Chapter Five : Fangs
1490 Words
forty four minutes ride brings us to a big , bronze gate. It is late evening but not too dark for me to lower the car windows and stare with fascination at the big, broad inscription on the gate :
THE ACADEMY OF MAGIC ARTS AND SCIENCES ,
"Nosce Te Ipsum" .
We drove through the open gates and up a straight, paved driveway.
Low buildings sat ahead, neat and pale against the green lawns.
The grass was trimmed short, the paths lined with small shrubs.
It looked clean, orderly, and a little too quiet.
Okay . so there's something bubbling at the pit of my stomach and I think it's excitement because the grandiose center building I am seeing is enough to build butterflies. It is as huge as a tower , a beautiful tower. I know it's not supposed to be beautiful, it's supposed to be old and ugly and evoke repulse at the pit of our stomachs. But what I am staring at is much more beautiful and vaster than the Governor's Tower at Rudwan.
Peach is already taking photos and has gone live on t****k .. again. Well the infectious enthusiasm is not lost on Cassidy whose eyes are nearly popping out of their sockets. Hari is somehow unimpressed though. He leans against the car, his hands folded across his chest and his face a mask of stone.
Okay. . I am trying to look unimpressed too but my face kinda twitches into a broad smile. Yuck. Traitor.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Scavenger drools with that obvious sense of pride . "Once you are placed in your respective dormitories, you can join us for dinner. You must be so famished. Don't worry. The White Colony is literally the crux of hospitality"
I winced.
Ethan Scavenger swaggered off, leaving us at the mercy of seven male valets all dressed in white shirts and black trousers and shoes that looked too big on them. Hari Spence punched in his numbers into my phone and let our a very tired yawn.
"I don't think I will meet up dinner" He whispered "My eyes are literally closing."
"I will eat for two" I assured him. My stomach was already rumbling. .
The Dormitory was in another building called Craig Hall. We were led by an immensely fat woman who called herself Claudine while the valets struggled with our numerous luggages.
I was assigned to room 42 in the Girls Wing in the topmost floor. I waited patiently until my twelve boxes were delivered before opening the door. It was past 8pm and everywhere was dark. My hands kissed the wall, looking for the switch. Suddenly something flicked and the lights were turned on.
I found myself face to face with a blonde haired girl who was a head taller than I was. She was standing only inches away from my face. The shock was enough to make me stumble backwards, hitting my head on the wall.
Feeling like an i***t, I rubbed my head calmly while my eyes went over her. Her skin was frightfully pale, almost ashen as if she was on the verge of disappearing. But she looked well fed and robust and her pale face had a striking glow. She was staring at me with a half frown and a half sneer, hugging her grey night dress with her hands.
While the silence and the unease hovered, I let my eyes drift beyond her and into the room. A wide room painted pink. A whirling ceiling fan. A wall clock. Two beds. One was made up, unslept in. The other was in disarray. Two tables and chairs. Tons of books scattered across one table.
"Hi" I ventured, stretching forth my hands with all the self confidence I could muster. "Am Night. Night Carter ".
She shook it. Her hand was death cold. As cold as a corpse. A chill passed through me.
"Beth." Her mouth widened into a smile. A smile that revealed fangs and something reddish dripping down her chin. Was that BLOOD!!!!.
"Jesus f*****g Christ!!" I exclaimed in horror, my hands instinctively going round my neck. Plssssssssssss tell me I am in the wrong room.
Beth licked the blood off her chin with a relish.
"Sorry about that" She said apologetically, fangs still very visible. "I just kinda had dinner. God !!. I haven't fed in three weeks. I was literally starving."
"Yes...umm" I stuttered, my hands on the door "Congrats on your dinner. I am so sorry for disturbing you. This is definitely the wrong room."
I was out before she could reply, my blood pressure shooting up in fright and something akin to fury.
______________________
I found Claudine a few feet away, addressing a girl who was loudly sobbing.
I excused her hurriedly.
"Maisy is so pathetic " Claudine rolled her eyes, her fat face reminding me of an ox while her large boobs sat struggling with the fragility of the white shirt she had on. "Just menstrual cramps and you want to bring down the whole house. And she won't even take meds. My poor darling. " She dabbed at her eyes with a large kerchief. "Now what do you want , darling?"
"I don't have a room yet" I blurt out helplessly.
"But I put you in Room 42" She stared at me incredulously and consulted her phone, her lips screwed up in thought. "Now, that's the room with Beth Camper. "
"Seriously" I asked , my mouth hanging open in dread "You don't mean am rooming with a vampyre?"
"There's nothing wrong with that, dont get your knuckles in a twist " Claudine is too calm, too unbothered, too unconcerned. I want to scream it to her that my safety is at risk and what if Beth wakes up hungry one night and uses my neck for a feast.
But all I say is "I could literally die if I spend two hours alone with Beth".
Claudine smirks "Oh, what misconceptions you have about The White Colony. God. Vampyres are not as horrifying as you think. For God's sake, the Vampyres here are Tishian."
"And being Tishian means?" I ask, with more sickening sense of dread.
"Being Tishian means Beth won't eat you" She shrugs and when I open my mouth to remark on that impossibility, all I get is a "Goodnight, Miss Carter" mixed with a trace of scorn. And then her heels are clicking in retreat.
__________________________________________
"Hi again " I mutter sheepishly as I open the door. Beth is lying on her bed, a black book in her hand. She lowers the book to half mask and stares at me listlessly.
"Did you find the right room?" Her voice is as cold as her skin. I manage a weak smile .
"Yes" I say brazenly "Turns out it is this room after all."
She goes back to her book wordlessly . Even as I arrange my clothes in the closet, goosebumps bristle on my skin. I make the sign of the cross a thousand times. Soon the twelve boxes are all empty and I have been settled in. Clothes in the closet. Books, lotions and a small hand mirror on the table. And I had not forgotten to come with the portrait of the scarecrow. I hang it on my side of the wall and stand to admire it .
"Too depressing" A voice says. I look back and Beth is propped up on her bed, staring at me with flat eyes.
I shrug "Bathroom?" She points to a door at the left. I take a hurried shower, slip into a nightdress and fling myself tiredly on the bed.
Beth is still propped up on her bed, staring at me. It is not a pretty sight .
"Will you sit up all night ?" I wondered loudly, feeling my skin crawl.
"Yes." Her voice is granite.
"Why?" I ask, already uncomfortable.
"I dunno" She shrugs "I might get hungry later".
The hairs at the back of my neck snaps to attention immediately. I sit upright, hugging myself tightly.
"Just kidding" Beth laughs "Relax, roomie. You are quite safe."
"Very reassuring" I croaked out, tensed.
In reply, Beth collapses to her bed with a yawn and soon her soft snores could be heard.
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