Rise of the Night Witch

Chapter 1.2 - School of Horrors

Demonic possession was bad news. Of course, anyone who said that deserved a Captain Obvious award, but their existence was less obvious. Thanks to the Veil, most people thought vampires and werewolves were just ancient myths, Cthulhu just a fictional character, and that demons only existed in religious texts. But demons were real. And hungry. Humans had this precious thing called life energy. It wasn't just a source of magic, but also of thoughts, emotions, and feelings. When humans felt despair, it became volatile. And when it was volatile, demons could feed on it.

Their mind magic implanted dark thoughts into people; thoughts of violence, depression, and self-harm. Not even animals were spared, as we just saw. But normally, they were more subtle.

When they possessed people, their possessions were better described as "this person behaves slightly weirdly" than "that person has scary black mind control eyes anyone can see".  Anything visibly supernatural went against the Veil. This wasn't normal.

I stood around, frozen like an idiot with no idea what to do. All I knew about monsters was what I read in Mom's old books and what she told me. And since she left our family when I was eight, that wasn't much. If I did anything wrong, I might get myself and others killed.

What should I do? What should I do?

Panic clouded my mind and I missed how the cat had run into the parking lot. Quick as a cheetah, it jumped through the school's wall into the basement like an immaterial ghost.

"Don't go away!" I yelled and ran towards the wall.

I was too slow. I hurt my fist punching the wall.

How? Just how did it pass through that wall? I knew that aether could phase through matter like those weird neutrinos, but this thing had a solid body. Maybe it was made of ectoplasm?

Still, nothing I can explain to the police. While I could explain it to the Council, that didn't mean I wanted to. If I wanted to help, I was on my own. With great power comes great responsibility, as Uncle Ben said. I had to conquer my fears and become a fighter if I didn't want to die. And I had to become a thinker.

What options did I have? Call the police? There was a chance the Veil wouldn't allow that and even if I did, what guaranteed that they'd believe me or that they knew what to do?

Call practitioners? Who exactly? I had no phone numbers and most of them lived away from human civilization. I wasn't sure if I was even part of them or if they saw me as a mundane with my lack of magical proficiency.

Go home, forget it, and search for another school? That seemed like the smart option. But who assured me that I was safer elsewhere? What about Simon or Isa? Who ensured they'd survive if whatever lurked in this basement wasn't stopped?

And, power or not, I at least knew some common monster weaknesses which was better than nothing. Assuming this cat was someone's familiar, I might even find another practitioner who was also searching for it and could offer advice.

I opened the door to the creepy basement, but not before hearing a voice I knew.

"Hey, what happened to you guys?"

Isa. She was near a bunch of frightful students who looked like they had seen a ghost.

Now, she searched for me.

Not good. As a naturally curious person, she'd eventually stumble upon whatever was in the basement if I didn't investigate it first.

I walked in through the door, slammed it shut, scrambled down the stairs, and hurried through a long white corridor full of doors. I expected a basement like this to smell of dust, not to be so clean and well-lit. Or large. This cat could be anywhere!