This City Never Sleeps at Night IC

Just as Hannah settled down from her little mishap by telling herself no one else could have possibly noticed and it therefore hadn't really mattered at all she noticed that the new girl was staring at her, no, not just starting at her, but rather glaring at her with a weird sadistic smirk. What made this experience even more nerve-wracking was that for the life of her Hannah could not come up with a reason as to why this girl who she still did not know the name of had set sights on her. She had not done anything to offend her except ignoring her introduction which at least half of her peers were guilty of as well. The only other explanation that struck her was that her timid nature had made her stick out for whatever evil plan this other girl was hatching….unless she had somehow noticed her freaky powers….No, that was impossible she told herself.

Hannah shrunk down into her seat and began to fidget helplessly as she mused over her predicament. Why did this have to happen to her. She did nothing to deserve it in this lifetime she assured herself, so either she kicked puppies in a past life or fate was just plain cruel. Eventually, and much sooner than it felt in her mind, Hannah realized that panic and self pity would not do any good. What she really need was to escape the situation, even if it was just for a moment. Sometime to collect her thoughts would do her some good. Her hand stretched as far as it could and waved it around to get the teacher's attention.

Unfortunately he ignored her and focused all his attention on the new student. It looked like he was waiting for a response of some sort. When that response finally came the once intimidating girl immediately declawed in Hannah's eyes. How could she have been afraid of someone caught off guard so easily. She even found herself feeling sorry for this girl when the rumors began to spread through the crowd, rumors of lice, alopecia, and other horrible things that seemed unlikely to impossible to Hannah.

Against her better judgment Hannah found herself walking towards the strange newcomer at the end of class. This behavior was entirely out of character for her. She had rarely spoken with anyone if it wasn't strictly required, and she was certainly never the one to initiate a conversation. Yet there she stood with her school materials hugged tight to her chest standing in front of the girl who had almost sent her running to the bathroom in tears just minutes ago. What she was about to do was at best social suicide, and may end up being actual suicide if her first perception towards the stranger range true. "Hi I'm Hannah. Nice to meet you," She said with only the slightest bit of anxiety. Some would could even mistake her tone as genuinely friendly.

Tim Chanter sat in a comfortable chair at his desk, looking down with his eyes closed, as if he had blinked, and simply forgotten to re-open his eyes. The paper sitting in front of him, held down on the corners by his unmoving hands, was covered in precise geometric lines and shapes labeled with clearly printed text. Sitting in the center of this paper, surrounded by shapes clearly accommodating of it's presence, sat a small balsa wood square with the words "Healing V0.3d" written clearly on the front in black ink. The wooden square pulsed once with a soft white light. Several seconds later, Tim opened his eyes, blinked several times, and lifted his arms in a big stretch above his head. He tilted his head once to the right and then to the left, getting a satisfying krik-krik each time. Tim picked up the wooden square and inspected it, "Perfect." he then placed it into one of the inside pockets of his coat. Suddenly he started and grabbed his phone to check the time, then relaxed when he saw that he had plenty of time until his meeting.

Tim walked into the room "Hey, Max. I've got the latest Runes to test." He reached into his pocket and pulled out four wooden squares and waved them in the air.

It seemed to Celeste that the class had passed by quickly and uneventfully, much to her delight. Despite getting weird looks after class by the other kids, she found herself not too flustered by the class material. She had studied such subjects a long time ago with a tutor, but having it all renewed in her mind made her feel strangely comforted. Now all I have to do is find the girl, befriend her, then tell her all about her true abilities. It can't be too difficult.

As she put away her things, stuffing it into a bright backpack, she noticed how Hannah was looking intently at her as she gathered her own books (though she looked away when Celeste looked directly at her) as though wanting to talk. Of course, this made her job so much easier, especially if the girl was looking forward to becoming her friend. Maybe it was her hair, or her tattoos.

Celeste stood and calmly walked towards the door, finding Hannah walking up to her right as she stepped into the hallway. Though it was loud in the school, lockers being slammed and laughter surrounding her, Celeste could easily understand the girl's words. She smiled a bit, holding her hand out cordially towards Hannah. "It is nice to meet you! I'm Celeste, but you probably knew that already. How are you today?"

-

Their conversation was cut short due to class, but they talked about basic things like where she was from, what she liked to do in her free time, things that she had fake answers for stored away in her head. She was replying automatically, like some sort of robot, trained to speak certain phrases well. It didn't seem Hannah caught onto her fake words, but who knew? They exchanged pleasantries and went on throughout the day, sometimes having the same class and sometimes not. But when it came to lunchtime, Hannah was the first person she sought out.

"Hannah, what kind of lunch did you bring?" she asked with her usual grin, gazing into the lunchroom. "And what is being served today?" Her mind, still focused on the mission, wandered to the bathrooms, thinking about whether she ought to spend her time there to check any signs of ghost activity. And if she did, would she have to bring Hannah? Or would she find Isaac once again?

Hannah was a little excited and really nervous at the same time. Her introvert personality had kept her from making many friends. Was Celeste really her friend yet? Maybe she was taking things too fast. They had just met after all. She had a time focusing through the rest of her morning classes which passed in a blur.

Even though she was expecting to see her again, Hannah's heart fluttered when Celeste approached her. "Oh, um, just a Mediterranean Chicken Flatbread I made at home. Nothing big." She had packed her own lunch every day since sixth grade and had gotten rather good at it over the years, or at least she felt so, but she didn't want to come off as prideful. " I don't know what the school is offering today, but I wouldn’t recommend whatever it is. We could share my lunch if you want."

Isaac followed Danners, watching him from the shadows in the gym, and then following him to the lunch room. He got a tray of food with the rest of the kids, and sat down near Danners. He sat and stared at his food, sifting through the information he had retrieved from Danners before. He ate a bit of his sandwhich, swallowed, before starting.

"Danners, my name is Isaac Clark. I am a witch, even if I look much to handsome. I have powers no one else does, and I can tell you three things about yourself that I learned just this morning when you brushed into me in the hallway. First, you've been in foster care for awhile, huh? Finally found a good family, though. Nice sister at least. Second, your name is Dander Haren, which is odd. I'm not even sure what ethnicity that last name is, honestly. Third, and final, I can name your magic power, which I'm sure you're not familiar with yet, but damn is it a good one. I remember the days when I was dormant and ignorant..."

Isaac looked off into the distance for a bit, lost in nostalgia, before going back to his meal, seemingly uninterested in the magical prospect across from him.

At the sound of Tim’s voice, Maxton squeezed his already closed eyes even tighter, and furrowed his brow in a fashion that only somebody pulled from a comfortable sleep could. With a great amount of effort, he pulled himself upright in his chair and let out a muffled yawn before trying to rub out the stiffness from his neck and the sleep from his eyes. He then grabbed a nearby mug of half-drunk coffee, and took a short, unsatisfying drink, grimacing as the cold temperature of the beverage was not to his liking. At least this part of the rune creation mission he could participate in. Most of the time already invested into this task had just involved sitting around trying to pass the time until Tim was done with the latest set of runes. All of which were flawed, and required major tuning and reworking. It seemed that the healing rune creation would take far longer than expected. Getting straight into the task at hand, Maxton stood up and shuffled over to Tim so he could better inspect the runes.

“So did you iron out that whole flesh tearing thing? I'm not really sure that I want to be put through that again,” Maxton asked, trying to discern any notable difference between these new runes and the previous set.

Quiet sobs came from the second floor bathroom just outside room 216. Only those magically in tuned would hear be able to hear it, and even then only if they had pressed their ear against the door. The room had been locked tight since the janitor discovered the body late last week, leaving the spirit of Sophie Josephson to wallow in her regrets. As a spirit she was able to pass through the walls of the stalls, and all of the bathroom fixtures, but found herself inexplicably bound to the room she had taken her life in. Every night as the witching hour grew nearer her power and anger would grow. It was in those late hours she was able to directly impact the physical word, be heard by the living, escape the room, but not the building she was trapped in, and wreak havoc on the grounds, as it was also around that time when her sorrow and regret gave way to anger.

But at this moment the lonely ghost had no desire to break glass or throw desks and chairs. Right now all she wanted was for everything to go back it was the way before. If only she had known the consequences of her actions. Or failing that, she'd be content just not to be alone anymore. Then suddenly she regretted that wish too.
She turned her head to look back in the direction of a deep cynical chuckle. She saw nothing, but felt something strange come over her. Her body felt warm and first, and then as though it were expanding outwards as it swelled with energy. Her mind filled with thoughts of malice as pain shot through her. She screamed, and this time her wails were heard by all as it echoed thunderously through the halls of the school. In addition to the noise a swathe of dark energy pulsated from the girl that a witch would feel, perhaps from even miles away.

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Charles eyes shot open but he refused to move when he was rudely awoken by the beloved family pet. Wilfred sat on the side of the bed, barking anxiously at his owner. Having just taken the great beast for a walk before lying down Charles knew that couldn't be what he needed. It was probably just the mailman or something and he felt certain the dog would calm down if ignored.. It was unusual for a dog trained for their line of work to react that way, but it seemed like a reasonable enough explanation.

When the barking persisted the head of the once great Tarwell family conceded to the dog and shifted to an upright position. Seeing this Wilfred bolted to the door which he pawed and barked at incessantly. As Charles rose to his feet to take a look at what had riled his dog up his phone began to vibrate and flash. He checked the message. "Code Red. All operatives report the address below immediately."

Aleksandr's conversation with his partner was cut short by his phone buzzing at the receiving of a message. He pulled it out, and read over the message carefully. He shook his head a bit. "Our mission must wait. We have bigger problem. I will meet you there." He took a small swig from his flask before jogging off to his motorcycle, prepping all his gear to leave. He sat down on the motorcycle, kicked up the stand, and started it, revving the engine a couple times before driving off, headed towards the address.

Tim slipped past Maxon to lay the runes on the table. "So," he inquired "which one do you want to start with?" He gestured to each one in turn starting with the first. "We have the improved salve spray, the smart force bandage; And before you say anything, yes, I fixed the muscle tearing thing, more smart, less force, I get it." He let out a heavy sigh, "Moving on... We have the memory heal, which shouldn't try to heal normal movement anymore; and a new one, not sure how it'll work out. It's a straight local temporal acceleration, kind of excited for that one actually." He explained.

Suddenly an inquisitive look came over Tim's face followed almost instantly by an obnoxious alarm noise. "Shit!" Tim exclaimed as he whipped out his phone. "Doubleshit! Check your phone." He flapped his hand at Max imperatively.

“What? Check my phone? Uhh sure,” Maxton said, taking an old, beat up flip phone from his pocket and flipping it open. “Says here uhh... well it doesn’t say anything here. Just a black screen,” he added with wary relief. He then proceeded to reach back to his backpack, from which he retrieved, opened, and started digging into a small bag of potato chips.

“I am, however, getting kind of a bad feeling, like something might be up, or something along those lines. I had assumed it was from tiredness, but now that I’ve surfaced I can tell that’s not the source,” Maxton mused. As someone who didn’t get out into the field much he wasn’t exactly sure what the feeling was, but he feel something like a faint dark presence looming. “So what did your phone tell you?”

((I apologize for being a terrible human and not replying. Here's my reply, in the hopes that it won't die T-T))

Celeste cocked her head to the side. She had no idea what a Mediterranean chicken flatbread was, but she felt that it wasn't nearly as important to ask. She needed to figure out, first of all, where Isaac was and whether he would be able to deal with breaking the news to Hannah about her magic. She nodded at her newfound friend, looking about the cafeteria. "I am looking for a friend who's sitting somewhere around here. I can introduce you to him! And as soon as I find him, I'm going to run to the bathroom. Haha, I see him!"

Everything that spewed from the girl's mouth felt fake and forced. She had to do it, of course, for the sake of the mission, but she felt like she was missing the opportunity to be the person she never had the chance to be. Maybe that was why Celeste poured every ounce of feeling she could find within herself into her words, as to make them seem truer than what she originally intended. With a slight grin, she led Hannah to where Isaac sat with, presumably, another unknown witch, trying to be as quick as possible. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could finish the investigation and spend more time making friends like Hannah.

"Isaac! I wanted to introduce you to Hannah, she's a friend I just met today! And Hannah, this is Isaac, the only other person I knew before coming here. Mind if we sit here?" Despite asking, she placed her things at the table and took a step back. "I have to run to the bathroom real quick, I'll be right back!!" With a peppy wave, Celeste turned around and jogged towards the exit of the cafeteria, turning immediately down the hallway and towards the targeted zone.

She walked carefully from that point onward, taking in all the little details of her surroundings in case there were any signs of haunting. Under her large hoodie, she pulled out her glock, transferring it quickly into her hoodie's pocket. No one else seemed to be roaming this part of the building, which wasn't surprising; it was near the area another girl died, anyway. She adjusted the beanie on her head as she thought, her eyes glancing about madly. The glass cases were all normal, with various science awards or honorable mentions of athletes from the school. The lockers were all lining her right, the fluorescent lights overhead buzzing and flickering ever-so-slightly occasionally. It bugged her, how lifeless and gray this part of the building seemed, but she took a breath and let it out slowly. Was it just her nerves? Or was this all really the effects of the ghost?

It wasn't until the scream happened that Celeste jumped, running faster now to the bathroom. She covered her ears briefly until it stopped echoing through the halls, until the reverberations of it in her head slowed, leaving a high-pitched ringing noise in its stead.

Crap. Her panicked inner voice said, her feet pounding against the ground as she grabbed the gun from her pocket and drew it. Celeste began to draw her energy forth, making it take the form of a bullet in her gun, ready to fire when she needed it. The bathroom doors loomed ahead and emanating from those doors was, as she felt it, negative energy that gave her the chills. Everything around her seemed to grow darker as she slowed her pace to a careful tread. When she reached the door, she tried to open it but realized it was locked. She cursed again under breath, but took a step back. She aimed at the lock, her eyes wincing. The ghost inside the bathroom might be waiting to pounce on her as soon as she opened the door, but there was no other way. She had to.

Another breath in and she squeezed the trigger, the lock on the door splintering off due to the explosive energy. Without wasting any time, she pushed the door inward and went it, aiming her gun in the bathroom drawing more energy into her gun again for another shot as rapidly as she could.

The situation was looking grim when Charles arrived on the scene.  Several car lined the street as witches began to gather around the old master who barely acknowledged them as she focused her gaze on the school. "What's the situation?" He asked after joining the others.

"Calm yourself. We can't  afford you getting all weak kneed now." Teresa scolded causing Charles to realize he sounded more rattled than he thought.  "Can't you feel it? The spirit that had been haunting the halls here evolved. We have a full fledged wraith on our hands now."

"That shouldn't be possible." Someone interrupted from the back.

"Don't you think I know that? Fortunately for us some nut job started shooting up the school at the same time. With the school on lockdown we can get in with fewer witnesses."
"Right." Teresa raised an arm to stop Charles before he could rush  into the building.

"Don't be so careless. Believe it or not Celeste will be fine without you jumping in to play hero. Not that you can anything at this point anyway. Those of can actually do something useful against a spirit will be going inside in case Celeste doesn't get there in time, or you neglected her training even more than I imagined. " She put her arm down and finally turned away from the school to face the rest of the group. "The rest of you were called here for insurance. The energy coming off of that thing is expanding at a rapid rate and wreaks of powerful necromancy. If it's influence spreads to the cemetery on the next it could be total chaos. If that should happen I need people crowd control until we've resolved things down here. Now get going."

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Hannah was struggling to come up with words after Celeste had left her with this strange older boy. Asking how they knew each other seemed a little personal to her. Oh how she envied people who could blurt out whatever they wanted without a crippling tendency towards over thinking. Just as she found the nerve to strike up a conversation her attention was drawn away by an ear piercing scream followed by a gunshot. "Ah! What happened??" She squealed in terror. She had to pick herself up off the ground as the shock to her system knocked her out of her chair. When she looked around the room she realized everyone had once again frozen in place around her. Well almost everyone. Once again she found herself at a loss for words as Celeste's friend looked back at her seemingly unfazed by her powers.

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After all this time someone had finally entered the lair of the dark spirit. A twisted smile graced it's deformed face. The thought of having a new play thing filled it with glee. A wicked screech filled the air as it gathered energy. A strong force formed around it pulling objects towards it before flinging them outwards again with incredible force. The sink fixtures shattered and the plastic dividers crumpled as they were ripped off and then smashed back into the walls.

Celeste braced herself for the dark spirit's energy, gripping her gun with both hands tightly as it was tugged roughly away from her. She managed to keep it in her hands, even when the unseen force exploded outsides, causing her to fully press her back into the wall. She squinted her eyes to avoid getting water and plastic in her eyes as she fired one bullet of energy at the ghost, aiming for its leg just so that it would be angered enough. It hit and exploded just a bit, but it would've been dangerous to continue the fight in a small space; she could easily cause more damage than what had already been done.

"Let's play outside," Celeste spat, turning and sprinting out the bathroom door and through the hall, veering right towards the back entrance of the school. The girl's spirit chased after her, sending many things flying from the walls. With much experience under her belt, Celeste was capable of dodging the items, all while aiming back at the spirit and firing a few more times just to keep it interested. She knew that backup would arrive since her movements indicated that the spirit was on the move too.

She burst through the doors and jumped past the steps, running towards the back of the school where the woods were settled, her goal being to end up in the abandoned cemetery.