SSHS 95 The second to respond to the scene was the Montague siblings. Well, first was Lucifer but in any case, Excami noticed that the President of the Occult Club was still missing from the gathering that he oh so looked forward to. She then walked to her brother and stated her concern. “Where do you think Lucifer is right now? I’m sure he is missing out on the party right now and it is not like him to miss this, especially since he put so much effort into the after party.” Once Excami said that, Damian then panned his head around the venue of the after party and indeed, there was no Lucifer in sight. “Why don’t we look around for him?” Damian suggested and his sister nodded in agreement. “They last saw him entering the third passage with a bunch of kids with him. But no one saw him get out with them.” the younger Montague said as she led her older brother to the entrance of the third passage. The passage was not a little bit illuminated since the lights were returned to normal
SSHS 96 Back at the venue, it was on a full blast. Everyone was enjoying their time, there are some in their own circle having fun and drinking some fruit punch, then are those who are roaming around and mingling with the others, some are just dancing with the music— either with friends or just with themselves— and then there are those who chose to stay by the sidelines like the wallflower they are. But even a wallflower is not safe from the fun as there are those people who still approach them and engage in a cheerful conversation. And if one were to explore the entire venue and listen to the conversation of others, they will find out how shallow or how deep a conversation is. Some were talking about their planned vacations for the Christmas break, some were talking about the time they had in the History class and how handsome the teacher was, and some were even playing a shallow version of the ‘Never Have I Ever’ game. On the other side of things: some were talking how the concep
SSHS 97 The school was now feeling the totality of the autumn season. The whole place was full of orange and yellow palettes” the leaves on the trees were slowly falling as the wind blows to them, creating a pile of fallen leaves for the students to play around, the pumpkin spice latte was now the new trend, pumpkin pies can be smelled in all eateries and cafes both inside and outside of the school grounds. The students were now wearing their jackets, sweaters and anything that could make them feel warm again, it was cold to the point of their breath turning to a fog when they let out one. Some played with it, feeling the fun of it as they all made fun jokes and things to it: some were imagining it being a flavourless and imaginary vape, as they tried to make some shapes or trick with it but all were to fail. Then due to the low temperature, thin ice was forming on the walking trails and some places, making it a bit slippery for the people to walk by. It was a huge laugh trip watch
SSHS 98 In the eyes of the students, it was the same old Monday. A normal day, the first Monday of the month of November, and another day for them to relish their memories about the successful Halloween Event brought to them by the Occult Club and with the collaboration of the Student Council, Drama Club, and the Photography Club. “Hey! I heard they are releasing the photos today!” Shouted one of the students across the hall. It is now lunch break and some of them are staying at the comfort of their classroom— savouring the warmth. Then there are those who are roaming the halls and exchanging conversations with the others, still in the comfort of the warmth that the buildings provide. But by hearing about the news, everyone went to their phone screen and reloaded their school email, waiting for that email from the Photography Club, for the most awaited pictures. Yes, four days have passed and they are only releasing the pictures today. But it was standard protocol. It was a manda
SSHS 99 They were trained to be stealthy, trained to finish their mission with minimal attention or to no attention at all. it was the very essence of being a spy to the ISO, to be discreet and unnoticed. However, there may be times that their missions require them to be noticed, require them to be seen by other people and to be acknowledged-- and by this, their remedy is to craft an entire new face as a disguise, to protect their identity. Well, that is if their audience is a huge crowd of people and that their mission involves their faces to be published on the tabloid and social media. The only difference for the rookie spies enrolled in La Florence Academy was that there is tight security when it comes to the identity and faces of their students. They do not let their student's faces to be published that easily, as much as possible, they do not want to expose their students to the outside world at all. Certain exceptions were there like: if the student is a celebrity, or if the
SSHS 100 From one table and to another, Hestia was finally questioning herself why she even went on with this idea of hers. It was getting annoying to her even though she just passed at least four tables in total. Turns out, hearing the same pleasantries, the same praises and the same fake smiles or whatever was boring as hell. ‘I would even wonder how these people get to endure such a thing.’ and by people she was talking about the other members of the Student Council and also the senior spies in which are assigned to missions that involve talking to people and revealing their faces to a huge crowd. If not for her being known to have an emotionless and stoic face, she would have been internally complaining due to a hurting face because of long periods of smiling. And for that she was thankful for. Though she would utter a few ‘thank yous’ and ‘it's no big deal’ and some occasional bowing of the head to show her gratitude to those who have praised her, she also was obligated to gi
SSHS 101 To Hestia, it was a complete rollercoaster inside her mind as she was being observant and taking notes of the five people they are told to watch and when she was not doing that and was on the nightmares of interacting with people, she again, questions this idea of hers and regretting it afterwards. And her mind was telling her that it needs to rest for a moment due to the situation Hestia placed it in, but Hestia knows she was capable of much more. ‘I was trained to do so.’ but deep down she just wants to retreat to her corner back at the stage and go on to ‘fix’ her watch again. And if it wasn’t that enough, all that time that she was with the Student Council and Dean Malcolm having a round at the tables, she was constantly receiving messages from the others who were just watching on the side of the whole event. Telling her that her move was dangerous and insubordiantion, that it was not part of their orders and that she could get the mission in jeopardy— the messages ar
SSHS 102 The cogs in her mind started to turn again, but this time, in a fast manner that even her mouth cannot follow through. Even her fingers stopped from ‘fixing’ her watch as she stared in the open. The table rounds are over and they are back to their place in one of the corners at the stage. Her other co- members were busy doing their own thing: Damian reviewing some papers given to him by Dean Malcolm before he left, Excami was busy playing on her phone and Arthur seemed to be chatting with someone as he was typing and smiling constantly with every notification from his phone. And even if she were to stare at the void and open place without even moving for a very long time, it would seem normal to her co- members. They have seen her do that many of times and they are used to it at this point. Her physical body was like in frozen ice, unmoving and cold, but not dead. She was so still that she would pass as a statue. And yet, the insides of her mind was moving at a fast pace,