The two weeks of Christmas break flew by faster than I’d expected them to and, before I knew it, I was walking out of my term finals.

The whole layout was almost exactly like the entrance exams we had–Jesus, it felt like years had gone by since then–minus the interview part. I had to admit, I felt much more confident coming out of them this time. It was an odd feeling but it was also…nice.

“Much happier than during the entrance exams I see,” came Ivan’s voice from my left. He was in his default smirking mode, so I assumed he did well too.

“Considering how thoroughly I beat you before Christmas, I’d say it was expected.”

“Hey!” he said indignantly. “I won that fight.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

We both chuckled, talking about nothing as we made our way back to the mansion. While the exams were over, we couldn’t rest. The Inter School Tournament was coming up and, more than likely, Paragon and Frankenstein would be coming with it.

Still, we’d earned this one day of rest. So I opened the door to my dorm, expecting peace and quiet.

Of course, I’d been wrong. Because waiting for me inside was Sofie.

She was standing on the opposite side of the room, flipping through a pure black book. Like the one Sofia used when we fought against her. She looked up at me. She smirked, but didn’t close the book.

I hated how my heart almost skipped a beat at her appearance. How I didn’t want to hurt her even after everything she had done to me.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” she said, somehow managing to both sound disappointed, but still keep on smirking. “You really thought I wouldn’t notice?”

What was she talking about? I’d kept up appearances with her and Ivan, acting normal. Well, as normal as I ever was. Could she have seen through me somehow? Realised that we were planning something?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you do,” she said, stepping closer.

I took a step back instinctively. My whole body tensed. Every instinct of every life I had told me that this wasn’t safe.

“Tsalb ygrene!” A torrent of purple energy shot at me. I barely dodged it, jumping on my bed.

I lunged forward, trying to grab her. I didn’t know exactly how her powers worked, I never did, but I did know that she had to read something from her book. And I couldn’t let her do that.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

And so, we settled into a rhythm. Attack. Block. Attack.

“Efink!” she said, dropping the book. A knife appeared in her right hand.

She lunged at me, holding out her right hand. I sidestepped her attack, managing to grab her arm and flipped her onto Sadid’s bed. I took her knife, throwing it to the book, making both of them useless.

“How’d you figure me out?” I asked her, still weary of what she might do. It was oddly easy to take her down. She probably had something up her sleeve.

Her smirk became a full smile. “Come on now, Jacob. You can’t fool me. It’s in your eyes.”

Jacob? My eyes widened in realisation. She thought Macquoid had taken me over again. This–to her at least–wasn’t a fight. It was a test. To see if I was Jacob or Alex.

“You’re crazy,” I said quietly. “You-you-”

“And you’re not Jacob.” Just as quickly her smile disappeared.

“No.” I hated this. I could barely keep myself from screaming at her. Not just for everything that she’d done to me as Alex.

But because she was disappointed I wasn’t Jacob. Not the heroic Jacob, the one who actually had hopes and aspirations. Who at least tried to be a hero.

No, she didn’t want that Jacob. She wanted the villain. The assassin.

“But your eyes, they-they are his. I can see the man I fell in love with.”

“The man you fell in love with!?” I was yelling now. I couldn’t not yell. “You ruined my life! You-you stood by–encouraged me–as I became a monster! You didn’t fall in love with a man! You fell in love with an idiot. An idiot who didn’t know how good he had it until it was too late!”

An idiot that I was so close to becoming, even now. Because I could feel it. The desire, the need to rush at her, take out my gloves and show her just how much she had hurt me.

And I hated myself because, even though she made me feel that way, a part of me still loved her.

And it still wanted to save her.

“Please tell me that Jacob’s somewhere in there,” she said, and I could see actual tears forming in her eyes. “I’ve told you this before Alex. I don’t care what you think. But if he’s not in there, then I-I don’t-I don’t-”

“Please stop,” I told her. “I think you already know what I’m going to say.”

And the tears fell. Without warning, she lunged at me again.

It was sloppy, too sloppy, almost like she didn’t even realise she was doing it.

I was able to sidestep her attack and grab her once more. This time I threw her at the door, where she hit her head and was knocked out.

My eyes widened.

“Fine.” He shook my hand. “Under one condition.”

“Which is?”

“Sofie lives.”

I nodded.

I kneeled over her body, checking for a breath, a pulse, anything.

She was still breathing.

I let out a sigh of relief. She was still alive.

She was still alive.

I could almost feel the part of me that was Jacob crying in happiness. Technically speaking that wasn’t possible, but I liked to think it was true.

I looked back at her body. There were some calls I needed to make.