LOOP TWO - CHAPTER SIX

Amber held her arms out, then pulled Jade to her as the girl slid off of Cassy’s broom.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad,” Cassy said.

“You went too fast,” Jade replied. It took her a moment to find her feet, a moment where Amber held her up and tried to keep her steady. “Way too fast.”

Cassy snorted and swung a leg over her broom and sat on its length. “It was one little loop-de-loop,” she said.

“I thought I was going to fall off!” Jade hissed.

“I thought you were going to crush my ribs.”

“You’d deserve it.”

Amber sighed. “Girls,” she snapped. “Cassy, apologize.”

“What?” Cassy asked. “Come on, seriously?”

“We told you Jade is afraid of heights, or flying, whatever; you didn’t need to do that. Come on, I know you’re not mean, and you did scare her.”

Cassy rolled her eyes and made a big show of sighing, but she slid off her broom and met Jade’s eyes for a moment before staring at the ground. “Yeah, fine, I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” Jade said.

“Good,” Amber said. “Now hug it better.”

Cassy snorted and reached out to poke Amber in the gut. “You wish, Red.”

“Red?”

She gestured to Amber’s head, then down to all of her costume. “You know, because of all the red. So, are we just going to stand here?”

Amber shook her head, but didn’t deny that she was on the reddish side. A glance around revealed that no one was the wiser about their little escape. The top of the cliff overlooking Norumbega had a great view to one side. The streetlamps in the city below twinkled merrily, and the more glaring lights in the newer section illuminated everything in a stark white as they fought off the dark of night.

The academy, on the other side, wasn’t nearly as bright. Only a few of the buildings were tall enough to be seen past the walls, and not all of those were lit up from within.

“It’s prettier during the day,” Amber said.

“Eh, we’ll see it in the morning. So, we go over the walls?” Cassy asked.

“No,” Jade protested immediately.

“There’re gates at both ends,” Amber said. “I don’t know if they’re locked during the night. I’d guess so, but we can try them.”

“And if they are, we what, sleep outside?” Cassy asked.

Amber rolled her eyes. “No, if they are, then we jump over the wall. Not fly, Jade, jump.”

“That wall’s at least four metres high,” Jade said. “Maybe more, it’s hard to tell. I could use my scarf?”

“It’s not that long,” Cassy said.

“It gets longer,” was Jade’s reply.

Amber shrugged. “That works for me. Our dorms are on the other side, and the entrance is... that way. There’s another, but it's right up against the base.”

“The base?” Cassy asked.

“Military. Planes and soldiers and all that kind of stuff. They might ask questions.”

“Let’s go around then,” Jade said.

Amber nodded, then stepped ahead of the others. The ground was rocky and treacherous, and she stretched her arms out to keep her balance when a few stones nearly slipped out from underfoot. Cassy hovered next to her and patted the end of her broom, but Amber shook her head. Wouldn’t do to leave Jade the only one stumbling around in the dark.

The moment felt a little like trying to sneak over to the cookie jar without anyone noticing.

They reached the walls of the academy, then started to circle around it. There was a path of beaten earth next to the wall, a spot where enough feet had tamped down dirt to create a path.

The gate into the academy was hard to miss. There were lights hanging above it on long stalks, casting a yellowish glow onto the gate and the portcullis next to it. And onto a pair of magical girls who were staring their way, arms crossed.

“Uh oh,” Cassy said.

“‘Uh oh’ is right,” a voice said from behind them.

Amber spun, heart jumping to her throat.

Another two magical girls, partially hidden in the dark, but not enough she didn’t recognize them. “Cecilia,” she said.

The girl in question stared, then glanced to her side where Jessica shrugged. The two girls near the gate weren’t part of their team though. So there might be four more magicals hidden around that we just can’t see.

“You know me?” Cecilia asked.

“Uh, it’s complicated,” Amber said.

“As complicated as the reason you, an unfamiliar magical, are outside the academy at this hour?” Cecilia asked.

“A lot more complicated than that, yes,” Amber said. “We didn’t want to wait in Norumbega, so we came up here. We thought we could sneak into our dorms?”

“That sounds wildly irresponsible,” Cecilia said.

“I’d do that,” Jessica admitted. It earned her a flat look from her leader.

Amber rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “So, we’re not here to cause any trouble or anything, can we go in?”

“Today’s really not the best day for sneaking around,” Cecilia said.

Amber perked up. “Was there an explosion today?”

She almost felt the tension in the air rising. “What would you know about that?” Cecilia asked.

“She would know much,” a familiar voice added. All the magicals looked up to the top of the wall where a Seelie was sitting atop a battlement, tails waving around behind it. It jumped down, legs splayed out every which way, and it might have splattered against the ground if Cecilia hadn’t lept up to catch the Seelie with a hug in mid-air.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Care to explain?” Cecilia asked as she set the Seelie down.

The little creature spun in a circle before sitting down. “Amber was the one who warned us of the attack today.”

“So there was an attack,” Amber said. “Was the administration building evacuated in time?”

“Administration building?” one of the magical girls by the gate asked.

The Seelie looked up to Amber. ”The attack occurred at an office building across the street from the administration building. None were injured.”

“Huh,” Amber said. “Something changed then.”

“Can we get some context?” Cecilia asked.

Amber nodded. “Time stuff.”

“Oh,” the girl said. “Okay then.”

“Wait, seriously?” Cassy said. “Time stuff is a good enough excuse to get away with anything?”

“Jealous?” Jade asked.

“I mean, a little.”

Amber laughed, a bit of nervous energy escaping her. “We really do just want to get to our dorm. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Cecilia said. “Jess and I will escort you over, in case you get lost.”

So we’re not entirely clear of suspicion, which is probably for the best. It feels like the security here is pretty lax already. “Lead the way,” Amber said.

Cecilia did as she said, moving past Amber and her teammates and opening the portcullis for them. Cassy and Jade had their heads on swivels as they moved through the central channel dividing the academy, then up the stairs to the southern side of the campus.

“When do the shops open?” Cassy asked as they moved past the stores.

“In the morning,” Amber said. “We’ll have time to mess around tomorrow, I think.”

“Isn’t it orientation tomorrow?” Cecilia asked.

“We skipped all the way over to our dorm on a whim,” Jade said. “I don’t think it’s likely that my team will be doing orientation.”

Cecilia chuckled. “Well, at least you have a good dynamic going already. That’ll be handy.”

“We just need to meet Morgan now, and make sure she’s not too weirded out,” Amber said. Cassy shot her a look, so she explained. “Morgan is very by-the-book. She’s a really good magical girl though. I’m sure you’ll like her.”

They arrived at the two dormitory towers, and Cecilia gestured to theirs. “Do you know where your rooms are?”

“We do, thanks,” Amber said.

“Sure thing. You’ll have to tell me how you know me one of these days. Seelie trusts you, which is nice, but I’m still curious.”

“Maybe over breakfast,” Amber said.

They said their goodbyes, then Amber led her friends up to the dormitory. It was, as expected, somewhat empty and quiet within. Most of the new teams were still in Norumbega, and she imagined that some of the older years were already in their rooms, or were only coming in later on.

“We’re up here,” Amber said as she walked up the stairs at the back and reached the floor where they were staying. “This one.” She paused before the door, then knocked.

Tilting her head a bit, she could make out the sound of someone moving on the other side of the door, then it swung open and she came face to face with Morgan.

The taller blonde looked at her, then glanced at the two girls behind her. “Hello?” she asked, wary.

“Hey, Morgan,” Amber said. “I’m Amber, this is Cassy, and this is Jade. We’re, uh, the rest of team Svallinn.”

Morgan blinked. “Oh, uh, hello. I thought the initiation was tomorrow.”

“It sounded boring, so we snuck over here,” Cassy said. “Can we come in?”

“Of course,” Morgan said as she backed up a step. “I wasn’t expecting anyone, so forgive me if I don’t have anything set up.”

“It’s fine,” Amber said. “We’re the ones intruding a bit early.” She looked around, but the room was the same as she remembered, if a little more empty. A few things were missing here and there, personal effects that the others had left around. “Do you mind if we talk for a bit?”

“I suppose?” Morgan said. She sounded uncertain. This is likely coming out of nowhere for her.

“That’s great, because I have a whole bunch of things to explain,” Amber said. She saw Jade click the door shut behind her, then the shorter girl wandered around. “That’s my room,” she said, pointing to one of them. “Or it was... last time. Uh.”

“Last time?” Morgan asked.

“That’s what I want to talk about.” Amber took a deep breath, then gestured to the seats in the kitchen area. “Maybe we can all sit down? I have a lot to cover.”

“Morgan,” Jade asked. “Do we have anything to make something to drink? Coffee, or tea?”

“We have water,” Morgan said.

Jade looked vaguely disappointed, but she accepted the water bottle Morgan fetched from the fridge. Soon, everyone but Amber was sitting down, and she felt herself at the centre of their attention.

“Okay. so... I’m a time traveller, from a few days in the future. I travelled back to the day I got my powers when I was killed just after Ethics class.”

There were some questions at that.