Detention wasn't actually all that bad. 

Hoku would have been the only one to refuse to admit that. 

They got to see the maps of the school and take them to their dorms if they wanted. There were books on the history of the school and how and why the castle was no longer used in royal families. They learned it wasn't like the military base the twins came from; which had been designated as a military base centuries before by the ruling family at the time. It was a retreat of sorts for a royal family whose power became unstable, causing them to give up their titles.

Hoku hated reading though, so he learned none of that, going as far as tuning out his group mates when they talked about it. He was curious about Luca now. What had it been like to grow up in an ocean? What was his life expectancy, if he was the offspring of a nymph and a triton? Weren't tritones technically gods?

Wait. 

Were tritones and nymphs gods? 

Was Luca a child of two classes of minor gods?

Luca also seemed distracted during their hour long detention. Something about the almost catastrophic meeting this morning had set him off balance. 

"Luca," Hoku started, "Can I ask you something?"

"Am I actually getting interrogated?" Luca asked.

"I have two questions."

"Fine," the quieter boy sighed, "What are they?"

"One, are nymphs and tritones both groups of minor gods? And two, why do you seem so... off kilter after this morning. I'd expect you to be thrilled you get to learn about the school. Even though I don't know you too well."

Luca laughed, "No, they're not gods. They do live for a long time, longer than humans, but nymphs are limited to a couple hundred years or so and tritones are immortal, not invincible. The oldest nymph I know of is almost four hundred."

"And the second question?" Sora prodded.

The humanoid sucked in a breath, looking at a heavy volume before he replied quietly his whole demeanor changing, "The nymphs that came today were warriors. An elite class with the power to change the will of nature. They never leave the oceans."

"What do you mean, 'change the will of nature'?" Zaria asked,

"Tides, currents, storms, pollution. Anything that could be a threat to any population of nymphs."

"Wow. I can't believe you just told us that. Do you really trust us that much already?" Alannah asked.

Apparently that wasn't a very likely future. 

Alannah closed her eyes, a faint glow peaking through the eyelids, as her brows furrowed. 

"What are you looking for?" Danique asked, watching the future teller with an intensity Hoku would have shied away from.

"What that means."

"What what means?"

She didn't respond this time. She just sat in her chair silently for a few seconds longer. When she opened her eyes, she looked to Luca, "Why did you tell us that?"

Luca tensed, but pointed. Aurora looked away, a pang in her chest. She knew they wouldn't trust her, not especially so soon, but she couldn't help but hope.

"I wouldn't do something like that," she whispered.

"You did with Alannah."

"She knew something about the twins," her voice got even quieter, "I just wanted to make sure she wasn't planning something."

"Luca," Alannah started, "She really had no intention of looking through your thoughts."

The tritone was silent, tense. 

"Luca, what else?"

"What do you mean?" 

"What else?" Hoku asked again, "There's something else."

"If they don't get home, the nymphs are in a lot of trouble."

"Why wouldn't they get home?" Danique wondered aloud, "If they're as powerful as you say, couldn't they fight off pretty much any threat?"

"We don't need to talk about this here," Alannah cut in.

"Talk about what?" their teacher asked as she walked in the circular library.

"Our next splash," Hoku grinned, the lie spilling out easily. Too easily, Sora though. He adapted so quickly, "We're going to be your worst class ever."

"Oh, I doubt it," Mrs. Sword smiled, then said, "Detention is over. You're free to go to your dorms now." And with that, she seemed to disappear into the shadows. 

"How long was she there?" Callum asked.

Alannah shrugged but Aurora said, "She wasn't. I mean, she just got to the room. I could feel her approaching. Empath and all."

Sora glanced at the books and scrolls around her. Then grabbed the two sitting closest to her.

No one commented.

They had gone to all their classes and ate all three meals before detention. They were told to pretty much stay in that room and not to destroy anything. There were probably rules they hadn't been told about so they did only what the adults told them they could. Read. Sleep. Talk. The rest of the activities they could have done involved possibly destroying the ancient knowledge. And the newer knowledge. It was all still priceless.

"Were we supposed to have training today?" Callum asked, scratching his head.

"No. We just got the measurement for the leather suits done," Zaria said.

"Right."

They made their way through the school the majority of people found nearly impossible to navigate. The photographic memory both Alannah and Aurora had ended up quite helpful. As long as they didn't have any new places to go. Then they had to rely on Alannah'd powers and the start of a trip down many dark hallways.

Sora hated going down the hallways with no lighting. Especially when she saw eyes that clearly weren't human, but her animal empath powers didn't work on. The scroll she took to accompany the book was a list of the creatures residing in the castle. That included their powers, weaknesses, strengths, and known histories of the species. Most of them didn't have a known history, but a couple did.

And most of them had more strengths than weaknesses.

Sora wondered if they should be going to school in a place with so many ancient creatures. With so many dangerous, ancient creatures.

The scroll had so many blank spots. Mainly for the larger beasts. Those seemed to be the older ones with fewer weaknesses and more strengths than the smaller ones who had been there for decades or centuries.

Sora was snapped from her thoughts when she ran into someone, and apologized quickly. 

Luca turned back to look at her, a sort of blank expression on his face. 

"Why did we stop?" She whispered.

 It seemed appropriate to speak quietly. But only to one who could see what she was thinking about. This hall was well-lit.

She didn't need an answer, though. There, in front of them, stood the headmaster. He didn't look mad, just curious. She hoped she wasn't in trouble for taking the book and scroll. They were allowed to take maps but she didn't know if they could take anything, or if it was just the maps. The green eyed girl was hoping to keep the scroll for future reference while she was at the school, but she just wanted to finish the book.

"How was your detention?" Headmaster Flint asked.

"Boring," Hoku drawled at the same time Luca said, "Informational."

"I see there are some mixed opinions. Mrs. Sword tells me you plan on being in that room a lot."

"Not if we don't get caught," Hoku grinned.

Alannah elbowed him in the ribs.

"I guess it will be fun to see what kind of trouble you lot can get into. Just as long as that trouble doesn't get you killed," the striking figure turned his head to look at the scroll clutched in Sora's hand.

"This is a measure against that," Sora said nervously.

"You're planning on exploring then?"

"Definitely at some point," the walking forge grinned.

"I can't be held responsible for injuries or deaths that occur in the levels of the castle we no longer use," the headmaster warned, "If you do that, be very careful."

"We will," Sora assured, but her voice shook slightly. Deaths?

"Anyway, back to your dorms. You have another busy day tomorrow."

The students wished the headmaster a goodnight and walked by him, Hoku smiling and waving as he passed.

"You're going to get us in serious trouble one day," Callum sighed once they'd gotten out of hearing range.

"Am I?" Hoku looked at Alannah, grinning.

"You could. Easily. Same goes for every one of us."

"Grim response," Zaria muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Well, for someone that can see every future possible, I think it's pretty average," Callum laughed lightly.

Sora stayed quiet. She wanted to look over the scroll, at least some of it. She quickened her pace.

"What's the hurry, Sora?" Danique asked, frowning.

"I want to look over this scroll. If we're going to go blundering through ancient, undisturbed levels of this castle, we need to know what's down there. At least an idea."

"Couldn't Alannah do that?" Hoku chimed in.

"I'm sure. But it's kind of unfair to make her use so much power just because we want her to," Sora shrugged.

Alannah looked like she wanted to say something, whether it was in agreement or not they didn't get the chance to hear it before Hoku spoke again, "That's fair enough. Read it out loud so we can all hear."

"I was going to," Sora muttered, then unrolled the yellowed scroll after she sat down at their meeting table, "Let's see... the first one. 'Not so lovingly nicknamed the homework goblins. Appearance: never seen in the light, prefer to stay in the shadows, generally only see glowing red, orange, or yellow eyes (though if you see glowing eyes it doesn't mean that's them).'"

"I wonder how many things have glowing eyes," Danique frowned, peering over Sora's shoulder.

"Well, considering we're in a castle so ancient no one can even date it, there's no telling," Aurora chimed in, finger on her chin in thought.

"You don't know how old it is?" Hoku looked to Alannah.

"No, Hoku. I see the future, not the past."

"Ah, right. How could I forget?" Hoku scoffed sarcastically, "I mean, there's no future where we learn?

"It's complicated."

Sora continued, "'Powers: feed off negative emotions and amplify them. Weaknesses: pretty much an optimist, they don't like light either so if you shoot fire at them they'll hiss like an angry cat and run away. Be careful, though, some of the dust is explosive.' The last bit is in a different handwriting."

"Yikes! Imagine being the one to figure that out," Callum grimaced.

"I personally vote we make Callum lead with a mini thunder cloud constantly lighting up with lightning," Hoku grinned at Callum.

"Yeah... no."

"Is there anything else for that one?" Zaria asks, her mind obviously ready to take in any scrap of information the scroll had.

"Nope. The next one is a wizard. 'Powers: controls dead corpses, poison mist breath, and absorbs most types of magic. Weakness: like most things with a magical weakness, this creature is weak to fire. Description: whites, greys, bluish colors, and blacks make out the image of an old man.' Then there's different handwriting. 'Others: my group encountered this creature and was able to speak with him. It seems as though the headmaster has agreed to set him free but he doesn't know how long it's been since the promise was made. It could have been centuries. He lived in this castle during medieval times,'" Sora's eyes widened. "Holy crap."

"The castle has been here for that long? Wait. Pause. There was magic then?" Aurora's eyes widened as well. In fact, all of theirs did except Luca.

"Of course there was magic then. The nymphs and tritons have been around that long. Though, in this arc of time their power is much stronger," the hybrid explained.

"Wow. Ok," Sora looked back down to the scroll, "'He got lost in the lower layers of the castle that had been abandoned centuries earlier and attempted to preform a spell to get him out. It backfired, trapping him until the spell was broken. The wizard had a tendency to practice spells on himself, which in turn had a tendency to backfire. His powers came from said spells. He cannot wander like most of the creatures in the castle can. He's trapped in one hallway. We made a map, but it was lost when we went too deep and narrowly escaped with our lives.'"

"He said the castle was abandoned centuries before?" Danique asked and waited for Sora's nod to continue, "So that means the castle could have been there before medieval times even. If it was, who built it?"

"I have no clue."

"Can I see that?" the raven haired girl held her hand out for the scroll, which Sora gave to her.

She moved to the end of the table and unrolled it completely, scanning over it quickly as the walked along the side of the wooden surface. She reached the very end and frowned.

"What?" Zaria asked, walking to stand beside her twin. She read what was written at the end in shaky lettering aloud, "'We found a lake at what we think is the very bottom of the castle. There's something moving in it. Something big. If you're reading this, it means our spell worked. We've been trapped down here. We don't know how long, but we put a spell on this scroll so when we die, it'll return to the library. This information is valuable and it is a warning.

"'Don't come down here. The thrill of exploration isn't worth it.'"

"Great Spirits," Luca muttered, horror on his features, "What do you think they encountered down there to say that? Death isn't so bad."

Callum's face was grave as he looked at the paper spread before them, most of it in the same handwriting, "Well, it seems like a lot."

"I wonder if there's something semi-sentient that tortured them," Sora was looking over the scroll as well, "Or if it was just a slow death from being beaten down by so many different beasts.  That's torture in its own way."

"Yeah, I'd like to sleep tonight," Aurora wrinkled her nose, "You all can read that if you want. I'm going to bed."

"I guess we can read more later. We have classes pretty early tomorrow. Though, I will say, after seeing how much is down there, even if we don't know exactly what it is, I'm not sure I'm so keen on the idea of exploring," Hoku admitted.

"It was your idea," Alannah said, "And we have the twins. We'd be fine."

There was silence for a bit, then Danique spoke again, "Is something important going to happen down there?"

Silence again.

"Yes. A lot is. But I can't tell you what," Alannah met the scarred girl's eyes, seeming to beg for her to understand, to not ask for more information.

Danique nodded, then rolled the scroll up carefully, "I'm trusting you this time. It may be stupid because I just met you, but I think it may be the smartest choice. To have you as an ally, if not a friend."

Alannah gave a small smile, but didn't say anything.

And then they went to their rooms quietly, each thinking their own thoughts.

What about my family? 

What about the war coming? 

What's down there we need so badly?

Will they hate me?

Can I get through this school?

Can I protect her?

Is the future really so indefinite? 

As it seemed minds were always the most active at night, they circled. Perfecting some thoughts, discarding others. Imaginations ran free and were reined in as they drifted off.

And, alone, one thought was always the same. 

Will he let me go?