by VJ Erickson
***
Intrigued about the possibility of having special abilities, Taylor convinced Hannah to visit the science building before the library on their way to the main part of campus. By virtue of its central location, the science building had the benefit of being one of the few not-ugly buildings on campus. It wasn't quite as historically memorable as the administrative building or library, but it was also not as utilitarian as the dorms were.
Over the massive double doors were carved various old science-related tools in a large circular emblem. There were a protractor, compass, telescope, and flask, all resting on a large open book. Above them, decidedly less science-y, thought Taylor, was a snake wrapped around an open-mouthed skull.
Hannah struggled a little to push open the large wood and steel door, and they entered into a small entry foyer with an old worn desk in the corner. A security guard sat behind it, slumped over and half-asleep. Hannah walked straight for him, but he didn't acknowledge her.
"Excuse me," said Hannah, extending her hand to shake his.
"Mm?" he mumbled, staring at her hand and making no effort to return the gesture.
"Excuse me," Hannah repeated, unfazed. "I'm going to need unrestricted and uninterrupted access to one of your biology labs. Preferably something in the life or medical sciences. Anatomy would be ideal. Or perhaps somewhere where frog dissecting happens?"
"Here you go," the guard said, tossing a ring loaded with a jumble of old-fashioned and new-looking keys across the desk towards her.
"Uh huh," said Hannah. "Well you're a quick one, I see. Let me break it down for you, hon. I need you," she said, pointing at the guard, "to stand up..."
He stood.
"...take the keys,..."
He picked up the key ring.
"...and escort my friend and I to an anatomy lab. That's A-NAT-O-MY. Do you know what that means?"
"Yes, miss," he replied.
"Excellent, now hop to it," she said while clapping her hands lightly.
"This anatomy lab... Would it be in use right now?" she asked as they followed him through a side door and down a hall.
"We don't have an anatomy lab, miss," he replied.
"Then where are we going, hon?" she asked, her impatience creeping into her tone.
"To the frogs, miss. You said you wanted to dissect frogs, right?"
"Not exactly, but we'll go with that for now. Thank you, sir."
Taylor stepped close to Hannah and whispered, "Why is he being so helpful?"
"Oh, he's in thrall, dear," replied Hannah. "He seems to require a bit more... specificity in his instructions than most, but he's getting the job done."
"I thought you had to look into their eyes. He didn't make any eye contact with you until he was already standing."
"Oh no, the eyes have nothing to do with it. It's a common misconception. People place all sorts of importance on the eyes, but it's really just all in your head."
"But I thought you said to always look at the eyes."
"You're paying attention. That's good! The eyes will tell you if someone is cursed or not."
"Cursed?"
"Right. Cursed, remember? Vampires, etc."
"Etcetera?"
"Well, there are many more accursed races than humans as I mentioned earlier. Oh, and there's gargoyles too. They cannot be cursed, but they have the black eyes of an accursed. Don't worry about them, though, you're not likely to meet any of those. And they'd never let you see their real eyes in any case. They use good old-fashioned shape-shifting to hide their true appearance."
"You have got to be kidding me. First leprechauns, now gargoyles?"
"I know, I know. Too much useless information. Ancient history and trivia, really. You've got a lot to learn about things that actually matter first, like... Oh, it looks like we're here."
"Here you go, miss," said the guard.
"Now when I said uninterrupted, what I meant is that I want you to stand outside and make sure no one interrupts us. Do you follow?"
"Yes, miss."
"Uh huh," said Hannah, looking unconvinced. "Let's do this quickly, Taylor, so we don't have to put his understanding to the test."
"Agreed," said Taylor, following Hannah into the room.
"So I guess this is where the frogs are," Hannah said, looking around the room which turned out to be not at all an anatomy lab, but rather a supply closet. "This is probably even better. Maybe that guy isn't quite so dim, after all."
"I don't know if I'd say that," said Taylor, running her hands along the rows of cream-colored bottles that all looked the same except for the various colors of labels. "What are we looking for exactly?
"Definitely this," said Hannah, holding up a scalpel in a sealed plastic pouch.
"Wait, what? What do you need that for?" said Taylor, taking a step back.
"For..." Hannah said and then paused while quietly scanning the room for a minute and then lifting what looked like a bulk-size pickle jar from the corner, "...this!"
Hannah loosened the lid, and a pungent odor filled the room. She lifted out a frog corpse and plopped it into a large beaker along with the scalpel.
"Are we really dissecting frogs now? I thought that was just a cover story."
"Why would I need a cover story? He won't remember any of this, and clearly we needed to be direct with him. Who knows where we would've ended up otherwise. Now for you we need..."
Hannah was quiet again as she scanned the room.
"Some of these!" she said triumphantly while dumping two packets that looked similar to the scalpel packages into the beaker.
Taylor picked up the beaker and looked inside. Hannah had added two packaged syringes to the collection.
"You are not using these on me," said Taylor, shaking her head as Hannah dropped a small bottle of alcohol in the beaker.
"Would you prefer the scalpel?" Hannah asked while rummaging in the corner. "Ah ha!"
Hannah added a bag of cotton and a roll of tape to the collection.
"I think I'd prefer an explanation before we add any more sharp implements to the collection," said Taylor.
"I told you, we're going to do science! I'm quite good at science. I worked for a scientist around the 19th century."
"That's not that comfort... wait, the 19th century? How old are you, exactly?"
"Old enough," replied Hannah, tossing a few more random supplies in the beaker: tweezers and other things that Taylor didn't recognize.
"Dates become sort of trivial after a while," she continued.
"I didn't think women worked in labs around the turn of the century."
"Sure they did. I was the maid!"
"So, you worked for a scientist by sweeping his floors?"
"You got it! Don't worry, you learn a lot through proximity, especially if you're trying. Now, we just need a... here we go! A microscope. The ones back in my day didn't plug in," said Hannah, fumbling with the cord, "But I'm sure the principle's the same!"
She grabbed the beaker from Taylor and handed her the microscope.
"Here, you carry this," said Hannah.
"So we're just going to carry these around the library?"
"Oh right, the library. Usually I'm the one who's prepared. How embarrassing. Guess we'll have to swing back by the dorms to drop these off. Unless..."
Hannah scanned the closet and then said, "Nope. Don't really see anything to carry these in. Back to the dorms it is. It's only a couple blocks."
They stepped out from the closet, and Taylor closed the door lightly behind them. The security guard was still standing outside, though he looked as inattentive as ever, slumped against the wall with his chin resting on his chest and his hat pulled down over his eyes.
"Okay, we're done. You can lock up now," Hannah said to him, but he didn't respond.
"Are you sleeping?" she asked, speaking more loudly now.
He jerked to attention.
"Mm?" he mumbled.
"Goodness," Hannah said to Taylor.
"I guess I should have specified that he stay awake. You wouldn't think you'd have to spell these things out to a security guard."
"We are DONE NOW," Hannah said loudly. "You can GO BACK TO WORK."
The guard shrugged and locked the door behind them and then sauntered down the hall.
"Whatever work means to you," Hannah muttered and then followed behind.