Dedicated to suberzz for their support c:
፠CHAPTER ELEVEN፠
Nothing interesting happened since then, especially since I hadn’t gotten the chance to research anything else. A full day had passed after my last encounter with Chayn and I hadn’t seen him since. What happened? Was it not just a day ago that he said it was his job to follow me around? Whatever the deal was, it didn’t matter to me. I was perfectly happy at the fact that there was no guard to harass me all day.
A smile crept up my lips as I realised that tomorrow would be the last day with this horrid metal bracelet around my wrist.
One more day… I thought to myself. But three more weeks until Chayn goes away.
I sighed and rubbed my head in aggravation. Kaiti had turned back to her normal joyful self again. And for that, I was glad. However, I was itching to get my hands on the small leather book about Senious Avecum. I just needed to know more. About him, about the person from Harroway Woods, and about the one from my nightmares I’ve been getting ever since the night I caught him staring into my room. They were somehow linked, right?
As soon as class was over, and since there was no one to stop me this time, I raced to the library and plopped the two books on the varnished desk before me.
“Okay.” I exhaled and flipped open the slightly burnt leather book.
The pages were thick and yellow in colour. I skimmed through a few pages and realised that this wasn’t a book. It was a journal. The personal views of Senious. Things couldn’t get any better, right?
I landed on a random page where he’d written a spell. The words were of a foreign language, but his handwriting wasn’t anything I couldn’t read. Quickly, and without hesitating, I pulled Kaiti’s favourite spell book from the walls and looked for a spell that contained the same title as the one in the journal. Carefully printed out in front of me in black letters stood the translation, I assumed, of the spell in Senious’s journal.
I read back and forth from each book, and skimmed further into the journal. I realised that Chayn was right. Like me, Senious was looking for an escape from Calambria. But Chayn didn’t know me. Yes, we were both longing for the same thing, but in different ways. Senious had a more obsessive, more demanding want of escape. He seemed slightly… insane. Whereas I didn’t think the way he did. Did I?
Surely, though, he was the man from the woods. How could I have mistaken him for a guard? How foolish.
I was so engrossed in the books before me, that I hadn’t noticed when Chayn entered the small dimly lit room. He easily pulled the book from my grasp, and I let out a quick gasp.
“What are you doing?” his voice was firm and demanding.
I stood up and reached for the book but he pulled it back further.
“Hey! Give that back you bastard!” My temper started to rise. It was like I could no longer control it. Especially when I found myself around him. Chayn had somehow managed to always flip a switch in me.
“Didn’t I tell you not to read up on Senious Avecum?” he questioned.
“You may be my guard, but you’re not my father.” I countered.
“No, I’m not your father, but I can’t have you reading up on Senious, because it’ll give you ideas about escaping and I’m in charge of at least that, okay?” his voice seemed a bit irritated. “So, Nyala, you better start following instructions before you end up facing the consequences.”
“I already have.” I muttered, but he didn’t hear me.
At least, I don’t think he did. Instead, he shook his head and exited the room, slamming the door once again. He’d taken the journal with him, when it wasn’t even allowed to leave the room.
Moments later, Kaiti entered, her eyes partially wider than usual. “Wow, he seems to always leave the library in a pissy mood, huh?”
She giggled. “I guess it’s not the place for a guy like him.”
Her smile disappeared, though, when she saw the look on my face. I wished I knew how I looked at that one moment, because I wasn’t so sure myself. “What happened?”
I shook my head and sat down. Way to make a dramatic exit, Chayn. With my chin propped on my right hand, I took one more glance at the remaining books that lay on the table.
“Oh, hey! You already took out my book. Thanks.” Kaiti smiled and dove into the spell book.
At least one of us was happy. She was always the happy one, anyway. When was it really my turn? Was it time I started thinking about staying in Calambria and finding happiness here? No way.
--¤፥ º̊‡° ˚̈̇᎐፤•∙ⶑ†--
That night, another nightmare found its way to me. The same scarred face from before haunted me throughout my mind the whole night, leaving me unable to sleep. I slid my cold feet off of the bed and onto the smooth surface of the wooden floor below me. Setting the curtains to the side, I glanced at the full moon shining down at me, then turned my gaze to Harroway Woods. The figure, it wasn’t there, but still I found my way climbing through my window and padding off towards the direction of the gate. I shook the gate slightly and my hands shivered as it pressed against the hard metal. It was in the middle of the night, so the air was colder than usual.
“Hello?” my voice cracked.
The sound of the crunching of leaves made me turn my head. A foot appeared in a clearing away from the shade of the trees.
“It’s about time.” A voice echoed to my ears.
“About time for what?” I asked and took a step back slowly. “I came to clear things out.”
“Before you do,” the guy continued.
He stepped forward into the light, and my breath caught in my throat. I was shocked. His face. It wasn’t anything like the one in my dreams, though it was similar. He stood tall over me, his red eyes -which long lashes shadowed over- glistening in the moonlight. He was beautiful, definitely not scary.
“Look.” The guy said, and tossed a light, silver object to me.
I caught it in my hands and held it up to the moonlight.
“How careless of you to drop something so precious in Harroway Woods. Consider yourself lucky you got it back.” His voice was smooth, just like when we first met.
Bewildered, I eyed the object it my hand. It was a silver chain, and a beautiful one at that. The blue pendant is what stood out to me most. It was certainly precious, but it wasn’t mine.
“This doesn’t belong to me.” I told him, but my grip on the chain tightened.
He seemed confused at first, but the confusion in his face quickly disappeared. “Is it not?”
He thought for a moment, but shook it away.
“That aside,” he resumed. “Did you do as you were told? Did you get me the book?”
“Well,” I hesitated for a moment. Perhaps he’ll be easy on me when I tell him the news? “I want to make something clear first.”
“Go on.” He dragged his words and lifted an eyebrow.
“Wh-what’s your name?” I asked.
“I’ve a feeling you already know.” He placed his arms behind him and smirked. “Guess.”
“Is it possibly…” I hesitated again and twiddled with the chain in my hands. Who knew what I was getting myself into? “Senious. Avecum?”
His glance fell to the floor, and his hair covered his eyes, but it wasn’t long enough to cover the smirk that had grown on his mouth. “Indeed.”
It’s now or never. I thought to myself. Tell him what’s what because there’ll be no turning back.
“Alright, Senious.” I said, building back up the confidence I had earlier. “I have something to say then.”
He stood still. “What would that be?”
“The deal. It’s off. I will no longer assist you with your escape seeing that you were put there in the woods for a reason.” I regretted it the minute I said those words.
He reacted in a flash. “You can’t do that!” he yelled, his voice suddenly raspy.
I jumped back at the sudden anger in his voice, even though it was expected.
“A deal’s a deal. You have to do what you’re told! It’s the reason I let you live!” He leaped to the gate and grabbed it with his hands.
To my surprise, electricity shot through his body, and Senious flew back onto the gravelly floor. The metal bracelet on his hand that I hadn’t noticed earlier fizzed with sparks, lighting up the area around him. I stepped back and shook my head. He wiped his mouth and smirked.
“Fine then.” He chuckled. “Go on your way.”
Another step back, my heart rate racing.
“You’ll either come back.” He threatened. “Or pay.”
Leaving him in the darkness, I dashed back to the window of my dorm, tripping on the way. My legs just didn’t seem to cooperate with me on the way back. They trembled and seemed light. I’d try my best to escape soon. That way, there was no time for Senious to make me pay. Whatever he meant by that, I didn’t want to know.