"You need to calm down," Leona said.
You didn't answer him. You were pacing his room from wall to wall, trying to get the truth to fit into your head the way it was supposed to.
Witch. You couldn't believe it was actually happening. That title, the thing they had called you more often than your own name, was right. All those accusations of bad luck and curses, you wondered how true those were too.
"It can't be true. It must be wrong. It's because of the wand."
"Y/N, what are you talkin' about?" Leona stepped in front of you and grabbed your hands at the wrists, bringing you back to reality. There were warm tears on your cheeks, and your throat felt constricted, already sore. "You're not invisible anymore."
"How did I do magic?" you asked him like a plea. "Can anyone do it? When they have the wand, anyone can do magic, right?"
"No. The wand is just a tool to do it safely. It's your power."
You were afraid he would say that. Terrified. "I don't want to be a witch," you cried out, quietly. It was more breath and gravel than word but Leona gave you an honest look of concern. It clashed with his features so much you thought for a second you were imagining it.
"You didn't know you had magic?" he asked, with a voice much warmer and earthier than he normally used. You shook your head. You felt his hands still on yours and you almost wanted to be closer to him. He stroked his thumb against the side of your palm, like a rock that blocked the crashing waves. He let you take a few more deep breaths. Then he asked you, gently and decidedly, "What was it like, where you're from?"
You sat down on the bed as he pulled you next to him. And you told him about your home.
You didn't know how your parents had died. You had been ten or eleven at the time. You told him about the years after that, though. How you struggled to find food, as people drew away from you more and more. About how it had started as whispers among children, and grown into the stares and spit insults of the adults. How it became harder and harder to find someone who would let you work. And then you told him about Mrs. Linkin. The woman had taken you in at fourteen years old, given you work and food and a place to stay. You told him how she'd ended it. And what she'd said.
Leona didn't interrupt you. He listened, with soft eyes and open open ears. You started sniffling again, at the end, and so he pulled you into his arms for a hug.
He felt so warm. His hair was soft. You hadn't been hugged in almost eight years. The last people to hold you like this had been your parents. You felt like you should be saying something. Some kind of thank you, but you didn't know how to respond to this kind of support.
"There's nothing wrong with having magic," he said. "I don't know what they were doin' there, but here, it's completely normal. This is a school for magic, after all. And I've only met one or two people that didn't have any, anyway. You're safe here."
You're safe here. You knew that wasn't really true. There might not be anyone burning witches here, but there were still people that wanted you dead. "Crowley..." you said.
Leona pulled away, which you were a little sad about, and made a 'hmph' sound. "I have a plan for that," he said. "He ain't gonna be an issue much longer."
"You figured out how I can escape, then?"
"I think I know of a way." He frowned, a motion that was more like revealing his teeth in a soundless snarl. "Not gonna be easy though. There'll be some talkin' to do."
You paled a little. "You don't mean with Crowley again, do you?"
"No. Someone else."
"Okay..." you trusted him, certainly, despite only knowing him for two days, but his face was dark with his own disdain and you didn't like what that might mean. "Thank you," you said. You felt like you couldn't thank him enough. You couldn't imagine why he was doing so much for you.
"Yeah." He stood up, becoming entirely separate from you. "I'll tell you after class. For now, just try to lay low."
You nodded, and your stomach growled audibly.
"I'll bring you back lunch," Leona said.
You walked with him to the door, and whispered a 'bye'. He waved behind at you, not turning back to look, and you closed the door after he was gone.
While you were alone, you took the time to think. It seemed that you had been wrong about a lot of things. Magic was real. You were a witch. And perhaps that wasn't so awful.
You reopened the book you'd been reading before and continued with it, until Leona returned to bring you lunch, as promised. You were starving, and you ate it a bit quicker than was probably appropriate, but didn't stop to care. No one was there to watch you anyway, so you thought.
As you neared the middle of your meal, you felt eyes on you, and you looked to the door to see it creaking open for Ruggie's smug face to see in.
"So this is where Leona took all that extra food, huh?"
You swallowed your bite of turkey sandwich and tensed, as the hyena swaggered into Leona's room.
"He's just keepin' you here? What are you, his pet?" Ruggie spat the question rhetorically, and you answered him anyway.
"No! He's helping me get away from here."
"Fastest way to get you away would be tellin' Mr. Crowley. And I haven't seen him yappin' yet."
"He—you can't!"
"Well, not like anything's stoppin' me," he taunted. "Least of all you. If you give me some of that, I might hold off, though." He pointed at your plate, which still had a considerable amount of food left on it.
You understood what he was saying and immediately pushed the tray toward him, even setting down your half eaten sandwich on it. A full stomach wasn't worth your life, and this was an easy deal to make.
Ruggie seemed surprised by the speed of your reaction. He shot up his eyebrows and grinned as he accepted the food eagerly. He sat right on the floor and began scarfing your lunch down at nearly the same speed that you had been. Had he not already eaten his own lunch?
You watched him eat without saying a word, not commenting on the mayonnaise he'd gotten on his chin. Eventually he broke the silence himself by asking, with a mouthful of salad, "Why are you so against seeing Mr. Crowley anyway, if you're so eager to leave?"
You gave him a wide eyed stare. "Crowley wants to kill me," you said.
Ruggie coughed as if he'd choked in his lettuce. "What?" He took a drink of his—your—water. "What did you do for that?"
You shrugged. "I'm not from the present. I'm supposed to be dead, I guess."
"I never thought Crowley was the type for that sort of thing. Is that really the rule on time travellers?"
"I don't know." You didn't know anything about rules. You only knew what you'd seen and you'd heard. You're supposed to be dead.
Ruggie was quiet, sitting in front of his plate for a few moments longer. "Alright then. I guess I won't tell Mr. Crowley about you hidin' here, then." He scratched at his golden furred ear. "As long as you keep sharin' your food." He picked up your croissant, smiled, and left.
He hadn't finished all of the food, so you took his spot on the floor and ate what remained of it. Leona's book was taking an interesting twist, when the lion prince killed his older brother for the throne. You were fully enraptured in the story when you heard the sounds of students filtering back into the dorm. Classes must have been over.
Leona opened the door and motioned for you. "Come with me," he said. You followed him out the door, leaving behind the book and the empty food tray.
"Where are we going?" you asked as you walked through the hall and past the complaining comings and goings of Savanaclaw students. They seemed to be getting ready for more sports practice. Twice in one day. That seemed like a lot.
A nod passed between you and Jack when you made eye contact. The tall wolf man was still just as respectable as before. He didn't stare at you for any longer than that.
There were a few who did, though. While it didn't seem like anything antagonistic it also didn't do much good for your nerves for so many of them to see you here. Any one of them could talk to Crowley whenever they so desired, if they felt even the slightest suspicion toward this student who wore their uniform, but whom they didn't know.
You stuck closer to Leona to seem more in place, until you were out of the dorm and back at the mirror, crossing through to the hall of mirrors at his lead.
"Where are we going?" you asked.
"Mostro Lounge. There's someone there who I think might be able to get you a key."
"Oh." A lounge? You didn't know if you even knew what that word meant. You knew even less when you got there.
It was a fancy establishment, with deep blue tones and a massive aquarium. There was jazzy music playing, and you thought it must have been being produced by magic, since you couldn't spot a band anywhere. Students in many different dorm attires were being served drinks and small plates of food, chatting at tables and cushioned booths. This was not some place you had expected to find at a school.
"Who are we looking for?" you whispered.
"The owner," said Leona. He approached a server with a plate of drinks. "I need to talk to Azul."
The server nodded quickly, and mumbled about going to get him. You and Leona waited for him to return, and when he did he ushered you to a table farther back, where the music was quieter and there were less people.
Leona took the seat next to you in the booth, leaning back in a position that should have looked relaxed. Leona didn't seem relaxed at all, though. He was tensed and on edge. You squirmed a little in your seat.
"So, what's he like?" you asked.
Leona shook his head. "Not the kind of guy you wanna hang out with," he said. "Just, let me do the talkin'. And don't make any deals."