7:

The sun had almost completely set as Calyx made her way back through 
the hallways to her room, and Seira's last comment stuck with her. 
Night and near-night transformed the school in many ways, but she was 
determined not to start jumping at shadows. It had been a long day, 
even for the start of a new school year, and all she wanted to do was 
get back to her nice comfy dorm room and her nice comfy bed for a 
nice comfy sleep.

She paused to orient herself ... and as the thick scent of rot once 
more filled her nostrils, she realized that her pathway had led her 
right back to the garden.

For a long moment, she just stood there in contemplation. It was 
probably just a legacy from when all this land had been empty, 
underused farmland. After all, the legend didn't make any sense at 
all -- if the garden had been buried, how had it come to rise again 
above the earth?

And yet ...

Perhaps it was the thought of the bodies of the evil prince and the 
brave princess lying together which slowly drew her towards the 
garden door. Perhaps she thought it a terrible injustice that the 
princess' remains should be entwined with those of the man who had 
ended her life. Perhaps she thought to correct this, to find a more 
suitable grave.

Or perhaps, as she reached out to grasp the door handle, she was not 
thinking at all.

"Chu?"

Calyx jumped about three feet in the air and let out a short shriek 
of sheer panic. "I'm sorry I'm sorry," she gasped, "I didn't mean to 
trespass, I was just curious and I --"

Her heartbeat slowed to a more regular rhythm as she caught sight of 
the being who'd spoken to her.

"Chu?" it asked, somewhat more sharply than earlier.

"-- and I'm confessing all my sins to a mouse," she concluded.

"CHU?" the creature gasped, somehow managing to pack an enormous 
amount of affront into that single syllable. It crossed its tiny arms 
in front of its body, and turned its enormous head to one side. She 
could hear it muttering faintly.

"I take it that you're not a mouse then?"

"Chu chu CHU chu chu chuu," it muttered loudly and sarcastically, 
before reverting to more quiet mutters.

Looking more closely, it was rather obvious that the creature was far 
too large to be a mouse. Feeling more than a bit absurd, Calyx 
continued. "Well, I apologize for any insult, but I have to admit 
that I don't quite recognize what you are."

Now it turned its head to look at her, and with great dignity began 
to hop from one foot to another while scratching under one of its arm-
pits, making unusually high-pitched "chu" noises as it did.

"A monkey?" she guessed.

"Chu," it replied affirmatively.

She'd heard vague rumors that the Academy's biology school was 
engaged in controversial "uplift" experiments on animals, but never 
could have anticipated meeting the subject of such "forced 
evolution".

"And what exactly are you doing out here on a night like this, Mr. 
-- " She paused, to give the monkey a chance to correct her gender 
assessment.

"Chuchu," *he* replied. Then in answer to her overt question, he 
produced a short slick and held it over his shoulder. At the far end 
was a bulging handkerchief. He mimed walking ... no, more ambling 
than anything else.

"I see. Just passing through, hu? You wouldn't be running away from 
anything, would you? Like ... a lab?"

"Chu CHU," he answered, shaking his head firmly.

Who says animals and children tell the truth and never lie?

"Well, in that case, I'd be glad to offer you a room for the night," 
she offered impulsively. She disapproved of uplifting; less because 
of the  cruelty to experimental animals that it involved, than 
because it seemed like a waste of perfectly good resources that could 
be used to improve humanity.

Chuchu appeared to give her offer a great deal of thought, and 
ultimately lifted his head to meet her eyes. With a short, 
affirmative nod, he reched out an arm for her to shake. Calyx 
smilingly extended her index finger, and they sealed their bargain.

Carrying him in her hands, Calyx strode out of the garden chamber, 
her thoughts about investigating the garden momentarily banished.

A moment later, a janitor stepped out of the shadows, looking at her 
back as she headed down the hallway to her room. He didn't quite 
understand why the student had picked up the animal, but it was 
probably not his concern. On the other hand, he should probably make 
sure that it hadn't left any droppings in and around the garden.

<Odd,> he thought as he approached it, for he couldn't recall being 
told the cleaning protocols for this area. He'd probably pick it up 
quickly.

He grasped the door handle.

His arm came off first, followed momentarily by his head. With that 
sample, the Garden became quite certain that this was not the meat 
for which it waited. So it swallowed the rest of the body into its 
second stomach with the others, for slow digestion, and continued to 
wait.

                               TBC