Father Chibuike followed the cat as it led him away from the teacher's block and into the woods, his steps keeping up with its pace. What could possibly be wrong?
The night was calm, but he felt it too, that unsettling in the air.
Suddenly, the cat disappeared from his sight, climbing one of the trees. Father Chibuike stopped, then heard the footsteps too. He hid behind a large trunk, his back to it. The footsteps became louder and so he stilled until they passed by. Before they would disappear completely, he turned to look at their retreating figures and saw flowing white soutanes. Priests?
"Of course," he mused, "some things are better done in the dark."
He came out from his hiding place the same time the cat jumped from the tree and he wondered if he should leave Amaka to her goal while he chased after them to see who exactly it was, then he would come back to join the cat. That would mean killing two birds with one stone.
Before he could decide, he heard the sound of the cat galloping further into the woods, that was when the scent drifted across his nose, the metallic smell of blood.
Surely the priests and who else was with them did not decide they needed sacrifice for whatever they did, right? He followed the trail, followed the scent that itched his nose, followed the galloping steps of Amaka until it stopped and he saw the cat circling around a body sprawled on the ground.
"Human sacrifice?" He neared the body and hovered over it for a while before squatting to see the person's face.
"No wonder Amaka was so edgy." He stared at the face long enough to convince himself his emotions were numb. But there was a simmering at the back of his eyes, and he fought to keep them from darkening.
Without thought, he gathered Ivie into his arms and lifted her from the ground. "Careless thing. Were you caught poking your curious nose where it did not belong?" He started walking away from the forest. "Good thing they were kind enough to not cut it off."
She did not make a sound, only the heaving of her chest that told him she was still alive. Her head was bent to him and he could see the dry blood on it. Suddenly he wanted to punish her.
He nestled her close to his chest, her limp in his arm as he approached the dorm, the cat trailing behind him. He stopped just as he was about to enter the dormitory and turned around, going towards the back. Then he removed his shoes and the cat carried it.
As he walked along the hallway, he blew the candlelights off so that the only thing that was left was darkness until he reached Ivie's window.
It was unlocked.
"And I talk about having a bad sense of danger? You have no sense of danger."
He nudged the cat and it dropped his shoes at his feet and climbed the window, slipping into the room. Once inside, its small body began to grow, its legs began to elongate and Father Chibuike waited the few seconds it transformed into a fox, then placed Ivie on its back, before sliding into the room and closing the window.
It was empty, unlike the other dorms that shared room with students. He had not stopped to think of the possibility of her having a roommate.
"Well well." He shrugged and carried her from the cat- now fox- back to drop her on the bed. She was so limp, so docile, her breath peacefully even.
He ran a finger across her broken forehead, the blood smearing on him and felt that darkening threatening to spill from him again. He let it spill and agreed to the emotion he had felt when he first saw her sprawled on the ground.
He was angry.
And he didn't know why.
"When you war an enemy, you're supposed to be careful, silly girl. We're both trying to demystify a murder case, we wouldn't want more deaths now, would we?" He trailed another finger across her wound.
"Whoever did this to you wanted to knock you out. And here I thought the only enemies you have are you kind that wants to infest rats into your room, poor you." He pressed his two fingers against the wound.
"I would have dressed this, but I won't be appreciated. Goodnight."
But something gnawed at him as he turned to leave. He stopped and went back to the bed. He placed his hand on Ivie's head where the wound was visible and a faint glow appeared. It lasted a few seconds before he pulled it away. "Still won't be appreciated." Then he turned and jumped out of the window, keeping it secured with the locks as he waved his hand.
The cat scurried away from his sight, and he squatted to put on his shoe, taking his own time to tie the laces. He paused when he heard footsteps approaching him, and then continued like he he wasn't aware, it seems everybody liked night businesses.
"I suppose there is a good reason why you're here and not asleep?"
He raised his head up to see the person who spoke, it was the Dean. "Just a second." He went back to trying the lace of his shoes until it was perfectly laced. Then he rose up to meet the man. "Oh, you wouldn't believe that students here loves being mischievous at such hour rather than at day time. There's a particular student, Ivie, she loves going into the woods and hanging on a tree."
The Dean's eyes narrowed. "Did you just come back from seeing her to her room then?"
"Are you insinuating that entered the female dorm at this hour?"
"It's not entirely impossible seeing that the Sister stationed at the dorm is not there."
Father Chibuike smiled. "You know that the fine Sister is not there, which I don't know anyway, and you accuse me of just coming out from the female dorm?"
The Dean glared at him. "I saw her a few minutes ago like, the same way I'm seeing you now."
"That explains it then, we wouldn't want to have a misunderstanding now, would we? And since you're benevolent enough, you the Dean of this school, to make night laps to ensure things are in place, it should interest you to know that I saw some people leaving the forest some minutes ago, you should check that out. Night." He saw the priest opened his mouth to speak but waved his hand in dismissal as he headed for his office.
If the Dean was as alert as he posed to be, then he would catch a few others snooping around.
——
Ivie woke up the next morning, her eyes cleared and free from after sleep grogginess. Surprisingly, she had a really good sleep. When was the last time she slept this good? She yawned.
"I'm hoping today would be a great day."
She went to her closet to pull out a towel, fresh clothes and her toothbrush. Despite how spacious each dorm was, what it didn't have was a bathroom and she hated that she had to wait or be rushed to bathe.
Maybe she would go to the Dean or the Counsellor and explain that an exceptionally intelligent student like herself should exempted from some rules. Of course she would not do that, but she liked to imagine it.
She flung her clothing across her shoulder, her toothbrush in her hand, and left her room. Few students already walked the corridors, hurrying to the bathroom. Some of them paused to look at her, and she shone her eyes at them, shooing them away.
She was Odion leaning on her door, and when their eyes met, the latter's face morphed from a hard glare to a snicker, a wicked grin, a complacent one.
Ivie furrowed her brow and wondered why her celebrity figure felt different that morning.
She ignored them and opened the bath door. On the other side was Itohan, and as she saw Ivie, her face was clouded with pure shock.