Magic in London

Enrolment - Part 5

Their footsteps echoed throughout the hallways of the school as Chuck and Fiona cautiously made their way through the school. After entering the main entrance, neither of them had found anything to suggest there was anyone else in the building.

"This is too quiet," Fiona said softly. "I think it was a mistake to let you come in here."

"I'm here now, though so let's just carry on."

"I hope you know that I'm not your babysitter. If you get stuck somewhere, I'm not going to prioritise you over the child we're here to get."

"I still can't believe that this has all happened because of one kid."

"There are some powerful people out there and it can cause a lot of destruction. That's why we need to find him."

"Do you even know what his name is?"

"Arthur things it's Thomas Cladwell, but I don't know for sure."

"Oh, okay. Just need to find Tommy and get the hell out of here before things go from bad to worse."

They walked through a hallway, passing several empty classrooms as they did. Chuck felt like he was walking through a nightmare he'd had a few times as a child where he turned up to go to school and there was no one there, and when he went back home there was no one there either. He hadn't thought about it in years, but it was coming back to him, and making his pulse quicken. They walked through a set of double doors that squeaked and creaked as they did. On the other side was just more empty classrooms.

"Do you think we should split up?" Chuck said, the inside of his mouth was dry as he spoke, and it came out croaky.

"No. If you went off by yourself, I'd be looking for two people."

"I was only trying to help."

"Just be quiet and keep walking. Stay close to me in case there's anything here that can hurt us."

"Like that?"

Chuck had stopped in front of a classroom door and was looking through the little window in the door. Inside was a room filled with children, sitting still and paying attention the board at the front of the room, where a skeleton was writing something down.

"What the hell is that?" Fiona said trying to be quiet.

"I think it's a magical skeleton that's teaching a bunch of brainwashed children."

"I can see that. I just didn't expect to see it."

"I'm glad that it's not just me that finds it weird," Chuck said and then leant in closer to the window. "What is it writing?"

"I don't know, I can't quite see it."

"Oh, it's writing 'you will all die' over and over. That's pleasant."

The skeleton stopped writing, dropped the pen to the floor and turned around. The pen rolled under a desk and out of view. None of the children moved at all.

"Umm, I think it spotted us," Chuck said.

"Well, you weren't being exactly quiet."

Fiona moved forward, opening the door with a big swing and pulling out her knife at the same time.

"Stay back, and make sure there's nothing else coming."

Chuck stayed by the door and watched as Fiona walked down the aisle in the middle of the classroom, between the desks. None of the children moved at all, and instead stayed completely still as if they were in a trance. The skeleton stood still as well, watching as Fiona as she got closer, its head slightly tilted to one side. Once Fiona was close enough, she whistled loudly and sharply and slashed her knife towards the skeleton. The air vibrated and a shockwave moved through the skeleton, shattering it and cracking the board behind it. The skeleton broke up into small pieces that flew around the room.

"Whoa," Chuck said, while watching through the window.

"That was easier than I thought it'd be," Fiona said looking around at the children, who were still sitting in a trance.

Chuck opened the door and leant inside.

"That was pretty cool, are they going to be okay?"

"I think so, come here."

Chuck walked through the classroom and stood next to Fiona. He felt like the children were staring right through him. Fiona waved her knife above them all, whistling softly. Almost immediately the children started moving, blinking and moving about. Chuck thought they all looked as if they'd just woken up. The sounds of scrapping chairs, yawning, and soft-spoken questions echoed throughout the room, only to be replaced moments later by screaming.

Almost all at once, the children in front of Chuck started to push their chairs back and stand up, backing away. He looked around and spotted that the bones from the skeleton was starting to reform.

"Fiona," he said.

"On it."

Fiona jumped up onto the nearest desk, turning around and swiping the knife towards the skeleton. Another shockwave broke through it and scattered the bones.

"I don't think that's going to work," Chuck said.

The bones started to form again under the desk that Fiona was standing on.

"Jump," Chuck said, pointing underneath the desk.

Fiona jumped over to the next table and turned around swiping yet again at the skeleton which broke apart.

"Grab its head," Fiona shouted.

Chuck moved around, looking for the skull. The bones were all sliding back together, as if they were connected by an invisible bungee-cord. Just as the skull started to reach it's home, Chuck reached out and grabbed it, feeling like he was going to throw up as he did. There was some resistance, but he was able to pull it free.

"Hold it still," Fiona said.

Chuck turned towards her and held the skull out towards her. Fiona stabbed forward with the knife into the skull, whistling as loud as possible as she did. The skull broke apart, falling to the ground and dissolving into ashes.

"Jesus, that was annoying," Fiona said. "I really hope there's not more of them around."

She turned towards the bac of the classroom where the children were waiting.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked.

No one replied.

"Okay, just go home as soon as you can, leave through the main entrance and run all the way home. Don't stop until you get back."

There was hesitation at first, but once one started to move, the rest followed quickly.