The Enchantments: Book 4 - The Key of Mulastef

Chapter 16: Secrets Uncovered

Marlanda sat in the stands staring nervously at the commotion of the two guys as the complained about how to move the body successfully. It lay splayed on the wet gym floor ripples of eddies cascading off the body, both the professor and Fin animated on how best to pick up the sodden body.

Out of nowhere she developed the case of the giggles, they looked over at her in annoyance, and that seemed to spur her on harder. Before long she was laughing hysterically as the two stopped their discussion on walked over to where she sat.

"What is so funny?" Shawn asked.

She wiped at her eyes and let out a last gasp. "The two of you are bickering and caring on like little children. The question shouldn't be how to pick up the body but where we're going to take it? If you haven't noticed the university is a little past recognition and from where I sit your lab is under a thousand pounds of rubble."

She almost had another outburst as she glanced at the two and they were looking at each other in that way that suggested they hadn't thought about that.

"May I make a suggestion?" She asked as their heads swiveled back to look at her. "The chemistry lab is in the building across the commons and with a small wagon from the botany department we could pick up the minion and cart him over there easily enough.

The slow rhythmic nods of the two men made her smile, and she pushed herself from the bench thinking how easily manipulated they were. They headed for the main doors as she began to shake her head in disgust.

"Huh excuse me, but where are you going?" The professor asked his hands on his hips now.

"Someone has to go to the botany lab and pick up the cart." She turned back around and was headed for the door again when the professor was about to say something else when she knew what was about to be said, she reared around and placed a finger in the air.

"If you're going to say something rhetorical like this is a man's job you better think twice about it." As if on cue the professor snapped his mouth shut. "That's what I thought."

She pushed open the doors before anything could be said and directed herself to the main doors and the night beyond. The air was still and slightly chilly, and she found herself wrapping her arms around her chest. She had been on many college campuses, but she'd never felt it as quiet as it was at that particular moment, almost eerie in its simplicity. She listened to the campus for sounds but heard nothing as if a large bubble was over the campus.

Her thoughts went back to the discovery of the minion and the pallid features of the professor as he stared at the burnt and disfigured face of the creature below his feet. What he told her brought fear and anger and she rushed out thinking to herself that Simeneon was doing it to them again. What she knew deep down this wasn't the girl's fault but all the frustration of the past week surfaced, and her old feelings crept back in. The professor knew how she felt and had come to her to discuss the situation, but nothing the professor could have said would have changed her mood. Some truths ran deeper than anyone could have imagined.

She took in a deep breath as she passed the athletic center coming around the corner as the botany building came into view. The building, a gray stone monstrosity was laced with vines climbing the sides of the structure making it seem more green than gray. Marlanda was not much of a flower person yet she found the small blue flowers poking randomly from the vines very pleasant. She grabbed one of the blooms plucking it easily from the vine and took in a huge breath. It smelt sweet and filled her nose with the intoxicating scent that she had noticed in the air of the campus. She smiled thinking how soothing smelling the flowers on her way to class would be but catching sight of the ruined campus changed her mind, and she dropped the pedal to the sidewalk and headed for the front doors.