Professor Petrova approached the door and didn't bother knocking. Instead, she struck it three times with her silver-tipped riding crop.
Whack. Whack. Whack.
"Open up. Inspection time."
A moment passed. Then two. Professor Petrova's eye began to twitch.
The door swung open.
The woman leaning against the frame was not what Celeste had expected. She had messy black hair, an eyepatch that sat slightly crooked, and a half-empty bottle of something amber in one hand. Her white blouse was untucked. Her expression suggested she had either just woken up from a nap or was about to start a party and hadn't decided which.
This was Carmen Navarro. Teaching Assistant for Class 1-E. And apparently, the Onyx Hounds' first line of defense.
"Well, well." Carmen's voice was a lazy drawl. "If it isn't the Snow Queen and her seven dwarves. You're early. We haven't even hidden the illegal contraband yet."
