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Anna woke with a start, her heart pounding heavily on her ribcage, to the sound of a honking alarm, loud and ugly. After realizing that the noise came from her alarm clock, rather than the institute being under attack, her heart beats went back to normal and she became angry at the ugly black box on her bedside table that continued to screech at her. She hit the off button with more force than necessary, feeling aggravated from being woken by such an annoying noise.

She flung herself back down on the bed, letting out a startled cry and a curse. She twisted her body so she could get the hard-cover text book out from under her, rubbing her waist where the corner of the book had jabbed her. “Great, that's gonna leave a bruise,” She grumbled angrily. She was about to toss the book aside when she remembered she had that history test today. The one she didn't study for last night.

She palmed her forehead, grimacing. “This is so not my morning,” she muttered, getting up off her bed, stretching her arms high above her head. Then she clasped her hands behind her back and pulled till she heard a satisfying crack in her shoulders and back. She sighed, rolling her neck.

Anna crossed the room and pulled black leggings, a long blue tunic and under-clothing out of her dresser, then walked into her bathroom which was adjoined to her room, and turned on the shower as hot as it could go. After working through all the knots in her gnarled hair, she slipped out of her clothes and into the shower. She relaxed under the hot water, her muscles practically moaned in relief.

After lingering in the shower longer than necessary, she got dressed and then used the blow dryer on her hair until it was only slightly damp, then she twisted her long, brown hair into a braid. She applied a thick coat of mascara to her lashes, and then went back to her bedroom.

She grabbed the text books she knew she would be needing, violently thrusting a couple into her messenger bag which she slung over her head in a rush, and held four more in her arm. In seconds she was out the door and walking swiftly down a long hallway. Kids around Anna’s age stood in clusters of two's and three's in the corridor, putting off going to class for as long as they could. A few of the Necromancers nodded in greeting to her as she passed. She returned the gesture.

She ran up the wide, dark wooded staircase, blanketed by a thin, dull colored rug running down it's center, which led up to the third story. She turned sharply around the corner – and collided harshly into someone, sending the books held in her arm to the floor.

“Geesh, Annie. Watch where you're going,” a deep voice said jeeringly.

The apology died on Anna’s lips as soon as she looked up and saw who she had bumped into, and the smug smirk on his face. Jack. “Don't call me 'Annie,'” She growled with venom, hoping that her glare would burn a hole right through Jack's too-big head.

“Well, aren't we a little cantankerous this morning,” he said, his tone sugar-sweet and coated in sarcasm, running a hand through his shaggy, dark hair.

Anna squatted down to grab up her books with an eye-roll. “Well, I wasn't cantankerous until I got mauled by big-foots' cousin,” she said sourly, making a jab at his height. Although most people were generally intimidated by Jacks tall, six-four, masculine build, she learned early on in life that if one believes something to be frightening, they will inevitably develop a fear of it. She thought that showing weakness would make her vulnerable, to both ghosts and humans alike.

She would choose offence over defense any day.

“Oh, what's that?” Jack asked, holding a cupped hand to his ear, like he was listening to something he had to strain to hear, as he crouched down in front of Anna, picking up his books. “The leprechaun's are wondering where you are. If you're not around they can't feel tall.” He tilted his head with a cluck of his tongue in mock pity.

“You know, I'm not all that short; you're just freakishly tall,” She pointed out in a sneer, picking up one of his books from out of the pile. “So, what are you doing up here anyway? Did Ruth finally decide you need to re-take high school?” She asked sarcastically. Jack had graduated high school years ago, four years to be exact, so Anna didn't see why he was on the third floor which, other than for the use of the large, grand library, was only used for schooling.

Anna peered at the book she had picked up; it was thin and leather-bound and it was obviously old and well worn. The only thing on the cover was the small-printed title Tollere quo Mortus typed in a gold, loopy print. Her eyebrows scrunched down in a frown. Latin.

Luckily, Ruth had made her take a few years of Latin, even though Anna had argued that it was unnecessary to learn it, and that she would never use the language for anything. But Ruth had still felt it to be a requisite. So today, for once, the dead, boring language could come in handy, Anna thought. Although her Latin was a bit rusty, she knew she'd be able to figure out what the title was.

Jack snatched the book out of her hands, pulling her from her thoughts. “Actually, Ruth's got me doing some research for official NIS business. Now, if you'll excuse me,” and with that he stood fluidly, stepping around Anna and down the stairs.

Curiosity gripped at Anna's thoughts as she picked up the rest of her scattered books, then once they were in her arms again, she headed for class. Only once she was seated did her mind fully work through the translation of the title of Jack's book.

Raising the dead.

What was Jack doing with a book like that?

~*~*~

Anna could hear the tick, tick, tick of the clock that hung on the wall above Mrs. Nary's desk as if the gears inside the clock, the cause of the irritating clicking, were inside her head, counting down every second she had left to complete her test. 1,474 seconds left. Tick. 1,473 seconds remaining. Tick.

History, the class she was in now, was her fifth period and she was mentally freaking out. She had tried brushing up on the information she knew would be on the test during the first three classes this morning, but she wasn't able to read very much at all.

Anna tapped her pencil against her thigh rapidly, biting her lip. She scanned the first question, and her brain locked down, coming up empty for an answer. She did a quick scan of the room and when she saw that all the students were intent on their tests, and that Mrs. Nary's frizzy white head was tucked behind a glossy magazine, she allowed herself a peek at the desk beside hers.

Simon, a boy who had a mop of orange curly hair on the top of his head and freckles that stood out in contrast to his pale skin, sat to her right and was so focused on the questions in front of him, that he didn't notice Anna glancing surreptitiously at the answers he put down. Simon was a smart kid, everyone knew that; so every once in a while, when she forgot to study, she knew that she could always count on the nerdy, carrot-top boy to unconsciously help her through her tests.

Making sure that she got a couple answers wrong – she didn't want to make Mrs. Nary suspicious - she felt confident with how the test had gone, and had even finished before time was up. She had begun drawing a very detailed doodle of Mrs. Nary, the scrunched up nose mimicked the angry scowl that Anna had seen so many times before and she had even added steam shooting from her ears for effect, when a sharp knock on the door made her look up.

Jack poked his head into the room. His blue eye's locked with Anna's, and then he looked at Mrs. Nary, promptly clearing his throat. “Ruth wishes to have a word with Miss Anna, if you will allow me to steal her for a moment.”

The gruff lady-teacher waved an uncaring hand in his direction. “As long as she's done with her test,” she grumbled, giving Anna a pointed look.

After handing over her finished test, Anna was dismissed. Walking swiftly down the grand staircase that led to the second floor, Anna trailed behind Jack, trying to keep up with his long strides. “So, what's up?” She asked, trying to sound casual.

It wasn't normal for Ruth to have Anna pulled out of class just to “have a word,” the only handful of times that she was asked to be excused by Ruth was when Anna was in trouble. Big trouble.

But since she had no idea what she had done wrong this time, she decided she would just have to find out when she got there. She went through a mental list of anything it could be though, despite her want for nonchalance on the matter. She came up with several ideas, but then shot them all down, thinking that they were either not important enough to be pulled out of class for, or they were things that Ruth didn't know about.

“We're having an emergency meeting. Ruth requested that you be present,” Jack said, his voice sounded tight and his answer surprised her. Emergency meetings were held by the NIS counsel, and normally students weren't included in such shin-digs.

Anna breathed a small sigh of relief as they walked down the second set of stairs, leading to the first floor. At least she wasn't in trouble, although she was a little nervous about what the meeting would be about; if it was an emergency meeting, there was obviously an emergency, so that was bad. But not every Necromancer was required to attend, meaning it couldn't be all too terrible.

Now all that was left to wonder about, other then what the emergency could be, was what did she have to do with it?