Ravenfire

Salamander and I agreed to reveal the truth about Rose’s death to Prof. Ariston (minus the part where I almost became a murderer myself, of course), which made the professors launch an investigation into the people we claimed to have been involved in the case. Toad and Emma got off lightly, but Leslie and Arabella were awaiting further judgement from the headmaster. That was one case solved at least. Thankfully, Leslie was too unconscious to accuse me, so the professors just assumed the snakes were another one of her schemes that failed.

I strode through the hallway hearing chatter about Leslie’s unfortunate hospitalisation. So far, nobody unrelated to the case has managed to pin the snake incident on me, probably because everyone was too busy thinking about the upcoming school event.

The Evening Star was a night event hosted by the astronomy club to mark the beginning of the Days of Madness. It was optional for everyone except the first years, who were to locate a constellation and submit a short essay about it. This was to be done in pairs.

I suppose it was something to be excited about. We’d get to visit the crystal tower observatory, the fourth year Winter mages’ headquarters located at a quiet cliffside overlooking the sea. I heard it had an amazing view of both the waters below and the night sky.

“You’re partnering with me,” Salamander was quick to approach me right after the event was announced to us in the classroom.

“I’ll have you know that astronomy was never my best suit,” I warned him.

“That’s perfectly fine. We won’t even be there.”

“Why not?” I raised a brow.

“I’m lacking one rare ingredient for the potion. It’s just not available anywhere in the academy, but I heard the cave directly below the crystal tower observatory leads to some ruins that have the mushrooms I need. We have to take this chance to explore it. The school event is the perfect cover.”

“Salamander, every time I secretly break school rules with you, we always end up running for our lives,” I reminded him.

He frowned. “You’re not coming with me?”

“Of course, I am. I’m not missing out on all the fun.”

“I’ll see you there then.” He was about to leave when he stopped to add: “And don’t bring your grenades. We don’t want a cave-in.”

After getting my things ready, I walked briskly to the hall of mirrors, a wide room containing several standing mirrors that connected the academy to its other buildings. Although it was possible to walk from the castle to the crystal tower observatory, there wasn’t enough time before the event started. I searched the labels for the right mirror and walked through it.

I found myself in a round room made of white stone with a red carpet in the middle and a grand golden chandelier hanging above. The room felt brighter and less sombre than the main castle. Its tall windows allowed ample moonlight to penetrate the room and give the decorative white stone statues an ethereal appearance. Looking outside, I could see other students gathered at the garden terrace with their telescopes, so I went outside to join them.

The night sky was clear and calm, allowing everyone under it to marvel at the multitude of stars. I learned that being in between two merging universes allowed one to view the celestial bodies of both. However, there was an issue of them vanishing and reappearing, so the sky was almost constantly changing. Even heavenly bodies had to fight for their own existence in the new world.

“Remina!”

I turned my head instinctively. I saw Meister Leu’s top fanboy standing among the students busy with their telescopes. He looked happy to see me. “Lysander! I didn’t know you were into astronomy.”

He shrugged. “I’m just here for the view really. Do you mind if I talk to you in private for a bit?”

“Sure.”

We walked to the garden arbour and sat on its bench. I wondered if he discovered another clue about the one who murdered his good friend.

“What is it?” I asked, eager to find out what he knew.

He took a deep breath. “Remina, will you go with me to the dance?”

I was caught completely off-guard. “Me? Are you sure?” I couldn’t imagine why someone would believe I would be good company for a social event involving dancing. Besides, I was sure he knew way more people than me and had better options for a partner.

“You’re an interesting girl and I’d like to get to know you more.” He sounded sincere.

“Umm… sure! Why not?” I couldn’t really think of any reason to reject him.

He drew a sigh of relief and immediately grinned happily. “Thanks.”

“Remina! Come on, we need to go!” Salamander impatiently called me from afar, totally breaking the mood.

“It’s alright. I understand. I’ll see you at the dance then!” Lysander waved and rejoined the group of second years.

I glanced at him one last time before running to join Salamander.

“Why were you talking to Lysander anyway? Did he say something about Cy?” asked the snake boy as we walked.

“He was asking me to the dance,” I replied.

He was surprised. “Did you say yes?”

I gave him a look that told him he was being too nosy. “Does it matter to you?”

“I suppose I will have to wait until the dance to find out, huh?”

Once nobody was looking, Salamander and I quietly slipped away from the group and carefully made our way to the cave. Once inside, I lit a flame to illuminate our surroundings. So far, there was nothing out of the ordinary that would indicate we were walking into some ruins.

As we walked forward, we heard something behind us. Its footsteps echoed alongside ours. We turned around cautiously. We nearly startled ourselves when our light revealed Prof. Alice standing a few metres away.

“Professor… Alice?” Salamander was surprised.

“Are we in trouble?” I asked right away.

Prof. Alice was rather calm and composed. “I can’t say. Depends if you get caught or not.”

“But didn’t you just catch us?” asked Salamander, slightly perplexed.

She nodded as if she just realised it. “I did, yeah. Now that you mention it. I should probably go tell the headmaster, but that’d mean I’d also be in trouble.”

Salamander and I exchanged confused glances.

“What? Can’t a professor skip school events too?” She shrugged.

“What are you doing out here in a cave, Professor?” I asked, unable to fathom why a school professor would go all the way out here to skip the event.

She leaned forward and lowered her voice into a whisper, “I’m looking for Escay Peas.”

“Escapees?”

“No, Escay Peas. They grow in dark caves like these. Easier to spot during the night. They let out a nice little glow. Oh look, there’s one right there.” Prof. Alice bent down and harvested the pea plant. “They’re used for potions, but I like to make pea potage out of them. So far, there have been no side effects except maybe for a little gas.”

“This is really weird,” I whispered to Salamander while Prof. Alice was distracted by peas.

“We have to get her off our trail. I don’t know if I can trust her knowing what we’re up to,” he whispered back.

“So are you two here for the ruins?” Prof. Alice suddenly asked.

“How did you…” He was flabbergasted.

“You don’t look like you’re on a date, so you’re probably out sightseeing. There’s nothing here but the ruins.” She stuffed some peas into her bag. “You’d better be careful though. I heard there are nasty things living there.”

“Great. This just keeps getting better and…” Salamander screamed as the ground under him gave way, causing him to fall through a dark hole.

“Salamander!” I cautiously moved closer to peer into the hole. “Salamander! Are you still alive?”

“Oh dear. We’d better tread carefully,” said Prof. Alice, worrying about our safety and her peas.

Immediately after she said that, I suffered the same fate as Salamander and managed to soften the fall with a wind spell. It still hurt, but at least I didn’t break any bones. I slowly got up and dusted my clothes.

After I lit a flame to see where I landed, I saw Salamander stuck to a giant spider web like a fly. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at his misfortune.

“Feels like deja vu, huh?” I gave an annoying smile.

“Are you just going to stand there gawking at me or are you actually going to get me down from here?” he said angrily.

“I don’t know, Salamander. You look awfully comfortable over there.”

“This isn’t funny! Hurry up and get me down!”

“I’m walking away now...” I pretended to leave.

“Are you seriously going to leave me here!?”

“You could try saying please.”

A loud screech echoed.

“Uh oh.” I realised this was no time for games.

I quickly threw a fireball to free Salamander and he dropped like a sack of potatoes.

“You could have done it gently!” He complained.

“Well, Salamander, I could have sworn you liked it rough.”

Another screech followed. We made a run for it, not wanting to find out what was making that sound.

“Wait! Over there! The mushrooms!” Salamander suddenly shouted, pointing at blue glowing mushrooms growing on the walls of the cave.

I looked at him in disbelief. “Are you crazy? We’re busy running for our lives here!”

“I’m not leaving here empty handed!”

“Fine. Hurry up then!”

He carefully pulled out a bunch of mushrooms and stuffed them into his bag. “Alright. Let’s get out of here.”

After we spent half an hour circling the cave system like headless chickens, we finally got lucky and found the exit. We were relieved to see the sky again and smell the salty sea breeze. It was great to escape death once again.

When we walked back to the event venue, however, everybody was just standing around looking serious like they were attending a funeral mass. Nobody touched their telescopes nor stared in awe at the stars. Something was off.

“What in the world happened here while we were away?” Salamander muttered.

I noticed Prof. Ariston covering a student’s body with white cloth. There was another death.

“Mr. Salamander and Ms. Ravenfire,” Headmaster Scheep said when he suddenly appeared behind us. “Two students remain unaccounted for. Now, explain to me where you two have been this whole time.”

“We were…” Salamander attempted to explain.

Prof. Alice stepped forward from the crowd to defend us. “They were… gathering Escay Peas with me.”

“Why would you ask students to help you gather escapees?” asked the headmaster in disbelief.

“So we can crush them, throw them all into a soup together, and have them for dinner with garlic bread.”

Headmaster Scheep’s face crumpled in sheer disgust. I wondered whether he really believed us to be a small group of cannibals.

Luckily for us, we were cleared of both murder and cannibalism thanks to Prof. Hermia Philomela’s timely intervention. We were, however, still found guilty of skipping the school event, so Salamander and I had to spend a few hours in detention the next morning.

Upon entering the detention room, I saw a certain eccentric professor already sitting at one of the tables meant for students.

“Prof. Alice? Why are you in detention too?” I asked.

“My sister made me choose between losing my job or getting detention. I need the money to complete my dream pickling station, which is why I’m here.” She leaned back on her seat and sighed. “Does the Headmaster really hate peas that much?”

“Thanks for helping us last night, Professor.”

“I couldn’t just stand there and see them accuse you of a crime you did not commit. It’s like watching your sister scold your dog for crashing your uncle’s wedding with a bread knife when it was actually the neighbour’s racoon who did it,” she replied with a serious face.

“I… I see…”

“Which happened by the way.”

When I finally got out of detention, I walked around the castle looking at the various booths available. The Days of Madness event was in full swing. I spotted a stall selling detective novels, so I purchased some before joining Emma and Elliot at the gardening club’s booth, which was filled with flowers, seeds, potted plants, and some gardening merchandise for sale.

“Good! You’re here. I need you to hold this sign and bring us customers,” Emma said cheerfully as she handed me a very colourful sign that she probably designed herself.

“Alright.” I did as she said and stood there holding up a sign to make the existence of our club apparent to every passerby.

One familiar looking passerby eventually stopped in front of me.

“Aren’t you that student I interrogated in the hallway?” I recognized him. He was the last one I questioned about the rumours before Toad interrupted me.

“Perhaps I am, Remina,” he replied confidently, a stark contrast to his actual personality.

I eyed him suspiciously. “No. You’re not him. Who are you?”

“Very perceptive.”

Suddenly, everything around me remained frozen in time, just like during my first encounter with the horned serpent. My eyes widened in shock.

“You’re the same person who took over Cy’s body,” I concluded.

I was lifted up by some invisible force. I felt my body being lightly crushed and squeezed.

“You’re not a Blackthorn, but why do you have the serpent’s gift?” he asked.

“Why do you care? Is it because it will lead to your demise?”

“No. The gifts are a blight that must be cleansed. We have no need for it.”

“Then why did you kill them?”

“I didn’t kill them purposely. Their bodies merely couldn’t sustain my soul because of the serpent’s mark. Only the body of a Blackthorn can properly contain mine.” He attempted to search my memories for the information he needed. “What a shame. Even you don’t know of any Blackthorn in this academy.”

“Lucien… Blackthorn?”

He let go of me. “Why do you know who I am?”

I caught my breath. “You were the soul trapped in the device. What happened?”

“Betrayed by my stubborn brother. He couldn’t bring himself to let go of the horned serpent’s influence. It brought him fame, recognition, and prosperity. He was stubborn enough to use his own life to contain mine.”

“Emrys was the one who sealed you?” I was surprised.

“He kept that from you, didn’t he?”

“He kept a lot of things actually,” I admitted.

“Tell me, what do you think of the serpent’s gifts?”

“I don’t know. I barely use them.”

He opened his palm and conjured a shard of ice. “Regular magic draws power from raw energy. The serpent’s spells are different. They draw power from a different source, darkness and malice.” He crushed the ice and replaced it with a black ball of energy to illustrate his point. “Using them has consequences, they cling to your soul like a rot. They are passed down to your children. Soon, they will be the end of the Blackthorn family.”

He got rid of the ball and extended a hand. “Help me and I will help you get rid of that curse.”

I hesitated. I wasn’t ready to trust some creepy dead guy.

He continued, “Think about who you really ought to side with. All I ask is that you don’t stand in my way.”

In the blink of an eye, time was running again. Lucien disappeared into the crowd before I could keep track of him.