Just one last time, praying for a miracle, Hannah was on her way to check Riker's office. Despite the numerous confirmation she'd be gone for at least a month. Despite numerous rumours that it was Mather's new haunt. Despite my better advice.

It'd be nice if we could drop this issue entirely. It was comparable to a dog left at home pawing at the door their owner left to work through in a useless attempt to try and get them to come back.

Perhaps that was a bit harsh.

If I had fingers to cross with I'd be doing them. As much as I hated everyone's fixation on luck, but my gut feeling was telling me to avoid this office building. I'd quickly come to associate it with work and other bad things.

Ah but t'was all in vain for standing before Riker's office, looking concerned and ill at ease was none other than Riker herself. Her ruined coat folded over her arm, she stared into her office with an expression that screamed 'I am not okay with what I am looking at'.

“Professor Riker, are you okay?” It was a silly question, especially when we knew of at least one reason why she wouldn't be.

I drew back behind Hannah so as not to make presence too obvious. She seemed to dislike me and her distrust could spillover into her interactions with Hannah.

Riker didn't immediately spot me but never the less she flinched at the sight of Hannah. “Ah, Hannah. How are you?”

“I'm doing better.” Hannah shrugged. It was understandably non-committal answer considering she had quite a few things to be happy and upset about. “By the way, a couple of students blasted a ball through your window. I hope it didn't mess with your stuff.”

“I actually had noticed the big hole in the window.” The Professor probably couldn't fail to notice it. “Do you know who the students were?”

“I only saw Killian Redcrow. He was hurt so I took him the the Nurse's office.” This was a few days ago. “There were other boys but I didn't see them.”

Riker didn't look particularly angry. If I was her, revenge for my window would be first and foremost, however she clearly had something else weighing heavily on her mind.

Thinking about it, in that office there were probably plenty more precious things than the window. Wasn't it Jean who said a lot of the professors who come here were washed up scholars? She also said Riker was the exception. The spare tables in her office were still littered with the strange components that were there before.

“Did you see him looking through my desk? How about the other boys, do you think they did?” The questioning was a little intense. I'd never seen someone look all that frightened by the contents of their desk. She made it look like her embarrassing photo collection from her childhood was locked in one of the drawers.

Hannah shook her head. “Killian? No way. He was concussed when I found him. Although...” She paused thoughtfully. “I don't know about the other boys. They uh... They sounded like an unpleasant bunch of guys but I don't think they'd take anything with them if they messed around.”

Killian, even concussed, was filled with blithe that would make anyone doubt his mental acumen. In my humble opinion, the group of boys we didn't see seemed shrewd. Anyone who would isolate a classmate to beat them up seemed to be cut from the same cloth as a thief who'd steal stationary from someone's office.

Hannah continued. “When I came in here and found Killian, I guess your desk looked messier.”

“How so?”

“Well, there was more paper scattered about. Is something missing professor?” It definitely felt like Riker was dancing around the subject of being the victim of theft.

The Professor looked crestfallen. The dark bags beneath her eyes which had been present the last we saw her were still there. She twitched and squirmed nervously leading me to seriously doubt people's ability to chill even on a day off. Just what had she been doing the last few days? Juggling knives on fire?

Granted, someone such as I who wanted to sleep the world away probably was not the best example of learning to relax. I think in my case, it was more self-imposed apathy than chill.

If we were going to be any help, Riker would need to come clean. I quietly wished she wouldn't. My attitude on extra trouble was well known. “I'm... I'm just a little scared someone's been going through my office whilst I was away.”

Yes. Many people. One in particular comes to mind. Riker probably didn't know since she'd been away for so many days.

Naturally there was only one suspect to point towards. Of course the rumours didn't say he'd been caught going through her desks but never the less...

“I'm not sure.” Hannah answered.

Are you serious?! I wanted to grab her by the legs and shake her around the corridor. Had my eavesdropping the last few days been for nothing?! Was Mather hanging around Riker's office just a funny rumour to her?!

“It's probably nothing. I shouldn't get students involved.” Riker scratched the back of her neck sheepishly.

“Professor, if there's anything I can do to help you I w-” Hannah was cut short.

“Professor Riker? I had not expected you to return so soon.” The voice that echoed through the hallway was like that of a gentleman, but belonged to one of the last people I'd use the word to describe.

Riker looked past Hannah who seemed to shrink away. It looked as though any moment she'd hold as much presence as a generic portrait painting hanging from the wall.

Mather stood at the end of the corridor, the air about him impossibly different than when we first met. He seemed a few inches taller and wore an obnoxiously gentle smile on his face.

And then it clicked. Hannah may well have held back from implicating Mather. Quite smartly too. Even if she was unaware he was standing behind her at the time, the position of power he had made him someone unwise to accuse to skulduggery. At least, I hoped that was the case.

That very same guy who was running unethical and sadistic tests on a student with an interesting medical condition sounded quite a bit like the kind of guy who'd enjoy stealing stationary from coworkers.

“Professor Mather.” The tension from Riker's face eased visibly. What sort of person could relax around this guy? “Oh I'm just checking up on things. I'll be gone before you even notice.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Professor Mather let out a laugh. “Nonsense! We all miss you here at the academy. The break room is a little less interesting without your strange obsessions. Still, you should be prioritising yourself. You've worked non-stop and we are all concerned for you well-being after what happened.”

Riker's cheeks flushed a little red. I suppressed the urge to vomit.

Hannah was looking away rather distantly, perhaps projecting herself into a happy safe space where her abuser was not here and pretending to be a nice person.

“You don't need to come back everyday to check up on the academy. We'll be right here looking after the place until you return.” Mather promised. Certainly it was possible he was hanging around her office to make sure nothing happened to her personal effects.

Professor Riker looked relieved with Mather's guarantee. “Thank you. Just one question though?” As she smiled cheekily Mather shoulders sank with a sigh.

“The window?”

“Yep.”

“I caught some students from the practice field throw a force ball through it. Sorry, we'll have it sorted in no time. It'll be like it never happened when you come back.”

My ears peaked up. He'd caught the students who threw the ball. Of course that may well have just been a little exaggeration to make himself seem a bit more knightly.

But that was probably how the rumours started. So what really happened. Did he catch the students in here or did they catch him in here?

“Redcrow was among them. The usual suspect involved in troublemaking.”

Hannah must have come back to us when she couldn't stomach being here any longer. It was probably only the chance to talk to Riker that had kept her here but Mather seemed unlikely to budge any time soon.

She quietly excused herself and I followed behind her until we were out of the hallway. She fell back against a wall and took a long deep breath.

I felt queasy for an entirely different reason to Hannah. The way Riker looked at ease, or maybe even respected Mather, who to my eyes could well have just been putting on a front, made me feel sickly.

“Come on. Let's go.” Hannah muttered to me as she walked exhausted down the hallway.

Since I was not entirely in control of my life, I followed.

We left the the building and made a turn towards the usual conspiracy spot I'd hopped not to see again.

When we got there the shadow of the office building loomed over us. The cries from the training field seemed distant to my ears.

“Gods I hate that dick.” Hannah slammed her fist against the side of the building. A moment later she pulled it back with a bit of a wince.

“Uh... Is your fist okay?”

“It's a good thing I can't feel pain that well because that would have hurt.” Hannah grinned nervously.

Thinking back on it, the Nurse had given some good warnings. “I think the Nurse said the magic would last for as long as your arms weren't fully healed.”

“Well I've delayed that by a day or two then.”

“Congrats, you're a dumbass. W-wait it's just a joke don't kick me!” I retreated from the fierce glare Hannah shot Hannah.

She furrowed her brow and cracked her knuckles menacingly. “What did I tell you about jokes?” Her shadow loomed over me as she grinned.

“That you're a jerk about them or something?”

“Man you really are digging your grave today.” She sighed sadly. She scanned the area around her and then satisfied with the amount of privacy we had, asked, “Do you think someone is snooping around Riker's office?”

It wasn't unusual for people to turn paranoid when they reached a breaking point in stress. Although what came first, the stress or the paranoia? “She definitely seemed scared or nervous. Even just being around her office seemed to upset her. I would say that she believes someone is snooping around her office.”

Hannah paused to digest this. She couldn't seriously be thinking of helping, right? Sure it was an opportunity to get on Riker's good side, but the obvious suspect was someone she couldn't annoy.

Mather hanging around the Riker's office couldn't be a coincidence. But the more I thought about it the more Mather got on uncharacteristic well with Riker. But that might just have showed how little I knew about Mather.

“Why would anyone do that though? What's there valuable enough steal?” At least nothing that looked overtly valuable. Probably no jewellery. I didn't know the value of the components she strewn about the extra tables in her office but Riker didn't seem especially interested in them.

Why would anyone do that? Do you think anyone's snooping around Riker's office? It sounded like she wasn't even considering the obvious suspect.

Surely she knew-

My ears picked up the trampling of grass and voices nearing. Young, delinquent, they probably belonged to other students.

Looked like this was really a popular spot for conspiracy brewing and shady deals, I wanted to joke.

Hannah noticed my ears twitch and shook her head with a sigh. We were bound to be interrupted once or twice if we carried on trying to have conversations at the Triolo.

“Is the coast clear?” I heard a voice ask.

“I'll check now.”

And the first boy rounded the corner. He froze to the spot one he saw me and Hannah.

“What's up Kyle?” The rest of the group lagged behind him.

There were five boys. Four we didn't know and one that gave me and Hannah both a good idea of what was going on.

Somewhat mute stuck right in the middle of the four boys, was Killian. He probably didn't have much choice in his situation.

Both groups froze to the spot, quite unsure of what to do with eachother.

In their minds, they probably wondered things like, “how do you play it cool?” and “we have to make sure Killian doesn't rat us out.”

In Hannah's mind she was probably wondering things like “really, now?” or “I'm supposed to stop this from happening, right?”

I was just wondering things like “who should I bet on if Hannah if a fight breaks out.” Hannah clearly had them outnumbered one to four. One to five if Killian felt exceptionally stupid today.

It stood to reason that the one that seemed likeliest to dig a hole for himself completely ignored the mood and called out with a cheeky grin. “Oh Hannah, how you doing?” Killian waved. “Do you mind leaving, we were booked for a table of five here and you're kinda in our spot.”

I wondered whether he was just like this when he was happy.

“Well I guess I can't argue with that.” Hannah shrugged. “I could leave you with your 'friends' if you want.” Killian's expression tensed in an instant.

One of the boys decided to speak up. “Yeah do you mind leaving? We need to speak to Killian in private.”

Well, if it was me in control, but since it was Hannah although she promised to leave she remained firmly rooted to the spot, glaring ahead of her.

If that boy had just kept his mouth shut Hannah probably would have left. We could have all ignored and brushed his existence and pretended in some fantasy world Killian wasn't being dragged here to get beaten up. But he had to open his mouth.

“I need to speak with Killian.” Hannah declared.

All four boys winced. “Can it wait?” Kyle their leader puffed out his chest and smouldered. “We got him first.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Hannah shrugged. “Sucks for you because I need to speak to Killian. You're not going to stop me are you?” She squared her shoulders up to Kyle.

I sat back, watching in silence.

What was he going to do? Beat her up? Realistically, they'd win. Never the less, that after they'd finished their beat-down where both Killian and Hannah would go to the faculty with eachother as witnesses and report them would be the bit where they lost without a doubt.

Although considering Killian had never been too pressed to make his bullying known I wondered whether it would go down like that. He had given these boys confidence that he wouldn't fight back.

But that wasn't the case with Hannah.

She continued to glare. “Look I don't have all day. It's not like whatever you five are gonna do in your own personal time can't be done in an hour, or maybe tomorrow, or a week's time. But y'know what I can do? I can't talk to someone who's head's been kicked in. So scram, I'm talking to Killian first.”

The boys looked to eachother before Kyle narrowed his eyes. “Lady, you are crazy. Just get out of our way would you or...”

His threat turned to muttering as Hannah turned her back on him, calmly walked over to me, her eyes fixed to my spot. She picked me up much to my distress and made her way back to the boys.

“See this?” She held me out in front of the boys. “What's this?”

I met their eyes and tried to mentally beg them to spare me.

“It's a black cat?” The boys looked to eachother as though Hannah had shown them something really distasteful.

“Yeah.” Hannah nodded. “You're right.” she then kicked the nearest boy between the legs.

“Fuuuu-” He crumpled to the floor.

She passed by the surprised boys and grabbed Killian's wrist. “Come with me.” And she ran, brooking no argument from the boy or me as I hung over her shoulder, my claws dug into her cloak.

What the hell?! I wanted to scream. But as I saw the boys look to one another and yelling after Hannah, I couldn't help but laugh even if I knew it would be just more trouble at a later date.