Hell on Earth

Hell on Earth. Chapter 3

The chalkboard mounted to the wall was chock full of rules for the classroom, scrawled in curly script, surrounded by smears of erased lessons past.

The dinosaurs immediately made a beeline for it, and began playing Noughts and Crosses over the text, arguing loudly over who would be Crosses. No-one chose to be Noughts, that was the lame player's side, only for losers.

"Ok, how about I be blue Crosses, and you can be green crosses? there's coloured chalk here, look..."

Anar flushed, hotly, in embarrassment, sitting at his table seat, "guys! You shouldn't play that on there! Come on, guys, yeah? Pack it in." He had kept his tall collar up since the College café debacle, convinced the dino duo were going to get him in trouble with all their antics.

"Maybe he's right," Rap frowned, pausing, rubbing out the bright marks with the board rubber. "Let's play Hangman instead!"

"No! That wasn't what I..."

"Is there a problem, Warlock? What are they doing with my board?" the demon faun lecturer bleated.

"Uh, they're just... uh..."

"Anar! How do you spell 'aardvark'?"

"Awww, now you've given the answer away!"

The lecturer glared at Anar with dark eyes.

"Sorry, sir," he squeaked.

"What did you just say to me?!" he roared, fangs gnashing.

"Ffffffflip!" Anar launched back out from his seat, and urgently flapped Rap and Rave away from their smudged and scrawl-laden chalkboard.

A shadow fell across the room.

"Ah, Crowley, glad you could join us. Sit."

The human student with the very large wings crept into the classroom, glaring daggers at Anar as he did so. He seemed pleased that the aardvark was in trouble. His seat was directly in front of Anar's, so he kept his wings spread, to obscure the view of the lesson as much as possible.

"What was all that about?" Rap asked, innocently.

"I'm not meant to apologise," Anar replied, darkly, once again taking his seat. "We're all bound by the Foul Oaths, see. We have to promise to lie, cheat, betray and be as awful as we can at all times."

"But you're always so nice!"

"Exactly!" Anar wailed, quietly, "I'm just no good at this stuff. It's worse than triple science back at Millcroft High. And I can't get out of it by setting stuff on fire with the Bunsen burners, neither. Anyway, I better listen to this, so shush."

Each student had been provided with a magical amulet at the beginning of the autumn term, two weeks prior. They'd had instructions to name it; an act that would bind it to them, rendering it useless for anyone else if it should be stolen, which was a possibility because demons will be demons. Around every horned, winged, fanged student's neck hung a pretty, glittering trinket. Most would tuck it inside their robes as it didn't exactly complement the whole occult vibe they were trying to pull off.

Anar had dubbed his 'Sharon Stone'. He was very pleased with this joke. Sharon was a teardrop, amber in hue with a solid, grey metal backing that was diamond-shaped.

The amulets were strictly for lesson use only, and contained just a few drops of Power. It was widely recognised that letting students bound for the Underworld access to an abundance of magic was a Very Bad Idea. And anyway, they had familiars capable of using low-grade magical energy for everyday tasks. Once they had completed their exams and signed contracts for employment, each fully-fledged demon would have an innate magic all of their own, and no amulets would be required, but for now this was the only access to it they had.