Morrigan Crow and the Ghostly Hour

Chapter 1: The Hour

Morrigan Crow sprinted through the dimly-lit halls of Sub 9, her black hair getting in her face, a stitch slowly forming at her side but she wouldn't stop running because if she did... She would be late to class. Actually, she was already extremely late to class, but that's not the point.

She skidded at a corner almost crashing into a stone wall but managed to still keep her fast pace.

She then bolted into the classroom almost slamming face first into the opposite wall from momentum. Catching her breath, she looked across the empty classroom at a Foxwun who was staring at her in shock, or maybe it was in concern for her health, or maybe it was a mix of both or maybe it was-

"Miss Crow! That is not how you enter a classroom."

"Oh. Sorry Sofia," Morrigan puffed, holding her side. That stitch was really starting to settle in.

"It's okay." Sofia smiled. "but next time, don't slam yourself into a stone wall."

"I almost slammed myself into a stone wall." Morrigan laughed. "There's a difference."

Morrigan gets along really well with Sofia. It's probably because Morrigan likes being around people who look like foxes, or maybe it was because Morrigan saved Sofia's life from the Hollowpox, orr maybe it was because she is literally the only student in this class or maybe it was-

"Come on Morrigan, you want to see another Ghostly Hour?" Sofia smiled. "You did make it just in time."

"Yeah I do," Morrigan said. Why else would she have sprinted 100 miles at the speed of light to get here in time?

In fact, Morrigan had been waiting to go visit another Ghostly Hour ever since Nevermoor found out that she was a Wundersmith. It was nice to go back to a period in time when Wundersmiths weren't a thing to be afraid of (even if that meant she would have to be in the same room with him. It was worth it though).

Sofia then led Morrigan to another classroom through corridors and corridors of archways bearing names which Morrigan wasn't bothered to read. In that classroom a bright, silver line was present. It looked like the air was cut open by a knife revealing something on the inside.

Sofia nodded. Morrigan stepped in.

She seemed to have entered an entirely different room and yet it was the same room just less abandoned and more... New, full of life.

She traveled to the past. No. More like, the past traveled to her, like a memory.

Yeah, Morrigan didn't really quite get the physics of Ghostly Hours... But at least no one could see her. That's for sure.

This time the memory, this moment in time, was a class full of children all about her age learning what seems to be the Wunderous Art of Tempus.

This will be interesting...

Usually Morrigan would copy the rest of the students with what they were doing but for some reason she couldn't get it right. Even when she listened to their teacher's every word with full concentration she would still not be able to get the same result as what the other students got.

That's the annoying thing about no one being able to see you or hear you - you can't ask any questions about how to do it properly. Why couldn't she do the same things as they were doing? She was the same age as them.

Suddenly a shout interrupted her thoughts, and just like everyone else, she turned towards the sound.

"WHY CAN'T I DO IT?"

"Ezra, calm down. It just takes time."

"Elodie, the puns aren't helping."

"Your shouting isn't helping." Elodie sounded a bit taken back. "And anyways, you're doing it wrong." She rolled her eyes. "You're meant to do it like this." She stretched out her hand and twisted it as if she was turning an invisible door knob.

Interested, Morrigan copied her. She reached out her hand and twisted. Nothing.

"I am doing it like that! Look." Ezra violently stretched out his hand and twisted the air with such force that Morrigan could even feel it. Suddenly it felt as if time had stopped, moved slightly back and shot forwards in a blur of light and colour. Before Morrigan could comprehend what was happening, everything began to fade back to the present as the Ghostly Hour was beginning to end.

Usually, when Ghostly Hours would end, Morrigan would feel peaceful and calm as the world around her would dissolve and as everything would turn back but something was different this time. Instead of feeling a sense of comfort she felt a sense of discomfort, uneasy, like as if something was wrong.

And something was wrong.

The funny thing was that not everything disappeared. Sure, the desks disappeared, the teacher disappeared, the students disappeared, the classroom disappeared... Even Elodie disappeared. Everything disappeared except for one thing. One person...

Ezra Squall didn't disappear.