Knight of the Black Rose

by Nissa Gordon

  "The Lictores officers are already running scans on the lake," Eldamar told them. "They'll want to speak to you all. Jevidah, I asked them to give you some samples, which they were more than happy to do,"

  "How come he's the only one who gets samples?" Loring asked annoyed.

  "Because he's the head of the department," Eldamar told him calmly.

  "That means that he's probably better than you," Hunter said smirking.

  "It's like working with a bunch of children," Eldamar said shaking his head as he turned and left.

  "Okay then, anything any of you can think of, you can bring to me," Domnus told them. "We could use all the ideas you can think of,"

  "Us head of estates, should check in with the students," Hunter told them turning to leave, but then he stopped suddenly turning back around. "What are we going to do about the kids writing home to their parents about this? It could end up in the human newspapers,"

  "Nothing more than we're already doing, as we can't stop them from writing home as it'll cause more of a problem," Domnus said. "We'll just have to hope that who ever sent in the last story, has a bit more common sense not to send this one,"

  "I doubt it," Hunter said annoyed about the situation, before he walked off closely followed by Loring.

  "It's going to get out sooner or later," Jevidah agreed as he slowly got up. "I have a lot of work to do," Then he walked past them and out of the office.

  "That went better than I thought it would," Validus said as he walked in front of Domnus and Burnhill. "Though he was right about the two of you. I think it's just the students that haven't realised, even though they're normally quite good at getting that sort of thing."

  "It isn't that obvious," Burnhill said.

  "Actually it is, considering that the two of you live together outside of school," Validus told her.

  "It's fine, it wasn't was as though we were keeping it a secret," Domnus told her as he linked her arm, and smiled. "It's perfectly fine, and you can move into my quarters properly now,"

  They watched from the cupboard as the rest of the teachers slowly filed out, not sure how long they were actually in there, only knowing that it was a very long time until they could finally step out and breath properly not having to worry if someone would over hear them.

  "I can't believe we just did that," Will said as he slowly went over to the door to look out, to see if the corridor was clear or not.

  "At least we found some interesting stuff out." Lucy said smiling as she came up behind him opening the door wider before he even told her that it was safe to go out, then she pushed him out in front of her. "We should get back though,"

  "I can't believe you just did that, what if they would have still been stood out here?" Will asked annoyed.

  Lucy smiled at him. "We could tell them that we fell through a doorway into their staff room,"

  Will looked at her as though she was crazy, but then seemed to realise that she had a good point. "That's not bad, it would have explained why we were there,"

  "See," Lucy said walking down the corridor.

  "So how long did it take you to think that up?" Will asked her.

  "A couple of minutes after they mentioned that the doorways have been acting up," Lucy told him. "Basically they could be going anywhere, and they wouldn't know about it until someone fell through one,"

  "Are we going to tell them about the stairs?" Will asked her. "I think we should,"

  "I think we should find out what they're telling everyone first, and do some of our own research in what's going on," Lucy suggested.

  "Good plan," Will said smiling as they started running down the corridor, wanting to get back now.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Lucy struggled into their project room, with her arms full of large heavy books again; no one looked up as she made her way over to an empty spot next to Will on the over large table that they all sat around after pushing all the tables together, so that no one would be left out. She was a little annoyed thinking that they could have helped her, but they were all too engrossed in whatever it was they were doing. She walked up behind him and dropped the books in the empty spot, making everyone at the table jump.

  "What the hell!" Troy shouted at her.

  "This is hard enough, without you keeping doing that," Alex told her.

  Lucy smiled at the two of them, not that bothered that she had scared them considering that they had refused to help her on this. "Considering how many times I've done that, shouldn't you be used to it by now?"

  "That so isn't the point," Alex told her.

  "Haven't you actually got homework to be doing?" Troy asked her.

  "This is my own project, remember?" Lucy told him as she sat down.

  Jess picked up one of the books to see what she was up to now. "What is all of this?" Jess asked confused. "Doorways to Another?"

  "What sort of project is that?" Libby asked looking up alarmed.

  Lucy had to think quickly. "History...err...I'm researching the person or persons behind them,"

  "Oh...okay..." Jess said as she gave her the book back. "So, does that mean that you've done all of the other homework?"

  "Actually, yeah...that was easy compared to this," Lucy said off hardly as she opened her first book, and pulled a notebook and pen over to her. Though the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of using this as her actual project for class, at least she could do everything at once and she wouldn't have to worry about forgetting to do something.

  "I wouldn't have said everything was easy," Troy said glaring at her. "Science and Potions isn't easy,"

  "I thought it was alright," Lucy said as she looked over to see what Will was up, he too had finished it and had moved onto Transformations, making her smiling.

  "You think it's funny?" Troy asked annoyed.

  "Let me do some more of this, and then I'll help you if you still need it," Lucy told him.

  "He probably always will, considering how much help you gave him on his first project," Alex said smirking.

  "I helped you on that as well, remember; because you left it until the last minute," Lucy reminded him.

  "I still can't believe that they're making us do our own potions and stuff in our first year," Libby said pulling her own ingredients book towards her scowling at the pages.

  There was a knock at the door, making them all turn around wondering who it was, as there wasn't anyone missing, seeing as they were all sat at the table.

  "Come in!" Eddie shouted, seeing as no one else was going to do it.

  The door opened wide framing Travis and his two best friends, he waved at them looking quite amused as he walked in, Reed closed the door behind them carrying a folded paper.

  "Well, you lot look as though you’re all working hard," Liam said smirking.

  "Don't you think you're trying to hard?" Travis said scowling at the pile of books in front of Lucy. "You do realise that's over kill right?"

  "Ignored him, he puts just as much effort into all of his projects, but no one ever actually see's him doing the work," Reed told her as he handed over the paper.

  "Have you lot seen today’s paper?" Travis asked them.

  "No," Will answered with his back to them.

  "They've all been the same for weeks, since the lake," Troy reminded him. "We stopped bothering looking,"

  "I still can't believe that someone in the school would sell us out to the humans," Liam said annoyed as he walked around the table to the empty seat in-between Methos and Selena, and sat down.

  "So, no ones ever done it before?" Libby asked.

  "Of course not," Liam answered as though this was obvious.

  "Anyway, in the paper; it says that the representatives of the magical community have all been called together to discus the actions in the papers," Travis told them. "They're also considering pushing through a mandatory sensor on the magical community, so everyone has to be registered. It's being voted today. Even if you’re a child with powers, it has
to be recorded,"

  "That's why our people are finally doing something; they don't want this to go through of course," Reed told them. "The papers have been reporting more and more attacks, people panicking in the streets, all because of this stupid idiot sending in part stories,"

  Lucy looked up from her books. "Did you read the paper that said it was a ritual that went wrong?"

  "Yeah...seriously...these people haven't a clue what real magic is," Travis said shaking his head annoyed at the idiocy of it all.

  "So we don't do any type of rituals?" Libby asked.

  "Not the way that they're thinking, and defiantly not with that many people around," Travis told her.

  "I'm looking forward to Halloween," Lucy said suddenly changing the topic.

  "They're a little unsure what to do about that," Reed told her.

  Lucy turned around annoyed. "That isn't fair. I've already got my dress,"

  "We're having a party? How come I didn't know about it?" Libby asked disappointedly as though she had been left out, and then felt even more embarrassed as everyone looked at her.

  "They'll probably be a party at the night time for everyone in the main hall," Selena told her.

  "They can't really make a big deal out of it, or whoever is selling us out, will probably say something like they're being pulled into some sort of a religion cult," Travis told them.

  "I don't get it," Libby said even more confused.

  "Because we come from different worlds, we'll celebrate different things to you lot," Lucy explained. "But on whole, we all celebrate the changing of the seasons. Meaning Halloween, the human name,"

  "Will there be ghosts?" Libby asked.

  Liam looked over at her and smiled. "They're already ghosts in the school; you just haven't seen them yet,"

  Libby nervously looked around at everyone. "He's joking right?"

  "No," Eddie answered. "Ghosts are basically an imprint left behind by a person, but depending upon how strong they were in spirit...I can't actually remember the name of it. Anyway, some of them can actually talk to you properly. Others just wondering around reliving the last moments of their lives,"

  "You lot read way too much for first years," Travis told them.

  "We read what interests us," Lucy told him smirking up at him.

  Travis looked over her shoulder, so he could find out what she was reading, and smiled slightly. "So that includes doorways?"

  "It's for history, I'm researching the person and people behind them," Lucy told him matter-of-factly.

  "Is that all? So you're not at all interested in why they've been acting up all term at the school then?" Travis asked her.

  "Have they now?" Lucy said off handily as she turned back around.

  Travis leant over his hands on the back of her chair. "You know something that you're not telling us,"

  "They fell through one after the match was cancelled," Jess told him, making Lucy shoot a look at her. "What? I didn't know it was a secret,"

  "At least we know that wasn't just a rumour now," Liam said pleased that they had finally found out the truth.

  "Where did it take you?" Reed asked calmly.

  Lucy and Will looked at each other wondering if they should tell them, seeing as they hadn't told everyone at the table everything that was going on, just the basic's seeing as some of it weren't secret anymore. In the end they decided to tell them what they had told the others; ending up in the stone tunnels and thinking that something had been following them. They didn't tell them about the staff room, only Troy and Alex knew about that.

  "Even we've never gotten to the underground tunnels," Reed told them.

  "Underground?" Will said confused. "When we came out, we ended up on a main corridor,"

  "So, they're enchanted...kind of like a maze," Reed told them. "You could have actually been lost down there. I guess it's a good place to hide,"

  "Would the school sensors be able to pick anything up down there?" Lucy asked before she could stop herself.

  "And how do you even know about something like that?" Travis asked her somewhat amused that she knew so much for a first year, and for a girl.

  "Are they watching us all the time or something?" Libby asked looking up into each corner of the room.

  "They're cameras in the halls of course, in the corridors, and in random places in the grounds," Liam told them. "It’s to make sure if anything does happen, they can pick it up straight away,"

  "The sensors are to make sure no one gets out or in," Reed told them.

  "That means that this thing is a life form that they wouldn't normally scan for," Eddie said.

  "So it can't be a ghost, Wrath or Phantom, because they have to scan for them all the time," Methos said thoughtfully. "It doesn't really leave much then does it?"

  "It doesn't really, if you say it like that," Travis said thoughtfully.

  "I was wondering, could they still get past the shields if someone was helping?" Lucy asked. "I'm mean, what if someone at the school actually worked for the Shadow Order? They could be letting it in or they could have changed it, so that it's just different enough so that it won't be picked up by the sensors?"

  "How can you lot even think these things up?" Libby said staring at them all. "I didn't even know that half of this stuff was even real until a couple of months ago. And you're all talking about it as though it's all normal,"

  They all looked at her, and then at each other, she did kind of have a point, they had been talking and acting as though this sort of thing happening was normal. When in truth, it wasn't normal for them, they had never really done anything like this before; but if they didn't focus on something, then they would end up like everyone else, worrying about what was going to happen next without a clue what was going on.

  "Sorry Libby, we're getting carried away," Lucy told her. "It's just that we want to know what's going on, since no ones actually telling us,"

  "Just so you know, if it is stopped and they figure out what's been doing all of this; they probably wouldn't tell us anything except that it had been stopped," Will told her. "It's not as much a cover-up; my dad calls it 'protecting the public, from mass panic',"

  "He thinks we're that stupid?" Selena asked annoyed before Libby had the chance.

  "He says that even those who have lived on magical worlds all of there lives still haven't got a clue what's really happening around them," Will told her.

  "I guess, I can relate to that," Libby admitted. "I kind of knew I could do stuff, and that I was different...but just didn't know how or why. I didn't ask...because my parents never said anything either, just kind of pretended as though it wasn't happening, so I did as well,"

  "There you go, some people can study magic and their powers all of their lives and still never really understand it or get past the level that they're at now," Reed told them.

  "Okay guys, enough of that...what're we doing about this? The bigger picture?" Travis asked them. "Are we looking into it?"

  Will slowly turned around and looked up at him; he was still leaning on the back of Lucy's chair. "You want help from us first years?"

  Travis pushed off and stood up. "Okay then, I just thought that you might have wanted in,"

  "In? So you know what's going on?" Will asked him.

  "They'll know as much as we do," Troy told him.

  "We knew about the attacks in the city before any of you," Travis reminded them.

  "That's because we didn't read the papers; and seriously how many kids do you actually know who do read them?" Alex asked.

  "Actually they're read by an awful lot of the students at the school, they like to be kept updated with what's going on outside of the school considering we're not really told that much," Reed told them calmly.

  "Fine...okay...I'll let you have that one for now..." Alex said annoyed.

  Lucy turned around so that she was facing Will, and so she could see Travis better. "So, if we do find out what's really going on before the Departments and the teachers
; what are we going to do about it?"

  "That's actually a good question," Liam said smiling.

  "We’ll tell them, so that they can stop it," Libby said as though this was obvious.

  "But who do we trust?" Travis asked.

  "My dad," Methos said annoyed. "He can be trusted, along with Domnus and Burnhill,"

  "What about Hunter?" Liam asked. "He's always seemed alright,"

  "There you go, four people we can tell..." Travis told her smirking. "It wasn't as though I was going to suggest that we fight it ourselves. You lot haven't even started Basic Duelling Club yet, that starts next year by the way,"