"Solomon, huh? Like the third king of Israel, wise old Sulaiman?" Juniper said, pursing her lips together. King Solomon was reputed to have been in possession of a magical ring, a seal that gave him command over demons. She had to admit, if there was something that had to do with him on the island, there was a decent chance of it being useful in her current dilemma "Okay. You take care of yourself, the wilderness isn't safe." she paused a moment, then pointed out a small catch on the camera, "If you think you're going to be caught, the SD card that stores all the pictures is right there. It's a lot easier to hide than the whole camera, you can tuck it under the band of your skirt or something in a pinch. They'll get suspicious if there's no card in the camera though. . ." Juniper reached into her vest pocket and brought out a small black chip, "So replace it with this. It's just some shots I took of the island, pretty pictures of the beach and some of the surrounding wilderness. I'd like it back later if you can manage, but I won't cry if it goes missing either."

"Good luck with . . . whatever." she said, shrugging a bit with a smile. She reached down and picked up the book indicated, tucking it under her arm as she made her way back to her own computer. She set the book down to one side and dropped roughly into her seat, propping one leg up on her knee as she leaned back in her seat. She tongued the mint out from where she'd tucked it against her cheek, pressing it up against the roof of her mouth with the tip of her tongue as she hit the keyboard again.

Okay Darling, let's see exactly how fucked your head is, she thought, closing the window she'd been using to cover her earnest research and making her way back to the Rena+Experiment tab, And, by extension, exactly how incredibly screwed I am to have crossed you.

“That's on 284. The guy's last name is Solmon like the wise man from the bible ...”

The girl watched an listened, very attentive and absorbing all this detail as if she never used one of these before or maybe she just wasn't familiar with the ,odel. “Thanks, you've been a big help! I'll get the card back to you today!”

She seemed to gloss over being attacked or the camera taken as that seemed non important right now or perhaps she was one of the blissful 90%ers she turned and departed from the library a bit anxious to use the camera perhaps though she never did catch her name … in fact where was she going to meet her!

How hard could it be to fiend a blue haired girl? Probably studious or a wall flower too, blue hair, glasses, maybe a nerd … well, she wasn't gorgeous but not ugly either …

The book was heavy and thick. It was probably stored in a basement for some time before being donated to the library as it contained a mildew scent. The pages where curled at their edges and yellowish denoting agae and the spine worn as the binding on the thick brown leather book needed to be redone.

LATIN AND YOU!

A rather bland looking language book it looked with an equally bland title. It seemed like one of those books with few or no illustrations though she had not yet checked it to see if that were the case.

Screwed.

There were lists and lists of file names, lots of files though just looking most seemed on mind controlling agents, experiments with even contaiminating the water supply at one stage adding slug eggs to the bottled water to test it's effects on a small number of girls first … the eggs would hatch asfter being screened to the kidneys where they would hatch.

There were notes here, nots that listed that salt hadn't been the only thing to kill the slugs after all though the alternatives weren't so pleasant. Readung she found that Rena could insert the slugs via her mouth, either down a throat from a kiss or when she was eating someone out … her mouth seemed a gateway and through other files she could even cut girls and insert them beneath the skin as a means of perserving them as it seemed that contact with the DNA (essentially the sperm she guessed) of most non demonic entities killed them on contact … so if something jizzed down the throat or came inside …

She shuddered at that notion. Yes, their was an option of killing them unless she had been unfortunate to get them beneath the skin. She recalled the student in the shower the other day, vigorously scrubbing her body trying to get at the slugs beneath she could assume.

Most of the files were on notes using the basis of the slugs for mind control and it seemed that her help was appreciated … there was one entry about a drug that was suppose to dull pain and Rena spent delight in torturing the test subject to see how well it worked, it was a flop.

Another interested her … phermones extracted from Aegir when he came to the island were added to an aphrodisiac to increase pleasure. The pheremones by themselves were harmless to humans and Rena was asked to test it out, the effects were bland though and that like the water project had been scrapped. What exactly were they doing at this school? Researchin on students? Building defenses to assist umans in warfare? To defend against attacks?

But there was one file simply labeled Shokushu with no other description in the title ...

Oh, Juniper wagered she knew exactly where to find Blue when she wanted to. Nobody piled up books like that for a research project unless they were comfortable in the library, most amateurs put the book back on the shelf when they thought they'd squeezed enough information from the pages. They'd never experienced the frustration of having someone check out a book just before you went back to cross-reference something new and unexpected you'd found in a new source. She wouldn't say that she was a kindred spirit, the newspaper archives generally weren't available for checkout after all, but she'd seen plenty of veteran researchers back home.

Of course, she didn't know what Blue was looking to take pictures of, so she couldn't be sure that it was anything something wanted to keep buried. She'd just been following her reporter's instincts, and trying to look out for another girl in search of something. She wondered where all this selflessness was coming from, she'd certainly never been considered a generous soul back home . . . maybe she was just trying to make sure someone would remember her fondly if the worst happened.

Of course, mind control, what else? Juniper groused, the crease in her forehead deepening as she started to go over the specifics. Hard to fight the bitch when she was twisting around in your brain and turning you into a horny little lap dog. Somehow she wasn't surprised that the school would be funding experiments in expanding her range, the entire facade would become unnecessary once they could ensure cooperation. If someone wanted a meek little victim, they need only pick one that matched their aesthetic sensibilities. If a monster wanted someone who'd bite back, even the most timid soul could be compelled to fight. She grit her teeth, feeling the heat blush under her skin, this kind of dehumanizing bullshit was exactly the sort of thing that yanked her chain, turning people with hopes and dreams into product.

She opened her mouth and loudly crunched what was left of the mint in her mouth, grinding it away to nothing with her teeth as she read on. The image of The Bitch on hands and knees eating some young thing out stuck in her mind, the notion that she'd care enough about her victim's pleasure to reciprocate that way simply hadn't occurred to her. Of course, then she recalled that once implanting two slugs into a victim, she could share in their senses, so even something as generally giving as oral stimulation could become selfish in her clawed hands.

The bit about cum killing the things also struck her as odd, given her host of uniformed boy toys. The poor bastards must have the worst case of blue balls in recorded history. But, then, if it was contact with foreign genetic matter that cause them to curl up and die, she had to assume that human beings were "safe" for the slugs, otherwise they'd make poor hosts in general. So, great, the same thing that made her a tempting host for demonic mind-rape also meant that the likes of Gus and Jethro could fuck her 'til she oozed out of every pore and it wouldn't do a damned thing to the slugs. She ran her hand through her hair, sighing.

She was glad that the water testing hadn't panned out, though she somehow doubted it was the only time in the island's history that someone had tried something like that. Sticking to canned drinks was seeming better and better . . . though, she realized she really had no notion of where they were delivered from. Well, she couldn't starve herself for fear of contaminants, that was what crazy people did. Still, it might behoove her to try her hand at sea fishing and maybe purifying her own water.

Rena's sadistic side, yes, that she'd seen coming a mile away. Having a list of injuries in front of her, however, threw things in a sharp relief. There was an almost clinical way to the way her notes had been set up, but given the lack of effect the low level pin-pricks had reported, the level to which she took things clearly exceeded the needs of science. Knowing that they were working on air-based aphrodisiacs didn't set her mind at ease either, even if that particular attempt had failed there was no guarantee that the product itself was still in development. She rolled this all over in her mind, trying to deduce some kind of connection behind all these experiments. Something about humans . . . the bio-chemistry of humanity? She couldn't sort it out though, her imagination was grabbing onto all the disparate elements of what she was researching, and she realized she was getting a bit flustered at the thought of it all.

She looked at the book on the desk for a moment. A nice, safe, boring textbook about Latin would go a long way to steadying her state of mind. Trade one mystery for another, at least for a little bit. But that icon marked simply Shokushu stared back at her, the school's heraldry proud and bold. She swallowed a bit.

Alright you bastards, she swung the mouse pointer over, hit me with your best shot, and she double-clicked to open it up.

Information was key and now at least she had some regardless of the unnerving truth that gave her a moments pause. She considered the information she pulled up, the files on the experiments, what they were doing here …

She read on as time rolled by, so much on Rena's sadistic little experiments. Her eyes growing red with all the reddening but it was too interesting to just pass up.

Considering the boring book in front of her she swung her eyes back to the computer screen at the Shokushu file that seemed tp be glaring back. She double clicked on it and that file took a moment to load redirecting her from the current page to one that required another logon and password … apparently a safeguard to keep even Rena out? All the back doors into the system probably had no greatesr clearance then the basic Reeenie, Hunter7 that Aegir gave to her earlier to thwart digging this far it seemed but the cursor flashed for a logon name and it did not seem as if she could access the file with the current clearance that she had created for herself, probably not even the Rennie one either.

Then there might have been a security measure in place that she did not know about if she tried the wrong code so the admin could keep tabs on what monster attempted to access the file. Decisions, decicisons, there were risks but their were also greater rewards posssibly at the hidden knowledge so the choice had been hers to make of course. It was just her and the librarian here though the librarian paid her no mind since the flash of those pictures as the brillant orange light captured her attention.

She paused as the security gate popped up in front of her, "Snrk" she covered her mouth with the back of her hand, "Pfa ha ha." Here, she'd gotten herself all psyched up for something that would rock her to her very core, and all she got was a little white window asking her to input her information again. The anti-climax struck her funny bone, but she kept her mouth covered in difference to library policy. Even if no one else was here, she didn't want the librarian getting curious as to what she was up to.

Arching her back, she stretched her arms out and spun the chain around once, smirking a bit to herself. She supposed she'd gotten a little greedy, simply knowing what Rena was up to was a tremendous windfall, and she'd learned some truly useful data along the way. Heck, she knew her real name, she could always use that for a quick psychological jab. Anything to rattle her, make her wonder exactly what Juniper had managed to find out about her, and what steps she'd taken to protect herself.

On the other hand, behind that log-in screen could be the elusive bits of information she'd need to affect a real plan. The location of the Storehouses, or the holy water tank hooked up to the infirmary's sprinkler system. She'd thought it before and it remained true, anonymity was her first defense, the longer they went unaware that she had access to their systems, the more likely she'd come across something really juicy. Aegir had come through for her once, and there were still two passwords to go, he might hit upon something with a little more oomph. If she could keep Rena's hounds from dogging her steps, she could get back to her room and pick up the little black thumb drive with the cross sticker pressed to the back. Place a few key loggers, or maybe try to brute force the password. Tomorrow, give Aegir his chance.

See you tomorrow, Dearie, she words echoed in her memory causing her to shiver. Okay, to hell with waiting 'til tomorrow. Still, running around like a chicken with her head cut off with just going to get her pinched. She kicked back in her chair and pulled the heavy leather tome into her lap, running her fingers along the wavy old pages until she figured she was at about the right place, holding one edge in place as she let the book fall open. She could see that some of the pages wanted to stick together, whoever had owned this book first hadn't had the good sense to keep it someplace dry, apparently, but everything seemed to be legible for the most part. She turned the pages, making her way towards 285, wondering what it was exactly that Blue was dabbling with.

There was a strange diagram on page 285, no text really save for one letter symbols arranged on the page and it made her second guess things, maybe it was 284, there was the trail end of an article that began on an earlier page though it was in Latin!

The only thing that was legible was the source of the article and the author's name, Renford Solomon. The page num ber had been circled and the page itself had been worn and yellowed with age like the rest of the book.

Perhaps there was something her, something she was missing. She had not been able to read the dead language but perhaps if she could get it translated it might be of use, then again maybe not. That girl could probably read it with ease and as she looked closely the corner of the page had been folded over as a bookmark, someone damagging the book in the process but let's face it this was abeat up old piece of crap … old, thumbing to the copyright date at the beginning of the book would confirm it was over fifty years old, closer to seventy-five so it wasn't a recent book that was ill cared for but an aged book that was probably ill cared for along the way.

The pages smelled of the sea as if they had indeed been kept in a wet environment, maybe the owner manned a lighthouse or had beach front property somewhere before the book found it's way to her? She speculated about it for a moment though whatever the case it did not matter how it came to her, only that it did. So she had to think, did it mean something? It could have been something so obvious if she was fluent in Latin, then again it could be something stupid that she wasn't interested in at all, a distraction to take her away from her search prehaps?

"'Latin and You', huh?" Juniper said, propping her chin up as she looked over the page a few times. Well, she didn't speak a word of it, but the diagram from where she'd turned too far certainly looked interesting, she just lacked context. Well, maybe she didn't have a degree in linguistics, but the other girl hadn't had time to explain either. By all rights, it was completely irrelevant to her own position, but she couldn't shake this nagging feeling that someone was testing her lateral thinking. For a moment, she considered just reading the book, hoping that it would impart a sufficient understanding of the dead language for her to decipher the essay, but she really didn't have that kind of time.

She shrugged a bit, she might not speak a lick of latin, but she did have a resource at her disposal that Blue lacked as well. Turning back to the computer, she plugged in the terms "1937, 284. Latin & You, Renford Solomon, RSolomon,& Solomon284". She also searched for a decent map of the island, thinking to sketch out a rough copy of the diagram on the opposite page and lay it over the island to see if it lined up in a any particularly compelling fashion. A couple of stabs in the dark . . . idly, she considered that Aegir was old enough, he might know latin. Of course, there was no telling what he'd ask in return for his expertise, and she didn't want to get in the habit of relying on him for every little thing.

Her searches for this Solomon fellow brought up results in the Experiments directory though it was brief, hardly a foot note.

Solomon, Renford; third child of Susan and Richard Solomon (1918-51) Latin Professor famous for penning the volume A Dead Tongue an article of his appeared in Latin and You in 1937. Died at 32 from an heart attack.

No real help, nothing she couldn't get from Goggle if she could Google it that is. So the book was about 75 years old. It would take too much time to thoroughly go through the book in hopes of a translation but she could ask Blue about it later … it occurred to her that Aegir could know the language too though she had been loath to go down that road just yet.

Since it was neither an experiment, prey or hunter there had been no luck in finding a map. The program didn't have the best resources on it and for a moment she considered that a map might be in that Shokushu file that she couldn't access.

So she could do this the hard way and explore the island and make a map of try to do it the super hard way and try to recall what she saw on the flight in. Again, she figured that Aegir might know being around for awhile though she could make a few guesses at where he might be at the time. What had he said about her wandering around to find him?

The librian paused from her reading, flickered her gaze to the clock then back to reading she went to pass the time.

All of her searches had gotten hits but all pulled up the same page rather than anything new further emphasising the need for greater access here, more so than Rena had anyway for whatever was in that Shokushu file was probably meant to tantillize Rena since she could not access it at all, a warning perhaps? The file only said Shokushu … tentacle in Japanese … nothing omnious about that right?

Juniper propped her chin up on the desk, one finger tapping away at her bottom lip as she regarded the screen in front of her. It was pretty clear that she was running up against the limits of what she could manage with this particular level of access. She still had two more cards to play before she gave Mr. Solomon a break, backing out and putting in her student log-in. The school's intranet was supposed to be a research tool, after all, may as well try to leverage it's academic weight to her benefit.

First, she tried the optimistic solution, bringing up the search function and inputting ""A Dead Language" Translation", if the school taught Latin then the odds that someone had translated the essay as part of an assignment were fairly reasonable. Then, she opened up another tab and checked for "English Latin Translation", heck, the internet back home had programs for attempting to translate languages on the fly, and Shokushu's student body was multinational, so they might've found it useful to make such a program available to the students. Sure, she'd have to tap the whole essay in by hand, and all she'd get for her efforts would be a half-garbled mash-up of dubious accuracy. Still, it'd whet her appetite, and help her determine if chasing Blue down again later would be worthwhile or self indulgent.

Juniper kept tapping her lips as she waited for the search results to get back to her. Scholars were a funny bunch of elitist bastards sometimes, writing an essay entitled "A Dead Language" in a dead language. It was like writing while knowing your insight would ultimately be lost to history, or at the very least be available only to an educational elite who may or may not ultimately care Of course, she supposed, that could be the point. As a journalist her goal was to dig things up, break them down, and distribute it all to laymen. One of those hard truths she'd had to get her head around early on was that some people weren't in it to enrich others, but to raise their own value. Those with delicate egos sometimes found it easier to devalue others than meet whatever ridiculous standards they were holding for themselves.

"Your silence isn't doing you any favors, Mr. Solomon." she grumbled to herself, "What the heck ever happened to Legacy?"

Clearly she did not have the clearance so she backed out of the file and logged in with her student ID. Typing in her searc she got a result slightly better. Oh, she had gotten the rehash of information but also a list of A Dead Language, number of copies in the library and the catalogue number for them along with the check in/out status. It still must get referenced a lot for there were three copies of it and one being checked out.

There were even references for it though it took some tweaking of her search in conjunction with the addition of Solomon's name to get a file where another man? Buchie translated the article.

It was strange referencing to Ireland and points were ley lines were the strongest, maybe those symbols meant something when super imposed over Ireland? Maybe not for what use of it was it here?

Reading on the article spoke briefly of the legendary seal of Solomon, the ring that allowed him to control demons and that it was hidden away in a vault, hinting that it has been lost in time. Was it at one of these points and if so it wouldn't do her too much good here and now but she had to wonder as to why this article was important that the girl refered her to? Was it just a distraction or was there some meaning behind it that she just couldn't quite decipher ...

"Hmn." Juniper pursed her lips a bit, raising her eyebrows. Well, she supposed she qualified as interested at this point, though she had to admit she was getting a bit off target. Easier to get caught up with Blue later on and piggie-back her research than try to blindly extrapolate what she was referring to from an essay she couldn't even read herself. Slapping a sheet of paper over the book, she traced the diagram in the book before folding it up and tucking it in her breast pocket. She really hadn't seen much aerial photography of the island so far, and maps were similarly scarce. She supposed it wasn't impossible that this island might be shaped similarly to Ireland. . .though she imagined that if so it'd be flipped or turned in some regard. It was also possible that Blue was simply into geomancy and feng shui, and simply regarded the essay as a convenient jumpnig off point for her to begin mapping out Shokushu's unique ley lines.

She signed out of the computer and pushed the chair back, adjusting the hairpin again as she did so. She needed to kick down she barrier between her and the Shokushu file. She didn't have the tools to finesse this lock, she was just going to have to drill it, but at least she had the resources to pass the blame on to Rena. If the administration was truly so untrusting of her, they might not listen to her protests that she was being scapegoated, which would only work out in Juniper's favor. She just had to brave the hallways again and get back to her room undetected.

Picking up her bag, she smiled politely to the librarian and nodded on her way out the door, once again stepping into the role of another blind an unknowing student. She walked primly, properly, back straight and eyes steady as she once again tried to reach for the same quiet dignity she'd seen in the Head Girls during orientation. That said, she did find a few excuses to stop as she went, stopping to sit on a bench here, bumping into someone in the halls on purpose and then helping them recollect their scattered papers, she took each opportunity to check the people around her and make sure she wasn't being followed. As she got closer to the dorms, she made a wide circuit of the halls, checking behind herself using the make-up compact, knowing that anyone who stayed with her throughout it was obviously tailing her. She was banking on the fact that while Rena could see through her puppets, she didn't seem to be in telepathic communication with them, so she couldn't seamlessly coordinate an anonymous shadow operation.

It was easy to tell if she were being watched in the library as there had been only on other person so it was easy to watch her. She did consider those markings, that article as screwed up as a reference it was and couldn't shake the feeling that it had meant something that she did not have the tools for.

Juni did notice one of the security guards in the halls. He watched her from afar and seemed to be coordinating with others through his walkie talkie but evntually she lost sight of him, he had only followed her until Gus got a visual on her, following her for a bit before she had managed to loose him in the crowds when he got distracted – Rena might be able to see through their senses but had no control at what he looked at and well there was a blond strolling down the hall, young, nubile with a tight ass and big tits that he could not take his eyes off for a moment. Clearly he was contacted by walkie talkie as to what he should have been paying attention too though he had been distracted long enough where he had lost sight of Juni.

She managed to make her way towards the dorms and checking her compact occassionally there was nothing there though the halls seemed especiall crowded at the time. As most college students the girls of shokushu were little different and had more afternoon classes than morning ones so they could sleep in a little later.

As she approached a corner she saw a familiar orange flash though it wasn't until she rounded the corner that she witnessed Blue with a brunette, she was thanking her for the photo and commenting on the fact that she had to snap a few photos for the year book. Odd, that was end of the year stuff, odd that the girl was here now … didn't she rush off to the great outdoors earlier? Juni could only suppose that she was taking a few shots before the end of the year rush no and some later … but who actually did that?

Still Blue did not seem to notice her yet as she left the student walking with her head down and checking the image in her camer, there had to be others since she was thumbing through a collection of images at the time humming to herself as she moved along.

Juniper smirked a bit as she noticed Gus's wandering eyes, taking that particular moment to slide between two other students. She switched postures, slipping the ornament from her hair and hunching her shoulders. It wasn't much, but when everyone in the school was wearing the same style, even that small of a change could help her get lost in the crowd. The fact that they were coordinating through walkie-talkies meant that her gamble had been right, and that she didn't have to worry as much about her fellow students. At best, they were passive detectors, like well hidden security cameras. Idly, she wondered exactly how many eyes Rena could look through at a time, climbing the stairs up to her dorm.

She paused a bit when she saw the orange flash, glancing over. Sure enough, Blue was snapping more pictures of people. At least she was asking permission now, even if her story about being on the yearbook staff seemed more like a cover story than the truth. Of course, that might be simply because Juniper herself had used that cover once to explain why she was hovering around club activities uninvited.

She brushed passed the scene at first, her mind already focused on a target. She gave the door to her room a quick courtesy knock before opening the door. She paused in the doorway just long enough to make sure no one was waiting for her before entering and sitting at the small desk she usually did her self-study at. She slid open the top drawer and scooped up the thumb drive, tucking it in her satchel for her use later. Then she paused, seeing the micro-usb to usb adaptor sitting coiled up in the drawer. After a moment's thought, she snatched it up as well.

She took a few steps out of her dorm and waited until she saw the orange flash again. When she did, she weaved her way through the crowd, waving a bit and calling out.

"Hey, Blue!" she didn't wait for the confused look as she turned sideways to slip between the conversation of two older girls, "Did you get the connection you were looking for from your friend?" she said, taking a stab at why the girl was actually wandering the dormitory hallways.

That was a good question that her mind mulled over. She didn't think it was multiple targets but she could have been wrong, At best the answer might have been as low as one, shutting out her senses to dwell on the senses of one person while shutting out her own senses least she have an overlapping of images, compounded by the fact that she could do this with more than one person at a time she would probably get confused with what she was seeing. Then again a fly saw 40 of the same image so maybe Rena's brain had been wired in such a fashion that she could see through them all at once and keep track of them all … maybe … hopeful it was in the files with a little digging or worse case scenario Aegir might no, but what would he charge for that information?

After dosmissing Blue in the halls she soon found the plugs she needed and went back into the halls. A bad cover story? Probablly since she had used it herself and it was at the beginning rather than end ot the year.

Catching the sight of the brillant but orange flash she had been able to locate Blue quicker and approached calling out to the girl though she was confused as she turned around and possibly wondering if she were Blue … well duh, there was no one else around with blue hair.

“Thank you Ms. Tanaka,” she said to the other student before leaning in to whisper something that had the big busted student blushing before she completedly turned and approached.

“Oh, no, but I figured I would get the chords eventually. Did you read that article? How'd that go for you?”

"Heh, sorry for the sobriquet, but I was so busy with the camera I forgot to catch your name the first time out." she admitted, and though she smiled it didn't quite carry the trace of embarrassment it should have. She gave "Ms. Tanaka" a bemused look as the woman's face flushed and she turned away. Gesturing a bit with her thumb, she added, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Well, I made due. My own Latin doesn't go beyond 'Si vis pacem, para bellum', but I managed to dig up Buchie's translation. Something about leyline nexuses in Ireland and a vault containing the seal of King Solomon." she shrugged a little bit, "It didn't make a lot of sense without context, I was hoping that when I caught up with you you'd be willing to fill in some of the blanks for me. When I saw you wandering the dorms, I figured maybe I'd offer you the use of my own Micro-to-USB line."

"I can walk and talk at the same time, if you'd rather." she said, glancing around the halls, "Wouldn't want to inconvenience you more than I have to."