Chapter 3.

Part 10. Serena @ Library

“Im sorry. Our copy of that book has not been returned.” the old librarian told Serena.

“Who has it now?” the small Filipino woman asked pleasantly.

“It was signed out to a Jack Dolman, several years ago, Im afraid, it is quite overdue.” the keeper of books spoke slowly, at 80 years old he did everything slowly.

“Thanks for your help.” the new student replied. “By the way, is there a request form I can fill out to get an other copy of the book?” she asked using her best ‘please help me’ voice.

The librarian smiled “Yes yes, with the right paperwork we can request one. Of course it may take a few weeks for it to arrive. Now you wait here, I will go fetch the forms.” he said, then slowly walked into the back office.

As Serena turned to see who had been watching her, a small group of students quickly pretended to not be looking in her direction. Her keen hearing was both a blessing and a curse. She knew they had been whispering about her. The pattern was very familiar; “Is that her?” one would say “Yea, must be, she looks just like her mom.” another would point out. Serena could ignore them, until they actually approached her or she could be proactive. It was not like she was really trying to keep her identity secret. “Make the best of any situation.” her mom always said.

So she walked strait over to the little group. “Hello there. Could any of you help me? Im looking for the second volume of the Student Handbook.” she asked in a friendly tone.

They stood with the surprised ‘what do I say?’ looks on their faces, until one of the young men said “Yea – sure we’d love to help.” The others all agreed quickly. Then one of the girls, who just could not play it cool asked “Are you, like, the daughter of Millia Rain?”

“Yes, my mother is the famous singer and my father builds very nice boats.” Serena said simply. It was the best explanation of a very complicated family situation.

“Yea, Rexwave builds some of the coolest ships, jet-skies, and mini-subs.” the other boy chimed in.

Serena chatted with the fans of her family for a few minutes until the old librarian returned. Then she extracted herself gracefully, as many years of practice had taught her to do. “Remember if you find a copy of that book, Id really be grateful.” she said as she walked away.

Part 11. Emma @ Gun Shop

The armoury was a wonderful place. “Jaw smakin awesome.” is actually what Emma said. It occupied the basement level of the shopping block and was divided into; Blades & Blunts, NPPW (non powered projectile weapons) and Glorious Guns. She did not consider herself an expect like her dear old uncle Mr. Huntington, but she did know a thing or two.

“Why on earth do you have a 20mm anti-armor rifle?” she asked the clerk after browsing around the shop.

“Target practice, mostly.” he replied smoothly. “As with all the large weapons we have a rental service.”

“Any suggestions for taking down Hellhounds in a hurry?” she asked half joking.

Without missing a beat the clerk replied “The Kel-Tec, double tube fed 12guage shot gun.” He took said gun off the wall and placed it on the counter. “2x7 rounds of ammo, 18inch barrel in a bull-pup style allows for very compact build. People often mistake it for being an SMG. The only drawback is a slow reload time.”

Emma’s eyes almost glowed as she picked up the weapon, “Mmmm I recon this’ll do a lot o good.”

An hour of happy shopping later, she had picked out several guns. Of course she could not take them with her. There were rules to be followed. The clerk handed her the permits, “Get these stamped at the admin-desk and your good to go.” he said in his neutral tone. Emma smiled, “Be seeing you again soon.”

As she turned to go, the tall blond came face to face with a very thin old man. “What do we have here?” He hissed “Smells like warden blood, but not refined, not initiated.”

“Hay creepy, sir. Whatchya talkin about?” Emma asked, trying to be polite in case he was a professor or something.

“Your bloodline. What family names?” He asked in a soft but serious voice.

“Arckright on mom’s side, Leeloup on dad’s.” she answered with pride. Even though her parents were not much to be proud of, they did teacher that family was important. And some of her elder relations were quite the colourful characters.

“Arckright, yes. Why are you here?” He demanded.

“Cuz I plan to do some target shooting.” She answered.

“At this University.” He clarified the question.

“Gran Gran Faith, told me it was the best place to get an education. She knew about all sorts of weird stuff.”

“Faith Arckright. Yesss, I know her well enough.” the creepy thin man seemed satisfied. “Now be gone, student. I have business to attend.”

“Yea right.” Emma said and stuck her tongue out when the old man wasn’t looking.

Part 12. Helt @ Book Store

“Tell me, what must I do to acquire the second volume of the Student Handbook?” the tall German asked the fat book vendor. Ben’s Bent Bindings was the independent book store at the University. Helt having no luck at the official school shop was now there.

Uncle Ben considered the question for a moment “I have not a copy at hand, they are quite rare in this land.” he answered then continued “I do get one occasionally, for auction I put it usually.”

“You do know where some are, don't you?” Helt pressed the question.

“Know where some should be. But no guarantee.” the fat man replied.

Helt was getting frustrated but did his best to stay cool. “Do tell.” he suggested.

“You know info is not free, how about a small fee?” the merchant said with a wide smile.

The German pulled out several $20s from his pocket.

“The library you can forget, its a dead end I bet. The administration station, maybe gives you a consultation. The guidance councillor, maybe one or more. And guards who love rules, would have the handbook for fools. Also you may tray, the Frat houses, don't ask me why.” Uncle Ben explained in his odd way of talking.

Just as he was about to thank the fat man, a voice from the doorway called out “You monster!”

Helt turned to look, not wanting to assume it was addressed at him, but expecting it was.

In the doorway stood a solid young man in the official university student uniform, with a sword on his belt. He was pointing directly at Helt. “Be warned, we of the HPB will not tolerate any evil doing.” he said boldly.

The German took a single step forward “I do no evil. I do defend myself.” he said in deliberately thick accented English. It was part of the tactics he had developed over the years. Seem to be aggressive and foreign and the enemy underestimates you. It worked especially well on the English.

The HPB man did not back down. He stepped forward, his hand near the hilt of his sword “I just bet you want to rip me apart right now and call it self defence.” he taunted.

“Now now, boys. You know the rulings about duellings.” Uncle Ben cautioned them.

“Yes of course.” the provoker said politely to the merchant. Then to Helt “Watch your step, monster.”

He turned with a dramatic glance over his shoulder, then left.

“Charming chap.” Helt said as the door closed. “What is the HPB?”

“That I tell you for free.” Uncle Ben chuckled. “Human Protection Brotherhood. A club of long standing, tight with the student council they are banding. Guess they have you on a peg as a real bad egg.”

“Thanks.” Helt said simply, then he departed. 

Part 13. A quiet evening.

It was evening, Serena was sitting in her dorm room reading when Emma returned from her day’s activity.

‘Thump.’ The American blond dropped the heavy bag on the floor. “What a craptastic pain that was.” She said as she walked over to the mini-fridge.

“Heavy?” the small Filipino asked.

“Naw, that's not the problem. It was the damn wait to get the permits. Waitin forever, then they tell me; come back Monday to see if’n they're approved or not.” Emma pulled a soda from the fridge ‘pop.’ “You want one?”

“No thanks.” Serena answered.

“Iv been reading the Handbook and found some interesting stuff. Did you select your elective class yet?” she asked her roommate.

“Yup, sure did.” the blond replied and took a seat “Grasping the Insubstantial 102, AKA grappling with ghosts.” she laughed at that, then said more seriously “Ain’t much that scares me, if’n its real ya can deal with it, but what about stuff you cant touch? Face your fears Gran Gran often said, so that's what Im doin first.”

Serena found herself surprised by the honesty and wisdom her American friend was displaying. Mostly Emma seemed shallow like many young western women. Then out of no place she would prove to be more than a stereo type.

“I was just looking at the elective list.” the Filipino said “So many interesting subjects, it is unfortunate we can only chose one this term. For example; Ancient Eldrich Horrors – How to Avoid them 101, How to Escape them 102. How to fight them 202, and What to do if you fall in love with them 204.”

“Yup but we got to take a bunch of required classes, like history and mythology. On the bright side there is a survival class, that should be fun.” Emma said draining the soda can.

Emma like many Americans was not much into eating healthy or exercising regularly. She liked nature, but usually enjoyed it from the seat of her truck. She was not in horrible shape, but clearly on the chubby side. Serena on the other hand, made sure each meal was a balance of veggies, meat and rice. She made time each day for a workout, bike ride to the beach then a swim. In fact the last activity had been on her mind all day, could she find a nice place to swim here at the university? The pool was out of the question, she simply could not go swimming in public. According to the map the beach, on the north of the island, was about 15 minutes walk away. She wondered if she could find a bike. She wondered if there were more of those green dog-things out there.

Part 14. Late night sneaking

Helt walked towards the main building, his usual hat and long coat left behind. He was dressed in dark grey from head to toe. He could not turn invisible, but he did know a few trick for going unseen. It was a special hypnotic type skill that caused people to ignore him, so long as he stayed focused and acted in a way that was unobtrusive, most people would just forget he was there. It was exactly like the skill some ninjas developed.

The university had two guidance councillors, one handled academic affairs the other gave more general life advice. The tall German reasoned the first would be the more likely to have a copy of the book he was after. So that is where tonight’s search would begin. Reaching the correct window he gave a tug at it, just in case it was unlocked. No luck. Well then the proper focus of thought would see the latch click open easily enough. Telekinesis the science types called it. The power to move things with your mine. It was the explanation behind many events in folk lore. It was not magic or maybe it was. Helt didn't really know. At any rate, it was an important skill for him and his kind.

He slid the window open. No alarm sounded, none that he could hear. So inside he went. The room was dimly lit by the outside light. It was enough. Helt had no trouble in the darkness. The bookshelf was the first place he looked. Not there. On the desk itself? No. How about the low table with the comfortable chairs? No. The desk draws? No, no, and locked. Maybe the file cabinet? Also locked. He could have broken the locks one way or other, but to open them without damage was a lot more tricky. A window latch was a simple thing compared to a real lock. He could do it but it would take time. It may also set off some other sort of alarm.

He considered his options. Tonight’s quest really had two objectives, finding the book and testing the school’s security. For a place with its sort of reputation, Helt expected more than he has thus far encountered. A few basic locks, guards walking their rounds, there had to be more. Most likely something magical. So he decided it was best to put on a show, assuming that they were somehow watching him. He would sneak around the building looking high and low, but not braking into any locked draws, just into locked rooms. Not taking anything.

Two hours later Helt was mostly satisfied with his exploration. He had looked high and low, he had avoided the guards, he had found a few things that might prove useful later. But he had failed to find the book. The only place he had not searched was the upper offices in the clock tower, those of the Arch Dean. Best to avoid them, he told himself.