Prank gone wrong

Cressida's pov

The academy had been on red lockdown for three days straight since after the whole incident and we were all about to lose our minds.

Three days of no hockey practice. Three days of no leaving the dormitory after dark or during dawn. Three days of Morwenna patrolling the corridors with that knowing look, like she could smell adventure on our skin and was just waiting for us to try something stupid.

So of course we did try something stupid.

It started in Benita’s room.

Benita’s room was nothing like mine. Mine was all formal and big enough for two beds and a desk asides from Raven's side that was a claustrophobic mess. Benita’s room had tapestries. Real like royal looking tapestries, the kind that moved when you weren’t looking, scenes from a kingdom I’d never heard.

“You’re a princess?” I’d asked, my voice was flat.

The first time we meet she gave off a whole different vibe.

Benita had smiled...small and apologetic, like she was sorry for existing. “Of Valdris. It’s in the northern mountains. Very small, very cold and extremely boring.”

“She’s being modest,” Raven said from the floor, where she was sprawled on a pile of cushions. “Valdris is where the first snow wolves came from. Her family has been royalty since before the Great Purge.”

I looked at Benita. At her mousy brown hair, her nervous hands, the way she flinched when someone raised their voice. She didn’t look like royalty.

But the tapestries didn’t lie.

“So you’re a princess,” I said again, testing the words.

“So you’re half-griffin,” Benita replied. “We all have our things.”

That was the moment I decided I liked her.

Tasha was Benita’s roommate.

Sassy and sharp-tongued. The kind of girl who looked at you like she was already bored with everything you were about to say with half lidded eyes. She sat on her bed, legs crossed, filing her nails with a silver file that probably cost more than the stone gnomes outside.

“Let me get this straight,” Tasha said, not looking up from her nails. “You want to prank Morwenna. The dorm mistress. The woman who can read minds.”

“She can’t read minds outside her office,” Raven said.

“Are you sure about that?”

Raven opened her mouth and then closed it.

Tasha smiled. “That’s what I thought.”

“We’re not asking you to come,” I said. “We’re asking you to be lookout.”

Tasha’s eyebrows rose. “Lookout?" 

“You have the best reflexes. If someone comes, all you have to do is warn us.”

She considered this for a while as she tapped the nail file against her chin.

“Fine,” she said. “But if we get caught, I’m telling Morwenna it was all your idea.”

“Deal,” Raven said as she jumped up from the cushions.

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

***

The kitten was asleep on Benita’s pillow.

I had named her Ember...because her fur was dark like charcoal, and because when she purred, she sounded like a crackling fire. She had been with me for two days now, hidden from Morwenna, hidden from the enforcers, hidden from everyone who would take her away.

She was illegal but then so mine.

“Ember will be fine,” Benita said, watching me hesitate. “I’ll leave my window cracked. She won’t even know we’re gone.”

I kissed the kitten’s head and she purred.

Then I followed the others into the corridor.

**

The dormitory at midnight was a different world.

The torches burned low and the tapestries on the walls moved slower, like they were drowsy. Shadows pooled in corners and every creak of the floorboards sounded like footsteps.

Tasha led the way. She moved like water....silent, fluid, her silver nail file tucked into her pocket like a weapon.

Raven was behind her, practically vibrating with excitement. Benita brought up the rear, her nervous hands twisting in the fabric of her robe.

I was in the middle.

Not until I heard a soft purr and everyone froze and all eyes instantly went to Raven. She winced immediately, "Sorry, she was too cute to leave behind and who knows, someone might take her without us knowing"

"Bringing her is risky"

"I know"

I just shook my head and went 

Morwenna’s quarters were at the end of the east corridor.

The door was old oak, carved with runes that glowed faintly in the dark. A single torch burned beside it, casting just the right amount of light.

Raven held up the water balloons.

Four of them. Red. Blue. Green. Yellow. Filled with ice-cold water from the bathroom sink.

“Who throws first?” Raven whispered.

“You,” Tasha said. “You’re the loudest. If she wakes up, you run faster than the rest of us.”

Raven looked offended. “I am not...“

“Throw the balloon, Raven.”

Raven threw the balloon immediately.

It sailed through the air in a perfect arc...and hit the door dead center.

SPLAT.

Water exploded across the oak. The runes flickered and something inside the room creaked.

We held our breath waiting for something to happen.

Nothing.

Raven grinned. “Again.”

We threw all four balloons.

Blue. Green. Yellow. Red.

The door was soaked. Water dripped onto the stone floor. The runes had gone dark. And Morwenna’s light...the one that always burned in her window, had not turned on.

“She’s not waking up,” Benita whispered. “She’s not...“

The door opened immediately and we didn't think.

We just ran.

I had never run so fast in my life.

Bare feet slapping against stone. Robes flying. Tasha was ahead of me, her silver hair a blur. Raven was beside me, laughing so hard she could barely breathe. Benita was behind us, her nervous hands now pumping at her sides like pistons.

We flew down the corridor. Turned left. Turned right. Dove into the stairwell and climbed three flights before any of us stopped to breathe.

“I think...we lost...her,” Raven gasped, doubled over.

Tasha leaned against the wall. Her chest was heaving, but she was smiling. “That was, actually...fun.”

Benita looked like she was about to be sick. “We’re going to get expelled.”

“We’re not going to get expelled.” I straightened, my heart pounding and my face flushed. “We’re going to get detention. There’s a difference.”

Raven snorted. “Same thing.”

“Detention you survive. Expulsion you don’t.”

We made it back to the dormitory corridor. Benita’s room was at the end. And ours was right beside. We were almost there. 

Almost safe.

But then a light flashed.

Brilliant. White. Blinding.

And we all froze as we heard a loud voice.

“Stop,”

Not Morwenna’s.

Not any enforcer I knew.