Discipline Academy-The Mystery of Abbey College (#NaNoWriMo2016)

Abby

*Abby*

 After the competition, I found Charlotte in the stable, grooming her horse and murmuring praises in her ear. I went over and leaned on the stall door, watching them. Charlotte noticed me, and smiled.

"Great ride," I told her, smiling back. "Really. Felix says to tell you that there's a party in St. Madeline's common room, and I'm supposed to bring you to it."

Charlotte tossed the grooming brush she was using into her box. "All right," she said, picking the box up. "Let me put this away, and then we can head up."

I followed her to the team tack room, and then back to Ash's stall, so she could give the horse one last kiss, and a slice of apple. Then I linked my arm through hers, and we strolled up to St. Madeline's.

The common room was an explosion of St. Madeline's colors. On the wall hung a massive flag, and people had strung chains of copper, cream and heather from the ceiling. Someone had brought food up from the kitchen or the Great Hall, and people were eating and talking and celebrating.

The second I brought Charlotte into the room, people descended on her, and she was swept away. I managed to find Daniel in the crush, but anyone else I knew was nowhere to be seen.

Daniel whirled me around, kissing me full on the lips in excitement. "We won!" he murmured. "Abby, we won!"

I giggled, letting him spin me around. "We won!"

According to older students, St. Madeline's hadn't been off to this good a start in the riding circuit for five years. I was surprised, since, from what I'd seen, the team was amazing. But Francis had admitted that Charlotte had given them the edge they'd lacked for the last few years.

Daniel leaned down to whisper in my ear, "Want something to drink? I'm going to get something for myself."

"I'll have whatever you're having," I decided. Daniel kissed my cheek and slipped into the crowd to get it.

I stood alone, waiting for him to come back. At the center of the room, some of the students had hoisted part of the riding team onto their shoulders and were carrying them around as people cheered.

I saw, through a break in the crowd, Charlotte and Will, who had just arrived, slip out of the room, no doubt going to fin somewhere private.

The crowd pressed in, pulsating and wild. It was hot and close in the common room. Around me, people I hardly recognized celebrated, dancing and singing and cheering. Someone bumped into me, but the second I turned to see who it was, they had vanished into the crowd. Someone else trod on my foot, and, again, before I could see them, they had disappeared.

The crowd was like a many-headed monster, devouring every being in the room and pulling them into its strange, pulsing dance. Every now and then, someone would be spit out to linger on the sidelines before being pulled back in.

It was overwhelming, and I felt a headache coming on. Suddenly, all I could think about was getting out, getting some air. I pushed my way through the crowd, elbowing anyone who wouldn't let me pass.

I struggled through the door, and, out in the corridor, I broke into a run. I had to get away from the chaos of the party before I was overwhelmed by it. I burst out of the door and into the coming night. Alone at last, and in the quiet, I sank down onto the doorstep.

The night air was painfully cool, since it was still early spring. Somewhere, a single frog croaked. The wind screeched in the distance, the sound carrying across the moor.

Footsteps crunched in the gravel nearby, and my head jerked up. Professor Whitley made his way up the path from the Promenade. He was dressed for traveling and looked like a fashion plate come to life. He was perhaps in his early fifties, his hair steely, his jaw chiseled. His skin wasn't overly wrinkled–more worn, as if he'd seen a lot of life.

"Miss Ashley," he said with a nod, coming to sit beside me. He must have just gotten back from wherever he'd had business. "I heard St. Madeline's won today. Shouldn't you be celebrating?"

I shrugged. "I'm not much of a celebratory person," I said, feeling slightly uncomfortable. I'd never really known Professor Whitley, since he'd always been coming or going on some secretive business. Even my mother had once mentioned how little she knew him.

"Hmm," he said. He toyed with the lace on one of his boots with long, pale, almost skeletal fingers. "Still, your friends seem to be, don't they?" He tilted his head back, considering the square of light against the college's facade that was the common room window. "Curious lot, you friends, aren't they?"

I glanced at him, startled. "I beg your pardon?"

"Your friends," he said patiently, as if I was an infant. "They hold quite a collective curiosity, don't they? Particularly as regards Abbey College, yes?"

I stared at him, completely nonplussed. I'd thought our amateurish investigations had been secret, but apparently I'd been wrong. "How...?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "Please. You look at all these books in the library that might talk about it, but don't, and then leave them out. Then you take your friends to look at the ruins. Then you and Miss d'Albury get shot at there. Please. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out."

I scooted away, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "So tell me," he said, leaning forward to fill the space I'd created between us. "What have you and your little friends learned?"

I was filled, out of nowhere, with an overwhelming urge not to say anything. "Not much, Professor," I said, as politely as I could. "Only that it was caused by a National Party."

"Oho?" he said, laughing slightly, as if he were delighted. "You are a clever little thing, aren't you?" He reached out and trailed a finger along my cheek. "Yes, indeed."

I shuddered, jerking away, but his hand snaked out to cup the back of my neck. "Oh, yes, Abigail Ashley, you are very clever. Very, very clever. And that's dangerous. Yes, it is." He breathed the next words, "Very, very dangerous."

I jerked away, struggling to my feet. "Sir, I'm confused. I think I should go back to the party before my friends miss me."

He smirked. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" he said. I frowned. I was so lost. I had no idea what he was say, or why he was saying it. "Oh, Miss Ashley, but surely you know I can't just let you go? You're far to valuable."

I took a step back. "Well, then," I said. "Good thing I don't need your permission, then."

I turned and began climbing the steps back up to the door. My hand was just reaching for the doorknob when something struck the back of my head and everything went black.