Something New

Chapter 2

 The next two days passed by in a blur of activity. Pandora and Rue were sent to every length of the castle school and its grounds to make sure that everything was prepared for the newest school year. The night before the first day both girls are sat on the rug in front of the fireplace, elbow deep in whatever welcome paperwork the Headmistress had given them to work on.

"I think my eyes are going to fall out of my head!" Rue grumbles, throwing down an artfully curved scroll, the soft thump bringing Pandora's head off of where it rested on her hands.

"Well if they fall out, I'm sure Healer Pofty would love to put them back in for you," the deadpan words take a minute to register, and then a soft scoff is heard from where Rue has proceeded to flop herself.

"And quit flopping around, you'll ruin all the hard work we did." Further flopping sounds prompted the girl to roll her eyes and refocus on the task at hand.

Hours after the sun had disappeared beyond the windows of the common room, Pandora finally set down the papers she'd been holding. Rue had gone to bed ages ago, their blue bedroom door firmly shut at the far end of the hallway. She glances at the clock hanging over the fireplace, the hands slightly blurry in her tired vision. She shuffles down the hallway after cleaning up their mess, barely managing to change into pajamas before crashing into bed and falling asleep.

The shrill blare of the alarm shocks both girls out of slumber, but the excitement of the day shakes the exhaustion out of their bodies very quickly. Closets are flung open in unison, matching skirts and sweaters with school insignias decorating the fronts are slid on and together they fling their bedroom door open to greet the new school year. Already the air is buzzing with excitement and the rest of their classmates weren't even due until later in the day.

"Are you excited to see Mara?" Pandora eyes her friend, the very whisper of the she-wolf's name lighting a spark in her friend's cornflower eyes.

"Of course I am! It's been so long and I'm sure she's going to come back tanner than ever," Rue sighs as she thinks of her longtime girlfriend. A gentle shoulder nudge is all it takes to pull her out of her reverie they head downstairs, smiling in greeting to the slew of professors that had shown up in the past 48 hours.

"Glad to see you girls up and at them this morning," the airy voice of their Aerial and History Professor floats toward them, followed by the rustle of wings in their direction. Professor Seraph was just about as old as the school was, but you could hardly tell by looking at her radiant skin and beautiful smile. The fluffy white wings on her back glowed with their own soft warmth, furthering the ageless idea. But her eyes, much like Pandora's own steel grey, belied the true ancient power of the being that held them. Truth be told, both girls were terrified to death of her, but after spending almost their entire lives around the malakim, the terror had faded to a healthy respect.

"Yes, Professor, we don't want to miss the big day sleeping in," Rue said brightly, tossing a length of hair over one shoulder.

"Well you two go on to the Headmistress' office, I'm sure I'll be seeing you in class soon." The sentence was half threat half promise, as many of their formidable professors were. Pandora shifts uncomfortably and offers a weak smile before darting past and heading towards her mom's office.

"What was that all about?" Rue sounds breathless as she catches up to her friend. Breathless being impossible, considering she was the strongest she-wolf this side of Sevanya and therefore only below Pandora in rank due to the Headmistress' status. It wasn't something they talked about much, though they knew everyone else obsessed over it all year long. The girls had been together ever since Rue's parents died, and the Headmistress had taken her in like she had always been a second daughter. It had always been the three of them within the walls of the school until the girls had been old enough to start classes, and even then school breaks had left the two to their own devices in the castle.

"Nothing," Pandora speaks hurriedly, a curtain of silky hair falling over her face briefly as they head deeper into the castle. "Surely, she was referring to sixth year History, since neither of us can exactly fly."

Rue eyes her friend, a wolf's sharp eye at the nervous flutter of her hands and the swiftness of her footsteps across the carpet. But, as with many things in their long friendship, she left well enough alone.

Finally, after a breathless climb up yet another ridiculously long flight of stairs, the pair stood outside an imposing dark mahogany door. No sound could be heard from within, but the commanding aura of the Headmistress could be felt even through six inches of wood. With an almost silent snick the door opens of its own accord, beckoning the girls inside.