"Aren't you two supposed to be off cleaning the school today?"
Kuroko went from dead to drowsy.
"Mmmmm... Nngh... five more minutes, Ma..." Grim mumbled.
"Go ahead. Sleep the day away. And you might not eeever hafta wake up again." Ghost B said.
At which she sat up so violently that she pushed Kayra off the small, single bed they were on. Grim also woke with a start.
"Myah?! The ghosts are back! Hey, you two, up and at 'em!"
The fight that followed was simpler and faster compared to last night. Firstly, because no one was very serious about it. Secondly, because the girls didn't want to ruin the only useable room in the dorm.
"So I hear you'll be living here from now on? Hope you like pranks as much as we do!" Ghost A laughed.
"We gotta get rid of those things for good." Grim grumbled.
Kuroko heard footsteps approaching and hurriedly ducked into the joint bathroom.
Crowley greeted them and inquired to their night. Grim recounted how the mattress had fallen through the frame at his weight.
"Exactly how ramshackle IS this dorm?"
Good question. Kuroko thought.
"And worse yet, we got woken up by ghosts!"
"I didn't sleep well either..." Kayra's good sleep was due to exhaustion, not comfort. But Crowley didn't need to know that.
Crowley blamed it on the unfamiliar environment, and told them to "suck it up and move on!".
"Speaking of which, let us discuss your assignment for today." He set down breakfast. "Your job today is to clean the campus. That said, the campus is vast, and without magic, it'd be quite the Herculean task to clean it all"
As such, Kayra only had to worry about the main street- from the front gates to the library. Which both girls found convenient as it's exactly where they wanted to go. They did mental cheers. Then Kayra got lectured on Grim.
"Do not fail me. You may take your lunch at the cafeteria. I eagerly await the fruits of your labor." He left.
Grim didn't wait to complain, saying how he wanted to learn magic, with added sound effects.
"After we clean, we can study in the library." Kayra reminded him.
Kayra was disgusted by the bathroom with it's stained tiles and- more cobwebs. She had to sweep up the place to use it .The shower functioned not-so-smoothly. Crowley had brought soap, a towel and a black jumpsuit as a janitor uniform. But she had other reasons to change as well. As she did so, Kuroko cleaned the rest of the room using Kayra's new janitor supplies. Grim was displeased at the dust being kicked up. Later, they chowed down on breakfast, and the janitorial team set off to work.
The plan was simple: Kayra would quickly sweep main street, then spend the rest of the day in the library. Meanwhile Kuroko would clean as much as she could, starting from the bedroom. The problem was this didn't involve the mirror chamber. But the library was practically given to them, so they decided handle it first.
Grim marveled at main street, which was a deserved reaction. "I didn't get to see much of it yesterday. What's the deal with these seven statues? All their faces look pretty scary. Like, this lady here got some reeeal anger management issues."
Kayra didn't bother to look, she began sweeping. As far as she was concerned, it was irrelevant. The library was priority. If Grim was lucky, it would have some information on the statues.
"You don't know the Queen of Hearts?"
Both of them turned to face their new company. It was the first local she met who looked normal. With the exception of the heart near his eye, almost hidden by his ginger hair. Grim was stupid enough to ask if the lady was 'some kinda big deal'.
Why else would there be a statue of her?!
But the guy gave them both a better explanation.
"She was a queen who lived in a mazelike garden of roses long, long ago. She was a strict woman who prized order above all. She wouldn't tolerate a rose being off-colour, or her playing-card soldiers being out of step. She basically ruled over a kingdom of madness, but not one of her subjects dared to defy her. You wanna know why? Because the punishment for breaking a rule was immediate decapitation!"
Okay... Mad monarch. Why would you make a statue of someone like that?!
Grim gasped. "That's seriously messed up!"
"Pretty cool, right? I'm a big fan."
Then you're messed up too.
"I mean, who would bother to obey a queen who was kind all the time."
"Yeah, true. A leader needs to be strong." Grim agreed.
"First of all," Kayra interrupted. "There's a certain way to word your point. Next, Grim- back to work!"
"I can do whatever I wanna. But puttin' that aside... Who're you, now?"
"Name's Ace. I'm a first year student here, as of ...today! Pleased to meetcha!"
Grim introduced himself as a prodigy, and Kayra as his "far less interesting hench-human".
"Kaye, huh?" Ace asked. "Name's got an odd ring to it."
"Nice to meet you." She replied in a tired voice. "And I'm not anyone's hench-anything."
Please don't notice that I'm a girl...!
Grim then questioned Ace about the scar-eyed lion statue. Kayra continued to sweep but payed close attention.
"That's the King of Beasts who ruled the Savanna. But he wasn't born into the throne- he had to earn it through hard work and elaborate schemes. When he became king, he declared that the hyenas would be pariahs no more, and should live among his subjects as equals."
Grim commented on how not everyone is able to look past social status very easily. Kayra agreed- he sounded better than the queen at least. Though "hard work" and "elaborate schemes" was not the usual combination.
Next was the Octo-lady.
"The Sea Witch who lived in an underwater grotto. She basically devoted her life to helping troubled merfolk. If they were willing to pay the price, she'd help them change their appearance, find love, whatever! They say she was so good, there was no wish she couldn't grant. They also say the price was a tad steep though. But she was granting wishes! Of course it was!"
Grim was delighted at the prospect of scamming people once he became a proper mage. Kayra had never been so thankful that he had bad aim. Ace moved on at Grim's request.
"That's the Sorcerer of the Sands."
Is Grim seriously gonna make him explain all seven?!
"He was an advisor to a total dolt of a sultan."
Hold on- Time out. No info dumps!
"He was a smart guy. Really capable sort. He exposed this swindler once- some guy pretending to be a prince in order to trick the princess! After that, he got this magic lamp and became the greatest sorcerer in the world. Then, they say... he used that power to become sultan himself!"
"Wow! Guess it's true that a mage need to be an excellent judge of character, huh? And what about this beauty over here?"
Kayra stopped sweeping. The information was going over her head. She doubted Grim would remember any of it either. This guy was just wasting their time.
"She's a queen who was said to be the fairest in all the land. In fact, she used her magic mirror to check how she ranked on a daily basis!"
She faltered in her steps. Her grip on the broom tightened.
Magic mirror... there's no way...
"When it looked like her position was threatened, they say she'd do whatever it took to keep it. Can you even imagine the level of dedication it would require to keep a record like that? Also, they say she was a master of making potions."
Having snapped out of it, she found herself next to them.
"That's the king of the underworld! Single-handedly ruling a kingdom packed with rambunctious spirits- that takes competence! He may look scary, but he was a straight shooter who worked tirelessly at a job that he never even asked for. I mean this is a guy who was ordering Cerberus, the Hydra and the Titans into battle for him."
They have a house for Hades?! You don't even know if he's real!
She thought better of it. If there's magic anything is possible. It appears that she's in a different kind of cult.
"Hey, aren't you getting late for-"
Grim cut her off. "That IS something. T'think he could have that much power and not let it go to his head!"
You couldn't be more of an opposite.
"That's the Thorn Fairy who lived on a mystical mountain. She was noble and elegant, and a master of magic and curses- even by the standards of these seven! She commanded storms, covered the kingdom with thorns... She could use magic on a massive scale! She could even turn herself into a giant dragon."
Kayra had a new thought. She wasn't making much progress with Crowley. Maybe she should try befriending the students. They seem to spew information on their own accord.
"Ooh, a dragon! What all monsters yearn to be!" Grim gushed.
"Pretty cool, huh? Not like some piddling weasel."
Kayra, who had opened her mouth to speak, closed it immediately. She did not see this coming. Grim exclaimed in surprise.
"Pfft... Ah ha ha! I can't hold it back anymore!" Ace laughed hysterically.
She could already see the fight happening. She had to break it up now.
"Come on, you're the ones who turned orientation into a fiasco, right? The one summoned by the Dark Mirror who can't even use magic, and the monster no one summoned at all. It took everything I had not to burst into laughter right in the middle of the ceremony!"
"H-hey! You don't gotta be a jerk about it!" Grim remarked reasonably.
"So in the end, neither of you got admitted, and now you're janitors? Ah ha ha! SO lame!"
"You know what's lamer? Missing breakfast and being late for class on the first day. Get going." She needed to get rid of him. Fast.
Ace struggled to find a good comeback. But Grim saved him the trouble.
"What did you just call me?!"
Ace didn't have worry about handling 'Kaye', and simply mocked them on their lack of knowledge on the Great Seven. Kayra stepped in front of Grim to block it from the talking donkey.
"Maybe before you try getting into the academy again, you ought to take a second crack at kindergarden?" He chuckled.
Grim growled. Kayra took a deep breath.
"Okay, let's all just-"
Ace cut him off. He couldn't let him ('him' as in Ace thinks Kayra's a guy. So when looking from the students perspective, 'Kaye' is male.) have the last word. "Anyway, just thought I'd tease you a bit. And man am I glad I did. It's been a blast! Unlike you, I actually have classes to get to, so I'll let you get back to picking up trash. Bye!"
Thank god he's walking away...
But Kayra thought too soon.
"Myuh-uh! You ain't walking away from me! It's too late for that!"
Grim ducked out from between Kayra's legs, and blew fire at Ace, who dogged it.
"No one makes fun of Grim, Master of Fire! I'm gonna make that explodey-head of yours explode all over again!
More like Master of setting-things-on-fire!
"Explodey-head?! Wanna throw down with me, shorty? You got some guts. You wanna talk hair, huh? I'm gonna shave you like a toy poodle!"
No, no, no...
The only other option was to scare him off. "If you don't back off, the only guts you're gonna see is your own splattered on the pavement."
She held the broom defensively. She would use it if she had to. Grim attacked.
Ace pulled out a pen. "How do you like that?"
A gust of wind strong enough to push Kayra onto her rear, blew Grim's flames off course. Worse yet, the commotion was drawing in a crowd. A crowd that encouraged the fight.
"Let's all take this down a notch!" But her voice was drowned in all the other sounds.
The crackles of Grim's fire, the swoosh of Ace's wind, the cheering of the crowd- there was no way anyone could hear her. Ace continued taunting Grim. As she thought of a way to end the fight, she saw something that drained the blood from her face- even with her tan skin.
"The statue!" She yelled. This time everyone heard her.
Ace turned to look. "Oh no! The Queen of Heart's statue looks like it's been flame-broiled!"
"That's your fault for tryin' to divert it! You shoulda just let it burn you to a crisp!"
"Who in their right mind would ever do that?!"
"What is going on here? Cease this at once!"
"Oh no! The Headmage!"
Fudge
"We gotta get outta here!" Grim said. They began creeping backwards.
But Crowley was ahead of them. He whipped both Ace and Grim, thankfully not Kayra. She hurriedly got up.
Grim exclaimed. "And I'm still sore from yesterday, too!"
"As if the likes of you could ever flee from me!" He sighed. "Did I not warn you 'no more incidents'? And now you've charred one of my statues?! It's almost as though you WANT to be expelled!"
Kayra raised her head in shock.
"No! Forgive me!" Ace pleaded. They never caught him for sneaking out of orientation, but they did know about it. Grim cowered behind him.
"And you, Kaye. You were specifically told to keep Grim under control!"
"I'm sorry Headmage! It's all my fault for not being more strict with Grim!" She figured she would butter-up the gullible Headmage.
"This will not do." He turned to Ace. "And you! State your name and grade."
"Ace Trappola... Freshman."
"Then listen well, you three. As punishment for today's infractions, you are hereby ordered to wash a hundred windows!"
All three exclaimed in surprise. Kayra's heart sank. Her day was gone.
My library time...! A hundred windows!
Grim blamed it on Ace, who simply tried to squirm out of it.
"You will meet in the cafeteria after class. Are we clear?"
"Yes sir." Kayra and Ace said in union.
The crowd started to disperse. Kayra glared at the slouched back of a retreating Ace. Grim continued to nag. When everyone was gone, a wordless Kayra turned her hateful gaze to Grim. Which was enough to shut him up for the next few hours.
• • •
With her mind clear, Kayra had figured out that they had to wash the windows after lunch. Which gave her some time in the library after sweeping main street- just not as much as she would like. She made a quick detour to Ramshackle and relayed everything to Kuroko, who in turn lectured Grim's ears off. After no progress in the library, Kayra made sure she and Grim both had a balanced meal for the upcoming chore.
Grim complained despite not actually doing anything. Ace Trappola was taking his sweet time.
They waited.
Students were leaving.
And waited.
The cafeteria was empty.
And waited.
"...and now he's super late! I bet he up and bailed on us!"
Kayra stood up from leaning against a table. "We should look for him."
She was ready to kill him.
Oooohh~ Kayra's pissed. Wonder what'll happen next~?