onizel

As she took out her books, Brigitte heard her name called over the P.A. system. It was Headmistress O'Leery calling her to the office. Brigitte wasn't sure what it was about. Was she up too late doing that essay? Did they know about it? A few eyes followed her as she left the class room, but she wasn't bothered by them. In all honesty, she appreciated the attention. The hallways of the large school were empty, as was to be expected. The small amount of noise coming from the classrooms seemed to make the halls quieter than if they were silent. As she went up the flight of stairs to the thirteenth floor, the lights flickered. It struck Brigitte as odd, but she supposed that things had to start to go sometime for them to be kept in pristine condition. She started as she had an idea. "Maybe that hooded person was the janitor!" Not that it really mattered right now, she realised, but that was one less thing she had burdening her mind. She followed the hallway around a final corner. O'Leery's office was just down the end of the hall. A girl sat outside the office on one of the benches, sobbing loudly. The girl was from Brigitte's grade--Maria something. Everyone knew about her. She was into magic, divination, all that sort of stuff. No doubt Alessa would have gotten along with her if she'd gone to London, as well. Her long black hair covered her face as her shape spasmed with the sobs. "Uh... Alright, Maria?" she asked awkwardly, waited for a reply for a moment and knocked on the headmistress' door when she got none.

"Enter," intoned O'Leery. Brigitte never imagined an Irish person could sound so strict. Brigitte did as instructed and closed the door with a sharp look from O'Leery. "Sit down, Miss Weihen." She gestured to the two plush, though somewhat plain seats before her desk. "Where were you last night, Miss Weihen?"

Brigitte blinked blankly at the question. "I was working on my english essay until late, Headmistress. Why?"

"I'm asking the questions, Miss Weihen," O'Leery replied fractiously, looking down at a pamphlet of paper on her desk. "The essay you are referring to is on Romeo and Juliette?" The aging woman looked at the young over her half-circle glasses. Brigitte nodded. "What did you select as the theme for your essay?"

"Separation, Headmistress. I submitted it over the computer system last night." With a few clicks, O'Leery presumably checked the submission. Brigitte had to wonder why she was going to such lengths to verify what she was saying. Was she under suspicion for something?

"3 a.m.?" Brigitte winced. She was hoping that the submission didn't have the time on it. "Why did you submit it at that time?"

"Um... I was rather unprepared," Brigitte said carefully. She wasn't about to come out and say she'd completely forgotten about it.

O'Leery rested her elbows on her desk and folded her hands in front of her mouth. "Let me be frank with you, Miss Weihen. A crime was committed on this campus last night, and you are a suspect."

"A crime?" Did this have something to do with the curfew? "I don't know what you're talking about! But... I suppose you'd expect me to say that, wouldn't you?" O'Leery nodded.

"Are you close to Maria Sunnadara?"

"You mean Maria outside your office?" Brigitte asked, not wanting to incriminate herself accidentally.

A look of surprise crossed O'Leery's face and she shot up, strode to the door, glanced briefly at Brigitte, then opened it. Brigitte watched as the woman's face turned a peculiar grey colour. O'Leery's jaw tightened and her facial muscles screwed into a fearsome visage. "Is this your idea of a joke, Miss Weihen?"

"N-No," Brigitte replied, taken aback by the even steelier tone in her headmistress' voice. In one swift motion that seemed impossible for someone her age, O'Leery swooped on Brigitte, grabbed her arm in an unbreakable hold and dragged her to the door, pointing to the spot Maria had been sitting. Scrawled on the bench was Brigitte's name around a five-point star. Scrawled on the bench in what looked like blood.

"Get in that office, girl. You're not leaving until we get to the bottom of this." O'Leery swung Brigitte back into the office and slammed the door behind her. The shadows beneath the bench seemed to ripple, and two arms reached out, pulling a humanoid form from the shadow. The shape stood up, and Maria Sunnadara walked down the hallway to the classrooms.