Wizardess Heart And The Dark Unicorn

Chapter twenty-three

                                      What's in the water?

      Light began to be seen through my eye lids, as if to tell me that it was time for me to get up. I didn't really want to. This was the first time in a while that I was actually comfortably lying in a bed without the lingering effects from boiling alive the night before. A gentle, almost as light as a feather, touch moved across my cheek to brush my hair back behind my ear. This alone told me that Klaus was already up and wide awake. Though I never understood the appeal of watching people while they are asleep. It always seemed to creepy to me. Besides that wouldn't you get bored after a while? Or were there scenarios running through his mind about possible futures that wouldn't ever happen, maybe it was memories of the past which made him watch my features so closely. In any case it was actually pretty soothing... I mean the gentle touch of his fingers on my face, not the stalking me in my sleep part. I almost wanted to go back to sleep for a little bit longer so I wouldn't have to pull away from him. He of course wouldn't have known the difference unless I had somehow given myself way. "Kayle...?" He whispered like he was about to say something more but seemed to think better of it and fell silent once again. Was he trying to wake me up? Or perhaps he knew that I was up already? Either way I think it's time to awaken and face whatever challenge was going to be thrown our way. As nice as it would be to sleep the day way, I would rather not try it at Nightingale of all places.
Sighing softly, I gave a small stretch of my legs before opening my eyes to lazily lock with his violet ones barely a foot from mine. He didn't seem shocked to see me up as his eyes glanced around my face as if to memorize it. Behind his head, the sun was barely rising over the cliff, which casted an orange-ish red glow to dance around the room. "Morning..." He seemed to like it when I said that because a pleasant smile formed on his lips. I hadn't meant any odd meaning behind it. I simply wished to break any awkwardness he might have felt about waking up with me still having been here. Seeing how every time before when we had been sleeping beside each other, I had woken up first and left the room.
"Good morning." His voice slipped out of his mouth sounding slightly sleepy still. By his voice he wasn't awake too long before me.
I glanced around the room to avoid the directness of his eyes, but the sun breached over the cliffs edge and shown right in my eyes making me flinch and snap them closed protectively. "We should probably get going." I was beginning to feel uncomfortable with how lovingly he was looking at me, so I shot something out in brief desperation hoping that it would work as a suitable distraction.
His hand rested down on my neck as a soft sigh whistled out of his nose in silent frustration. Did he not want to leave either? It was regrettable to had to have pointed it out so abruptly, but we both knew that this moment couldn't have lasted forever. "You're probably right. The red haired woman came back an hour after you fell asleep again. She watched over the house, but I'm thinking that she's left again."
I nodded and moved to sit up. I began feeling the lingering effects of the fever that were in fact here, but nothing more than a slightly raised body temperature with the feeling that my body was a bit too heavy for me to carry. Still I have to get up. We have much to do and little time to do it in. So a through black edged vision, I moved to climb up out of the bed with Klaus following after me. He said nothing, but his body language told me that he was worried about the events to come and had wished to draw out the happy increments out a little more than I was allowing.
It wasn't till I moved closer to the door, that I smelled that someone was cooking something "Uh, I don't think she left." I looked back at Klaus, who seemed confounded by my comment, but moved to follow me down the hall. You could hear the voices of multiple people coming from the kitchen and from the living room. So Embri sent people in after the red haired woman left in an attempt to catch us off guard.
My eyes landed on fluffy pink hair. "Hey I was wondering when you two were going to wake up." The cheerful voice of Serge said as he sat on the couch with a tiny brown bear giving us a wave. Why was he here?
I now moved my attention to the kitchen where Thomas and Vincent were making some form of food together. "What are you guys doing here?" I asked louder than I meant to, which was probably not going to go over well with any of them.
And as I expected Thomas looked offended by that before he moved around the counter. Vincent simply raised his eyebrows and looked back down at the food figurines that Thomas had it covered.
Uh-oh, now I've done it. Klaus I can handle, but Thomas, he has this air about him that's ordinarily polite, but he also has the Goldstein attitude that is mature and has been super sharpened as he's grown up. Also he used to use it on me a lot when I was younger so I usually tend to listen to him more than anyone else, except David. Vincent now looked back up to watch as Thomas moved to stand in front of me. "Kayle you may not have wanted us here, but you're like a little sister to me and for me, I protect my family. All of us know the risks with coming here. We're not going to leave you to fight alone. Not anymore. So we're all in this, together, got it?" Grr, there is that gentle but commanding tone of his.
Vincent and Serge moved over to Klaus, Thomas and I as if to solidify what Thomas was trying to make me understand. I nodded feeling a small smile pull on the corners my lips. "Okay..." There wasn't anything that I could say to persuade them to not do this, especially not with it being four on one and it was kind of nice knowing that I have friends who would fight through hell with me. Not like I'd ever admit that where they'd hear it though.
Thomas gave a victory smile with his features lightening up once more. "Good. Vincent and I have made breakfast and we can talk about our game plan. Come on." It's not really like you're going to give me a choice.
Klaus leaned closer to me as Thomas, Vincent and Serge moved towards the counter with the plates already set out for each person. "He can get you to listen but I can't?" I would have thought you of all people would have understood that being the night at the Goldstein manor you listened to him without a fight too.
I looked up at him to see that his expression was slightly annoyed, but more amused. "Have you tried to tell him "no" when he pulls out the mature attitude card?" I asked back playfully, trying to smooth out any possible ways that his mind may have twisted that. "All of you Goldstein boys make better friend than enemies."
He chuckled obviously humored by that simple comment as we walked into the kitchen. "That we do..."
Really? You're going to go along with that so easily? Did you forget how we were when we first met? We pretty much just hated each other back then. Ah, good times. I rolled my eyes as I sat down on a free chair. "Don't go getting a big head though." I warned him as Thomas and Vincent passed out the appropriate silverware for everyone.
"I think that's a bit too late." Vincent teased as he picked up a piece of toast to eat. I looked at Klaus's head to examine it somewhat, but it only made him slightly uncomfortable. Thomas, Serge and I all began to laugh as Klaus sent a glare at Vincent. "Oh come on Klaus stop being so uptight. I thought with you two spending the night in the same room you'd be in a better mood." Wait, what? What the heck do you think we were doing?
"Vincent..." Thomas growled annoyed. Even he turned to shoot daggers at him too. So by their expressions all of them seemed to think something along the same lines, but wanted to keep it quiet.
I arched an eyebrow at Vincent's comment. I know that with how long he's known me, he's more than likely just messing with us, but still the accusations are still annoying. "What kind of woman do you think I am?" I asked making myself sound extremely upset.
"Anyway...!" Thomas snapped over shadowing Vincent's comeback. Heh, he didn't catch the point to drop it. Vincent is very smart and an incredible caster, but he likes to tease way too much for his own good and one day I'll get him back for all of it plus extra. "You should know that the reason why Leon didn't come with us is because Salazum forced him to stay out of it. He said one unicorn in danger was more than he would have wanted." Yes, I had a feeling that Salazum would have put his foot down when it came to this place.
I nodded understandingly. I mean, even I didn't really want to come back myself. "I don't think he would have wanted me to venture back here either." I admitted as I picked a grape up off my plate. "After what has already happened I can't blame him." Salazum is pretty much like another father to me. He's always watching out for me, making sure that whatever dangerous crap I get myself into, I have some kind of help. He was probably responsible for the three of them being here too.
Vincent's face suddenly contorted into confusion. "Yeah about that...Why did you come here knowing how dangerous it was for you? I mean you've told other people to shove off. You could have done the same to the Minister." He replied cocking his head slightly.
I guess it was fair of him to ask now that he's placed himself into the thick of things. Though they're not going to like the reason behind why I came here. "He's promised amnesty to everyone who's helped me after I'm gone." I answered honestly after a moment of deliberation.
All at once everyone stopped eating and looked at me suddenly with wide eyes. "Kayle..." Klaus began sounding beyond fed up as he dropped his fork onto his plate with a clatter.
"It's not your job to save everyone." Thomas said quickly upon seeing Klaus's face contorting into anger rapidly. "We chose to help you and we'll deal with the consequences of it."
Yeah if I was in his shoes I probably would have seen it that way too, but helping someone that people see as a dark magic user, there's no way to get out of that. "That's easy for you to say, Walter wouldn't let anything happen to you, Klaus or Elias, but what about Vincent, Randy, Luca, hell half of Gedonelune...?" Deep down they'd have to know that I was right. If nobody does anything for them, they'd be tried as accomplices after all of this is over. I couldn't leave without trying to do something to insure their freedom.
The Goldsteins' fell quiet, but Vincent filled the quickly growing silence. "Don't bring me into this." You're already been brought into this simply by helping me and even jumping on that train to come here. Yes, Vincent's dad may be the leader of he Knight's, but even that can only get you so far.
"They don't have a parent that can get them out of this kind of trouble. They'd be brought in on charges for helping a dark magic wizardess." I kept going. Somewhere deep within them they had to have known that my reasoning was sound and I wasn't doing this simply because I enjoy being brought into dangerous situations.
I was about to say more but I was cut over by a quickly growing angry voice. "You're not a dark magic wizard...." Klaus began trying to stop me from continuing and shot me a warning glare to stop talking.
Whether or not the Minister has granted me temporary living, because of a threat of war, it doesn't change the facts. "Yes I am Klaus and no amount of pretending that it's not there is going to help anyone." Everyone has to remember this, him especially.
Klaus and I stared at each other as everyone else tried to think about what I said. "You know as much as I hate to admit it, she's right." Serge said softly.
I wasn't expecting Serge to come to my rescue, but I'm glad someone did, now maybe Klaus will start seeing the truth of situation that everyone is in. "Nobody asked you Serge." Klaus growled as his eyes moved to his face. Well, that was short lived. He's too stubborn for his own good.
"Klaus I know how you feel, but she is actually right and I would be doing it too if I was in her position." Thomas mentioned sounding like he was defeated as he gently rubbed his fingers on his temple. "And I know that you would too."
Klaus didn't say anything, he simply moved to look down at the plate before him. It wasn't my intention to turn this breakfast into a truth smack down, but when the subject came up I didn't want to lie to them. "So, how about we get off that subject and on to the next.... Are you two dating?" Vincent asked getting me to almost choke on my food before I looked over at him. He looked like he didn't say anything weird as Thomas casted another glare his way. "What? It's not a random thought is it? You two were sleeping in the same bed right?"
Just because two people share a bed doesn't mean that they were doing anything but sleeping you pervert. "Leave them alone Vincent." Thomas said warningly cold. I know that Vincent was just trying to find a different topic to talk about so the heated one could simmer down, but you picked another that is annoying.
I barely noticed a playful smirk on Klaus's face before he spoke. "She did kiss me before." Oh, geez, you had to say that? Out of everything, you told them that?
Now everyone looked at me in shock as I looked at Klaus with narrowed eyes. He stared back more amused than I'd like. "When did you kiss him?" Serge asked leaning forward on the counter to see my face.
Is this really time to discuss this? I mean, we're under the threat of danger. "Thanks Klaus, we needed that today." I grumbled as I turned my head to look over at Serge. "It was on the train here and for your information I was sick." I decided to this in so that everyone knew all of the details and not just some.
Vincent chuckled after taking another bite of his toast. "You kissing Klaus....I'm not doubting it." He was joking, all of us knew it which is why we laughed.
I guess that's a fair statement after everything. We did do fairly well at antagonizing each other to the point of hatred in the beginning. Hmm? A part of me wonders when it began to change for him.
"She even admitted that she loved me." More surprise as everyone's eyes danced between Klaus and I.
Why are you telling them that? They don't need to hear it. "Are you sure you're not living in delusions?" Serge asked sounding unsure of whether to believe it or not to believe him.
Oh geez, Serge are yo trying to anger him again. Thomas was quick to intervene. "No, Klaus isn't the delusional type. Kayle, did you really....?" You say that but you still have to ask, even with him not being illogical. 
They're all getting the wrong idea here and I think that's what Klaus wanted. "I was suffering from the fever and I didn't even hear him properly before I said something."
Klaus chuckled at my response with Vincent and Serge, but Thomas looked confused. "I'm sorry a fever? You rarely were sick as a teenager. So it's a bit surprising that you had a fever." Uh, okay? Doesn't he know?
I was confused myself for a moment. Wait, I never told him before, well oops. "Oh right you don't know yet. Well because I fight the dark magic while I'm awake it tries to win while I'm vulnerable which is when I'm sleeping." We watched Thomas's expression melt into more worry than I'm used to. "It's fine though. I've dealt with it for a long time, so I'm a bit more used to it than I'd like." As true as it was, I was just trying to lighten the blow for him.
Klaus moved to talk now. "So what's the game plan for today? They know about you and I being here, but I don't think that anyone in the school knows about the three of you." Nice subject change. Now just to see if it'll work.
"No, Vincent's mom helped us get into grounds undetected." Thomas said passing a glance at Vincent as if he was joking about something.
However he rolled his eyes with a rare flicker of irritation crossing over his features. "I told you, she's wasn't my mother." He said slightly growling the words out. He sighed softly before looking down at the cup beside his plate. "We may have looked alike, but that doesn't make us related."
I looked at everybody's faces a bit confused about what they were talking about. "Are you two talking about the redheaded woman?" Klaus asked getting equally shocked faces on Thomas and Vincent. "I met her last night. Kayle did at Gedonelune. She said that she came here on Randolph's orders to protect Kayle."
Ugh, like I really need more people trying to protect me when I'm trying to protect them. "We know. She said as much early this morning, though she left quickly saying that she had something to do." Thomas mentioned as he reached for his cup. "She seemed like she was in a hurry so we didn't pry into it."
Hmm, last night she seemed to be in a hurry too. I wonder what she was doing right now. "Hey, do you have any extra Nightingale outfits?" Vincent asked as he leaned forward towards me.
Uh, I don't think that he can wear my clothes. "Not any that will fit you." I replied slightly chuckling.
I doubt he meant mine though. "Kayle you know I wouldn't say it if it wasn't necessary, but what about David? Are his old clothes still here?" Ah, I knew it.
Klaus moved uncomfortable on the chair beside me as I nodded. "They're in his room. He had two spares, but why do you need them?" My voice was tenderer than I meant, but it didn't seem to bother anyone.
It's not really like David's ever going to need them again, but still. "Vincent and I are going to infiltrate Nightingale by dressing up as one of its students. Much like Gedonelune, it has a lot of students and hopefully too many to keep track of."
I figured they would do something reckless like this, but it's not like I could stop them. They came here after I left without them. "This is going to end badly." I whispered getting a smile from everyone.
"Not if we're careful." Vincent replied giving me a comforting slap on the shoulder. I'm not convinced. I sighed softly and looked down at my plate. "Don't tell me that you don't believe me? Not your oldest friend?"
"I'm her oldest friend." Klaus interrupted sharply getting me to look over at him chuckling softly. We're really not going to do this right?
"Actually I am. In her memories, I had to pull teeth to get you two away from your books." Thomas shot back amused at Klaus's expression.
Guys, this is stupid, just stop. "Alright, alright, come on guys stop. We have impending doom hanging over our heads here so maybe we should focus on that."
Klaus moved closer to me so he could whisper in my ear. I noticed that Thomas and Vincent both looked at each other and smirked before theory continued with their breakfast again. "Didn't I say that to you yesterday and you played it off."
I turned to glare at him, not even being bothered by how close his face was to mine. He just stared back at me with a smile pulling at the corner of his lips, at least until someone snorted which got me to look over at Thomas and Vincent who were chuckling under their breath and Serge who was innocently eating his food oblivious to anything else. Why are they poking fun at us all the time?
"And how are you two not dating?" Vincent asked getting me to harden my glare onto him. "Sure you maybe haven't agreed to be his girlfriend, but you don't have a problem with him getting close to you."
Geez, were you always a broken record? Besides that, when did Thomas join in? "You know I never took you for someone who enjoyed gossip so much." I shot back as I picked up my fork. "But you sure do love to spew it."
"Anyway, today Vincent and I will go in as Nightingale students. Randy will stay here as the lookout for trouble and for the red haired woman just in case she shows up. Klaus will go with Kayle as back up if they try something." Thomas looked down at me as I stabbed a piece of fruit with my fork. "Is that okay with you prefect Kayle?"
His teasing was adorable, but in need of ramifications. "Hey, you're the oldest. You have the big hair."
His face screwed up in confusion as he moved to flatten his hair out. Did he think that there was a piece standing up? All of us began to laugh at his reaction. "Oh very funny Kayle."