Spooky

Chapter 9

{Author's Note:
Hey everyone! I'm sorry it took so long to update and I'm extra sorry that the beginning to this is kinda... Mediocre. I'm tryin, y'all.}

-Scourge's POV-

The dorm room's silent. My eyes drift across my posters, not really paying attention to anything at the moment. I'd gotten so bored, I actually did my homework for once, and yet I'm still left with nothing to do. Man, what time is it? I wonder, sitting up. If only I had a phone. Why didn't this room come with a clock? Sighing, I swing my legs off the bed, looking down at the floor absently. What to do, what–to–doooo... Kicking my feet back and forth like a small child, I stare around the room yet again, this time checking out my roommate's stuff. When I first saw him unpack everything, I thought it was all ridiculously creepy—skull, weird-ass book, black candles—but now I'm just wondering why he has all this weird shit. What purpose does it serve? What the hell language is that book even in? Can he read it? Where did he even find this stuff? Is there a store somewhere that sells this shit? I get up, walking over to his side of the room with only slight hesitation—it's his space, and I kinda feel like I'm...violating some unspoken code, but like, he's not here, so what will he know?—and stopping just before his bed. I mean, this doesn't look like something you just pick up in some random store, I think, continuing my previous train of thought. It doesn't even seem like something you'd find at Hot Topic. The bedsprings creak ever so slightly as I very gingerly lift one leg, putting it on his bed and shifting my weight over onto it. Hey, once you get closer, the candles don't seem pitch-black like before... I lean forward, picking up the other leg to kneel on his bed, examining his stuff. The candles haven't ever been burnt before, it seems, but the dark exterior is semi-transparent, and it looks like there's a bright-red core in the center. What's that? I wonder, stretching up to get a better look. The doorknob rattles as a pair of keys are jammed into it, and I freeze, feeling the blood drain out my face. With a creak, the door opens, and I slowly turn to face my roommate, still kneeling on his bed. Oh no.

Shadow stands in the doorway, a half-zipped hoodie hanging off his thin frame, a gym bag slung over one shoulder and a bemused smirk on his face. His fur looks damp, face clear of makeup, and it's about then that I realize he's only wearing the jacket half-undone. Where the hell are his pants? He steps further in, closing the door, and tosses the gym bag at the foot of his bed. "What are you doing?" He growls, voice oddly playful; relief washes over me.

Well, someone's in a good mood...Thank god. I try to keep from grinning when I answer his question with one of my own; turning back to the shelves, I point at the book and ask, "What is that?"

The mattress dips as he sits beside me, and I can feel heat bleeding from his fur—he must have taken a shower, that's why his pants are gone and his fur's all wet. "This?" He echoes, wrapping one hand around the spine of the book gently. He slides the skull on top off carefully as he pulls the overlarge tome back, eventually dropping the book in his lap and opening it. "It's my spellbook."

"Spellbook?" I raise an eyebrow, confused. The hell? Is this kid gonna pull some Harry Potter shit? Looking down at the weathered pages, I squint, seeing peculiar symbols and drawings of plants, surrounded by a language I don't know. The pages look wafer-thin, yellowed and ancient, but he flips through them as carelessly as one might go through a Math textbook. About halfway through the book, I realize, the language changes, and by the time he stops, I can see an identical page titled 'Healing Spells.'

"Yes," he replies, dragging a finger down the page fondly. "It's a special edition, actually—original Latin and such in the front, English translation and modernization in the back." I don't answer; I'm too busy trying to read the page.