{ November 19th }
The telephone began to ring in the headmaster’s office. Surprised, Adrian Dear answered the call with the hand that wears his silver ring, and propped the phone up to his ear.
“This is the headmaster’s office speaking, may I help you?” He asked the question with a bit of disbelief in his voice, as most knew to call one of his assistants before they called him.
“This is the archivist speaking,” the voice began, concerned. “I have called you to let you know that your daughter has not come to my lecture for the past two days in a row, and has not yet contacted me to address it. Do you know the cause for her absence? I would like to excuse her, but I cannot do so without a note.”
The headmaster lowered the phone in his hand, and let his arm hold it flat on the table. When was the last time he had spoken with her? They had lunch… one week ago did they not? She had gone to his office three days ago… oh god.
He picked up the phone and quickly began to speak. “I am not yet sure what her reason is. But I will be sure to have her speak with you. Thank you for informing me.”
He hung up the phone just as quickly, and began dialing Aurora’s phone number. The last time he had seen her, she had shaking hands and wet eyes.
She told him that she kept having that same dream for weeks. The one where she was being chased through the woods bleeding, the dream that always ended with her looking at her hands and then screaming.
“It feels like I might be next,” she cried softly. The girl pleaded, asking him to help her.
He told her that the dream meant nothing of the sort. He told Aurora that no one would hurt her.
But now, when he called her, the phone rung out.
When Mr. Dear went to her usual study spots, they were empty. When he went to the refectory, she was not there, in the library, she was not, and when he asked her friends if they had seen her, they had not.
And then he went to her bedroom, bringing his own key to unlock it, and she was not there. Her bathroom was empty, her bed made with no one underneath it. There was still a bottle of lip gloss on her vanity, she must have been in a rush.
A blanket of anger covered him suddenly. It made him burn with the desire to tear her whole room apart looking for a hint of where his daughter might be because he loved her. And beyond that, she was the only person he could confide in. At least about the important things. Was she really right about the dream meaning something? Or did she run away because her soul could not bear any more weight?
The second question ticked him in a way that he knew it should not have, but did anyway.
Later that evening, the headmaster ordered a search party, and put the school on lockdown until further notice.
{ November 25th }
It had been six days since the disappearance of Aurora Dear, and the people at Wyndham College were beginning to lose hope. None of the students had been allowed to leave, and the student body, mentally, had taken a great loss. Some students were not surprised by another disappearance, but Aurora? The headmaster’s daughter? A complete opposite to Miles North? That was something they never could have predicted.
In her honor, and for the purpose of finding knowledge as Quantum was designed to, the school decided against cancellation of the Lunar Eclipse Ritual. Without Aurora, and for Aurora, the Quantum students set up the event as best as they could with the building on lockdown; on the roof of the school, with a wall of shadows set by the Umbra Coven to keep the campus secure. The explorable part of the campus rooftop was about the size of the ball room, all students fitting securely under the dark moon, tucked within the Umbra of the eclipse. Tables were set with candles, bottles of wine, and platters to quietly enjoy after the main event had concluded.
The purpose of the ritual was to create a celestial gateway between patterns of light and reality in silence. With an immense, organic source, students believed they could converge their magical powers to find new, and with any luck, relevant knowledge. Any student who did would be awarded by the headmaster himself.