The Things That Stir In The Night [1x1]

Myrtle jumped at the tap, half expecting it to be Victoria about to hit her again. When she saw it was Diana, she noticeably relaxed. She followed Diana's gaze to the bird and gasped softly, eyes widening in surprise. She pushed her glasses up her nose and shuffled a little bit closer to Victoria to take a look at it. The black feathers were a little too difficult to ignore, especially since they were so...dark.

Unfortunately, her shuffling caught Victoria's attention. The elder sister turned on her heel and glared down at her younger sister. "What do you want, idiot?" She spat.

Myrtle shuffled backwards to stand beside Diana. "I'll buy you ten muffins from the school cafeteria if it shits on her." She whispered, hiding her lips behind her hand.

This only seemed to get Victoria angrier. "What the hell are you two losers whispering about?" She growled, stomping one of her feet on the ground.
 
Diana sighed when Victoria snapped at Myrtle, unable to understand why she was so snappy and mean to her. But the main point was that she didn't feel the small bird on the top of her head. It astounded her really.... Perhaps she needed to use less hairspray in order to feel her the things on her head.

When Myrtle called the bet, Diana smirked. She had a feeling that the bird wasn't a true bird, and it would just be uncouth beyond words if a student would actually use the bathroom on another one just to try and pass off as a real human. "Hah, you're on Myrtle," Diana whispered back behind her hand, trying as hard as she could to not bend over laughing. She watched as the bird tilt its head and peek a little over Victoria's forehead, then turn itself around with a single hop, its runo now facing the three girls.

Shyanna tried to tell Victoria.... But it was harder than she thought. "Uummm.... You see... Um. There is a... Well, the cat is not a cat anymore. Its a bird... And it's on... You're...." Her eyes widened when the bird's tail slowly lifted up, as if it was about to do the thing that everybody knew would happen. Shyanna was then reduced to a stuttering, panicky mess, unable to make coherent words at all, just able to point frantically at her own and Victoria's head.
Diana was near breathless as she struggled to not make herself heard or seen from behind her hands as she laughed silently beside Myrtle, even though she feared that she would lose the bet. But just when they all thought it would happen, the bird looked back at the three girls and lowered the tail, then pecked three times on the girl's scalp. Then as quickly as the taps passed, the bird quickly flew off the girl's head and screeched in front of her, skillfully maneuvering around swatting hand and flying towards Diana. The little bird then shifted in front of everybody into the wispy blackened version of a bluejay, landing on Diana's head with a couple of chirps. The bird then flew off down the hallway, chirping all the while before it turned right at the next fork.

Diana was the first to move this time, running as fast as she could to keep up with the shifter. "Hurry up guys!" Diana called back as she turned the corner. Shyanna managed to choke out s laugh as she ran after her sister, looking back to Myrtle with a smile as she ran past her. "You owe her muffins," Shyanna said with a breathy chuckle. She ran down the hallway as well, wanting to keep up with the two ahead of her.
 
Myrtle held her elbow in one hand, covering her mouth with the other to hide her massive smirk. If the bird really did do the unthinkable, it wouldn't really be a bad thing, Myrtle thought. Just justice for a, frankly, abusive sister.

Victoria looked down at her younger sisters. "What the fuck are you laughing about?" She spat, taking a few steps forward as the bird turned around. Myrtle squealed from behind her hand, just waiting...

Then the bird flew off. Victoria felt the wings beat against her head and her hand flew up, grazing a tiny toe as it flew off. She shrieked in horror, turning every head in the corridor to the little black blob as it flew off. A second later, Victoria was leading the charge, not only wanting the bird to help, but also wanting to beat it's ass for even thinking of touching her hair.

Myrtle stomped her foot in anger, still laughing. She looked at Shyanna, raising an eyebrow. She ran to catch up. "Hold on, no, it's the other way around!" She pointed out. "I would have bought her the muffins if it had done it!"
 
Diana ran around the corner to follow Victoria's lead, her chest beginning to hurt from running so much. When was the bird gonna stop flying? Then again, it didn't seem like it was going to stop, considering how much fun it was to tease Victoria. She calls out to Victoria to tell her to calm down, and slow down for the rest of the sisters so they can catch up.

After a short moment, Diana noticed that she couldn't hear the chirping of the bird, and stopped herself to see what had happened. Suddenly, she saw a small bit of what looked like a shadow slithering under the bathroom door. Cautiously, Diana approached the door, slpwly opening the metal door to look inside the bathroom. The bright lights puzzled her: she should've seen something - wait. In the corner on the floor. A black cat sat down on the floor of the bathroom, cleaning itself once again in the silence of the room. Diana smiled at this opportunity: it was trapped here! She could grab it and make it reveal itself.

Nodding to herself, Diana snuck up closer to the unsuspecting feline, making sure her shadow didn't make itself known. The feline seemed fairly absorbed into grooming, so even by now, it wasn't aware of Diana's presence. A few feet later, and Diana's hand shadow grabbed the black cat's tail, while grabbing the rest of the cat with her other hand. The cat yowled and squirmed vigorously, flailing legs and head all over in an attempt to be released.

"Ha! Finally caught you," Diana said in triumph. But just then, the bathroom door opened behind Diana, and a head peeked in, revealing Shyanna as she caught the sight of Diana holding a struggling cat. "Diana! Oh my goodness you found it!" The sister exclaimed as she came in. Diana smiled in a more glaring fashion as she dropped the shadowy feline, in which it turned around with a short irritated grumble

"I caught you, so now can you please turn back into a human so I can talk to you?" Diana asked in a semi irritated and semi pleading fashion. The cat seemed to act as if it didn't understand Diana, but it then shifted back into a human: a shoulder-length haired, jean-wearing, blouse-donning, hazel-eyed girl, whose mischevious smile reminisced a certain girl's that they all knew.

Diana's eyes widened in shock. "Hannah?! It was you all this time?" Diana asked with genuine surprise. Hannah was, shockingly, Diana's friend, which, as most might guess, was not much of norm with the likes of a person such as Diana. Not only was Hannah not exactly like them in terms of appearance and popularity, she was in fact Leah's younger sister. As much as they had their differences, one thing that was for sure - they enjoyed each other's company. Shyanna couldn't believe it as well.

"No way! That was you all this time? You were the bird?! And you pecked Victoria!!!" the younger sister said in horror. Diana was worried for Hannah, but the shadow shifter didn't seem too worried.

"Hehe... That was fun I'll tell ya. Don't worry, she won't know about it... And if she did, she'd have to get me first," Hannah said as she poked Diana's chest, making her subconsciously smile.
 
Victoria crashed loudly into the bathroom, swearing as she fell over one of those mop-holders, tipping water everywhere. She couldn't care less, skipping around the puddle of water as she leapt closer to the dark cat. Just as she was about to jump at it's throat with her razor sharp teeth, when she saw it transform into a person.

She stayed quiet as she watched the mystery girl and her sister interact. As soon as it clicked that the two knew each other, she seemed to get even angrier. "You filthy little pig!" She screamed, though it was unclear who exactly she was speaking to. Teeth glinting white in the bathroom's shiny light, she jumped into the air, looking as if she would descend on the two and tear them entirely apart...before Myrtle grabbed the back of her white crop top, grounding her swiftly.

Myrtle scowled at her far too eager and violent sister. "Calm down, Victoria!" She barked, changing her grip from her sister's top to her wrist. Her grip was so tight that the area around where she was holding was turning white. Myrtle's gaze switched from Victoria to Diana and Hannah, deliberately catching Diana's eye. "Tell her what's going on, won't you?" She muttered, nodding to Hannah, the underlying message clear: 'Make her help us.'
 
Diana opened her mouth to respond to Hannah when she heard Victoria's voice shout at them. With a gasp of shock, she turned around to see her older sibling launching herself at her and Hannah, teeth flashing in the light as she prepared to come down in her with her fury.
Diana gasped and froze in fear, but Hannah was quick to pull her away from the sister and into the corner of the bathroom; when Diana was out of the way, Hannah quickly turned into a shadow and morphed into a large black wolf, the wispy black essence coming off her body angrily swirling into the air as Hannah prepared to defend herself and Diana. Teeth bared for a bite, Hannah bunched her muscles to jump, but stopped herself when Myrtle snatched Victoria away.

Both Hannah and Diana were surprised to see the older sister snatched in such a way, but Hannah shook herself out of it and sat down, though her wisps weren't calmed in the slightest. She flicked her ears when Myrtle spoke to Diana, and looked back to the sister standing in the corner with a frozen body.

The wolf put a paw on Diana's foot, which made her blink in realization and snap out of her head. "Oh sorry," Diana quickly said, "I'll talk to her."
Diana stepped out of the corner and cleared her throat to say something, while Hannah morphed back into her human form again. But the moment she opened her mouth, Hannah rose a hand to stop her.

"Uh-uh.... Before you say anything, I already know what you're trying to do," Hannah said as she crossed her arms and gave a serious look, "and I must say, it is very dangerous... Not to mention utterly crazy!" The long-haired girl said with a tilted head.
Shyanna blinked and pointed at Hannah accusingly. "Hey! You're one to talk! All those dangerous flying stunts and teasing pranks you do all the time! And now You say we can't do what we want to do? You hypocrite!" Shyanna angrily accused.

Hannah smiled and laughed at the sister's statement, and turned slightly to face her better. "Yeah I do all that stuff... But I never said that you couldn't do it. I was just pointing out that it was dangerous. You girls are crazy for doing this," Hannah said as she faced back to Diana, "And I'm a bit excited about this thing. A little iffy on the reason, but it's not me. So, I'm gonna help ya get what you need.... On one condition," Hanna said as she backed away slowly and teasingly.
 
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Victoria jerked in her younger sister's grip, bright blue eyes trained on Hannah. "You're a bitch, you hear me? Ugly ass!" She spat at the shapeshifter. Myrtle had to put both of her hands around her sister's wrist to stop her from breaking free.
"Oh my god Victoria!" Myrtle snapped, pulling on her sister's wrist so hard that she stumbled a little.
Victoria didn't move her gaze from Hannah for a while, watching the three of them all interact.

Myrtle and Victoria both screwed their faces up at what Hannah proposed. It was at times like that where it was believable that Myrtle was related to the other mermaid girls. "Yeah right, you little pig." Victoria spat.
Still holding onto her wrist, Myrtle kicked at her shin. "Shut up, Victoria. Do you want to avenge Eva or not?" She looked up to meet Hannah's eyes. "What is it?"
 
Hannah looked around at the faces of all thr girls and laughed hysterically in her head. She knew how to get a reaction from them - it was almost too easy. Of course Victoria was the easiest. But still...

"A bitch? You're one to talk you..." Hannah stopped herself, for the insult she was going to say would've been applicable to the rest of the sisters. She didn't want to insult the other three. So Hannah cleared her throat and went on to the rest of her proposal/act.

She gave an insulted look towards the girls. The insult was half mockery and half genuine, as she couldn't believe that They thought she'd be shady to that degree.

"I'm hurt. You think I would ask for something ridiculous like joining a club or whatever you might think? I don't like your style of thinking. No, what I propose is simple really. All I want is..."

She stepped closer to Diana, who watched her friend step closer to her with a bit of wariness. Hannah then stopped and narrowed her eyes with a smirk, of course, unable to be seen by the rest of the girls, and quickly turned around so quick it made Diana flinch.

"Cookies! Yes, it may seem hard to believe, but that is all I want. Just a few cookies to replenish my depleting stash. Give me cookies, and I am yours for this dangerous mission," Hannah said as she looked to the other three sisters.
Shyanna blinked in surprise at the proposal. She actually thought that Hannah was going to ask for something.... More.... She couldn't place a finger on exactly what it was, but she knew it wasn't a good view. But cookies? As simple as it was, she didn't like the way it was being said. She looked to Myrtle with a suspicious look, sensing something else to the proposal.

"Just a few? And just how much is this 'few'?" Shyanna asked with crossed arms. Hannah looked over to her and chuckled heartily.

"Hehe, nothing gets past you. I would like forty cookies. And before you say anything, I know it sounds unorthodox, but I have a ridiculous sweet tooth. As some folks might know, I can't live without something sweet in my mouth," Hannah explained with a slow chuckle.
"Buy me cookies please. Oh, and another thing: They have to be bought by Victoria only," Hannah said with a taunting grin.

"What?! Seriously?" Diana exclaimed in surprise and worry.

"What? Cookies are thirty-five cents each. We can only get a number of free cookies before have to buy them. We're fortunate it's this low," Hannah stated with a tilt in her head. She turned her focus back to Victoria, stepping a few inches closer. "I know what you're thinking... So lemme just say it: you're a bitch too, and nobody else can buy it for you.... Not your sisters, not your posse, and not those boys who swoon over you with your.... Charms," Hannah said with a disgusted emphasis on the last word.

"You must buy it fair and square, or else, you will regret lying to me," Hannah said with a huff. "So, do we have a deal?" The girl asked with an underlying sense of challenge and dominance.
 
Victoria started at Hannah, incredulous. This dirty, disgusting brat of a monster was going to ask for something so dumb? A little plan popped into Victoria's head; the cookies didn't come packaged. So, what she would do, is she would pretend that the cookies were being iced for the month, and she'd make icing with chilli powder from the Home Economics department, and laxatives from the nurse's office! That would show her!

The reality dawned on her rather quick. She had spent all her monthly allowance on spa treatments and makeup, even though it was only a few days into the month. She huffed. "You're out of luck, fatass," she spat. She put a hand on the younger girl's chest and shoved her away (it was easy enough; all of the mermaid girls were naturally, very tall, apart from Myrtle who was shorter than even the youngest). "I've spent all my money for the month. Why don't you just help us anyway?" She hissed.

Myrtle, who had let go of her sister's wrist, sighed and pressed her thumb and index finger into her eye. "I'll buy them, Hannah," she said, tone having a very slight plead to it. They needed Hannah's help, no matter how much of a bitch she was being, and she was always going to be.
 
Hannah guard was lowered when Myrtle offered to pay the orice for cookies. She never wanted to make the other sisters come forward, only to make the bitch submit in some way. She was going to have to be firm.... Hannah knew the sisters might think bitterly of her after this, not to mention how Diana would think, but she needed to see how far she could go with this. If Victoria really wanted whatever she so called needed to get on with her mission, then she should have the sense to swallow her pride and submit.

With a shake of her head Hannah declined. She looked to Myrtle with an apologetic expression on her face.

"Sorry Myrtle, but this is only for Victoria," Hannah said before she glared at Victoria.

"Tch. You spent all your money already? Of course you did. Fine, you buy my cookies in the next month. I won't bother you about the cookies until the new month comes, so you won't "forget" about them," Hannah said with air quotes. "How about that? Agree, and you'll get the things you want. Unless you know someone else who will willingly go into Ms. Marsh's room and steal important papers from her," Hannah said as she stared in Victoria's eyes.
 
Myrtle's face twisted into rage. "What the hell?! You'll get your damn cookies, so what's the difference?!" She shouted, the sudden anger unexpected. She didn't move forward or go to say anything more, however.
Victoria folded her arms. "Fine then. Fatass." She suddenly lunged out and grabbed Hannah by the collar of her shirt, lifting her up off the ground. "You're going to go right now. And if you don't get the right info, or if you tell us the wrong shit, you're fucking dead. Hear me?" She didn't wait for an answer. She more threw Hannah to the floor than dropping her. "We'll be in the cafeteria." With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the bathroom. Myrtle grabbed Shyanna and Diana's hands and rushed away with them, not letting them get a word in to Hannah in case it made Vic get mad.
 
Hannah internally flinched at Myrtle's small outburst, as she didn't expect her to be angry like that. Perhaps pressing on about her cookies wasn't such a good way to be in 'good graces' with the sisters. A sliver of a thought to back out came to mind, but she couldn't think on it hard enough, due to being grabbed so tough by Victoria. The shapeshifter reflexively gasped, her eyes a little wide from the grab and her hands wrapped around Victoria's out of fear.

Her threat made Hannah whimper internally, but she didn't want to show any more fear than she probably already had shown. She grunted when she was thrown back down to the floor, barely catching herself and straightening out her shirt.
She wanted to say something to Diana and the other two sisters, but she was surprised - as was Diana - that she and Shyanna were yanked out of the bathroom so quickly. Hannah couldn't even say bye to her, which made her a bit sad for the moment. But she reminded herself that she had a mission to do, and nodded her head with determination.

Hannah shifted into a shadow and slithered out of the bathroom window, then shifted into a bird and flew off in the air. Her mind was now occupied with the multiple goals she had to achieve and the obstacles she was sure to encounter. She was nervous - it would be foolish to not be - but at the same time, she was a little bit excited at the whole thing. It was like those spy movies she had seen a while back.

Excitement beginning to fill her, Hannah flew with more vigor, until soon enough she was met with the tall tower that was Ms. Marsh's office. It was a perfect deterrent from mischievous students and peeping toms that were more often than not grounded to earth. Not even those that could climb to her office were bold or stupid enough to try and trespass to her room.

Hannah wasn't stupid, but she was crazy enough to try it now. And not to just fly in unannounced, but to take important papers for her own gain. The blood was rushing at this point, but Hannah had to calm down before she messed up before even starting. Perching herself on the edge of the rooftop, Hannah decided to check if Ms. Marsh was still in her room. She lowered her head over the edge and tilted her head, hoping to get a clue of what was inside the room.
 
The tower was impossibly tall, and in a few decades it would come to slant slightly to the east due to a slightly unprofessional building. It was made of massive concrete blocks, and was only roughly circular. It was slightly wider in one direction, though it was overall rather long in any direction. It had an entirely flat roof, though this was barely visible from the ground. There was a heavy door at ground level, but it was either heavily locked from the inside or was enchanted to keep it closed. The door had a small square of glass, layered so thickly that it was opaque. It was also apparently unbreakable, some troublemakers had come to learn the previous year. There was one window on the roof, but it was less a window and more a large hole that had been cut large enough that Ms. Marsh could fly out at any point in the case of an emergency. Apart from that hole, and the glass on the door, there were no windows in the entire building. They were simply a safety hazard for someone like Julianna Marsh.

As Hannah came to the flat roof, she would realise that the hole on the top - if she even knew it was there - was entirely covered up. There was a material covering it, like thick black velvet or suede. It was so dark that it seemed to simply absorb all sunlight into it, but didn't get any hotter. However, if Hannah was to listen carefully she would discover that it didn't mute the room behind it, not at all. Inside, there was a soft humming. They were similar to nursery rhymes, but the way that they were being sung made it impossible for the normal lyrics to fit in. Apart from that, there was the ticking of a large clock, the shuffling of papers, and the occasional tut, sigh, or scratch of pencil on paper.

The office was obviously inhabited. So, it was a question of what Hannah was going to do next.
 
((*In that typical Spongebob fashion*: "Five Years Later..."))

Hannah took notice of the lack of proper windows and sighed to herself. Typical for a person like Ms. Marsh to dwell in a tower like this one. It was almost like that story that she heard every now and again..... What was it...? Ah yes, Repunzel. Except Ms. Marsh wasn't trapped - she could fly in and out anytime she wanted.

She turned around and hopped across the rooftop, hoping to find a good way in. By some sheer luck, or unluck, Hannah almost fell through a flap of material that was covering an open window. It took her a few moments to regain her nerve and breath before she melted into a shadow once more.

Once she went in, the first thing she noticed was the teacher sitting in her desk. She was humming tunes that were more or less familiar, while writing on various pieces of paper. It was hard to tell if she would be aware of any type of noise if it presented itself, but she wasn't going to test it out.

Stealth was her only option.

Hannah looked around and quickly saw herself to be right above a tall shelf. She slithered behind the shelf to the bottom where the floor met the wall and stopped to take a moment to survey her surroundings. It had the things that one would expect to see within an office: a container full of writing utilities, staplers, books, papers. It was a bit messy, but that was too be expected, with all these potential students being found or enrolled.

Hannah took another, more focused survey of the room, trying to find the place most likely to hold all the files of the students. But she soon realized that being so low wasn't a good viewpoint, so she slithered through the shadows of various objects to get higher up. She figured a mid-viewpoint was the best option, and sat on the top of a picture frame as a spider to watch the teacher. Maybe she would point her to the file cabinet. It was her best shot at getting this mission right.
 
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