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((OOC: Sorry, I'm still learning how to keep up... ^_^;; ))

After her proclamation, she sauntered forth to enter the room. As soon as she crossed the threshold, a wave of arcane energy crashed into her. She flew back a bit and flipped.

"This energy... can it be?" Her devilish grin morphed into something more joyous and giddy. This energy was coursing about her nerves, alerting her to a potential source of mana. Being the magic addict she was, she simply had to find the source of this marvelous energy. She began sensing about the room until she fixed upon Penelope. Secret turned to her slowly, basking in the residual magic about her before gliding up next to her. Secret lightly left one hand to grace a shoulder and drew her head in close.

"Mmm... you taste like the ocean..." she sighed dreamily, easing uncomfortably close to the poor girl.

Heat. Force. Irritation. Lindsay felt all of these at once as the explosion nearly pushed over her chair. She was more irritated at the heat and probably burns she would end up with on the exposed portions of her skin than her actual clothes getting singed, though, amazingly. Electricity, as the fire from the explosion had just done, could do just about the same to clothes, so she was used to it. She sat her chair a bit further back from the explosion site and tried to stay out of things as much as possible.

In the moments before the explosion, while she listened to Oual think out loud, she shot an apologetic glance at Jay. If this was an anime, she would probably have had one of those gigantic beads of sweat sliding down her face.

On the bright side, however, Lindsay was pleased to hear that Rowena had gotten her come-uppance.

Secret swayed in Penelope's powerful but unrefined aura. The sensation was strong and lovely to her, being so reminiscent of the home she had lost. She decided she simply must have it.

Secret drew ever closer to the girl, but suddenly Penelope collapsed. Thinking that she broke her magic artifact, her face dropped suddenly in disappointment. She watched on, half-dead to the world, as Josh ran up to catch the girl. After laying her down, he turned to Secret, who seemed thoroughly unimpressed. He looked at her oddly, as if trying to comprehend her, before saying, "I don't believe we've met. I'm Josh Baroob."

Secret cocked her head to the side. She had gone entirely too long without human contact, so she didn't quite know how to react. With sluggish movements, she lifted her arm and crossed it in front of her so that the back of her palm rested next to Josh's opposite cheek. She could never touch him, but this was close enough for what she needed. She stood there for a couple seconds, sensing his aura and trying to figure out the enigma before her. The stars seemed excited, but she couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary. Finally, she spoke, albeit vaguely.

"Yes, I'm sure you are. The stars know you, kitten." A coy smile played across her lips. She withdrew her arm and held her hand up to her own face. Dreamily, she continued. "Yeeeees, they have nothing to say and PLENTY of ways to say it. You are... also, sign of the wolf?" Her eyes shot toward Oual as she inclined her head slightly.

Secret watched as the inquisitive boy's face contorted, his words getting caught in the back of his throat and bouncing around against his tongue and teeth without actually making their way out. After a few moments, he managed, "Sign of the wolf? I don't think so..." Secret marveled at this; she could've sworn they were related somehow. Their auras were so alike! WELL, NOBODY'S aura is EXACTLY alike, but these two were close enough on a number of runes and vertices. If not relatives, then there had to be some sort of--

"Uhh... I'm gonna check on Jay and Cait..."

As the boy slinked off, Secret stood there, swaying in place. Her mind was still weak and disconnected; she couldn't process the sudden change in thoughts. She stood there shellshocked for a bit, until something stirred by her side.

The girl from before seemed to jolt back to consciousness. She tried to sit up, but that seemed to be a struggle. Secret stood over her as a crooked smile crept across her face. Her artifact was awake. It seemed to be regaining its functionality, at that: it was beginning to use its other senses to examine her. But, given the confusion on the vessel's face, there must be a faulty link between the receptor and the vessel. Finally, it spoke.

"Who... Who are you? And what do you want?"

Secret hushed at it softly, putting one hand an inch away from its forehead and another near its arm. "Hush, my pet. You've gone and taken a tumble. You shouldn't be pushing yourself so. Get some rest, then come find me outside in Nature's Ceiling. You'll need your strength for the times ahead."

Secret stood up and took a few steps toward the door. She stopped but didn't turn around. "All that you wish to know will be laid out before you, in good time. When it wants you to know it, it'll show itself to you. Except my name--that is Secret."

Secret strode out the door, turning her head and flashing a coy smile to the prone girl. As she left the room in search of the source of this chaos, the darkness in the room left with her, making the room slightly brighter.

<<

“Excuse me!” Oual called. The odd girl had seemed to float straight out of the room. “We’re in a lock-” But he was interrupted by a cackle from the walkie-talkie at his side.

“Sergeant Ryan to Chief Oual. The rooms my way are clear.”

Oual nodded. “Copy that, Sergeant,” he announced into his walkie-talkie. “What’s everybody else’s status?”

The other voices found him. The school was clear, and all danger had passed. Oual sighed gladly. “Alright, Sergeant, announce it, please.”

Moments later, Sergeant Ryan’s voice echoed throughout the school, meaning he’d reached the office. “This is Sergeant Ryan of the DPD, the lockdown has been revoked. You may proceed to go about your day as normal. I will be on guard here throughout the day, but the danger has past.” This was standard procedure. Most of the rooms started clearing out, but Oual knew that the students in the lab would stick around. A bit too much had happened in that room. He made his way over to the midst of the injured girls.

“I’m going to ask that everyone let these girls be. I’ll call the school nurse here along with Sergeant Ryan. If they decide it is necessary, an ambulance will be called.” Oual sighed and turned away. He was ready to call Ryan, but then the sergeant burst into the room, panting.

“Chief,” he began. “There’s been word of an explosion of some kind over by the set of Time Force III.” Oual rolled his eyes.

“Awesome. Has there been any word on Cross?”

“No, sir. None yet.”

This truly worried Oual. “Alright, Sergeant. You stay here. If there are any updates on the Mastermind case, you’ll be alerted.” The sergeant nodded and called the school nurse as he collected Oual's master key. The case was on the minds of everyone, but Oual knew today would be busy. He would not have been surprised if the explosion ended up linked to the Mastermind. For now, though, he just had to go investigate.

Penelope sat up from the floor and wandered over to the bench where Cait and Jay were laying. Cait seemed to have woken up somewhat, but before Penelope could ask how she was, she had somehow removed her shirt. For a second, Penelope was too stunned. She quickly checked to make sure no one was staring, then shook her lightly.

"Hey, Cait, you're still in the classroom. I don't know if you want your shirt back..." Penelope grabbed it off the floor, just in case.

Shut up. Josh gritted his teeth as Rowena's distinctively obnoxious voice cut through the room. There had been an explosion, people were covered in potentially dangerous chemicals, and she was honestly complaining about her face? Shut up, shut up, "Shut up."

"SHUT UP!" It exploded out of him as Josh, like so many others had that day, stomped towards Rowena. His normally cheerful expressions were gone, melted into a hideous scowl. "Nobody gives a flying crap about you! Why don't you get that? Are you retarded? Did your mother drop you? Well, here's the news flash: NO ONE LIKES YOU! Everyone acts nice to you because they're scared of your daddy's money, but no one really likes you! You're a washed up whore with absolutely no positive traits! Now do us all a favor get your stupid father to use his stupid money to buy you a stupid house in the middle of the stupid desert and never bother any of us again!"

Secret stopped in the hallway to get her bearings. Out of range of the artifact's powerful aura, she felt a little emptier but could sense things a bit more clearly now. For a moment, the presence of an adept elementalist appeared in the doorway behind her, but whoever it was went back inside shortly after. She strode alone down the corridor, looking around at the chaos that had been left behind. She even saw blood on the floor, but it didn't hold her interest that long. The scent, though, was too much for her senses. As her head swam, she turned it from side to side, trying to sort through all the stimuli she had gathered that day. It was too taxing on her; she was starting to crash.

She stumbled off to the right and stumbled through an open door. It was a while after she swept into the room that she realized where she was: a library! She hadn't seen a proper book in years, only heady magical tomes. Staggering toward the shelves like a drunkard, she reached out to the binding of a thick encyclopedia, only to have her fingertips pass through it. And thus, reality began to set in.

She was terrified. She ran around looking for the nearest exit, her robes whipping around her like a black flag in high winds. Throughout the room, a dark wind stormed around, blowing papers clear off their spots. The heavy, book-laden cases began to sway about, rocking back and forth to the very brink of falling. Books shot off their shelves, colliding in air, clashing against all manner of objects, and leaving permanent indentations in the wall. Through this maelstorm struggled Secret, clutching her robes to her pounding chest. She could barely see anymore, let alone make her way out of the perilous labyrinth of wood and paper. As she pushed against the wind toward the large glass windows, the shadows of the forest darted across the landscape. She grew as pale and still as the grave at the sight: the shadows, and the reality they represented, were coming for her. At last, they burst through the window and gripped her, shaking her whole body as they dragged her back. She let out a blood-curdling scream before she disappeared, snapping back to her body in the forest.

The storm died down almost instantly, and as it did, the papers caught in the wind floated harmlessly to the ground.

Next>>>

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<<

Shadows danced across the once-pristine lawn of Delmor Unity High School. Smoky clouds swirled about an amber sky, looming ominously over the school. Then, all was swiftly enveloped a sheet of crushed brown paper. Mariana stashed the dregs of her liquor behind an air vent as she lay staring up at the sky. Bored, she wisely acknowledged. She had gone far too long without human contact. It had been a whole fifteen minutes since she snuck out of her classroom on the hunt for the criminals lurking somewhere in the school. The hunt had grown dull quickly, so she snuck off to the roof. The school had weird policies that made smoking quite difficult, so the staff often unlocked the door leading to the rooftop. It was here that she had spent the past few minutes hitting the bottle, waiting for something fun to happen. Alas, no such luck; she had to make her own.

She stood up and brushed stray gravel from the nooks and crannies of her elaborate outfit. She was eager to get inside; this wasn't great weather to be wearing black leather, and she needed to talk to someone. So, she did the most logical thing to do in such a situation: she jumped off the roof.

A flash of black and red could be seen passing the window of the science lab. Mariana landed on a row of what had previously been well-kept shrubbery and tumbled across the grass. As far as she could tell, she hadn't hurt anything from the fall, though she wouldn't've felt it if she had. She picked herself up and jumped up to the lab's windowsill. Climbing up onto the perilous ledge, she sat in a classic Playboy Bunny pose and grinned like a madwoman as she pounded on the plexiglass window.