"I don't get algebra. Through primary school and up till now, I don't get algebra." Isabel gently pushed her laptop to the left, and leaned her torso forward slightly over the table."
"All the topics you 'don't get' are things you should have learned years ago, Iz." Charlotte leaned back a bit into her chair, rather than forward like Isabel did. She sighed and opened a few educational websites in her browser. She was studious and so somewhat quick to learn, but that didn't mean she was good at assisting others in learning. If she tried to explain anything to them on her own, they would afterwards be twice as confused as before she started.
"Everyone else always did, so I didn't want to be the one to ask." It was a common fear— standing out. The fear that when you did, your faults would be picked at.
"Well, I guess we'll just go way back to the— Aargh!" Suddenly, Charlotte had a splitting pain in her head that spread quickly throughout her entire body. Then it was gone.
It returned quickly after, but it wasn't to Charlotte. Rather, it was to Scarlett, who clutched her hand as the pain of a rather strange symbol burning away beneath her fingerless gloves overshadowed all other pain. Her soul was awakened outside of schedule. The event began a few months before, but was becoming much more frequent. Everything stopped and left her numb and confused.
"Charlotte, are you okay?" Isabel rushed over to the other side of the table to assist 'Charlotte'.
"I- I think I'm just a bit sick." There was, after all, no way that she would give the excuse that she was 'fine'. No one would be so stupid as to believe that after the previous display.
"You were screaming, Charlotte!"
"It's just a headache. I'll be fine." If Scarlett was playing the role of herself, the statement would have been different. Scarlett, however, was presumed dead after her body washed up on Gloucestershire shores, so she would have to be the most believable Charlotte she possibly could. It was getting easier all the time, though she once let it slip that her favourite tea was Darjeeling First Flush and now her sister had to pretend that she was the same. Charlotte's selectiveness in sharing memories was of no help, and whatever symbol engraved in her hand had etched itself into her soul, as it was always present in her dreams.
"We can prepare for the next term at some other time. I'll have you driven home, and you are going to rest," Isabel said in a gently yet authoritative tone.
"Yes, ma'am."
With the assistance of her friend, she left.
A few weeks later, Charlotte had everything set. There was no waiting for anything else. She had to act now, with hope that it would work.
"Scientia sit potentia! Numquid ego non sum dignus. Sed obsecro, anima mea novum, quod interitus tranquilla."
That was the simplest form of the spell she found, the only one that she was supposed to be able to do. But nothing happened. She tried again.
"Scientia sit potentia! Numquid ego non sum dignus. Sed obsecro, anima mea novum, quod interitus tranquilla."
She shouted with more ferocity. Nothing happened.
"Scientia sit potentia! Numquid ego non sum dignus. Sed obsecro, anima mea novum, quod interitus tranquilla!"
Again and again she shouted the same lines, yet nothing happened. She scoured as far as she could go for information. She had done ritual after ritual, experienced pain over and over, and had gone as far as to let an innocent child drown, all to no fruition! Was there really only one thing left to do? Was she really going to have to go to her last resort? There was nothing left. She was desperate, and really, as crazy as it sounded, existing as part of another creature sounded much more appealing than not existing at all. She remembered some things she had come across. They hinted at the beast that caused this still being out there. She had her wish. Now, all she had to do was gather material. She would end this. It would cost her life, but her existence was of more value. She would do the first thing she discovered, and the last thing she was willing to do.
She would give up her soul.