[color=gray][center][hr]At Lake Blue[hr][/center]

Professor Modred could not describe the smell of a Siren corpse. It was beyond that of a rotting fish – it smelled of dying beauty, uncaptured guilt, and an overwhelming copper stench. Once beautiful silky blonde hair had separated into greasy, dead gray locks, and healthy pink flesh had become a shriveled husk of grotesque leather. The Siren’s beautiful tale had been stripped of scales here and there, not from a knife or some other human invention, but of a poison so strong it rotted the adhesive stickiness of the scales. Blood poured from the dead creature, mixing into the crystal blue of the lake and swirling around the black blood of the Siren’s kin. 

Headmistress Endicott folded her hands in front of her, her face crinkling in worry and shame. She pressed her lips together, attempting to find the words to explain such a stressful situation, to bury the horror of which had been exercised on the innocent Sirens of Lake Blue. But she couldn’t find it, so instead, she turned to her employee and offered a soulful glance and a tight-lipped question.

“How many have…” The word [i]died[/i] didn’t seem to express the right amount of remorse she felt. Perhaps if she had paid attention, Endicott could have stopped the tragedy from happening.

Professor Modred possessed the ever-set grim face as she steeled her eyes and glanced in disgust at the perished creatures. Professor Modred had been friends with these creatures, they were family to her, and her neck pulsed with an anger that was absent from her face. 

“Six.” She answered, after a moment of silence. The silence was deafening and in almost desperate need to explain the actions of those she cared for, Mnemosyne opened her mouth once more. “This must be why the centaurs rushed the Peregrine on the road.”

Gaia Endicott stayed her words, remembering the thunderous sounds of hooves against the street as the centaurs from behind the Salem grounds charged the Peregrine, filled with students on their way back to school after a long summer break. Mercury, the driver of the Peregrine, had to swerve into another lane in order to avoid the collision from the enraged herd. The old Peugeot almost flipped, but Mercury managed to right it before stopping. The centaurs surrounded King Tutt, refusing to leave until Professor Endy finally managed to convince them to return to their home. 

“Do you know what kind of poison could do this?” Professor Modred’s words snapped Endicott from her thoughts, and Endicott spared a cursory glance at the trusted professor.

“I am unsure. Professor Bellona will have to look at them later in order to pinpoint it.”

Endicott felt a dread build in her stomach. The rebellion had finally caught up with the young, naïve students. Her heart hurt for the innocent children – but her heart ached even more so for the dead Sirens that floated like guppies in Lake Blue, sullying the water with inky red blood, so copious it was black.

[hr][center][url=http://fontmeme.com/script-fonts/][img]http://fontmeme.com/embed.php?text=Welcome%20to%20Salem&name=Playball.ttf&size=80&style_color=DDE4E6[/img][/url][/center][hr]

The Peregrine was late - it was never late. In all the years since Salem adopted the Peregrine, circe 1950, the Peregrine had never been late. Until a centaur protest stopped it in its tracks. For several hours, the Peregrine was halted on the last road until Salem grounds, surrounded by protesting centaur - why they were protesting, the students didn't know. But they were angry. When the Peregrine finally pulled into Salem, several hours late - around nine at night - the teachers gathered the students around and forced all of them into the Lounge. Then there was quiet for thirty long minutes.

There was an oppressiveness in the air – a startled stirring of suspicions as students suffocated in the Lounge. The room was too small for all the students and each were pressed against each other on the various couches and loveseats as teachers guarded them from the doorway. Eyes swept over the students, passive and stoic with arms crossed and thoughts invisible. The students knew they were waiting, but were unsure as to what they were waiting for. The headmistress was nowhere in sight, her sleek blonde hair mysteriously absent in the crowd of teachers – Professor Modred was also gone, her grim face no longer peering in at the mass of students. 

Just as the oxygen seemed to be used up, Professor Endy swept into the room, his hand rubbing absentmindedly at his salt-and-pepper beard. The teachers seemed to shift at his presence, an unspoken moment passing between them as Professor Endy cleared his throat and pressed his long wand against his throat, bidding his voice to be louder in silent incantation.

“Students of Salem, I ask you to be patient as we settle everything out. For now, however, the outside is off limits to students and to travel outside will lead to suspension and possible expulsion. We would like you all to either wait here, in the Lounge, or make your way to the Great Hall for dinner if you are hungry. But please stay away from the outdoors and the dorm rooms.”

The air seemed to thicken for a moment after Professor Endy removed the wand from his throat, leaving the room with an airy stumble. Then, as if the tension was sucked from the air, the Lounge erupted into murmurs and students began to disperse – to travel to unknown places and rooms. 

[hr][hr]
[center][url=http://fontmeme.com/handwriting-fonts/][img]http://fontmeme.com/embed.php?text=The%20Song%20Twins&name=BEFRISKY.ttf&size=70&style_color=91FFB8[/img][/url]
[img]http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8fc1dOhhv1rpisz8o1_500.gif[/img]
[/center]
[hr][hr]

“What do you think happened?”

The question caused Bora to pause in her reading of her favorite muggle magazine – one she had read seven times already in order to avoid the curious thoughts swirling in her head. Duri shook his leg next to her, restless from having to sit in the Lounge loveseat for too long. Bora side glanced at Duri, rolling her eyes at the question – as if she knew. The girl had plans to ignore it, but Duri just bit his lip and leaned into his twin sister’s personal space.

“Why d’you think we’re not allowed outside?” Duri pestered, pressing a finger into Bora’s shoulder in order to assure a response.

Bora's mind wandered back to the car that was used to charter the students to and from Salem Witches' Institute. It was a simple car on the outside, rather old and gross actually, but on the inside was a sweet hotel. In all the five years before, the Peregrine had been rather safe to use. She rode it from Maine to Massachusetts and hung out in her room, listening to Pluto and Mercury bicker. That's how it has always been. But just thinking of how the car swerved earlier, throwing Bora across her room in order avoid the oncoming centaur, Bora got chills down her spine. For hours, they were stuck sideways on the road, only the sounds of centaur stamping in protest to keep them company - that or the shouting and confusion of the old women driving. Until, finally, the car shuddered to a start again and slowly made it's way down the last street until turning onto Salem grounds. Afterwards, teachers escorted the students into the Lounge, crowding them on loveseats and couches for another full thirty minutes.

Bora huffed and threw the magazine onto her lap, crossing her arms and glancing at Duri in exasperation. “I’d imagine it’s because of a bunch of centaurs trying to kill over a thousand students – but, hell, maybe it’s because a dragon is on the loose.”

Duri pouted at her response, leaning backwards and throwing an arm onto the back of the loveseat, sniffling slightly. After a moment of silence, Duri smiled and jabbed his finger into Bora’s soft arm. “Your sarcasm isn’t appreciated, BoBo. Maybe you should stop hanging around all those seventh years. I miss the good ol’ days when you used to entertain me.”

Bora rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath that Duri didn’t even bother to acknowledge before standing up in a huffing mess and crossing her arms over her chest. She tossed her head back, her glossy brown hair swirling around her (Bora was very proud of how well she accomplished it) and raised an eyebrow at Duri. “Speaking of which, I’m going to find them – it beats sitting around with you.”

Bora began to walk away, not even bothering to listen to Duri, before turning once more to him in afterthought. “[i]Don’t[/i] get into trouble.”

“Ah, so boring.” Duri grinned, crossing his arms and getting up himself.

[hr][hr]
[center][url=http://fontmeme.com/ransom-note-fonts/][img]http://fontmeme.com/embed.php?text=Duri%20Song&name=Got_Heroin.ttf&size=100&style_color=71DAE3[/img][/url]
[img]https://45.media.tumblr.com/01432fb812c46b008a8e47105faaf000/tumblr_o26ut0UxQ61v4dg5oo1_500.gif[/img][/center]
[hr][hr]
Duri was never much of a troublemaker, but he wasn’t a goody-two-shoes either. He enjoyed having his fun. So perhaps that’s what led him from sneaking out of the Lounge and to edge himself down the corridor of Salem and towards a rather inconspicuous shelf when the teachers weren't watching. He never used the secret exit himself, but had seen plenty of the hooligans use it. The exit wasn’t much of a secret amongst the Salem student population – but it wasn’t much of a secret amongst the Salem teacher population either and so it was risky business to be going through it. Duri knew there was the possibility that Professor Baladeva – the scariest teacher to ever touch Salem grounds – could be on the other side of the shelf. But curiosity egged him on. 

His rough, calloused finger followed along the edge of the book. The rich cover felt like velvety leather in his hands and the urge to yank it and get it over with overcame him. Yet, he bided his time. The tips of his fingers brushed against the silky pages on the top and a thumb felt along the indents of the title – [i]The Secrets of the Sirens[/i], a classic written anonymously. As if something snapped in him, he pulled the book roughly down and it jolted from its spot, tumbling down onto the floor. It seemed anticlimactic, almost.

Duri was unsure of what he did wrong – he was positive that it was [i]that[/i] book on [i]this[/i] shelf that led to the Garden. He was more sure of that than anything in his life. Duri frowned and picked up the book curiously, his hand smoothing the pages that crinkled as it fell. With an unsatisfied heart, Duri replaced it back onto the shelf and resigned himself to not knowing.

The thought crossed his mind that he was truly confined inside until whatever the mess was was cleared up and he felt undeniably restless and claustrophobic at the idea. However, there wasn’t anywhere else that he could slip past the defenses of the stubborn professors of Salem and so he sighed heavily and wandered away from the shelf. Without realizing it, Duri ended up in the Great Hall with a plate of food in front of him that he couldn’t remember grabbing.[/color]