After dinner Stefan parted from them after he reached his floor. Lily informed her that they were the nightwatchmen of the halls (Melanie supposed that meant they were prefects or something of the kind) and they were responsible for taking care that everyone was in their bed by curfew.
Melanie thought it very obvious on the headmaster's part that he would put her in the same room as a prefect and his son's friend. But then again, then she'd know exactly where Lily was at all times. And if she got drunk often, then there would be periods of time where she had no one to watch over her like a hawk.
She slipped out twenty minutes after Lily had gone out on her check to see if everyone was in bed. She climbed out of her bed quietly and took her dagger out carefully from underneath her pillow where she'd slipped it as Lily was getting ready for bed.
It was easy to exit out of the room and make it on the first floor of the dorm. She pulled her coat tighter over herself. She didn't know where to even begin. The headmaster's office wouldn't be the wisest choice for the first night. The school for now was off the table, because she couldn't explain just what is she doing there during nighttime. If she stayed in the dorms while she memorized the school grands during daytime, she could always excuse herself by saying she needed the washing closet.
That night, she headed on over to the library. Or at least, she headed in that direction, but she was seized by strong hands and pressed up against the corridor wall. A hand reached out to shut her mouth.
"Shh. Stay still."
That was Lily's voice. She'd been all ready caught and trapped and it wasn't even day one. Her heart hammered in her chest, her hands shaking. She could take her on. Maybe. But then, Lily's arm had successfully restrained her with just a single push to her chest and her hand on her mouth wasn't budging. She was a few centimeters shorter than Melanie herself, how was she doing that?
Melanie looked down to try and make out her expression in the dark, but Lily wasn't looking at her. No, she was looking out towards the dark of the corridor where if Melanie focused her hearing past the thudding of her heart, she could make out a deep, threatening growl.
"Don't move," she warned, her voice low. Melanie did as she said, she wasn't stupid.
There was sniffing and more growling, and the sound of claws on stone, coming closer and closer... Before they were distracted by something and trotted away. Melanie let out a soft breath, careful to be relieved before she had the grounds to do so.
Of course this school had some kind of beast guarding it. Of course.
Lily pulled away slowly, her neck still craned to see if anything came, and then she took Melanie's wrist and lead her back up the stairs and into their room. Lily shut the door behind them and turned the key. "Old Sammy will pass by any moment now to sniff if we're here, so you better not run out any time soon."
Melanie could only guess that Old Sammy was whatever that thing was. A dog? But then a dog wouldn't have instilled such bone-deep chill in her veins just by growling and skidding its claws. Or maybe those were a special Honian breed. She wouldn't be surprised.
Melanie swallowed thickly and straightened her spine, so she was looking down at Lily. But then Lily sat on her bed and motioned for Melanie to do so as well. She didn't.
"I suppose you'll report back to the headmaster," she said, trying to keep her voice level. She could talk her way out of this. She was not going to be thrown out so soon.
"I suppose I will." Lily sounded calm, damn her. She was looking at her, grinning slyly. If she was going to be thrown out anyway maybe she could slap that smirk off her face just for the pleasure of it. Or push her down on the bed and kiss it off of her. Christ.
"Before you do, you must know that there is something wrong going on here," Melanie said, growing more urgent. "I don't have solid proof now, but there have been accounts of students disappearing off of the campus without a trace and no word back to their families."
Lily's eyes widened in mock shock. "No!"
Melanie took a deep, steadying breath. "And the headmaster has kept quiet about this, and the numbers of missing kids have been increasing-" Lily started examining her nails. "Listen to me, damn you!" She nearly shouted.
A bark resounded in the hallway, loud and ferocious and the rotten beast sounded as if it was coming in, galloping down the fucking hallways and Melanie was about to scream, but then Lily had jumped on her feet and she was dragging down on the bed on top of her.
It took a while of Old Sammy's sniffing and Melanie pressing her hand to her mouth to keep quiet. She could just make out ferocious, blood red claws peeking from beneath the door's edge, and then bared, pointy teeth. She shut her eyes again then and turned away.
"Oh, it's gone," she said then, moments later after a quiet had settled, and Melanie slowly rose up. She was looking at her. No smile, just searching blue eyes and parted cherub lips that had been so close to her ear.
"You must hear me out, please," Melanie whispered, because her voice had gone. Lily's hand was wrapped around her forearm and it felt like a brand with how hot it was.
Then Lily's lips curled back into her smirk and Melanie pulled away, revolted. God, what was she doing? She stood up and turned her back on her, trying to compose herself and calm the beating of her heart.
"I know about the disappearances."
Melanie turned back to her. She was back to looking up at the ceiling.
"I know there's something bad going on. I'm not blind or ignorant."
"Then do you think it's fine? Do you find it perfectly acceptable?" Call it her Chasarian sensibilities, but she didn't think that children disappearing was news equal to the lowering of stock prices.
Lily was raising up, her eyes alight with fury. "Of course not! But what am I supposed to do about it? Ask politely what's going on? Then it'd be Bye Bye Lily and another name on your growing list." She was striding towards Melanie, craning her neck up to scowl at her. "And what do you think you'll do? Poke your nose around a little and then uncover all those secrets? Newsflash, pretty lady, but if it wasn't me who caught you obviously sneaking out of this room, you would have either been good lunch for our doggy, or you would've been thrown in the dungeons downstairs-"
Melanie grabbed her by the arm. "Then work with me! I'm here to put a stop to this, because I am actually able to. I have the power necessary. You could either rat me out or you can help me, because you know your way around-"
Lily scoffed and shook her hand off easily. "Rat you out. Right. You think headmaster Leonov doesn't know you're spying? We don't exactly get a lot of transfer students."
"Lily, please," she said. She was so close. It was obvious she cared. And that was good. Humanity, she could work with. Not cold sneers or mocking sarcasm.
Lily was silent, though, for a long moment, and Melanie thought that maybe it won't work. But then she ran her fingers through her hair irritably and mussed it up.
"You're sticking to me and you're not opening your mouth, lest your accent pokes out. You're not going to stand out, got it? And don't ask too many questions."
Melanie smiled. She was going to allow herself to be bossed around if it meant an ally.
"Do you think I have an accent?" She didn't hear it herself, odd.
"Oh, pretty girl, you have the thickest accent I've ever heard in my life." Well, that was going to be annoying to deal with.
"Okay then. I'm keeping my mouth shut and I'm following after you, captain." She saluted her, but Lily rolled her eyes and turned away towards her chest. She opened its lid and dug around until she found what she was looking for.
"It's sergeant." She uncapped the flask and practically poured it down her throat. She wiped her mouth. "And I am going to bed. Sweet dreams, Lady Melanie."
Comments (0)
See all