It was early morning when Hannah, Barbara, and Diana visited my table in the cafeteria. I was busy with my book when Hannah suddenly slams her hand on the table, startling me out of my reading. "It's been settled". Hannah says with a smile tugging on her lips. "We lose, you stay".

"And if we win, you leave and tell". Barbara adds.

The past few days, I've been spending my time with the blue team just to avoid being in the proximity in the red team. And during that time, Hannah and Barbara weren't exactly being the most welcoming. And today, they're most enthusiastic because they finally find a method to get rid of me in a fair way.

But still…

"That's unfair, I'm as good as losing the bet by now! I can't fly, let alone race in the relay race!" I exclaim.

Hannah and Barbara grins victoriously, they must've taken my inability into account.

Diana who'd been silent for the most part of our conversations finally decides to intervene. "It's not that we wouldn't want you to stay, but I myself see the good in you overcoming your embarrassment and tell them who you are".

"Actually, we do", Hannah chimes in with a smug smile that she doesn't even bother to hide, it only intensifies when I glare at her.

"I- It's not as easy as that!" I say. "What if they're cool with me so far because they think I'm a girl and when they realize I'm not they'll start to treat me differently?"

"The longer you wait the more awkward it will be". Diana points out.

"The better!". Barbara snickers.

Diana is right, just as always. The longer I keep this act up the more awkward I'll feel and the harder it'll be for me. I need to tell them the truth as soon as possible but this is me we're talking about, my confidence might be the equivalent of or perhaps even bested by a Yukon gold potato.

Diana notices this hesitation of mine and continues. "Since you can't possibly join the race we decided that you can choose one team to represent you, which means you're not entirely hopeless. I'm not the only talented student in Luna Nova, after all".

With those last words said Diana leaves the cafeteria followed closely by her two friends, who gives me a stick of their tongues once Diana doesn't see.

/-/

"You want me to win the broom relay race?". Amanda asks with a puzzled look.

We're inside the school's garage now, as I just found out this is the place Amanda's group likes to hang out since Constanze can do whatever she wants here apparently. The little fellow is not far from us, a goggle and rubber gloves on, tinkering with her mechanical machinations. Jasminka not far from her, helping her work, waiting by her side handing out some needed tools every time the short one stretches her hand towards Jasminka.

"Yes", I answer. "Han and Barb made a one sided bet against me. The good thing is they allow me to pick someone to represent me in the race, since naturally I have no option to join it with my current teamless state and that, well, I can't fly".

"I heard Akko's in it", Jasminka points out.

"Why ask?". Amanda asks as she stops cleaning her broom and sets it on a wall nearby. "I will win even without you asking me to you know?".

"I know! But no offense, seeing your track record I kinda worry that you won't treat the race seriously".

"Pshh! You underestimate me. Besides, am I not the best broom rider in the school?".

She says nothing after that and so do I. It was then do I realize her expectant gaze at me and that this is supposed to be the part where I affirm her boast.

"O-of course I thought you'd win, definitely so. There's no way those girls from the blue team who'd been fed silver their whole lives could possibly win against you!"

"I think the right one's 'raised with silver spoons'", Jasminka comments from behind Amanda.

"What I'm trying to say is that it's a team game. And you, Amanda, are of course the best broom rider out there but in truth, Constanze and Jasminka are not as good as you. Not saying they're bad, but compared to your sublime skills, everyone else looks terribly inadequate. No one could hold a candle to your broom riding prowess".

I finish my sugar sprinkled praise. I notice Constanze taking off her goggles and looking up from her tinkering towards me, she seems to be in protest of what I said and was about to say something of her own, but in the end she chose not to and return to her tinkering.

"He's right you know". Jasminka surprises me with her support.

"Hm, I do like your choice of words". Amanda says, stroking her chin. "But what's the bet about, anyway?"

"Well, they wanted me to tell the red team the truth so I won't need to hide from them by sticking to the blue team, which to no one's surprise, annoys two of the three members".

Amanda nods understandably, almost sagely. Jasminka shows not much reaction, indicating that she knows of my identity predicament already from her two friends.

I lean back on the wooden frame behind me, letting out a long sigh as I stare to the tall ceilings of the garage. "In any case, sorry if I sound pushy, its just that I really don't want them to win".

I don't know why I'm even worried in the first place, since when do I worry about such silly misunderstandings?

I try to mask it, but apparently my distress isn't invisible to the pink haired girl's eyes. She gets up and starts to walk towards me, leaving Constanze who is still focused on her work and is currently stretching out her hand to where Jasminka sits seconds ago, waiting expectantly for Jasminka to hand her a needed tool.

"What sweets do you like?". Jasminka asks as she rummages through what seems to be her snack bag.

I straighten my back with new energy as I hear her offer. "dark chocolate!"

After a short moment, Jasminka pulls out a bar of dark chocolate from her bag and hands it to me.

A smile finds its way to my lips. Perhaps it came because just now, with these three helping me, I realize I might have a chance at not losing the bet, or it came merely from the generous gift of the dark chocolate.

Either way, Jasminka smiles with satisfaction when she sees how a simple bar of dark chocolate does the job to lift me up.

Constanze suddenly pops up beside us, black smirches of oil scattered across her outfit and face.

"Oh, you're done Cons?". Amanda asks, earning a confident nod from Constanze as a reply.

Constanze steps away to reveal her invention, a powered broom with a propeller attached to it's back end.

"Whoa". The three of us stare at it in marvel. Constanze crosses her arm seeing her work, chin lifted up with pride.

"You made this by yourself?". I ask, earning another confident nod from the little witch.

"Isn't this awesome?". Amanda moves the propeller with her hand. "This looks seriously fast".

I study the odd machinery, it's complete with a bulky engine and exhaust pipes jutting out of it. I trace my hand through the machine, surprised to feel it's covered in something oily, I look to my fingers and find it's covered in oil.

"oh great". I mutter. Jasminka notices this and hands me a napkin.

I suddenly feel something vibrating on my arm, I realize it came from the bracelet Amadeus gave me.

"I should go now. Have something to do in town".

"The town? Let me take you there". Amanda offers.

"I don't want to bother you".

"No it's alright I need to do something there too".

Before I could decline her offer again, Amanda is already out of the garage to find her stuffs, leaving me with Jasminka and Constanze.

I glance at the two, as expected Jasminka returns to her usual snacking state and Constanze is cleaning her new invention with many rolls of tissue paper.

"Yep… the town. Yes sir we're going there". I remark, not gaining any real form of reply except for muffled sounds and a cute grunt. Honestly it baffles me that I've spoken more words and received more barks from a dog in one day compared to weeks with these two.

/-/

"So where do you want me to drop you off?". Amanda asks. Her red hair flows with the fast winds, occasionally brushing my face and almost making me sneeze.

"Anywhere honestly" I answer, pushing myself further back on the broom as her hair brushes my face again. "Also can you not like… take your eyes off the road please?"

"There's no road in the sky, what's there to look out for?". Amanda asks. She keeps looking behind, now knowing full well that it will scare me.

"please don't do this- Aaaaah!".

I'm immediately interrupted when Amanda suddenly manoeuvres the broom in dangerous ways, spinning it around and doing sudden sharp turns in the sky.

"God! Don't do that- Aaaaaah!".

She ignores my cry of distress as she continues her maneuvers, doing full loops and barrel rolls this time.

"Aaaaah! I hate you!".

Amanda just laughs at my moment of distress. "Okay, that was fun I admit". She says, still giggling mischievously.

"yes, very funny". I grumble. "Let's not do that, like ever again".

"Anyway, what's that cool looking thing on your hand? I think I wanna see it…"

I quickly pull out my wand and stick it on Amanda's cheek. "No, no. Keep looking forward. If you dare look back I'll shoot you".

"Shooting the pilot eh?". Amanda muses, amused with the situation. "After that, what's the next step of your master plan?".

"Crashing this broom". I say, trying to muster up my most threatening voice. "With no survivors".

Amanda laughs at my response but I don't follow. Something I said must've been funny to her. Whatever it is, it went over my head.

It doesn't take long for Amanda to reach the town square. She pulls her broom to a stop and lowers me before stretching her hand towards me. With a grin, she says. "That will be 14 dollars".

"Quids, you mean?".

"Quids, good grief". Amanda rolls her eyes.

"Yeah quids. Unlike those weird… paperish money in those rebellious colonies, or some say America, plegh I say!". I cheekily and over dramatically stick out my tongue in disgust. "I.. I bite my thumb at you… I don't know what that means".

Amanda laughs. "Alright, nerd. When do you want to meet up or something?"

"I don't know, I might have a friend to take me home…"

"Alright, your loss".

I saw Amanda off as she disappears between the crowd of pedestrians, her broom rested on her shoulder still sticking out of the crowd as she weaves between them, finally disappearing once the redhead rounded a corner.

Now that I think about it, I think the correct sentence was 'I bite my tongue at you', not thumb is it? I don't know that's what I heard somewhere before.

I was about to use the bracelet to contact Amadeus when I feel someone's gaze on me. Looking behind, I jump when I found Amadeus already right behind me.

"You owe me answers", Amadeus says with a surprising stern tone. His arms are crossed and he's an unusual bitter expression today.

"Answers?"

Amadeus nods. Surprising me when his stern expression fades away and he walks off ahead of me. "I should take you to my place first though, we can't have secret talks in a public place!"

"Your place?"

I try to follow the excited Amadeus through the streets. With him being so small, Amadeus could easily slip through the crowds of pedestrians, while I'm often hindered by them. Because of this I nearly lost sight of him a couple of times.

"There!". Amadeus points down the road, his head turned towards me. "Right around the corner!".

With him still looking back, Amadeus fails to see the girl exiting the shop ahead of him. He runs into her hard and would've lost his footing if I didn't catch him by his shoulders.

Amadeus quickly untangles himself from my hands and turns her attention to the girl he just ran into. "Ah! I'm sorry for running into you, miss!"

"No no! I'm sorry for not looking!". The girl returns his apology, her voice is familiar and I knew who it belonged to without looking up.

The voice belonged to that of Akko, she'd just exited the magic items café beforee Amadeus decides to run into her. As expected, the rest of her team, Lotte and Sucy, appears behind her, each of them carrying bags filled with items they bought from the store they just visited.

I physically flinch at the situation I'm in.

"Hello Aldia". Lotte was the first to notice and greet me. Well, maybe not the first to notice it's just that Sucy chose to not greet me. "Funny meeting you here".

Akko's eyes light up as they shift towards me. "Oh, Aldia! What are you doing here?".

Amadeus however, frowns upon hearing the name. "Aldia? He's not Al-".

A quick elbow jab is enough to silence the boy. Sucy was the only one perceptive of it and eyes both of us curiously. "He's?".

"Why are you here?". Lotte asks, very fortunately covering her friend's question. "Are you going to the magic items café too?".

"No, Lotte, I'm just doing some errands".

Akko walks closer towards Amadeus and smiles. "And who's this?"

Amadeus was about to answer for himself but I quickly rush my own before he could. "Cousin! He's my cousin from Irish, Ireland I mean, he's from Ireland therefore making him Irish".

"This is your cousin? Nice to meet you! I'm Kagari Atsuko, but my friends call me Akko, and this here is Lotte and Sucy!".

As usual, Lotte is the polite one and introduces herself warmly, while Sucy doesn't say anything.

It was this time that Amadeus is supposed to introduce himself, but he just stands there in silence, not knowing what to say or simply confused with the whole thing.

A bump to his back is enough to kick start him. Amadeus straightens his back and clears his throat. "Sorry, I'm Amadeus, Amadeus Montgomery Watson".

I'm reminded of how much of a mouthful his name is.

"What a mouthful". Sucy snickers. I begin to understand that Sucy is me if I have no decency for being an okay person.

Amadeus however only tilts his head at the girl's rude remark. He seems to be more puzzled by the girl's sudden impoliteness more than hurt, something that visibly bothers Sucy.

Not intending to linger any longer, I push Amadeus past the group. "It's been nice talking to you but we have some business elsewhere, so please excuse us".

"Okay, sure". Akko beams. "Don't forget there's the Broom Relay race tomorrow, don't miss it!"

I only stop pushing the boy after we round a corner and lose sight of the three. Amadeus quickly crosses his arm. "Do I want to ask?"

I was thinking to explain the situation to him but I figured he'll just laugh at my situation. "Nope, you'll just laugh at it".

/-/

The place Amadeus rented for his stay in Blytonbury is quite comfortable. The place felt warm and welcoming, it shields away the town's cold night weather well. Despite this, the room stands powerless in facing a different kind of cold, one brought about by our unsettling topic of conversation.

"I'm going to be frank about this. I want to really know what Marcus got himself into". The boy says. He's dropped a newspaper on the low table in front of me and crosses his arms as he waits for me to read it.

I don't ask, intending to find the answer on the newspaper instead. I try to reach for the newspaper but immediately stop at the sight of the news. Written in bold letters, the headline is clear and rings loudly in my head.

'Sorcerer's Stone disturbance in Alistair manor, multiple dead in exhibition party".

Amadeus sighs unevenly. He shows more irritation than any grief. "That's what you were all talking about that night, right?"

I don't listen to him, how could I? I pick up the newspaper and immediately read the news. The boy's words become drowned as I focus entirely on what I read. This is what was confirmed here: an accident occurred and there are casualties in the Alistair manor. I keep reading it, some sentences I read word by word on repeat, as if doing it would make me see something different—a better news. These last few days, I never thought about the possibility of this—that people died that night. Why didn't I think so? Was I wilfully ignorant of that possibility? I couldn't tell.

"What happened to the stone?" Amadeus asks with raised voice, surprising me completely and forcing me to put full attention to him.

My mind just stops on its track, it yearns to know more about the news, but I'm forced to satisfy Amadeus's curiosity first.

"What happened to the stone?" I find myself repeating. I realize now in this moment that Amadeus was out of the conversation that decides the fate of the stone.

Amadeus waits expectantly, and the more I delay, the more unconvincing my answer will be.

Amadeus must be worried. He wants to know more because he now suspects Mr Wright to be in some sticky business. But still, even if his intention is good, I can't tell him.

Even though Amadeus already knows about the stone's existence, that doesn't mean he should know more and its current whereabouts.

Either way, I have to come up with a response fast.

"Well?"

"Mr Wright hadn't told you?" I say, faking a surprise. "I shouldn't tell you this, but he has it".

This is the safest answer. I can't give him any decisive one, so better to throw the responsibility of answering him to Mr Wright, I'm sure he knows better on what to tell him.

Amadeus doesn't reply. His eyes show uncertainty and they soon look away, towards the windows. He later finally says, "I… better talk to him instead, then".

Good, exactly as I hoped!

With this little conflict settled, I return my attention to the piece of newspaper. Amadeus says nothing at all while I read.

The room grows silent. The busy sound of the town outside is heard even from here, their lively and happy noises contrasting the bleak piece of news I'm reading. Despite the infectious warmth this town and its people provides, I couldn't feel any in this room. It stays like this for minutes, yet feels like hours. I've no idea what Amadeus is doing. All I care for is these pieces of words on paper, pieces of words that grow bleaker and bleaker as I continue reading, until it reaches the coldest point possible.

One paragraph starts with words I had to double read: 'Alistair Rudolph was injured in the incident. He was taken to a hospital but he's sustained many injuries. He was fatally wounded. He died a day after the accident'.

I drop the newspaper and slowly lean back on the sofa. I feel a bit numb after reading that, uncomfortable as I imagined the faces that night, I feel something I couldn't describe. I had to remind myself to breath.

My eyes look emptily to the ceiling. Amadeus notices this. He remarks, "It wasn't an accident. People are violent, aren't they?"

I don't know if he's read the news completely, it doesn't seem like it. Such a terrible news and he's still… okay.

Maybe he didn't get it. Maybe he read it but didn't get it as much as I did.

His words didn't hit me for a minute, after all I feel a bit numb trying to take in everything I read.

Amadeus's question is genuine, genuinely innocent and curious. I've no idea someone would ever ask that kind of question to me.

I know better. I was after all an apprentice to Michelle, a Guardian. She's seen eye to eye with low life scums of the magical underworld, she worked against people like them.

There I realize Amadeus' true question, I too felt like I have such a question back during my first months of training under Michelle.

Humans are violent, and witches and wizards are not excluded. There are very, very disgusting criminals even in this world people would call magical.

Tonight, I'm very much reminded of that.

/-/

I close the phone. It was from Mr Wright, he too heard of the news. Furthermore, his request on me remains unchanged.

I hold the stone closer to the lantern on my desk, the only source of light in the dark of my room. The magical properties of the stone is something easily missed by the unperceptive, but the level of craftsmanship is apparent with just one look of the eye. The warm glow of the lantern dances on the smooth surface of the white stone, lifelike and vibrant. The light continues to reach deep into the deepest depths of the stone.

Something of such beauty and complexity must've been invaluable, something that would attract greed. Perhaps that reason itself is why all this happened, perhaps what the treasure hunters sought was the easy value these artefacts held. However, something about what Rudolph told me that night makes it hard to believe so.

I remember him saying it: some people still believe ancient magical relics could change the world today.

I didn't forget what Mr Wright told me, about how powerful these artefacts were in their time. Marrying that with what Rudolph shared with me, I begin to think Mr Wright's suspicious of the stone isn't far-fetched.

I can only hope that, if there is any, their goal isn't as sinister as I currently think it is, or that they only saw the treasures' prices, not their magical properties. Or even better: none of this matter since the stone is useless and worthless for good.

I place the stone inside a wooden box, the same Mr Wright had. Its soft velvety interior reflects dully on the stone's white surface.

My mind begins to wonder whether telling anyone else about this stone is a sound idea or not. I don't settle on that for long however, knowing that for now, what's important is that this stone is protected here in Luna Nova. Only when the time is truly necessary will I change my mind, and perhaps the best person to talk about it would be Michelle, but for now? I shouldn't put too much thought on this stone; I'm only here to keep it, nothing else and nothing more.

I close the box, locking the stone and my thoughts away for the night.