The Exceptions

Student-Napped

Dawn

What the hell just happened? And why does it feel like...

"Ow, shit!" Dawn yelps just after regaining consciousness.

"Shhhh!"

"No, you shush!" She responds aggressively. Nothing happens. Ow. It is in her best interest to relax. Mirai is the next to rise. She shoots up, looking very worried and confused. Clutching her head, she falls back down almost as fast as she sat up. Only mumbles and whimpers escape her vocal chords.

The third is Lucian. He rises slowly, as if waking up from a long nap. He stretches, yawns, and mumbles, "Good morning." He then freezes as he looks around. Where the hell are we? In a state of confusion and pain Dawn stands up abruptly, only to collapse back to the floor.

"Both you girls probably have a concussion, best to move slowly and not say much."

"Huh?" Dawn is thoroughly confused as she looks around the forest that now surrounds her searching for the disembodied voice.

"Lucian, are you ok?" inquires Mirai, still holding her head with her hand.

"Yes, I've never felt better!"

"How, though?" Dawn asks, stunned. 

"Well, when we inhaled that gas, I saw y'all crash to the ground hard. I figured it would be better for me to lie down before I fell down too."

Dawn shrugs, frustrated, and tries to stand up again, this time successfully. "It's a bit dark, maybe I should light something?"

"No, don't." It finally hits all three of them that a fourth unidentified voice is giving them commands. The trio immediately circles up and begins to scan for signs of danger. Dawn notices as Lucian looks up and points to an eerie grey shadow, on a tree branch about 15 feet off the ground. Mirai notices, then jumps backward, startled.

"Ok, the coast is clear." The voice is low and confident.

"Who are you?" Mirai squeaked. The shadow climbed down the tree and hit the forest floor with a soft thud. He was wearing a tattered grey cloak with a hood, so they couldn't make out his face. Are we gonna die out here? Man that would be so not cool.

"My name will be given to you later, I assume Lucian is the only male here?"

"Yes, I am hi-"

"You're really gonna assume my gender?" Dawn cuts in.

"Unless those are an excellent pair of man boobs, which I know they are not, you are, in fact, a female."

Dawn flushes. "Touche. Just a joke bro chill."

"Yes I am him," Lucian tries again.

"Great, I'm glad you brought two friends, but where is the rest of the school?"

"We decided not to tell them because the officials might have been notified and we wouldn't have been able to..... Wait are you the guy who stopped time, caused a portal and dropped that note?" Dawn's mind races, trying to piece together all of what just happened.

"Calm down sweetie, don't fry your brain over silly things like what's happened in the past twenty-four hours. You may call me 'S', and I did sign that note. As far as the portal and stuff..." A black mist appears around his feet before quickly dissipating. "... no they were not under my control. Neither were those ghastly hands you probably saw Lucian. Smart of you all to not tell anyone, I guess I hadn't considered that. Now answer me this. You two, what are your names."

"Why should I t-" Dawn is cut off.

"Mirai is my name."

"No need to be so formal, we are going to be friends soon. Hopefully." S says nonchalantly, while frowning at Dawn.

"Dawn," she says before relaxing her stance.

"Where are we, if you don't mind telling us?" asks Lucian.

"You ever read Harry Potter? We are in your version of the forbidden forest."

"So the forest just outside of campus? Is that why you were up in the tree, hiding?"

"Precisely." S replied. "We are about five hundred feet into the 'Forest' and about twelve hundred yards away from that damn fence. Also, we wanderers call this place the wasteland."

WHAT? Is he actually a wanderer? Should we run now or later or... Lucian interupts her thoughts

"So, if you're a wanderer, where are we going?"

"You will find out soon enough. We are just southeast of your campus."

"How can we trust you?" stammers Mirai, obvious fear in her stance.

"Oh come on, Mirai, you're actually going to trust what the academy teaches you? If they were actually the good guy, would they have locked us there and treated us that way?"

"They seemed kind of indifferent to me," Dawn replies.

"Well, that is true, but that thing had some very Roald Dahl novel feels to it, making it very negative, in my opinion."

"Can we stop bringing up ancient books and please get going? I do have a destination in mind."

"Ok S, show us the way," Lucian says.

"We will be travelling four miles, there is a town super near here." S informs them. And with that the quartet gets under way.