The Math Club

You may be the average, American citizen. You may have moved to the average rural town of Huntsville with your parents, expecting the average high school education. You may have decided to join the school's Math Club because you have always loved math. You may have been determined to join after the club's president said only the principal would allow members to join. You may have still tried joining even after the principal said no.

You may be the seemingly average American citizen. You may have been living in Huntsville your entire life, expecting that you would live the average American life. You may have always known that magic is very, very real, or you may have only joined the Math Club after discovering the hidden magical side to the world.

You may be the seemingly average American citizen. You may have been living in Huntsville or a neighboring town your entire life, hiding the fact that you are actually a magician. You may only be in high school, or you may be an adult. You may believe that demons exist to do your bidding. You may also be controlling the government from the shadows.

You may be the seemingly average American citizen. You may have been living rather sporadically in Huntsville. You may have not. You may be a member of the Math Club, or may be under the servitude of a magician. You may be quite mysterious to the other students at Huntsville High School, never attending classes and only being seen among the Math Club.

You, no matter what your role is, play a part in this story.




Arthur Croft Student/Club President
[@Mage]

Charles Carell Student
[@Sacredlege]

Julianna Miselle Student
[@LadyEvvy]

Alexander Grey Student
[@LordZeus]

Sebastian Carter Student
[@occymay]

Sybil Croft School Principal
[@Mage]


Puck Ward/Marius of Britannia Djinni/Club Vice-President
-in service to Arthur Croft
[@Mage]

Lily Penrose/Aleksandra of BritanniaAfrit
-in service to Sebastian Carter
[@occymay]

Mr. Aziz/Malak Al-Maut of Mecca Marid/Math Teacher
-in service to Sybil Croft
[@Sacredlege]


Sophie Jane Williams Student
[@AnarchyWolf]


Kit Williams/Cicero of Napoli Djinni
-in service to Sophie Jane Williams
[@AnarchyWolf]

Rose-Marie Desbaresdes/Antoinette of Paris Afrit
[@Desdemona]

Spoiler

This storybook is a fanfiction based on The Bartimaeus Sequence (also called The Bartimaeus Trilogy) by Jonathon Stroud. However, you don't need to read the series to join the storybook! I'd be happy to help you out if you have any questions on how things would work (you can PM me or ask your question in the DT), and the wiki has a lot of information on the mechanics of the world; which, by the way, are the only major similarity to the series this fanfiction is based off of.

Spoiler

The Math Club is a front for a rebel group of magicians. The group, which was only started a year before this storybook begins, is comprised of the high school magicians, the principal, and the spirits they summon. The strange students that are only seen there are the spirits; they tend to be djinn or afrits.

Spoiler

b]As of right now, create (at most) two characters. You can message me if you want to create more than that and we'll discuss if that would work. ^_^ Please use this template while creating your characters, and delete anything in parentheses – that stuff is for your convenience. I don't need to see it.[/b]

CodeSelect all

[b]True/Birth Name:[/b] (For spirits, their true name should have the following format: [Name First Given to Them] of [Place Where They Were First Summoned].)
[b]Other Names:[/b] (There are multiple for most spirits, while most magicians will have a false name they go by.)
[b]Gender:[/b] (Please put whatever gender identity you want here! You don't have to limit yourself to female and male; this storybook is very open when it comes to LGBTQ+ stuff. ^_^)
[b]Pronouns:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b] (Please put your character's age. You can use the appearance section for how old they appear to be; this applies more to some of the Math Club's more special members. )
[b]Species:[/b] (Human, human-spirit hybrid, or spirit here! For anyone who isn't part of the fandom, spirit is the correct and polite term for demons.)
[b]Rank (If Applicable):[/b] (This will be further explained in the DT. See it for more information if you aren't part of the fandom. ^_^ You can put imp, foliot, djinni, afrit, or marid.)
[b]Sexuality:[/b] (Once again, don't limit yourself to your characters being straight! Do whatever you want for your character's sexuality.)
[b]Up For Romance?:[/b]
[b]Occupation (If Any):[/b] (Please put magician or student here if your character isn't purely a demon.)
[b]Appearance:[/b] (For any spirit characters, put your character's usual guise(s) here.)
[b]Abilities:[/b] (Your character may have resilience if they are human - check the DT for more information if you want that to be the case. ^_^)
[b]Other:[/b]

Spoiler

1.) No godmodding.
2.) Be polite to the other members of the SB.
3.) Use correct grammar and spelling.
4.) If you want to kill off a character, check with the character's creator.
5.) Sex is not allowed. Keep it T, please.
6.) Swearing is allowed.
7.) You can use whatever tense you want, along with first person or third person, as long as you use the same tense and point of view throughout the storybook for that character.
8.) Some people have said before to not control other people's characters, but since we're all collaborating here, you have to do that to a certain degree. So here's a compromise: be prepared for their creator to correct you if their character was out-of-character (OOC). Also, to avoid possible OOC characters, try to talk with their creators or wait until you know their character better before making them say anything.
9.) Have fun, of course! ^_^

He stared out of the empty classroom's window, absentmindedly tracing the faint designs in the glass with his finger. The other occupants of the room had left minutes prior; all had grown bored while waiting for the last class of the day to end. Arthur had once brought up the idea of dismissing him at the beginning of the day and summoning him at the end, but Puck would have none of it. He wasn't going to be obsessive when it came to protecting his boyfriend by lurking in the back of the classroom as some sort of insect, but he also wasn't going to neglect his duties by not being present for the majority of the day.

A glance at the clock. The minute hand finally landed on the twelve, and a triumphant cheer left his lips as the bell rang throughout the school's halls. He slipped his bag – which contained a first aid kit, medical books, and a small photo album – over his head and let it rest on his shoulder.

Flinging the door open, he burst out into the corridor. He ran down numerous hallways while keeping an eye out for a familiar face among the sea of students. A smile spread from ear to ear when he saw who he was looking.

“Artie!” he shouted.

Only the heads of newer students turned at the sound of his voice. This, as the majority of people knew, was the way things usually worked after school. He threw his arms around the smaller boy, who struggled to remain standing, and kissed him on the lips.

They drew apart. Arthur, with Puck's help, picked up the books that had fallen out of his hands when his boyfriend had suddenly embraced him. He eagerly told Puck about what he had done during the school day as they made their way through the maze of hallways. Puck found his love of knowledge to be adorable; it was nearly impossible to get him to stop talking about a topic after he began learning about it.

As he listened, his mind drifted back to when he finally confessed his feelings. It had only been last Valentine's Day when Puck handed him chocolates he had made, along with two tickets for the movie he had been so excited to see. He had claimed that it was a birthday gift – because Arthur's birthday happened to be on the same day – but the younger of the two was too smart and had seen through his weak lie.

The smile grew. And our love is still burning just as strongly and fiercely as it was back then, he thought, following Arthur into the classroom. He didn't leave his side as the club's president placed his books and bag on one of the desks. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a girl silently enter the room. “Hey, Lily!”

Unsurprisingly, all that she did was give a nod to let him she acknowledged his presence.

His attention quickly returned to Arthur. “What are we doing today, Pres?” he questioned. He occupied himself by peering over his boyfriend's shoulder and trying to read what was supposedly the plans for the daily math club meeting. At least, that's what he thought it was. It was actually a doodle that Arthur had drawn on a spare sheet of paper; it was of him and Puck sitting by the lake close to the principal's house.

“Just the usual,” was the response. Arthur's gaze briefly fell upon the doorway, to check to see if students that weren't members of the math club were listening. His voice dropped. “We're going to be talking about if we've seen anything odd or just general problems, and are going to be dishing out summoning supplies to any magician that needs more.”

“Sounds good to me.”

The two made their way up to the front of the room. The vice-president of the Huntsville High School Math Club watched both the door and the clock above it as he waited beside Arthur for the other members to enter.

Lily Penrose

Lily passed through the door to a room where she was expected to socialize. She didn’t like socializing. She didn’t like people. As she entered she noticed the two lovebirds were together at the front of the classroom. She hated love most of all, it made her skin crawl.

“Hello Lily,” Said Puck.

All she did was nod, in no mood to be nice but she did have manners. They had been stilled upon her by a former master, a Victorian gentlemen in the service of the Queen, one of the few people she had actually liked. Sitting at the desk she had claimed, she looked out the window, watching the jocks roll around in the mud like the pigs they were.

The seasons were beginning to visually change from summer to autumn. The leaves were falling, littering the ground in a wash of orangey/brown. Soon they would become a disgusting mush but for now, she found them pretty. The football coach was shouting, stealing her attention as he ordered the breathless teens into another workout. His face was red like a tomato and just as round, his hair a dull brown messily tied at the nape of his neck.

She could hear Arthur and Puck talking quietly to each other, holding hands and looking lovingly into each other’s eyes. It made her want to be sick. She wondered for a moment what they may be talking about and then she realized… she didn’t care. As she went to look out the window again, she heard the sound of the door opening.

“Lily darling!” Shouted Douchebag from the door.

He began to rush to towards her, she almost felt like hissing at him but she wasn’t a cat and that was very uncivilized. Instead, she held her arm out, the palm of her hand facing him, her power boiling to the surface as her anger rose. Her body began to change, her hair lifting and flowing like live fire, her eyes glowing a fierce red. The Sebastian backed off slowly, taking a seat a few desks away. She returned back to normal, the room stayed hushed for a few seconds before Arthur spoke.

“Maybe we should close the blinds.”

Mr. Aziz

The bell had successfully vacated the Math class of any reasonable entity who wasn't interested in going mad. The board was a mess, still, something for the custodians' to worry about later on, but not then. The problem hadn't been solved, after all. There was still the problem of balancing the equation.

"It's a quadratic equation," Aziz told the boy in the dramatic blue hoodie who was squinting at the board, "It's not squaring the individual numbers, it's squaring everything inside the parentheses."

"I've passed Elementary, alright? I get what it does," Charlie huffed, clutching at the board marker, "I'm just saying, finding the x is a bit difficult when you have to take out a denominator that goes 2-x, x+2 and x^2-4."

"Multiply it. Set it all as whole numbers, then find the x."

"I'm getting to that."

Charlie stared at the board for a little longer, before finally deciding on the variables needed and finally eliminating the denominators. He growled at the marker as he tried to get the numbers into the right position, spending five lines before finally reaching the two answers he needed. "One and eight," he said, nearly slamming the board marker onto the table. "The roots are one and eight."

Aziz clapped at the achievement, assessing the board. "Well done," he said, "You're the only person in class to get it right."

"You say that as if I ought to be proud."

The teacher turned to his student, gold eyes glowing in a mix of benevolence and bemusement. "Well, there are others who've gotten it right before," he said, "That shouldn't make your achievement any less celebrated."

Charlie shrugged. His backpack melted against Aziz's chair, straightening as he slung it over his shoulder. He looked up at the clock above the board. "It wasn't hard," he said, "I didn't get much sleep last night. I was being slow, is all."

Aziz smirked. He followed the boy out of the classroom, before tapping his shoulder lightly. "Now, young man," he started, "Where do you think you're going?"

The dark-skinned boy glared up at his Mathematics teacher, scowling. "The drug store. I think I'm gonna overdose on Oxy tonight." his voice was petulant. "Where do you think I'm going?"

"Definitely not home," Aziz said, "We have Math Club today."

Charles wrinkled his nose in confusion, and then wrinkled his forehead in concern, before finally wrinkling his chin in mild revulsion. "Oh no."

"Oh yes," Aziz said, pulling Charles towards the opposite corridor, towards the club room, "Come now, Charles, you've only joined us last week. I can't let you slither away just yet--you've made an agreement."

"I agreed to join a club about mathematics," Charles said, pulling away, "Math Club is anything but mathematics."

"Of course it's a Math Club."

"I know a lot of people hate Math, but I don't think it's comparable to Satanism."

"Now, Charlie, I told you we're not Satanists--we're magicians." Aziz waved his hands about in a wild gesture. "You know, like Harry Houdini. Or David Copperfield. Except real."

"Uh huh. That makes me feel so much better." Charles retorted. "I have a chance of being punched in the gullet and dying because one of my internal organs ruptured."

"I mean, you have more of a chance of dying if you shoddily summoned a djinn--"

"Yeah, I'm leaving."

"Wait, wait," Aziz stood in front of Charlie, stopping him from turning away. He sighed. "Look. I know it isn't--up to your standards, joining a ragtag group of magicians."

Charlie crossed his arms. "I'm not pulling a rabbit out of my hoodie."

"I know you aren't." Aziz replied. "But you see me. Don't you?"

The boy's features changed slightly. He looked to his shoes.

"You're going to spend the rest of your life with this ability, seeing things you can't understand, auras and beings you don't know," Aziz said. "You can't leave my class without solving all of the homework I gave you, and then some. You can't stand not knowing the answer to every problem. You're telling me that you're willing to spend hours mulling over numbers, but you're not curious enough to discover the other half of the world?"

Charlie shook his head. "This is stupid," he said, "I'm not going to be a magician."

Aziz chuckled, patting his shoulder. "Now, I don't know," he said, "Sybil isn't going to summon me forever. I'll need someone else to do it, at some point."

Charlie glared at the man, before giving up. "I'm not promising anything," he said, rushing into the corridor Aziz was headed towards, "And I'm an amateur mathematician, not a magician. Okay?"

Aziz smiled.

Kit Williams

Kit walked by Sophie's side as they navigated the hallways, still adjusting to his new life. Last time he'd walked the earth, Pompeii and Herculaneum had been thriving. According to Sophie, they now lay in ruins in the middle of a modern city. So many things, and not just treasures from his beloved past, had changed.

"What now?" Kit asked, eyes glued to everything around him.

"We go home. We do homework. Y'know, the usual." Sophie didn't sound like she liked the idea any more than he did.

"What about looking around? You can't just summon me and not let me see what's changed. It's my old home. I want to go to Italy."

"So do I," Sophie sighed, "but this is how things are. We aren't going to fail school."

Kit huffed. He folded his arms like a spoiled palace brat. His sharp eyes focused on the bag she had hanging from her elbow. He glanced at her face - faraway, probably worrying about her assignments. She'd probably forgotten his request already.

His hand snapped forwards like a striking cobra, or one of the other the kinds of ferocious snakes once used to execute people, and pulled her bag away from her. He chuckled and backed up, turning on heel and racing backwards into the school, dodging the few people still left filtering like the last dregs of coffee.

"Hey!" He heard Sophie shout, and spared a look over his shoulder to see her dance backwards to follow him, knocking into peoples' shoulders as she went.

He carried on, past the library, into a deserted part of the school. He chuckled between very labored breaths - this body was going to need shaping up - and skidded around a corner, almost losing his balance as he went.

"If you... can't get... your bag back..." Kit huffed, "then... we're going to... Italy..."

"It doesn't work like that!" Sophie shouted back as she rounded the corner. She was putting on that tone. She sounded angry, but he could tell it was an act. Sure enough, she tried to stifle her giggles as she stopped dead, looking him up and down as he clutched the handbag to his chest as if it were a demigod baby.

She took a step closer.

Kit waved the bag above her head, just a bit too high for her to grab it. He pranced backwards and grabbed at a doorhandle. He threw open the door with a shout, intending to make a fort out of tables and feign a battleground worthy of the great Roman Empire.

Instead, he'd burst into what looked to be a meeting.

Their excited shouts had masked any noise coming from the congregation. Students' faces were all mixed with their emotions, some mouths slightly open and others tightly pursed. It felt strange, very strange. It wasn't just being stared at like he'd done something wrong - something that didn't happen very often -, but something about the overall meeting felt very, very familiar. It also had the distinct tang of danger.

A dinner with the emperor, perhaps?

Kit dropped the handbag and pushed it out of sight with a foot. Sophie poked her head around the door.

"Oh. Hello, everyone." Kit stalled while he tried to figure out exactly what was going on with the meeting's participants, "that was a mistake, I swear..."

The room had fallen eerily silent when the boy rushed in.

“Oh. Hello, everyone. That was a mistake, I swear...” the boy awkwardly said; Puck noticed a girl peeking around the doorway and into the room. He could see the gears turning in the boy's head as the boy gazed around the room. He was trying to figure out what they were doing.

“Don't worry about it,” Puck replied, casually slinging an arm over Arthur's shoulder. “We were just talking about math. This is the school's math club. Not many know about it, but we exist all the same.” He gave the boy and girl a grin, though it was more directed at the boy. Who, from the look of disbelief on his face, didn't believe a word that Puck had said.

For a moment, Puck believed that they were dealing with some sort of enemy magician. Yet there was something about the two intruders that made him think otherwise, and it was only when he glanced at the expressions the two wore that he realized his initial assumption was wrong. They were just as confused about what was going as Puck had been when Arthur had first summoned him.

Still giving them a grin, he checked the planes. The girl appeared to be human on all of them. The boy, on the other hand, was a bona fide djinni.

One that Puck recognized all too well.

“Cicero of Napoli,” he finally muttered. The grin disappeared. Though he had originally been summoned by Romans, it had been the people that they had persecuted that had been his most frequent summoners. He had run into Cicero several times before, and he didn't have fond memories of those times.

The djinni stared at him for several seconds, and the girl – who he assumed to be Cicero's summoner – nervously entered the room. “You're Marius of Britannia,” the other djinni said. “But why are you here?”

“To learn.” The grin returned, though this time it was more forced than before. Puck had cared deeply for the people he had been summoned to protect during the time of the Roman Invasion; because of this, he was far from fond of the djinni standing before him. “Just the same as you.”

Kit Williams

Wait, what?

Kit nodded and studied Marius very carefully. He'd learnt the knack of sizing people up very efficiently while watching the happenings of the Roman Court - it was a knack he'd had to learn. And it was a knack that was telling him exactly what Marius' true feelings were.

Once Marius had figured out who he was, his grin had faded and the arm about who Kit presumed, with a flush of surprise, was his boyfriend - not that Kit had anything against it. In fact, he'd had several boyfriends back in Rome - tensed. In fact, his whole body tensed in an unnervingly subtle way that Kit was sure only he noticed. Then, as Marius forced himself to relax, he pushed his mouth into a faux grin.

He was wearing a fake smile. Kit narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, just enough to communicate to Marius, and hopefully only Marius, that he'd caught on.

Well, it wasn't as if Kit could expect anything more from someone who'd stood against Rome. This djinni had fought with the Barbarians who lived on the edge of the Known World, rather than submit to the grandeur of the Emperor.

The sliest of smirks began to form on Kit's face. "So, -"

"So, this is a meeting for people like me? Who can do... magic?" Sophie butted in. Kit was grateful - she'd most likely sensed his intentions to have a dig at Marius, or whatever his modern name was, and decided not to let him. He was already indebted to his summoner more than he cared to think - this wasn't the first time she'd saved him.

Converting barbarians to the laid-back pleasures of Roman life would have to wait.

"Exactly." Marius nodded. He was still unhappy, Kit could tell, but was doing a much better job not letting it on. Kit, however, didn't do much to try to hide his own feelings.

"Can I join?" Sophie asked. She took a breath, like she was about to continue. She looked sideways at Kit, a knowing look on her face.

No. Kit shook his head. He'd rather be convicted for treason against the emperor than join a stupid magic-maths club. He had to go to Italy, not join a maths club. His morals kept him silent - he owed Sophie a lot. If this was what she wanted, regardless of his own feelings, then he would stay with her through that.

"Can both of us join?"

Rose-Marie Desbaresdes

“For the last time, my name is Rose-Marie! I’m not Jeanne anymore.” She whispered savagely as she tried to shake him off. He was chasing her and pulling on her sleeve, exposing the tattoo she had over there. She felt herself fume -literally- for a second before reining herself in.

“Just. I need your help. How will I get to her?” He pleaded, with a sickeningly whiny voice that made Jeanne want to throw him out the window.

“Look. If you want my help, leave me alone. Let me blend in and discover on my own. I’ll find something.” She said, inventing stuff off the top of her head to make him GO.

When he reluctantly left, Rose sighed and readjusted her top before resuming her walk around the grounds. Of course, this was nothing compared to the architecture she’d lived in in the past, but there was a satisfying something about the metallic, glassy building you just couldn’t get back then.

Of course, there was also the enormous energy emanating off the walls.

Spirits, loads of them were within here somewhere, some of them more ancient than Rose herself.

Maybe they could help her get rid of her summoner.

She followed the wavelengths through the school, and eventually reached a door.
“The Math Club” it said. Rose smiled.

“Couldn’t be more perfect.”

She opened the door and her jaw dropped right open.

It was brimming with power.

Totally ignoring the tension in the room, she stepped right in.

“I want to become a member of your club. I’m aware of what it really is.” She announced.

His boyfriend was upset; he could tell from the way he was clenching his fists together and how his smile, which Arthur had known was fake because it didn't reach his eyes, faded when Cicero met the djinni's gaze. Arthur knew asking the reasons why would be difficult. Puck didn't like disclosing details of his past, though he loved to ask Arthur about his life prior to when they first met.

New members were always a hassle, especially in a situation like this. In fact, he couldn't remember a situation like this. In all other scenarios, Puck and him had picked up on subtle clues that students were either spirits or magicians. After carefully monitoring them, they would tell his aunt about the possible members and see what she thought about them joining the club. There hadn't been a time where she had rejected their requests.

He quickly checked the planes to see what everyone was.

Cicero of Napoli was a djinni, while the girl who had requested to become a member of the club was unsurprisingly human. The girl who had entered shortly afterwards, however, was an afrit. Her summoner was nowhere in the sight.

Arthur glanced at Puck, withstanding the urge to groan. This meeting wasn't supposed to be anything extraordinary. It was supposed to be a typical meeting, and he wasn't supposed to be trying to figure out what to do in an unprecedented situation like this one. They all seemed to have a basic understanding of what the club was – a group of spirits and their summoners. He doubted they guessed the true nature of the club.

He eyed the human girl. She didn't seem bad. In fact, she seemed rather excited about the prospect of meeting other people like her. Cicero, though tensions were high between him and Puck, didn't seem like a threat as a result. It was the unnamed afrit that worried him the most. Who was her summoner? Would they pose a threat to the club?

“Before you can join, we need to discuss this with the rest of the club,” Arthur finally said. Puck removed his arm from his shoulder, understanding what his summoner was thinking. A Bulb of Silence engulfed the members of the club, effectively preventing the three newcomers from overhearing the conversation. “What are everyone's thoughts? Puck and I typically are the ones to suggest who should join the club, but no one has ever asked to join because of its magical aspect.”

“I don't see any problem with them joining,” Sebastian Carter, Lily's summoner, commented from his spot next to his spirit. She ignored his glances, and only gave a slight nod in agreement.

“But can we trust them?” Alexander Renn asked. “How do we know they aren't agents of an enemy group?”

Puck ran his fingers through his bangs. “As much as I don't want to trust Cicero, his summoner's interest in the club seems completely genuine. The two of them seem safe. I'd suggest that we allow all three of them to join but closely monitor them – especially that afrit. Since we can't put operations on hold, I think we have to tell them the truth of the organizations.”

The group was quick to agree, and the Bulb of Silence was dispersed. Puck and Arthur turned to face the three newcomers. “You all can join,” Arthur agreed, ignoring how Puck was in the middle of having a glaring match with Cicero. “However, we do need to inform you of something.”

Puck didn't take his eyes off of Cicero as he spoke. “This club is a front for a rebel group of magicians and spirits, our goal being to remove the magicians controlling the government from power. You can back out now, as long as you take that secret with you to the grave.” The smile he gave them was real. “And if you're fine with being part of a revolution, welcome to the club!”

Someone stepped through the doorway, following by one of the newest members of the club. “Well,” Mr. Aziz said as he looked at the three new members of the Math Club, “what did we miss?”

Charlie

What the friggidy fraggidy wickidy wackidy whig whag--

Charlie shook the childish (if albeit fitting) thought from his head, turning his heel to take to the other direction. Perhaps if he was quick enough, he could run back to his dad's spaghetti dinners and forget all about the vaguely malignant and occasionally artful (?) figures in the room. Some, he had recognized--Puck Ward didn't faze him one bit, and while Penrose was an odd shape, she wasn't abnormal--but this time, two or three had been added to the mix and he wasn't keen on meeting any more of them.

"Raqm," Aziz grabbed Charles by the hoodie, "You promised."

"Nope," Charles kept walking, trying hard to be released from Aziz's grasp, "Nope, nope, nope, nope--"

"Charlie--"

"Mr. Aziz," Arthur started, turning to the teacher, "You were a bit late. We've made an important decision, you see--"

Charlie finally got in his right mind and unzipped his jacket, slipping out and clumsily running to the direction of spaghetti dinner and acoustic protest songs. Unfortunately, he didn't get far before black smoke tripped his steps, dragging him back to the mess of a room.

"Your jacket," Aziz slid the blue hoodie back onto Charles, dusting the blackness off Charles as he positioned him in front of the club. Supposedly, Aziz took his human form back--the only way Charles knew this was, of course, the fact that he'd gone from a cloudy storm back to a ray of light. What Charles would pay to be anybody who's seen Aziz's human form. "Now," Aziz turned back to Arthur, "You were saying?"

Arthur scratched his head, looking amicably confused. The dear leader wasn't entirely bad. He was handsome, though not in the way Charlie would chase after--not that Charlie chased many guys. There isn't a high demand for repressed homosexual men with an algebraic obsession.

"Our, uh," Arthur gestured to the two students Charles wasn't familiar with, along with their spirits. "New members. Very new. Fresh out of the oven, really."

Aziz stared at the two new members. His gaze was, as usual, kind, but Charles swore the storm briefly returned in his features when he came to the dog. No, not just any dog. Uncle Matt's dog, but without the spiky collar pulling him back, or the white muzzle to keep his incisors in his jaws and away from anybody's vital organs, or even the metal cage. And as much as he looked like Uncle Matt's dog, if his memory served, Charles reckoned his uncle's dog wasn't human-sized.

Aziz seemed to smile.

"Quite the collection we have here," Aziz clapped his hands, merrily enough, "Welcome. Of course, Arthur doesn't get final say in all manners--I'm sure Sybil would like to hear of," Charles caught Aziz looking at the dog again, however briefly, "this."

Arthur conceded. "Of course," he said, "I suppose we'll have to show them the ropes then, don't we?"

Charles bit the inside of his cheek. He remembered his first time in the club like it was last week (mostly because it was last week), he didn't expect another one so soon. From the looks of Arthur and Puck, neither did the rest of them.

"In that case, if we're going to focus on the new kids," Charles started, "You all wouldn't mind if I just leave, would you?" He chuckled, nervously. "I mean, I have a lot of homework to do, and I wouldn't want to get in your way--"

Speaking up was a mistake, of course, because from the way Aziz turned to him Charles knew he'd just given the teacher an idea. "Charles," he said, "You haven't learnt any proper magic, have you?"

Charles gritted his teeth. "Don't you dare--"

But the matter was settled. "A magic lesson, then," Aziz suggested, locking his hands behind his back. "We might as well see what the mubtadiiyn have for us."

Charles looked behind him to the door, calling for his freedom. "I suggest," Aziz said, as if reading his mind, "We find somewhere bigger to practice in, first."

Sebastian Carter

Sebastian gazed around at his new company as they got up to leave the classroom. A human, a djinni, and an afrit (obviously nothing compared to his Lily). What an odd bunch of people. The human seemed enthusiastic, staring around at the others in amazement. On the other hand, the djinni was alternating between glaring, rather rudely, at Puck and staring at the projector as if it was some foreign entity. His darling Lily didn’t seem to have a positive opinion on the other afrit either. It was rather a lot to take in but in truth, he didn’t see any real problem with them.

“I thought I’d say that if any of you touch my Lily,” he announced to the newcomers, grabbing a hold of Lily. He squeezed her tightly to his side, despite the fact she was glowing red with anger. “I’ll make you rue the day you challenged me.”

“If you don’t let go of me, I’ll break every bone in your body.” Lily hissed, clawing at his hand.

“You shouldn’t say such romantic things when we’re in public, darling.”

Before he even realized what was happening, his face collided with the floor. Pain bloomed in his nose and as he lifted his face he felt a trickle of blood slid down his lips.

“I’m alright!” He exclaimed, flowing back to his feet with an elegance that had been instilled in him at a young age.

Sebastian looked at Lily but she was already looking out of the window, a triumphant look on her face. The others were gawking at the two of them, horror and shock displayed on their faces in equal measures. Tugging his handkerchief out of his coat pocket and placing it gently on his nose, he said: “Shall we get going?”