Ms. Lendrar hurried as she made her way through the hallways. She had finished her afternoon lectures not long ago, but the rumors had already reached her. ‘The ministry of magic control…’ she mumbled. What did they want here? Were they here for the murder or for them? She couldn't tell. It was lucky that her students were as talkative as always. What could have happened if she had noticed these new guests too late and had been caught doing something that involved Dark magic? She didn't even want to imagine… but that was why she had to hurry. She had to tell Mr. Brad about this before something bad happened. Where was he? She thought for a moment… he had a lecture about regenerative water spells today. She knew where that room was. Her speed as she took a turn. This had gotten way out of hand. She didn't intend this! But then again it was partly her fault… How much time did she have left? The students said they had seen them going towards the headmasters office. ‘Just as we were on our way here!’ they had said. If they saw them on the way to her lecture, which she ended early today, then she could still make it! She took another turn. As she made her best to hurry, it wasn't clear whether she was still walking or running. As she was on the final hallway towards her destination, she passed a large painting that decorated the left wall. The painting showed a light blue bird flying towards the sky. It was probably inspired by the folklore of these birds being the ‘guides of souls’. The sunlight had damaged the paint over time, and the difference between the bird and the sky in the background became smaller and smaller. Who had the idea to hang a painting like this in one of the hallways that had so many windows anyways? If she had painted it, it would hurt her to see her creation damaged like this. But she didn't paint it. She had abandoned the path of an artist when she was still a child. And so she continued on her way without paying too much of a mind to the painting.

Her timing was perfect, for exactly at the moment she arrived in front of the door, the bells began to ring. The students, unlike she expected, didn't run outside, but slowly walked. But of course. After all those weren't the younger ones she had just reached, but the older and calmer ones of Mr. Braf. Calmer… She missed the times when she herself could still give lectures to the older students. Maybe she would get some again next year? If she survived that long… After even the last student had left the room, she went inside. She took a look around the big lecture room to make sure there was no student she had missed. ‘We are alone.’ said Braf. His voice was very deep. It didn't fit his look at all. While Lendrar herself had black, short hair that didn't even reach her shoulders, he had longer, curly light brown hair. Many mistook that for a dark blond, but not her. She was good with colors. She closed the big door behind her. No one could hear what they were talking about now. She stopped her fake smile. ‘A few of my students saw officers of the ministry of magic control visit the headmaster.’ Her expression was dark. In her forty years, she had always managed to avoid these people. Braf was more familiar with them. ‘I see… so the headmaster really asked for help.’ He was calm. Too calm, as Lendrar thought to herself ‘Isn’t this a problem? They will keep an eye on us!’ Braf knew these people good enough to keep his cool now. They had never caught him until now. They just couldn't afford to make any more mistakes now. ‘These people are all talk. Amateurs. If we survived Harms, they won't pose a threat to us.’ He looked down. ‘And we already have a much bigger problem…’ Lendrar broke out in cold sweat. ‘You mean Stellox?’ Braf just nodded. ‘He was strong… but he didn't even have enough to call for help. And now they probably think we killed him.’ He managed to keep his calm image up, but even he was scared of what had happened. Stella had been their Allie, their senior in some sense. But he was gone now, and they had no idea who did it. ‘Do you think it could have been Harms himself?’ Lendrar asked. ‘Or maybe Stroff?’ She was visibly nervous. If she stayed like this, she would make mistakes. He had to calm her down. ‘No, I don't think so.’ Braf started. ‘It was probably just a coincidence. Maybe he fought with another teacher. Maybe got suspicious of him and it escalated. We don't know anything for sure.’ He knew that what he was saying was complete nonsense. Stellox wouldn't have died by any random teacher. And surely no one was suspicious of him either. Out of the three, Stellox was the one who blended in the best. But he had to lie to Lendrar. She couldn't be catched being nervous with the ministry around. This was for her best. She seemed at least a bit calmer now, it was great she didn't see the holes in his story. But he couldn't blame her for that. She, just like him, had big backs under her eyes. They all had sleepless nights since… since when? Was it when they noticed Mr. Vonstadt, the last expert of the old languages being guarded in the Dame? Was it when they saw the headmaster's speech? When Stellox was killed? No… when they found this damn room. That was the moment despair had cliched on to them. How did they manage that? The headmaster had said that a student had become suspicious. Did he lie? Did Harms notice it? That couldn't have been, it was totally secure. It didn't leave any mana leaks. It was as isolated as a void. But then how? Another thing was that they had found no mana traces. Of course, the three of them had always tried to leave as few as possible, but someone like Cloffing should have surely found them? Did he lie to keep them safe? That couldn't be it either… but then why? The more Braf thought about this, the more it felt like they were all just pieces on a board. Like someone used them… He had to stop thinking. He would go insane otherwise. Or worse, he would get nervous to a degree where he couldn't hide it anymore..that would mean certain death. He had to get his head clear. ‘If the ministry is here, that means Harms doesn't feel like he can catch us by himself. That is good.’ Braf said. His view wandered to the big board that was still full of magic circle illustrations. ‘How much does he know?’ he mumbled. Lendrar spoke again. ‘I saw Cloffing carry a book from Mrs. Fotto to Mr. Vonstadt. I fear they may have broken the seal of Stellox' book.’ Braf looked at her in shock. He didn't know what to say anymore. The book with the seal had been given to them by an anonymous donor. The seal on it had been so advanced… Of course Braf had been very suspicious of the book in the beginning - all of them had been. But it wasn't cursed and had no spy magic applied on it (they had checked several times). In the end they had accepted that it was a benefactor of the dark arts. But now that seal was broken… He had underestimated Fotto. At least it had bought them time… he logically sorted the information he had been given. ‘In that case they know that he was one of us. Now they will check who was around him often.’ Braf smiled. ‘We always paid attention to not being seen with him. We are the last people they will suspect.’ Lendrar seemed less confident. ‘We though that about the secret room too.’ Brafs expression shifted to something darker for a moment. But he chose to to think about this room anymore. ‘It will be okay this time. We just can't afford to make any mistakes from now on.’ Lendrar looked at the floor. ‘There is also something else… I couldn't get in contact with Roesch this morning.’ Braf got nervous again. This time he had a hard time hiding it. Epesch was the capital of Karvoc. A few of the nobles living in Epesch were especially interested in not letting the Dark magic users die out. They had supported this cell and stayed in contact with them. If they cut the contact… Braf turned to Lendrar. ‘You don't really think they dropped us, do you?’ It had been Stellox who created this connection, but after that Lendrar had kept contact. If she couldn't reach them… No. That wasn't it. They would definitely abandon them if it was close, but the academy had no idea about them being dark mages yet. It didn't seem reasonable… Maybe something had happened on the other side? They weren't the only ones who received support from Epesch, so maybe something went wrong with the others. Could that backfire on them? Definitely not. ‘Could you contact anyone else? Maybe they just sealed off communication.’ Lendrar nodded. She had checked that already. ‘I can still contact other locations.’ Braf suddenly got nervous at the thought of another possibility… ‘We lost a tremendous amount of books when we lost the room. Do you think they blame us for it?’ This was the first time Lendrar had good news. ‘They don't, I know that. We spoke shortly after it happened.’ Braf was relieved. His thoughts were running about the endless possibilities. He decided that that would take too much time for now. He looked back at Lendrar. She had aged a lot in the past days. But so had he. If he had known that his life would become like this, he wouldn't have accepted the offer that the friend of his father had made him at his funeral. But now it was too late. He was hunted because of his knowledge. Dark mages were the enemy of the public, he knew that when he joined. He himself had hated these people before he became one of them. But why? Because they were different? Because they were stronger? Or was it because he was told to hate them? He wasn't sure of that anymore. The only thing he knew was that he hadn't been able to change anything. That was why he couldn't die now. Not yet. He turned back to Lendrar. ‘We will have to pause our weekly meetings. Our research will suffer, but it isn't worth the risk.’ She nodded in agreement. They would soon get monitored, so they had to play teacher for the near future. That's how they survived. Having regained her composure, she turned towards the door. ‘It will be suspicious if we stay here for too long. As anyone asks, we talked about the students. As she opened the door, it was as if all the thoughts about dark magic were washed away. Now they were the honorable teachers again, the good spirits who had never killed anyone for their research.

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