MV2: First Impressions

Andy looked around as they turned off the farm road and onto a wide, cobbled driveway. They were well away from the highway now, traveling on farm roads and byways; the terrain had gone irregular and hilly, and he could see mountains in the distance. There were trees, but not many; those mostly followed the course of creeks and streams. 

The stone wall with its wrought-iron gates seemed out of place, out here in the relative middle of nowhere, but Veronica drove the van up to it and stopped. In the back, Steve stirred as she rolled down the window, then leaned out a pressed a button on some kind of speaker arrangement. After a long moment, a voice asked, "Veronica? Is that you?"

"Yeah. Got the new student for you."

The voice was male, and sounded older. "Ah. Right. We weren't expecting you until tomorrow."

Veronica shrugged. "We decided to move quickly. And since ambush failed, Eleni wants to get back to the hunt." 

"Come on up. I'll meet you out front."

The gates swung open, and Veronica guided the van under the stone arch and into the school. 

The central building had the look of an old stone factory, with rough, heavy blocks forming the outer walls and narrow windows scattered around. A more modern building, two-storied but still smaller, sat off to their left, and a handful of other buildings were scattered around as well. What caught Andy's attention were the obstacle course -- what else could it be? -- and the climbing tower, both of which made his palms itch for a try at them. 

It was still an hour or two before dawn -- he'd lost track --  but his vision had adjusted almost on its own and the figure on the porch of one of the smaller buildings was clearly visible: a grey-haired man in a rumpled suit, standing at the top of the wooden steps. Despite the hour, he looked awake and alert, his posture almost military.

"Alejandro Carillo," Veronica said quietly. "Mister Carillo, to you. You can trust him. He's an old friend -- my mentor, after I turned." 

Andy nodded. "Werewolf?"

Veronica shook her head. "Ghost. He's making a special effort to be solid for you; normally he's harder to see."

Andy took a moment to think about that, but the thought that came to him first was just... It had never occurred to him that he might have woken up as a ghost instead of a wight. But given his sudden, violent death... he could easily picture himself hanging around to protect his little sister Judith. God, that would have been a mess. "Sorry," he said after a long moment. "I mean, we all know stories, but it never occurred to me that I might actually meet a ghost. Socially, I mean."