Maiden of Midnight

Seth

The night air was freezing as I pushed my way across the platform, my black, fur-lined cloak and leather fighting gear doing nothing to keep the cold from seeping into my bones and raising goose bumps across my skin.

It was a well-known fact that the upper levels of Ordeallans’ esteemed Demon-Hunting academy were ABSOLUTELY off limits to anyone under the age of eighteen. Which included me.

Which was exactly why I was here.

Getting in had been easy enough, since the Headmistress hadn’t deemed it necessary to waste valuable fighters on guarding the upper levels. Especially when she had specifically stated on her recent assembly that anyone without the proper training would meet certain death from the powerful winds that had already pushed three students tumbling to their doom over the academy, and onto the jagged rocks below. She had said that only the stupidest of us would even dare to think about coming up here. Luckily for me, I was that person. Unluckily for her, I was that person. Seth Smith.

I had crouched by the doors for two hours, watching seniors come and go across the platform, laughing and chatting as they huddled under cloaks. I had worked out when the strongest gusts came, and when it was safe to cross. Now, with only two minutes left before the next gust of wind, I walked slowly, every creak of the wooden boards below my feet sending a wave of fresh nerves up my spine. The platform, connecting the senior wing to the junior buildings, was held up by thirty-two wooden beams, above a fifty-thousand-foot drop. The platform would lurch from side to side on occasion, and I would clutch the handrail that ran down the middle tightly. As I walked, I focused on the ‘THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!’ of my footsteps, rather than the wind that pushed me another half-meter towards the edge. I picked up my pace, the doors coming nearer and nearer. I reached for the handrail again just as a girl slammed into me from behind, sending both of us falling towards the edge. A vulgar swear word escaped from her rose-red lips, as the platform lurched, sliding us both across the platform, and giving me my first glimpse of the rocks below, the misty rain coating them with a slick sheen.

“GET OFF ME!” the girl shrieked in anger, her leather gloves beginning to slide off, revealing grey skin. I inched off her, grabbing her boot-encased ankles as she flailed. I realised that everything in her outfit was black, including the weapon tucked into her belt, the silver blade almost as shiny as the rocks below. With a grunt, I pulled her towards me, and she wrapped her arms around my waist as she stood, pulling her hood to cover her eyes. She turned, ignoring me.

“You’re welcome.” I breathed, pushing her towards the stairs and into the warm foyer of the senior hall. She did not lift her head, but adjusted her gloves.

“You should invest in some new gloves. Your skin is grey from the cold.”

“Right, I’ll look into that.” I jolted at her voice, which was sweet and melodic, and she spun neatly on her heel, stalking into the library before I could say another word, and I heard a book slam loudly on a desk before the door closed again, locking me out. A sense of unease washed over me, and I wondered why I was only getting nervous now.

Before I could think too much on it, I heard a voice hiss, “Seth? By Lilith’s beauty, what are you doing here?!” Darcie, my mentor and keeper, grabbed my arm and pulled me into his office.

“I need access to the library!” I begged.

“I have a huge test on the Septem Peccatis tomorrow, and I need to pass it.”

“Why don’t you speak to Jason then? He’s bound to know at least something about it.”

“Can’t you tell me?” I asked, sitting down on one of the plush chairs, my knees shaking too much to support my weight. I had literally risked my life getting here, and I wasn’t leaving with nothing. Outside the door, I could hear students beginning to make their way to their classes, chattering and laughing as they went. In a few seconds, it would be silent in the hallway.

“No, Seth. I can’t give you answers to your test. That wouldn’t be fair for the others, would it?” he sat at his desk, rustling through a pile of papers, and promptly shoved a letter into his desk drawer.

“You don’t need to give me the answers, just some information! The downstairs library is hopeless!”

“I’m sure it has something. You’re probably not looking hard enough,” Darcie mumbled absentmindedly as he dipped a quill into a bottle of ink, and scratched away at the parchments, the sound reminding me of the chickens you could sometimes find wandering the poorer side of Ordeallan. I shook my head.

“There’s nothing. I might as well be going into the test blind.”

Darcie lifted his head slowly, and I realised just how tired he was. His face was unshaven, his eyes sunken into his skull, and his hair was a mess- as if he hadn’t had time to brush it that night.

“Seth, normally, I would help you, but the Headmistress is already breathing down my neck as it is. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was listening in now,” he sighed tiredly, lowering his eyes back to the papers before I could say another word. I glanced around the room, looking for anyone who might be listening, or a magicked item, and found nothing. I rose from my chair. Darcie barely glanced up at me as I left the room, the door closing behind me. I turned, immediately coming nose-to-nose with the girl from the platform. She flushed a bright red with what I imagined was guilt, until I saw the feral grin that erupted from her. Had she wanted to get caught? Her eyes were still hidden, and her hands still gloved despite the warm fire barely a meter away from us. Surely she was getting hot?

“Were you eavesdropping?” I demanded, pulling her into a curtained off alcove as two seniors walked in, ignoring us.

“Yes.” She admitted unabashedly before holding out a book.

“I heard you were studying the Septem Peccatis, so I snuck you this.” I studied the book in her hands, which was indeed about the Septem Peccatis, before it hit me.

“Wait, you aren’t a senior?” I blurted. She shoved a hand over my mouth, and glanced over her shoulder at the curtain, where the voices of the two seniors could be heard slowly drifting away.

“No, and if you tell anyone, nobody will find your body, got it?” My heart stopped dead in my chest as her mouth remained in a straight line. She was serious.

I nodded, and she smiled kindly, leaving my head spinning as her entire demeanor changed within seconds, her hand lowering from my mouth.

“My name is Destiny.”

“Seth.” I shook the hand that she offered, and she grinned wildly, flashing teeth that had small, sharp, edges running across the top of them. What was that about?

“Enjoy the book. Oh, and see you around!” she ducked past the curtain, and it wasn’t until she was gone that a second realization hit me… the unease I had felt earlier? It was because she didn’t make any sound when she walked. She moved like a shadow.