Eury brought his hands to his face in shock. “Oh My Zeus! How are you not stone right now?” He scrambled to put his glasses back on.

“That would be because I’m already um- eh… stone?”

“That makes sense.” Eury mumbled to himself. “Do you mind if we walked a bit? My legs feel awfully stiff”. There was a draft from the direction of Aria’s little shop. The nearby flora moved in light breeze and the snakes started curling around his neck for any warmth his body could give.

“Sure. We can walk. So, if it’s alright, would you mind answering what exactly you’re doing here at this time the night?”

“Why? Are you going to detain me or something?”

“No... I would really have no reason to”

“Relax, I was just pulling your leg. I was dumped."

“Well, if you’ve got nowhere to go, you can crash at my place”, Levi said

Eury couldn’t help but laugh. Levi’s invitation caught him off guard. It had always been him coming onto others. It was certainly nice to be on the receiving end for a change. Definitely made things easier for him. He stopped laughing when he realised that the gargoyle was giving him a slightly concerned stare.

“I’m sorry. Did I say something odd?”

“You did. You don’t even know my name and you’re going to invite me to spend the night at your place. At least take me out for dinner”

Eury waited for Levi to say something. Anything. An awkward laugh or a flustered smile would’ve sufficed. Instead the few seconds seemed to pass away like hours as Levi gave him blank stare.

“Never Mind”, he sighed as he realised that he may have misinterpreted the situation at hand.

“Right. Um… so what is your name?”

“Eury Gorgon. First year. Fine Arts Major.” Saying this; he sent a stray pebble flying for a few inches with his feet. “So, is the offer still standing?”

“Yes. It is. Shouldn’t we head back to our dorms? The morning bell might ring an-

Levi’s words were interrupted by the gong of a bell.

The sound was so loud that it vibrated inside his chest. The snakes momentarily jerked away from his head before curling around him to keep warm.

“ I think we should stop by Aria’s. Your friend might be worried.”

“I don’t think she will. I don’t think I can go back.” Eury could pick up the slight tremor in his voice. “I don't want to go there” Levi stopped walking. He started sounding delirious now. Like he was frustrated, frantically hugging himself; “I don't think I can take more cursed ether, tonight. Let’s not- I don’t want to go.”

“I’m pretty sure that Aria took care of it.” He was taken aback seeing the usually cool and collected student representative like this. It made him seem a like like one of the monsters. It didn’t put Eury off in any way. Quite the opposite, actually. It made him more approachable. “No harm in checking it out, right?” Eury awkwardly placed his hand on his shoulder. “We’ll leave the moment something’s off, okay?”

“Alright.” Levi closed his eyes for a few moments as if he was whispering words of encouragement to himself. “And you are sure that Aria would have done something?”

“Trust me. She always knows what to do”

“You sound like you’ve known her for a while”

“oh yes. We go way back. She saved me from almost being crushed by rocks! On several occasions. I never learned my lesson the first time.” Eury kicked a stray stone hurtling into a tree.

“Wiccan security?”

“Yea”

“That’s new”

“Πλαγκταὶ* is actually quite common. Well, it was common when I was younger. They done away with it. Too dangerous and all”

“So, she saved you from clashing rocks?” Levi asked, leaning in closer; expecting a story.

“Well, it all started when I…

The night was slowly turning over to give way to day. The air was filled with the chirping of birds and the frost was thawing into dew, as the Gorgon and the Gargoyle walked back to Aria’s little shop, Bertha.

Eury lived in the neighborhood of the famed house of the Witch of Endor*.

The sky was almost always filled with sparkles and bizarre colours owing mostly to the mishaps of the young witches In training. The house, or rather the fortress, was surrounded by Πλαγκταὶ. Walls could easily be breached and barbed wires have proven useless one too many times.

The only feasible entrance route was through the front gate. The witches certainly did not lapse on security. Entry and Exit through the gate was too much of a hustle. One must have documents, signatures and permissions from all sorts of important monsters to pass the gate. The wandering rocks would instantly crush trespassers if any movement is detected. The inner cogwheels and gears of the witch house were always shielded from curious eyes of the outsiders.

Amidst all this, a young witch always managed to slip out from the witch house. Eury remembered seeing her for the very first time. He had slipped out of his home, without his parent’s knowledge. Eury’s parents, just like any others, had restricted him from leaving the house without their supervision. This was especially strict around neighborhoods with a witch house, so as to not let their children be victims to the infamous security measures. Eury could not recall why he left. Maybe his parents scolded him a little too hard. Maybe he was growing bored inside his stuffy house. All he remembered was that he wanted to get out. He wandered off into the woods surrounding the witch house. He had seen a young witch cladded in a dark uniform that was way too big for her. She crept from behind one of the main buildings and took a cylindrical block of wood from her bag and rolled it towards the woods. It rolled for down for a bit before being crushed to splinters by the rolling boulders. The colossal rocks rolled back up the hill they were stationed. She then tossed a straw doll a little further into the woods, a few feet away from where the rocks had just crashed.

Eury leaned forward to get a closer look. The leaves on the bush in front of him prickled his skin. But he didn’t care. The tension in the air prickled him more.

The little witch girl sat down and took a worn out book from inside her bag. She set it down on the ground and flipped through the papers, running her slender fingers along the pages. Once she found the section she was looking for, she held her hands close to her chest and moved her lips in a chant, intensely staring at the straw doll that she had tossed into the woods. This went on for a few minutes, uneventfully. Then, there was a commotion. The alarm rang and the some of the older witches stepped out of the main building. The little witch grabbed the book and stuffed it inside the bag and took off. She ran behind one of the buildings.

Eury had watched all of this unfold in front of him. That night there were reports of theft of the book of forbidden spells from the witch house. The witches had frisked all the neighbouring houses and any possible suspects. Two days later the book was found.

Eury remembered being very worried for the witch girl he barely knew. He would go there every day. A glimpse of her would suffice. About a fortnight later he did find her; not inside the witch house but beside one of the trees in the woods. She had succeeded in sneaking out of the Witch house of Endor. An impressive feat for her age.

Eury had sat on the other side of the tree. He wanted to talk to her but hoped that she would initiate. But they continued to sit there, enveloped in the silence. Eury would visit the spot regularly. Some days he would see her. Some days he wouldn’t. It had been months before he actually worked up the courage to talk to her.