The next morning I woke up early for the second day in a row. This time, though, I didn't feel the same sense of dread as yesterday. Sophia's body was pressed against mine, my arms still around her.
"Poor girl, I must have fallen asleep and she couldn't take a shower for fear of waking me up..." I thought as I slowly slid my arm out from under her.
I felt unusually refreshed. For the past few days I had been having trouble sleeping, waking up groggy and still feeling tired. But now...
"I feel like I could go up on the second floor and kick Skylark's butt!"
I looked happily at Sophia's serene face in the dim light of the room.
"She's worked so hard for me... I'll let her rest some more."
I gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek before getting up to head for the bathroom. Before taking a shower, I paused in front of the mirror. The Elizabeth staring back at me looked almost like a stranger.
«Is this... the power of sex?» I giggled, looking at my smiling face.
Obviously it wasn't just that. Getting intimate with Sophia had been the culmination of how close our relationship had become lately. It had been wonderful and I couldn't wait for another round. This time without hurting each other as much, if possible.
But it was only a tiny part of what had changed in me. I had tasted it. I had taken a sip of the forbidden nectar called 'a normal life by Sophia's side'. And I was probably still drunk on it. I turned on the shower and stepped under the cold water, hoping it would at least take some of the edge off the high I was feeling. Right now I needed to think straight.
"A normal life at Sophia's side... I want it. No... I need it!"
But getting it... wasn't going to be easy. As happy as I felt, it didn't mean I had suddenly acquired a hope I wasn't sure even existed.
"But if there's even a chance... I must find it and take it."
I ran one hand through my hair while holding on to the wall with the other, shivering under the icy water.
"Celeste's plan... it won't work."
There were so many problems with it. First of all, sneaking through the second floor unnoticed wasn't going to be easy.
"The only time Skylark isn't holed up in his office is when he wants to talk to us. We're so few in number that he'll know immediately if one of us tries to sneak up there in the meantime".
But, after thinking about it for a few minutes, was that really true?
"He came to talk to me... that could have been the perfect moment to set the plan in motion."
Obviously, both Sophia and Celeste were far too shocked to think about it at the time. But still...
"We could lure him out somehow... or maybe we could try at night. Instead of breaking in, I could phase shift through the ceiling after Sophia's power dispels the weak barrier that protects it. That way, I could stealthily search for the secret passage before we all go for it..."
Of course it would've been dangerous but if the other choice was just waiting and letting Penny die it was worth risking it.
"I should bring this up at the meeting later."
But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Even if we managed to get into the depths of the school, where the core powering the barriers was located, our troubles wouldn't be over. For a start, we had no idea what that mysterious part of the school looked like. What was waiting for us down there? Even stronger defences, perhaps? An entire regiment of guards protecting the core 24/7?
We had no way of knowing.
"Disruptive seals like the one protecting the floor of the entrance hall are probably a bad idea to safeguard something you really don't want to break".
But guards... there must have been a lot of them down there.
"From what I saw, all their weapons and armour are filled with enchantments. Sophia might make quick work of them, but if there are too many... besides, we would cause a ruckus and let Skylark know what we are doing".
But that wasn't the ony issue. Assuming we somehow managed to get to the power source and destroyed it, what then?
We'd have to get out of there without alerting Skylark. And even if that went smoothly, we were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a deep, dark forest. Since we knew that the location of Duelcrest Academy had never been discovered by anyone, we were probably in some kind of isolated place, far from any populated area. Thanks to the rather cold climate, we could assume that we were somewhere in the northern region of the realm, but that didn't really narrow down our location much. However, if things went our way, our magic would probably allow us to make it back to civilisation.
But even if we could overcome all these hurdles, there was still one last, impossible one we had to face.
"Aldric... the moment Skylark finds out that we have escaped, he will surely put him on our trail."
There was no way we could outrun that monster. And now that I knew what his signature spell actually was, beating him was even more out of the question.
"To be able to shoot his mana so freely... how is that even possible?"
The fact that Aldric could use that power as if he were throwing a few simple fireballs made me doubt Skylark's words.
"If that's really mana and it's not coming back... doesn't that mean Aldric should be dead by now?"
Did that man have so much mana that he could shoot it out like that as it was nothing? Even if that had been the case, the people controlling him wouldn't have wanted their weapon to use up its fuel so generously.
"But then... did Skylark lie to me?"
Again, I didn't think so. Of course, apart from a hunch, I had no particular reason to believe that the sadistic bastard was an honest man. But what I had felt at the moment that power had manifested made me think he was telling the truth.
"It was as if my whole being was on fire..."
And there was something else. A notion that I had acquired what seemed like an eternity ago, that had suddenly become important.
"Mana has a mind of its own."
It was Chloe who had revealed this secret to me. And now I could finally believe it.
"Did my mana feel that I was about to die and released itself? But then... why me? Why doesn't it happen when other people are close to death?"
I had to find out more, that's for sure.
"The true nature of mana... I think that's the key to all this..."
I needed Sophia's help. And Celeste's.
"I need to ask her about what she knows about this field, while making sure I keep my promise I made to Sophia to keep everything a secret. With how sharp she is, it won't be easy."
But even if I could figure out how to summon that mysterious power at will, defeating Aldric still seemed far too unlikely.
"If I can shoot an arrow, he has a whole battery of cannons ready to fire at me."
There had to be another way.
I brought my hands to my head, squeezing it as if I could extract my thoughts from it to make them clearer.
"If we cant fight Aldric... we have to make sure he doesn't come after us."
And there was only one way to ensure that:
"We have to kill Skylark, or at least incapacitate or trap him."
But the way he had laughed when I had threatened him in the infirmary seemed so genuine.
"He must have some powerful defences around him to make him so cocky in front of the possibility of being vaporised."
Of course, he also knew about Sophia's power and probably had a countermeasure against it. But... I couldn't just give up.
«OK, LET'S FUCKING DO THIS!» I yelled, psyching myself up as I slapped my cheeks.
My efforts could have come to nothing, but I would still have given it my all. I would have tried to make this happen or I would have died trying. After all, I now had one more stupid dream to add to my collection. I had probably formulated it last night as I drifted off to sleep, clinging to Sophia.
"I want... to see her in a wedding dress!"
She was just too cute in the green one Celeste had lent her. To see her in a white one, made to fit her, on what could have been the happiest day of our lives, made me giddy just thinking about it.
"I have to see her like that! We'll have a nice intimate ceremony... we'll eat lots of cake and then... I'll let her carry me to bed!"
Of course, I knew it was stupid to use something like this as a motivation to look forward, but if it worked...
«A BRIDAL CARRY!»
After drying myself, I walked out of the bathroom with a huge grin on my face. A grin that immediately froze when I came face to face with an annoyed Sophia.
«What the hell were you doing in there? You took ages!» she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Did she... hear me?"
I started to look into her eyes to find out, but my cheek instantly caught fire. She only had her shirt on, not even buttoned. This sight also made me suddenly realise the state I was in and I quickly did my best to cover myself with my hands.
«So... can you move? I need a shower... I feel so gross from the sweat,» Sophia said.
«W-what kind of reaction is this?» I asked, baffled.
«What do you want me to say, 'kyaaa! put some clothes on!' or something? Why get flustered? I saw everything yesterday!» she said, walking around me to get into the bathroom.
«This is not something you should apply your cold logic to!» I shouted as she shut the door.
I sighed as I got my clean uniform out of the wardrobe.
"She used to panic at just the thought of seeing me naked and now here we are, not even batting an eye... and I'm actually the one freaking out..."
I couldn't help but get a little sour at the thought that my girlfriend didn't feel anything seeing me without clothes.
"With the shirt open like that... she was so hot. Don't I give her the same feeling?... I know I'm not as attractive as her, but..."
When Sophia came out 10 minutes later, fully dressed, I had become extremely grumpy.
«Why are you sulking like that?» she asked, sitting down in the chair and starting to brush her long hair.
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«It's nothing...»
«Is it?» she paused to give me a deep stare.
I sighed again.
"Bad habits die hard..."
«I didn't like the way you reacted before. Weren't you... excited to see me coming out of the bathroom like that?»
Sophia immediately blushed and looked away.
«Of course I was... idiot... no, actually I'm the idiot this time. I was just trying to play it cool... I had to take a cold shower afterwards... We have class in a bit and we can't... you know.»
«Oh...»
I felt so dumb as relief washed over me.
«After what happened yesterday, I thought I would be more mature about this sort of thing...» Sophia murmured.
«Losing our virginity isn't some kind of magic spell, you know? We are still the same two idiots... just two idiots who had sex.»
«I guess you're right,» Sophia said with a smile, before resuming her brushing.
«Say Sophia... can I brush your hair?» I asked tentatively after a bit.
«Um... sure. Just be careful and don't do anything weird,» she said after thinking about it for a second.
«Don't worry... I'm a grown woman now! No more sneaky attacks!» I shouted, grabbing the brush she offered me.
«Even if I ignored the fact that you're contradicting what you said just a minute ago... I still wouldn't believe you anyway.»
I chuckled as I began to slowly brush her long corvine hair.
«My girlfriend is so smart... but how can you do this every morning... brushing your hair for so long I mean?»
«Habit, I guess... and it's kind of relaxing, isn't it?»
«At the moment it is... your hair feels so nice and soft... but I would lose patience if I had to do it every day.»
«I guess... like I said, it's just something I'm used to. I have a faint memory of someone brushing my hair like you are doing now when I was little. Maybe it was the same nanny who taught me that song I sang to you yesterday. But, ever since I was a child, I always kept it this long. When I was in the army, it felt really strange to have a boy's haircut.»
«I can imagine...» I giggled.
Then something else occurred to me:
«Wait... what did you have betwe-»
«I'm not going to answer that question!» Sophia cut me off.
"I need to check how transfiguration potions really work..."
I decided not to insist.
«Tell me Sophia... do you think I'd look good with longer hair?» I asked after a few minutes of silence.
«Would you like to try growing it out?» she asked, turning her head slightly.
«If you want me to...» I murmured.
«You shouldn't base your looks on my tastes, you should go with what you feel comfortable with. I'd still like you anyway.»
"This doesn't really help me much..."
But again, why should I hold this in and feel bad about it?
«I don't think... it would suit me. I'm not as beautiful as you... and not as feminine. I would look strange with longer hair...» I muttered.
Sophia immediately turned to look at me.
«Do you like longer hair, Elizabeth?»
«I do... but...»
«Then let it grow. You can always cut it if you don't like it. I'll help you brush it every day if that's the problem.»
«Sophia...»
My girlfriend stood up and put her hands on my shoulders.
«Feminine... what is that even supposed to mean? Stop thinking about how other people see you, Elizabeth. If you like long dresses and cute haircuts, go for it! You don't have to be a specific type of person for any of that!»
«You make it so easy because you'd look beautiful in anything...» I said in a low voice, looking away.
Sophia grabbed my chin and forced me to look at her.
«You're such a pain in the ass! You were stunning in that dress yesterday, ok? I'm sorry if I don't call you beautiful more often... you know how I am. But you have to be more confident in yourself as well... remember what you told me: we have to accept ourselves to be happy,» she said before kissing me passionately.
When she stopped, I felt like my brain was about to leak out of my ears.
"Last night... I may have created a monster."
«Do you feel better?» she asked, looking at her hair in the mirror.
«I feel like I want to drag you into bed right now!» I replied immediately.
«Of course... typical Elizabeth: being a pain in the ass and then wanting to do naughty things right away. It'll have to wait tonight, let's go for breakfast,» she said shaking her head.
«Alright, alright...» I said, following her out the door, «Sophia... you are so perfect. I swear, after the battle... you became like an angel! My guardian angel!» I exclaimed, giving her a gentle nudge with my elbow.
Sophia didn't seem to find my joke funny.
«Perfect...» she murmured.
I grabbed her wrist.
«What's wrong? And don't tell me it's nothing!» I said.
«You already know,» she said, pulling out my grip to intertwine her fingers with mine, «you saw me lose my cool when the pairings were announced... I'm afraid it's going to happen again. I feel so nervous lately...»
«It's ok!» I said, squeezing her hand, «I'm sorry for worrying you so much in the past couple of weeks. But I'm a new Elizabeth now! An Elizabeth who has had sex!» I shouted.
Sophia immediately covered my mouth with her hand.
«Have you gone mad? Do you want the whole school to know?»
But I could see her mouth curl into a smile.
«I'm joking, I'm joking,» I said after she'd freed me. Then I moved closer to her so that our shoulders touched, «What I wanted to say is... you don't have to do everything alone anymore. I'm sorry I've been such a burden lately... but I won't be anymore. I'm going to fight by your side without looking back.»
Sophia chuckled in response.
«I'm serious!» I said pouting jokingly.
«I know, I know... it's just... you're finally sounding like yourself again. I'm so happy!»
«I am too!» I said, smiling back at her.
«By the way... you shouldn't shout in the bathroom, you know? People might think you're crazy or something!»
I let go of her hand, frozen with shame. She winked at me before trotting off into the dining hall.
----------------------------------------
I spent the whole morning thinking about our escape plan and how we could realistically put it into practice. How could I concentrate on anything else after all?
The leaderboard with those 85 crossed out names and Penny in last place was a constant reminder that I couldn't afford any leisure time. I had spent too much of it moping around the last few weeks.
By the time lunch was over and it was time for our first alliance meeting in a while, I had still not come up with a good solution.
The atmosphere in Celeste's room was heavy as usual. Of course, the animosity between some of us was now a thing of the past. But now it was something much worse that was dampening our spirits. Penny's fate was so precarious that even helping her to survive this week might have been a problem.
«So... we should take turns again to give Penny some points,» Celeste said, officially starting the meeting.
For the first time in this room, Penny raised her hand to speak after her. She really had changed a lot, or rather, she had finally opened up. But I could see from the heavy bags under her eyes, not at all concealed by her make-up, that the poor girl was just trying to put on a good face.
«I think Wilhelm should stop giving me his points... I already feel bad taking them from you who are so high up in the rankings... If I take them fr-»
«No way!» Wilhelm cut her off in a firm voice.
«Will... it's alright, I'm not very useful and-»
«Shut up!»
This time it was me, Nicole and Celeste in unison.
«As they made clear, you needn't worry about me now. What kind of alliance would we be if we left someone behind?» said Wilhelm after Penny had stopped talking.
"He's a really good guy... I kind of feel guilty for treating him so harshly before..."
Another strange thing happened right after that. Philemon spoke:
«Sentimentality aside, we can't go on like this forever. Even if we manage to save Penny this week, next one looks grim. We should try another method,» he said, as calmly as if he were talking about the weather.
Celeste gave him a sideways glance:
«We have already talked about this, Phil! I have no intention of going after other students!»
Philemon did not seem to mind her rebuke:
«I know it's not pleasant. But we have to face reality.»
"So he got the same idea as me..." I thought, looking at Celeste who was scowling at him.
«I think... we should do it. We could just duel the person above Penny a bunch.... it's playing by the rules,» Nicole said after a bit.
«Guys... no please... don't...» Penny mumbled, but I could see she was wavering too.
"How could she not?"
But I...
I looked at Sophia, she was about to speak. But before she did:
«We can't do that!» I shouted, rising from my seat.
Philemon looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
«Apart from the fact that we would make enemies of all the other students by ganging up on someone... do you really want to play Skylark's game? This is what he wants... I refuse to get down on my knees and do his bidding just for a chance to survive!» I continued.
«Easy to say when you're not the one in danger,» Philemon said in response. His tone was still neutral, but I could see that he was slightly surprised that I would disagree with his perfectly logical suggestion.
But before I could find a good answer, Penny spoke up:
«Liz is right! You guys having to get your hands dirty just so I can live another week... I don't want this! Besides, if we go on like this, I'll end up behind Wilhelm anyway!»
«She's right... even if we decided to go scorched earth and eliminate all the other students... then it would just be us and we would have to choose who needs to die between us. I really don't want to get to that point» Nicole commented, nodding.
«Alright,» Philemon said, «if Penny says so herself, there's no point in arguing. But... what do you suggest we do then?» he asked, looking at me.
As I struggled to find a way to answer him, I felt Sophia's hand touch my leg and was instantly reassured.
"I have to be strong..."
«We must put our plan into action. We can't keep waiting for a chance to magically appear!» I exclaimed.
«You do realise that we can't all just stroll to the second floor if Skylark is up there, don't you?» said Philemon coldly.
«Not all of us... but one of us could sneak up there at night and look for the secret passage!» I replied.
«And who do you think would be willing to risk such a thing?»
«Me!» I replied immediately.
I could feel all their eyes on me.
«Elizabeth...» I heard Sophia muttering by my side.
"No... please... I need you to support me now..."
I looked at her. Sophia's eyes were filled with worry as she bit her lip. But after taking a deep breath, she nodded at me as her grip on my leg tightened.
«Relax Sophie, I'll keep her safe!» a cheerful voice shouted, immediately breaking the tense atmosphere as usual.
«What?» Philemon asked, looking at her with an uncharacteristically stunned expression.
«I agree with Liz, we need to act quickly. It's my fault! What kind of leader am I if I don't make bold decisions?! I've been worrying too much and I was waiting for an opportunity... but since it hasn't come, we must be the ones to create it!» Celeste exclaimed with a defiant look on her face.
It was very strange to see Philemon's steadfast composure crumble before my eyes:
«Wait! Sending two people up would only increase your chances of being discovered!» he complained, pounding his fist on the table.
Celeste put a hand over his in an even more uncharacteristic show of affection:
«I know you're worried, Phil, but I'm pretty good at concealing myself. Besides, with two of us, we'll cover more ground and get out faster.»
«I... this is pointless anyway! Even if you manage to find a passage without being spotted, how are you going to get us all up there?!»
It was my time to answer again. The answer... I had found it before. I had no idea how to do it. But the first step to making it a reality was to say it out loud:
«It's simple... we have to kill that bastard.»