Strolling through the school grounds, I made my way over to the women’s dorm. The courtyards had benefited greatly from the Spring rain that we had been receiving for the past couple of weeks. The grass was a deep shade of green; the flowers were growing steadily, some of them already blossoming, filling the air with their unique scents.

Waiting outside of the building, I sat down on a metal bench looking over a large patch of red and white flowers swaying in the breeze. There was a patch of flowers identical to this in the castle gardens. I fondly remember resting just like this, Bella sleeping on my lap as I enjoyed a peaceful moment.

Suddenly, I felt something land on my lap. Flinching, I looked down to see a familiar cat kneading my legs. Greeting me with a trilled mrrp, she started butting my chest with her head. Bella laid down on my lap as I started petting her. How had she gotten in here? The barrier and gates should keep anything from getting in or out. It was a curious thing, but she had most likely snuck in this morning when the traders shipped in their supplies.

Picking up the cat and seeing the way that she just hung limp made me chuckle. I’m sure that Hazel would love to see this her again. Cradling her in my arms, I stood from the bench and looked at the women’s dorm again. I’d been waiting for some time now. I was sure that I would see her leave the building. Hazel was a person of strict habit. She would have been up and around at the same time as Avery and I in the morning, but her roommate refused to get up before nine, so she had very little time to do chores in the early morning. After the morning ceremony, she would always go back to her dorm and be back out to do her laundry and shopping.

Taking in a deep breath, I walked forward and entered the women’s dorm. I had never gone inside before, and I expected it to be more girly or something, but it was identical to the men’s dorm. Thinking back, I remembered what room Hazel lived in. It was a few floors up and, seeing the stairs once again, my legs groaned in pain. It was rough, but I eventually made it to the fifth floor. Luckily, her room was close by, so I didn’t need to walk much farther.

I knocked on the door and heard some frantic rushing from behind it before the door opened, revealing a girl with strawberry blond hair who looked to be a few years older than me. She looked down at me with murky, brown eyes and a smile that betrayed the violent look in her eyes, though the smile disappeared the moment she saw me, turning into a grimace that better fit the look in her eyes.

“What do you want, kid.” She spat, leaning up against the door frame.

Thrown off by her appearance and mannerisms, I paused longer than I had intended. “I was looking for Hazel. Is she in there?”

“Nah, she left a few days ago.” The girl answered, tilting her head. “She said she didn’t feel right, so she left.”

The girl then slammed the door shut in my face.

Shocked, I stepped back and thought. If she felt sick, she would have gone to the infirmary, but she’s been gone for several days. I hope this isn’t too serious.

Turning to leave, I saw the stairs and groaned.

The trip down wasn’t as bad, but on the way I ran into Warner Manasette. The boy was followed by two other boys who looked his age, both with tan hair and orange eyes. The two boys looked to be identical twins. Warner met my gaze for only a moment, but in that moment, I noticed the edges of his mouth tug upwards slightly before he passed right by. I’ve only seen the boy twice now, but he’s definitely left a poor impression of himself in probably not just my mind.

Leaving the women’s dorm, I stroked Bella’s head. The cat mewled and pressed her paw against my face for a moment before pulling it back to clean herself. Laughing, I continued forward.

I would have made it to the infirmary far sooner than I did if I wasn’t carrying Bella the entire way there. Several times, a group of students would crowd me, fawning over the cat. Normally, Bella would have retaliated against the sudden attention and petting hands, but strangely, she let every one of them pet her.

Finally arriving at the infirmary, I started searching for Hazel in each of the rooms. There was no real list of people who attended unless they were here to receive special treatment. The list was pinned to the wall just inside the building, but was blank, so if Hazel had been here, it was for simple care.

After searching through nearly every room in the building, a nurse stopped me.

“If you want somewhere to run around, then go outside. People are trying to rest.” She scolded.

“I’m sorry, but I’m looking for someone.” I replied, out of breath.

“If you’re looking for someone, then ask the staff.” She sighed.

I groaned mentally and asked the nurse if she’d seen Hazel in the past few days.

“I think so, yeah.” The nurse answered, stroking her chin. “I remember a girl with pretty hair like that leaving yesterday morning. I haven’t seen her come back, so I don’t think she’s here.”

“Thank you.” I said, rushing out the building.

She went to the infirmary and left yesterday, but she hasn’t gone back to her dorm. Where are you, Hazel?

Suddenly, Bella, who had up until this point been quietly laying in my arms, struggled from my grasp and leapt onto the ground and ran off in one direction. I chased after her, cursing each time my feet touched the ground. Then she stopped. She then sniffed at the ground and started meowing very loudly while pacing around.

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“What is it?” I asked, crouching down next to her.

She responded with a loud mewl before biting onto the cuff of my sleep and pulling me over to a storm drain close by. Letting go of my sleeve, the cat jumped into the storm drain and started meowing again. Poking my head into the drain, I watched Bella pace around before moving deeper into the tunnel where Hazel lay unconscious.

Alarmed, I slipped down through the drain and rushed over to Hazel. She was cold and soaking wet, hunched in the dark. Seeing her like this made any pain that I was feeling disappear.

Carefully, I scooped her up and slipped her through the storm drain before climbing out, myself. Bella was close behind, mewling loudly.

Holding her in my arms, I ran Hazel all the way back to the infirmary, ignoring all the stares and comments that people made as they watched. The same nurse who had chastised me before was there when I ran in and was quite surprised to see who I was carrying. Immediately moving past the surprise, the nurse took Hazel and brought her to a room not too far away.

She had made me wait outside the room while she took care of the still unconscious Hazel.

After a few stressful minutes, the nurse came back out of the room, shutting the door behind her. “She’s okay.” She stated, causing the weight of stress that had been building on me to dissipate. “But before I let you step foot in that room, you will explain to me what happened.”

“I don’t know.” I replied, frustrated. “I hadn’t seen her in a few days, so I went to go check up on her and then I find out that she’s missing. Then I find her passed out in the storm drains.”

“How did you find her so fast?” The nurse asked, suspicious. “You left here not too long before coming back with her.”

“Our cat.” I answered simply, gesturing to the feline napping on a cushioned seat. “She led me to her.”

“Our cat?” The nurse asked. “So you’re siblings?”

“…Yes.” I answered slowly.

The nurse eyed me warily before closing them and breathing deeply. “She’s lucky that you found her when you did.” She stated, explaining. “Her body temperature has dropped quite a bit. I had to take off her uniform and put her in a patient gown. I have no clue why a girl would want to sleep in a storm drain of all places.”

“I… I don’t think she went there willingly.” I replied, gritting my teeth.

“Well, we’ll find out once she wakes up.” The nurse stated, stretching. “Until then, go ahead and see her and let the staff know if she wakes up.”

Not waiting for the nurse to step out of view, I rushed in the room and up to the bed where Hazel lay under a pile of thick blankets.

Dropping down onto a seat beside her bed, I watched as Bella leapt up onto the pile of blankets. The cat stepped around for a moment before moving over and crawling under the blankets where she curled up and started purring.

Staring at Hazel’s face, several thoughts ran through my mind. I didn’t know for sure who had caused this, but I had a good guess. Hazel insisted that I don’t get into trouble and focus on finding clues for where my sister went, but this was too much. If focusing on finding Faria meant that Hazel had to suffer things like this, then maybe I didn’t need to find her. Faria had left clues for me to get to this point, so she must have wanted me to look for her, but I had to change my methods. I needed this girl by my side.

Suddenly, as I sat pondering, a heavy pressure swelled within me. It started where the guilt pains were and spread through my body. The pressure grew stronger and stronger until I could see little red flecks floating in the air around my body. A groan drew my attention to Hazel who had a pained look on her face. The same red flecks were floating over her body as well. Recognizing what this could be, I hurriedly rushed to her side just as her hand reached out from under the blankets. Holding her hand in mine, I felt the pressure within me grow stronger, then rush toward my hand as a flow of energy flooded my body through Hazel’s hand. The exchange felt oddly comforting. The energy building inside me was not my own, it was for Hazel and likewise with the energy in her.

It took barely a moment before the exchange finished and the pressure faded, replaced with a sense of fullness and satisfaction. Taking a deep breath, I summoned my aura and watched the colored light rush through my veins. This time, however, the light was a dark, indigo color. Whatever this exchange was, it had raised my aura rank.

“Mal?” A weak voice spoke from right beside me.

Shooting straight up, I turned to Hazel looking at me with squinting eyes.

“Hazel, you’re alright!” I exclaimed.

“Where am I?” She asked.

“You’re in the infirmary.” I answered her question.

Her eyes widened in alarm as she frantically sat up. Looking down, she realized that she was dressed in only a thin layer of cloth that hung loosely. Just as quickly as she sat up, she laid back down and yanked the blankets back up over her.

“Are they here?” She asked, turning her head to look around the room.

“Who?” I asked. “Hazel, you’ve been missing for more than a day now. What happened?”

“Close the door, quickly.” She instructed.

I quickly closed the door and returned to my seat while she sat up and wrapped the blankets over herself.

“So, what happened?” I asked, leaning forward.

“It started last Sunday.” She started. “I started feeling really tired at weird times. The feeling only grew stronger until I decided to come here. They told me that I was just sleep deprived and told me to rest in a room. I did what they told me, but just before I fell asleep, I heard people come in my room. I recognized one of the voices as that Werner guy from the first day. Anyway, I felt that something was wrong, so I got up and ran. Whoever it was that came in the room chased after me, but it was raining that day, and they slipped and fell once they came outside. They followed me for a while, but I saw a storm drain and figured that it would be hard for them to find me in it, so I hid inside. Then I fell asleep. I don’t know how or why I fell asleep, but that’s all I remember.”

Hearing her story, I knew full well what had been done and was furious. Warner had tried to drug Hazel. Who knows what unspeakable things they would have done if she had not managed to get away.

“Mal, no! You can’t get in trouble.” She exclaimed. “We have to find your sister, and we can’t do that if we get expelled. I’m fine. I’m used to-”

“No!” I shouted. “If finding Faria means you have to suffer, then it isn’t worth it. We can find another way.”

“But, what if there isn’t another way?” She asked, worried.

“Hazel. Just let me do this.” I pleaded, meeting her gaze.

“Okay.” She replied. “Just try not to get into too much trouble. I’ll try to come up with something in the mean time.”

Sighing with relief, I hugged her. “Oh, you have a guest by the way.” I said, gesturing to the lump under the blanket at the edge of the bed.

“Huh?” Hazel reached out and lifted the blanket up, revealing Bella. “Bella!” She squealed, grabbing the cat and squeezed her.

Waving bye as Hazel played with the gray tabby, I left the room with a mission.

Not wasting any time, I walked over to the women’s dorm just as Warner and his goons were leaving the building. Stepping up to the boy, I took off one of my gloves and threw it at him.

“You wanted a duel, now you’ve got one!” I shouted at him.