Umber In Level 8

+Chapter Twenty-Three+

"Umber!" Trix's scream was almost inaudible above the roaring of the wind in my ears. Plus, my screaming was really loud. My only thought when I hit the ground was that I hoped Dame Alina wouldn't hear and come running. Then I blacked out.

+++

I opened my eyes to the bright lights of the Healing Center. How had I gotten there? I couldn't remember a thing about the events before. All I remembered was climbing something—was it Dame Alina's desk?—and falling to my doom.

"Umber?" Trix asked, making me jump and scream again.

"WhereamIwhathappened?" I seemed to be unable to say anything else at the moment.

"You fell from the roof," said the voice I dreaded the most. "And you are going to be massively punished."

"DameAlina?" I slurred. "Isthatyou?"

"I assume you just asked, how did you find out about my un-genious plan? Because it really was not that hard." Dame Alina tapped Trix on the head. "When I heard screaming coming from my office, of course I had to rush over. When I arrived, Claude kindly informed me of your misconduct."

"Trix? Is this true?" I asked. After that declaration of love just a few minutes before, Claude had betrayed me. I shouldn't have trusted him."

"I needed to save you! You were bleeding!"

I glared at him. "No excuses."

Dame Alina looked irritated. "I will take time to consider an appropriate punishment for both of your behaviors. Do not expect me to be lenient."

+++

"I'm so happy that you can join me in leading this detention," Lady Belva told us giddily. "I'm sure you'll be wonderful at teaching your fellow prodigies to ballroom dance! You know the steps, right? I'd hate for you to be embarrassed."

"Of course!" I lied.

"Perfect!" Lady Belva clapped her hands to get the attention of the other Prodigies. "Prodigies, please be well-behaved for your new Mentors. I'll be over there, eating my lunch and most definitely not going to the top-secret Mentor cafeteria. See you after detention!"

"I can't believe this," Trix muttered. "Alina must be very creative to come up with something like this."

"You have no idea," I muttered. "It could be worse."

But what could be worse than being trapped in a punishment with the guy that you just semi-rejected even though you have a crush on him? [A/N: My emoji suggestion for the word "crush" was this: 😻]

"How!" Trix whisper-shouted. "Do you have any idea how to ballroom dance, or are we going to be demonstrating how to fall gracefully on stage?"

"Oh, I can't fall gracefully. That lesson will be on you."

"What if we just don't do anything? Nobody's here to supervise, anyways. Can't we just leave?"

I opened my mouth to answer when the doors opened and Dame Alina sauntered into the room.

"Did you start already?" She asked. "I'd hate to miss your big lesson!"