Edel had read that dreaded newspaper article on the day itself. Perhaps it was no surprise to her to see that the bogeymen have made their move first in shutting down the school. It was a sickening conspiracy and the ghoul wish she could uncover the truth behind their intentions of keeping their world oblivious to the outstanding threat they faced. Alas, they would have to deal with the ridiculous bureaucracy in place. Bless Arel and his paperwork.

The ghoul kept silent outside the school gates, watching the bogeymen with cold contempt as she waited in line to take her standardized test. She had to do well to prove the school's worth, to show that she had learned something, to show that that terrible field trip had some worth in making them stronger. Her turn had come and she took her paper calmly, flicking her wrist to straiten it out to read. Defensive arts. She'd show them. And she'll do her father proud too.

The frost demon queued behind Mitsu, waiting for her turn. She observed the lycan attempt her attack on the fear meter - it registered a fairly good score. Edel meanwhile was running through the barrier creation process in her head. The thing was that she had never actually used it in battle, and her attempts at creating an ice barricade to shield her team mate from injury had been completely useless. But she had practiced this right? The trip home had given her time to strengthen herself; her father's advice ... Edel was forming quick snowflakes in her hand whilst she waited. More of like snowflake like shurikens, whatever could let her have some warm up before the actual thing.

When her turn came, the ghoul stepped forward in front of the fear meter. It was hard to ignore the leering faces of some of the bogeymen, as it was hard to ignore the expectant and worried looks of some of the other students and faculty staff. However, Edel knew now wasn't the time to be distracted. Staring intently at the fear meter, the ghoul held both of her hands outstretched, channeling her FEAR into them. The base of the ice barrier began to form, but the process went slowly. It was the same as the last time she tried this, if this kept up she would be failing miserably. Smirks and laughs came from the sidelines. The frost demon was straining herself as hard as she could but it just wouldn't -

Oh.

She began to remember, she began to realize.

The structure of ice.

Her father's words rang true in her ears. She was starting to understand what he meant. The barricade grew, faster than before. It was bursting outwards and in more than one direction. It wasn't a simple block of ice, the lattice took the form of a half hexagon, more like a half snowflake that emerged from the ground.

More more more.

The crystal lattice continued to grow and expand into a decent size. The frost demon was smiling. Sure, she still fell short of her father's work, but this was an achievement. For herself and for the school. The ghoul pressed on, letting the last inch if FEAR leave her fingertips before she backed off, exhausted. The bogeymen fell silent and the ghoul wore a small smile on her face. How was that?

The attack in the fear meter was registered and a score was given. 7.5 , why, that was a pretty decent score. The mild elation was shortlived when she began to think of the total score the school needed to achieve to be reinstated. They werent even halfway there as if yet. But there was nothing she could do now but hope and pray. While the school was very much dear to her, Edel knew that some of the other students felt more strongly about Amityville than she did. She was lucky to come from a warm, good albeit dull home but for others, the school was their home. The frost demon started to fill in her score sheet for submission while she continued to ponder. If the school were to shut down.., that could very well spell trouble for Halloween considering that the school was at the frontline of the war. The school had an absurd burden to carry but as it is, that was their only hope.

Heavy steps accompanied the ghoul as she walked over to submit her score sheet. In the most unfortunate case that the school were to shut down permanently, they would have to come up with another plan. Go rogue, whatever the bogeymen would condemn them as. With the form submitted, Edel began to look around the group of students that gathered. She would have to find someone to talk to ....

((800 words, score 7.5 average))