Darkest Desires → Caliban [CAOS]

ix. the pagans

THE PAGANS
CHAPTER 9

As she entered the Academy of Unseen Arts, the loud chatter and the endless sound of footsteps sent jolts of joy through Dahlia's core. The mere vibrations of people's voices bouncing off the walls were enough to make her feel like she had more company than ever. She smiled at everyone as she progressed through the large academy, her mood instantly lifted when the teenagers smiled back despite only knowing her as "the djinn" or "Sabrina's friend". Even so, it was refreshing to be around everyone, regardless of whether she knew them closely or not.

"Hi, have you seen Sabrina?" Dahlia asked a girl with dark skin and buzzed, platinum blonde hair that was walking by. She didn't appear as friendly as most of the others, not returning the smile Dahlia was giving her.

"And who might you be?" she interrogated with an arched brow.

"Oh, um, I'm Dahlia."

"Ah, the Djinn," the girl finally allowed a smile to grow on her face. "I'm Prudence. Sabrina's with Ambrose down that hall," the girl pointed to her right.

"Thanks." Dahlia wasted no time and hurried toward the hall, eager to find her friend. When she heard the blonde's soft voice reverberating out in the hall from the room at the far left, a large grin spread across Dahlia's face, happy before even reaching the door. She slowed down her fast-paced walk when she noticed another voice sounding the room.

As Dahlia pushed the door open and looked inside, her smile faltered. With wide eyes, she stared at Nicholas Scratch who lay on the floor, a large sigil painted on the ground beneath him with several candles surrounding it. Sabrina with eyebrows knitted together in an anxious frown, stood with her cousin Ambrose. Ambrose didn't appear to be as shaken by the sight of Nick with blood all over his white shirt, almost as though events like these were known to him.

Dahlia was too fazed by Nick's distraught appearance and didn't want to interrupt Sabrina and Ambrose's serious discussion, so she didn't make a sound as she watched from the corner of the room. A ball of guilt formed at the pit of her stomach for eavesdropping on what was clearly a private conversation. Whatever was going on was between Nick, Sabrina and Ambrose, and Dahlia knew she shouldn't have been listening. Against her better judgement, however, her eyes remained plastered onto the three. Her brain kept telling her legs to move and to walk out of the room, but her muscles appeared to be in favor of her eyes which begged to stay latched onto Nick.

"This egg that I acquired in Loch Ness harbors properties that warp and affect time." Ambrose motioned toward a dirty aquarium, filled with mosses, corals and dirt that polluted the liquid. A large egg sat in the centre of it, drawing away the attention from every other part of the tank. A small, fetus-like creature was curled up within it, catching Dahlia's eyes and she stared at it awestruck. "Thirty days of detoxing will, in reality, be compressed into one long unrelenting day," Ambrose continued, slowing his speech down at the last four words as if to torment Nick who struggled on the floor.