Chapter Thirty-one - Rooms and Riddles

The school really was a miniature Condor. In fact, if Pandy had been dropped into the entrance hall and someone told her this was Condor, her only response would have been, “It looked bigger from the outside.”

Mr. Benjamin pointed out each area, none of which surprised Pandy in the slightest. To their left was the door leading to the classrooms, while off to the right were the rooms for students who lived at the school. Straight ahead lay the dining hall, whose doors stood wide open, revealing only a few tables which were now empty. Sweeping stairs to each side of the dining room doors led upward to the teacher’s offices and rooms for the resident members of staff.

At Condor, the entrance hall itself seemed very aware of its own consequence. Past teachers and headmasters stared stonily down from life-sized portraits hung on the walls, and the marble floor made every footfall echo, as was mentioned when Clara had to sneak out of her bedroom during a late-night event with Bastian. Here, the faces in most of the portraits smiled, and thick, soft rugs ran from each door to a huge carpet that had to be at least twenty feet on each side. No difficulty in sneaking through here, not that Pandy intended to do so. Not often, at least.

“It’s after lunch, I’m afraid, but I could order a sandwich from the kitchen if you’re hungry,” Mr. Benjamin told Thaniel as the boy trailed him through the doors to their right. Rather than having rooms on both sides of the hall, all of the doors were on the left, but Mr. Benjamin led Thaniel past only one of these before turning down another short hallway that held a single flight of stairs.

“That’s all right,” Thaniel said, holding Pandy a little more tightly than was strictly comfortable. “Lian an’ I ate at an inn.”

“Excellent,” the round little man said, clearly having been dismayed at the thought of someone missing a meal. If Pandy still needed to eat, she was sure her stomach would be growling loudly enough for the teacher to hear it, but he didn’t even think to ask if she might be hungry. “The boys’ rooms are upstairs. Two students to a room, and rooms will be assigned at random, at least for the first term. When you get back from break, you may request a reassignment.”

The runner covering the wooden steps matched the grayish blue and russet hues that dominated the décor, colors which were much less striking than the bright yellow-gold and black of Condor’s colors. They were, however, quite calming, and Pandy could feel Thaniel begin to relax as they reached the third door on the second floor. There was an empty metal square on the door, and Mr. Benjamin smiled down at Thaniel.

“This will be your room. Just place your hand on the handle and keep it there for a moment,” he said.

Thaniel tilted his head, and Pandy could almost see the moment when his curiosity overcame his nervousness. Shifting Pandy to one arm, he gripped the handle with his right hand, though he didn’t try to open the door. Mr. Benjamin laid his own hand on the metal square, and murmured a few words too quietly for Pandy to hear. The latch clicked and swung open as if under its own power.

“There you are, my lad,” the teacher said, lifting his hand from the square. As if it had always been there, Thaniel’s name was now neatly inscribed in the soft brass.

“Oh,” Thaniel said, eyes going round. Then he looked back down the hall toward the stairs. “A…a friend of mine is supposed to be here already. Um, Prince-”

A click of Mr. Benjamin’s tongue interrupted him, and the cheerful face almost managed to be stern when he said, “No titles here, please, Thaniel. Other than whatever titles we teachers expect, of course. You are all equals in this place. That is the first lesson each of our students must learn.”

Thaniel’s cheeks went pink at the mild reprimand, and he nodded before saying, “Her name is Eleanor. Will her room have her name just like this?”

The teacher’s expression relaxed. “Indeed it will, though I believe the young lady has requested that she be known as ‘Ellie’, in order to better maintain her anonymity. You should note, however, that before breakfast and after dinner, young men may not enter the ladies’ hall, just as young ladies may not enter the gentlemens’ hall. You may, however, knock on the first door in each hall, which belongs to the hall supervisor. If appropriate, they will send someone to see if your friend is available.”

Thaniel looked fairly confused by now, but he nodded. “Then, can I go talk to the hall supervisker now?”

“Supervisor,” Mr. Benjamin corrected. “You may, but I doubt if Ms. Davenport is in. It would be best to look around campus - staying inside the building for now, please - until dinner. You may even run into your friend quite by accident. Dinner is at half past six, so a bell will sound at six o'clock, letting you know you need to get ready.”

That sounded like an excellent idea to Pandy, who was getting very tired of being carried around like particularly essential luggage. She was also remembering the strict time table at Condor, and had a sinking feeling that it wasn’t going to be nearly as much fun to experience it in real life.

“That sounds good, then, Mr. Benjamin. Thank you,” Thaniel said with great politeness, though there was a distinct quiver to his lip.

“Ah, yes, my pleasure, lad. I shall see you at dinner, then,” Mr. Benjamin said, apparently completely oblivious to Thaniel’s feelings. He offered a small bow with a surprisingly elegant sweep of his hand, and turned away, hurrying off down the hall, his gleaming black shoes making no sound on the heavy carpet.

Letting out a breath, Thaniel entered his room, whose door still stood open as if waiting patiently for him to enter. Just like at Condor, the room’s two sides mirrored each other. Each half held a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. A small washing basin sat on top of a low table beside the wardrobe, with a washcloth and towel folded beside it.

Thaniel glanced from one bed to the other, seeing that there was no obvious difference. The room was windowless, the walls bare, and the beds neatly made. Thaniel’s few belongings hadn’t yet been brought up, so even though the space was smaller than the room Thaniel had occupied at the Reedsleys’ estate, it seemed larger.

The boy buried his face in Pandy’s fur, and once again black letters popped up before her eyes.

+2 Corruption Points for Bathing in the Tears of the Innocent

+2 Corruption Points for Bathing in the Tears of the Innocent

Pandy ignored them and turned her head, tickling Thaniel’s face with her quivering whiskers. <Let’s go explore,> she thought, as loudly as she could, and to her surprise, Thaniel lifted his face, sniffling once more before blinking at her.

“I think…we should do like Mr. Benjamin said and go look around,” Thaniel said, and Pandy barely resisted the urge to nod vigorously. There had to be a limit to how human she could act before Thaniel became uncomfortable again, and if continuing to be a pampered pet was the price she had to pay to stay with the boy, well, she would simply have to pay it.

So, rather than agreeing with him, she wiggled until Thaniel let her down, at which point she hopped to the door and gave the bottom edge an experimental chew. Thaniel giggled. “You can’t eat the door, Bunny. I bet you’re hungry, though. I should’ve thought of that when Mr. Benjamin said he could get me food. Let’s go see if we can find Ellie or the kitchen.”

Alas, Pandy doubted if the kitchen staff here would be quite as understanding as the ones at Reedsley manor, but it was worth a shot. After all, Thaniel’s cuteness would soften the hearts of all but the foulest of monsters. Plus, she wanted to see the school that was so like the one she – or rather, Clara – had spent so many hours in. Most important of all, she wanted to know if the similarity to Condor carried through to every detail.

She gave the wood of the door another tentative chomp, and Thaniel finally opened it, allowing her out into the hall. The boy immediately turned to the right, undoubtedly planning to go back to the stairs, but Pandy took off in the other direction as fast as her fifteen points of Agility could take her, which, it turned out, was just a bit faster than a six year old boy could run.

Thaniel’s room was the fourth, not counting the hall supervisor’s, which put it right at the corner. Pandy almost spun out as she went around the corner, her back feet briefly slipping off the narrow rug, but she managed to catch herself and run on, still counting doors. As in the game, there were more rooms down this hallway, and now doors were on both sides. Only the ones on the left mattered, though.

There were a number of secrets in Gacha Love. Some of them only mattered in certain paths, while others could be used at any time, even if you hadn’t actually gotten the clue leading to them in a particular playthrough. This particular one was one of those, and Pandy had used it many times to great advantage.

…five, six, seven, eight! And yes, there beyond the eighth left-hand door hung a painting, though it wasn’t the one Pandy was familiar with. That one showed a shadowy path that passed beneath an arbor heavy with grapes, while this was a sunlit trail winding among tall trees. Still, they were both paths, and the riddle she’d found the very first time she’d played the game, though she hadn’t figured out the meaning of it until her third playthrough, since she refused to look it up until she’d at least tried to woo all four male leads.

“Eight rooms you’ll pass, in quiet grace,

Then turn to the left, where a frame marks the space.

A hidden way lies beneath what you see,

For those who persist, a path there will be.”

There were a shocking number of rooms in Condor, and it took ages to figure out that the starting point was supposed to be her own bedroom, especially since she found the riddle tucked into a book in the library. Add to that the fact that paintings hung absolutely everywhere, and the fact that it took a Stamina point every time she investigated one, and it was no wonder it took so long. And then, of course, there was the fact that the riddle was so darned literal.

Pandy let one back foot slip off the carpet, then acted like she was trying to catch herself, while actually aiming directly for the wall beneath the painting. Because the painting wasn’t the secret, the wall panel beneath it was. Unfortunately, she was going a little too fast, and rather than just pretending to run into the wall, she actually did, making her head ring as fuzzy red letters floated in her vision.

-3 LF

As a relieved Thaniel scooped her up again, Pandy cast Minor Heal more out of reflex than necessity. After all, any opportunity to grind her skills was a good opportunity.

Casting of Minor Heal successful. 5.26% experience gained towards next level.

Thaniel was already starting to berate Pandy when the short half-panel beneath the painting of the winding trail clicked softly and swung open, bumping into the boy’s toe. He stopped halfway through a word, staring at it, then reached out and pulled it wide, revealing a set of dark, narrow stairs covered in a thick layer of dust.