I look at the gem disintegrating in my hand. It seems the fake Price was telling the truth about that safety gem. Keeping my hand facing palm up, I say, . A gem begins to form in my hand, but before it can fully form, it cracks and explodes, the shattered pieces flying everywhere and then disintegrating. I try, . The same thing happens. I have yet to successfully cast a gem spell in another language.

Staring at the crack in the barrier I had used to surround my hand, I heave a sigh. Releasing the spell along with all the other ones I had cast earlier, I pick up a rock and chuck it at a nearby tree. It’s been almost two months since she gifted me the two presents. Taking out the pendant from underneath my shirt, I stare at the stone. It grew warm during that time in the Principal’s office, a signal that it activated.

Why did it? I unclasp the necklace and take out the notebook full of my research. Opening to a blank page, I mutter, . Runes form on the page, filling it up completely. Clasping the necklace around my neck once again, I take a look at the first few lines and read, Spells to seek, eavesdrop on, or hypnotise the wearer will be dispelled. Hypnosis seems a little far-fetched. Besides, he never cast a spell or made any suspicious movement while I was in the room. I read on, Any attack or malicious emotions sensed toward the wearer will trigger a barrier to cover the body. Barriers are invisible, and ones deployed by rune engraved mana stones tend to not create mana fluctuations. Only by testing could one tell if it was successfully created. This makes sense—the fake Price could have had malicious emotions aimed at me, triggering the magic.

I move to sit on a rock when I spot a shadow moving next to a tree a bit away. Closing my notebook, I turn to face the shadow. The silhouette becomes clearer as it leisurely walks nearer. It’s covered in a nonrevealing, dark blue cloak, but long, chestnut brown hair flows out from underneath the hood down to the figure’s waist. The occasional strips of sunlight reflect off of the silky hair. When it reaches me, it stops completely. I notice it is around the height of Natasha, not very tall with a very elegant posture.

Both of us stay standing silently for a long moment before the figure lifts the hood to reveal a pale, feminin face with eyes as red as blood. “You are Natasha’s disciple?” Her voice is low and mellow, and very melodic. She talks with a slight, Russian-like accent.

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“You are…?” I say, my voice a little hoarse.

“Natasha’s friend. Cordelia Pierreschtein.” She reaches underneath her cloak with a slender hand and pulls out a pendant shaped like mine, but a dark green color with “Natasha” engraved in the runic language. “I am one of the Nevodelencie.”

“The Nevodelencie?” I’ve never heard this word before.

She unclasps her cloak and tugs it off a little, revealing her crop top and combat skirt underneath. On her belly is a single strip of a light blue color, threatening to tear out with every pulse. Before I can take in the sight, she pulls the cloak back together and says, “Natasha went into the magic jam zone in the Eastern Mountain Range.”

My brain turns off as knots form in my stomach. “But why? Didn’t she send Jakos already?”

Her irises contract. “Jakos came to our meeting a few weeks ago. He said he would bring a demon out for proof, and she felt something was off so she followed him a few days later.”

“Have you seen her since?”

“No, but you have obviously seen Jakos.”

I nod. “Jakos doesn’t seem to be on the same page. He doesn’t want to be caught by the demon faction, but he didn’t take any precautions and claimed to be waiting for Teacher Broffenberg.”

She nods curtly. “Jakos is a shifty character. He saved Natasha once before, in the demon world. I’m not sure where he comes from, but at the very least, he will not disobey or hurt her.” That, at least, elliminates the possibility that he’s a double agent from the demon faction.

“He’s not one of you?”

“No.”

So why was he in the demon world? “Do you know the Price Manilla in this school is fake?”

“Price? The one we met once again was real. Perhaps this fake that you speak of replaced him after Natasha left.”

“No one realized it?”

“Only Natasha really knows Price. No one else talked much with him. Do you know where she is?” Her eyes glisten.

“I’ve tried everything I could think of, but I haven’t succeeded yet.”

“Your spells without the magi language, correct?”

“Yea.” I point at the trees around me. “The explosion from the failed spells will destroy these trees before I create a seeking gem.”

“That’s normal. Mana wasn’t originally used by humans, after all.”

“Yea. Mana’s not very efficient with any language other than the magi language…” My speaking becomes slower and slower as I finish this sentence. “Wait, what?”