Young Writers Society

Margaret:
Margaret stares at the man's hand uncertainly. Schadel's Necromancy Agency? If that doesn't have "suspicious" written all over it, she doesn't know what does. And the girl with him, what had they been talking about before she arrived? Finally, she shakes the man's hand.
"So, um, Schadel, is it? And you're looking for a... cat?" Now that Margaret has time to look at him, Schadel seems just as uncertain as she feels. "I haven't seen any animals here. I just got here, really. So, woods near... um, Drey?"

Schadel:

He nods. "Yeah. It should be near Drey, anyways..." Schadel's heart sinks when he realizes that the cat is still missing in action. The job was supposed to prevent them from losing their house, not make them lose it! He stares dismally down at the ground. He really loves the house. He loves how badly he painted it. He loves the forest, even though it's half dead because the words green-thumb and Schadel just don't go together. And he loves the memories he and Claret have created there.
Schadel remembers the first time he laid his eyes upon the house. He remembers that feeling of excitement, that hope for a brand new chapter in their lives.
Something wet slids down his face. He looks up to see if it's raining, and is surprised to see that it isn't. Schadel lifts a hand up to his face and wipes his eyes. He doesn't want to cry, especially in front of these strangers, but his body doesn't want to do what he wants it to.
Schadel tries to keep his voice from wavering as he speaks. "What about you two? What are your names, and what are you doing here?"

Margaret:
Margaret doesn't know what it is about this cat, but when Schadel hears that she hasn't seen it he starts crying softly. Maybe the cat was special to him?
"Hey, don't cry. I'm sorry about your cat, but I'm sure you'll find him! I'm Margaret, and I'm here because... um..." Margaret realizes that something very, very strange is going on here, and that it's probably not the best idea to tell these strangers that she was teleported here from a magic school. "I'm... looking for... my grandmother?"
Margaret curses under her breath. She'd always been a terrible liar. These people were going to see right through her! She hurriedly casts about for a distraction.
"I can help you look. For your cat I mean." She reaches over and awkwardly pats Schadel's shoulder.
She looks over at the scar-faced girl. "And you never really introduced yourself. Who are you?"

Jackie ?

Jackie paused for a moment,

" My name is Jackie Kiland, I'm from Gotham city, and let's just say my "Father" is a really crazy murderer, as you can see here . . ."

She pointed to her scars. Tears started to form in her eyes,

"He killed my mother at birth, and then killed all of my foster families. He attempted to distort my mind, just like him, but my friend helped me . . ."

She fell to the ground crying.

Margaret:
Evidently Margaret was doing entirely the wrong thing here, because now two people are crying and she's no closer to figuring out where she is.
She pauses to process her current information. Schadel is in the woods, apparently near "Drey", wherever that's supposed to be, in search of a cat to which he is very emotionally attached. Jackie, a girl from "Gotham," is hiding from her father.
Margaret stands awkwardly for a moment, and sits next to Jackie on the ground. "Okay, so together we can figure out where we are. I'll help you hide from your father, Jackie, and we can all look for Schadel's cat. Does that sound good?"
She looks over at Schadel. He's stopped crying now, and Margaret is grateful. If they're all going to help each other out, all three of them need to keep it together.

Schadel:

Schadel wipes his eyes again, just to make sure his tears are gone.
"Your father is a murderer?" He questions Jackie. If Claret was here, she would say that he has once again gone into mystery mode. Small puzzles pieces start to fit themselves together in an elaborate picture. Jackie's scars, obviously, are from her father. It also explains why she was so terrified.
And yet with both Jackie and Margaret's puzzles, there is one piece missing. The pieces are different, but Schadel still comes to sudden realization that the world still doesn't make sense.
"Jackie Kiland," he starts, pointing an accusatory finger at the murderer's daughter, "you say you're from this 'Gotham' place. I've looked at every single map, read every single atlas in existence. And there has never been a city named Gotham."
Schadel turns to the other girl. His finger is now directed at her. "Margaret, you not only didn't supply your last name, but the excuse of looking for your grandmother is lacking crucial information."
Schadel begins to pace back and forth in front of the two. Margaret and Jackie's eyes follow him as he does so. "Why do you believe she would be in the woods? She doesn't live here, because you are just as confused as I am on where we are. To add to it, it's the middle of the night. I'm sure that your grandmother, if you have one, wouldn't be out so late at night."
He stops pacing and walks over to Margaret. He doesn't mean to, but he snaps his fingers and his form shifts into his Grim Reaper one. As Claret says, it's his natural response to a mystery.
"So, Margaret, what is your real reason for being in these woods?"

Margaret:
Margaret takes several hurried steps back, panicking. Standing before her in place of the man is a seven-foot tall monster. What kind of test is this? Some kind of joke on the wizards' part? She considers running, but she doesn't know what this thing is capable of. She stands for a moment, petrified, and decides that the best thing to do is answer the question honestly.
"Well... I'm not looking for my grandmother." The thing narrows the hollow sockets where its eyes should have been. She hurries on. "My name is Margaret Howes. The truth is, I don't know why I'm here. The lessons aren't usually anything like this. I don't know where I am or where this 'Drey' place is. I especially don't know what kind of test I have to pass so I can leave, but I think maybe this is the test. Maybe."
Feeling more confident now that she's talking, she challenges the monster. "And what about you? You prance around, pretending to be a person, and for what? Sorry, but I have some difficulty believing that you're looking for a cat, of all things!"

Schadel:

Schadel pushes aside his confusion over these lessons and test that Margaret was talking about as he shouts, "I am looking for that damn cat! Its owners lost the stupid feline, and if I don't find it they're going to sue! I need the money to keep the house! And you want to know the reason why I was pretending to be one of you humans? Because you humans get scared so easily!"
Schadel points a finger at Jackie. "She screamed when she first saw me! You, Margaret, stumbled away from me in terror! And most people aren't supposed to know that Grim Reapers freaking exist!"

Jackie ?


Jackie picks up courage as the man turns into a Grim Reaper,

"You won't find Gotham anywhere on a map, let's just say I had to take 3 flights to escape from him, and it lead me here. so my father's henchmen blew up the plane, they found that I had escaped, then, I ran here. And didn't expect to find a grim reaper, and another girl. So don't get too suspicious. But at the same time you can't trust me . . . Rule number one in Gotham, watch your back. Good thing it doesn't take much to watch my back when you have Batman on your side."

They raised their eyebrows. I could hear rustling in the bushes.

"Okay, we better run, or else, he'll just try to make me crazy again, and I know that you, the grim reaper will probably survive, but I'm a little worried about you. I mean, it's not smart to try to defeat people with clown masks and AK -47's."

She starts to run she hears a gun.

"DUCK!!!

Margaret:
Margaret is having some difficulty processing all of this. Grim Reapers, like the mythical monsters? Come to think of it, this thing did kind of look like the pictures in one of Margaret's old story books. And this Gotham place? And Batman, much like the Grim Reaper, sounded like something in a fantasy story.
What does she want to say here. Schadel seems offended that she was scared by him, so maybe she should tell him she was just surprised? And that she'll still help look for his cat?
She opens her mouth to say all this when a loud bang cuts through the air. Jackie starts sprinting away from the noise, yelling 'duck' over her shoulder. Schadel looks just a bewildered as Margaret feels. She starts to turn to follow Jackie.
Another loud bang follows the first, and a sharp pain cuts into Margaret's shoulder. She falls to the ground, clutching her arm in agony.

Jackie ?

Jackie looks back and see Margaret on the ground, she was tempted to run away, that wasn't who she was, she quickly ran to her and kneeled down.

"Good thing I have some medicine from a friend of mine."

She pulled out a strange looking pill,

"Here, it'll numb the pain, and heal it in an hour."

It looked like she didn't trust her.

Schadel:

Even though Jackie apparently has some magical medicine that will help Margaret, Schadel doesn't know what to do as blood starts to stain her clothes. He hasn't been in a situation like this before. Claret is dead-he doesn't need to protect her. He only knows how to take care of Grim Reapers, not humans!
His gaze returns to the forests. Did Jackie's followers use some sort of magical attack on Margaret? There was no arrow, so that rules out a group of archers. It would have to be magic, but Schadel doesn't know too much about that to be useful. If only he had taken Blanx's advice on reading up on sorcery!
"I'll try to scare them off." He finally gets out. A Grim Reaper's scythe is not a weapon to mess with. Anyways, they'll most likely pee their pants at the sight of him. Schadel moves in front of the girls as Jackie tries to give Margaret the pill.
When he holds out his scythe before him, he suddenly feels more confident than before in his own abilities.

Margaret:
Jackie ran back to Margaret. "Here, it'll numb the pain, and heal it in an hour." The thing in question was a little... well Margaret didn't know what it was. Heal in an hour? Margaret didn't even know how she was hurt! What she did know was that recently, the wizards had not been trustworthy, and this 'medicine' sounded suspiciously magical.
Margaret swept the thing out of Jackie's hand and shoved it into her pocket. Still clutching her shoulder, she scrambled to her feet. Jackie ran off again, and Margaret stumbled after her as quickly as she could manage. Maybe numbing the pain wasn't such a bad idea, but Margaret didn't trust this girl's wizardry one bit.
Another bang rang out behind her, and Margaret quickened her pace, hoping Schadel could handle himself.

Jackie ?


After Margaret shoved the pill in her pocket, Jackie quickly ran off, She felt something pierce her heel. Now she was the one to fall down. as she lay on the ground, she saw shoes come beside her. She closed her eyes and hoped it was Margaret, or that grim reaper. She heard a voice clear it's throat,

It wasn't either . . .

Schadel:

Schadel quickly realizes one thing.
He can not handle himself.
As the girls flee, he's amazed by the sheer amount of people chasing after Jackie. They all have incredibly creepy masks on-if he wasn't a Grim Reaper he's be terrified-and strange devices in their hands. They look like those pistol things Xante has been ranting about on steroids.
He manages to deflect the first couple of attacks with his scythe, but the small bits of metal that rain down on him are too hard to block. Bullets, if he's correct on the name, pierce his skin.
Schadel is going to lose.
He is going to freaking lose.
"Damn it!" He shouts. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" He's not even 2,000 years old! He can't die here, he can't die now!
Suddenly, he becomes aware of pots banging together. Two of the attackers slump to the ground.
"Justice," Claret says, as she whacks another one of them with her cookware, "is served."