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The witch's eyes widened at the use of very foul language from usually docile (or at usually very collected and very calm) Nurse Cricket and she took a step back, one fist pressed against her mouth. If the nurse had taken to such language, then this situation must be very serious indeed. She quietly thanked the teacher after taking the moment to reach forward and squeeze her hand once. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to touch the woman, perhaps it was simply for the touch of someone who knew what was going on... But honestly, the witch knew it was because they were both part of Amityville. And no matter what had happened, the witch instinctively knew they'd both fight to keep it.

While Belladonna stood numbly watching, she felt a small, cool little thing press against her and looked at the face-less ghoul she had once been friends with.
"Oh... Alwine..." The witch said, her voice distant and hardly there. There was so much she wanted to say to her, so much she wanted to tell her. First there was the hug they needed to partake in and then catch up, preferably over tea and with their Circus Kitties... But before the witch could even take a breath, the little ghost girl said a word that made her stop.
"Krumm car..."

And then Belladonna was swept into the memories of their train ride, how they met and became friends. Their unfortunate fight with the Joyous Ninja (she shivered involuntarily at that) and the strange ending of their siege on Christmastown. For a long moment the witch was lost in the thought of it, so much so that she was only roused from it when Alwine was pulled from her and away. The witch let out a tiny 'oh' and snapped to attention.

Preform a spell adequately and save the school? She could handle that!
The witch took a deep breath and whispered a soft prayer to Hecate and various other witch-goddesses before she turned on her heel and marched toward her own part of the grounds nearby so that she could preform the necessary spell.
She would do well and make the school proud, especially after all they had done for her.

[Exit to Solo Thread!]

Yes, yes, this was perfect! Leave it to logic and good old education to stand up in the face of the boogies. This all went against the wishes of just about every driving force in Halloween; the mayor, the boogies, and even the citizens themselves! Taryn felt like a part of a large rebellion, a huge family trying desperately to keep them home. She felt... ... kind of badass.

She did move away to work on the written portion of the test and was somewhat proud of the results, given the lack of source material or preparation time. She came back to hand it in, though, and looked round her. She turned to the nearest student and smiled, fairly buzzing with excitement. They could do this!

Some things were less surprising than others, and this, this was completely unsurprising. He had expected that the boogeymen were going to do something, though he hadn't imagined that closing Amityville would have been one of their options.

It kind of made sense, what with the rebellion of the students, but on the other hand, it wouldn't end just at the school being closed. Had they thought about that? There were enough of them here that knew the truth and were willing to act on that knowledge that it really would have been better for them to find some reason to keep all of the students here in one place. Where they couldn't leave and spread what they knew.

He shrugged to himself. That could be worried about later. Right now, he had a test to take, and hopefully a high enough score to make an impact.

Mai was... late. Nothing new. She didn't even really have any classes to attend, she just felt like wandering the grounds a bit. What was new, however, was the crowd milling around the school gates. She had to pause for a moment to take in the unusual sight. Were those Bogeymen standing guard? Okay.. There was definitely.. something.. going on here. The ghost's face maintained its usual impassive expression as she maneuvered through the gathered students. There appeared to be a sign hanging on the locked gates. A sign that seemed to be drawing quite a lot of concerned glances.

When Mai was close enough, she read the words printed there. And then she read them again. Was this right? She read the sign, slowly, a third time. Mai wasn't dense, per say, but the ghoul was genuinely having a hard time coming to terms with what she was reading. The recent meeting with Arel and those few other students came back to her. He had said something like this might happen, didn't he? Honestly she hadn't thought that the school would actually close. She remembered feeling that the possibility was remote, that the idea of the school closing was simply... unbelievable. But here it was, staring her in the face in insultingly bold font.

She became aware of a low murmur around her. Students were discussing.. exams? Really? It seemed like an odd thing to talk about, being that the school was now closing. It took a little while more before Mai really got an idea of what was going on. It was difficult to eavesdrop on so many conversations going on at once, and the occasional student firing off their Fear ability was pretty distracting. So.. it wasn't entirely hopeless. Mostly, probably, but not entirely.

Well, what the hell. She was up for the challenge.

Alexander had finished his exam. He hadn't been completely happy with how he'd done on it, though, and as he trudged back towards the group in front of the school gates, he was frowning in thought. He couldn't stop mulling the questions over in his head, over and over, his brain still trying to come up with the answers even now long after he'd handed in the exam.

Once in front of the gate again, he looked up and around, scanning the crowd for any familiar faces. He saw Mort, with a large group (that seemed to be normal with him) surrounding him. He couldn't see Yin anywhere, though, and wondered how the weremantis fared with his own exam. He would have to keep an eye out for the other boil.

In the meantime, he continued to stand in the midst of the crowd, waiting to hear the results of the exams and whether the school might be opened again.

Even Mortimer didn't know how he usually found himself in a group. It was almost uncanny. Probably a zombie thing.

Speaking of zombies.

"Xander, how do?" Mort called out. Apparently he was quite willing to keep asking people how they did in order to hide how he had done. He seemed like he was looking for someone?

To Taryn, he nodded, mumbling, "N-Not do well too . . ." But he had to believe what Junko had said on Groanspring, that every attempt counted! Though he made a note to later look up just exactly how scarelings were born. Oooor maybe he wouldn't. That sort of stuff could be traumatizing for the unready mind.

The others seemed fixated on something behind him for some reason, but before Mort could ask, something tapped his shoulder. Turning his head, he blinked at the ashen face before him - and then briefly wondered why it looked familiar. "Ha . . . ro?"

Hearing his name, and recognizing the voice, he looked over to Mort with an easy smile and shuffled his way over to the group surrounding him. "I uh...I didn't do too badly I guess." he shrugged. "I passed at least. The first couple of questions were ones that I didn't really know much about...while the third was ridiculously easy."

He reached up a hand to push the mop of white hair covering his eye out of his face as he looked at the unfamiliar faces surrounding him. Alexander hoped that he himself one day could have as many friends as Mort!

"How did you do?" He asked, though he assumed that Mort would've done really well. He seemed like a pretty smart boil, anyways.