Mark of the Moon (MAGIC CAT ACADEMY STORY)

Confusion

"Stop daydreaming, or I'll take advantage of you!" The threat jerked Dusk out of her thoughts, and she whipped around to see a ghost with bent azure glasses on. Dusk noticed that the librarian wore those glasses that weren't crooked. Dusk heard Heart sneer behind her and, shortly after, crack up.

"Good costume, Sage. You look like you've lived for a century." Heart hooted, pressing her paw to her face to stop herself from giggling. Sage frowned but focused on Dusk.  Dusk released poison smog over Sage, and she sounded like she would vomit. A fury of flames came after it, making Sage's glossy white coat charred and covered in ash. More poison and a rainstorm pushed Sage back far. She unsheathed her claws angrily. Dusk watched as Sage flew past her, slamming into the bookshelves.

"More fire will help." She sent blazes into Sage's stumbling body, and soon she was drowning in fire.

"Oh really?" She snarled. She jumped off the bookshelf and crashed into Dusk. Dusk grasped her wand, and with a flick, she felt her muscles overflow with energy. She swatted her paws over Sage's back and used her strength to lift herself to stand over Sage. She clawed Sage's belly. Sage cried in pain and kicked Dusk desperately. Dusk sank her jaws into Sage's neck, expecting to taste blood on her tongue. She wanted to back away and shake the sharp tang of the blood of her fangs, but she had to keep her teeth fastened in. The sour blood of Sage flooded Dusk's mouth. Sage screamed in dread. "Heart help me! This isn't how magic works!" Heart watched nearby; her eyes clouded over with white like she had just died. She stared straight into Sage's eyes as she started to lay in a pool of blood and fade away. 'Don't let me die, you traitor!" She yelled. Dusk's heart was pounding in fear when she realized how vicious she appeared. Horror coursed through her veins as she felt bone touch her tooth. Suddenly, she plopped down on the ground and was in a ghost blood pool. Heart glared at her, and Dusk refused to look back with her bloodstained muzzle.

"You are a savage. I've never seen a ghost bleed before; you must have hit bone because I heard a crack." Heart gasped. Dusk sat up and licked the blood off her paws, retching at the bitter taste. "Just cast a spell, Dusk."

"Why didn't I-" She stopped to heave. "-think of that?" Dusk swiped her wand and showered herself. She licked her pads to help the sticky lifeblood run down her flank into the puddle of blood. It spread over the room, almost reaching Heart's paws until only a few streaks of blood remained. Dusk opened her maw and let the droplets of rain fill her mouth. She spat it all over the floor, and soon the storm was over.

"You are soaked and tired, no doubt." Heart mewed. Dusk wandered into the corner and lay down on a rug. She curled up and tried to close her eyes, but Heart hovered over her. "I'll get a towel, don't make a sound." Dusk heard Heart's paws running away, and soon all she heard was the sharp rhythm of rain and the bawling of thunder.  She managed to pick up voices from outside the building in the silence, though.

"Why do we have to do this? I thought Sapphire forgot her magic years ago!"

Sapphire? Isn't she from the diary?

"Maybe she relearned it; it's not that hard to remember, Screech."

"The boss is weird! Sapphire is only a kitten, and he wants us too-"

"Quiet Screech! He'll hear us, and we'll be put up first if you complain.'

I'm not Sapphire.

"I think I'd tolerate that, Tempest! What if I secretly liked his deranged ideas? Would you nag and nag like, "Oh, my name's Tempest, and I like-" Screech's mocking was broken off by a yowl and sounds of paws bumping into something, indicating that Tempest was attacking Screech.  This must be a horrible relationship if everyone is constantly attacking each other.

"I'm back, and did you hear those goofballs outside? They always say they don't like our boss's plans and then they say they support it! It's crazy." Heart mumbled through the towel she carried. She carefully tucked the towel over Dusk and patted it down. Dusk felt a whisk of emotions mask her as she remembered her mother tucking her sister and Dusk in when they were little. For a small moment, Dusk could breathe in the past.

"Alright, Dawn. One more story."

"Yay!"

Dusk missed her sister's voice, but soon she was back to lying exhausted on the floor, a towel dressing her so she could sleep dry. Dusk listened to the ghost's conversations again to make her tired.

"Shut up! You think you will do better than me!"

"Well, you will get scared. I'll be calling you Screech the Scaredy Cat soon enough!"

"If Sapphire doesn't set us on fire first! And I bet you changed your name for this moment!" 

"You always assume that I'll I'm just like my name! Well, guess who'll be upfront when it starts?"

"The boss? He wouldn't miss a chance to get vengeance!"

I wish I'd been listening long enough to get context.

"Oh, you're so smart! Not like it's the easiest guess ever!"

"Oh my lord, what are you doing? This is the worst argument my ears have ever harked!" Dusk didn't recognize the new voice.

"He says I can't do it!"

"Do what, you moron? Honestly, you can do whatever it is when we attack. Just meet me in the cafeteria, both of you."

"Fine. But tell Tempest that I'll do better!"

"Nuh-uh! I'll do the best! I'm record-breaking!"

And now I have to meet them. Wonderful.

"I can tell you're listening to the conversation outside. The other ghost is Hollow. He is higher ranking than Screech and Tempest. Hollow is, um... He'll be more top of the range at it." Dusk wanted to scream, what is "it"?! But she couldn't force the words out, even if she tried.