Rimholm University: Clandestine

Chapter 46

"You seem so off, is there any problem, my dear?" Winston asked, resulting in Lily halting herself halfway through arranging the bouquet of assorted flowers of spring. Lily inserted the last flower, "It's nothing. The flags are just pretty even though I'll see it for another week or two since the administration decided to decorate earlier."

Winston steals one last glance at the hanging colorful flags on the plaza before turning at his wife wearing a familiar worried look of a mother to her child. He shook his head in reluctance and put the pair of shears on the table beside them, "Tell me what it is, Lily. Are you worried about something?" Within the seconds of silence, Lily puffed out a sigh of defeat.

"I don't think that leaving our Mira on Zachary's watch is alright. I...It's not like I don't trust him or even their friends."

"Worry no more, you know that boy. I'm sure that he won't take his eyes off our daughter." Winston let out in a gentle and comforting voice. He held her hand when his lips tugged upwards, forming a smile of reassurance, "You're her mother, I can't blame you but you instructed him what to do." Lily smiled and bowed politely at the rest of the workers who passed by.

"But we leave the place with him and their new friend. I'll repeat, it's not like I don't trust him but Mira is not in a good state at the moment, Winston."

"I understand your stirring thoughts but the boy himself is also a stray. You are the one who healed him and you said also that he won't do anything to her. Zachary won't allow him to do it if he attempted. Zachary and their friends are old enough to have the sense of right and wrong." Winston explained. Winston pushed her warm hand on his cheek. He closed his eyes, welcoming the warmth of his other half as if the winter finally made its exit and the warmth of spring melted the ice. Lily reluctantly smiled at the sight. Winston clasped both of his hands on her smaller ones, "I'm not carefree just to allow my unconscious daughter lying on the bed without any of us around and leave her with her friends to keep an eye on her without us. I'm aware that either you are troubled by her situation but what if----"

"My dear, I understand you are wary of our daughter. Even I thought twice at the very first but I know Zachary will watch over her. I can see how much he cares for her through his eyes. It's like when we met." Winston added. He opens his eyes and gently puts down her hand. Lily picked the flower before continuing to her job.

"Alright, you win. But why did I catch Julius making his way towards us?"

"Julius? Perhaps he's here to watch. You know him, he is most likely to distract himself from his surrounding. I noticed he often does that." Winston narrowed his eyes at Julius while carefully cutting the flower stem and then allowing it to join the batches for another bouquet. Julius stopped in the middle of the plaza while looking around. The couple watched the vampire approach them.

"No, dear. It happens that he's in the rush." Winston retorted. Julius stopped sprinting and bowed in politeness at them.

"My apologies for interrupting your job, Mr. and Mrs. Chivalry. Good afternoon, I got a piece of news for you."

"Good afternoon too. You didn't interrupt us at all, Julius. What happened?"

"Mira woke up."

"You said what?!" Julius nodded. The couple exchanged looks before getting into the infirmary in a dash.

"What do you by you're going to tell something, Kellion? What kind of prank is this Zachary and Salem?" Mira narrowed her eyes at the two shifters. Freddy and Mattheo, on the other hand, choose to keep their mouths sealed in silence. Kellion laughed then waved his hands out of his nervousness.

"I just came back here today. I'm not aware of the thing circulating, Mira. Maybe Lancelot is pregnant that's why he wants to announce it. How proud and youthful father is," Salem yawned, "Hey, Lance, do our parents know? You reek of that vampire. After all, you have my congrats, you're carrying a royal with you. Our parents would be shocked, probably. You got three children already." She added, making her brother flustered, and grabbed the nearest pillow beside him to land a blow on her. The suspicion building on Mira's mind vanished along with the four men's laughter echoed through her ears. Mira got distracted for an instance.

"What? That moss-headed elf and that lion shifters are like your children, right?"

"You make insane things like that sound ordinary, Salem! You wish for things beyond the ordinary! I'm a man! Quit making that kind of imagination!"

"So you wanted it? I thought you hated him? Julius is the kind of man that ladies on every kingdom want." Salem sheepishly grins, "Everyone around tells that he's the perfect guy for them, just admit that you like him. Even that moss-haired elf and lion can notice." Kellion turned in Freddy and Mattheo's direction. Both of them shook their heads in reply.

"Oh, so it's not a joke. I thought you were just messing around." Mira commented while looking at the guy with a face that she can compare to a red beet. Zachary whistled when the biting wind gain its access through every entrance of the infirmary. Mira tapped his shoulders with an apologetic smile, "Sorry, Kellion."

"I'm used to this but.." Kellion hops on Salem and pressed his hands on the younger's mouth. Aldreon immediately stood up to prevent himself from getting involved while Mira receive a comforting pat from Zachary.

"Do you think even your voice is low Rain won't hear it?! What if he heard it?! Are you out of your mind?!" Salem pushed him off and then wiped her mouth. She eyed her brother with a grimace, "I don't care a single bit about everyone else's relationship but could you not put that hand of yours on my mouth?"

"Perhaps he just wanted some silence."

"Matt, don't interfere. That's siblings' talk." Freddy nudges the shifter's shoulder. He faced Aldreon's direction, "Julius and Zachary told us not to interfere with them, it's normal for them. They even fight here in the infirmary right after when we sort of disturbed him on his favorite hiding place." He shrugged.

"Someone's coming," Zachary announced, warding off their attention at the doorway where the couple enters in haste; not beating a single lash just to reach their daughter. Mira is about to open her mouth to speak but it got all prevented by a tight embrace of her agitating parents.

"Thank heavens you're finally awake!"

"What do you mean, mother? I just slept for a day to rest." Mira asked out of her confusion as her parents pulled away. Zachary cleared his throat and smiled at rest, inviting them to go outside. Julius lightly pushed the three boys towards the exit.

"What's wrong with your faces? I don't lose anything on me. From fingers, arms, and even legs are complete. I'm all set, is there anything wrong?" Mira laughed in the shakes as she watched their faces where the blues are all written. The previous emptiness strikes severely upon her consciousness, drooping her smile away. There it is again, putting weight on her shoulders and chest.

"After the wipeout on that day where the incident happened, they found you on the east wing entrance. You are unconscious and when I tried to heal you, nothing happens. I.." Lily stopped after her voice wavers, she pulled out deep breaths and held her senile daughter's hands, "I tried my best but Kellion found out that your core is shattered." She added. Kellion avoided her gaze and cast his gaze away.

"Mother, it's not the best time to joke. You can still fix it, right?" Lily looked down and shook her head. Mira look in Zachary's direction, hoping for a sight of his smile or him announcing 'we're just joking, Mira' but the shifter lifted his arms to cage her on his arms and mumbled, "I'm sorry." Mira empty-headed held his arms to unfasten it.

"We don't know how to gather all the shattered core altogether. Even how your mother tried to." Kellion said, "I even tried but they're too complicated to gather."

"Your familiar is injured too. Both of you are."

"Where is he?" Mira asked in a low and shaking like a fragile branch voice.

"He's right here." Winston pulled the curtain, revealing the senseless creature laying on the infirmary's bed.

Mira stared at her familiar motionlessly as if the frozen lake's water poured all over her. Her eyes started to sting when they started to water. She let out an unstable breath and a warm liquid runs down her cheeks. Mira hurried to him before her legs started to get fragile, causing her to nearly fall on her knees if Zachary didn't catch her immediately. The strident truth laid upon her eyes, snatching all the small faith on herself. Along with the frigid Northern region's wind, half of her was blown away like the golden sands of a broken hourglass.

"I'm sorry, Mira. I can't do my part as a mother." Winston placed his hand on the top of his wife's shoulder right when he noticed her, "Neither all of you should blame yourselves. No one wishes for the barrier to be wrecked."

"Mira, I guess we should leave you alone for a while so you can think freely, how does it sound to you?" Winston raised a dubious question, not expecting to have an answer from his daughter. Kellion followed them on their trail out. Zachary stood up too, hesitating to leave her alone. He glanced at the door and at Mira who's almost got rooted on her familiar's bed.

"I don't know if I should be celebrating or devastated because my powers don't exist anymore, Zachary." Her voice cracked up. Zachary closed the door behind him and occupied the space beside her, "It's alright, you can tell me everything. I'll listen, Mira."

"Ever since, I don't remember much anything in my childhood. I grow up playing with my parents and to a rock that I named after my imaginary friend. But when my parents and I visited a village, I saw how other children pretend that they have magic. Imagine watching how people pretend to have a thing you have." Mira held Ellis' hand.

"It must be fun because when you get tired of it, you're just ordinary and there are no considerable responsibilities for you." Zachary handed her a handkerchief. Mira accepted it and started to wipe even the tear stains on her cheeks. Zachary opened his arms, "I know you need it. My sisters used to do this to me when I was a child. It's calming." Mira stared at him before leaning on him.

"You're right. I don't understand why those knights back there are chasing me. Before Lady Selene arrived, one or three of them are trying to capture me. I managed to outwit them but they are going back into big numbers. Once I got lost in mountains and it took a week or two for me to come back. That's when I realized that I got cursed. My magic is a curse but I keep being ignorant and pretend that it's just a peculiarity. Now it's gone, I feel like half of me is separated." She chuckled drearily, and tears started to fall against her will, "I'm useless now, I guess I'll go back to attending Mr. Jairus' class."

"Being part of Elite class is not just because you got magic, it's because of your capacity. You can fit in with or without magic. You used to perform tasks without using it, right?"

"On your mind's fathom, there is a thing that is already crawling in your senses yet pretending not to. You keep digging into everything to know the answers but your wisdom cannot seek who's the enemy. He's just messing up with your head. Don't listen to him or any of them. They are misleading you."

"But it's different from now, Zachary!" Mira meets his gaze with puffy red eyes that scream anger and turmoil.

"Right, sorry. I know you're not in the mood to argue. I don't intend to."

"I apologize too. I just heard something."

"Something? I sense no other presence here aside from the three of us." Zachary replied in concern.

"He's attaching himself at you so it'll be hard for you to get rid of him on your way."

"Shut up!"

"Did I say anything wrong? Tell me what's happening. Is there something painful? You want me to leave you alone of you can think?"

"No. It's not you, she's speaking up again and it hurts my head." Mira explained while massaging her temple, easing the throbbing pain on her head as someone hits her with a rock. She yanked herself off from him.

"Who's speaking, Mira?"

"He's deceiving you."

"I don't know. I can't figure out who it is."