Betula Academy/Ariana2

Ariana at the Bottom of the Stairs
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I began to summon my powers to heal myself. That was why I did not at first hear the clicking of spiked heels on the stairs and why I did not check to see whether the person wearing them was friend or foe.

The person wearing the black spiked heel boots could have been a poorly made copy of my sister, Jetta. She squatted down beside me, eyes glinting with a weird sort of joy. I tried to sit up and start defending myself, but she was fast and she grabbed me.

Then her face started to transform. I watched a muzzle push out. "Werewolf," I thought..."no not wolf, something else canine, something with groteque bristly grey fur with black spots and hairs that stand up running down the back of the head and the shoulders; something with sharp teeth and foul breath; Something with sharp claws where nails should have been.

Something opened up its mouth, threw its head back and laughed a strange cacaphony of joy at my fall and then she bit my arm, grunting and snuffling with animal pleasure, just as Jude appeared on the stairs.

"Thalia," he asked. "What are you doing?"

"Thalia," he continued. "Please put Ariana down now."

Ariana took another bite of my arm. The pain was blinding. That was why I was so surprised when Jude just lifted me out of Thalia or whatever it's name was' arms and set me on the ground. Thalia, her face no longer that of a disgusting beast blinked. Then she turned and ran upstairs. Jude sighed and healed my wounds. I still felt dizzy and weak, but I got to my feet.

"You're not afraid?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter if I'm afraid," I told this incredibly powerful and benevolent being. "I have to go up there and face my sister. If I don't stop her, who will?"

"You can't stop her," Jude replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Not you alone. You're not strong enough Ariana. You have to get other students to help you. Jetta will have allies too, but you are stronger if you unite with others. They are here. Not everyone at this school is a demon," and with that Jude disappeared and on somewhat unsteady legs, I climbed the stairs back to the fourth floor.

Blue cigarette smoke hung thick in the air. I thought about clearing it but then I saw the creature-girl, the shape shifter, Thalia standing with Jetta. Both were smiling and laughing and each had a freshly lit cigarette.

"We'll take care of Jude some day," complained Jetta.

"Yeah we sure will," Thalia echoed.

I slipped in to my room and closed the door. I wanted to hide. I knew according to Jude I should be fighting but maybe I was scaird. I stared out the big glass window. A small girl with a very large duffle and a big thick winter coat was dragging herself across the residential quad towards the dormitory.

I was going to have to get to know her, just like I would have to get to know every good soul in this building plus any of the bad ones, but how could a tribe of shape shifters, old ones, revenants, and even just plain humans (some with very few magickal skills), take on Jetta and her horde of evil? That just did not make sense. Then again, what choice did we have?