Chapter 3

 

Just after the first classes for Term 2 finished at four o’clock on Tuesday morning, all the students and teachers of the Nocturnal Academy met for a special assembly in the hall. The school hall wasn’t used often as most announcements were made in the dining room before dinner. Alice had only been inside for a handful of times, for enrolment, a couple of movie nights, and lately for Demon-Banishing and her solo Magick classes with Professor Darkchilde.

Today the hall was crammed with chairs in tightly-packed rows, and all children were expected to sit in their roll-call classes. The hall had been decked out with the familiar house banners from the dining room and new ones depicting the various logos from all the other schools. A big, elaborate banner hung over the stage. It said; “WELCOME TO THE 312^th NIGHTMARE GAMES”. Two rows of chairs had been lined up in front of the red velvet curtain, and the lectern erected for Madam Nocturna at the front. There was an excited buzz of conversation as all the children took their places. Lots of bats and owls fluttered in the shadowy rafters, and a fresh layer of spider-webs had just been spun to create a shimmering layer of silver hanging like fog in the air. The creatures continued to drop presents, but like most other places in the school the whole area had been Magickally treated so the poop disappeared before it could plop on someone’s head, and reappeared out in the gardens.

Even after all the children were seated a great many chairs still remained at the back for the newcomers. The house heads then took their places, appearing like they always did from seemingly nowhere. One second the chairs on stage were empty – the next the back half were occupied by the House Heads.

It was then Alice noticed the other figures taking the rest of the chairs on stage, among them Professor Abbacus in his long leather coat, the brass rivets in the steel half of his head shining from a recent polish. Alice noticed the usual collection of tall, surly vampire lords with their long dark hair dressed in austere, old-fashioned clothes, a couple of burly characters who were probably weres, a red-haired fire elemental and one very tall, skinny tree-spirit with pale skin and a lot of bushy pine-needle hair. He was dressed in a long green robe that looked like it had been made from leaves.

Alice was disappointed to see that Malcolm wasn’t among them. But she supposed because he was only an assistant he wasn’t allowed to sit up on stage with the organisers. Around her the buzz of conversation around her increased, and she turned in her seat to see more people entering the hall and taking the seats up the back.

They looked like Nocturnal Academy students, but their uniforms were different. Although the Australian Academy’s uniform had been changed by the late Baron Falkenstein into a more formal outfit, these children were dressed in even more conservative attire; long permanent press pants and knee-length pleated skirts. Everyone wore itchy-looking blazers, collared shirts and ties with their school’s logo on it.

Even though they had made an effort to put on clean clothes and tuck their shirts in, all the Australian kids suddenly felt very shabby in their polos and desert boots. Even Alice, who’d never worried about that sort of thing, shrank down into her seat.

“Oh my God, they must think we’re a total pack of Bogans!” Alice whispered to Harley Erdman, who was in her roll-call class and sitting beside her.

Harley simply shrugged. “They always did.”

“Thanks, that made me feel a lot better,” she muttered, wishing that she’d at least thought to put on a button-up shirt.

The other Nocturnal Academy children did not appear impressed as they took their places at the back. They looked around the hall in disdain, and a few actually snickered derisively at things that clearly did not impress them. Then a couple of very large, cranky-looking teachers appeared and glared them all into silence. One was a were and the other a vampire.

The children very quickly straightened in their seats and faced forward.

Madam Nocturna glided forward to the lectern, dressed in a long velvet and lace gown of purple and jade green that matched her luminous eyes. The streak of white in her hair seemed to glow in the light of the orbs floating up in the cobwebs. She raised her hands for silence and all the Australian kids quickly stopped their gossiping.

“Welcome everyone to a very special assembly,” she proclaimed in the soft, but powerful voice that seemed to reach all the corners of the room. “Welcome to the 312^th Nightmare Games, which I am pleased to announce will be taking place here, for the very first time, at the Australian Academy!” She clapped her hands and her audience dutifully obeyed. “I would now like to introduce the Nightmare Games Organising Committee who will be overseeing this marvellous event.” She gestured towards the front row of people on the stage. “First is NGOC president Mr Ogden Connifer, who has been running the committee since 1542!” She motioned to the tree spirit and he rose to his feet, gliding forward as though on a cushion of air to a polite scattering of applause. His leafy robes rustled around him as he looked down at the audience. He had a long, thin pointy face and looked a bit like the pine tree spirit James Adamson, although without any of the boy’s humour. He gave a thin smile that didn’t touch his green eyes and bowed low.

“Next, the Vice President Ms Rosie Flickerton!” Madam Nocturna deferred to the fire elemental, and she got up, her long red dress sparkling as though it was on fire. Knowing a fire elemental, it, probably was. She smiled too and dropped a dainty curtsey. Like most fire elementals, she had fire-coloured hair that stood straight up.

Madam Nocturna then introduced the other members of the committee, and Professor Abbacus as the “technical support”. He actually winced at the unfortunate description and didn’t even bother bowing to the audience. He simply gave everyone his usual evil red-eyed glare before stomping back to his seat where he plonked himself down with his arms folded.

Beside Alice, Harley laughed ruefully. “That’s an understatement! He installed all the computers, sensors and cameras in the arena and made sure everything was linked through the sub-botanic matrix. He’s even got a satellite watching from space.”

“How the heck did he get hold of a satellite?” Alice gasped.

“I think it’s one he put up there back in 1895 during the Martian Invasion.”

Alice gaped at Harley. “Martian Invasion?”

“Oh, didn’t he tell you about it? That was when-“

Again Madam Nocturna lifted her hands for silence. Harley lifted a finger to his lips. Alice vaguely remembered hearing something about a Martian invasion earlier, possibly after that affair with the Supernatural Circus. It had completely slipped her mind.

“Now I would also like to welcome all the other Nightmare Games competitors from the other schools,” Madam Nocturna declared. “The teachers who have accompanied them are Professor Oganwe from the African Academy and Professor Gordana from the Russian Academy.” Everyone turned to look at the haughty students seated at the back of the room. Madam Nocturna clapped her hands and there was another smattering of applause from her students. The newcomers did not look impressed and continued to glare down their long aristocratic noses at the provincials they’d had the misfortune to be stuck with for the next couple of weeks. They only clapped when Professor Oganwe started them off. He looked like Michael Clarke Duncan on steroids. Although the Russian teacher wasn’t much smaller. She looked like a particularly angry wrestler. Alice supposed the two toughest PE teachers had been chosen to supervise all the visitors.

“The Nightmare Games will be starting next week, week 2 of term 2,” Madam Nocturna declared. “In the meantime I’d like you to make our fellows from the other Nocturnal Academies welcome. I do hope that by the time the Nightmare Games commence, you will have made some firm and lifelong friendships.”

Not likely, Alice thought darkly. I’ve never seen such an unfriendly-looking bunch!

“And now I would like everyone to accompany me to the dining hall for a special introductory dinner.” Madam Nocturna dismissed everyone with a wave and glided off the stage. It was the signal for the hall to disassemble and follow her to the dining room. As all the students rose and headed for the exit, Alice turned to Harley. “What was that you said about the Martian Invasion?” she hissed at him.

“Oh, that – sorry Alice, but there wasn’t much information on file. Just that Professor Abbacus launched the satellite in 1895, when the Martians invaded. No further details in the mainframe, I’m afraid.”

“Ooooh,” Alice groaned in disappointment. “There’s so much that Professor Abbacus has done that I don’t know about!” she complained.

“You could just ask him.”

“Yeah, I suppose – but I rarely get a moment with him these days.” Alice had mastered quite a few spells, but practised them with Darkchilde, not Abbacus. Although the Magick Professor was very knowledgeable, Alice still preferred Abbacus teaching her. Darkchilde was cold and distant, and something about him really creeped her out. He gave her icy chills up and down her spine. She just could not put a finger on it.

She occasionally sent Professor Abbacus a message, but because he was so busy he took a while to respond and she didn’t want to be too much of a nag. She hoped after the Nightmare Games were over she would get more of a chance to talk to him.

If he wasn’t sent back to the Nocturnal University!

All the Nocturnal Academy students gathered in the dining room for dinner. Extra tables had been set up for the other students, making for a very crowded area. Even the teachers were more crammed in than usual, despite the fact a whole other table had been set up for the organisers and visiting teachers. Friends collected in their usual spots, leaving the other kids to occupy tables in the least popular sites – those located near the kitchen doors, the toilets and closest to the teachers’ tables. Alice found herself crammed in with Harley, Toby and Carla, with Milly, Nancy, Amala and Delilah seated opposite.

“Well, this is cosy,” she remarked.

“Don’t get me started,” growled Amala. “I’ll be so glad when all this competitive macho rubbish is over and done with!”

“Competitive macho rubbish?” Toby raised his sandy eyebrows.

Amala flipped a delicate hand. “You know. Fighting and athletics and running. All that panting and sweating. Ugh.” She pulled a disgusted face.

“I’m involved in all that competitive macho rubbish,” Alice put in.

Amala turned her dark-eyed gaze onto Alice. “Yes, but you’re not a normal girl. You’re some sort of super-freak.”

“Great, thanks.”

Realising that she had sounded a lot more offensive than she’d meant to, Amala quickly back-pedalled. “That’s not what I mean! You’re different. You’re…” She tailed off in desperation.

Carla leaned forward, her catlike yellow eyes narrow. “She’s Alice,” she hissed. “That’s all you need to remember.”

Amala gulped. “A-alright. Okay.” She lifted her hands. “Forget I spoke. Geez. No need to get all tiger-y in my face.”

Alice rolled her eyes at the silliness. “Guys, really – I only put my name in for this because everyone was going on and on about how unlucky I was. I probably won’t get anywhere. There’s no need to keep resurrecting that Unlucky Alice stuff.”

At the head table, Madam Nocturna rose to her feet and cleared her throat.

“A few announcements before we start. For the duration of the Nightmare Games, all scullery duties will be performed by the Nocturnal Academy staff, so you students can better focus on the activities.”

This announcement was greeted with a lot of whooping and cheering. Madam Nocturna gave a thin smile.

“Rest assured the duties will resume as soon as the Games are over. Now, for this week all visiting students will be joining the Australian students for classes. And after classes each day there will be an hour’s worth of training out on the Oval and in the Oval Jungle. This is compulsory for all competitors and will be overseen by Professors Oganwe, Gordana and Longenfang and his staff.”

Alice groaned and slapped her forehead.

“Hey, it’s still better than scullery duty!” Toby declared.

Madam Nocturna clapped her hands, signifying the start of dinner. As the blinds rolled down over the windows, cutting off the approaching light of day, the air-elementals appeared with everyone’s meals. Trays containing large plates of steaming pasta bakes began to plop down in front of everyone. It smelled awesome. Alice savoured the smell of garlic for almost a minute before tucking in.

But a very large were boy with pale blonde hair sniffed at the tray in front of him disdainfully. He licked the cheese off the tip, pulled a face, and then started eating as though everything tasted horrible.

“What a twonk,” Toby muttered to Alice. “This is one of the best meals I’ve ever tasted. What’s the bet that big sook’s used to frog legs, snails and caviar!”

At that moment, the big were pushed his plate back, half-emptied, and straightened up. Toby gulped, realising that his enhanced hearing had probably enabled him to hear the derisive comment. Toby cringed down in his seat, wishing that he could disappear through the old 1970s linoleum floor.

The were boy lumbered over. He was almost two hundred centimetres tall and had shoulders wide enough to park a bus on. He was almost as big as Grizzer, but with a lot more definition. Toby, who had reached 186 centimetres himself, actually felt small.

“What was that, little wolf?” the were boy growled in a deep, rumbling voice. He had a very thick Russian accent.

Toby decided that no amount of subterfuge was going to help him. So he straightened up in his seat and said, quite loudly and clearly, “I’m not sure what the problem is, mate, but this is great stuff. It’s got lots of mince, tomato, onions, pasta, cheese and garlic.”

The big boy glared at Toby through a pair of narrow grey eyes that were similar in colour to Longenfang’s – when he wasn’t drinking or in a berserk rage. “Where I come from, they feed us growing weres fresh meat, not this off-cut rubbish.”

Toby refused to back down. “Oh, it’s not off-cuts. It’s good stuff to keep us going. We’re expected to hunt for our real fresh meat in the forest behind the school, where there are poisonous snakes, bunyips, drop-bears, four metre-long crocs and all sorts of nasty beasties just waiting for us.”

The boy glared at Toby. “You are joking.”

“Nah-ar. This is the nastiest country on Earth. And we’ve gotta deal with it.” Toby managed to look completely innocent. The boy started to look a bit pale and sheepish.

“Very well pup – I take you up on that … later.” He turned and stalked back to his bench, where he very quickly and methodically cleaned his plate of all the food on it.

Toby chuckled to himself. “Idiot.”

Carla patted him on the back. “Excellent job! You managed to diffuse that without any of your usual posturing. I’m so proud of you!”

Toby looked up, not sure whether to be impressed or insulted. Alice giggled and mopped up the rest of her pasta. Then she sat back and waited for a prefect to give the signal to leave. As she was looking around she noticed a table near the toilet doors with far too many figures crammed around it. None of them were wearing school uniform. One belonged to a tall youth with curly brown hair. He had his back to her, but she recognised Malcolm McAllister. “Guys, see that curly-haired boy over there?” she pointed him out. “He’s the one I was telling you about earlier – my half-brother from the Nocturnal University!”

Her friends stared in amazement. Malcolm must have felt all the gazes on him because he turned in his seat. When he noticed Alice he smiled. He pushed his empty plate away and got up.

“Hi Malcolm,” said Alice. “Let me introduce you to my friends here, some of who will be competing with me at the games.” She went through the group, and everyone smiled and waved. Amala and Delilah looked especially interested in the handsome, curly-haired vampire boy. “And this is Harley Erdman,” Alice finished, gesturing to the skinny black-haired boy beside her.

Malcolm’s dark blue eyes lit up. “Harley!” He stuck out a hand. “You’re the machine spirit golem boy?”

Harley reddened. “Well, technically.”

“Wow! I didn’t expect you to look so human!”

“I’ve had years to perfect this body!” Harley spread his hands. “It now resembles me in every detail.”

Malcolm grabbed one of Harley’s outstretched hands and shook it enthusiastically. “I’ve been wanting to meet you! Apparently we’re going to be working together during the games, monitoring the system.”

“Er, yeah! Abbacus mentioned something about an assistant,” Harley answered, still looking flustered. “I’ve been practising communicating with the Games system through the sub-botanic matrix, but it’s not easy. Those trees are really hard to understand. They talk really slowly and mumble an awful lot.”

Malcolm grinned from ear to ear. “I can help you with that. My girlfriend’s a tree spirit. I don’t have any problems understanding her.”

At that moment a prefect gave the signal, and all around them students began getting up and leaving the room.

“If you’re not busy, I’m free now. I can show you how you talk to the trees.” Malcolm laughed, and then adopted a robotic voice; “Take me to your mainframe!”

It was Harley’s turn to smile. Even though he claimed he be used to his human body, he still preferred the computer. As far as he was concerned, it was his real body. “Okay.”

They headed off, and behind them Amala heaved a sigh of disappointment.

“What was that for?” asked Nancy.

“Didn’t you hear? He said he had a girlfriend!” Delilah practically snapped at the stocky, bushy haired girl.

“A tree spirit girlfriend! What kind of vampire runs around with trees?” asked Amala with a derisive sneer on her face.

Alice rolled her eyes at the pair. “Maybe he’s branching out,” she suggested.

Carla groaned. “Alice, that was truly awful. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

 

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