Mystic High ✓

MH │33

In the previous chapter: The Master of the Rosicrucians demanded Oriane arrange the release of a sister of the cult within a month. Shireen came into Oriane's room, distraught.

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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Two more weeksss.

"What?" Oriane spun around the room and whispered into the air cautiously, "Who's there?"

A hiss replied. From the iguana. His tongue poked out, jostling his head up and down, trying to get Oriane's attention. The bright green dewlap hanging from his neck jolted.

"You?" asked she, wide-eyed and exclaimed under her breath, "You are speaking to me!" There were plenty of things at the college that surprised her and she had yet encountered talking animals. Until tonight, that was.

Two more weeksss. Reese the iguana repeated telepathically. Another hiss and bounce followed. His voice in her head was raspy and slightly breathy. The act of communicating likely strained his concentration. Man in hood. Hiss. Must find you. Hiss. Or she hurtsss. He reached out with his small arm and placed a claw on Shireen's sleeping arm.

Oriane froze and her mind toiled to understand exactly what the iguana was telling her. The man in hood... He was likely the presence that spooked Shireen. And apparently Reese felt that he had to take Shireen here, to see her, or she'd get hurt.

"Let's go inside so I may speak freely," she murmured and Reese made his assent clear with a bob.

Careful not to wake her friend, she lifted the iguana with both hands, surprised at his weight, and headed inside her bedroom. Reese made no complaints and merely swooshed his long tail against her leg for support. Oriane nudged the door open with her elbow, an annoyed Toffee dashed out of the way, and placed the iguana on her bed.

How did Shireen manage to carry her familiar up the four flights of stairs in her arms? Reese had so much weight on him that surely she had hurt her arm in the process. Compared to him, Toffee was a feather.

Though, apparently, despite the difference in size, Toffee had no problem staking her claim on the territory. Her cat quickly jumped on the bed and hissed in warning at the stranger.

Reese manoeuvred backwards in a defensive stance. Tell the cat. He hissed. Have no fear.

Oriane nodded and moved to grab Toffee, bunching her up in her arms. "Toffee! Shh..." she cooed, petting the fur on her head. The door was still open so she moved to close it softly behind them. Finally, though Toffee was tense, fur standing guard, Oriane turned to Reese with the first of her questions, "So, the man in hood. Did you see him then? Do you remember what colour was the hood? Or what else do you remember at all about him?"

Bouncing his head up and down, dewlap flapping, he replied, Hood isss white. Big red crossss. Angry eyesss.

Reese spun in a circle, looking agitated as he attempted to relay the memory to her in broken words.

Though Oriane needn't know more. The iguana must be referring to the symbol of the Rosicrucians, stitched at the side of the cultists robes the likes which Oriane had seen in the repository.

Speaking of which, she had actually done some research in the library concerning the underground area – when she had the time to slip away from the close watch of her friends. The repository was a part of the old castle that lay here before it was renovated in 1950-something upon the establishment of the college. She had also read quite a bit on the school's founder, Diana Mist the Second, who had named the school in honour of her deceased mother.