Vallen: The Marking (Vallen series #1)

Chapter 55

Darcia told Alaric and Eldon that she would be telling their father about this, they pretended to be very upset about this so that she wouldn't tell any actual important people, like Woodville. Sure, their father would probably rain hell onto them, but that would just be for one afternoon. Woodville might transfer all of us to different schools. 

Once we were inside the castle, we immediately sprinted over to the girl's tower. We weren't allowed to be out of bed at night and Alaric and Eldon certainly weren't welcome in the girl's tower either. Luckily for us, there weren't any teachers checking when we entered.

I opened the door to my room and immediately started digging into my closet, while Alaric and Eldon each took a bed and completely flipped it, checking the bed frames, the mattresses and the pillows. We went through every centimetre of my room with a fine comb. By the time we were done, the sun had just started to come up. 

"We should have asked if he told them." Eldon said. The three of us were sitting on the ground. It looked like a bomb had exploded in my room. The very few belongs I had were scattered across the floor, alongside my tipped over wardrobe and flipped bedframes. 

"I don't think he did," I answered. "They lit a fire to hide their tracks last time, I think we would have noticed if that happened again."

God, I was tired. Alaric seemed to be the only person with energy left in his body, Eldon and I were both nearly asleep when Alaric jumped back to his feet. 

"Who does Kamau hate most?" Alaric said, pacing around my small room. "It's not Eira apparently, Eldon maybe?" 

"No, Rhys would hide the sheath with me." Eldon answered rubbing his eyes. "Probably Lamphere and Woodville too. Kamau hates Eira more."

Alaric stopped at my window, which had an eagle view of Welkis because my room was so high up in the tower. I had often looked out of it before going to bed, I could see the southern part of the town. The direction which featured most shops and restaurants. If I waited long enough I could see people stumbling out of the bars. Especially my first few months I had loved sitting on top of my nightstand and just looking at the Vallens walking around. It was the only time they couldn't see me looking. 

Alaric clapped his hands, I was awake again. "Dehaven!" He said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet before I could remember what year it was again. "Dehaven will know." He grabbed Eldon next, we were back to running through the hallways. No one woke up early during vacation time, so the castle was still entirely deserted. Alaric and Eldon had far longer legs than me, so I had a bit of trouble keeping up with them. I was completely winded when we burst into the graveyard.

Alaric was knocking on Dehaven's door, which I luckily remembered from the fire as well. He wasn't opening, which either meant that he was a deep sleeper or that he wasn't there. Eldon and I sprinted back down the stairs and headed towards his office. 

If he isn't in here it will take us ages to find him, I thought to myself. Eldon knocked twice on the door. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when Dehaven opened it. 

"Wha-" He said, but Eldon, rather roughly, pushed Dehaven back into the office and followed him in. I quickly entered too and shut the door behind me. We'll have to find Alaric after.

"Who does Kamau hate the most?" Eldon asked Dehaven. He looked like he was just waking up himself, his eyes shifted between me and Eldon. When he finally caught onto the urgency of our tones he answered.

"He's not fond of Miss Lovell or Mister Kerken," Dehaven answered. "He is the other student from human origins, most students have already forgotten about it, he's a senior now."

It didn't feel right. Would Kamau switch the sheath between human students every six years? Where would he even keep it when there weren't any? Just when I was about to ask for an alternative, Dehaven's face lit up.

"Woodville." He said. "He hates no one more than Woodville."

Eldon and I shared a worried glance. Breaking into the headmaster's office seemed a lot less appealing than just a random senior. 

"Are you sure professor?" Eldon asked. Dehaven nodded eagerly.

"When the old Professor Woodville died, Kamau tried to stop Theodore from becoming headmaster." He told us. "He wrote to Blackwood himself about it. They couldn't deny Theodore's birthright so Rhys and Kamau started doing everything they could to spite the young headmaster, in the hopes that he would leave. Professor Wolfe eventually put a stop to it." 

That was all the evidence we needed. We are going to break into the headmaster's office.