, hoping that would repel Rich. But fingers linking with his own proved that wrong. "Okay! Pockets are a no!" Fonsus gasped and yanked their hands out to the open air. He gave up and let Rich have his hand. He might lose him in the crowd anyway, right?

"Hm, what?" Fonsus paused in the crowd and glanced back at Rich. How the hell did Cae come up? "Uhh...tell her what?"
~~~
River looked down at the boy. She felt his wand press just above the edge of her corset, through the laceb a lace and touching her copper skin.

Yesterday the one inhabiting this body weeks would have backed down cowering. That person was far away now, lost in the feverish haze. Sweat threatens to take off her makeup, but Caelum had spelled it to be waterproof and sweat resistant.

"Si, Chacotero? No estoy ni ahi." She remembered that jack didn't speak Spanish. "Make you feel more of a man to do that? Take down a girl in a dark street. Go for it, I don't care." She took a step toward him drawing herself up to her full height. The wand now stabbing her skin. "What would you're mother say to see you now? She bought you that nice wand so you could go to school and make something of yourself. And here you are pulling pranks on kids and threatening women on the street with it. Que lata."

River thought... Nothing really, she wasn't on the thinking mood. There was a tiny rapid train of thought inside "omghehashiswandoutsideofschoolandhowdidhedothatyiuradquibgtfo..." But it was to quiet to understand and fading fast.

She was someone else tonight. Someone who would wear a dress and a corset and would not take any nonsense. Sometime who forgot her meds, someone getting a fever and loosing her inhibitions and instincts of self preservation.

Someone who was standing up to Jack Hale with his wand on her chest and without fear in her eyes.
~~~
"My mom doesn't say much these days," Jack growled, looking sideways. "I guess a guy shouldn't be jinxing unarmed girls, anyhow. "Now **** off, don't make me change my mind," he turned and tried to get down a side street to find his friends again.

~~~

Richard winked back at Addie, "Tell her what indeed. So where are you taking me? The Dante's party? I think that was our next stop, but maybe we should skip it and find somewhere private?"
~~~
River expected the jinx, the pain, the pin. Instead she felt the pressure of his wand lift from her skin as Jack ran away. This angered her, this disappointed her...

She chased him, following him down the alley. Now they were well off the street, alone in the little alley. She would try to grab him by the cuff of his shirt as she first had and spin him into the brickwork. The lace on her dress strained and stitches popped as she flexed her powerful shoulders. River had a natural strength large people possessed, then it had been conditioned by climbing mountains and lifting 9-entree trays and buckets of ice and dirty dishes her whole life. She would never, in her right mind, direct that strength toward violence. Yet, now she had gotten away from herself, it was out of her hands, she was driven by unchecked hormones and adrenaline coursing through her blood.

"Well I'll say it for her!" River would try to pin his wand-arm, but she was clumsy and brutish, practically falling into the other with her shoulder. She was honestly too dizzy to notice if she succeeded or not. “cobarde!*”

*coward

~~~

Fonsus internally cringed at the wink. He may have played with the thought of having a special someone in his life but having that kind of….affection coming from his best friend was….just plain weird.

“oooookay. Yeah. We are definitely going to a party, Rich. You said Dante, right? That should be…somewhere….” Fonsus looked around, straining on his toes as he peered past the many obstacles of props. Where the hell was the Dante’s party? Without much of a clue, Fonsus took the lead and tugged Rich through the maze of people.

“…here!” After a few twisty turns, some dead ends (moments he wanted to forget for the rest of life with Richard mistaking the mistakes as something else), Fonsus found the Dante’s hideaway – er, his house-shop-thing. It was a crowded place. A thrumming place with a certain vibe that just oozed “Dante”.

Sweating, Fonsus pulled Rich into the party past the apothecary shop and up the stairs to the main body of the Dante’s party.

“Hey.” Fonsus waved weakly to the host of the party. “Have you seen River?”

~~~

The apothecary was quite empty as the pair breezed through it. They went up the stairs behind the counter, and into a little apartment above the shop. They passed through a living room on their way to the kitchen, where they could hear the sounds of talk and merrymaking. On the living room couch there was a witch, lying on her face and apparently quite asleep. When they walked by she raised a hand feebly and waved them into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, there was a group of young witches and wizards, most of them Fonsus would recognize from Alchemy club. The Dante was sitting on the counter by the stove, puffing on a pipe. The smoke coiled out and formed into the shapes of hobgoblins and bats and the like. The others gathered around were having a laugh throwing little pieces of candy through the shapes.

"Unwen, Nothing," The Dante was the first to notice them. "Didn't actually expect you. Mother let you in?" The other kids laughed at this, as if it were some kind of joke.

~~~

Jack grunted as he was slammed into a wall. "Speak English, you crazy *****!" He jerked his arm away from her, and she all but tackled him, knocking them both to the ground. Jack hopped up as quickly as he could, brandishing his wand again. River was still on the ground, and he paused to look at her condition. "Get up, I'm not gonna jinx you when you're down."

[Gisk]

River was on the ground, bracing herself against the brick-wall. Her hair was askew, falling out of it’s neat bun, the rose crumpled. Her heart was beating faster and faster, her vision splitting and reuniting every few seconds, heat rose in her chest, in her face, and felt a rush of strength and rage that she had never experienced before.

“Yes… put that wand away and fight me like a man!” She lunged forward with her arms spread, attempting to hug and wrestle her opponent again.

“Ugh!” Jack caught her around the shoulders as she lunged, “Get off!” He tossed her back down, “What’s wrong with you? Been drinking?”

River spilled back to the ground like a rag doll. Her head hit the pavement, dazed, she looked at the dark ceiling of the underground. Her heart began to slow, the color rushed out of her face, that primal strength abandoned her arms. One hand fell to her chest, where, with a start she groped around for a moment, tearing the lace away as her weak fingers searched for...

The charm… I forgot the charm… I left it on the side of the skin… and… my medicine I forgot… to take my… medicine… tengo malo pata*... my medicine!

“Jack, I… I think I’m dying…”

Jack raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her, “What? A little dramatic. Get up, you need to go sleep it off.”

Her dark toned face was as pale as the white of the skull makeup, but that would be hidden. “I forgot to… I didn’t drink I… I didn’t take my… medi… med… mmmm….” hear breath slowed as well as everything around her (seemed to) slow down. She began to feel thing less, she was unaffected. “It is… It’s okay… at least I’m not alone...” her eyes looked to the blurry face above her, and her eyelids fluttered then closed.

Jack’s eyes widened, “Fucking christ! What kind of medication? What are you doing chasing me down alley in your condition?” He raised his wand again, pointing it down at her, “Locomotor Mortis,” she floated up to about shoulder level and followed along in his wake as he moved at a brisk pace back toward the entrance to the Underground.

The pair burst into the muggle subway station like that, attracting stares and much pointing and muttering. To the muggles, apparently, it seemed to be some sort of side show.

River was vaguely aware of what was happening, the sensation of floating, Jack’s breath in her ear, the streets passing by…

The street was even busier, but even in muggle New York there were enough oddballs out on halloween that most thought it was a good laugh. Some were even throwing coins in their wake, and one man went so far as to stuff a five dollar bill in Jack’s pocket as he went by. They thought it was an amazing trick, almost like real magic.

The school wasn’t too far, but by the time Jack got her through the doors quite a few people had seen his less than subtle bit of magic. He wasn’t concerned with that, however, he was calling out for help. It was lucky, then, that Professor White happened to be nearby.

“What’s happened?” he asked, looking down at the floating girl. It took him a second to recognize her through all of the makeup, but he knew her quite well. “Miss Rivera, what’s happened?”

“She says she didn’t take her meds, after flipping out and attacking me.” He left his prank out of the story.

“Of course she did,” White muttered, pulling his own wand out and waving it over her. She started floating toward the stairs. “You may go, Jack.”

“No. No sir, I mean. I’d rather stay with her until she wakes up.”

White looked back at him a little harshly, but allowed it anyway, “Very well, come on. Get the doors, please. Accio Amulet,” he waved his wand in a vague sort of way, but the charm worked. Not surprising, from the charms teacher.

When she opened her eyes, she knew where she was, but it wasn’t the place she was supposed to be. She recognized the shelves of bottles and books, the desk, and that odd bird. She was in doctor white’s office.

With a massive headache.

And someone else, at first their face was a blur ‘at least I’m not alone’… She thought, but as her vision cleared she realized it was not professor White… nor any of her friends…

“Jack…?” She squinted, hardly believing who’s concerned face was hovering above hers. She groaned as she lifted a hand to her face, rubbing her eyes and temples, trying to banish the migraine. “What are we doing here?”

“Forgot to take your meds. Can’t even take care of yourself, can you? Is that why you hang out with those two brainiacs? Just like my sister and that… Lark. Running around with that puffed up ‘genius...’” He seemed to be talking more to himself than to her now. He stopped himself and suddenly switched the subject to her. Apparently he was loath to leave her right now, “So what’s the potion for? Seizures? Is that what happened?”

“I forgot my m-m-m--” She jolted up, or tried to, she only got up a couple of inches before she hadn’t the muscle momentum to actually rise. She fell back down and covered her eyes with her hands “Soy tan estúpido.” The only thing that could explain her headache, laid out in white’s office… but that didn’t explain Jack. Jack didn’t like her or her friends, he was even insulting them now, so what was he doing here? Did he find me… somewhere? She tried to recount the evening, she remembered leaving NYAMA feeling triumphant, dressed up and ready to take on the world… the rest was a blur.

“What’s that? I don’t speak Spanish, I told you already.”

“Huh…?” River managed to prop herself up onto her elbows. I don’t remember him telling me that… and I don’t remember how I got here… He must have… oh god… he must have brought me here after I… I… passed out? “I ah… I have a… chromosomal… disorder… I was, born that way, all mixed up I… I’d have died without magic and medicine.” She drew her knees into her chest and looked at the floor. She’d never talked to anyone outside her family, or Doctors, about her disorder. “... or without your help.” She didn’t remember his helping, but he had done it, so that mattered...

“I don’t know what a cromysmal is, but I guess it’s what makes you go all shaky,” he briefly mimicked her seizure, locking up and trembling. “You’d think brainiac one or two would have reminded you to take it.”

River looked up at Jack’s antics, twitching ridiculously. She couldn’t help but smile, she couldn't help but feel completely relieved. “Is that what I look like?” She let down her guard little by little. “Well… they might have… but they don’t know. I haven’t told anyone about it… Professor White knows because… he’s… he’s my doctor. I… I don’t like to talk about it. I’m… I feel like a freak of nature.” She looked down again, the mirth dropping off her face.

“Only freaky when you don’t take your potion. Just keep on top of that and you’re…”

The door to White’s office burst open behind his back, he jumped up with his wand, but only yelled, “What?”

Professor Margaret Greenwald strode into the office, looking fit to curse them both. “Put that down, you’ve caused enough trouble today!”

Jack lowered his wand, but stood his ground defiantly, “I didn’t do anything!”

“No? Muggles all up and down the street outside saw your little levitating act. They took pictures! Pictures! And they put them on the intro net! Do you know what that is?”

“No,” Jack muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets, wand and all.

“It’s a collaborative effort to assemble all knowledge in the world. Foolish as it is, it now has proof of magic.”

“So? Can’t we erase it?”

“No, the Department of Sorcery has tried, so have the British and the Russians. Nothing can be removed, and sometimes we can’t even find the people who put them on.”

“Whatever,” Jack said, defensive, “Muggles aren’t so bright, they’ll think it was a Halloween trick. No biggie.”

River paled, she tried to interject: “And… But… He was helping me.”

Professor Greenwald paid her no mind, she had attention now only for Jack Hale “We’ll see if you think no ‘biggie’ in detention. For the rest of the year! That is, if you don’t get arrested.” She turned with a sweep of robes and left the room.

Jonas White poked his head in. “She found you, then. You’re mine until you graduate, it looks like.”

[Yevin]

“Uh… yeah, she did.” Fonsus glanced around, confirming what Dante said was true. River wasn’t here. He didn’t have the time to even pause to worry over her. He was far too aware of the slightest gesture from Richard. His senses were heightened and ready to keep his best friend in the best-friend-zone. Fonsus turned to check up on Rich; he’d been playing with his fingers for a while…

For a brief moment, in the dim lighting and smoky air, with a bit glitter he had missed sparkling his nose, Richard was attractive and Fonsus was lost for a second staring at Richard’s face. Until a hobgoblin fluttered by his nose and a piece of candy smacked his face.

Only one thing entered his mind as a chorus of chuckles and giggles floated from the other kids.

Dante.

“Rich!” A bright grin broke his face. Fonsus grabbed his best friend by shoulders. He had a suddenly fantastically awesome idea. “Hey, why don’t you…” thinking fast, Fonsus spotted the couch leaning against a wall. “Save us a seat on the couch. Yeah. I’ve got to do something… I’ll be right there! Promise.” Fonsus turned Rich around and gave a small push to the furniture on the other side of the room. Once he saw Rich walking, Fonsus whipped around to the Dante, looking a bit desperate.

“I need to talk to you!” Fonsus bounced on his toes. Hopefully, hopefully this guy knew how. “And, uh, kind of privately too…”

[Gisk]

Richard pranced over to the sofa and plopped down, lounging in it as seductively as he could. He turned to one of the other party-goers and said, "We're going out now!"

The Dante, meanwhile, had pulled a few things down from the kitchen shelves and pulled a cauldron out from under the counter. The cauldron floated behind him as he followed Fonsus out of the room with an armful of various bottles and boxes.

"So what's wrong with him?" he asked, apparently already ascertaining part of the reason why the pair had come in the first place.

[Yevin]

"I...I don't know. Jack came out of nowhere and tossed... glitter at us and now-now he's" As he spoke the chain of events came crashing down on his head and Fonsus had a moment of panic. "He's not the Rich I know, alright?? And River ran off after Jack - oh my god, she went after Jack!" The terra kid pulled at his hair, his top hat tumbled off his head. "That guy could have anything up his sleeve!" Then he gasped and turned to Dante, his face white as snow. "He could have his wand on him! I've seen it done by some other kids! He could jinx her or worse hex her -" His eyes widened. "What if its a hex on Rich?? Dante, you've got to do something. I don't have my wand on me and I really don't feel like going back to school, dragging him with me like that to the nurses! What would I say?? 'oh, yeah, just a regular case of "I love you, fonsus"'??"

[Gisk]

"Hale?" Dante asked, already leaning over the floating cauldron. He was quite unconcerned with all of Fonsus' jabbering. The second he mentioned the glitter The Dante went to work. He paused to shove a tough piece of dried plant into Addie's mouth, "Chew," he commanded simply. "Hale is Seventh Year, he probably does have his wand." He said no more on the subject as he produced a wand of his own and held it under the floating cauldron. A flame emitted from the tip, and the cauldron started to bubble as he stirred it with his other hand.
"Antidote's brewing. You only seek my company for potion help," he added, matter of factly. He didn't actually seem offended by it, but was making a statement instead. "I take it his affections are unrequited?"

Meanwhile, Richard was sitting in the kitchen, giving everyone who would listen a glowing testimonial for Adelfonsus Unwen's virtues. "And he's so tall! I don't know anyone else so clever." The others were nodding indulgently, smiling covertly to each other when Rich wasn't looking.

[Yevin]

Oh. Oh, fuck. Fonsus gripped harder at the roots of his head and paced again. He chewed frantically at the piece of…whatever the hell Dante shoved in his mouth. It tasted horrible. But within time his stress levels dropped and Fonsus found he could think without the rush of his blood pounding in his ears. He felt calmer as well…and a bit ridiculous grasping at his noggin. Pulling his hands from his head, Fonsus found his top hat lying on the ground with some sweets spilled around it. Sweeping up the mess back into the hat and tucking the hat in the crook of his elbow, Fonus sat down on a chair, rubbing his temples where a headache was forming.

“What?” Fonsus glanced up to the Dante. It took a minute for his words to register Fonsus’ head. “uh, I… don’t really to talk about this.” He didn’t want to think about it. He got confused just envisioning Richard’s face with that sparkling nose. “Hey, Dante. Thanks. I owe you a couple of favors, huh? How long is this thing gonna take?"

[Gisk]

"Just a little longer," he said, stirring on and on. He didn't say anything else until he took the spoon out and peered into the small cauldron. "Here we go," he said, ladling some out into a cup. He brought it into the room and handed the cup to Richard.

"What's this?" Richard pulled it forward to sniff, but The Dante pushed it toward his mouth.
"Have a drink, everyone's doing it. Adelfonsus just took a good swig."
"Oh! Did you, Addie?" Richard gave him a wink and downed it in one go. "So what's it going to... oh! Oh." His face slackened for a moment, and then his eyes widened. "I see," he put his head in his hands, "Ugh, what happened just now?"

"Love potion," Dante explained. "Then Antidote. You two sticking around? Finch was about to tell us about Professor Clowers."

[Yevin]

Fonsus meandered after the Dante, feeling and looking a bit relieved when the Dante said it was done. He couldn’t wait for his best friend to be himself again…among other things returning back to normal in his world. He cringed when Rich winked at him.

Fonsus watched as Richard gathered his wits about him and an almost maniacal grin erupted on his face. “Thank god! You’re back!” And the last few moments flew out the door of Fonsus’ brain and he flung his arms around Richard, giving him a great big squeeze.

[Gisk]

"Shit," Rich was still saying as Fonsus hugged him, "I just now stopped wanting that hug, thanks." He relaxed on the sofa, slouching low, still covering his eyes with his hands. He brought them away and found them to be sticky and sparkly from whatever had been thrown in his face. "Ugh, where's a bathroom? I need to wash up."

"Sink," The Dante pointed next to Joshua Finch, who looked a little put out as he puffed on Dante's pipe. Indistinct shapes floated out of it and buzzed around Richard as he washed his face with water from the faucet.

"Why is there a sofa in the kitchen?" he asked, absently as he scrubbed both potion and makeup off.

"To sit on," The Dante answered simply.

"I am still holding the pipe," Joshua reminded them. "My turn to be telling stories, I think."

"Fuck off, Finch, I'm just now coming down off a terrible high."

"He does have the story grass," The Dante chimed in.

"I'll take your word for it," Richard sat back down next to Adelfonsus, "You guys are telling ghost stories?"

"Not a ghost story," Finch said, and took a long draw from the pipe. He blew the smoke out as he spoke, and it formed into a little hazy scene in front of him. "This happened back in August. As a prefect, of course I was moving in early. There was work to be done. The teachers were arriving around the same time. Most were here, but I hadn't seen old Professor Clowers, yet."

"Who?" Richard asked. The name was only vaguely familiar to him.

"Read a book, Nothing."

"I read plenty," Rich muttered.

"The teacher before Crepley came along," another party-goer was explaining, "He was still here with us last year. Nobody expected him to be gone until Professor Greenwald announced that his spot had been filled."

"I knew he wouldn't be here when the students arrived," Finch continued doggedly, "You see two days before you all started filing in, I heard from another teacher that Clowers had finally gotten in, unexpectedly late. Professor Sidus was in a bit of a twist..."

"Where are you getting your idioms, Finch?" The rest of the room shushed Richard.

"... Over him. Naturally, I wanted to help, so I followed Professor Sidus up to Professor Clowers' study, where he apparently was," he looked off into the distance as he paused to take another puff from the pipe. "He was so pale. Unshaven, dirty still from traveling. When we came in all of the curtains were closed tight and it was almost pitch black. When we opened the door he was lying slouched over the desk, and he jumped up and backed away from the light. I'd never seen anything like it. Professor Sidus tried to open the shades, and when he did, Clowers lunged at him. He bared his teeth and tried to bite... but I cursed him away. We charmed the door shut and went after the Headmistress... I don't know what happened after that, but she got that auror dropout teacher to fill in."

Finch was basking in the awed silence. Apparently he hadn't told this story yet, and it was news to everyone in the room.

[Yevin]

Fonsus shifted over to give Richard more room when he came back. He listened without interrupting, furrowing his brows at some parts of Finch’s story. At first, he couldn’t believe his ears but a memory smacked him in the face that quickly changed his mind.

“I think I know what sort of happened after.” Fonsus spoke quietly. He hadn’t meant to say it out loud but all eyes were suddenly on him. “Er…uhm…fuck.” The story grass was passed to him and someone nudged him, saying, “Gotta tell us now.” Fonsus cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. Being center of attention was always unnerving for him.

“It happened some weeks ago. Rich, you might remember or not but we at that café… Professor White and Morhaim were right behind us. Anyways, they said he – Clowers – was holed up in Vancouver… they also said he was… allowed to use his wand again.” Fonsus fell quiet. He was confused now and disturbed. And only then did he realize how little he knew of the old Professor… He shuddered to himself and passed the pipe on to someone else.

[Gisk]

"Yeah," Richard murmured, apparently slightly annoyed about something, "I do remember. Very well." He remembered the event as soon as Clowers was brought up, or, as soon as he remembered who Clowers was. But he hadn't wanted to bring it up, as he wasn't sure it was right for something that they weren't even supposed to have heard to be getting out. Too late now.

Finch seemed a little annoyed at having his story's thunder stolen, and retaliated by trying to dominate the conversation again. "Well, I have deduced that he's very likely been bitten by a vampire," he continued, as if nobody else had reached the same conclusion, "It's a disease, you know. Poor Clowers is a victim, I would wager there's some kind of rehab in Canada. I don't think the American government looks too kindly on Vampires, Canada is a lot more understanding, you know."

Richard was tuning out Joshua's pompous ramblings. He tried to catch Addie's eyes, and glanced first at him, and then at the door, trying to communicate that he wanted to leave.

[Yevin]

Fonsus didn't catch Richard's glance at first. He was mulling over the new things he learned. He quickly filed the thoughts away when he did finally catch Richard's look. He stood almost abruptly. "Hey, Dante. Thanks for the stuff but we can't stick around much longer. We have to... find River. We're getting worried about her. Yeah, thanks. See you guys later."

Fonsus led the way out of the part house part herb shop and into the street. His feet didn't stop until they were out of the underground city and even then he kept moving. Something told him to go back to the school and that's what he did.

[Gisk]

"She probably went back to your common room," Richard was saying as they entered the doors to the Nyama building. "Find her, or leave her a note, I think we should have a quick Society meeting. I'll see you in Sidus' classroom." He split off into his own common room to retrieve his wand, and then started his way upstairs to the top floor, where the Astronomy classroom doubled as the headquarters for the Society of Creative Research.

[Eyeris]

River had tried to sleep. She certainly felt exhausted. After the run, and the fight, and everything else that had happened this night. Her muscles ached and joints cried, yet, she kept waking right up. Whatever White had given her must have also been a stimulant. She would begin to doze off, then suddenly jolt up in bed, eyes wide open, heart beating fast.

She gave up and moved to the common room. She was the only one there, the other students were still out and about for their Samhain Shenanigans. She settled on a large armchair by the hearth, Pablo curled up on her lap and she opened a book of poetry. Something different than her usual literary fare, something Danish:

A bit beyond perception's reach
I sometimes believe I see
that Life is two locked boxes, each
containing the other's key.

She imagined that her friends were still out and about, having a grand old time. She didn’t clearly remember the moment she left their company. Had she excused herself first? Or had they gotten separated in the wild throng of people? She was unsure.

Problems worthy
of attack
prove their worth
by hitting back.

Then there was Jack to think about. She still could not believe what had happened. She could still feel the shock of waking up with him sitting next to her. She remembered countless little instances where her companions and Jack had... their conflicts. She herself had cursed him in her native tongue. She remembered that part through a haze, screaming at him. Or was that a dream? Did her makeup run down her face? In her minds eye it did, she invented the memory for herself with her cheeks dripping black and white paint, she looked monstrous and huge. Yet, he had saved her life. He had exposed his magic to muggles and gotten punished for it. He had even walked her back to Terra house. (The Ignus had been turned away at the door.) She found herself thinking of much differently now. 'He isn't so bad after all… in fact… he had been quite brave and selfless…' She found herself thinking things she never imagined she’d think about Jack Hale; 'Brave... selfless… admirable… maybe... possibly... a little... bit... handsome…

Maybe she was still chemically imbalanced.

The universe may be as great as they say.
But it wouldn't be missed if it didn't exist.

She had showered and scrubbed off all her makeup, discarded her gown, lace, and hairpins all. Earlier tonight she had felt like a queen, then she became a monster… then died… almost… and now… Ocllo was nearly back to ‘normal.’ She was barefoot, and wore a green sleeved shirt, soft plaid pajama pants, and a new charm tied round her neck. She felt it’s weight reassuringly where it settled against her breastbone. Her hair was un-braided, it lay loose and around her shoulders, nearly long enough to touch her elbows.

She fell asleep then, her head rolled to one side of the armchair. Her face would look a bit thinner than usual, with dark circles under her eyes and a sligtly pallid hue, but that effect might be erased by the firelight warming her ocher skin, while her freshly washed hair shined in that same light. Pablo curled up on one of her legs, he lifted his head to peer at Addie as he entered the common room. Her book lay open on the armchair, revealing the poetry of Piet Hien:

Losing one glove
is certainly painful,
but nothing
compared to the pain,
of losing one,
throwing away the other,
and finding
the first one again.

[Yevin]

Fonsus nodded to Richard’s words and did just that. He slipped down to the Terra room and nearly passed by River if it hadn’t been for Pablo peering up at him. “Oh,” Fonsus halted by the armchair. He thought about waking her and his hand stilled inches from her shoulder. Then his eyes caught the open book and his hand moved to pick it up. He briefly scanned the poem. His mind was too distracted by the evening’s events to really understand what it was conveying. The teen closed it softly after marking her spot. He wondered then briefly how many poem books she had. He remembered seeing a different book in her hands a month ago. With a shrug, he placed the book on a side table where River could see when she woke up and where it would be safe. He retrieved somewhere in the common room a couple of throw blankets and placed them on River for the night. He did consider simply waking her and shunting her off to a real bed but there was something about River, an exhaustion he couldn’t quite place why or how shadowed her and he felt it best to let her rest there.

Fonsus wrote up a note, placed it on the cover of her book in case she did rouse and decide to join them. He quickly sought out his wand, discarded some layers of his costume and slipped out of the Terra Common room without much noise. Fonsus worked his way up to the Astronomy classroom, taking stairs by pairs until he returned to Richard’s side.

“What the hell do you make of that?” Was the first thing he said. He spoke about the story they heard.

[Eyeris]

She was dreaming.

She was on the mountainside, she could hear her cousins in the distance but she was alone. It was sunny, and a chilly wind made her shiver pleasantly, she found a seat among rocks. They were playing hide and seek around some old ruins that stretched sporadically along the arid crest of land. She had lost a shoe and ducked behind an old rock. She saw carvings in it, she became fascinated when she found that she could read them...

[/i]"Nature" is what we see—
The Hill—the Afternoon—
Squirrel—Eclipse— the Bumble bee—[/i]

"Why... That's Emily Dickinson." Ocllo commended the Inca's on their good taste in poetry.

"Found you!" She looked up and gasped. Jack Hale stood over her, triumphant grin on his face. "Your It!" (In her dream Jack spoke fluent Spanish.)

The dream changed. A feeling of warm-weight came over her. She was at her old home in chile, and young like earlier in her dream. She was lying on the couch by the fire, she was very sick. She heard her mother close the sliding door between the living room and the den. She could feel the heat of the nearby fireplace on her cheek, it felt so very real.

She overheard her parents talking to her uncle, who was visiting from America. This dream is a memory, she realized. Yet, could not quite change the course of things. She was too sick to move, even to lift her head. She could only listen to them chatter as they assumed she was asleep.

"Our restaurant isn't failing because of us, It's brilliant! It's only all this bureaucratic crap we have to deal with... There is only one place on earth our concept would work! The big apple!"

"I'm not sure we are ready for so big a change. The whole family is here. And we must think of our daughter, all her friends are here as well. A displacement such as that might be... difficult for her." Her mother's voice was like honey-goat-cheese-cheese-cake. (Hey, that made sense at the time in the dream, to think of her that way. Her mother was soft, sweet, and unique.)

"Or... It might be good for her." She could hear them rustling as one sat, or stood, or perhaps her uncle was standing on his hands now. "... I've already contacted a... specialist. He is interested in her... case... I assure you there is no one more qualified. And he teaches High School. The New York Academy for the Magic Arts."

"We were thinking of sending her to a muggle High School." her father admitted after a long silence. He was keen on that course of action, his family had more muggles in it than his wife's. Due to finances he had only spent his last few years of education in a wizards school and woudl be quite comfortable if his daughter of sending his squib-daughter somewhere she might be more accepted.

In the fever-dream Ocllo could see her uncle shaking his head in that way only he shook his head: St a slight angle and certain rhythm that made one feel particularly embarrassed to disagree with him. "She has been sick all month, and every time it takes her longer and longer to feel well again... Maybe this teacher, Doctor White, he could help her..."

That's how her childhood had been. Sometimes bright and full of energy, or so sick she'd be in bed for days. That was until her parents had moved to New York to start their new treasure and Doctor White had become her doctor. She hadn't been as sick as she was in this dream in a long time... until.... well... until last night when she forgot to take her medicine and left her charm beside the sink.

I better go get it she thought. And in the dream she got up from her couch, and walked into the next room, which was the Terra girls's bathroom.

Richard was there.

"Richard. What are you doing in the girls room?"

"The woman was like the word never,
a special charm rose up from her neck,
a kind of forgetfulness where her eyes were safe,
the woman settled in my left side."

He looked at her gravely as he recited Juan Gelman. He was still in his skull-makeup, but dressed in his school uniform. She looked away, ashamed. "Yes I forgot it is so stupid of me..." He was scowling at her. "I ruined Halloween... I'm sorry..."

And so was Fonsus, who had also appeared, and the bathroom had vanished. They were at the long table of the mess hall. Fonsus was reading out of one of his secret experiment books. He looked particularly engrossed by what he was reading.

"What's there? Have you discovered something new? Maybe a big-breakthrough?"

"Watch out watch out I'd scream watch out
but she possessed me like love, like the night,
and the last signals I made that autumn
settled down quietly under the surf of her hands."

He glared at her as he spoke, he was till wearing skull-makeup also. She was confused, and for some reason embarrassed.

She felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. She turned, it was White, he also had skull makeup. His looked the most real and the most terrifying. He had a large syringe in his hand. He said;

"Sharp sounds exploded inside me,
rage, sadness, fell down in shreds,
the woman came down like a sweet rain
on my bones standing in the solitude."

River closed her eyes. She had to finish the poem she knew so well...

"She left me shivering like someone condemned
and I killed myself with a quick knife-thrust,
I'll spend all my death laid out with her name,
it will be the last thing to move my lips."

Then she woke up.

She moved about quite groggily. "Who... put a blanket on me?" She looked around and found herself alone in the common room. Her book was set aside, but the place saved, and a note atop it.

"Ah..." She made herself get up. She folded the blanket, Pablo climbed onto her shoulder, and she made her way to the Astronomy tower.

She wanted to sleep, she still felt ill, but she wanted to see her friends. They'd only meet in the middle of the night like this if it was something important. Not an emergency (as they had not awoken her), but important enough. She couldn't really help Richard and Fonsus much in their investigations, but she still felt like she should be a part of them. She wanted to be. She always curious about their experiments and inquiries and wished she could be more helpful. At least she could be there... The two of them are going to do something really great someday... She thought fondly on them.

She quietly pushed open the door to the Astronomy room. She rubbed her eyes as she found them. "Hey guys. What is going on?"

[Gisk]

Richard smiled at her as she entered. "Good, I was worried Jack might have cursed you."

He was still in full-on spooky evening wear, though the makeup was gone, except for a few smudges. He looked(and felt) tired, but not nearly as much as her, so he felt it best not to complain. "We had to go see The Dante, had a bit of a potion emergency, you saw that part, at least." He conveniently left out the exact nature of the potion Jack had spiked him with. "We heard something interesting when we were there..."

He recounted the ghost story that Finch had told, including the details that he and Addie had remembered from their trip to the coffee shop.

"We were just about to talk about it when you got here. I see a few things here. Professor Clowers is a vampire, and he's in some kind of rehabilitation center in Vancouver -- we'll have to look into that, there can't be too many of those -- and apparently he's getting better. They trust him with a wand now. I got to wondering if that had something to do with Hale and Lark. He's the last one to see them before they disappeared, he could have been a vampire that whole time. And as a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, I bet he knew about all kinds of dark magic, maybe he could even have erased a painting's memory."

[Yevin]

"He probably could..." Fonsus pulled out a chair and set Gus on the table. They had a quiet stare at each other as Fonsus mulled. He was the one to break contact and turned to his friends. "This might sound crazy... But what if you guys came over to my house during the break? I live a couple hours away from Vancouver. We could check the places out in person. Find out where the guy is at and maybe even talk to him or get more info about him."

"I could get my sister to drive us. I don't really have a permit yet."

[Eyeris]

"Cursed me? Haha no... Jack... um... I actually lost track of him..." She grabbed a book of the shelf and buried her nose in it. It was called The nearest star She didn't like lying to her friends. She only didn't want them to know about her condition.. Her brows knit together as she realized what she was reading. It was a book book written by a muggle scientist. "Why does the Professor have this?" She wondered. Was he muggle born? She had noticed his muggle electronics on more than one occasion. Suffice to say, she was genuine and sufficiently distracted to forget the guilt of the lie entirely.

She put down the book (but kept the page with her thumb) and listened to Richard's story.

She tilted her head at Addie's suggestion, (She also fumbled her book, and lost her place).

"I think a visit to your place would be fun, yet, I do not know if we should really be following a vampire..."

Insofar the club had treated this mystery like a fun scavenger hunt. Something to make innocent innocuous theories over, and maybe learn some magic in the first place. River wondered if they were stepping out of their bounds, out of saftey, and into something over the top.

Would they find some new evidence? Something that the Aurors did not know?

Yet, now that she thought of it, it was never really a game... real people were still missing.

"I just... It might be dangerous... do you think the Aurors have interviewed him yet?"