Young Writers Society

The rats didn’t know the details of the calamitous ruin, but they could sense it in the air. They knew it from the moment the clocktower was off. Maybe it was just a fraction of a second, but for generations, it had been clanging into their bones with its tolls and its chimes.
So now, they knew.
Skittering over one another, a panic ensued as the furry rodents became disoriented. The world was ending, the universe exploding.
Squeals and squeaks ringing through the clocktower. High above them, gears and cogs worked themselves together in a symphony of metal. The creaks seemed to mimic the whines of the rodentia below.
The hysteria went away as quickly as it had begun, but rats and mice were left with a feeling of unease. A jumpiness. When the nice giant came to give them scraps, they were wary. Perhaps this time, it wouldn’t be so kind, and would instead ground them beneath its tarnished boot.
It didn’t. It did just as it usually did.
Sat and threw scraps, talking into the air with a drooping head and a heavy heart. The rats strained to listen, but could not, of course.
For there were greater things to worry about now.

****

Badger enjoyed dressing up. It was as if putting on a gilded vest could hide the blackened heart underneath. Of course, it could not.
But he did love the gold edges.
He straightened the vest as he walked through the courtyard of Clockworth. The boy–Tim? No, it was Tev. That’s right. Technically Araden–wasn’t as bad as Badger expected. Though he was certainly worse than he’d hoped.
He was certainly just one puzzle piece, though. That much was certain. Whatever games the Outcasts were playing, it was a long one. How they’d managed the kidnapping of the Scopulus’ was beyond Badger’s paygrade. Though he was very curious. Badger was definitely out of it today, however. He felt something off, as if someone else was speaking for him. He was playing a part, certainly, but this he felt on a larger scale.
His thoughts were cut off by a stern voice behind him.
“Mr. Scopulus, you forgot something,” the teacher from before said. What was her name? He didn't remember. Was she the one with the nice rump or was that the ginger? Badger wasn't sure. Although the janitor–he was surprisingly young– had the best of them all.
“I assure you I forgot nothi-” Badger began in that grandiose voice that made him internally roll his eyes.
The woman opened her hand and revealed several coins that Badger had given the administrators. He blinked. People here acted… surprisingly..
“You must be mistaken, I do not want your money, ma’am. I have plenty of my own,” he turned to leave. Those coins certainly were his own, not that he’d admit it (too good of a reputation and all). A little flirtation wasn’t terrible, was it? I mean, counterfeit coins might’ve been the wrong choice, but you can’t blame a man for trying.
The woman rolled her eyes, “Mr. Scopulus, I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but your son is in safe hands. We do not need donations, nor do we need bribery. Especially with… questionable money.”
Badger stared at this woman. He was starting to like her more and more, no matter how much it was insane.
“Noted,” he said, taking the coins from her. Those accursed secretaries had probably run their darn mouths as soon as he’d left.
The woman turned to leave.
“Oh, won’t you tell me your name first?” Badger called, forcing his eyes to raise when she turned around.
“If you’d been listening you would have known. But it’s Linda. Oh, and uh, bring your wife by sometime. I’d love to meet her. Maybe you could ogle her instead.”
Then she was gone.
Badger just stared after her, a strange feeling rising in his chest. He was just rejected from something that wasn't really an accept or reject situation, but he felt great. Or at least as great as he could without a soul. After all he–
After all *I*, don’t have emotions.
It’s just my life after all.
But I stared after Linda with what was probably just a perverted attraction, as usual. Because romance is actually perverted. Roses? Candles? Simply disgusting.
Although, that fire I saw in her eyes…
What is wrong with me?
I finally turned around and left Clockworth with my illegal coins and headed back to my den to contemplate what had just happened, and why it had happened so quickly.
Me and my empty heart.

****

It was night time when I finally went outside again. I don’t know why, but the soft sprinkling rain of the night has always enticed me. I get to watch rich people scuttle around, doing their futile attempts at escaping the piss of the gods.
I grinned as the droplets fell on my dirty face.
I’d mucked it up on purpose, ya see. After getting back from the School of Super Stuck Upness, I couldn’t stand how rich I looked, you know?
I’d taken a proper bath beforehand, but that was just to play the part.
Now I am back to good ol’ me.
Walking down the street of my oh-so-nice neighborhood (most people would just call it the slums, but that’s just downright hurtful), I watched several shadows slink back into the alleys. They’d seen it was one of their own, and not even a good target at that. Besides, a run in with me would probably leave you with less money with you instead of more.
That ratty little cat that was always hanging around hissed at me, as I enjoyed the rain.
So I kicked at it, like a normal human being.
After a few minutes, the rain was getting worse, pitter pattering onto the much better paved road that I was walking. Most people had gotten home by now, especially since it was nearing the wee hours of the night.
Just me and whatever else lay in the darkness.
I finally just stopped and took a deep breath, staring up into the sky.
You see, I took this walk mostly to see children slip in mud. But partly, I did it to clear my head. Surely Linda had one of the Knacks. Some strange hypnosis. That was the explanation, yeah. Either way, I would appreciate it if she just got out of my head.
The stars twinkled down at me. Tonight they looked a little suggestive.
“Aw c’mon. Reassurance is what I need, not any of your little matchmaking tactics.”
Not that I’d mind.
The reassurance I mean. Yeah.
Obviously, I’m not bat crap crazy, I just have a quirk. Stars and fate were always closely intertwined, so I figure if I yell at the stars, maybe one day they’ll yell back.
So just a little crazy, I suppose.
My pondering was cut short as I heard some strange sound nearby. Several voices, growing louder and louder. I crossed into the alleyway to get closer to what sounded like a commotion.
There was some flickering light there too, probably from torches. Strange, I thought, getting closer. Then there was an explosion and my world became a blinding flash of heat and white, before fading to a cold blackness.

(1220 Words)

Linda Markev

Normally, Professor Markev would greet her students as they trickled into her Cryptography class. But today, she was too absorbed in a scroll documenting the workings of Clockworth's clock tower to look up for even a moment. Hmm... the twelfth chime was a fraction of a second late again, according to the Maintainers. But there haven't been any signs of tampering, nor of a mechanical failure. So why...? Linda furrowed her brows as she examined the diagram and read the notes along the sides. Everything should be in order, just as the founder of our city meant it to be. ...Oh well, perhaps I'll think about it later. For now, I've got a class to teach.
Linda looked out at the full classroom and quickly rolled up the scroll, then got the class started with a reading from the textbook. While the student read, Professor Markev's thoughts wandered back to the irregularities at Clockworth. That visitor at lunch didn't sit quite right with me either. He called himself Araden's father, and yet I could've sworn the boy had a blank expression on his face for a second... Not to mention the visitor's utter lack of manners and those questionable coins.
Professor Markev looked up again as the student finished reading, then instructed the class to put their textbooks on the ground, and resumed her thoughts as they complied. Ugh, I can't tell if he was just another snobby aristrocrat, assuming he could get his way as long as he tossed money at us, or if something fishier is going on here. Oh well, I suppose I don't have the time to investigate every strange occurrence around here. Alright, I'll worry about it later, if he comes back to Clockworth. Now, I'd better focus on class before someone ends up jamming their finger in their cryptography machine again. Linda winced for a brief moment, still unable to believe someone had been foolish enough to do that.
The rest of class passed by uneventfully, and once Professor Markev had given out all the group assignments, she opened up the tower diagram scroll again. I don't think I'm going to learn anything more by staring at this for another hour... Perhaps another trip to the library is in order. Ah, I have an idea-- this time, I'll look up the history of Pipemire and the construction of the clock tower. That ought to be useful, or interesting at the very least. With that settled, Linda rolled up the scroll once again and observed the classroom for the last few minutes of Cryptography.

The cafeteria was very nice and it held a lavish luxury that Leonard had only seen in paintings and hinted at in the halls. He was served his food, Sandwiches Leonard thought, it's been a long time since I’ve had one of those. His fathers inn had served a lot of things but most commonly people called for beer and chicken, sometimes they’d get a big order of a whole roast boar, but they’d never thought of including sandwiches, too little and fancy his father had said after Leonard first tried one, nobody who comes here would take that over a beer and some roast.

He thanked the cafeteria workers but they didn’t seem to acknowledge him. As he went to find a table more students began to come in -a glance at the schedule mounted on the far wall told him the history of espionage class had just finished, it didn’t sound like something he’d like, probably similar to those thriller novels one of the inn regulars sometimes gave him, at first he’d liked them, they were very gripping and exciting and were all about some great heroic adventure, but he soon decided to stop, most of the time the books were just a bunch of stabbing and dishonourable treacherous fights, the plots didn’t seem to fit very well with the actual story and he suspected the man who gave them to him had written them himself, perhaps to make his own former evil deeds seem more heroic than cowardly, one day some foreign looking soldiers came to the inn and took him out, after that he was never seen again. Luckily the two men in the booths whose names were Philip and Peter -according to the gargoyles, had been nice enough to show him the fine print and extra questions on the back that had allowed him to skip a few classes.

His thoughts were interrupted by a violent ringing in his ears that signalled the entrance of Araden Scopulus to the cafeteria, Leonard saw him get in the line looking at the sandwitches as though he’d never seen one, a small voice in Leonard's head said ‘sandwiches are a favourite of the upper classes, hmm I wonder why he’s never had one before’ as he tried to refrain from running out of the room and instead walked hurriedly over to the farthest corner, he wondered how the voice in his head had known with such certainty that Araden had never had a sandwich before, his head still ached but less now and the voice in his head was gone, he assumed it had been from his rings but he’d never heard it before and he wondered about it all through lunch.

Leaving a half eaten sandwich behind Leonard hurried off to his next class, ‘Deception and Persuasion’ unfortunately had been a required class. Leonard wasn’t sure what to think of the class, he didn’t like the main point of the class (lying) but he did like the small ‘tests’ where he had to tell if a student was lying or not, he excelled in these, being the first to figure out whether someone was lying or not though not always the first to raise his hand. To his discomfort he found when it was his turn he was incredibly good at lying. The fact that he did well in class but didn’t like the class at the same time led to his decision to leave that debate to another time and pushed all thought of it out of his mind.

Cryptography class was interesting, though not as thought provoking as Riddles and Illusions it felt like a similar place, as though it was the same class but someone at come and straightened out all the confusion leaving only order and beauty, Leonard had always been fascinated by the art of writing, not just what was written but how, and this class was possibly his favourite, rather than being hard or uncomfortable Leonard felt that he simply floated through it, the cryptography machines were fascinating and their textbooks especially enjoyable, and Leonards teacher Ms. Markev seemed nice, his rings weren’t telling him anything the whole time which was an added realief.
His favourite class however soon took a turn for the worse, when he was assigned a group project, what it was had entirely fled his mind as soon as he found out he would be working with Araden, and it took Ms. Markev coming to his desk and asking him

“Class is finished, everyone else has left, do you need help with something?”

to snap him out of his terrified trance, and feeling a little silly he had politely thanked for her concern and left the class.

790 Words

PERCY-

Today Hadn’t gone on for long but it had already caused ruckus. With Moore and his group still in percy’s mind classes ran by and When he finally became aware of his surroundings he noticed it was his free period.. After it would be Cryptography class. Percy had decided to go back to the room from yesterday. He wanted to continue to check it out and see if there was anything that could tell him about who used it before. It was clear that Emmeline Wraithwood had something to do with the door and other mechanisms inside the room but percy wasn’t all that sure if the famous technician was on a team who used this room. When percy arrived at the room he noticed that the door was open. Slowly he approached the door and Noticed that no one was inside. Not that he could see. He crept slowly inside and closed the door. As the door closed the light turned on and the room came to life. Clearly someone had been here as the gears were newly cleaned and the rooms abilities renewed.The table and chairs had been moved into a corner out of the middle of the room and he could now see that there were bookshelves built into the walls near the fire place.

Percy’s eyes wandered them and he locked onto a box on one of them.. It, like the door, was made of gears and had a rustic, unused look to it. The copper was green and the gears were clearly in need of cleaning. It had a small keyhole and a symbol Percy had never seen before. His curiosity grew as he picked the box up. It was surprisingly light but the make percy couldn’t identify. The symbol looked to be a cross and a crow mixed into one with a golden color to it. With a new burning desire to figure out what secrets lie inside, Percy placed it down on the table and continued to look around. Something in the room was sure to help him, he just had to find it. Percy continued to look around looking at everything he could reach but nothing here stood out like what he was looking for wasn’t meant to be found yet. The box might be able to tell him more about this room and who made it. Yes much of it he could identify with Wraithwood's design but a few things were definitely not hers.

From Memory Percy remembered that Emmeline had gone to Clockworth a long time ago. About when that door would have been made. Emmeline would be Around forty six and Had left the spotlight seventeen years ago after it being said she had left to raise a family. Some said that her team had died and that’s why she left. But that would have been many years after her time in Clockworth. In the years after he time at the academy she was renowned for her gift. Her gift was called Technician and dealt with things like metal and copper to make anything that she knew the basic design of. Percy remembered the different things that he found of her design when he was younger. His favorite place was behind the geared door of his home. None of his family had the means to open the door but himself and his eldest brother.

Percy’s heart clenched at the remembrance of his brother. His brother had done much for him. Henry, his eldest brother, had taught him everything he knew and been his idol until his untimely death. Henry’s death had struck Percy greatly and Made him dislike the cold weather that was common in his hometown. Doctors had no idea how to save him and so he slowly died. His pain stricken face would always hang in percy's memory. Henry was twelve years older than Percy and Had gone to Clockworth for three years before he died during a cold winter night. Percy was eight at the time and after henry died he closed himself off from many even his family. With sheer wit he tried to feign emotions so that he would live to his parents standards. The common reactions he showed were an act he put out for others around and Percy didn't much appreciate having to talk to people unless he knew them well enough to not cringe from interaction with them. Kay had been one of the only percy hadn’t instantly wanted to run and hide from. He could tell she was genuine about what she spoke of to him.

Percy continued to look around and noticed a clock on the wall near the door. It reminded him that Cryptography class would start in less than ten minutes and he was halfway across the school. Percy quickly left the room and hurried to the class he was expected to be in. He slowed as he got closer and saw others entering the room. He let out a breathy sigh and slowled his breathing to normal before entering the room. His eyes caught Kay as she waved at him. He smiled slightly at the girl and went to a seat off to the side away from the mass of the class. His eyes wandered around the room and Spotted the two boys from yesterday. Neither looked to be interested in what was happening near them but one tried to keep up with the group that surrounded him. He finally got a good look at the boy who came from the other painting and noted his dark hair and grey eyes. His skin was pale but a healthy pale and the way he held himself wasn't like other noble families he'd seen. Percy noted that the boy looked as this he was getting ready to flee into the shadows. The other boy was less extravagant looking and wore clothes of the lower citizens. He was dark haired and on the smaller side but Percy could see a buzz around him which was mildly intriguing. This boy held an electric aura around him that made others seem to swarm near him. Though he didn't seem to notice much. Percy also took the time to look over kay. She was different from the boys with light hair that held streaks of color and tall unlike the boys. She was a totally different story. He also noted a few others in the class but they hadn't caught his attention quite like kay and the boys.

The teacher spoke to the class but it wasn’t something percy found necessary to listen to. While the class read from their books percy pondered something he remembered from yesterday. Painting boy, As percy would call him until he was named, Had come out of the painting looking as though he was speaking to someone or something. Not that percy could see this entity. One of few his eyes couldn't find but he let it dissipate from his mind as the teacher spoke again.

"The administration is aware that you all have varying ranges of strength. For that reason, we have organized you into groups with at least one powerful ability-wielder in each group. Now then, I'll read out the names, and you may all gather to discuss strategy for these last five minutes of class. The assignment will be taking place starting from tomorrow, from lunch until dinner." Ms. Markev told them. She began calling out names. Each group had a few students and when his name was called, Percy was surprised. “Kaolina Trelaine, Leonard De Gwenaelle, Percival Steele and Araden Scopulus.” Each person who was named looked up as they were called and Percy Found that the boy who had come out of the dorm room yesterday was Leonard. So he assumed that the other, Painting boy, was Araden. Percy looked to Kay as the teacher continued to list names. She looked unimpressed with having this project but after a few seconds he could tell she was thinking hard.

What she had on her mind could have been many things but Percy suspected that it was something to do with how to not intimidate people with their looks. As the group's uniforms would throw off many he hadn't an Idea what to wear. His normal attire wouldn't do if they were to gather information but neither of the other boys were near his stature. Sure percy was a slim boy but they had inches on him and probably wouldn't appreciate someone asking for their clothing. He had another idea but decied he wouldn’t take time to figure it out. After Ms. Markev gave out the assignments and Percy looked over again to kay. He stood up and began his way towards her. She looked at him, meeting his eyes and smiled at him.

“Hello. It seems we’ve been teamed up. Let's meet them outside the classroom so we can talk about the assignment." Percy left quickly trying to mentally ready for what was to come.

1,503 words!🖐 (Ill fix which account this was posted from later!)

Cryptography was right up Tev’s proverbial alley. It was so easy, he almost laughed at the curriculum. But that was until he realized most of the class was struggling. Puzzling over how to work the machines, or how to code and decode the messages.
Tev supposed he’d picked up a natural knack for it from the Outcasts.
Most of them couldn’t read, let alone decode the encrypted messages from allies and the like. So they just had the little weasel that could read and decrypt, do it all for them. Time and time again, Tev would take care of all the hidden messages and learnt all the little tricks.
He didn’t know that it was called Cryptography until Professor Markev–the very same that brought him to Badger–defined it at the beginning of class. Then again, Tev didn’t know too many fancy words. But rich teenagers didn’t talk too fancy, right? Araden did though…
In fact, he would try to command around his own wardens.
Strange, he’d been.
“Well done, Mr. Scopulus. I see not everyone is like their parents.”
Tev jumped as Professor Markev spoke, looking over his work. He tried desperately not to blush, without much success. She just smiled, a sparkle in her eye, and walked away. Tev decided–against Araden’s character– to keep his head down the rest of the class.
That was, until his name was called alongside Leonard’s. He perked up, incredulous.
A cruel twist of fate, that was. He was told explicitly by Enigma to keep away from him, and then destiny kept putting him in Tev’s path. The stars above were probably having a mighty laugh, right now.
Tev stole a quick glance to Arc, who was equally horrified.
This wasn’t going to go well.

***

Tev swung his feet off the edge of the roof.
“I bet you see a lot of crazy things,” Tev said to the gargoyle.
It only grunted. It did that a lot, and when it didn’t it sounded irritated. As if he didn’t like Araden at all. But Tev felt he could be himself the most up here, above the students and the teachers.
“You know, you don’t have to be grumpy all the time,” Tev prodded.
The gargoyle sighed, irritated.
“Look, kid. I am not grumpy all the time. I’m just grumpy when you’re around. Haven’t heard great things about you, so excuse me for not takin’ a liking.”
Tev was stunned.
“You… haven’t heard good things about me?”
“Did I stutter?”
“From… who?” Tev wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On one hand it could be good, because you’re not supposed to like rich people. But on the other hand, it was bad because Tev was growing more and more lonely.
“Whom, kid. Ain’t you some rich kid? Shouldn’t you know the difference? And the other kid.”
“Oh… sorry. Other kid?”
“How many questions are you going to ask?! Go on, bugger off.”
As Tev numbly walked back to his dorm, his dark thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.
“Head up, Illusionist,” Enigma said, walking right next to him.
Tev didn’t even jump.
“Hey.”
“Don’t be glum, you’re like half a week into your entire school year!”
“Yeah, but it seemed so long…”
Enigma sighed, “You’ll make it.”
Tev paused. Was that a long strand of curly hair they just pushed back into their hood? So maybe Enigma was a girl…? That seemed too quick of an assumption, though.
Reaching his room’s door, Tev turned to Enigma.
“Welp. You should probably go. Leonard probably hates me enough already. I don’t need him thinking I should be in a padded room.”
Enigma pouted.
“Fine.”
Then they were gone.
Pushing into the room, Tev found Leonard inside already. He looked up when Tev came in, and Tev thought he looked…. Scared? Apprehensive? Nothing good at least.
“Hey,” Tev said.
“Hey,” was the reply.
Then Tev jumped in bed, and Leonard didn’t dare try to stop his slumber.
No dreams greeted him in his sleep.

667 Words

Kay

Kay walked out of the classroom with Percy and immediately entered planning mode. "So I was thinking... we should use disguises or something, so the common people won't be intimidated by our Clockworth uniforms. Probably shirts and trousers, and maybe cloaks? But where can we buy those? Hmm.... I guess we should look around the marketplace before starting our assignment." Kay tugged at a piece of string around her wrist, trying to think of what other materials they would need.
She was about to launch into a stream of ideas about the best bakeries in the city (like the one she'd had that scrumptious piece of cake at before school started) when Percy asked, "Have you seen our other group members? I don't think they've come out of the classroom yet."
"Oh, you're right..." Kay poked her head inside the classroom and saw that Leonard, the dark-haired boy, was sitting frozen at his desk, staring into space with a distressed expression on his face. Meanwhile, Araden, the fancily-dressed boy from the painting (they finally knew his name!), was similarly frozen, except his head was down so Kay couldn't tell what he was feeling.
She turned back to Percy and grimaced. "They don't look like they're in particularly cooperative moods right now."
Percy's eyes widened. "Wait, wasn't Leonard the student who ran off when he saw Araden yesterday? Is there some kind of feud between them?"
"Well, that's just great..." And here I was, hoping this group project might actually be okay for once. Kay frowned. "I don't suppose there's any chance of altering groups now?" She looked around at the quickly-emptying hallway and sighed. "Okay, um, so I don't feel like disturbing either of those two, so what do you say to trying again tomorrow?"
Percy nodded and they headed off to dinner.

Kay devoured her spaghetti and meatballs while she created a mental checklist of tasks and subtasks they could do tomorrow. So first are the clothes, then maybe a couple of hours of asking around about the rebellion-- taverns and markets are good places to get information, right?-- then perhaps a cake break, and then another hour or so until we come back for dinner at Clockworth. But hmm... what's the best strategy to ask for information? Do we just say like, "Howdy there, you've heard of the rebellions, right? Any idea who's behind it? We really appreciate the info, thanks." ...Argh, we're gonna sound so suspicious! Kay frowned and chewed on another meatball. I mean, we could also skip asking for information and just go around observing people. If we're lucky, maybe there'll be another rebellion and we can get information then? Oh, but there are also the others' Knacks to consider! Do any of them have some kind of charismatic talent? That would be awesome. But if not... Kay continued brainstorming, and before she knew it, dinner was over.
When she entered her dorm room, she looked carefully in each corner, but Kay couldn't see her roommate anywhere. Did she get a head start already? I wouldn't be surprised. Oh well, I think sleep's more important for now. I just hope our group figures things out tomorrow... worst comes to worst, we could split up, maybe? Kay sighed and drifted off to sleep with memories of group project failures floating through her head.

(557 words)

After much thought Leonard had calmed down and decided his best course of action would be to try as much as he could to work with the others as though everything was normal, maybe he thought the more time I spend with Araden the less it will hurt, like walking into the cheeseary in district four, at first the smell hits you strongly but the longer you spend there the less you notice. Then again he thought do I want that? Will it dim my power? Cause me to stop noticing my rings, Leonard wouldn’t like that, he wanted to understand more about the rings, know how they worked, what they could do-

‘no, you don’t’

“What?” he thought aloud, it was that voice again, his rings. Leonard sat down on the hall floor holding his rings close to his face.

‘You cannot understand’

A bolt of blue energy flashed between the rings, the rhombus shaped gems glowing white he flinched and held his hands away but the flash was already gone, the words still ringing in his mind, then one last word came to him, clearer than the rest.
‘Faith’

Leonard returned to his search for Philip and Peter during free period. His first stop was the housing office, he didn’t know where any other official office was so he felt this would be the best option. Upon inquiry the man there who was in fact just closing the office since there would be no more late-comers accepted, told him to go down the nearest hall all the way to the end and there would be a door marked, ‘Hired’
It turned out the hall through which he was directed went on rather long winding all around the west wing of the school and finally ending with two doors, one leading out into a courtyard and the other marked in faded lettering ‘Hired’ through which he went.

A dripping sound met Leonard as he crept forward, it was dark here and his senses were on high alert, he took a step forward, he could tell he was walking on metal, there was a slight draft coming up from underneath him so he assumed it was some kind of metal grate. Another drip and then a whirring sound that had been just audible in the background grew loud for a few moments as though a vent was opened for a moment, Leonard took a few more tentative steps, his shoes tapping on the metal grating, he reached out his hand and felt a concrete wall beside him, he continued on slowly and soon he felt a switch, he flipped it and sparks erupted causing him to jump back, then overhead lights turned on bathing the passage in light, both walls were concrete and he found he was not so far from the door as he’d thought, above him the ceiling was another metal grate though it was dark and he couldn’t keep staring up because of the lights, peering down through the floor he could just make out a large gear, connected to what looked to be a waterwheel, but it wasn’t moving and he couldn’t tell, beside these things there was a large circular hole in the floor.

A few feet ahead of Leonard loomed another door at the end of the passage and beside it one on the left wall, both reminded Leonard of the new-fashioned steamships he’d seen drawings of in newspapers around town. Leonard tried the door but found it locked, the other door had several, ‘DANGER’ ‘CAUTION HIRES ONLY’ ‘STUDENTS NOT PERMITTED’ and so he wasn’t much disappointed when he found it too was locked.

On the verge of giving up, Leonard turned to head back to the halls when the door opened and Peter walked out.

“Oi! Who left the lig’ on? Hey who are- oh yer the early kid aye?” Peter said, recognizing him. Peter had been sleeping for most of the time that Leonard was enrolling.

“Yes, Leonard, uh you- er I think it was your brother, Philip said I might come and talk with you sometime”

Peter hesitated for a second “oh ya right” He glanced at the Maintenance door then turned to Leonard looking slightly guilty “um I’m not really supposed to talk with students, Philip's not alway one fer rules, maybe we could meet on the morrow? ‘Round now I suppose?”
Leonard nodded and Peter left, adding that Leonard should turn the light off when he left, evidently there was another light switch on by the door he entered.

Leonard returned to his room. Yes, his room, he had decided the dorm would indeed be where he stayed. There was no longer any way to avoid Araden and anyway, Leonard thought, I might as well get used to him. The familiar throbbing signalled that Araden was already in the room, Leonard found him lying on his bed and gave a halfhearted greeting and collapsed on his bed trying to mentally resist the headache.
He turned to Araden. “So I guess we’ll be working together on, uh, that project” said Leonard trying to remember what the project was.

859 words

The Talking Door

An excerpt from Musings of a Sentient Door by Sir Door (an as-of-now unpublished work that exists solely in the mind of its author):

You know things, when you're a door. Especially if you're placed near the front entrance of Clockworth Academy like I am. It's simply impressive how many people pass right by me, talking to each other like nobody else can hear them, which I guess is technically true if you don't count wood and metal as a body. But anyways! That's not the point. As I was saying, I know things. For example, the rebellions are getting worse, though the teachers try to keep that quiet from the younger students. Also, that history of espionage professor with the sharp ruler is quite an unusual character, strolling into and out of the academy at odd hours. But I suppose that's none of my business; I'm only here to guard this room.
I'll bet you're wondering what's in my room now, huh? Well, I can't tell you! No literally, I don't know what's in it. Professor Markev only enchanted me after they'd put whatever was inside the room inside it, and I don't have eyes in the back of my head, so I have no idea what it is. (I suppose I don't have eyes in the front of my head either, or a head at all, but somehow I can tell what's going on in the hallway in front of me. So I'll just call it magic and leave it at that.) I wish I knew what was in that room, but the administration doesn't trust me to do anything much except guard this entrance and guide the occasional lost student who wanders here.
Oh yes, on a related note, the beginnings of school years are always when I'm the grumpiest-- so many clueless children! I put up with all their silly exclamations and questions, and never get anything more than a "thanks" in return, and sometimes not even that. What I wouldn't give for some oil for my hinges! I swear, sometimes I think being sentient is rather inconvenient-- if I'd never been enchanted, maybe I wouldn't be aware of the creakiness in my hinges.
Since I am sentient, however, I've decided to make the best of it. As I mentioned, most people overlook me, and since I'm an extremely resourceful door, I take that as an opportunity to gather information (look at me, learning how to be a good spy already!). There's also much knowledge to be gained from the movements of ants and other creatures within Clockworth-- they've been restless lately, which I don't believe is a good sign.
Sigh... But to be honest, I've been thinking... I've obtained all this intelligence, but what's the point? It's simply a pastime for me, and not one that I had much of a choice in. It's not like I can close my eyes or use my hands to cover my ears or anything. What is the purpose of being a sentient door? I know the purpose I was enchanted for, but isn't there anything else out there?
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be a human. There must be someone, somewhere, with a Knack to transfer consciousnesses or something, right? Maybe I could swap bodies with a human for a day.
Ah well, it's probably never going to happen. Kind of like how this book is never going to be published. After all, the only person who talks to me regularly is Professor Markev, and then it's only to ask me if I've noticed anything out of the ordinary at Clockworth. Who's going to listen to a boring door and transcribe what it says?
At some point I guess the days and nights will blur together as I age with Clockworth, until Clockworth falls, as all buildings must, and my wood rots away. I wonder what'll happen to me then? Will I stay conscious until my last splinter decomposes? I don't expect I'll feel any pain (in fact, I can't feel much of anything, except a general sense of temperature and pressure. It is rather rude to knock incessantly, though, regardless of whether I feel it or not). But is there anything that I'll miss about Clockworth? Perhaps it'll be sad to see these solid walls turn to ruins. Ah, but seeing as we're on a bridge, maybe their end will come sooner, whenever the bridge might collapse. How long do bridges usually last?
Whoops, I've gone on a tangent. Anyways, it seems like the first-years are leaving for their group projects now, so I might listen to them for a bit. Farewell for now, dear journal/diary/unpublished book, and remember, there is much more to a door (and a floor and a corridor) than you might at first look for. So do appreciate the decor, but also explore the lore, and-- okay, okay, I'll stop there. :P

(824 words)

PERCY-

After meeting with Kay and the others not being there Percy went back to his room. When he got there he noticed that somethings were shifted around on his side of the room. Much to his surprise nothing had been taken. Instead something was placed. On his bed laid a book. The book was a brown leather journal. It looked to be old and well used. On the cover it showed a gear. This gear was golden rimmed and rustic.

Percy Decided to open the book. Its interesting design and color called to him. As he open it The first few pages told of a young girls life. Nothing rather interesting but as he turned to the middle of the journal it went from boring to interesting. The journal was made by Emmeline wraithwood. But that wasn't the most exciting part to him. It told of a small amount of her time in clockworth. And seemed to tell of her team. Percy put it away and played in his bed. He would have to wait before carrying on. This book could tell much of Emmeline but Percy needed to focus on his task.

Percy thought deep into clothing to wear and how to approach the citizens for the 'task' that was assigned to them. Much racked thought his head and he slowly nodded off.

(224 words - sorry its short got a cold)

Kay

The Cryptography classroom was filled with early afternoon light that illuminated students' desks as they chattered about the group project. Kay heard a couple of students discussing intimidation strategies, and she couldn't help but pity whatever poor person that team got their hands on. Another group, which included a hazel-eyed girl who was showing off her ability of persuasion, was considering a more straightforward route of just taking advantage of their Knacks to gain information. And yet another team of students was looking stumped, as their Knacks weren't particularly relevant to the assignment (well, Kay supposed the ability to create a mountain of bread might be helpful in bribing a peasant, but it sounded rather inconvenient to use that Knack in the middle of an alley or tight space).
Kay wondered what her own group's skills were. Hers was teleportation, but considering the incident from when she was young, she didn't feel like endangering anyone else. And besides, she didn't think teleportation would be that helpful in this case, anyways-- her Knack didn't work if she didn't know the destination. Kay frowned slightly and twisted a piece of purple string that was on her wrist. Oh well, I just hope the others are fine with using their abilities.
She slumped at her desk and watched as Professor Markev took attendance and walked around the classroom handing out mini versions of the cryptography machines, which looked like palm-sized rectangles with bronze keys and slips of paper inside. Like the larger machines, they worked by using a simple cipher of shifting each letter three places (meaning "a" became "d" and "z" became "c"), but they must have been made with some kind of Knack because they printed the results on paper without any apparent mechanical components. Kay would have loved to try to take one apart and look inside, but she wasn't sure she'd be able to put it back together, so she decided to restrain herself for now.
Once the professor had finished making her rounds through the classroom, she clapped her hands for attention. "Alright everyone, now that you've gotten your groups and cryptography devices, you are free to explore and gather intelligence. Make sure to stay within the city, be as cautious as possible, and come back by dinner!"
The students started streaming out of the classroom, fiddling with their devices and discussing where to go first. With an internal sigh, Kay stood up and went in search of Percy and their two other potentially-feuding group members.

(418 words)

I have been in several explosions in the past. Only one of them had been actually fun, though the rest weren’t too bad. This was probably low on my list.
I looked around in a daze, trying to get my bearings. After getting blown up a few times, you learn how best to deal with it. First of all, don’t stand around. Whoever just blew you up wants you dead. And you wouldn’t wanna be dead, would you?
No, so move it.
The ground beneath me was covered in soot, and there were lights blurring in my vision. Fire burned around me, though I was fortunately not feeling it, as usual.
Maybe that’s a little something else I forgot to mention. See, I can also not feel my own pain. Something about touch and skin, I don’t know, but yeah, no feelies. Comes in handy when you’ve been shot. Although, that pain does keep you alive. Keeps you on your toes.
I heard gruff voices, and a few yells. Someone screamed.
What the bloody hell-
A shadow loomed over me. My vision cleared slightly and I made it out to be a man. He was holding a large blunderbuss, pointed directly at my head.
“That’s fancy…” I slurred.
He frowned, “Who ar’ ye?”
“Name’s Badgerrr… How bout you?”
Damn mouth, why won’t you work right…
It was hard to think. Like somebody force fed me several kegs of whiskey. Bah! Who am I kidding? I wouldn’t have to be forced.
The man held out his hand, and I gripped it. He pulled me to my feet, as the world spun about me.
“I’m Jethro. Sorry ye got caught in ther blast there. Things go’ a little ou’ o’ hand. More badges’ll prob’ be on us soon.”
Nodding, I let him half carry me out of the burning alley.
“What… happened?”
Jethro grimaced, “Damn nobility.”
Ah. One of the nobles probably got too cocky and strutted into the neighborhood, possibly drunk. Said something about being superior, or them being poor. Bam. Unrest. Guards would’ve been called…
Yep. There.
I spotted a man in the guard’s garb, struggling under a large bit of rubble.
When he saw Jethro he called out.
“Please!”
I eyed the large man holding me, and saw the two sides of a proverbial coin in his eyes.
“Brought this on himself, he did. No one else to blame.”
Jethro drew in a sharp breath.
“Yer right.”
Me and the hulking fellow limped away from the struggling man. Best to be away from him when the other guards got here.
After all, what wasn’t fun about a little anarchy?

440 words

Linda Markev

Linda pushed open the door to the library and breathed in the old-book smell that always permeated the main room. Ahh... truly the best place on campus. And since the students are out on their project, I'll have more time than usual to look around. With a smile on her face, Linda walked through the shelves, searching for books on the city or Clockworth's history.
She ran her fingers over bundles of recipes, book on herbs and medicines, and faded maps that were stacked on top of each other. I believe the historical section is near the back of the main gallery, so I'll be able to browse some titles as I go. Linda strolled between full shelves of texts, reading titles and pulling out the occasional interesting book. But eventually she reached the back of the room and got down to business.
Alright, so we've got the history of Pipemire's founding, a couple of myths and legends, and... aha! The Architecture of Pipemire's Famous Landmarks. This must have something about the clocktower. Now, let's see if there's anything else about Clockworth Academy, and how one would go about fixing a giant clocktower that's running a bit slow... Linda pulled out a few more books, and once she had a stack of them in her arms, she made her way to a nearby armchair and piled the tomes on a side table. Adjusting her glasses, Linda opened the first one and started reading.

(243 words)