In the previous chapter: During a heated argument, a white flame burst around Uilliam. Oriane fainted immediately following it. Uilliam considered taking the Rosicrucians' less-than-benign offer.
-----
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
"I knew you were acting weird that day. Now tell us what happened." Marian put one hand on her hip and pointed the other at Oriane. A little sputter of fire exploded at the tip of that finger. The sparks almost singed her nose.
Charlotte, on the other hand, sat behind her and affectionately rubbed her back.
"Let it go for now," said she. Her tone suggested that she wasn't happy but didn't want them to argue over it.
"No. I want to know what happened right now!" Marian insisted. Turning to Charlotte, she added, "And don't tell me you're not interested. You're the one who dropped everything when you heard Anna's in the infirmary to go see her."
Oriane turned around. Face to face with Charlotte. Her eyes widened, then softened, emotionally touched by the friendship she had garnered in such a short period. It wasn't only Charlotte, Oriane also recognised the worry etched on Marian's face.
The first thing she did as soon as she was let out by Doctor Finnell was visit Charlotte and Marian's shared dormitory. As of this moment, both were still in their pyjamas. Marian didn't even have her spectacles on. Meanwhile, Oriane had already been given a change of clothes. At six thirty in the morning, they were all crowded together in the living/lounge area.
It was time to tell them what had happened. This went against Carolina's advice but she didn't want to withhold anything from them. Besides, the more people who knew about it, the more help she could get, right? Especially if that master of the Rosicrucians made good on his word. Thinking back on it all, she admitted how reckless she was.
And so, she retold her tale to her companions quickly, who were both shocked and shaken after knowing what had unfolded right under everyone's noses. Disbelief was clear on their expressions. She wasn't sure what it was that they were more stunned over: was it the fact that she, the generally quiet and reserved one, had willingly tangled herself in the heat of some drama? Or was it that there was a full-blown conspiracy proceeding right as they spoke?
Oriane supposed it was a bit of both.
To her surprise, Marian suddenly laughed. A sound that whooped, echoing in the quietness of the room. "I didn't think you had it in you, Anna."
Charlotte gasped. "Don't encourage her, Marian."
"I don't need to encourage her," Marian replied. "She's doing a perfect job as is." T0 Oriane, she said with a chuckle, "I can't believe you sneaked off like that and got into that much trouble on your own."
Oriane frowned at Marian's casualness. "Remember, you can't tell anyone I told you."
Marian shrugged and waved her off. "Even if we said anything, no one would believe us. Trust me, this is not something I'm taking lightly. You said the leader of that underground group declared you're going to work for him?"
Nod.
"And Mister McMurphy, who is really an Enforcer, won't help keep you safe?"
Nod.
"And you're really the only person who knows where they meet?"
Nod.
With a sigh, Marian fingered the golden pentagram pendant and measured her words, "That means you can't get rid of this problem for a while. We, now, actually. Since you told us about this, which is one of the smartest things you could've done." She paced around the room. "Think about it. Your affinity is nowhere to be seen. You have no way to defend yourself. From here on, we'll do the protecting. All you have to do is stick with us."
"I don't want to involve you two. It's dangerous," Oriane noted, looking at the two girls. "Better I than you."
"Nonsense! Go at this alone, and you'll pay with your life," Charlotte cautioned. "You have a better chance of surviving this with us by your side at all times. I have a feeling it's about to get a lot worse..."
"We need to know more about the enemy. Charlie, why don't you psych it out with your crystal ball?" suggested Marian. "You know, on your big one?"
"The correct term is divination and no, you know I'm not allowed to do it for someone I personally know!"
"Knock knock. Hello–? You don't have to for her–" Marian pointed a thumb at Oriane. "–per say. Do it for like that Rosy-blah blah man who's threatening her. You don't know him personally, do you?"
"I can't guarantee it's going to give me the results that're going to be helpful here!"
Marian sighed in frustration. "Give it a try at least! Shouldn't we, at least, know what he's up to next?"
"That directly interferes with our decisions then!" Charlotte shook her head. "I can't do it."
"Seriously? You're such a chicken! Fine then," Marian turns towards her room. "I'll grab my tarot cards."
While Marian rummaged through her belongings, muttering to herself the entire time, Charlotte fished out her smaller crystal ball, the one she carried on herself all the time. "I'm not allowed to mess with the future. If I do conduct a divination and it affects how we act or make decisions, then bad things could happen." She placed the small round quartz in one of Oriane's palms. It felt smooth and cool to touch. "But I can try to trigger your affinity or point you in the right direction. Don't you want to have something up your sleeve just in case you need to protect yourself?"
At that, she recalled that Doctor Finnell had said something about surpassing her limits. Immediately, she felt a sharp fear for using any magickal abilities she might unlock. What if she surpassed her limits again? She couldn't risk it.
Or could she?
Hadn't she always wanted to fit in? Find the answers to her ancestry? The only way for her to do any of that is to find answers to what was happening to herself. To trigger her affinity. Even if Charlotte's method didn't work out, it would be a start. At that thought, her heart palpitated in nervousness. She was all at once curious what caused her to faint and stay unconscious for two days and what it was that made Great Granny send her to this school.
"Okay," she agreed. "What do I have to do?"
"Usually, I'd tell you to push a bit of your aura into the crystal, but I heard what happened last time you tried to do that. Marian used her affinity to put some pressure on you and then you fainted."
"Yes, I remember."
"I'll use a different method. All I want you to do is close your eyes and relax."
"Right now?" Was Marian not going to get her tarot cards out or something like that?
Charlotte blinked at her. "Yeah. Right now."
Taking a deep breath, she made herself comfortable. Her back leaned against the back of the sofa chair. One hand pressed against the armrest and the other holding the crystal, Charlotte positioned it at the hollow between her collar bones.
"Relax..." Charlotte urged her. "You won't feel a thing. Great, now close your eyes."
Footsteps approached them. Must be Marian. Then there was a prompt shush from Charlotte.
"Listen. I need you to envision a sanctuary. A place you feel comfortable. A place like... heaven. Your own brand of heaven."
That proved to be a challenge. Oriane never tried to think of a sanctuary for herself before. The only comfort she had ever known was her solitude with Toffee (she hoped someone had magickally fed her cat while she was out).
Hence, she envisaged those moments back in London. Even though she was lonely and confused, she felt secure with her feet planted on the ground. Most unlike her life since she arrived at Mystic High. It constantly felt like she was about to be swept off her feet by a gust of wind or another element. And she was always learning or discovering new experiences.
While enlightening, it was also frightening. For now, she let go of her insecurities. Instead, focused on memories of... home.
"You're doing good," whispered Charlotte. "Just stay in that space until I snap my fingers."
The crystal orb beneath her fingers grew hot gradually. Not burning hot, so she could still keep it in her hand.
The light-greyness of her aura glowed in soft waves from her body. Images flickered in the crystal but were blurred, as though a veil had been placed over it. Charlotte had difficulty deciphering the visions shown in the orb.
Footsteps padded back and forth, finally returning to Oriane. Charlotte took the small crystal from her hand and immediately replaced it with a much larger orb. It was similarly cold then grew hotter and hotter until it felt like a spheric hot water bottle was placed on her chest. Charlotte directed both her hands to hold secure the new crystal orb.
The fog persisted, however, even with the bigger crystal.
"There's a block," Charlotte said under her breath.
Marian couldn't read the orb as Charlotte could. Regardless, she whispered in Charlotte's ear, "Should I try to clear it?"
"No," the Asian replied. "This block is deliberately put there. You see these lines?" She pointed at the faint silver slithers criss-crossing the edges of the vision. "If we try to undo it, who knows how she might react."
"But can you do an accurate reading?"
"Not really," she admitted. "I'll do my best."
The fog over the image heavily impeded on how clear the reading could be. It didn't help that clearly the image behind the veil was not her own element. Nothing to do with water, unfortunately. From the clouded colours, the image was mostly monochrome – which could indicate an affinity to air. But the air affinity often had greens in it too. Perplexingly, the blurry image produced merely shadows and black and white delineations of the sorts Charlotte had never seen.
It was the best she could do. She watched for few long seconds as the shadows moved behind the fog. One, particularly, began to advance closer, appearing larger than the rest of the shadows. Its mouth, or what was like its mouth, stretched open, devouring the orb. Until most abruptly, it unleashed a silent roar!
Charlotte squealed and jumped back, hands covering her ears from the deafening sound.
"By the goddess, what happened?" Marian didn't even bother keeping her voice down and she went to her side and helped her sit up on the floor.
Even with her hands covering her ears, she couldn't stop the roar from ringing in her eardrums. Against her instincts, she lifted a hand, and snapped her fingers, effectively waking Oriane from the space the orb placed her in.
The first thing Oriane saw when she re-opened her eyes was Charlotte on the floor, with Marian at her side. Charlotte had both hands covering her ears and scrunched her face up in obvious pain.
"Charlotte?" What did I do this time?
"Oh god. Anna, stay there and get that orb off yourself."
Following Marian's instructions, she lifted the quartz and put in the adjacent seat.
"What is happening to her?"
"I don't know," Marian replied in all seriousness. She had never heard her sound so stern before. Then again, she hadn't known her all that well.
To try to find out what was happening, Marian lifted her palm and pressed it on Charlotte's forehead. An orange glow spread from her hand, then lines of the same sort spread into Charlotte's skin, as though all her veins glowed with power.
"I can't get to her!" Marian cried with urgency.
"We should take her to the infirmary!" Oriane suggested.
It was then that Charlotte's expression eased. Shortly after, her hands lifted from her ears and she waved Marian off.
"I'm okay. I'm okay." From her voice, Charlotte surely didn't sound particularly well.
Oriane released a breath she hadn't realised she was holding.
Marian lightly slapped Charlotte's arm. "Screw that. You're not 'okay'! What in the name of the goddess happened?"
Charlotte gestured to the orb. "She has a block on. And when I was trying to look past it, it attacked me. Probably. I'm not too sure." To Oriane, she said, "Someone doesn't want you to find out what your affinity is and the block feels like it's been there for a long time. There's also a possibility that you're growing past the block and you're lashing out at it."
"So, after all that, what's her affinity?" Marian asked.
"Er..." she mumbled. "I'm not sure."
"Okay, that's great. We should have gone for my tarot cards–"
It was seven. The distant clock tower chimed an echoing tune, interrupting Marian. The sound made them all jolt.
"I'll get out of your way," said Oriane, getting up from her seat. "My bag is upstairs and I'm not sure how Toffee is faring."
"I'll meet you in class. Don't go anywhere quiet by yourself."
Whatever that had happened with Charlotte merely convinced her that she shouldn't involve them at all. It was her problem. And nobody should be tied up with her in this mess. If she got kidnapped or attacked, it was her problem. And if she had to go off on her own to protect her new friends, she would gladly do it.
But at that point, all she did was smile meekly and nodded.
-----
Students were crowded at the notice boards that morning. With the notice boards at the front of each corridor next to the staircase, each floor was, therefore, hard to get past due to the traffic at each junction.
Oriane tried to squeeze her way up to the final floor where homeroom was, however was continuously pushed back down.
With a huff of resignation, she turned to take a peek at whatever it was that held everyone's attention.
A massive poster dominated the board splattered with yellow, red, and orange paints as background. The student council had begun preparations for the annual Autumnal Festival and are recruiting volunteers and donations for the event.
There were requirements too, with an emphasis on a carnival-like theme, hence the colour palette.
Wasn't that what was discussed during the weekend when Robert and his friends came and sat with them? It was that event where an artificial 'battle' would take place. It sounded dangerous and no doubt also highly anticipated.
She wondered if Marian and Charlotte would sign up.
Eventually, Oriane found her way out of the crowd. By the time she reached the room, everyone was already present. The class was abuzz with talk of the Autumnal Festival, with Zachery leading the discussion.
"The student council wants everyone in the class involved in the process," Zachery was saying. "We're doing things a bit differently this year. The prize for winning the battle, instead of a training period with an Enforcer, is an internship at the Council. Apparently, they want more people in leadership roles than in the Defence Chambers..."
When Robert spotted her, he rose and headed towards her. With a dazzling smile, he led her back outside.
"Hey, I didn't see you the past two days."
Oh dear, what do I tell him? "I was ill," she settled for.
His smile faltered and worry surfaced. "Feeling better now?"
She nodded a little and managed a smile of reassurance.
The smile was back. He leaned down towards her until only a breath separated them. "Say uh..." he said. "Do you want to work with me on the Autumnal Festival?"
"Just the two of us?"
"I'm the treasurer, so no, there are others who will help with the fund-raising," he replied sensibly. Then he took her hand in his and lifted it with sincerity. "I want you on my team."
The thought of participating in more work appealed to her. It would take her mind off the events that transpired. She only hoped that she would prove to be useful.
Shyly, she nodded her consent. And they both smiled at each other.
-----