Chapter 56.3

After walking down the basement stairs in Whitmore Hall, Nick opened the basement door and discovered he was the first one to arrive. Hardly surprising, given the meeting didn’t start for another half an hour. He and the girls had finished cleaning up the classroom here over the weekend, but that didn’t change the fact that they didn’t actually have a key for it. Everyone with magical abilities had a way to get inside, but seeing as Nick had no such abilities, his access was reliant on his friends being present. Instead, he moved over to a nearby couch and threw his backpack down, falling into the cushions next to it as he pulled out his phone.Predictably, the AV Club group chat was fairly busy, as everyone was looking for reminders about when and where today’s meeting was. With time to spare, Nick sent everyone the details one last time, then kicked his feet up on the nearby table to relax until his friends arrived.

Thankfully, he wasn’t waiting long, though he was caught off guard by Chloé’s sudden appearance once again. He’d been listening to footsteps as his queue that people were arriving, and instead the door to the classroom opened seemingly on its own just after the lights turned on. As much as he’d gotten used to Chloé’s strange new existence, it was always strange to discover you weren’t entirely alone in a room when you’d previously thought otherwise.

He hopped onto his feet, said hello to Chloé, then began setting up chairs for today’s meeting. Soon after he started, he saw another chair begin to move across the room and quickly spoke up.

“Chloé, I’ll take care of it. You just take this chance to rest, okay?”

There was no answer, but Nick expected as much. It was hardly the first time he’d needed to push Chloé into taking a break for herself, and he knew it wouldn’t be the last.

It only took ten or so minutes to get the classroom ready. The chairs were ready, the markers by the whiteboard were fresh out of the package in case anyone needed to write anything, and he’d pulled down the shade they’d installed on the window in the door. It was only a few minutes after finishing that students started arriving, and Nick positioned himself just outside the classroom to welcome everyone as they filtered in.

The first person to arrive was a somewhat slender man with bright blue hair and pale beige skin that had a bag slung across his body.

“Kenji! How are you doing, man?” Nick asked, reaching out for a handshake. “Any new songs yet?”

“Are you kidding? The semester started, like, two weeks ago, bro. I’ve got a few ideas, but I need time to massage them into something useful, you know?” Kenji said, a smile on his face.

Closely behind Kenji were two other guys. One of them had dirty blonde hair and a matching goatee, while the other was slightly taller with long black hair that he kept tied behind his head. These two students had originally been part of Wellington’s cult, but were ultimately spared from the tragic fate of being pulled down into Hell. As awkward as it was for some, Nick always made sure to stay friendly with them, as he knew they were trying to put their past behind them.

“Mark, Chris! How’s the semester going for you?” Nick asked.

“It’s been… quiet,” Mark said softly. He was always the nicer one, and Nick theorized that he’d been pulled into the cult’s activities partially against his will. “Good quiet. I needed a break from all the chaos, and it’s been nice to just get back to classes.”

“That’s great! Glad things are going well, we’re certainly happy to have you.” Nick shook Mark’s hand then turned to look at Chris.

After a moment’s hesitation, Chris shook his hand as well. “Doing alright, I guess.”

Nick quieted his voice as he looked at Chris. “You know we’re here for you, right? We’re happy to talk. Heck, Imani has been trained in helping people deal with the kind of magic nonsense you both were central to. She’d love to hear you out.”

Chris shrugged. “Yeah, you’ve mentioned that before. I dunno, I’ll think about it…”

Not wanting to be pushy, Nick let the two of them walk past him before he turned to the next people exiting the stairwell. This time, Imani and Tessa walked out, which brought a smile to Nick’s face.

“—okay, but that won’t work with The Wilds circle. The signatures don’t match, and as a plane the magic is way more complex than Purgatory,” Tessa said with a frustrated sigh.

“Still trying to make progress on getting our new friend back home?” Nick asked, leaning in to give Tessa a kiss.

“Yes! Stupid plane with its stupid magic that doesn’t make any sense because that’s the whole point of its stupid magic… Ugh, sorry, I’ll be a person for the meeting or whatever. I just feel awful keeping that wolf locked in a tiny room, he doesn’t deserve that.” After their kiss, Tessa allowed herself a moment of rest against Nick’s shoulder.

“We’ll figure it out, Tess. I’m still trying to requisition relevant material from Elijah, but you know how he is,” Imani said before turning to Nick. “Afternoon, Nick. Holding down the fort as usual?”

“It’s a group effort!” Nick protested. “I just happen to enjoy talking to everyone, and I’m also the only person not preoccupied with other random magic problems.”

Nick hugged Imani next, then both girls headed inside the classroom as the staircase door opened again. More and more students arrived as time went on, and Nick happily greeted all of them by name, making sure he didn’t give any of them a generic greeting of any kind. While he knew some of them better than others, he’d made a point of personally getting to know everyone in the AV Club.

Amara and Vee showed up together, as expected, although they appeared unusually worn down. As much as he wanted to say something, Nick knew this wasn’t the time or place for that conversation. Ruby, Caleb, Shawn, Naomi, Natalie, Kylie and many other students slowly filed in, and eventually even Professor Luxnor showed up. Although it was common knowledge among the AV Club that he’d also been roped into Wellington’s cult, most people didn’t know that part of Amara’s plan to stop the cult had involved sleeping with him. Nick never quite knew how to act around the teacher, knowing that.

Lastly, much to the surprise of most other students, Dean Samuel Halsen himself showed up. When he walked into the classroom, every single person went completely quiet as they awkwardly stared at him.

“Now, now, just pretend I’m not here, okay?” Dean Halsen said with a quiet chuckle. “But, to answer your question: yes, I know about all this stuff too, and I’m just here to help.”

While his statement didn’t do much to dispel the general suspicion of the students, a quiet murmur slowly returned to the classroom as everyone slowly returned to their conversations. It only took a few minutes for the last stragglers to filter in, and once Nick was satisfied that no random students had tried to sneak into the meeting out of curiosity, he gave a thumbs up towards Vee at the front of the classroom. He then closed the door to the classroom, locked it, and pulled the shade down to hopefully repel any potential onlookers.

Amara looked over at Vee, even squeezing her hand tightly before the angel took a deep breath and stood up. “Alright, it looks like everyone’s here, so it’s time to get started!” Once everyone had stopped talking, Vee continued. “I know we’ve all been through a lot the last few months, but with everyone’s help, we’ve successfully made it through the start of the semester unscathed. All things considered, that’s a massive win, and I want to congratulate all of you on your resilience. Now, I’m sure many of you have some questions about what’s currently happening on campus, and we’ll make sure to answer them before we leave today, but to start I wanted to turn the floor over to Chloé.”

Vee gestured to the empty space beside her before taking a step back. Chloé’s voice then sprang forth from that empty space, confirming she was actually where Vee thought she was. “Hi everyone! So, first off, I want to apologize for my invisibility. I can’t quite remember how many of you are familiar with all the details, but long story short, it’s really difficult for me to show myself. Anyways, that doesn’t matter, really, and we’ve got other big things to talk about! First and foremost, I’m sure you’ve all noticed that we have a special guest with us today. Dean Halsen, if you want to say anything, go right ahead.”

The Dean rose to his feet before clearing his throat. “Well, it’s an honor to be here, I can certainly say that. I’ve been aware of the magical nature of the campus for a while, and it’s heartening to see all of you banding together in an attempt to keep everyone safe while we work through this problem. Plus, honestly, it’s nice to have some company amidst all the nonsense magic tends to introduce.” After smiling at everyone, he sat back down and gestured towards the front of the classroom again.

“Dean Halsen has been working diligently to conceal some of the crazier things that have been happening around campus,” Chloé said. Based on the position of her voice, it sounded like she was lazily drifting back and forth across the front of the classroom. “I know we’ve stressed this before, but secrecy is paramount if we’re to avoid even bigger and crazier threats. The Dean is also going to use his connections to provide us with some more official resources. We won’t be registered as a full club, but if we ever need to reserve space, ask for money, or anything like that, we’ll be able to requisition things from his office. Apart from his assistance, we’ve got a small update about our current planar situation, but I’ll let Tessa fill you in on the details.”

Some of the students present turned to look at Tessa, who was currently sitting next to Nick, but she quickly deflected the attention to Imani. “Nah, she’ll explain it better than me.”

Imani nodded, then ran to the front of the classroom to take over. “Can do! Hi everyone! My name is Imani Mabaya, I’m a new transfer this semester and I’m helping to facilitate communication between this campus and the witches that took over after we stopped their hostile intentions last month. Now, as I’m sure many of you are aware, this campus holds the potential to overlap with nearly every other plane of existence. However, all the different planes are constantly shifting back and forth, as if moving on invisible tides. This means we’re likely only going to see interference from one, two planes at any given time. Right now, Aurelius is overlapping with The Wilds: a plane filled with wild magic and strange creatures, many of which are the source of various cryptid sightings here on Earth. As you go about your life here on campus, we ask that you keep an eye out for any unusual plant growth or creatures. As a great example, Kylie actually spotted a creature last week, and because of her report we were able to contain it before anyone noticed. Amara, could you show everyone what it looked like?”

Nick immediately noticed a slight wave of apprehension among several students present. Amara’s behavior had left a terrible impression on many of these students, and she still hadn’t turned that image around for some of them. With a flick of her wrist, and a flash of her eyes, she summoned an illusion of the strange wolf creature that they’d captured the other day.

“As you can see, this creature looks almost identical to the wolves we have here on Earth, but with a few key differences,” Imani continued. “For one thing, it’s covered in bits of moss that aren’t so much clinging to its coat as they are a part of the creature itself. Secondly, it appears to have some kind of camouflage ability, and we have no idea how it works other than ‘magic.’” The illusory wolf began playfully running up and down the aisle between all the desks, eventually jumping up on the large desk at the front of the classroom before sitting down. It looked around the classroom, a single ear flopped over and its tongue lolled out as it panted heavily.

“Now, the actual creature is far less friendly than Amara is making it appear, but that’s not its fault. We assume it’s just scared and overwhelmed from the experience of shifting between planes, but since it doesn’t appear to be sentient, we can’t exactly ask it to confirm. What’s important is that we’re keeping it safe and well-fed in the facility beneath Lysander Hall, and Tessa and I are working on a way to get it home.”

In the back of the classroom, Kenji raised his hand before speaking up. “Can we go see it?”

Imani briefly looked at the other girls before responding. “I don’t see why not, but please exercise caution, and stay out of its room. We’re not magically restraining it, but I’m sure being cooped up in such a tiny space isn’t very fun.”

“Additionally, we wanted to use this creature as an example of the warning system we set up,” Chloé said, her voice closer to the ceiling now. “If you saw this creature out and about, what code word would you text in the group chat?”

“This was a Code Yellow, right?” Caleb asked, not bothering to raise his hand.

“Yup!” Chloé said. “Just in case anyone needs a refresher, it’s most important to remember the three main codes. Code Green is code for ‘A person, creature, or event that is likely magical but can blend in and doesn’t appear to pose a threat.’ As an example, this code would work perfectly for Amara or Vee, who have supernatural abilities but can walk around without raising any suspicion. Code Yellow, on the other hand, would mean ‘A person, creature, or event that is magical and does not blend in, and might pose a threat if things go poorly.’ That’s why this good little pup is a Code Yellow.”

The fur on the wolf’s coat indented slightly as Chloé pretended to pet it, and Amara responded by having the fake animal repeatedly thump its leg. “Anyone looking at this wolf would notice the moss and the camouflage, and immediately realize that something was wrong. Additionally, as a simple animal, it might very easily be spooked and end up attacking someone out of fear. The last one, obviously enough, is going to be Code Red. This will apply to anything that is both extremely magical and obviously out to hurt people. Brandon, for example, would have qualified as a Code Red, as would all of his reapers. If you’re ever in doubt about which code to use, it’s probably safest to use a more severe code just in case. Now, we also have a series of more elaborate and situational code words, but it’s probably best if we avoid overloading everyone with that. Does anyone have any questions so far?”

The meeting continued in roughly the same fashion for the next forty-five minutes. As this was the first official AV Club meeting, many people had questions about magic, or concerns they wanted to address about tangentially related topics. Despite Imani’s repeated offerings to talk with students about magic and its implications, it seemed like quite a few of them were content to simply save their questions for the meeting.

Some people asked about how magic worked, others asked about the potential threats that might present themselves if knowledge about the Planar Gate leaked, and quite a few questions boiled down to “Is this specific magical creature real, or just a myth?”

Imani and Chloé did a fantastic job fielding all the questions, though Nick caught Tessa grumbling under her breath a few times. Nick wasn’t surprised that so many people were so curious. Despite everything that had happened the last few months, this was one of the first real meetings that didn’t involve everyone being threatened by a monster or a coven of witches. He was thrilled that everyone had a chance to air their frustrations and come to terms with magic in their own way.

Thankfully, the girls had decided that AV Club meetings should avoid lasting more than an hour, and soon enough their time was up. Amara dismissed her illusory wolf, despite the protests of several students that had started growing fond of it, and Nick helped everyone return the classroom to its normal state.

After saying goodbye to everyone, and a quick huddle to discuss how the first meeting had gone, everyone went their separate ways. Nick, hand in hand with Tessa, happily returned home with her, excited to spend the rest of the night together.