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Night Raven College had no shortage of gossip, that much was true. Sure, on the outside, it was a prestigious magical academy for the best of the best to train their skills and become great sorcerers. On the inside? Oh, it was anything but. There was always someone whispering to someone else about something someone did last Friday night; a Mid Nite that blew up vague-posting, a SnapChant that was screenshot and uploaded onto Critter, a Magicam story that got sent to hell and back…these were high school aged boys after all. Outside of social media, there were two major sources of in-school news; the Night Raven College Newspaper club run by the Ramshackle trio of Boris Walters, Hato Kyat and Grim but then there was…Radio Raven.
Radio Raven was a different beast; he was an anonymous and spontaneous DJ and radio host that was known to hijack the airwaves on NRC FM. There wasn't any rhyme or reason for his hijacks, no one was safe. Zachary Baylor and Anthony Nethera, the hosts of NRC FM, did their best to proceed with caution but they could never properly catch when R.R. would strike. It wasn't just that R.R. would play music, he'd also talk about rumors all around school. Really personal rumors. It was easy to tell when the hijack was going on because everyone's devices would start glitching out, even Ignihyde's dorm lights would start flickering on and off. Today was no different.
"Hello Night Raven College! It's Radio Raven coming 'atcha live from, well, NRC, haha!" Radio Raven's voice was smooth, confident, it was almost musical in a way. Everyone listened when he spoke.
"Now, a little raven told me that our beloved Trey Clover of Heartslabyul doesn't actually know how to bake at all! A total fraud!" laughed the radio host. "Apparently, he uses his Signature Spell to make his food look and taste good, without it, it'd be as bad as Vanrouge's! Hahaha! How about that? Everyone's favorite baker is a total faker!"
The students gasped.
"But that's not all! That same little raven told me that Silver, yes, that Silver, is actually a two-timer! I didn't know one of Malleus's wards was a circus performer, but he does a hell of a balancing act between Jamil Viper and Ruggie Bucchi. For a guy that sleeps, he's sure isn't sleeping on shaking up the dating scene, who else will join this knight's round table of lovers? The Leech twins? Azul Ashengrotto? Kalim Al-Asim? Maybe even Boris Walters of Ramshackle, I heard Boris had a thing for pale hair and pretty eyes…"
The students gagged.
"Oh, like he's the only diligent dutiful Diasomnia darling deep in the dirt? Oh no no no, my listeners, believe me when I say, there is another! The little raven says that he's been seeing Sebek Zigvolt hanging out with his supposed 'rival' Jack Howl, in public, outside of school, on. a. DATE!" R.R. slammed his desk with a laugh and the students listening in looked to each other with shock and awe. "A date with his 'rival'? This is blow up on Tumble and Twisted Archives, such a passe trope. All the while Sebek insists he has no feelings for any of his classmates, especially no one from Savanaclaw! What a croc, am I right?"
The students laughed.
"Well my listeners, that's all I have for you today! Now back to your regularly scheduled program, this is Radio Raven, signing off!" The radio static warbled and hissed once the hijack was completed and he had 'spilled the tea' so to speak. Muffled voices spoke through the static.
"Testing…testing…are we back on air?" Zachary's voice tested the microphone.
"1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4." counted Anthony. "We are back! Uh, we're really sorry for that hell of a hijack!"
"But we're back in the game! Speaking of, basketball club had one hell of a game last night!"
They could act like the hijack didn't shift something in the air all they wanted, but something definitely shifted. And that something was going to ruin everybody's day.
It started in Heartslabyul just a few minutes after the hijacking. Trey Clover was doing his usual thing in the kitchen; baking, although, not without a few students running by and giggling. He didn't make too much of it. There was usually something going down, most likely due to Ace and Deuce and their natural stupidity. He took a butter knife and popped out a small butter tart out of the tray and placed it onto a plate. He did this for every little, round, golden tart. The crust took forever to get just right, and he had to make another batch full of raisins in case some students were allergic to nuts. Just as he finished placing the last tart on a carefully made pyramid, Honey Robin, a Heartslabyul second year, walked by the kitchen. Trey took a tart from the top and hurried to her.
"Honey!" He called out to her, "Hey, Honey!"
The short girl turned to Trey, having to look up at him. She pulled out her earbuds and smiled.
"Trey hey, oh, that rhymed." She tittered, her round face lighting up. "What's up?"
"I was trying a new recipe with these butter tarts and—" as soon as he showed the tart to her, her rosy cheeks lost their color. She blinked behind her red-framed glasses and coughed, her smile twisted into a strained expression.
"Oh, um…"
The tart looked good; perfect round, golden, buttery crust with a sweet stuffing of pecans and sugar. Honey's face scrunched up in repulsion, and Trey pulled the tart back a bit.
"Sorry, do you not like pecans? I know you like peanuts but—"
"N-No, no, that's not it, I uh…I…just lost my appetite." Honey quickly turned away and straight up ran down the hallway into the dorm's rooms. "Sorry, Trey!" she apologized with a whine.
Trey watched her run away with confusion then focused on the tart in his hand. He sniffed it, but there was no way he had used bad ingredients. He had a bite of the tart; it tasted delicious, but of course it did. Trey had been baking for as long as he could remember. Sure, baking seemed easy but it was an art to be perfected. Maybe Honey was having an off day, maybe she was sick, hence the loss of appetite. But even when she was sick, her face didn't twist at the sight of something he had made. She didn't run away like a scared bear cub from him. She usually ran to him. He tried not to ruminate on it too much. It was one person after all, and everyone has their off days, even Honey Robin.
He returned to the kitchen and gathered up some butter tarts onto a small plate. He went around Heartslabyul asking any available students if they wanted to try one.
"Uh, no thanks!" said Elias Stain who wore a strained smile against a pale face. He went back to painting the roses red.
"We're—" Phillip Evermore began.
"—On a diet." finished Lincoln Evermore. The two rose twins turned their noses up at Trey before returning to their singing practice.
"Can't eat, gotta run!" Harry Hareson rambled. "Got track and clubs and classes and bye!" He ran off, leaving a trail of fire behind him as he did.
"No thanks!"
"Uh…not today…"
"I'm not hungry."
"I already ate!"
"I've got a thing…"
Was there something in the air? Why was everyone rejecting the tarts he made? Trey felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, maybe he slipped up? Made a mistake? He sulked in the kitchen next to the plates of tarts he had made. He leaned against the sink, crossed his arms and sighed.
"What am I going to do with all these tarts now…" He mumbled to himself. As if on cue, Riddle Rosehearts entered the kitchen. His big eyes sparkled at the amount of tarts Trey had made. He picked one up from a plate and had a bite, the taste made him smile so wide he could've gone Cheshire.
"Wow Trey, this is very good! New recipe?"
Trey looked up from his sulking. "Yeah, I wanted to try my hand at a butter tart," he explained. "I heard the crust was hard to make so I wanted to see if I could get it right."
"I'm assuming these are all for the tea party?" Riddle spoke between bites. He kept one hand over his mouth to prevent crumbs from flying out. Trey shook his head.
"Probably not, no one else seems to want them."
"What? How could that be?"
"Everybody has been rejecting to try them, and they always looked grossed out to even try one."
"That's…unusual."
"Maybe someone's sick and it's spreading around?"
"Who rejected your tarts?"
"Elias, Harry, the Evermore twins, Ace, Deuce, Honey—"
"Honey?!" Riddle choked, either on his own words or the tart. "Something is wrong then. Honey doesn't turn down food others have made for her, even when she's sick."
Trey nodded. "Right. The…'Carrot Cake Incident'. How did I forget?"
Riddle finished his tart. "I will look into this, if this is some sort of prank then someone will lose their head!"
And then he left, swift and just, with another tart in his hand that he thought Trey didn't see. He didn't mind it, if the tarts weren't going to be used for the tea party, they might as well chip away at them. If it was a prank, it wasn't a funny one.
Meanwhile in Diasomnia, Silver was facing his own dilemma; trying to rationalize with an angry Jamil over the phone. He paced around the lounge while Sebek sat in one of the leather chairs, reading a book. He would occasionally peek up from the page to see where the conversation was going, but no matter what, it never went well. Not for Silver, at least.
"No, I didn't tell anyone—" Silver kept pausing for Jamil to speak. "—No, I didn't—Look, I didn't tell anyone. I don't know how that—no, I just—Jamil? Hello? Ugh!" He almost threw his phone to the ground before sighed and putting it in the pocket of his coat. He collapsed on the floor with a pained groan. Sebek flipped a page in his book.
"Are you falling asleep or assuming defeat?" asked Zigvolt.
"I wish it was both…" Silver muffled then raised his head. "Jamil isn't speaking to me…he's pissed."
"And Ruggie?"
Silver rolled onto his back. "He's not even bothering to pick up his phone. I think he heard the news too."
"This is what you get for stringing those two along…"
"I wasn't stringing anybody along! We weren't even dating! I just expressed a…vague interest in Jamil and Ruggie, but I wasn't stringing them along!"
"What does Boris call it, a 'skill issue'?"
"Go to Hell."
"Seeing as you're here, I must be there already."
Silver huffed, getting back up on his feet. "Can't believe you're so calm about this. Haven't you heard the rumors about you?"
Sebek tried to remain disinterested. He turned another page in his book and continued reading. "No, I haven't. I don't waste my time getting invested in petty school drama." he said, but Silver knew it was bullshit. He squinted at his dormmate.
"What about the rumors about…Jack?" Silver couldn't tell, but he swore he saw Sebek's ahoge twitch in interest. Sebek lowered his book and glared at Silver.
"What rumors about Jack?"
"Technically they're about you and him. You two got caught out on a date."
Sebek slammed his book shut with a single hand and stood up swiftly. He marched towards Silver, forcing him to back up against a wall.
"Where did you hear that." He demanded, staring his dormmate down.
"I thought you didn't involve yourself in petty school drama."
"This isn't about me. This is about Jack. Where. Did you hear. The rumor."
"There's this guy." Silver said. He pushed Sebek back so he could walk. "Radio Raven or something, he hijacks the NRC FM broadcasts and spills secrets."
Sebek raised an eyebrow, but Silver kept on.
"No one knows his identity. He's definitely a student here, but, as for which student he could be…no clue."
"Where is he getting his information then?"
"I don't know about that either. I'm assuming anonymous sources, he doesn't credit anybody."
"It's a radio broadcast not a term paper you slept on, Silver."
"I'm gonna ignore that—Either way, once Radio Raven says something, it…shifts something."
"This sounds like…" Sebek's eyes darted around, making sure Malleus wasn't nearby. "Bullshit."
"Yeah, you'd think. It's like his word is law or something."
"So there is no way we can confront this…Radio Raven. How do you dispel a rumor caused by him then?"
Silver put his hand on his chin. "Hm…well, the closest we could get is asking around. Is there anyone that'd trust us undoubtedly? Someone who doesn't care about rumors?"
Sebek and Silver thought for a moment; was there anyone in the school truly immune to the rumors. Someone who wasn't so deep into the drama that they could listen to the Radio Raven broadcast and have little to no strong feelings about it? Perhaps someone not of this world? Both of the wards eyes lit up in realization, they turned to each other and said; "Boris!"
The two Diasomnia boys hurried out of their dorm and through the Mirror Hall. But they ran into somebody else in the hall with a SLAM!
"Ow!"
"Hey!"
"Where are my glasses?"
It was Trey Clover, now on the ground, looking for his glasses. Sebek picked up the pair of glasses and returned them to Trey's face. Trey blinked and saw the two boys.
"Thanks."
"Apologies for running into you." Sebek offered his hand but Trey declined and stood up on his own. "We are in distress and looking for Boris."
"You're going to Boris too?"
"'Too'? You're also going to Boris, Trey?" Silver asked, and Trey nodded.
"Yeah, Riddle said that the 'Radio Raven' spread a rumor about me faking my baking skill?"
"The Radio Raven got you too?"
"He got to you?"
"Both of us." Sebek specified. "Although Silver is quite deserved."
"Har, har. Sure 'Guy that's secretly dating his rival'."
"I am not secretly dating Jack!"
"Hey, hey, chill out." Trey told them and by his word, the two boys straightened up. "I'm assuming you guys are going to Boris because of the newspaper?"
"You don't think Boris is spreading the rumors?" Sebek speculated.
"No, but he does run the newspaper," said Silver, "so it's likely he has sources. Maybe one of them works for Radio Raven too."
"Then let's get going."
And without wasting anymore time, the three students walked through the school to Ramshackle. All three of them hoping that the Ramshackle Prefect wasn't behind the rumors. They kept speculating and doubting themselves. Boris didn't want trouble, what would he get out of unwanted attention? Although to him, any attention from any NRC boy is unwanted attention unless they lived with him. When they arrived at the formerly disheveled dorm, Sebek firmly knocked on the door.
"Boris!" He shouted. "We need to speak with you!"
"Yeah sure, make him think the feds are here." Silver sighed.
Boris opened the door, and his purple eyes quickly shifted into an annoyed dark red. He was holding multiple paintbrushes and wearing an artist's smock that was splattered with blue, red and orange. Despite his annoyed expression, he shrugged and sighed.
"I'm assuming you're here about the rumors," he asked.
"Are you behind them?!" Sebek pointed at the artist. Boris looked at the tip of Sebek's finger then looked at Sebek. He took a paintbrush and pushed the wooden end down on the back of Sebek's palm, forcing his hand to lower.
"No. I'm not."
Trey spoke up; "But you do know about the rumors about me and them?"
"Yeah, Hato and I always listen to the Radio Raven." Sebek opened his mouth but Boris raised his paintbrush-filled hand. He finished his thought; "But I don't believe the rumors."
Sebek clammed his mouth shut.
"We were wondering if you had any sources for the newspaper that we could ask to help track Radio Raven down? Or at least whoever provided him with the rumors?" Silver asked, and Boris's eyes brightened into a curious blue.
"The only guy we've got for sources around the school is Cater." said the artist. "Because he helped us set up the online newspaper, he brings in the topics we write about. More often than not he just wants us to write gossip so Hato and I say no."
Trey looked taken aback. "So you didn't write about the rumors."
Boris shook his head.
"But if Cater is your only source, and he wants you to write drama…"
"He has direct contact with Radio Raven." Sebek stated. "We need to find Cater."
"Or you guys could go after Radio Raven himself." Boris suggested, and all three guys turned to him. The artist shrugged. "Idia says that when Radio Raven goes live, the lights in Ignihyde go…weird. Does that ever happen to your dorms?"
"We don't really have normal lights." Silver said.
"But Heartslabyul does, and they don't go weird when Radio Raven does his broadcasts." Trey mentioned.
"Then I suggest poking around Ignihyde, see what you can find in there."
"Thank you, Boris. Helpful as always."
"Yeah, you're the best."
"Thanks."
Boris cracked a tired smile. "Yeah, yeah, now leave me be. I gotta finish this portrait." He closed the dorm door.
"Well now that we have a lead, how are we going to find Radio Rebel in all of Ignihyde?" Silver asked. Sebek crossed his arms, putting his hand on his chin.
"I know somebody." He said, and the other two looked at him with an raised eyebrow. Sebek put up his defenses. "I have friends!"
"Who's your guy then?"
"Robert Blu Junior."
"Robbie? Honey's friend, Robbie?"
"He's in Ignihyde, he said he has a program that can track power surges. Assuming Radio Raven is broadcasting from his dorm room, then we could use that, figure out how the power is surging inward to his room."
"That's…actually really smart, Sebek."
"Thank—Hey! What do you mean 'actually'?! I am quite intelligent!"
"So we're heading to Ignihyde." Trey tried to prevent another argument from breaking out. The three boys returned to their quest of finding the fiend behind all the rumors that are ruining their (school) lives.
"Damn, I'm getting quite a lot of steps in today." Sebek mentioned.
"That's bad?" Silver yawned.
"No, but, usually I take walks with…uh…someone else."
"You can say Jack, it's okay."
Sebek blushed. "I don't know…"
"Do you like Jack?"
"Yes. No. Yes? Maybe? No. Um, come back to me."
"It's fine. At least Jack's still talking to you…?"
"He is, he doesn't believe the rumors."
"Lucky."
"But now he is asking if we are a 'thing'. Whatever that means."
"Oh, he's asking if you're a couple." Trey chimed in, and Sebek turned red in the face.
"Can we…stop discussing this topic?"
"Yeah, we're almost to Robbie's room anyway." Silver said as they walked through the halls of Ignihyde.
They came across one door and Sebek readied himself to knock but Silver stopped him. He knocked on the door himself, quietly. The sounds of unlocking locks and sliding chains could be heard on the other side of the door. The three boys looked at each other as Robbie on the other end was seemingly just unlocking his bedroom door. Once the door opened, there was a short young man in the doorway dressed in the Ignihyde dorm uniform. He didn't look any older than a first year with big brown eyes and short brown hair. He looked at Trey and immediately frowned before looking to Sebek.
"Why is he here?" asked Robbie, pointing to Trey.
"Robert—"
"Robbie."
"—We need your help. We think the Radio Raven is in Ignihyde and—"
Robbie held his hand up, silencing Sebek. He waved his hand while walking into his bedroom, signaling the other three to follow him in. His dorm room was par for the course; a largely blue room with a large bed, a desk to work at, and a wardrobe. Robbie's room had markers and paper scattered all over the desk next to a computer, his bed wasn't made and even had a bunch of fresh laundry spilled all over it, and his walls had numerous photos of himself with his family and friends. He sat at his desk chair and turned to the computer, immediately getting to work.
"I thought something was off with the lights," he started speaking. "I hate that bloody flickering they do. It gives me migraines."
Trey looked at one of the photos on Robbie's wall; it looked to be of a younger Honey with an even younger Robbie. Robbie glared at the upperclassman between his typing on the computer. He opened up his program and got to work, his typing seeming to become faster and faster. Schematics of the Ignihyde dorm pulled up on his screen, and his eyes darted to every detail.
"Huh, that's…weird." He kept typing. "Maybe if I just…"
"What is it," Sebek asked, having seated himself on Robbie's bed.
"Still working on it, mate. Just give me a few more…"
His screen pulled up a window with a message in large letters: LARGE ENERGY SURGE DISCOVERED.
"Found the son of a bitch." Robbie chuckled. Sebek got up and leaned over Robbie's shoulder to look at the screen. A large simulated storm of sorts was rushing towards a certain room in Ignihyde. Robbie traced his finger over the cloud to the door. "See that? That's a huge amount of energy surging into…" he typed a few things into the program and a name popped up; Jay Attenuate. "The room of Jay Attenuate."
"That can't be all electricity, that seems impossible." Sebek noted.
"Hm, if it wasn't energy, I doubt it'd be messing with the electronics the way it's been."
"What if it's magic?" suggested Silver.
"Someone's unique magic?" Trey added on. "That'd explain how he could broadcast across the whole school."
Robbie leaned back in his seat. "Alright, my work's done. If you guys don't need anything else, could ya leave?"
"Thank you again, Robert. We truly couldn't have done this without you."
Blu's lip twitched with the need to correct but instead he sighed and gave Sebek a smile. "No problem, Sebek. Always happy to help a friend."
Once more, the three boys left the room, leaving Robbie to his peace. They made their way a few hallways down to the bedroom of Jay Attenuate. Finally, answers. A definitive end point to their tiresome journey to clear their names of those nasty rumors. Trey knocked on the door, and it opened swiftly. In front of them was a tall redhead boy with a black beanie on his head and black headphones around his neck. He was wearing a white shirt with the blue vest opened with black pants and black boots. His brown eyes narrowed.
"Can I help you?" He asked.
"We're going to kill you." Sebek said, absentmindedly.
Jay blinked.
"Are you the Radio Raven?" Silver asked, ignoring his dormmate's remark.
"Yeah." said Jay.
Silver, Sebek and Trey all looked confused. That easily? Damn. They really didn't need to do all that work to find someone who wasn't even trying to maintain anonymity. Jay opened his room door and invited the three in; like Robbie's room, it was standard for an Ignihyde dorm with some personal touches. Jay's room seemed to look more like a recording studio than a bedroom with a large computer, multiple monitors and microphones all around. He sat down at his desk. He picked up a hair tie and pulled his hair into a low ponytail.
"Are you three fans or…?"
"No, your 'show' spread rumors about us three and our lives are over." Sebek stated, bluntly.
"Oh, shit, I'm sorry guys. I was just reporting what I heard from my source, I didn't mean to do that."
"Is your source a guy named Cater Diamond by any chance?" Trey spoke up, Jay nodded.
"Yeah, weird guy. His stuff is usually pretty solid, albeit, kinda dramatic but I was under the assumption everything he was telling me was true. That's why I brought it up on my broadcast."
"Cater has a track record of stretching the truth so thin you couldn't even bake a proper crust from it. Trust me, I'm his dormmate."
"NRC has been pretty slow on the drama lately, but damn, I should've looked into what he was saying myself. I'm really sorry guys, I didn't mean to mess up your lives. I was just trying to entertain the masses and everything with my hijacks."
"You're…weirdly chill about this." Silver mentioned. Jay turned to his computer and started typing something in.
"I don't intend to hurt anyone with my broadcasts, and you guys probably went through a bunch of trouble to just find me. If my work is messing with student lives then that's where I draw the line, personally."
"But aren't you worried we'll expose your identity as Radio Raven?"
"Yeah, you're a big deal."
Jay finished up his typing and clicked Enter on his keyboard. "Eh, at the end of the day I'm just some guy with a magic power to broadcast my voice everywhere and anywhere. Even so, it's all just for fun so tell people or don't, doesn't matter to me."
"What were you typing?" Sebek asked.
"An email to those guys in Ramshackle. They're gonna print the retraction of the rumors I spilled, share it to everyone at NRC and your reputations will get a total social reset."
"We really did not need to do all of this," sighed Silver. "I need a nap…"
"Yeah, and I need to kill Cater." Trey said.