The officers waved goodbye to the girls and pup at the entrance of the third-floored school. Children and toddlers wandered on their outsides in the company of their parents and teachers. Street musicians played folkloric songs about the same day on the carless street.
Rowie, being still a young puppy in development, fell profoundly asleep inside Cookie's backpack. He was like a really warm and heavy teddy bear warming up Vanilla's back.
"Ah, look Vanilla, they decorated with those lights even up to the third floor!" Cookie signaled the windows of the building.
"That's quite strange," Vanilla said, looking above. "Those lights must have been put from the outside. The third floor's been permanently closed for years."
"What do you mean?" Cookie asked.
"Don't you know about the...? Oh, I remember. You must have been studying abroad."
"For much of my dislike. Brits are even more boring people than the folks of this country." They leaned next to the stairs that led to the double door entrance of the school. Disguised people roamed by.
"They closed it," Vanilla explained. "saying that it was —needless for the low population density that strikes Merry Oaths each year—. But oh no girl, oh no. They did all they could to hide the truth from the outside world. Do you know how many students committed suicide right there?"
"Suicide?" Cookie tilted her head and raised one eyebrow. "How do you know that?"
"I studied there. But that's not all."
"What's it then? tell me more." Cookie stared at her as she would look at her father when he read to her before going to bed.
Vanilla looked around, making sure no meddling ears were listening to their gossip. "14 Students suicided In a lapse of four months. 14. That's almost 4 each month. Another 3 were found dead in the basement, but their cause of death was never revealed to the public. And that's not all," She looked at both sides. "The cherry on the cake was the assassination of a teacher that also happened to be a nun. 90 stabs and a cross of blood on her forehead. What does that tell us about?" She said. The mystery of the fourteen suicides was something that filled Vanilla with curiosity every time she thought about that school.
"Really? Oh god... Why didn't you suicide?" Cookie asked.
Vanilla looked at her and shook her head. She facepalmed.
"I don't mean that! What I'm trying to say is, with many deaths, it must have not been a coincidence. Didn't you by any chance, feel any different?"
"Different? No... I don't remember. In those times I was dealing with bullying and the death of mom," She looked at the starry sky.
The carrier effect of Custos Aquilae let her spot the tiny eagle kilometers ahead, flying along with the giant bumblebee.
"Vanilla... I'm sorry." Cookie lowered her head.
"It's fine..."
"...How old were you in those times?"
"6 years old. I was only a little girl that knew nothing about the world. Now that I think about it, I still don't know anything," She kept gazing at the endless black of perforated streams of white dots.
"I know the feeling," Cookie said. "I also grew up without seeing much of my parents. They sent me when I was also six years old to study abroad at an only-girls boarding school in Great Britain."
"Your parents were and are still alive... You can't compare."
"Oh, you think I can't? Imagine having zero privacy or control about your being or image as you grew up, surrounded by other idiots like you and bitter, old spinsters that force you to eat rancid cake and old bread, and punish you for hours or with cleaning restrooms because you didn't sit correctly, you didn't grab a spoon set in the proper way, or just because they don't like you."
"Hehe. Well, yeah, I guess I had some liberty, growing up with a working and rich single-father and servants that would kiss your butt because you're his daughter. But I had lots of restrictions too, you know? Being the daughter of a successful businessman in this country forces you to apparent a certain image. An image that I don't really dislike, but I stopped giving a damn about it as I grew up."
Cookie chuckled. "We're most alike than we look. But that's not all you know? When you grow up and your body... no longer works as a kid, as a small girl's, and you're trapped in Boarding Schools, the lack of exposition to males makes girls right there be, like really awkward to them, or desperate. I've seen it. That or some of them become, ehem... they play for the other team."
"Oh, you telling me that you..."
"No! I didn't myself. But lots of things happen between those walls when the teachers and workers aren't looking. Ironic, isn't it? Parents put their daughters inside those schools to make them, 'Well mannered, proper ladies', but they end up being what they despise the most. I really hated it. I honestly forgave my parents when they took me out from there."
"Well, now that you put it like that... yeah. Maybe I didn't have it that bad."
"Maybe that school made me be like what I am like today. I hate anything that involves order and routine."
"I'll give that to you. We match in that... and wow."
"What's it?"
"I just thought that you... weren't exactly the introspective type."
"Oh, you just think that I'm just some air-headed idiot that bounces around? You offend me, Vanilla." She raised her palm and gently slapped her shoulder.
Both chuckled. "Hehe. C'mon. Let's get inside. The night won't last forever."
Vanilla looked once again at the sky. The moon had still not moved a single bit. And according to officer Bruce Brown, the number of missing children increased hour after hour. They needed to advance.
The abandoned last floor of that building and its attic looked like a good place where those things would roam and eat some of their victims, before taking the rest and most juicy for their final feast.
Her advanced eye caught some of those things approaching kilometers away. They needed to be ready.
"The janitor! Run Vanilla!" Cookie yelled. No more than five minutes inside that decorated school and they were already in trouble. Now they had to run away or they'd be kicked out.
"W-wait!" Vanilla complained. Cookie clasped her hand and dragged her through the stairs. Heavy steps rumbled behind them.
"Did you really have to punch that girl in the face?" Cookie asked between heavy breaths.
"She made fun of my eye! What was I supposed to do?" Vanilla panted as the faster Cookie kept dragging her.
They reached the final section, where a locked door impeded the way to the third floor. The rusty and cracked windows that ascended with the stairs looked as if they weren't given maintenance in years.
"It's closed!" Cookie cried. "Now, what do we do?!"
"Lemme try something!" Vanilla put out Avrevm Bacvlvm from her pockets. She shot the emerald at the door. The green beam unlocked it, revealing its dark-consumed interior.
"Girls... I'm smelling something!" Rowie showed his head through Vanilla's backpack.
"Don't talk Rowie!" She yelled. "They'll hear you!"
They jumped inside. Vanilla closed the door immediately and shot the amethyst at it. A barrier of purple energy sealed it from its insides. Steps and voices yelled outside on the stairs, but nobody tried to budge the door.
The girls panted and gasped for air. Their calves burned. Vanilla leaned on the door and sliced down to the floor. "Do you think he saw us getting inside?" Cookie asked, resting on her knees.
"No. I looked behind. He wasn't even turning around when we got in."
"I just hope you're right... Hehe... That was close!" Cookie breathed hard. She cleared the sweat on her forehead. "Where are you, Vanilla? I barely can't see."
"Lemme just..." Vanilla whispered. She pressed the citrine on Avrevm Bacvlvm, and its orange star illuminated the forlorn place. She got up and approached the blonde, with the light reflecting on her golden hair.
"One more for the Striking Witches! Hahaha!" Cookie raised her hand to Vanilla, with her palm spread.
Without more complaining, Vanilla did an awkward high-five with her. She looked and smelled around. The concrete labyrinth was inundated by the smell of dust, moisture, and a strong chemical compound; something used to clean biological leftovers.
"C'mon Vanilla! Cheer up! Didn't we agree that we'd do this for adventure and fun?" Cookie looked at her face. Vanilla still had her concerned and stoic expression on her face.
"Do you think that I—" She was about to yell, but halted her own words. When did she begin to take it that seriously? Fighting with Cookie would not solve anything and if they were divided, those harpies would have it easy to kill them. They needed to stick together.
"Are you alright?" The blonde girl asked.
"It's just... Nevermind. You are right, Cookie." She smiled at her.
"Hehe. That brat deserved it! Did you see how stupid she looked crying on the floor with her nose spilling blood?"
"Yeah, you're right. She deserved it. Little bitch."
Both chuckled, but Rowie just negated with his head and an annoyed grin. He already knew that Vanilla was not the most sensitive person in the world, but why did she have to act like the people who made fun of her? What was she trying to prove?
She had been slowly changing ever since he gained reason. She turned more aggressive and reckless, despite her weird switches between being confrontational and inhibited, and her attempts to be more prudent, which not always ended as she expected.
Could she be growing up, or was that just the effect of the many things happening to her? A particular smell pulled him out of his thoughts. "Girls, there is something here..."
"More harpies?" Cookie asked, adjusting his hat back in place.
"No... Different. It's human."
"Human?" Vanilla looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"It's strong. And alive." He responded.
"Alright, Let's take a look." She gripped Avrevm Bacvlvm.
"You... You first?" Cookie hesitated. Vanilla wanted to mock her for being scared, but that place frightened her too.
They felt observed. It was as if there was something stalking them amidst the dark, disturbed at them for profaning that unscathed place. They were probably the first humans in years to put a foot on that place.
"Let's go..." Vanilla whispered. The orange star led the way, and they advanced at a slow stride.
Looking impulsively back every few seconds, they bypassed a lengthy, whistling corridor after some 30 feet ahead. It connected perpendicularly with another hallway at the end.
"Look. This is the room where they found the nun stabbed." Vanilla said. "Let's see what's inside." She gripped the doorknob of the room in from of them and pulled the chirring door.
It was a mess inside. Rusty seats and tables were stacked in the left corner, with construction materials and debris on the other side. Paint cans, empty bottles, and abandoned tools stood over all of the edges.
"Damn. Look. There is blood is here..." Cookie signaled down with her boot. A spot of dried, black blood stained the floor on their feet, covered by dust and broken glasses.
"We need to return someday to investigate in more detail..." Vanilla whispered.
"I don't know if I'm up with you..." Cookie's voice waved.
"What? Are you scared?" Vanilla derided.
"Me? Scared?" Cookie pouted. "Of course no! I'm down whenever you want!"
"Girls," Rowie interrupted them. "The smell..."
Something metallic rumbled outside. Vanilla and Cookie turned around instinctively to face the door, feeling goosebumps rising from their feet to their spines. It then rumbled harder.
"Perhaps the janitor got inside..." Vanilla mumbled, aiming Avrevm Bacvlvm.
"No. It doesn't smell like him," Rowie said. "But It's a human smell."
"So... nothing to worry about?" Cookie said.
"Of course Cookie," Vanilla spoke with sarcasm. "We didn't need to worry about those harpies, or those vagabonds when Sasha saved our butts. Literally and figuratively." Both chuckled. Rowie either didn't understand the joke or was too busy with the smells.
"By the way, that thing is amazing, Vanilla," Cookie's eyes dazzled, looking at Avrevm Bacvlvm. "What are you afraid about?"
"You never know what to expect, Cookie. You can't always rely on your best weapon," She responded. "Well, we won't find anything standing here... Let's go outside."
Vanilla thought about it. Neither the succubus nor the horsewoman had any trouble against Avrevm Bacvlvm. It was easy to lose it from your hands with a badly placed hit. It gave them a chance against many monsters, but Vanilla didn't feel out of danger with it.
"Open the door. I'll try to call Bumbly." Cookie moved to the windows of the abandoned classroom. She tried to open them, but their locks were so rusty that they jammed on themselves.
"Doesn't budge?" Vanilla asked as she opened the doorknob, raising Avrevm Bacvlvm like a police officer about to waltz in a house. "What's the?!" Something suddenly rumbled behind. She looked back, and glass fragments were splashed everywhere.
"Who says it doesn't budge?" Cookie had a sledgehammer in her hands. The windows were now open, surrounded by sharp, sawed margins. "Bumbly!" She yelled to the night.