Level 5

• { 44 } •

Jade and I immediately ran backs to our room. I was was panting slightly by the time we got there, although Jade was barely winded.

Marie, Fred and Peter were all there already. "I assume everything went fine, since you guys are still here?" Marie asked as soon as the door was closed.

I grinned. "Almost had a slip up, but I had it covered."

Jade looked confused. "What do you mean?"

I shook my head. "For a Spy Jade, you can be ridiculously unobservant sometimes." I continued before she could heel at me for that. "We left the letter on the desk."

Her mouth popped open. "Oh."

"Yeah. It's a good thing that Sorcerers can't detect Familiar magic, otherwise, well..." I trailed off. But then Ninja, seemingly hearing our conversation, teleported right into my head and calmly made herself comfortable. A common habit, one I barely noticed anymore. Although the others looked a little surprised to see her there. But the sight of her was enough to bring smiles back to their faces.

"So, what did you find? And what's this mysterious letter you mentioned?" Peter said, crossing his arms over his chest.

I briefly recounted the events, and made sure to cover in detail what the letter had said. Between me and Jade, we were able to remember the whole letter, and the others looked just as confused as we had been. Marie wrote everything down on a spare sheet of notepaper.

"But there's something else," I continued on, throwing a glance Jade's way. "Those blackmail letters weren't fake, were they?"

She kept her face composed. "I don't know what you mean."

"You should have told us! We could have, um-"

"Done what?" Jade exploded, calm expression gone. "There was nothing you could do, and I already knew that. Professor Sageflower warned you about this earlier in the first semester, remember? Besides, I had already asked Slick, and if she couldn't do anything about it, what would you do?"

I flinched at the harshness of her words. "I don't know what I would have done, Jade. But I do know that I would have stood by my best friend and been there for her, if she had let me."

She looked down in shame, and I felt the pinch of guilt in my stomach.

"I-um-I'm sorry Jade. I didn't mean it," I apologized.

"No, it's fine. I should have told you. I was in the wrong in this situation, not you."

I sighed, "thanks Jade," before moving on and turning the conversation back to our mission. "Okay, so thanks to what we found we now know that Professor Rosewood has been in contact with someone, discussing some sort of project together. It also appears that they knew each other very well, judging by the way Alistair wrote. Also, they were at school during this point..." A thought came to me. "Do you think this was when Professor Rosewood was learning in Level 5?"

Marie looked thoughtful. "I suppose it is possible. But you said Alistair wrote 'I swear to you that I will not let these school tear us apart.' 'Schools', plural. What other school is there?"

Fred answered quietly. "The school for Villains."

***

Our meeting was ended right after Fred's statement. All of us were too afraid to consider that he was right. Because if he was, it meant that Professor Rosewood was committing the ultimate offence, one most students never even considered. She was conspiring with the enemy, the one we were all destined to fight if we passed. Could the other teachers be doing the same?

It was a scary thought to consider. But I couldn't deny the echo of truth that seemed to follow it.

But the next day was class, and I had to force myself to focus and remain calm. I had already spent too much time distracted, and was very behind in Potions.

During the next few days, Professor Rosewood gave no sign that she had realized what had happened in her office. But I thought I caught her glancing at me a few times.

Potions was organized in similar ways to Spells. There were different types of potions, strengthening, transforming, energizing, etc. For each type we learned, we would have to brew a potion that fell under that category and present it to Professor Rosewood for inspection. I had already botched one of these, which was transformation, while creating the plan to invade Professor Rosewood's office-so I had to ace the next one, which was strengthening.

Today was the first period we would be given to brew this potion, so I started researching different strengthening potions. Ones that improved physical and mental condition, and gave the user access to new abilities they never had before. While reading, Ninja sat in the desk staring across the room. Recently, I had been working on my relationship with her, treating her less like an average cat and more like a person. And it seemed like she was also doing the same, treating me more like a true friend rather than an owner. Ninja's advice was something I could always count on, something I had learned to rely on more often.

I followed her gaze and noticed that she was looking very deliberately at Alyssa, whose brewing station was directly across the room from mine. She was already brewing her potion, which I found odd, since we had only started researching a few minutes ago. Had she chosen that fast? Maybe she already had one in mind before the period started... which would have been the smart thing to do. I cursed myself inwardly.

Ninja's voice came again into my mind. Look again.

I focused back on Alyssa, but tried not to make it too obvious I was looking. The potion she had in her cauldron was a bright, bubbling green. Completely wrong for strengthening potions, which were commonly red or orange in colour. Which potions are green again..?

I looked down at my potion book in front of me, and eventually found the right page. 

'Recognizing Potions:

Strengthening potions: Reds and blues

Energizing potions: Yellows and oranges

Poisons: Black and clear

Transforming potions: Greens and purples

Advanced Healing potions: pinks'

My eyebrows furrowed. 'Do you think it is just a really bad mistake?' I thought to Ninja. She bother it respond, although if she had her answer probably would have been something like, 'Sure, it's a mistake. And I am an average household cat.'

I glanced at Alyssa for a little while longer, before focusing back on my work.

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Hey guys!

I just want to say Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it! Here's another chapter to celebrate!

So, how was this chapter? Theories? Don't be afraid to comment down below!

What do you think about potions so far? How might they be important later in the story?

Is Alyssa's 'mistake' really an accident?

Jade is still being blackmailed... who is sending the letters, and why? Are they going to get more serious?

What was Professor Rosewood contacting Alistair North for? What were they working on together? Could other teachers be doing the same?

That's all for now! Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed feel free to vote and comment!

Keep on dreaming!