Chapter 3
1615 Words
3
A loud shriek sounded from the sleeping quarters Flavia was occupying. “Aaaah! No! Come back!”
The heavy door swung open and a flash of black shot through the main area and attacked Sim.
“Bloom! Sit!” The third-year came running to the lounge, more panicked and flaily than I’d ever seen her. “Bloom!”
Oh no, the ball of fur was her dusk wolf and it went straight for an attack. I had a personal experience with the poisonous bite and it was not a joke.
“Help Sim!” I shouted, jumping up to save him from the wolf. Even if she bit me, my debt would be repaid.
I was about to pull the shadow animal off of him, only to realise Sim wasn’t distressed. In fact, he was laughing while the dusk wolf… licked him?
Confused, I exchanged a rare look with Astrid. Even if we didn’t like each other, this was certainly a weird thing to behold. Just as strange as Aellyn with her imprinted wolf.
Did Elves have a strange, natural bond with dusk wolves that we didn’t know about?
“Bloom! Stop! You’re tickling me!” He scratched the mature wolf between her ears and she cuddled him like he was one of her own. What was going on?
“Bloom, come away.” Flavia snapped her fingers and with a pouty look, the wolf shot a last longing look at the Elf before returning to her master. She sat down by her heel, never taking her eyes off of Sim. “You need to take a message to Brynhild, okay?”
“Awwrrr?” The wolf finally looked away and tipped her head to the side, the confusion clear in her red eyes.
Flavia held out a folded piece of paper and waved it in front of her snout. “Here. I wrote down all the information. Bring it to Brynhild and make sure to get a reply.”
Bloom barked determinedly. “Awrroo!”
“Now, off you go. Make haste.”
“Awrrr…” Her ears folded down as she stared lovingly at Sim.
Whatever was going on between the slender wolf and the Elf, but there was clearly something going on between those two. But why? Why would he have a bond with Flavia’s wolf?
I’d known her for a while now and I’d never once seen her. Not even when we were trying to go to the Veil.
The Veil! That was it!
With a dusk wolf, I didn’t need a guide to poison me. I could just have her bring me to the Veil and alert the teachers myself. After all, I was a Shadow Walker and that was one of the powers I had.
I told Flavia about this power. She knew I could do this. Why hadn’t she suggested it yet? Was she trying to keep my secret?
Professor Brynhild had said I had to keep it hidden and my failure to do so was what got us here in the first place. But I didn’t have to tell the others about it. I could just say I was taking a nap and have Ryoko and Flavia stand guard. They both already knew.
“Flavia?” I voiced. “I have something I need to talk to you about.”
“Can’t it wait? I’m in the middle of something important.” She pushed the note in Bloom’s mouth, but the wolf seemed to think she wanted to play. Instead of accepting the piece of paper, she chased Flavia’s hand.
I pulled a face. “It’s relevant.”
She sighed. “Fine, just let me sort this.”
With an exasperated look, she walked to where Sim was sitting and threw the note in his lap. “Here.”
“What am I supposed to do with it?” He tweaked an eyebrow, not in the slightest intimidated by her.
What an i***t.
“Just hold it.” She turned around and patted the wolf on the head. “Stay.”
“Awrrrr…” Bloom whined, her tail flicking back and forth expectantly.
“Fine. You can wait with Sim.”
Like a flash of dark lightning, she shot through Flavia’s legs and bounced back on the Elf’s lap. She overloaded him with wolf’s kisses, clearly pleased to be back with him.
If I didn’t know better, I’d have guessed she was his wolf. Not Flavia’s. And that just didn’t make any sense.
“Ylva?” Flavia said, her voice filled with impatience. “I thought you wanted to talk?”
“Yes, I do. Let’s go somewhere private,” I suggested, hoping that this wouldn’t make Ryoko jealous. But I couldn’t include her without rousing suspicion with the others.
I wished it was different, but it wasn’t. I’d just have to add this to the list of things I needed to ask her forgiveness for after we got out of here.
Not daring to look back in fear of what the expression on her face was, I followed Flavia to the right wing again.
“Are these walls soundproof?” I asked, patting the thick steel.
She shrugged. “I think so. What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Right. So… Remember what I told you before… All this.”
The third-year tweaked an eyebrow. “If I remember correctly, you’ve told me a couple of things. Not all true though.”
My cheeks heated up. Damn, she remembered the stupid lies I told in the beginning to impress her.
I cleared my throat, trying to swallow the shame away. “No, I meant—”
“I know what you meant. Shadow Walking.”
“Yes. If you tell your dusk wolf to take me to the Veil, I think I’ll be able to help the teachers.”
She scoffed. “Right. So you can go while we’re stuck down here? I don’t think so.”
My stomach clenched. “Okay, so you don’t trust me and I deserve that, but I’d never leave someone to their fate.”
“Oh, really? What about Oda, hmmm?” Flavia took a step towards me, her eyes flickering dangerously. “She could’ve been able to say goodbye to everyone if you hadn’t robbed her of her final moments. Your silence was the worst decision.”
I frowned. “No, it wasn’t. If I’d spoken up without being able to tell who was going to die, the entire school would’ve panicked. Everyone would’ve acted like it would’ve been their last hours and who knows how that would’ve turned out?”
The third-year pulled a face, but I couldn’t stop myself. Something about this conversation had opened the floodgates.
“Imagine. People settling vendettas, others sleeping around, last-minute confessions and declarations. There’s a reason humans don’t know when they’re going to die and elementals shouldn’t either. It does more harm than good.”
“I—” She let out a deep breath and rubbed her face. “I guess you’re right. I’ve just been so lost... Oda was like a sister to me and when she died, I just needed to blame someone. I guess that person was you, but that wasn’t fair of me.”
Relief washed over me. I hadn’t realised these were things I needed to hear from her, but now that she said them, some of the tension I’d been holding fell away.
She reached out for a handshake and I quickly reciprocated. We clasped hands, her grip as strong as ever. “Ylva, can you forgive me?”
“It’s already forgotten,” I replied, eager to get rid of the discord between us.
She nodded gratefully and as she stepped back, things were settled. No grudges, no dramatic apologies, just straight-forward and mature. The Wind Child way.
“So, now that’s out of the way, let’s talk.” Flavia crossed her arms. “While I appreciate your offer, I can’t let you go with Bloom.”
“Why not?” I frowned. “Give me a chance to prove you can trust me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“My reasons are my own.”
While that would usually be the verbal cue to stop asking questions, we weren’t in a position where I could afford to be polite.
I took a deep breath, readying myself to defy her. “That’s not good enough.”
“Ylva… Don’t test me.” The warning in her voice clear, her stance changed.
I gulped. I didn’t want to die in here and that meant pushing my luck. “It would be so easy. Bloom can take me straight through the Veil to Professor Brynhild. I can direct them straight to you and—”
“She can’t!” Flavia snapped. She batted her eyes down and repeated herself. “She can’t. Bloom is an amazing wolf, but she’s… Mmmm… She’s not very good at guiding.”
“Ah…” That certainly complicated the issue and explained why Flavia didn’t have her wolf by her side all the time.
She brushed some dust from her uniform. “If you want to go into the Veil, you’ll have to go on your own.”
I nodded. “I understand.”
“Listen, keep this knowledge to yourself. I don’t want people to know Bloom isn’t capable.”
“I will.” I ran a hand through my hair, realising just how much dirt was stuck to it. “So we’re sending a message with Bloom and hoping the teachers dig us out in time?”
Flavia nodded. “Yes, that’s what we’re going with.”
“Alright… Let’s do it.”
“Let’s go.” She waved me along and we emerged from the right wing different than when we came in. Neither friends, neither enemies, neither at war nor at peace. But maybe this could be the start to a renewed friendship.
“Everything alright?” Astrid called from the lounge, not able to contain her curiosity. Both Ryoko and Sim’s heads were turned in our direction too, as if they wanted to know whether they needed to prepare for more casualties or not.
“Yes, all is well.” Flavia snapped her fingers. “Bloom, come here.”
With a reluctant whine, the dusk wolf jumped up from Sim’s lap and sat down next to her master’s feet. “Awrro?”
“Good girl.” She gave her a couple of scratches before turning to the Elf. “You still got the note?”
“Yup, got it right here.”
“Good. Bloom, time to deliver the message. Give it to Brynhild and only to her, do you understand?”
The wolf bounced up happily, her enthusiasm unquestionable. “Awrroo!”
Wisps of dark smoke curled around her legs and with a last longing look at Sim, she vanished in the shadows.
“Now what?” I asked.
Flavia sighed as she sat down. “Now we wait.”
- Writer
