After the incident, it took Maya a long time to collect herself. She had missed the first part of her Elemental Practices, having walked all the way to the Headmistress’s office at the faculty wing only to change her mind right in front of the door.

Maya was deeply ashamed to report the two girls at the beginning since she had felt it was the fault of her own that she was suffering. Today’s incident absolved her from it. Although she still felt responsible for what had happened to their friend, it became clear that their torment was only using that incident as justification.

However, she changed her mind right in front of the door because she remembered that reporting it might create more trouble. If Maya reports what had just happened to her, she will also have to report Elena’s intervention. It may put Elena in more trouble than those two.

Picking a lock, tampering with other people’s property, and antagonizing others… were all cases the girls could argue against while pretending to only be trying to help Maya after having an accident. For everything that happened earlier would be Maya’s word against those two. And for the after, there was a bias against Elena because of her troublemaker reputation.

Teachers can’t protect Maya. It can only make her even more isolated. The only strategy Maya could hope to have an effect in putting a stop to her misery is to keep close to Elena. After all, Maya was never mistreated by anyone else if she was around Elena.

True, that may be because no one would dare to approach, no matter good or bad intentions. And those that still would, usually had Elena as their target, rendering Maya invisible in her shadow.

Maya didn’t mind. She only wished Elena was more clear about their relationship. They were roommates, but their friendship was quite shallow in hindsight. Maya felt bad about thinking of Elena as her potential shield, but Maya was still the only one who would take the initiative in their relationship.

They were often together, but if the word around was that they were love rivals, and everyone believed it so easily, it is telling on how close they seem on the outside. Although Maya didn’t know the details, it seems she had just been cast in the role Sarah had last summer. Knowing how that ended, it was only worrisome.

Maya apologized for being late to her mentor Tanya who nodded at her presence. Glancing at the group practising beside them, Maya discovered the two girls who were so cruel not too long ago now avoided her gaze and averted their eyes. Only Burcu, her group member, still stared at her with contempt.

The rest of the classes went quietly. Maya never spoke to anyone about what happened earlier.

Before she knew it, time for her part-time shift arrived and Maya was moping the academy hallways alongside Elena in silence. Maya felt heaviness in her heart because it seemed Elena was resolute about pretending nothing had happened earlier.

Between feeling ashamed and reflecting on her past, Maya knew she should express her gratitude to Elena.

“Elena… I wanted to thank you. I thought the things weren’t that bad, but back then…” she was unable to finish.

Elena made a long pause before replying which made Maya suspect she wasn’t even listening in the first place.

“I don’t know what you think I did. All I remember is entering a room.”

For some reason, Maya didn’t like Elena devaluing what she had done for Maya. What Elena did back then, no matter how insignificant, meant a lot to Maya. It saved her from further harassment, at least for today.

‘Do you truly think of me as a friend and not just a toy?’ was what Maya wanted to ask, but she was afraid of the answer.

Neither of them spoke again. It was obvious why Maya felt reflective, but it also seemed like Elena had a lot on her mind right now that she didn’t wish to share.

‘Saying how much I appreciate her would probably be more of a burden to Elena than anything else.’

Maya went to wash her mop, turning her back to Elena for a moment. The academy was looking somewhat creepy at this time of the day when there were no students around. But at the same time, it also looked beautiful with golden light seeping through windows, creating bright carpets of light on the hallway floors.

During their working hours, Maya preferred staying beside Elena. It was because of a simple reason. Maya wanted insurance through Elena’s reaction to people approaching her.

It was because Maya wasn’t an ordinary person. She could see the dead, and there was a surprising number of them around. To make it even more difficult, at times, Maya had difficulty differentiating between the living and the dead.

The dead would unassumingly approach her, trying to speak with her, and Maya would feel tempted to answer only to realize Elena wasn’t reacting to their presence. Then, after double checking, Maya would realize there wasn’t a real person in front of her and feel relieved she didn’t open her mouth and prove she was a freak who talks to herself.

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So, having Elena by her side was a double-edged sword. On one hand helping her to differentiate the living from the dead, while on the other being a witness if she makes a blunder.

Perhaps that was a reason she wished so hard to establish a friendship with Elena. To share her secret with someone. The secret that was making her feel more and more isolated and anxious.

Just as Maya was about to return to her position moping the floor, a familiar face appeared in front of her. The face she desperately wished to see for a while now.

‘Anastasia!’

So, when Maya saw Anastasia again, she failed to control her expression, almost uttering her name out loud.

Anastasia seemed like she had a lot to say on her mind as well, but, as if being considerate finding out Maya wasn’t alone, she disappeared right away.

Maya covered her mouth, wondering if her gasp was audible, but when she turned back to look at Elena, she didn’t seem to notice. Maya made an inward sigh of relief.

Calming her breathing, Maya returned to her job. The silence persisted for a long time until Elena suddenly broke it:

“Do you think this place is haunted?”

The subject being suddenly brought up when Maya knew for a fact that it was, caught her off guard. But she didn’t answer. Taking a moment too long to think of what would be the right answer.

“I bet we could conjure some pretty rad ghosts here,” Elena continued.

She gestured to Maya to come closer and whispered:

“I grabbed a necromancy book from the library. We could test a couple of spells, to see what would happen.”

Elena pulled out a small, thin but old and menacing-looking book from her uniform.

“Are you insane!?” Maya was alarmed.

Deciding that it wasn’t only enough that they were whispering, she pulled Elena aside to make sure no one would overhear their blasphemous conversation.

“That is from the restricted area,” Maya continued in a low voice.

“‘Restricted’ just means more fun,” Elena smirked.

“We aren’t allowed to do ritual magic. Especially not dark magic!” Maya was whisper-shouting.

Maya didn’t know much about any of those, but she knew what was forbidden and taboo.

“Aren’t you curious at all? There are so many kinds of magic, but all we are allowed to do is manipulate some elemental matter. It’s boring,” Elena was complaining.

“You should return it before somebody notices you took it.”

“Nobody will notice. Nobody uses this book. Do you know why? Because nobody’s allowed to!”

“You can’t use the same argument I’m using against me,” Maya wasn’t caving in. This was a dangerous proposition.

“Don’t you want to see a ghost or hear what they have to say?” Elena was studying Maya intently as she spoke. “There’s one simple spell that only requires chicken talons and some fresh blood. It’d be easy as pie—”

“No!”

Maya’s expression turned horrified. Wishing to conjure a ghost was well out of the ordinary. And besides that, Maya was unable to understand why Elena was suddenly so obsessed with the idea that she would be driven to steal such an ominous book.

Elena couldn’t have known it, but Maya had enough ghosts on her plate. The last thing she needed was to conjure something possibly demonic on top of that.

“Or… you can just tell me.”

Elena looked Maya dead in the eye, which along with her words, made Maya stare at her back in surprise.

‘She knows?! H—how?!’ even Maya’s thoughts stuttered.

Maya opened and closed her mouth several times, completely disarmed under Elena’s discerning gaze. Unsure if she should play dumb, or think of an excuse to dodge her suspicion, Maya was struggling under pressure and the chance to deny it was slipping away.

“Ah, so it’s true?” Elena smirked.

It seems Maya’s alarmed expression was enough to confirm it for Elena.

‘She was bluffing?!’

Maya cursed herself for not being level-headed enough to timely fake confusion and evade Elena’s suspicion. It seems the cat was out of the bag now.

“How did you find out?” Maya asked carefully.

Elena loudly clasped her hands, staring at Maya as if she were seeing a rare specimen in front of herself, making Maya even more uncomfortable.

“You really do talk to ghosts…”

Elena began laughing which made Maya question who—between the one actually seeing ghosts and Elena—was the more crazy one.

“Did you pull all this necromancy talk just to make me admit it?”

“Perhaps,” Elena was still laughing. “I didn’t know a more subtle way of addressing an elephant in the room.”

“Was it that obvious?”

It made Maya even more self-conscious and she began to worry about who else had noticed besides Elena. If someone as bad at school, clueless and aloof as Elena had noticed, the entire academy could already be onto her.

“You talking to yourself?” Elena raised an eyebrow. “C’mon, it’s not like you tried too hard to hide it in front of me, especially while I was wasted. I had plenty of reasons to suspect.”

Maya bit her lip. She wasn’t faring well. Someone knowing her secret was as terrifying as it was relieving. On one hand, someone knowing, and even believing it, removed a heavy burden off her chest. Elena brought it up first, having her suspicions, spared Maya from having to convince someone of something so unbelievable.

On the other hand, if the person knowing had ill intentions, it was even worse to hold it over Maya’s head than what Pricilla and Hailey tried to do. At the moment, Maya didn’t know if Elena was trustworthy or not.

Was Elena ever on her side, or would she use this against Maya in the worst manner when she would benefit from it the most?

“I see you’re quite at odds with yourself. Before we continue further, let’s make a deal. I’ll keep your secret, and in return, you’ll do me a favour later on.”

Maya’s fears proved to be true.