Almost the moment classes ended, Alois ambushed Cassandra and dragged her to the fourth floor library. He seemed far more desperate than he had been the night before, but at least this time he did a quick check inside the room before he spoke.

“You have to convince Keane to give me the eyepatch back,” he pleaded, “That stupid family of mine has gotten themselves involved in something truly dangerous this time and we can’t sit around waiting for proof.”

“What do you mean?” Cassandra asked, “Are they trying to use the illegal artifact?”

“Worse,” Alois refuted, “I caught wind of an attempt to sell it. Not only that, the headmaster said something strange to me last night.”

Cassandra got the feeling that Alois was far more concerned about the second. “What did he say?”

“He wanted to know if I had any plans to acquire an eyepatch in the near future,” he answered, “I didn’t know how to answer him at the time.”

“So he knows,” Cassandra surmised, “and he isn’t stopping you. Alright. I will convince Keane.”

“That easily?” Alois asked with uncertainty.

“Is that a problem?”

Alois flashed an instant smile, although completely fake. “Of course not. Please follow me. I will take you to him.”

“You haven’t been bothering him this whole time, have you?” Cassandra questioned with suspicion.

“I left him alone during classes,” Alois assured her.

That wasn’t very reassuring. Hopefully this wouldn’t make her job of convincing Keane too much more difficult. Her previous interactions with him had been somewhat awkward as it was. Why was Alois so confident Keane would listen to her in the first place? The answer became apparent once they arrived at their destination.

Keane saw Cassandra and fixed Alois with a judgemental stare. “I know I told you I would give it back if you convinced Cassandra, but did you really have to drag her here right after class?”

“I hate to admit it, but his reasoning is sound. This is a risk we need to take,” Cassandra told Keane, “We don’t have time to get proof. Not only that, the headmaster seems to know everything, but he is turning a blind eye.”

“He knows? I suppose that isn’t too unexpected,” Keane noted.

Alois hadn’t told him? Had he saved all of his information for her, or had his conversation with Keane taken place before the one with Osmond? There were still some small problems with this plan, though. She didn’t know where the artifact was or how they would get there and back without anyone noticing.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Can you hand it over now?” Alois butted in impatiently.

“You can’t go alone, so I will hold onto it,” Keane told Alois stubbornly, “We need a plan before we move out.”

“Where is this artifact, anyway?” Cassandra asked, “How do you plan on getting there?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Alois assured them, “Don’t you remember how we got here? I am the headmaster’s apprentice.”

Was he referring to the Pavilion? Was that why they had called it the Path of Dusk? Using the headmaster’s artifact for instant travel was actually quite clever. “Does that mean you can summon the arch?”

“Not exactly, but there is one already in the center of the labyrinth campass,” Alois explained, “It is a lot more subtle that way too.”

Cassandra recalled the loud rumbling from her first introduction to the arch and had to agree. That would draw far too much attention. However, she couldn’t help but be nervous for another reason. What would Alois do when he saw Yuki? What if Yuki wasn’t supposed to be there? If Yuki was there all the time, it was also possible Alois already knew about him. Maybe it was best she didn’t mention it.

“Let’s get Caleb,” Keane said, “We need his input as well for this.”

“Fine,” Alois agreed begrudgingly, “Let’s meet at the maze.”

“After dinner,” Cassandra pressed, “There is no point doing this on an empty stomach and the area will be too busy if we go earlier.”

Again, Alois had no choice but to agree and their impromptu meeting came to an end. With some time to herself, Cassandra’s mind cleared a bit and the whole situation started to seem a lot less urgent. She had to consider the possibility that Alois was lying and this was a trap. The headmaster loved testing people when they least expected it.

After thinking it through a bit more, Cassandra decided the best move she could make was to stay behind and keep watch of the arch. It didn’t make sense for all of them to try to sneak into the place where a forbidden artifact was kept. In situations like that, the less people doing the sneaking, the better.

Cassandra made sure she finished everything else she needed to do for the day before dinner, and she ended up eating less than usual due to nerves. Was Osmond the kind of man who would test students in this way when Nobility just began? Probably. Was there a possibility this was not a test at all but an actual threat? There was, and she couldn’t afford to ignore that either.

When she arrived at the maze for their meeting, she had prepared herself fully for both possibilities. Alois was already there, waiting impatiently, and Keane arrived with Caleb a little bit later. As soon as everyone had arrived, Alois took them all deeper into the maze.

“The arch is in the center,” he told them, “We need to move quickly.”

“What is the plan?” Caleb pressed, “We can’t just go marching in, even if we can instant travel.”

“I’ve been practicing stealth magic for moments like this,” Alois replied, “I don’t know if I can cover anyone else, though.”

“I will be staying behind to watch the arch,” Cassandra spoke up, “If we all go through it’s like asking to get caught or compromised.”

“I will do the same on the other side,” Keane agreed, “The escape route is important.”

“I need to see the artifact,” Caleb said, “That is the only way I will be able to know how to deal with it.”

“Since it is my family and my problem, I will be the one to seal it,” Alois confirmed, “That is why you should hand over the eyepatch now.”

This time Keane willingly handed over the small enchanted cloth. As everyone agreed on their roles they reached the center of the maze. Cassandra did a quick look around but saw no sign of her white fox friend under the willow or anywhere else. He might be hiding in the shadows cast by the setting sun. Night had begun to fall.

“Let’s do this,” Alois said and approached the empty archway to activate it, “I promise I will repay all of you for your help tonight if I survive this.”

“You’d better survive,” Keane threatened, “You have promises to keep.”

The pavilion rippled into existence through the deep purple mist of the archway and the three boys stepped through. Now all she needed to do was hope, wait, and stop anyone from closing the way from this side. Alois couldn’t summon the Pavilion yet so if this path was closed, they would be stranded wherever they were.

Watching an arch in an empty garden during the silence of night quickly became boring no matter how mesmerizing the scene was to watch. How long would it take to pull this off? They couldn’t rush, though. Their lives, or at least Alois’s life, was at stake. Was there anything else she could do while she waited? At the very least, she could sit down.

Cassandra settled against the trunk of Yuki’s favorite willow tree facing the arch. Maybe sitting down had been a bad idea. She quickly began to feel drowsy. Suddenly something warm touched her hand, startling her wide awake. She quickly looked to her hand to see that Yuki had returned and decided to use her hand that was resting on the ground as a pillow.

“Yuki?” she whispered, staring at the unresponsive, sleeping fox. At least he still seemed to like her despite being dragged in front of a crowd. Some company might actually be nice for her night watch duty. “Thanks.”

His only response was a little ear twitch.