Mystic High ✓

MH │19

In the previous chapter: Zachery gifting Charlotte an ice sculptured rose led to Jessica deciding to ally with Elle out of jealousy.

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CHAPTER NINETEEN

It was another hour and a half until lunchtime and class had only just began. A tune radiated from the clamorous bell in the distance that struck eleven in the morning sharp. Oriane sat duly in her seat, a plastic high bench chair, and leaning onto the white bench-tops. In front of her lay socketry and a Bunsen Burner erected on a fire-proof mat. There were also a selection of tools like clamps and lighters. Around her lay all sorts of equipment she can neither identify nor name. The laboratory was fit for university level and no doubt research at that level were carried out in these very rooms.

Oriane recalled how last week before Jessica went missing and harassed by a few... 'Weres', Charlotte and herself had been around these laboratories. The technician Jessica was speaking with was most certainly a research student who had to be at least in her twenties. She had seen her working in another room when Oriane passed by.

Just then, with a harrumph and a puff, Jessica strode past her, completely ignoring her presence.

Or, rather, she'd acknowledged her presence and that was why she was huffing and puffing like an angry dragoness.

Oriane had the discomfiture of having Jessica in the same class, as was last week. Given what had transpired during the weekend and this morning with the ice rose, she had no doubt that Jessica wouldn't want to be talking with anyone at all. She was not a particularly forgiving nor accepting sort of person. Yet, she had no clue what qualm she had with her. What qualm she had with anyone at all. She seemed to disagree with any who placed a stake in what she wanted.

Not that it was any of Oriane's business. She had much more important things to do.

Her fingers found their way into her bag. They brushed against the roughness of the paper folder, the wax seal felt oily against her tips when it touched it. Oriane believed it be to be magickal.

She had assumed the wax would have been crushed into little pieces by now with the way she was handling it - squashing it under her pillow, tucking it sloppily into bags, crushing it with the rest of the contents inside her bag. However, the wax remained intact. On closer inspection, which she had done so in her privacy in the loos, the seal stamped on the wax depicted a phoenix or a bird with a long neck like a swan, with its head held high and wings stretched open in preparation for flight. But unlike a swan, it had a bulky beak. Surrounding it in a circle were Celtic knots, enclosing the bird like a cage.

Oriane had seen Celtic knots before, but not the way it had decorated the seal. Like barbed wires, it jutted geometrically in and out. It reminded her of spikes or a million swords pointing at the bird. Poor thing, she had thought, shaking her head.

Perhaps the wax seal had something to do with the explosives after all. She nodded to herself solemnly, wordlessly affirming her self-imposed obligation to find out more.

She had been so deep in thought that she hadn't noticed someone sit next to her.

"Hey there!"

Oriane jumped, wide eyed. It was the girl with the polka dots who lived on the second floor. Last time they met, Charlotte had introduced her as a classmate from last year mathematics class.

"I saw you with Charlotte last week!" she pointed out in a bubbly voice, she pointed at her jestingly with a wink.

She had a huge grin on her face. And her hazel eyes were widened to the brink. Two pigtails tied low and loose just above her neck bounced to her perkiness. Lashes flipping up and down rapidly. Oriane did recall that she was one of the most popular girls in the college and she understood that with her... friendliness.