"There it is," Michelle says eventually, her eyes on the neighboring school grounds.
"Not going to get any closer with us standing here," Sonia comments, staring into the gloom around you. "We need to keep going."
Silently, the nine of you begin to climb over or duck under the fence, your eyes still fixed on St. Mary's. The main, and largest, building is utterly in darkness: not a single light shows in any of the windows. Yet at the same time, a shiver runs through you as you think of what those dark windows might be concealing. Who, or what, could be watching your approach?
You've gone almost ten paces before you realize, suddenly, that only eight of you are still moving forward.
You turn, slowly, dreading what you'll see when you look behind you but unable to keep yourself from looking.
Will is standing completely still, his body and limbs utterly devoid of motion. The strange, frozen inactivity—whether magical or purely physical—has reduced him to little more than a statue.
The others are turning now, staring at the Head Boy as they see his condition. Romilly lets out a slight gasp, drawing towards him, but Val holds out an arm, keeping her back.
"We don't know what it could be," the vampire whispers. "It could be dangerous."
At her words, Will's head turns to gaze at her. The suddenness, the immediacy of the motion is so repellent, so grotesque, that it's all that you can do not to step back. There was something truly wrong about the movement, and you wait, holding your breath to see what will happen next.
"So you've made it to the human school."
The voice is not Will's. It comes out of his mouth, it uses his vocal cords, and you see him say the words, but Will has never sounded like that since you've known him. That voice, the phrasing and its expression, has a single owner, and her expression of cold, contemptuous superiority is stamped across the Head Boy's face.
"Lady…Lady Rastan?" you ask, staring at a young man's face that is even now twisting its features into those of the vice principal of Cavalcade Academy.
"Ah, Kan." Will's head turns violently to gaze at you, and you suppress a shudder. "What an interesting journey you have had: your ragged determination has almost been admirable. I've never known a human to be quite so persistent as you."
Will's head, wearing Lady Rastan's calculating expression, tilts as he regards you. "Indulge me," he says. "I am…faintly curious to know why you feel the need to go on struggling as you have, outnumbered and outmaneuvered as you are. What could drive anyone to the lengths that you have pushed yourself to?"
Why do you go on struggling?