Prologue

It was evening time at Croftfall Academy. The sun was steadily sinking, bathing the sky in glorious pinks, purples and oranges. Two women sat in a large office, both gazing out of the wall-wide window at the sunset, enjoying their brief moment of silence. "It's nice and peaceful up here," one of them remarked, leaning back in her chair.

"Only when the students aren't here, unfortunately," the other sighed, running a hand through her long black hair as she spun around in her chair. "We need to get back to the matter at hand." Leaning forwards on her desk, she continued, "we need to improve this academy further. The school board is chasing me up about it; I just don't know what to do! Any ideas, Elena?"

"I have a few," Elena began, also leaning forwards. "For starters, we could work on getting the teachers more organised. They rarely know what's going on and what they need to do."

"Any more ideas?"

"Well, we could always try to attain more government funding? Our on-sight facilities could use some improving- just like the rest of the school."

"Maybe." The black-haired woman sighed again as she rested against the backrest of her chair. "I don't know how easy it would be to get the extra funding; money's already tight enough as it is. I doubt my superiors will have any extra to spare, let alone for this place."

"Well, there's no harm in trying." Running her hands quickly through her hair, Elena tucked two loose strands behind her ears. Shaking her head slightly, she let her body fall against her chair's back. "Honestly, Callie, how can you run this place?!"

"How can you run two government departments?" Callie fired back with a small smile on her face.

"Okay. Point taken. But still! This place is hellish!" the blonde-haired woman exclaimed, throwing her arms up in exasperation.

"It has charm. And besides, I've been doing this job for years."

"I could say the same." Raising one eyebrow, the corners of Elena's mouth twitched as she tried to suppress a laugh. "So, how are the students doing?"

"You should know, Elena, you're a teacher here." Callie gave the other a slight smile as she idly stretched. "There's been no major disasters recently, which is nice."

"Makes a change," the blonde-haired one put in pointedly. "All my comments are in good fun," she continued, catching the other's poisonous look. About to comment but thinking better of it, the black-haired female spun around in her chair so she was facing out of the window again. By this time the sun had almost completely set, casting dark shadows across the landscape. Silence settled between the two women once again, both lost in thought.

The silence was, however, broken when the large oak doors were pushed open by a panting young man.

"Callie, Elena, I've got something to tell you," he announced breathlessly as he stumbled in. Running a hand through his white hair, he continued, "some really... weird things have been happening recently."

"You'll have to explain better than that, Tashiou," Callie replied sternly, a hint of anxiety tinging her voice as she turned to face the doors.

"I was just getting to that part," he fired back angrily. Attempting to regain his composure, Tashiou took a deep breath before finishing what he was saying. "There's something wrong with the computers. All the power just cut in the security room and now the monitors are going haywire. None of us can access anything- we've all been locked out."

"You're pulling our leg, Tash," Elena began, standing up.

"No, honestly, I'm not. Come see for yourself." Beckoning with his spare hand, the white-haired man turned around, using his other hand to support the door. The blonde-haired woman started to follow him, taking over the door from him while waiting for Callie.

Sighing, Callie stood up and joined them, shaking her head slightly. "If only I hadn't jinxed it."

"Oh yeah." Elena grinned over her shoulder at the other as they began following the man. Gently closing the door behind her, the black-haired female quickened her pace to catch up with the other two. She exchanged glanced with the blonde-haired woman before lowering her voice.

"Do you think he's serious?"

"I'm sure of it. I've known Tash for 7 years now, and I've never seen him this serious before." They continued their hushed conversation as the man pulled ahead. Swishing his dragon tail impatiently, Tashiou halted at a turn in the corridor.

"Hurry up!" he called urgently. Elena and Callie both quickened their pace, letting their conversation die out.

They completed the rest of their journey in relative silence. Pausing at a heavy door, the white-haired man slowly pushed it open to reveal a dark room. A solitary lamp flickered on the corner of a desk as the monitors flashed on and off. The black-haired woman sharply inhaled before entering and sitting down on one of the chairs. The other joined her as Tashiou wedged a doorstop under the door to hold it open. Crossing over to them, he said, "see, this is what I was telling you about. I've got no idea how to access them."

"Let me try." Passing the keyboard over to Elena, Callie looked around the rest of the room and then up at the ceiling. The fluorescent lights were shut off, the only source of light in the dingy room was coming from the lamp. A lone filing cabinet stood in the right corner and a small table was pushed against the back wall with a few chairs surrounding it. A pack of cards sat in the middle of the table. Elena's fingers tapped furiously at the keyboard as she furrowed her brow in confusion and concentration, breaking the silence with her occasional sigh. "It's no use," she eventually announced. "I can't get in." Turning back to look at the monitor screens, the black-haired female noticed that the screens were all blue, except the one the other was working on. "I've been locked out."

"What are we going to do about it?" Tashiou asked, flicking his tail nervously.

"Get a professional. There's no way anyone without a degree can get in." Elena was about to say more when a loud noise interrupted her. It was hard to discern what the noise was as it sounded so far away. Callie was almost instantly on her feet, sprinting out of the room and toward the source. Tashiou turned to follow, with the blonde-haired woman trailing behind him.

"What was that noise?" the man called ahead, stretching out his wings.

"I'm not sure- but it sounds urgent!" Callie responded, pulling further ahead.

"How can you run that fast in heels?!" Elena panted, falling behind. "I can't even run that fast in trainers!"

After running for a bit, the black-haired woman pulled to a stop in a large corridor. Looking around, she desperately tried to locate the source of the noise as the other two caught up to her. Panting, Tashiou doubled over and held onto his knees as he tried to recover his breath. "Can you tell which room the noise is coming from?" the blonde-haired female asked as she looked down the corridor. Callie narrowed her grey eyes as she stalked up and down the hallway, listening intently. Stopping in front of one of the doors, she gently pushed it open. Stepping backwards, a large shape exploded out of the room and attempted to run down the corridor past her. Opening her wings, Elena intercepted the shape by tackling it to the ground. The shadow writhed for a few minutes before playing dead. Grinning victoriously, the blonde-haired female stood up and held the creature up by the scruff of its neck. It was a scruffy ginger wolf with piercing green eyes. It whimpered slightly as Tashiou looked the other female for guidance.

"So, uh, what should we do with the wolf?" he asked. A few moments of awkward silence passed before Callie shook her head slightly.

Replying, she said, "we need to check that the students are okay. Then I suggest we call the police." Elena audibly scoffed upon hearing police but quietened down once she received a beseeching look from the older female. Tightening her grip on the wolf, the blonde-haired female yelped as it tried to bite her left hand. Recoiling, she released her grip as it began to scurry off. Composing herself, she opened her wings before hurtling after it- using her wings to propel her.

"Well," Tashiou began. "That's Elena gone for a bit." Giving a slight nod in agreement, Callie pushed open the room's door further, only to find an empty room. There was no furniture and the wallpaper was falling off the walls. "This... isn't normal, is it," the white-haired man ventured after a few minutes of silence. "The room shouldn't be like this... right?"

Clearing her throat likely and trying to gather herself, the black-haired woman replied, "no, the room shouldn't be like this. It should be a normal dormitory room, not a deserted room."

"Could it be some sort of cover up spell?" the man asked as he began to look around the room.

"I wouldn't know," Callie countered. "Spells aren't my specialty. Those are Elena's, but she's... otherwise occupied." Walking over to the walls, she held a piece of peeling flowered wallpaper in between her thumb and middle finger while lost in thought. She absentmindedly began to peel more off, causing a large dust cloud.

Once the dust had cleared, neither Tashiou nor Callie could believe their eyes at what was in front of them. "We need to be closing this school, urgently."