Waves of Destiny (Twisted Wonderland)

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

I did not see Grim until I went to bed that night. He was so exhausted he fell right asleep. At school, when I told him I would be skipping classes to investigate the situation, he wished me luck and left me in the hallway.

I was surprised when Jack approached me a minute later. "Yo," he said. "I'm here and ready to get this Azul recon started."

"I wasn't expecting you to show up," I said.

"Look, the headmage ordered this personally. He'll let an unexcused absence slide. Besides, I don't like admittin' defeat. If there's a chance to uncover the secret to Azul's power, I wanna be there when we learn it."

I smiled. "Thanks." I was glad I was not in this alone. I had already obtained Azul's schedule, so we wasted no time sneaking into his first class: music. We listened to him sing, and he was quite good.

"Huh. Guy's got some pipes."

Next was animal linguistics. Azul was asked to go to the front of the class and speak to Lucius. "Mrooowr... Mrr, mrah!" he said.

"Mrooowr... Mowow," said the cat.

"Yes, yes, I see." Azul glanced at Trein.  "Lucius says that the last time you gave him a treat was three hours ago, Professor Trein."

"Well done, Ashengrotto," said Trein. "That's correct."

"So he doesn't just understand animal languages— he speaks 'em, too?" Jack whispered to me.

"I wish I had that talent," I said. I loved animals.

We attended potionology next.  "A beluga tooth, a sturgeon egg, aurora moth scales, mermaid tears..." Azul said as he added the ingredients to the pot. Add in an extract from 120 types of medicinal herbs blended together, and... Poof! Done! You can drink this potion to transform a body part into that of a different animal."

"That's a very good boy!" said Crewel. "You just formulated a potion that would usually go on the junior-year class's final exams. The rest of you whelps should learn from Ashengrotto's example."

"AND the guy brews high-level potions as easily as a barista slings lattes...," said Jack. "Sheesh."

It was lunchtime, so we followed Azul to the cafeteria. We were close enough to him to hear his order. "I think I'll have some squid ink pasta for lunch today," he said. "Ah, but I do need my vegetables as well. An all-carb meal would be quite nutritionally lopsided... and more to the point, it would go straight to my thighs."

"Seems like Azul's a perfect honors student in every way."

"It is quite impressive," I said. "I wonder why he's resorted to his shady tactics." We obtained food ourselves and moved to sit with Grim, Ace and Deuce. All three appeared wiped. I could not help but feel sorry for them.

"Mrooow... Azul sure didn't waste any time workin' us to the bone," said Grim. "If I wasn't dead on my feet before, I sure am now."

"Cleaning Octavinelle Dorm, waiting tables at the lounge, going on grocery runs..." said Ace. "He's been running me ragged."

"I got called in at 6 a.m. this morning," said Deuce.

"I gotta go back to help out at the Mostro Lounge after this."

"Housewarden Rosehearts was all like, 'You made a contract with Azul? Off with your head!' He made me write lines as punishment..."

"This sea anemone on my head just won't come off, either," said Grim. "I look like a total goofball." They all sighed.