Tina Goldstein: Secrets of Ilvermorny

Rumors

It'd been a week since the mysterious attack on Maverick, Gabrielle, and Justine, and the entire school seemed to be taking their side of the story. No matter how much Tina told people she had nothing to do with it, they just didn't believe. She can't walk down the halls without getting shouted at and called 'Wicked!' and 'Evil!'.

She thought about writing home, but Queenie would be the one to open the letter and she would be the one to write to the school. Tina didn't want the school to get an angry letter from a nine. She still had herself a laugh when she thought about the image of the headmaster getting a letter stating 'You're are incredibly bad at your job! My sister is being bullied by the entire school and you're not doing anything!'.

Tina's main focus away from school, though, is why Quinn is so secretive about where she goes. Quinn doesn't enjoy the school at all and is always getting detention for sneaking out past curfew. Tina does not like Quinn, because she breaks a bunch of school rules, but the thought of befriending her once crossed her mind.

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She sat in the library that Saturday, finishing up an essay for History of Magic. She looked up occasionally when she sensed people were staring at her, so she gave them bit of a look that said 'You wanna stare at me! I'll fight you if you do!'. Tina closed her books and inkpot, standing up to go back to her dorm. She passed students, who stopped their studies to watch her leave the library, nervously.

In the corridor, the stares were no better. In fact, they were worse. They came from kids way older than her and occasionally a professor, too. Tina reached the common room and went straight to her dorm. There were a lot of people in the common room who moved away to the walls when she walked in.

The dorm was already occupied. Quinn sat on top of her four poster bed with her back to the door. Tina screamed and dropped her books, which made a loud thump on the floor that drowned out her voice. Quinn must've been extremely startled, because she toppled over onto her bed from her perch.

"What the hell'd you scream for?!" Quinn yelled angrily.

Tina felt her face turning red "I'm sorry I didn't expect you to be in here! Let alone up there!" she pointed, angrily, at the bed post Quinn had been sitting on.

Quinn walked real close to Tina's face, but hesitated before saying in a small voice "I hate you, Goldstein."

Tina narrowed her eyes, angrily, at Quinn "I hate you more."

Quinn walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Tina realized something and hit herself in the head on the nearest bedpost. That was her first interaction with an actual person in days and she blew it by saying she hated her.

Sitting on her bed, she accidentally fell asleep.

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'Tina woke up in a long, dark passage she'd never been down before. Looking around herself, she thought she saw a figure walk across from one side of the hall to the other, as if in some sort of trance. She walked forward to investigate.

She stopped when she heard a long wail, then a hiss. She felt her entire spinal cord go numb and she couldn't move her feet.

"H-Hello?" she said after finding her voice. No response. Louder this time, she said "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Her voice echoed off the walls. She found her ability to walk again and quickened her pace; walking around the corner. As she turned the corner, she stopped in her tracks. She was standing in front of an open pair of doors with something going on inside.

She crept to through the door and hid behind a pillar, watching Quinn stand completely still as she was lathered in some kind of residue that smelled awful. Tina clasped her nostrils shut with her fingers to keep the putrid smell of moldy cheese and unwashed socks out.

The people covering Quinn in the residue turned around for however long Tina had, so she quickly waved her hand in front of Quinn's face.

In a very low voice, Tina whispered "Quinn? Quinn! Are you awake?"

Quinn gave no response to anything Tina tried. The people turned around.

"Hey!" the man closest to Tina shouted as he attempted to grab her. Tina dodged him and grabbed some giant metal chunk; hitting him across the head with it. Tina grabbed at Quinn's hand, but a woman grabbed her first and pulled away; throwing her into some sort of pit.

A monster's mouth clasped around Quinn's body, swallowing her after one bite. Tina watched in horror. She tried to run, but she was caught by the woman and thrown over the ledge. She tried to scream, but her voice was gone.

Tina woke up lying on the ground. Her arm was starting to feel numb, so she sat up. It started to feel better, but it was painful to touch her left shoulder. She must've fallen out of bed. Looking out the window, she saw the sun rising. She pushed her self up and sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing her head as she shook it.

What was that dream? It felt so real, but why? And why had she tried to save Quinn?