A Werewolf's Promise (Scarwood Chronicles #1)

Chapter 14: What Is The Witch Name For A Karen?

"Settle down," Headmistress Nightblood levelled one of her hard glares at the gathered students. She seemed as calm and stoic as ever, but the dark circles under her eyes betrayed her true condition. She had called an assembly of all the students and faculty right after breakfast, to discuss something the majority of them had already heard about, either through rumour, or from being witnesses, or from helping in the search. Now, they all watched the stage with great interest.

"Now, I'm sure everyone knows why they have been gathered here today, so I'll keep it brief. Cynthia Grey, a third-year, has gone missing, and so far, not a trace has been found of her. Naturally, we have to get the authorities involved, so I would like to welcome Captain Marcel Gold of the Peace Sorcerers to speak to you all."

The Peace Sorcerers? Sugar craned his neck to try and get a good look at the man who stepped up to the podium (a difficult feat seeing as the first years seats were all the way at the back of the hall). They were the second most powerful department within the Witching Council, second only to the Grand Council themselves. They were created during the Mythica War, as an agency to try and maintain a semblance of peace during those troubled times, a task they continued to so even now, in times of peace. They were basically equivalents to what the humans called 'the police'.

"Hello, students and faculty of Scarwood Academy for Aspiring Witches," Captain Gold began to say, not even having to speak too loud to have his words echo around the hall, as the audience sat in silence, "due to some of the circumstances of this case, we will be conducting an investigation into the disappearance of Miss Grey. Going forward, we would like to ask for your full cooperation, thank you."

As the man stepped back from the podium, the hall exploded in a swarm of whispers.

"Why are the Peace Sorcerers getting involved? They only get called to serious cases, don't they?"

"Yes, I heard that there's evidence of a magical creature behind it!"

Those two were pretty much all Sugar was able to catch before all the voices began to blur together and nothing was clear anymore. Finally, Headmistress Nighblood returned to the podium.

"Everyone, settle down," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose, the exhaustion really showing through her voice now, "I would like to add to what Captain Gold said; the investigations will hopefully have little effect on your normal schooling here at Scarwood, so you will be able to continue your education properly. This is not a time to be slacking off. That will be all. You are all dismissed to go to your usual classes."

✧༺✦✮✦༻∞　　∞༺✦✮✦༻✧

"Do you think that's actually what happened?" Sugar blurted out suddenly as the group walked to their Magic History class.

"What do you mean, what happened?"

"You know, that a magical creature was behind the disappearance."

"Nah," Rosa waved a hand dismissively, "you're talking stupid. There's no way a magical creature could have even made it on campus. Besides, I think most of them are more scared of us than we're scared of them."

"But still, you can't deny that something feels... wrong about this whole situation..."

For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad had happened, like poor Cynthia Grey wouldn't be coming back from wherever she had been taken to.

Perhaps adding to the unsettling feel of the disappearance, the usually upbeat and talkative Knight had now fallen silent, and looked almost distant, like he wasn't quite in reality.

"Dude, is everything alright?" Sugar asked, eyebrow raised.

His words seemed to snap Knight out of his strange trance.