"ANNABETH MY DEAR, COULD YOU come look at something for me?" called Dr Santis from his small closet of an office. "And close the door behind you, if you will."
Thanks to Harriet, Annie already knew what to expect when she walked into the room. Her friend had given her the heads up about the death of Saskia's roommate just an hour ago. So, she was somewhat prepared to hear the news from Dr Santis and maybe even see some images. However, Annie had not expected to actually be shown the physical skull by her professor.
The leather of Dr Santis' chair squeaked as he stood up. "Come in, come in. Please sit."
Dr Santis was a small man by ordinary standards. He had a significant bald patch and thick dark brows which oddly resembled caterpillars. Even still, he was considerably taller than Annie's mother, who was a dwarf, and considerably kinder than most people too. It was for those reasons that Annie always felt comfortable around him. Normally, it was hard to speak up when you were always the smallest person in the room, but with Dr Santis, Annie always felt free to speak her mind.
However, it was hard to figure out any words to say as she stared at the ivory skull which sat innocuously on his desk. Well, about as innocuous as the skull of a dead girl could look. "Is that...?"
"Ah, yes yes," he replied, sitting down only after Annie did so. "This is indeed a real human skull. Now, I know your major is in supernatural medical science, but you are undoubtedly my smartest student, so I must ask your opinion on what you see here."
Annie fought back a concerned frown. This was definitely a subject meant to be discussed with a colleague and not a student, but she wasn't about to pass up such an opportunity. "May I?" she requested, gesturing to the skull.
Dr Santis offered her the skull, which she took into her hands. She inspected the red markings on its face with keen interest. "It seems to be some kind of clay..." She wiped her finger along the sigil and felt an oddly soft sensation. "... crushed with flower petals it seems. A red flower by the looks of it."
"Any guesses as to what type it might be?" the old man inquired.
She shook her head. "You'd have to ask a botanist. As for what the symbol is... I can't say I'm familiar with sigils or runes, unfortunately." Seeing Dr Santis' face fall, she then added, "But I believe that the upside-down placement of a skull represents after-death. A resurrection ritual perhaps?"
Annie almost cringed at her slip up. Dr Santis hadn't actually told or shown her about the original position of the corpse — Harriet had shown her the photo. Thankfully, Dr Santis seemed too absorbed in his own speculations that he didn't seem to notice.
"How fascinating," Dr Santis murmured. "Necromancy is one of those sub-practices of magic that leaves much to be desired. I can't say I've ever heard of anyone successfully managing to bring someone back to life. Then again, the body which belongs to this skull was desiccated, so maybe whoever did this was trying to animate their skeleton instead?"
Annie paused, a thought occurring to her. "If whoever killed this person was also trying to perform some kind of after-death reanimation spell, then why would they remove her tongue?"
Dr Santis' thick brows rose as he gave her a knowing look, to which Annie responded with a sheepish smile. Though she had been found out, he chose not to comment on it, but instead resumed their conversation. "Yes, it doesn't add up, does it? It could be that the one who murdered poor Kendra is not the same person who created the shrine in the forest."
Harriet had told Annie of her suspicions about Kaelan. Despite how terrifying he was, Annie didn't believe Kaelan would kill someone. He was not only wealthy, but his father headed the surreptitious U. S. department of supernatural education and reintegration to society. At the very least, he had too much to lose. In spite of that, Annie did very much believe Kaelan was capable of doing bad things, and so she agreed with Harriet on not returning his conduit to him — at least until they got to the bottom of Kendra's untimely death.
After failing to meet Kaelan at the agreed upon time, and then promptly ignoring the text messages she received from an unknown number, she returned to her dorm room to find it completely trashed. Books, kitchenware, and pieces of furniture were thrown around the living room. Every possible hiding place had been upturned in search of something. Upstairs, Annie's bedroom was somehow an even greater mess.
Clutching her forehead, she knocked urgently at the door adjacent to her room. The bored and tired face of her roommate popped out from behind it. "I think we got robbed," Lila said.
"Are you okay?" Annie asked her, panicked. Despite her concern, Lila remained disinterested.
"I have no enemies — or friends, for that matter. This is your problem." With that said, Annie's roommate slammed the door in her face.
Despite the outrageous mess, Annie was a little relieved. She had predicted that something like this might happen, so she hid Kaelan's conduit elsewhere. However, this wasn't going to be easy to clean. With a sigh, Annie set down her backpack and went to work.
She started with the common area, sweeping up every bit of glass and righting every upturned chair. She took a break around 10PM to eat some instant noodles and then started on her room. It was about 1AM when Lila popped out again and told Annie not to forget her bedroom. Finding little will or room to argue with her, Annie cleaned up Lila's bedroom as well. She found it hard to tell whether the mess was from the break-in or if it was just Lila's ordinary living habits. Either way, she cleaned it all until everything was spick and span. It was 3AM when Annie finally was able to pass out on her bed.
Unfortunately, the sweet release of sleep was short-lived because at precisely 6AM Annie felt something wet on her face. Her eyelids fluttered open as the first drop of water hit her brow and slid down the corner of her eye. She frowned as she looked up. There was an almost imperceptible mark on her pale blue ceiling, which looked eerily like a sigil.
And then it started to rain.
Annie sprang up from her bed as her clothes and bedsheets became soaked beyond belief. Water poured relentlessly from her ceiling, and Annie found herself trying and failing to find shelter under her bed. She vaguely heard Lila's shriek of alarm and Annie guessed that the unexpected downpour had graced her bedroom, as well.
Annie slid out from under her bed and escaped to the stairs outside her room, but nowhere in her dormitory was safe. Forced to leave the dorm room and wait outside with Lila, Annie almost immediately regretted not wearing something warmer to bed. She had stripped down to her t-shirt and underwear before she went to sleep, and now she was standing there shivering in a drafty corridor on a chilly September morning. To make matters worse, the other students weren't hiding their stares. Annie suddenly felt self-conscious about her unusually small and bony figure.
It was about an hour before she heard the rain finally die down. Annie glanced over at Lila who looked, not expressionless for once, but resentful. "I think it's safe to go in now," Annie said, and went to open the door. She froze.
"It's locked, isn't it?" Lila muttered, not seeming to be surprised by the day's turn of events. "God, Annie, someone must really fucking hate you. But why do I have to suffer for it?"
As Lila stormed off to hopefully get some help, Annie slumped against the door. It hadn't even been 24 hours since she had blown off the agreement with Kaelan, and she was already beyond regretting it. No, she thought with a shake of her head. Giving his conduit back would be worse. She couldn't let this childish bullying weaken her resolve.
But as the days went on with Annie waking up to a daily dose of magical morning rain, listening to Lila scream like a banshee, and finding her belongings scattered about the dorm every time she returned in the afternoon, Annie found her patience wearing thin. After three consecutive days of magical indoor flooding, she leapt out of bed, already wearing her rain boots, marched through her semi-flooded dorm room, and out the door.
She found Kaelan sprawled out on a patch of grass outside. He looked an odd picture: dressed in all black whilst the sun's rays cast a golden light over his pale face and raven hair. His lashes were enviously long, his eyes were closed, and his expression almost... peaceful. As Annie drew closer to him, she could've sworn she almost saw the ghost of a smile. But Kaelan Aphelios smiling? It would be a cold day in hell before that happened.
"What a warm sunny day it is, wouldn't you agree?"
He was mocking her and she hated it. Annie knew that, as she stood before him, she looked like a drowned rat. It was all thanks to his doing, of course. Not that he'd admit it.
"I want you to stop it," Annie told him, and then as an afterthought, added: "Please."
"Stop what?"
"You know what!" she bit back, trying not to sound too annoyed by his lack of cooperation. "If you don't stop this harassment now, I'm going to report you to the Headmistress."
Any ease or pretense of humor faded from his face. His eyes snapped open and he sat up. "And what will you say, hm? When she asks you why I, of all people, chose to torment you, what will be your reply? Will you tell her the true reason? That it's because you stole a part of me and no matter how kindly I asked, you refuse to give it back?"
Annie was at a loss for words. Kaelan stood up, and she fought her instinct to take a step back as she saw him tower over her. He was intimidatingly tall for any man, but for someone of her dwarfish genes, it was even scarier.
"Perhaps you should tell her the truth. I think I'd like to see how that goes. But until my conduit is returned to me..." Kaelan took a step closer, until he was a mere breath away. He lifted his index finger and pressed it against her forehead. She stayed still, not daring to move an inch as he drew something on her forehead. A sigil. "I'm going to make your life miserable."