In the last couple of days, Sous was questioned by the hunters. Given her history of violence, they wanted to know her whereabouts and her knowledge of spells. The hunters were mysterious, for Sous could never tell what species they actually wore and when they spoke, it was through telepathy. Their ability to read minds was what made the organization so successful when catching and punishing criminals with the leadarch.
It was diessaturni morning and Sous was absolutely exhausted. For the last several days she was unable to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard the scream followed by flashes of the mutilated body on the ground. She was having severe headaches even to the point of being sick. During class, she was having a hard time staying awake, annoying her professors.
Sous laid on bed being able to sleep only during the day time when she felt there was no threat to the school and the safety of her friends. She lightly snored and snuggled up little baby basilisk who was coiled next to her head.
The snow had been coming down consistently for the past several days and now it was about four inches deep on the ground. There were no plans for it to lighten up any time soon.
There was light knock on the door with Tany and Jacob entering. Tany had a tray with a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows inside. She walked over to Sous' bed and placed the tray on the dresser. She then went to the window and opened the curtain. Normally it would bring sunlight into the room but since the coming of hiems, the sun had been far from between.
Jacob nudged Sous on the shoulder to get her to wake up. She stretched and turned to face Jacob, her face a bit flushed from a lack of sleep.
"We're heading to Fornik to visit some of the stores." Jacob said.
"My parents sent me some money," Tany said.
"Hmm hmm, family members on my human side did the same for me." Jacob added in.
Sous leaned up her bed and rubbed her eyes. She wrapped herself in the blankets, still feeling a bit of a chill even with the furnace on in the room. "I don't know..."
"Sous, if you like, I can put you to sleep. That way you can sleep through the night," Tany suggested.
Sous wasn't sure about the following. She would be able to sleep but she would be practically passed out and not able to hear anything.
"Yeah, we hadn't had an incident since that day. I wouldn't be surprised if they caught the wolf by now." Jacob mentioned.
Sous laid back in her bed and pulled the covers up over her chin. She looked at her friends and shook her head. Sous wanted to be awake enough to hear anything that may come, at least until they got confirmation that whatever killed that boy was no longer on campus.
"A student was killed and they won't close the school down until the murderer is caught?" Sous asked, a bit perplexed by it.
Tany and Jacob walked toward Fornik bundled up in their best clothes suited for hiems weather. Their snow shoes crunched on the snow and when they crossed the bridge toward the village, they leaned over to see if they could see any fish still swimming.
"There's one!" Jacob pointed, he then pointed to another one. Tany stood by his side also pointing out fish that were in the ice cover stream. They laughed, mentioning how cute the fish were.
When they got into the center of the village, Tany made a list appear with her wand. She took the list and read it over. "Makala wanted me to pick up some blood at Harleys. She gave me the money for it."
"She wasnt able to come with us?"
"No," Tany started. "She's studying really hard for midexams coming up in the next couple of weeks before Bruma."
They departed ways with Tany going to the blood store while Jacob went to the candy store next to a wand shop. Before entering into the candy store, he looked at the wands that were on display of the wand shop. He thought about getting Sous a new wand especially since she had it broken a couple of times, plus it was also a training wand. Wands were expensive though, probably more expensive then professionally made brooms. He shook his head and walked into the candy shop, taking off his beanie hat and snow gloves.
"Welcome to Silks and Sweets! You staying warm out there, son?"
"Yes sir," Jacob said, stomping his feet on the indoor mud rug so as to not track in snow.
"Go ahead and look around. There's also a downstairs where we keep some of the foreign candy from other countries like Canas and Dimona."
Jacob nodded his head, taking his time to search for what he wanted. Sous and the gang weren't the only friends he's made. He hung out with a group of boys from his own grade, mostly wolves, still not good with interacting with other species. He wasn't like Sous who seemed to be able to mingle with every one.
The stairs to the lower level floor creaked and groan when he walked down them. Over towards the back window, he saw some jars of black licorice. From one of the bag dispensers, he tore off a little plastic bag for the candy.
His ears twitched. He heard someone behind him. It was a candy shop, probably a kid or something but when he felt warm air on his neck and smelt the scent of a new creature, he turned around.
With red gleaming eyes, two curved horns, a furry musical body, covered in rustic chains and wearing black chains, fierce claws- Jacob dropped the bag that fluttered away in the breeze.
Jacob let out a scream while the creature took him by the throat. The store owner came running down the stairs. He punched the creature in the back, but the creature picked up the store clerk and threw him through the window. He landed in the middle of the street.
People ran to the man's side just as Tany came out the store with her blood. She looked at the commotion and turned to see Jacob being lifted into the air by some creature.
Tany took out her wand and tapped the blood bags, making it disappear as she ran toward the candy store.
"Jacob!"
Jacob was hitting the beast, not having his wand on hand. He felt his throat crushing in. Jacob winced and coughed up blood from the pressure. He kicked and punched but he made no impact.
"Interitus subitus!" Tany yelled out. The yellow strick of magic charged at the creature, making him fall to the ground while Jacob also fell.
Tany ran inside the store and stumbled on the stairs. She grabbed Jacob's arm with him unable to talk because of the damage to his throat. Tany looked at the beast.
"Krampus." She whispered. "We gotta go!" She ran with Jacob out of the store and back toward the school. Event though she used the instant kill spell, Krampus was an entity that could not be destroyed. He would laid there and until summoned. Tany hoped someone else would summon him for another task versus the same person summoning him for the same task.
When they crossed the bridge with Jacob still holding onto his throat, Tany turned around to see if the creature was following them. It wasn't. She sighed and took a look at his throat to see if it was something she could fix. It was more advanced than she knew.
Tany placed her arm around Jacob's shoulder and looked back once more. Sous had been worried the entire time about Krampus and here he was.
She sat with Jacob in the infirmary. It would seem the place and the nurses were starting to get used to seeing them. Jacob's throat was still sore and his throat was hoarse but he was able to talk now. He watched Tany look out the window into the now night sky watching the white snowflakes fall.
"What was that thing?"
Tany didn't want to say. She didn't want Sous to worry about it. Lacking sleep was causing Sous to get sick, something Tany didn't want of course.
"I'm not sure," she lied. "Maybe it was something a child conjured up to get some candy. You know how kids can be."
Jacob slammed his head into the pillow. "I don't know. It felt so strong-"
The door to the infirmary opened and Alana walked over to Jacob's bed. Both underclassmen bowed their heads to Alana to show their respect.
Alana pulled up a chair and sat down next to Tany.
"What happened, Jacob?"
"I went to the candy store. Walked down to the bottom floor then there it was."
Alana nodded her head. "What did it look like?"
"Well," Jacob proceeded to describe the creature to Alana and with each word Tany got nervous because of course Alana would known what it was. She just hoped Alana wouldn't go back and tell Sous.
Alana nodded her head and got up. "I'm to report this to the headmaster." She walked into the hallway and closed the door to the infirmary. She was about to continue down the hall but then turned around. "Please show yourself, student." She waited.
Faye came from out of a wall, no longer invisible. The two looked at one another.
"Modesole," Faye apologized, walking past Alana toward her house.