Fowler School of Magic's

Pandora

May was nearing quickly, Calla had been gone nearly a month in a half. They'd already checked everywhere they could think of. She could hardly bear to enter their room. Her absence hung heavy. She was supposed to graduate in two days. They were supposed to leave in one.

"Let's delay it. Please Nathan she could be at the ceremony." She'd begged him almost every night since they announced the bomb would be set off at the gate the night before the ceremony. "We can't risk hundreds for one." Max interrupted, the same as they had every night she'd asked. Nathan looked at them, "Some of us can stay." He said quietly, "It's a school event. She might be there." Max scoffed, pushing his plate away. "You'll be just about the only two there. I won't let you."

Nathan gave Rhiannon a knowing look and dropped the subject. A silent promise.

She hated sleeping alone. She cried when she woke up with her arm on Calla's side without her there. It hurt more everyday. There was speculation she was dead. Rhiannon refused to believe it. Calla wouldn't die easily. Hugo or Emily or someone would find a way to tell them she was dead.

"Tonight we leave!" The shout was loud across the dining room. Practically the entire student body was in attendance. "You all should be ready by half past eleven. You should find a box of necklaces by the door which will allow you to understand each other on the outside. Go get your belongings and get ready."

A gasp at the other side of the room turned heads. A knife sailed across the room and landed at Max's feet. They screamed. The cafeteria spiraled into chaos. Bodies entered the cafeteria as Max tried to yell over the noise.

"To the gate! Now!"

Bodies pushed past her. They were heading toward the portal to take them to the gate. Rhiannon could only watch as a girl hopped up on the table, willing the knife back into her hand as she turned, smiling. She pointed at Rhiannon and threw the knife toward her before she coughed and stumbled toward her as people around her screamed. She stood back up and retrieved her knife as people were struck down, Rhiannon dove behind a table, sliding beneath it as heavy boots tripped over a black cloak, lifting up the table cloth.

Brown eyes stared at her. White scars across the girl's cheeks. She felt tears start to surface as she crouched down.

"Calla," she whispered, barely audible over the shouts. "Who the fuck is that?" She spat back, "It's Pandora. I'm tearing open the fuckin' box," Rhiannon snorted, stifling a laugh. "No seriously Calla." She scoffed and looked away a moment as a piercing scream bounced off the walls. She grabbed her hand carefully, examining it a moment before she looked away again. "Whatever." She grumbled, dropping the table cloth.

The room shook not a moment later, a massive boom as more screams appeared. Rhiannon hurried out from under the table and darted into the kitchen. She found several people back there, the metal cover pulled down but the side door open. She closed it behind her, locking it quickly.

She sat beside Nathan. Max was next to him and Francine was across from them along with several other students she didn't know the name of. "I just saw Calla," she whispered, "Something is wrong with her. She said her name was Pandora." They nodded but said nothing as the metal cover was banged on.

"Back door time." Max hissed, Nathan groaned and they led them all out the backdoor. It was worse outside.

They'd popped out by the gate, inside a crater. Bodies lay in it, entrails half-buries in the dirt. They'd missed the gate. A circle of students she recognized as the original bomb team were circled up not far from the crater, a small ball in hand as students fought off the cloaked figures.

"Attention students!" They all looked up. Lane was carried by four of himself in a chair. A rock went through his chest but he remained unfazed. It wasn't the real him. "This has all been a grand misunderstanding. You shall be spared should you return to your dorms now."

The fighting stopped. No one moved for a beat before a girl screamed, a hand through her chest. The fighting continued, fires sparked around them as water flooded the crater. Rhiannon hurried up the side only to be picked up by her jacket.

"You again? What the hell?" Rhiannon shook her head, watching another cloaked figure hunched over a boy, blood spilling from his neck.

"Where's Hugo?" She asked, pulling on her cloak as Calla grunted. She'd died once and she'd do it again. "Who? Just get out of here before I have to hurt you. You aren't my target."

"Pandora what are you doing? Go after them?" Calla drooped Rhiannon without a second thought, launching herself over the crater in a gust of wind to tackle Nathan. He punched her in the face without hesitation as Max pulled her off. She fought just as hard until she was thrown into the crater. Rhiannon heard her shout as a blast went off.

The students erupted in cheers as they ran out the open gate, climbing over each other to get out as the cloaked figures chased them.

A boy slid down the hole as he clutched his ears. Rhiannon felt her own ring, stumbling blindly for a moment before she watched the boy throw Calla to the ground. She clutched her arm, the boy scurrying up the side as his ears bled. Almost everyone was out now. Rhiannon fell into the original crater, grabbing Calla and pulling her to her feet. Her arm was bent unnaturally. The boy had dislocated it.

She punched her in the face with her good hand. Rhiannon held on tight to her cloak, "Kill me if you want Calla. I won't leave without you." Rhiannon swore her eyes went dark for a moment as her hands moved, snapping her arm back into place.

"That's not my name. I've given you enough chances." She could barely make out what she was saying over the ringing in her ears, she had even more trouble figuring out what Lane said next. "Do it Pandora." He ordered, Calla grinned and Rhiannon only realized what had happened when Calla kicked the knife, licking the blood off her lips.

This was not Calla anymore. This was Pandora.