The Night School [GxG] [First Draft Edition]

Chapter Sixty-Four : Opperation Set-Up

"Grace?" Hazel whispered with a delicacy I probably (definitely) would've picked up on, if not for the fact that she'd just scared me shitless as soon as I hung up on what I thought was a private conversation with Libby and Zee.

I uttered some nonsensical combination of syllables as I jumped and dropped my phone like a startled cat.

"Jesus, Zel! Don't fucking do that to me!" I put my hand over my heart, which could only slow down so much from the start, as there was a particular Hazel in proximity.

"Sorry?" She stated kinda like she didn't know exactly why she was apologizing. Which made it cuter; she seemed to be apologizing only for the sake of making me feel better.

"You're adorable." I couldn't help but smile. "Now, what was it you were going to say?"

"Never mind." She bit her lip absently.

"Okay?" I scowled. That's two 'never mind's in a day. Something is up with her. "Are you okay, Zel?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?" She tilted her head, confusion and an almost incredulous look written on her face.

"I don't know. Call it intuition." I shrugged. There was a subsequent awkward silence that neither of us seemed to be about to break. I wanted to, but I just felt like I couldn't.

"Well, this is highly productive." Megan suddenly materialized next to her sister, making both of us jump and break our awkward staring contest. "Marley is being dealt with first, I hope, so this lovely conversation is not becoming a problem for her?" Megan looked at me. It took me back, for a second, the fire in her eyes. It made me wonder why the heck she cared so much for my friend even though she hardly knew her. I assumed it's just because she's Megan. It's probably like her Meg-ernal instincts make her care about everyone else's lives.

"Actually, I think I have a plan. If Hazel doesn't mind s'more driving?"

"S'more?" Megan lifted an eyebrow.

"Like some more but shorter. Not like the food." I shrugged. "Zel?" She just nodded and walked off, probably to get her keys. I, in her absence, directed a skeptical look at Megan. She bowed her head a little, mouthing 'we'll talk later'.

I reentered the office, finding a very sad looking Marley boredly examining some paper left out on the table.

"Your girlfriend is a decent artist." She mumbled nonchalantly, gesturing to the apparent sketch.

"Hazel?" I frowned. Hazel? An artist? No. At least not with fine art. What about Hazel says, in any way or amount, finesse? Megan, maybe. But not Hazel.

"You have another girlfriend?" She teased drearily, a stoic visage all she showed.

"No, I just never really pegged her as an artist." I sat down in the other seat at the desk. Marley moved the sketch over to me, and I did a double take. I don't know what exactly the drawing was, but it looked like a creature out of a fairytale. The sketch had different parts, all accompanied by what I assumed was a form of writing. The largest sketch was a combination of three perspectives of a single subject, each with such an amount of detail that I had to run my fingers over the slight scratches of pen to verify it being drawn and not printed off the web.

"Wow..." I looked intensely at the writing, trying to find some resemblance between it and any language I knew, which would then allow me to read it. Unfortunately, the language looked to be hieroglyph, or at least with syllables that were not Romantic in lettering. Not Egyptian, I'd seen that stuff in books and museums. This was new.

"How you know it's hers?" I asked Marley.

"This name syllable." She tapped on a mark on the corner of the page, "this is a grammatical marker that means the syllable built off it is a name. It's altered a little, but it's a name marker.  And there is nothing here that resembles the 'M' syllable." She shrugged. "Micha taught me some of it. In better with the writing than listening. I can only pick up a few words. It's like the N.S.'s official language."