Still Waters 2.7: The Queen of Light
123456
Eyes That Shine Burning Red, Dreams Of You All Through My Head
123456
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The second day of Ayaka, Natsumi, and Chizuru's 'vacation' began, simply enough, with Chizuru and Ayaka knocking on Natsumi's door.
Natsumi, bleary eyed and tired, rolled out of bed and stumbled over to the door, pulled her apartment key from where she had wedged it into the lock the evening before, and opened the door to reveal Chizuru and Ayaka, both of whom appeared quite concerned.
"Natsumi-san, did anything happen last night?" Chizuru asked quickly.
Natsumi rubbed her eyes and trudged back over to the bed, which she flopped down on. "I kept waking up during the night…I sort of remember something like some kind of big animal snuffling around outside the door, but it might have been a dream, or…." She trailed off as she saw the angry look on Chizuru's face. 'Ok that's kind of scary,' she thought. She suddenly had an urge to run and hide in the closet with the spiders.
"Natsumi-san, perhaps you should stay with me tonight?" Ayaka said.
Natsumi looked from Ayaka to Chizuru and back, and sighed. "That might be a good idea, but where would I sleep? There's only one bed over there, right?"
"True."
"…"
A servant suddenly stepped through the open doorway and stood in the room. "The Lady Rosalind wishes for her guests to attend breakfast in the second dining room this morning."
Chizuru thanked the man and sent him on his way, then excused herself. "I have a few things I need to take care of before breakfast." Without waiting for a reply, she turned and stalked out through the open door, leaving an awkward silence in her wake.
Ayaka watched her go, then put her hands on her hips and turned to Natsumi. She gave the other girl a quick once-over and then strode purposefully to the closet.
"Er…Ayaka? What are you doing?" Natsumi asked. The other girl was rooting through the closet, and, inexplicably, it made Natsumi a bit nervous, almost as much as Chizuru's angry face.
Ayaka poked her head out of the closet, gave Natsumi another measuring look, then ducked back inside. She emerged a moment later struggling with at least a dozen dresses folded over her arm. "We need to make you look elegant," Ayaka explained as she tugged the other girl into position and held up a dress to see how it might look on her.
"Ayaka, we need to go…" Natsumi said. Really, she didn't want to push that Rosalind woman any further than necessary, and making her wait for them to come to breakfast was pretty rude.
"Nonsense, we have plenty of time," Ayaka said dismissively. With growing dread, Natsumi eyed the growing pile of dresses the other woman had discarded. She had seen Ayaka be indecisive with her clothing before, and it never came to a swift end.
"How about the dress I wore yesterday?" she suggested. "The servants cleaned it and brought it back last night." Ayaka gave her a sharp look, and Natsumi quit talking. Best to let Ayaka do what she wanted in this case. Definitely.
Natsumi somehow held back a sigh as she settled down in a comfortable position to wait for pigs to fly, cows to come home, and Ayaka to pick out a dress.
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The second dining room was quite a bit smaller than the other dining room, in which everyone had eaten supper the night before. It wasn't quite as fancy, and actually felt almost…homey, in Natsumi's opinion. Other than the expensive looking tapestries hanging on the wall, which itself was covered in elaborately carved wooden panels depicting all sorts of scenes from hunting to ancient battles and kings and queens. And the antique rifle and crossed swords above the fireplace, which was odd in and of itself; she had never seen a dining room with its own fireplace before. All in all, it was just the sort of room one might expect to find in some stereotypical European castle. She kept glancing around for a big shaggy dog, but it never materialized and she sighed in relief. She didn't like dogs much, even if they did tend to follow her around anywhere. She thought briefly of Kotarou, and quickly pushed the grinning boy out of her mind. She would never admit she missed him. No. Most definitely not. Well…maybe a little. Ok, a lot. But still…
"I am afraid Miss Rosalind is indisposed and won't be attending breakfast with us," someone said, and Natsumi's head snapped up to look at the speaker. Other than Chizuru's aunt, the only other person she had heard speak in anything but a lifeless tone since setting out on the boat were the members of the boat's crew; the servants all spoke in a monotone. The speaker was a tall Caucasian man, perhaps a little over six feet tall, with wavy reddish hair that went about halfway down his neck. He was clean shaven and immaculately if simply dressed, and his amused blue eyes ensnared her at once.
"May I introduce Sir Alexander, a friend of the family who is visiting Aunty Rosalind."
Natsumi shook her head to clear it of those blue eyes and realized Chizuru was speaking. She half listened as the other woman explained what had brought Sir Alexander to the island, and then introduced Natsumi and Ayaka. When it was her turn, she found herself sketching a long practiced curtsy to him, which he returned with equal familiarity. 'So, all that time spent acting actually did come in handy,' she thought when she caught Ayaka's startled look.
"You are quite fetching in that dress," Sir Alexander said, his eyes locked on Natsumi's again.
Natsumi's eyes widened after a moment when she realized what he had said and she quickly looked down at the garment she wore. Ayaka had eventually settled for a simple, pretty dress that reached almost to the floor. It was a very pleasant shade of blue that Ayaka claimed went well with her skin, and it even fit her perfectly too, albeit after a few adjustments here and there. Especially there.
"Thank you…" Natsumi said slowly. He had such pretty eyes…
At that moment several servants arrived with plates of food and fine china and a tea pot, and Chizuru and Ayaka quickly struck up a conversation with Sir Alexander. 'Sir Alexander…' Natsumi thought dreamily. 'What a beautiful name…' She realized she was staring and he was smiling at her, so she abruptly sat up straight and shook her head to clear it, then reached for a fork as she listened to the conversation.
"So how long will you be here, Sir Alexander?" Ayaka asked, smiling at him. Natsumi felt a sharp pang of jealousy, but forced it back. She wouldn't hold it against the other girl; Ayaka probably deserved a guy like him more than she did herself.
"Oh…most likely for the foreseeable future, I'm afraid. You see, I'm trying to find a particular artifact—a rod, you see, about so long, and covered in intricate carvings; it is quite valuable, you understand—and I believe the last clue as to its location is hidden in this house," he said, looking at Natsumi again; she quickly turned away to focus on her tea cup.
"Don't call it a house when Aunty Rosalind is around," Chizuru said, smiling at him. Natsumi felt her hopes sink even lower at that. If Chizu-nee and Ayaka were both after him, she didn't have any chance at all. She ate a forkful of…something, she couldn't tell what, and tried her best to remain upright and elegant. She had rarely felt a need to do so before meeting Sir Alexander—a knight!—and couldn't help herself. After a moment, she realized he was looking at her again and smiling, actually smiling! At her! At Murakami Natsumi! The shy, homely girl with freckles splashed across her face, stringy, ugly hair, and plain features?! She felt her heart flutter even more wildly and forced herself to look away. His eyes were so pretty…
"I am afraid I must excuse myself, I still have much work to do," he explained as he stood up from the table some time later. Natsumi looked down at her plate and realized with a start that it was empty. She saw Ayaka start to speak, looked frantically at Sir Alexander, and then the other girl was offering her assistance in his work and Natsumi felt her heart stop.
"No, the work I must do is not fit for a lady such as yourself," he said pleasantly enough. Not pleasantly enough to stop Ayaka's hopes from being dashed, Natsumi thought, but still nice. "You wouldn't like it. Dust and spiderwebs and mold, among other things. You understand," he said as he crossed the floor to one of the doors, where he stopped and looked back. Natsumi's heart fluttered again when he smiled at her. "It was a pleasure to meet you," he said, then opened the door and exited, leaving the three stunned women seated at the table.
"Well…" Ayaka said breathlessly.
"Yes…" Chizuru answered, a tinge of pink in her face. "I certainly don't remember him being so…so…"
"So…" Ayaka began.
Natsumi just looked down and didn't say anything; she could feel her face blazing red.
"W-well," Ayaka suddenly said. "There is something I need to speak about with both of you. Chizuru-san, is there a private place…?" Ayaka asked, turning to the dark haired woman.
"Yes…we could go out to the garden, I suppose. But why?"
Ayaka glanced around. "I'll tell you when we we're there."
Chizuru gave her a curious look, but nevertheless led the way through the mansion to the garden outside.
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"Wow. It looks…dead," Natsumi said, raising one eyebrow. Indeed, the garden was a mess; it was obvious someone had tried fairly hard to keep the plants alive and the landscaping was nice, but…
Ayaka snorted. "She calls this a garden?"
Natsumi noticed that Chizuru was wringing her hands by this point. "The soil here is very acidic, it's hard to grow plants here," she explained, looking embarrassed.
"There aren't any birds here, are there?" Natsumi suddenly asked. She hadn't really noticed until this point, but, thinking back to their arrival, she hadn't seen a single bird, not even in that scraggly forest just south of the mansion.
"It's because of the volcanic gases, I think," Chizuru explained. "There aren't any mice or rats either. For some reason, they just can't survive here."
"Oh." Natsumi walked randomly around the garden, which was vaguely circular, with carefully placed benches, small trees, and flowerbeds. The plants were all struggling pitifully, of course, and she saw that Ayaka could hardly contain her smirking disdain for Lady Rosalind's concept of a garden.
"So…What did you want to talk about, Ayaka?" Chizuru asked as she seated herself elegantly in the shade of a dying tree and made a small smile. Natsumi thought the image it made somehow fit Chizuru perfectly.
Ayaka straightened up, grabbed Natsumi's wrist, and dragged her over to Chizuru's bench. Chizuru scooted over, and Ayaka pushed Natsumi down on the bench beside Chizuru, then seated herself on the other side. The bench was quite small, so they had to squish together a bit if Ayaka and Natsumi didn't want Chizuru to get pushed off the other end.
"…someone tried to get into my room last night," Ayaka said quietly. Natsumi looked at her worriedly, then looked over at Chizuru when she felt the other girl stiffen. The look on Chizuru's face was…intense, to say the least. Hard as a stone, and quite frightening. Natsumi found herself leaning away from her and forced herself to stop; Chizu-nee was pretty much her best friend after all, there was no reason to be afraid of her.
"The…intruder didn't get in, did they?" Chizuru asked in a carefully measured voice. She had her hands clenched together in her lap now, and Natsumi saw her knuckles whitening from the force she was using.
Ayaka shook her head. "No, I looked the door before I went to sleep, and propped a chair under the doorknob."
"Wait, tell it from the beginning," Natsumi said. She liked this sort of thing, detective actions and suspicious people trying to break in in the night…it was all very interesting.
Ayaka gave her an odd look, but told it from the beginning anyway…
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Late Evening Of The Day Before…
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Ayaka shooed Chizuru and Natsumi out of her room as she grinned at them, and shut the door behind them. She turned and took a good, long look around the room. "Honestly…" The room had obviously not been aired out in quite some time, and stank of dust and that heavy smell a room gets after being shut up for a while. She crossed the room to the window, but it was just another of those intricately carved things that couldn't be opened, just like every other window she had seen in this place thus far. She briefly considered breaking a few pieces of glass out, but rejected the idea as foolish and decided to explore the room. She hadn't had a chance to do so before supper, and was fairly itching to see what she might find.
The carpet on the floor concealed…the floor. As did the bed, a big four-poster made of some dark, heavy wood. The tapestries on the wall concealed nothing but wall, and pulling on the candle holders spaced here and there along the wall produced nothing but a broken candle holder, which she promptly placed carefully on the floor, as if it had simply broken off by itself.
Ayaka moved into the center of the room, put her hands on her hips in her best thinking pose, and frowned. 'There has to be a secret passage or…or something,' she thought to herself as she let her eyes sweep the room again. Honestly, what sort of creepy castle was this…? Her thoughtful sweep of the room came to a stop as she eyed the closet.
"Maybe…" She crossed the room to the closet and opened the big double doors. The closet itself was unusual in that it was an actual closet, such as what might be found in any modern home, rather than a wardrobe or something similar, as one might expect to find in a castle. In any case it was full of old clothes; she had yet to unpack her own things, but she wasn't so sure she wanted to store them in here, not with all that dust. Oh, and the spiderwebs. She carefully pushed the clothing aside and looked around. In the failing light, she could barely make out a large rectangular shape in the wall, perhaps four feet tall by two feet wide. Now that was suspicious. She felt around the edges and discovered it was sunken in slightly from the surrounding wall, but she couldn't find a lever or button or any of the usual things one saw in movies which were used to open secret doors. She stepped out of the closet, frowning, and realized she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. She listened as they came closer and closer and then stopped for a short time in front of her door, then continued on.
"What on Earth…" Ayaka realized belatedly that she hadn't locked the door yet, so she promptly did so, and then wedged a nearby chair under the knob just to be sure. With nothing else to do and no one to talk to, she changed into her nightclothes and lay down in the bed, thinking about that hidden door in the closet. Was there a way to open it from this side? But…what if someone came through it in the middle of the night…?
She got out of bed and walked over to the closet doors. How to secure them…? Any of the furniture would work, being made of heavy oak or walnut or something similar, but by the same token it was all far too heavy for her to move alone. She looked around the room for something to use, but found nothing until she came to the windows, and the curtain rods. She pulled up the other chair, the one she had not propped under the handle of the door, and climbed up on it; she could just reach the curtain rod on the window furthest from her bed. She took it down, surprised and elated at how heavy and solid it felt, and pushed the heavy curtain all the way to one side. She approached the closet door and tested to see if the bulbous tip of the rod would fit through the loop of the handle; it would. She pushed it all the way through until the bunched curtains wouldn't let it go any further, then tried to pull the doors open. They gave perhaps half an inch, and she pronounced it safe. Set up like that, someone would have to use an axe to get through the heavy closet doors.
Finally feeling safe, Ayaka went to the bed and made herself comfortable, confident that no one could enter the room without making a racket that would wake the dead. Within a few moments, she was asleep.
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Some indeterminate amount of time later, Ayaka found herself awake. She lay there in bed for a moment, confused, when the sound of someone rattling keys was heard from just outside her door. She listened and waited, ready to pounce, as whoever it was put the key in the lock and unlocked her door, then gave it a push; the door didn't open, the chair had done its job. She listened as the person outside walked away, and didn't relax until their footsteps disappeared entirely. A short time later, the closet door rattled, startling her out of a light doze, but it didn't happen again, and she soon fell asleep again in spite of herself.
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Present Time
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"So that's what happened," Ayaka said. She glanced over Natsumi at Chizuru, and saw the other girl was very tense.
"I…I must go and have a talk with someone," Chizuru said quietly as she stood and smoothed her long skirt.
"Chizu-nee?" Natsumi asked.
"I will return later," Chizuru said distractedly, then walked away as if in a hurry.
"Maybe we should go after her," Natsumi said, but Ayaka shook her head.
"She'll be fine." Ayaka stood up and gave the garden a more in depth look than she had the first time. It really was a mess. The poor plants… She glanced back at Natsumi and saw her closely inspecting a sagging flower. "It's a shame," Ayaka said.
Natsumi nodded. "Yeah," she said as she straightened up and looked around. "I like the way the garden's set up, it'd be really pretty if the plants were healthy…"
Ayaka nodded as she strolled along, looking at the dying plants. Rosebushes and lilies and the occasional iris, climbing vines and small trees…Ayaka grudgingly admitted that it really would have been quite beautiful had they all been healthy. Say what she might about Rosalind Strachan, the woman had a good eye for flower garden design, if not the ability to keep one going. She knelt down and pulled out a scraggly looking weed that was trying to take root.
"Hmm…I wonder…" Natsumi said a moment later. Ayaka turned to see what the other girl was doing and raised an eyebrow.
"What are you planning on doing with that?" Ayaka asked. Natsumi was holding the practice wand Negi had given her years ago, and looking at a dying bush thoughtfully.
"I was thinking about testing something," Natsumi answered after a moment. "I wonder if that reinvigoration spell Negi taught us works on things other than people?"
"Like plants?" Ayaka asked. She was sort of curious herself, honestly. She might have tried herself, only she was terrible at magic and didn't want to waste anyone else's time. In fact, she was so bad at magic, she could hardly even pull off more than ten magic arrows! It was ridiculous, but there it was. What she was good at, however, was fighting and using her small command of magic and ki to enhance her strength. Not that any of that was of any particular use right now, in any case.
"Yeah," Natsumi said. "Oh wind, carry the fragrance of flowers to my friends, and restore their vitality…" She closed her eyes as the magic started and a small breeze blew up. Even Ayaka could feel the mighty surge of magic that threatened to come out; but somehow…it didn't. It was the same every time Natsumi used magic, and it could get quite nervewracking at times.
Ayaka shivered as the refreshing breeze flowed through the garden. She hated that; the shivering. It was irritating that it was something one simply couldn't avoid, no matter how much self control one might have.
"Did it work?" Natsumi asked; she still had her eyes shut, and a small smile on her face.
"Natsumi-san?" Ayaka asked, shaking Natsumi's shoulder. The other girl often became like this when she used magic; it was really quite irritating. What if she should happen to space out in the middle of a dangerous situation? Not to mention the ease with which she could cast spells; Ayaka hated to admit it, but she was most definitely jealous of Natsumi's abilities in the respect.
"Ah-what? Did it work?" Natsumi asked again as she snapped out of her trance-like state and looked around. "Oh…"
While the plants hadn't doubled in size or anything so extravagant, they did stand noticeably straighter, and their color seemed to have improved quite a bit.
Both girls jumped and Natsumi almost dropped her wand when someone suddenly started clapping.
"Oh well done, nice trick. Tell me…how did you do that?" Sir Alexander asked as he approached the two. Natsumi hurriedly hid the hand holding the wand behind her back and turned red.
"Eheh…it's just something I picked up somewhere," Natsumi tried to explain, waving her free hand back and forth as she spoke, then stopped abruptly when Sir Alexander smiled at her.
Ayaka felt a pang of jealousy, but shrugged it off. Sir Alexander may be a beautiful, beautiful specimen of a man, but she wasn't about to let a pair of pretty eyes split apart her friendship with Natsumi. Pretty eyes, and nice hair. And a rugged and manly chin, that somehow wasn't too strong. And the way his shirt stretched over his shoulders coupled with the way the seat of his pants molded around—
Ayaka shook her head to clear it. This was ridiculous. Yes.
Natsumi was still talking to him, so Ayaka sat down on a nearby bench comfortably and watched. It was strange…most men tended to look right past Natsumi at Chizuru or herself, but Sir Alexander seemed interested only in the mousy little actress. Most peculiar. She placed one hand on the bench beside her and leaned over a bit. Now Natsumi was laughing quietly at some small joke while Sir Alexander's glorious countenance beamed down at her. Ayaka leaned further to the side and stretched a little and moved to a more comfortable position. Now, he was smiling at the other girl as if he knew some secret shared only by him and Natsumi, and Ayaka reached up and pulled at the neck of her sundress, fluttering it a little. Honestly, it was quite hot, here. She stretched in a languorous manner and made herself more comfortable.
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Natsumi waved delicately at Sir Alexander as he went back into the house and giggled in spite of herself. This was really getting ridiculous! She felt like a kid with her first crush!
It only took her a moment to realize she practically was a kid with her first crush. Kotarou-kun didn't count, that wasn't a crush. It wasn't. No. She didn't even consider Negi.
Natsumi turned back to find Ayaka and almost had a heart attack at what she saw.
It was Ayaka, and she was…was lying there, on the big stone bench, twisted half around in a precise, carefully calculated manner that pulled the already low cut of her sundress even lower and revealed exaggerated curves through the tightly twisted clothing. The dreamy look on the woman's face only exacerbated the image she presented.
"Ayaka! What are you doing?!" Natsumi demanded in horror.
Ayaka blinked once, twice, then shot up from the bench and straightened her dress in the space of half a second. She coughed delicately into her hand and flipped her hair out of her face, then fastened it back into the ponytail it had been in when the two of them first came outside.
"Ahem, *cough* Nothing. Nothing is wrong, Natsumi-san," Ayaka said.
"That's not the question I asked," Natsumi replied, sweatdropping.
"Er…right! Well! Let's go back inside!" Ayaka said, desperately trying to change the subject from her failed attempt at seduction. Maybe Sir Alexander was…*gasp*…gay? That would explain why he hadn't shown any interest in her. Unless…maybe…he preferred girls like Natsumi? She shuddered as her ego took a critical hit.
"I…I think I want to go back to my room," Ayaka muttered, near the point of collapse.
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Supper was rather awkward for Ayaka, but the other two people present didn't seem to notice. She scowled rather unprettily as she ate some odd tasting veal.
"It had three holes, and I really wanted one," Natsumi said, practically sparkling at her conversation partner as she spoke.
"Really? I heard about those; I always wanted to see one in person," Sir Alexander replied, sparkling back at Natsumi.
Ayaka had a brief urge to vomit, but held it back by sheer force of will and late-teenage angst. At this point, she would almost welcome Lady Rosalind's presence, just to break up the wildly flirting couple seated across from each other further down the table. Unfortunately, the old hag had decided not to attend supper today, either. As for Chizuru, she was 'otherwise occupied', whatever that was supposed to mean. Ayaka was a bit worried, but Chizuru could take care of herself. Chizuru was an incredibly powerful mage now, after all, as strong as Misa or Nodoka or even Konoka, in her own way; there was little to worry about there.
"Remember what I said, Miss Natsumi…if you ever need anything, just call my name," Sir Alexander said, smiling prettily as he and Natsumi stood up simultaneously. He took her hand from across the table and kissed it, actually kissed it! Ayaka rolled her eyes and took another bite of veal as the other walked to one of the doors, sparkled at each other a bit more, and finally said their goodbyes. Natsumi floated back to the table with a dreamy expression on her face, and Ayaka decided that she had had enough.
"Now see here Natsumi-san!"
"Where is Chizu-nee?"
Both girls paused, waiting for the other to speak. After a few false starts, Ayaka finally answered Natsumi's question.
"Chizuru-san is otherwise engaged, didn't you hear the servant?"
Natsumi frowned and shook her head. Before she could reply, however, Ayaka interrupted.
"Small wonder, with the way you've been flirting with Sir Alexander! What about Kotarou-san?" Ayaka asked heatedly. Honestly, everyone knew the two of them were crazy about each other!
Natsumi turned red and spluttered for a moment before she could speak again. "W-what about Kotarou-kun? H-he's just a kid, that's all. He still watches Kamen Rider!"
Ayaka raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow as she looked at the other girl. "And you have the box sets of Inuyasha and Sailor Moon, Natsumi-san."
"Th-that doesn't matter!" Natsumi wailed as she felt herself turn red from her head to her feet.
Ayaka decided to take pity on the girl and change the subject. They would leave soon enough, after all, and Sir Alexander would exit Natsumi's life as swiftly as he had entered it. It was for the best, after all; the man was obviously running some sort of con. They had other things to worry about, however; such as whoever had tried to enter her room the night before, and the big animal that had sniffed around outside Natsumi's door.
"So, what do you want to do about tonight?" Ayaka asked.
Natsumi scrunched her eyebrows together as she thought. Honestly, she didn't think the servants would let them stay in the same room, not without Chizuru or her aunt's orders.
"The Lady Rosalind wishes for you to return to your rooms immediately," one of the servants said suddenly, surprising the two girls.
"Don't do that, you almost gave me a heart attack," Natsumi said, panting and clutching at her heart as she tried to calm herself down. The servant just looked at her with a bland expression on his face.
Ayaka scowled at him and took Natsumi by the arm. "Let's go, there is no use waiting any longer." She turned to the servant. "Where is Chizuru-san? Is she still busy?"
"The Lady Chizuru is currently indisposed," the servant answered. Ayaka scowled, but dropped it. Something weird was going on here, but…oh well. There was no point in causing trouble here.
"Very well. Please give her my regards. Come along, Natsumi-san, we had best prepare for bed."
Natsumi voiced her agreement and followed Ayaka as she went through the door; but, sure enough, the servant rushed ahead to lead them and, sure enough, he refused to allow the two of them to stay together for the night. Natsumi was a good sport about it, even if she did send Ayaka a worried look as the servant hustled her out through the doorway.
When they were gone, Ayaka quickly closed and locked the door and, following Natsumi's advice, wedged a key into part of the lock in such a way that it couldn't be removed without coming into the room to remove it. After that, she followed the same methods of securing the room as she had used the night before; the curtain rod and the chair, with the added defense of a heavy, sharply serrated steak knife she had quietly pocketed during supper. With any luck, she wouldn't need it; she hoped she wouldn't have to use it.
With nothing left to do, she climbed into bed, made sure the steak knife was close to hand, and thought about Natsumi. The other girl was…odd, to say the least. She used magic with an ease that left Ayaka breathless, but in other areas she was sorely lacking. It was enough to drive a person mad, Ayaka thought at times. But...it wasn't as if she disliked the girl, she loved Natsumi like a sister, and wanted only the best for her, but the girl's lack of common sense…!
Ayaka sighed in a most unladylike way and rolled over, dragging the blanket with her. How irritating. This whole ugly castle on its pitiful ragged little island was irritating, not to mention its horrible owner. The Lady Rosalind…hmph.
And, with such thoughts in her head, Ayaka eventually fell into a shallow, listless sleep.
----
The third day on the island began not unlike the previous, though there had been no disruptions in the night to wake Ayaka or Natsumi; not that either had slept particularly well in any case.
Ayaka barely managed to hold back a groan as she arrived at the breakfast table, only to see Lady Rosalind and Sir Alexander already engaged in lively conversation. Natsumi arrived a moment after Ayaka had been seated, but there was, again, no sign of Chizuru.
"Where is Chizuru?" Ayaka asked after the formalities were over. She was really quite irritable after a long night with little sleep, and had to work to keep a grimace from showing on her face.
"Don't be nosy," Rosalind snapped. Not that the whereabouts of the girl are any of YOUR concern, half breed rice girl.
Ayaka was most definitely not in the mood to deal with such things at the moment, and was on the verge of throwing her bowl of porridge or oatmeal or whatever the woman decided to call it, until Sir Alexander suddenly spoke up.
"Now now Lady Rosalind, there is no need to be so peevish this early in the morning," he admonished. And, to Ayaka's shock, the woman seated on the far end of the table deflated like a balloon.
"I suppose you are right, Sir Alexander." And that was it, the matter was dropped. Then the beautiful man turned to Ayaka and smiled, and she couldn't help but smile back. He was just so beautiful, like a manly version of a bishonen from one of those shoujo manga books Natsumi liked so much.
"Chizuru is tied up somewhere else at the moment; I am sure she will be free later in the day," he said reassuringly while Ayaka nodded dumbly. "Don't worry," he added after a moment. "The Lady Rosalind may seem harsh at times, but that is just her way, and such things are to be forgiven if possible."
Ayaka saw Natsumi glance up at Sir Alexander, wide eyed, and it took Ayaka herself a moment to realize first what the man had said, and then whom he had said it in front of. Her gaze shot to Lady Rosalind, who was idly stirring the contents of her bowl with a spoon as if she hadn't heard Sir Alexander's comment. Now that was peculiar. Most peculiar.
The rest of breakfast passed with idle, meaningless chitchat, and Ayaka soon found herself walking alongside Sir Alexander in the hallway as he began talking about secret passageways and the like.
"I think there's one in my room," Ayaka said during a pause.
"Truly? That...I want to see it," he said excitedly, looking at her with his beautiful, beautiful eyes.
Ayaka nodded dumbly and led him back to her room.
Once inside, she showed him to the closet and sat on the bed while he poked around inside for a moment.
"Oh, look at this! I think I found something, Ayaka," he said excitedly, snapping Ayaka out of the daze she had been in for the past fifteen minutes ago. It wasn't until that moment that she realized the situation she had put herself in. Here she was, seated on her bed as if ready to take gentleman callers, and Sir Alexander was rooting around in the closet, where some of her clothes were hanging!
Her eyes narrowed as she considered this, his cowing of Lady Rosalind, and the events of the day before. It must some sort of magic compulsion…there was no way around it. If true, then Sir Alexander was not as friendly as he seemed, and was taking advantage of everyone present.
"Ayaka."
Her head snapped up and her eyes met Sir Alexander's. "Yes?"
He gave her a searching look, then nodded. "I think I found it, come and look."
"Found what?" Ayaka heard herself saying. No! She must fight the compulsion!
"The lever that opens the secret door in the closet. Come on," he said, motioning her forward. "Here, take this," he said as he gave her a flashlight, which she took without even thinking about it. "Go inside," he said, holding the closet door open. Ayaka went inside.
"Turn around and close the door." Ayaka did as he commanded.
"Good. Now shine the light at the upper right side corner, do you see the lever up there?" he asked, his voice muffled by the closed door.
"Yes, I see it," Ayaka answered dreamily.
"Good. Now pull it down." Ayaka pulled on the small bit of metal, surprised at the resistance it offered. Soon enough, however, the hidden door behind her swung inward on well oiled hinges and she waited for Sir Alexander's orders.
"Do you see the passageway?"
"Yes…"
"Good. Now, step on that small pedal in the corner and it should shut again." Ayaka did so, and the door swung back in silence except for a light snap and click as something caught and the door latched shut.
"Is the door shut?"
"Yes…"
"Good. Now, come out here."
Ayaka mechanically opened the door and exited the closet, and moved to stand robotically before Sir Alexander, waiting for his next order.
"Ayaka," he said, and suddenly Ayaka was again aware of some strangeness about her previous actions, and stepped back further away from Sir Alexander, who looked seriously at her.
"Now Ayaka, you must not, I repeat must not go into that secret passage. There is no telling where it might lead, and it might be dangerous. Such places are often set up with traps such as spike pits or dead ends you can't get out of, or other similar things. You must not go in there alone!"
Ayaka looked at the closet, but nodded at Sir Alexander to show her understanding. Magic compulsion, eh? It seemed as though he wasn't particularly good at it, it kept cutting off and he didn't seem to realize it.
"Do you understand?" he asked.
"I do," Ayaka answered, trying her best to seem as if she were still under the compulsion spell. So he wanted to manipulate her, did he? Well, two could play at that game.
"Good. Now…I have something else to take care of. Why don't you go to sleep for a while? I'm sure you must be exhausted," he said.
"Yes…I am exhausted," Ayaka replied as she moved to stand beside the bed.
"Good. I will inform the servants that you are not to be disturbed for several hours. Is that sufficient?"
"It is," Ayaka said.
"Good. Good night, Ayaka dear," he said, smiling slightly at her as he shut the door behind him.
Ayaka locked the door and went straight for her flashlight, then to the closet.
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Natsumi found herself wandering around an unfamiliar area of the mansion, without quite recalling how she had gotten there.
"What in the world…?" she said aloud, looking around. Where was this? The last thing she remembered, she had been standing outside the dining room where they had eaten breakfast.
"Maybe it's sleepwalking. It's gotta be, I didn't sleep very well last night, and…" she trailed off as she glanced out through the foggy glass of a fancily carved window. It appeared she was pretty high up, at least fifty or sixty feet. It was almost enough to make her dizzy. She stepped back and had an abrupt urge to head to the roof so she could get a better view, so she began searching for some stairs and quickly found them at the far end of the hallway. She went up three floors, and then up through a trapdoor onto a wide stone flagged courtyard on the roof, complete with various pieces of decorative stone and plants, forming a wide circle over a hundred feet across with a vast empty space in the middle, except for one oddly shaped big stone table in the very center. She wandered over to the parapet that went all the way around the roof, and looked out between two merlons at the ground so far below.
She could hardly believe her eyes, so she ran around the perimeter of the roof, looking over the edge every twenty feet or so. Her eyes hadn't deceived her…
The stone flagged walkways on the ground below, the stone benches and flower beds and statuary, the outbuildings and trees and bushes…the shape was unmistakable.
Somehow, for some unknown reason, this castle was built as a single, gigantic magic circle. Recalling what she had noticed first upon arriving on the roof, her gaze shot to the center of the roof and that oddly shaped stone table that now seemed so ominous. It wasn't a table…it was an altar. An altar of the sort commonly used for human sacrifice. She approached it warily and, to her mounting horror, found small metal loops hidden underneath, perfectly positioned to hold someone in place with ropes or chains. And, now that she had recognized it, there seemed to be a low magical pulse that probably contributed greatly to the sheer oppressiveness she had felt since arriving here. This circle was ready for activation, no doubt about it; it was fairly humming with power.
"I've got to tell Ayaka and Chizuru about this, I've got to—"
"No…I'm afraid you won't tell anyone about anything," someone said coldly from behind her.
Natsumi whirled around and her eyes widened. "You…!"
Then everything went black and she knew no more.
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Author's Note: And…here we go with the cliché cliffhanger chapter ending. One more to go, now. Also, congrats if you caught that vague reference to another Akamatsu work's anime version. If not, it probably just seemed really random…oh well.
