Straight-Up Not Having A Good Time At Night Raven College: Chapter 1

Chapter 24: An Unhinged Prefect

"ROSEHEARTS-KUN! YOU MUSTN'T!" Crowley shouted.
"ABUSE YOUR MAGIC ANY FURTHER, AND YOUR MAGESTONE WILL BE COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED WITH BLOT!"

"I WON'T BELIEVE IT!" Riddle screamed.
"I'M RIGHT! IT'S ME! I'M THE ONE IN THE RIGHT-- NO-ONE ELSE! I'M THE ONLY ONE! WHO'S! RIGHT!!!!"

With a high, ragged scream, he tried to run forward.

Then he stopped.

The scepter went clattering to the ground, and he looked down at his hands, swaying unsteadily.

He clutched at his face, bending almost double and wracked with tremors.

And he screamed.

Tendrils of inky blackness exploded up, engulfing him as he threw his head back, still screaming.

Trey's magical pen dropped to the ground.
"RIDDLE!!!!" Came his answering scream, voice cracking with terror and a heartwrenching note of despair.

Kat's eyes were stinging, her throat was burning, and the ground was starting to shake under her feet again.

Despite all that, she couldn't seem to move...
She was frozen to the spot, eyes fixed on Riddle.

He wasn't even visible anymore...
There was just a pulsating mass of black liquid where he had been, churning and shifting unpleasantly.

The ground started rumbling again.
More and more shards of earth, leaves, shattered rosewood and bits of hedge floated up into the air.

The black fog was hanging heavy in the air now, and the sky had gone from simply stormy to a roiling pitch black.
Strange winds of energy blew through the garden, starting to whip into a frenzy.

She could hear the dorm students screaming and crying out in terror, trying to gather themselves to escape.

But-- where was there to escape TO?

People were staggering around, running and yelling over the ever-growing rumblings. But it all just sounded like a buzzing in her ears as she stood, staring at the glistening black mass.

After a few seconds, the black substance started to ebb away, draining back into a puddle on the ground.
Little by little, it dribbled down, revealing rose-red hair and a delicate frame.

Riddle was still standing, but slumped, dangling over like a puppet waiting for its puppetmaster.

His clothes....
It was as if the black substance had stained his crisp white uniform, eating away at it.
His cape was gone, and the overskirt at his waist seemed even longer... Like a wedding train of tattered, deep red and black fabric, gleaming like silk.

The roses at his hips, too... There were more of them, huge white flower heads stained with black.
His sleeves hung tattered from his shoulders, bare arms dangling limply at his sides.

His skin.... How had it gotten that pale?! He'd been pretty light before, but now he was shockingly white, like a corpse.

More black liquid dribbled down his forearms, twisting around them like vines and gathering at his hands like short gloves.

He twitched slightly, then jerked.
His torso rolled back upright, slowly. Then finally, he raised his head.
His eyes were closed, like he was asleep or unconscious or--
Don't even think that. There's no way that's possible.

It wasn't just that his clothes were stained or disintegrated, she realized.
His jacket had been replaced by some sort of bodice, almost a corset. It was split red and black with black metallic accents, forming a spiky, gothic heart on his chest.
His high-necked shirt was gone, with a tall white vampire collar in its place... A ragged, almost burned-looking one.