I managed to slam into my seat seconds before class started, much to the surprise of Krys. She looked over at me with a mixture of “where the hell were you” and “I’m glad you’re okay” on her face. I gave her a thumbs up and wheezed a little. There has been way too much physical activity today.

Eventually the lecture wound down and we were able to pack up, which gave us a few seconds to talk.

“What in the nine hells happened to you this morning? You were not in your room, Val said you left way before normal, and I didn’t see you anywhere in the café! How could you leave me?” Krys started in, first angry but ending in a silly pretend cry.

I patted her on the head, “Look, silly, I was just with Fianna. I’ve been nominated as the next head girl when she graduates.”

“That won’t end well.” Krys muttered.

I felt immediately shocked and a little offended.

“That was not supposed to have come out. I am so sorry.” Krys looked at me; a horrified realization that she had spoken that aloud hit her over the head like Val when she’s annoyed.

“Well, now we know what you really think…” I pouted.

“Look, let’s just get past this. What did you do when Fianna showed?” Krys tried to muscle past me, her small frame and almost ghostly transparency made that particular feat no small chore.

“I went with her, Lillian, Mu Lin, and Ame to the café for tea and orientation on how the disciplinary committee works.” I said, sighing and falling in line next to Krys as we went to the next class.

“Well aren’t you rubbing elbows with the ruling class?” Krys said, kind of sounding sarcastic.

“What’s your problem, Krys? I’m sorry I didn’t message you when I was with Fianna and the others. It wasn’t all that great an afternoon for me either.” I said, stopping the smaller girl to face me.

“Let’s just go.” Krys said, refusing to meet my eyes.

“Look, Krys, I said I’m sorry. I’ll buy you desert this evening to make up for it, ok? I’m not trying to leave you out of the loop, it’s just been a hectic day; what with the stink bombs in the bathrooms this morning, the less than friendly sparring match with Fianna, and now this!” I told her, raising my arms in exasperation.

It dawned on me then, this weird thought, Fianna had been acting really weird this afternoon too. She seemed almost… out of character when I had to run off, and now Krys is doing the same thing. What could be causing this? Am I the problem?

I saw Krys touch her earrings, a gesture I had almost marked off as her brushing her hair back if I hadn’t caught the intentional stop on them. I wasn’t certain, but for whatever reason, my gut screamed at me to remove my own earrings.

Taking out the piercings, my body returned to normal Lauren form, which was nice in and of itself. I then glanced over the body of the simple accessory, almost missing the inscription that was designed in both earrings. Nansidhe-Lores, the company name I guessed… except, something felt familiar about the second part. “Lores…” why does that sound so familiar?

“Lauren, what are you doing? We need to go.” Krys said, her voice sounding a little less clear.

“Hey, Krys, can I see your earrings?” I asked her, playing a hunch.

She undid the hooks and passed them to me, her usual bright and cheery self suddenly popping forward. “Lori, what’s up with that look? You seem kind of irritated. I bet it’s from not eating enough sweets!”

I looked at the back of Krys’ earrings; same maker, same inscription, nothing unusual… but Krys suddenly getting chipper again was super suspicious.

“Hey Krys, what do you know about Nansidhe-Lores?” I looked to her, maybe she had an answer.

“Aren’t they one of the cosmetic and accessory companies? Like I know they’re one of the companies that invests in Avalon, and I think they’re about ten years old. It’s kind of funny though, the pronunciation is non-she-lor-es. Lori, are you like a secret heiress to that company or something? Lores Sidhe sounds like a cool nickname, and you’re pretty charismatic… Are you secretly rich?” Krys responded, kind of wandering off on a train of thought.

“Not me, Krys. I came here because I heard I’d be covered financially, I couldn’t afford to go otherwise. But you’re right, it does sound kind of like a cool nickname. I think I’m going to shoot a message off before class. Go on ahead, but don’t put your earrings back on… something about them seems fishy.” I said.

I popped up a messenger after waving Krys on ahead and began typing off a quick-mail to Elise.

Elise, I think something is up with the earrings everyone is wearing… and not in the “people into monsters” way. Something about it is changing moods on people. Fianna acting as though I should skip class and Krys acting really… sour and irritable. Could you look into that for me? Thanks. –Lauren

I headed to class, sneaking in just before lecture started, and tried to pretend like nothing was wrong.

I got a response just as Krys and I were meeting Val for food. Val herself was not wearing her earrings, which I guess makes sense. She seemed as dark and broody as ever.

“Hey, Lauren, those earrings that Fianna dropped off this morning… please tell me you got rid of yours.” Val said, acting nonchalant.

“I have mine, but something’s wrong with them.” I said.

“Yeah, that would be the enchantment. Someone or something is hunting for… well, I’m not certain what or who, but it’s not good.” Val said, her voice sounding both calm but concerned.

“Well, that explains…” I started, but my crystal went off and I stopped mid sentence.

Lauri, I had a bad feeling about the earrings this morning and avoided putting them on. I’m not certain, but I think there’s something really wrong this year. Have you managed to get anyone else free of their influence? –Eli

I typed off a message telling her as much as I could get out of Val about what was going on, and sent Fianna a message asking her to remove the earrings and telling her I’d see her later. As I saw it, if she was with us again, she’d be able to help us think clearly. OR so I had thought, until I got a reply telling me she hadn’t worn her transformative earrings at all.

I took myself into the hallway and opened a call to Fianna directly.

“What do you mean you weren’t wearing the special earrings?” I hissed, not trying to make a scene.

“I wasn’t. I was releasing my glamour when I put on the earrings I had in my wardrobe. I had thought you’d notice… all of the disciplinary committee do it the way I did. It’s how we keep up appearance.” Fianna replied.

“Then what was with the crappy mood earlier?” I asked, exasperated.

“Well it wasn’t because you were flirting with Olivia when I was right there wearing earrings I had bought especially for my first date with whoever I was going to go on it with. Certainly not that.” Fianna spat venomously.

“I… I’m sorry that came off as me flirting. I’m also sorry that I didn’t notice your earrings were different than the ones I had on. But right now I need you to focus, the ones the rest of the students are wearing are laced with a spell or a curse or something. Elise knows, Val knew, and I figured it out the hard way with Kryssia. We don’t know where to go from here though.” I apologized.

“A curse… well that would explain the sour mood in the air. I’ll get Lillian to look into things. Go to class and I’ll keep tabs on everything.” Fianna said, her voice still sounding hurt.

“Fianna… I really am sorry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” I said, knowing that whatever healing was going to happen it wouldn’t be happening any time soon.

The call cut off abruptly, which wasn’t unexpected, and I felt like I’d been an idiot. The hall around me was empty, just like my insides. My first real relationship and I screwed the pooch before it even got a chance to get off the ground. Way to go Lauren, you’ve got a real gift.

I sat against a wall for a minute or two, just kind of moping. I wasn’t certain how to handle things, and I could tell today wouldn’t be getting better any time… wait, what’s that feeling on my leg?

I stood up and looked down at my leg and saw red. It took me a moment to process; even with all the magic around me, nothing could save me from the horrors of my period. I don’t know how much worse today would get, but I knew I it could. I sent a quick message over to Shuri and Val that I needed to make a run back to my room. So I stood up and made my way back, popped into the bathroom, and opened the cabinet in the back. Inside were an assortment of pads, tampons, and some weird things I didn’t recognize but were obviously supposed to help. Grabbing a pad, I made my way back to the medicine chest behind the mirror and snagged myself something to deal with the onslaught of nasty that was bound to hit soon.

First a curse on some earrings, now a curse from mother nature, and my girlfriend… well I think we’re still girlfriends… is pissed at me. I wonder if I couldn’t pass off today’s behaviour as PMS acting up? No, that’d be irresponsible, you need to win her back the old fashioned way; solving this weirdness before she can do anything else!