Stay With Me (On Hold)

1x09

What Was Hope Doing In Your Dream?

     Hope and Alaric decided to immediately get started on the urn research. They needed to know everything they could about second key to Malivore.

     Just not at two o'clock in the morning.

     After their trip to rescue Landon, I found myself on the brink of exhaustion. I did not want to read a multitude of dusty books to find a brief mention of a magical urn, if one even existed. And while late nights were my thing, I needed more than a quick nap in the car to make him the least bit alert. Not to mention I had exams later that day.

     I retreated to my room to get at least six hours of sleep, before I would be rudely awoken to sit in a classroom and listen to boring presentations and rack my brain for answers to test questions.

     I yawned, leaning against the back of a chair in the Grand Hall. All of the students were crowded into the room, with the exception of the lower school kids. Landon set next to me and rested his arms on the table as he looked around, while Rafael clamed on spot on the table.

     "Yesterday, I came into possession of another Malivore artifact," Alaric addressed them from the base of the staircase. "It was my hope to find a method of containment before it signaled another monster, but given the emergency meeting I've just called, I'm sure you can guess how well that went."

     Some students talked amongst themselves, most likely worried about the next creature ready to attack them. Others did not seem that interested.

     I closed my eyes as I rested my head on my shoulders. I began to doze off, but a nudge against my foot jarred me awake. I looked over to find Landon with a curious expression.

     "Do you know where Hope is?" he asked.

     I sighed. "Probably in Dr. Saltzman's office. If she has any sense, she'll be curled up and asleep on his couch."

     "But rest assured, we are taking every precaution," Alaric continued.

"Sherriff Donovan has been kind enough to open the doors of the Lockwood Mansion to us, so Mr. Williams and Ms. Tig are now in the process of evacuating our students from the lower grades."

     "Why don't we just evacuate the damn artifact?" Kaleb questioned from where he stood in the back of the room.

     "We are much more well-equipped than the world at large to handle the arrival of a monster."

     Duh, I thought.

     "Once we know what we're dealing with and the problem is contained, then we can reassess what to do with the artifact. If any of you would like to evacuate, please talk to Dorian or Emma. However, exam week will continue as scheduled – wherever you are." Everyone groaned at his words. "I know. I'm sorry. I can't exactly call the State Accreditation Board and tell them that we're cancelling the exams because of monsters. We'll get through this, I promise. Try and get some rest, okay? Goodnight."