Ariel: OK, THAT is a cliffhanger! Matthew was really trying to protect Evelyn from unseen bullets? I must hear more!
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"Strange?" echoed the Professor. "How so?"
"Well, his eyes, for one." said Joseph. "The moon was so large I could see his face quite clear. His eyes looked- well, a bit mad. Only it wasn't the silly, loony sort of madness you normally hear about. He just looked like the sort of fellow that might do absolutely anything, and wouldn't give tuppence what anyone else said. His face was powerful-looking. And a little cruel. I remember he was dressed in white. White robes of some kind. And his hair was long and black."
"Did he speak to you? " asked the Professor.
"Not at first." said Joseph. "At first we just stared at each other. He was probably wondering how I got there. But if he was, he didn't show it. He just said "Boy, come and behold." And his voice was- oh, I can hardly describe it. It was cold, and low, and made my flesh creep. And I had to follow him."
"Where did you go?" asked the Professor, now thoroughly engrossed.
"Up." said Joseph. "Higher up in the mountain. We came to a little pool right under two big peaks of stone- I think it was the very top of the mountain up there. But the man didn't go up there. He went to the pool. A little waterfall came running down from between those two peaks, and he stood there watching it, ignoring me. Then, still not looking at me, he said, or shouted rather, "Behold the dawn of my revenge!" That's when he stooped and drank from the pool. And when he stood up and looked at me again, his face had changed completely. For the worse."

NOTE: The waterfall has nothing to do with Evelyn's world. Although the river connected to it may possess certain powers, it cannot speak.

@Kristi: Oooooh….
@cleander: Haha, thank you! I’ll get around to more answers eventually. 🙂 I likewise want to know more about Joseph’s story. As if suddenly showing up in another world wasn’t startling enough, the very first person he met there was a villain? Scary!
Cutting back to Evelyn now.

To Evelyn’s surprise, no one interrupted her. No questions of “Are you sure you weren’t dreaming?” or “What do you mean ‘gone’?” or “Where did you read this story?”. No exclamations of “You’re a good storyteller; you almost had me there!” or “What a wonderful imagination you have!” or “That’s enough!”. Her audience here listened with rapt attention and allowed her to speak at her own pace.

“I panicked,” she confessed. “I ran in the direction I’d come in hopes of finding the camp the same way I’d found this new place. And when I couldn’t….” She stopped herself before blurting out that she’d burst into tears. It wouldn’t do, not when there were boys present. “Well, I sat down by a creek to think. I’m not really sure how long I sat there, talking to myself to keep company. There’s no sun, though I didn’t find out about that till later. Cascalynne has these… shimmering lights. Like fireflies, but they’re not flies or fairies or anything. Just light. They’re everywhere in huge swarms, so it was like daylight if you were among them. Anyway, I began to hear voices. Just a murmur, but very, very close. I couldn’t make out what they said or where they came from, no matter how hard I listened. I wondered if I’d maybe hurt myself exploring the wood by the camp and was just dreaming, but something told me otherwise.”

She paused to assess her audience. Everyone had either taken a seat or else leaned on a desk, but every eye was on her, every face eager, as though to ask, “What next?”

“‘Oh, this is all very real,’ a voice told me, and a couple others let out a bubbly laughter. I stood up to look around until the voice said, ‘I’m down here.’ I looked down, but saw nothing but my shoes on the ground and the creek. ‘There we go. Greetings, stranger. My name is Churni, and those giggling gurglers you hear are my sisters Nimay and Rya. If you don’t mind our asking, what kind of lifeform are you?’”

Evelyn paused then said, "That is when I realized the water was speaking and I thought, 'Wake up' I was convinced for a second that I was dreaming. So Churni asked again, 'Dear what kind of lifeform are you?' Then I heard a voice say, 'Are you sure she can speak?' Churni answered, 'I think so sister, there is something about her that seems to indicate it. But maybe I was mistaken.'"

"I can speak!" I blurted. "I'm lost and I can't find my way back and I don't know where I am." The water--I couldn't readily tell which was which yet--rippled in interest. "We can take you to Celendie. She may know what you are and where you belong."

"Who is Celendie? Is it very far?" I asked.

"She is our mother," Rya said.

"And how shall I follow you?" They looked like quite ordinary little streams to me, all flowing in one direction. "Can I follow your voices?"

Churni laughed. "Follow our voices! And follow us!" One stream, and then two others, began flowing backwards, and laughing, and before I knew it I was following them upstream, running alongside, darting across stone and leaping over little rivulets when no other way presented itself, for it seemed bad manners to step into the streams themselves."

Evelyn stopped, blushing, as if she felt she'd gone on a bit too long. "What-what about the rest of you?"

OOC: MK is an original character by me.

"Well..." Said one of the girls (who called herself M.K.) "Once, I was sitting in my room and I just blinked and suddenly I was in another world. It kept happening. Took me a while to figure out how to get back home without sending myself somewhere else." She took off her glasses to clean them on her shirt. "That's why I wear these." She replied, sliding them back on.

"Wow! That's crazy! And pretty cool!!" Anna replies

(I'm kinda new to this kinda thing, so if it looks like I'm Roleplaying, I'm sorry! LOL)

Evelyne looked at Anna and said, "What about you?" Everyone fell silent and Evelyne felt as if she had broken some sort of rule. Anna said nothing. Evelyne dared to speak up. "Did I say something wrong?" M.K. whispered in her ear, "Only three people here know Anna's story the Professor, and Polly, and of course Anna herself. She fun but clams up about her world whenever we try to talk about it. We just gave up in the end."

"You didn't say anything wrong, it's just I don't want to freak anyone out if I told you where I'm from." Anna says nervously. She clears her throat, tucks some hair behind her ear, and looks into a different direction.

(Ooh, nice additions to Anna, knight and ren! Currently not adding anything myself, but just wanted to drop a compliment. 🙂 )

The noise of a bell is heard and Anna suddenly says, "That is a meal come on Evelyne you don''t want to miss it."

During that time Miss Plumber is looking at Anna's records, "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them." That and a note from her parents saying that she claimed to have been captured by Orcs. She claimed to have entered a land named Mordor. It made Polly shiver.

Matthew carefully tucked his loose drawings back into his sketchbook - he never knew when he might need them - and trudged to the dining hall. He’d rather deal with a rumbling stomach than have to run the risk of facing Evelyn, but someone would have found him and dragged him to a table anyway, seeing as how he wasn’t ill - no such thing as missing meals here. He could only hope that by looking down at his shoes, he’d be able to avoid seeing Evelyn and thus put off saying anything. Miss Plummer doesn’t understand. They’ll have told her what I would have said anyway and she’ll think I’m mad.

He sighed heavily to himself just before he joined a bevy of other students on their way to lunch. Most ignored him, thankfully, but it stung when he noticed a couple actively maneuver away. He wanted desperately to look up and identify them, but his determination to not see Evelyn won out and he kept his gaze downward.

Once he’d filled his plate and poured a glass of water, he made a beeline to his preferred seat: the back corner. Not the bench right in the corner, mind - Matthew preferred the side of the table toward the rest of the room. There he felt secure: far enough away from most everybody else, a good vantage point for observing his surroundings, and less risk of actually being trapped in the corner proper. He set down his tray and proceeded to sit sideways on the bench with his back against the wall and his knees tucked close to his chest. A staff member would soon tell him to sit properly, but no amount of encouragement would ever coax Matthew into keeping it up for more than a few minutes. He needed to see the room and keep his legs free to jump into action if need be.

It was then that Matthew realized he had a flaw in his plan. I can’t watch the room and not see Evelyn at the same time. This time, his habits overpowered the desire to avoid the girl, and he immediately scanned the room. Finding nothing of concern - not even Evelyn -, he began to eat and opened his sketchbook. Between bites of food and the occasional glance about the room, he set about capturing with his pencil the daisies on the table. It would please Professor Kirke. And just as the professor had predicted, such sketches pleased Matthew too: it took his mind off his troubling dreams and often resulted in artwork he could feel proud of. It was nice to focus on the gentle curve of the petals, the texture of flowers' centers, and the shadow they cast on the wooden table.

Another glance around brought all Matthew’s troubles crashing back in. Just a few tables away, he found Evelyn.

Suggested follow-ups: A dinner scene is a great way to introduce any new characters! It could also be worthwhile to explore the dining hall through Evelyn's eyes.)

Worse yet Evelyn was sitting next to Anna. Few knew Anna's story but Mathew knew that it was a frightening tale. He could tell it by the way she avoided talking about it. He also knew she was one of the few students who weren't convinced that he was mad. Somehow she had learned to cope with it and he never found the courage to ask how. He recognized his feeling for what it was. He was jealous wanting Anna's friendship for himself alone. He tried to concentrate on his artwork instead.

"So what did you do?" asked the Professor.
"Do, sir?" repeated Joseph. "There was nothing to do. I wanted to run away- but one look at the man- or whatever he was- told me at once that it would be no good. I just had to sit there and watch him. He wanted me there for some reason. I think he wanted someone to know what he was doing."
"Well, what did he do, then?"
"Nothing much at first. He just stood there with his back to me, breathing as if it was hard for him to breathe. Then he straightened up, and looked at me. His face was horrible now- it hadn't changed its shape of course, but it was the expression that was really terrifying. He looked like he wanted to kill something or someone. And then he said, "Boy, you're not from around here, are you?" I told him I wasn't. Then he said, "I want you to bear witness, when you return to your own place, that the Father's power is this day broken. Tell them who ask, that he who served below shall reign above." Like a fool, I had to ask him who that was. He screamed at me, "His name must be forgotten! It was naught but a mark of slavery. Now that he is free he shall have a new one. He shall make for himself a new and glorious name- he shall make it with blood and fear! And it shall be the name of a god!"
Joseph shuddered,his eyes downcast, as he went on. "And then- his face really did change. And he grew taller, and seemed to be twisting and writhing as if it hurt. His head turned into something that looked like a mix of a bull and dragon's head, and his hands became red claws. He was still in his white robes, but every part of him that showed was part of a monster. And he said, "Let the nations quake! Behold, I go forth to conquer!" And then a heavy wind kicked up and blew clouds of snow off the mountainside all around me, so it was like a blizzard, and I couldn't see him anymore. When it died down, he was gone."
"Fascinating!" said the professor, with his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. "And what did you do then?"
"I fainted." said Joseph simply.

@knight: Whoa, so much to unpack in your addition! You picked up on Matthew's tendency to observe (woot-woot!) and gave it a new angle I hadn't considered! You've given Anna common ground with Matthew (ie: trauma, even though she's learned to move past hers) and a deeper understanding of why she defended him earlier. And a possible rivalry with Evelyn could get interesting!
(Just as a general note: I do have plans for what Matthew experienced on his adventures “Over There”. Feel free to expand his character at the Academy as knightofnarnia has done, but I would like to develop his backstory myself. 🙂 )
@cleander: That was intense! And fabulous. And it keeps me wanting more….

Professor Kirke nodded as if he knew exactly what it was like to experience such terror. Then he took the opportunity to announce, “I daresay I heard the lunch bell a minute ago. We could head down to the dining hall and join everyone, or if you like, I can ring up some lunch and we can continue.”

(Just attempting to tie in what I said about no missed meals. 😀 @cleander, I leave it up to you as to whether you want to introduce Joseph to the other kids now or if you want to continue the story of his adventures.)