Meeting Ms. Crawford

Opening the door to Ms. Crawford's office, Harper was immediately swept away by an almost intoxicatingly sweet scent of strawberries, something that calmed her greatly.

"Harper! So good to see you again, take a seat," the youthful adult welcomed in a soft tone, closing a heavy, old, book and stowing it to the side before learning forward on her desk. It made Harper feel reassured, as if Crawford was truly engaged in the topic at hand. She came here a lot, both to help deal with her recent transitioning to a woman, and the problems of living alone in that apartment while her mom was overseas.

But today she was here for a very different reason.

"What can I do for you?" Ms. Crawford asked with a bright smile. Harper couldn't help but reflect on how absolutely gorgeous this woman was.

"I had a strange night, Miss. A very strange night," she began, slumping in the chair and holding the weight of her head in her hands. "But the strangest thing of all? Was hearing that you might know something about it."

Crawford's eyes tensed upon hearing this, going as far as to remove her glasses and lean back in anticipation of what was to come back.

"What's a slayer?" Harper asked, and something about that word made the counsellor snap.

"Where did you hear about that? What doy ou know?" She demanded, the woman's soft tone deftly replaced by one much more cold and forceful.

"Just answer the question, miss," Harper countered in an equally assertive tone. She wanted answers and she was going to get them.

"Very well," the woman answered, calming herself slightly as she began to recite something with a tone that implied it was a passage burned deeply into her memory.

"Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer. Where did you hear about this? Harper... did you meet someone who called themselves the slayer? The watchers have been searching for years... Harper. Did you find her?" Crawford began to shout, clearly too heated by her line of question to even care how much Harper knew of the context behind this, or how insane she might have sounded to the young adult, talking about vampires and demons and the like.

"Well, according to the goddamn MONSTER that tried to kill me last night. Youre looking at her," Harper said. Something that gave Crawford a deep pause.

"Okay," she said with great hesitancy. "But thats impossible... youre not a..." she began to say but stopped herself. Harper knew the look well, and knew EXACTLY what Crawford was going to say. She didnt need to say it, but Harper knew. Knew that the woman didn't believe she was the slayer because she wasn't a quote unquote "real" woman. Okay, Rowling. Jeez.

"This... is important news. One that requires much.. Reading. Harper. I'm afraid you might well have stumbled into something greater and more dire than anything you could have possibly imagined. Hang around until the after school study group goes home today, about 6pm. I'll be here waiting for you. And Harper? Stay safe out there. If whatever you encountered last night was correct, you may find yourself in unprecedented danger against the forces of evil from here on out."

'Well, that was foreboding,' Harper thought as she left the counsellors office. How was someone supposed to just return to class after hearing all that? Regardless, she figured she was just going to have to try.