The (Mis)Adventures of (Re)Becca Smellie

Chapter 6: Entropy

After a few more seconds, the shaking finally stopped. Aside from the panic, everything seemed like it returned to normal. Everyone stood out from under the tables and checked in with one another, then the professor told everyone to evacuate the room quickly and calmly. The students exited the classroom and headed down to the Rotunda. Valeria held onto Bella's hand so tight Bella worried she was sensing something unusual.

"It's okay, Val," she reassured her. "It was just a long one. Nothing to be worried about."

"No," Valeria answered. "No, this one felt different. This wasn't normal and..." she sniffed. "Why does it smell weird?"

"Oh, I do apologize," Tobias said in the background. "My doctor told me I needed to include more fiber in my diet."

"TMI," Evian groaned.

"That's not what I meant, Toby. I meant that it smells like...I don't know. It's weirdly familiar."

When they all walked out to the Rotunda, they heard many people asking what was going on, but there were a few from the science studies Staircases that just arrived that seemed to have more answers. Zathrian knew a couple of students from that group through his biology classes and approached them to gather more information. Meanwhile, the buzzing from the students surrounded the friend group.

"Yeah. I heard she almost killed everyone in Chem 300..."

"I heard she took a pigeon from the dissection room and lit it on fire!"

"I heard she tried to eat Mr. Lagarto's pet crickets..."

The group looked at Zathrian's changing expressions as he talked with the group that came from Staircase 6. It switched from reassuring, to questioning, to surprised, to concerned within a minute. When he returned to his friends he was at a loss for words.

"What happened?" Bella asked.

"They said some new student in a class of third years blew something up so everyone evacuated, but the professor realized too late that they were still in there, so they got stuck in the room when there was this huge explosion..."

The group looked horrified.

"But they're fine now, right?" Evian asked in concern.

Zath rubbed the back of his head. "It's unclear. The professor stayed behind trying to overrun the safety controls and save them, but the explosion happened too quickly. I know him, his name is Dr. Lagarto. He's over there talking to the fire troops now."

He pointed to a disheveled, anxious-looking man with an incinerated mustache.

"I'm telling you I know what I saw! It was a phoenix! She somehow managed to make a Phoenix!"

"Right, we understand sir. Now you say you never saw this student before?"

"No."

"And you weren't expecting transfer students?"

"Right."

"So it is possible that this student may have snuck in and purposefully tried to sabotage, or kill, others in your classroom?"

"I...suppose it's possible, but—"

"Very well, we have no more questions at this time, sir. Please stay nearby and let us know before you leave the premises."

"Wait! You don't understand—"

Dr. Lagarto chased after them into the crowd and disappeared from the friends' line of sight. While this was happening, Bella tried calling Becca but it went straight to her voicemail, as it always did. Just as she was about to try again, she and all of the students and faculty in the Rotunda received an Emergency Safety Order on their devices requesting that everyone go home immediately due to a possible terror threat.