Chapter 2: A strange arrangement.

I'm walking down the corridor and towards my room after the classes ended for the day. I've been wanting to speak with Croix all day and see how her arm is doing and if her offer to tutor me still stands, but she wasn't there at lunch, and I haven't seen her anywhere else either. Maybe her injuries were more serious than I expected? Should I go search for her at the infirmary? Or perhaps I could ask her teammates instead. Or maybe…

My thoughts are rudely interrupted when someone suddenly grabs my collar and makes me turn around to meet the face of the person I've been thinking about practically all day.

"I'm gonna teach you magic, and you're gonna get good at it!" She practically snarls.

It takes me a few seconds to process what just happened, but when I do, I simply stutter out a small "O-okay?" before she lets go of me and starts walking down the hall. I'm still trying to make sense of this weird interaction we just had, but I have half a mind to realize I should probably hurry to catch up with her.

"H-hey, wait!" I call for her. "So you're going to tutor me?" I can't help a small smile appearing on my face at the thought of being taught by the prodigy of Luna Nova herself! Although her personality could be a problem, to be honest.

"Yes." She answers courtly before finally stopping and turning around to meet my eyes. "But I have one more condition."

"Another one?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. She just nods and looks down at her arm, now placed on a proper sling.

"You'll have to be my slave."

"Wait, what?!" I exclaim, utterly surprised at her rather unexpected request.

"Only until my arm heals." She clarifies. "Since in the meantime I can't cast any spells because I ended up with both physical and magical injuries."

"Magical injuries?" I question. I'd never heard of those.

"Yes, you know, the kind that cut off the flow of magic inside your body." She answers like it's obvious. "Fortunately mine isn't permanent."

"Oh. Okay. I knew that." I blush in embarrassment. Probably that's yet another thing that's common knowledge amongst witches, but I didn't know until she said it to me. I'm really hating being so behind everyone else.

"But of course, I will really enjoy having my very own slave, so it's not that bad." She chuckles, and it takes me a minute to realize she was joking. I'm too shocked to even laugh, so I stay silent.

Maybe she's not the grumpy and untouchable nerd everyone makes her out to be.

"Speaking of which… what would being your slave actually mean?" I ask, fearing the answer, but feeling slightly more at ease now that she's throwing jokes around.

"Oh, you know…" She shrugs. "Helping me with my homework and assignments and… well…" She looks down in shame and mutters the last part. "Also with my personal projects."

"You mean those I saw in your secret lab?" She nods in answer.

"Of course you can't tell anyone about what's in there." Croix continues explaining. "And most of the magic I use is rather dangerous, but…" She makes a face as she stares back down at her hand. "Since I'm injured, and it was all because you distracted me, I thought it was only fair to make you pay for it." She finishes with a small chuckle and a smile, making sure I know she's joking, but only partially. She probably does blame me for what happened to her, and I don't doubt I'm at least a little bit responsible. And of course I'd be more than happy to help, but…

"Are you sure you want me helping you?" I laugh awkwardly. "Most of the time my spells end up in dangerous explosions."

"Well, that's a thing we have in common." She also laughs pointing at her arm, and I join her. Though I know that was probably the first time something exploded on her face, with her being a prodigy or whatever.

"Anyways." She interrupts our laughter, adopting a more serious expression, though it's still slightly more relaxed than minutes ago. "That's why I have to teach you before I even let you get close to my lab, so… follow me." And with a barely noticeable smile, she turns around and starts walking, with me following close behind.


We walk across the school's main building and then exit to the outdoors without saying another word to each other. I'd like to, obviously, being a very curious and talkative person. I want to ask how she hurt her arm, what we're going to do first, and if she knows of my reputation, along with other more personal things (like what's her favorite color, or what she does on her free time) that'll help me know her better. Yet, I don't want to appear annoying, and she seems like a serious and reserved person. I don't want her to decide she won't help me because she just can't stand me.

Suddenly, Croix stops at the entrance to the sports fields, and I almost end up bumping into her, but I manage to stop in time and give her a friendly smile when she turns to look at me, which unfortunately doesn't coerce any reaction out of her.

"Before trusting you with anything, I want to see what you can do." She says, all previous sense of humor gone. "Get out your wand."

"Is this really necessary?" I ask, feeling nervous about this whole thing.

"If I am to tutor you, I need to know exactly what makes you such a poor witch, so we can work on correcting that." She explains, and though her words are rude, her tone isn't, which leaves me confused as to what to think of her.

"Okay…" I agree reluctantly as I let out my wand. "What do you want me to do, then?"

"A simple metamorphosis spell." She answers. "Transform yourself into something."

"But… I don't know the counter spell." I mutter, already imagining her judging eyes, looking at me like saying 'This girl should have stayed at her farm. A witch so incompetent doesn't have any business attending Luna Nova'.

"Of course you do." She scoffs. "It's exactly the same."

"Wait… really?" I exclaim, surprised. Why no one ever told me that? I have never even casted this spell in fear of not being able to turn back into a human, and yet it seems all my fears were for nothing.

"Yes, come on, we don't have all day." She prompts, and I turn to see that, effectively, the sun is already setting down on the horizon, which means we have to hurry if we don't want to be scolded for being out here after curfew.

I do as she asked me, feeling an intense ticklish sensation as I transform myself into a bunny. I smile satisfied when I realize Croix is now towering over me, and do an experimental hop, confirming I turned into the right animal. Croix nods in approval, and then, just as she'd said, I say the spell again picturing me as myself. Surely enough, when I look again I'm in my normal body.

"Not bad." She approves with a lopsided grin. "But you still have bunny ears."

"What?!" I blush and reach up to my ears, noticing she's right when my fingers touch something soft and fluffy. And very, very, long.

"Don't worry, I'll fix it." She reaches for her wand before stopping and pursing her lips, apparently remembering that's not really an option right now. "Or not." She mumbles angrily. "Anyways, just say the spell again and concentrate solely in your ears. That should do the trick."

"Okay." I say, fighting the urge to reassure her about her wounds being cured soon. I have a suspicion she wouldn't appreciate it. Instead, I follow her instructions and when I touch my ears they're human once again. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you." I tell the other girl, glad that she didn't just laugh at me, and instead helped me with my problem. "Is there something else you want me to do?" Croix nods.

"Let's try an intermediate spell now. Perhaps… an invisibility spell?"

I'm about to protest saying that's definitely not an intermediate spell, but I refrain myself. I don't want to look even more like a rookie in front of her.

"Fine." I sigh, preparing myself to cast the spell for the second time in my life. I just hope this occasion goes better than the last one. " Toriare Faciesse! "

I feel more energy than usual surging through my wand and prepare myself for the chills I'll get from this spell. Sure enough, they soon appear and I look down to my now invisible body, and I laugh, relieved when I realize it worked. Then I hear a snort coming from the other girl.

"What?" I ask, pouting at her.

"I can still see your head." She answers, looking directly at my eyes to prove her point. I try moving around and her eyes follow me, confirming her words. "It's a minor thing though, considering you pronounced Toriare instead of Toriara ."

"Oh." I blush. Great, I managed to embarrass myself. Again.

"You could try one more time. I'm sure you'll get it now." She encourages me, no teasing or degrading words involved, which almost gives me pause. This girl, who is apparently a genius witch that rarely helps anyone, is being more patient with me than all of the teachers and my classmates combined! I don't know what's going on, but I'm definitely not going to complain.

"Okay. Toriara Faciesse. " I pronounce the spell one more time, and when I look at Croix, she nods in approval.

"Much better." She says, smiling. "But maybe I should have suggested another spell, because now it'll be difficult to keep an eye on you."

Wait. Did she just make a pun? Nah, I must be imagining things. Now… I better revert the spell. How was that supposed to work? Flicking the wand up instead of down? No, I think it was changing one of the words. Or was it a completely different spell?

"Uhm… what's the counter spell?" I ask shyly, upset that I made a fool of myself yet again. At this rate Croix will get tired on me in less than a week.

"Oh, I don't know." She shrugs nonchalantly. "How did you return to normal the last time you used it?"

"I waited?" I answer, but it comes out as a question.

"Exactly." She nods. "Invisibility is a protection spell, so the only way to revert it is if another person casts a revelation spell on you. Since the user wouldn't normally have a reason to deactivate it before it wears off on its own, no one has ever invented a counter spell able to be used on oneself."

"Oh." I blink. That makes sense. But no one had ever explained it to me like that. Normally people just dismiss my questions and tell me I need to study more. But books are often too complicated for me to understand, so it's more useful for me to get all this information in such a simplistic manner. I think I'm starting to like this girl. She's not the stick in the mud I thought she was.

"Well, now let's try a more complicated spell." Croix interrupts my thoughts, and I groan internally. Just when I was starting to like her! "Do you know how to control an inanimate object?"

"I… think so?" I answer uncertainly. I definitely know the spell, but I've never casted it before.

"Well, then let's see how you do it." She says as she takes something out of her pocket and throws it to the ground front of me. I look at it and realize it's a plastic figure resembling a robot; a toy of some sorts. "This should be innocuous enough."

"Fine." I take a deep breath, preparing myself. This is a high-level spell, but I've read about it, so at least I know the basics of how it works. Just… how was it pronounced, again? It started with A. I think. " Ansol Airou! " I shout, pointing at the thing in question.

Nothing happens.

" Ansolew Airo ." Croix corrects me. "And you have to imagine how you want it to move for it to work. The energy summoned is also greater than normal spells."

"R-right." I blush, glad to be invisible right now. "Ansolew Airo ." I try again, closing my eyes to imagine the robot sitting up. Unfortunately, as I open them again, the object in question hasn't changed its position in the slightest. " Ansolew Airo! " I scream once more, this time angry that it didn't work.

The toy, instead of sitting up as I wanted, propels itself off the ground and takes flight, landing at the other end of the field.

I'm so dead.

"Did you wanted it to launch like a missile?" Croix chuckles, looking directly at me. I guess the invisibility spell is starting to wear off. Great.

"No." I laugh too, glad that Croix doesn't seem to be mad, or even surprised, or disappointed.

"Emotions play a big part when using magic." She explains, an amused smile forming on her face for the first time since I've met her. "Which is why your spell got out of control. But don't worry, it's a usual mistake." She assures me, and I smile in thanks for her kind words.

Just a second later, however, her gaze turns mischievous, and she speaks again, in a mocking tone.

"I mean, at least I think so. It's not like I've ever gotten this spell wrong anyways. Unlike certain noobs ."

"Hey!" I slap her shoulder, knowing she's laughing at me.

"Ow! Geez, I was just joking." She laughs, and I do so too, glad she appears to be more relaxed now.

"I didn't hit you that hard." I answer, rolling my eyes.

"Come on." She shakes her head, trying to suppress a smile, and fortunately failing. "We have to get back before curfew."

"So… did I pass?" I ask as I start following her back into the main building. She pretends to be thinking for a moment, before smirking with mock malice.

"Only if you manage to find my robot before tomorrow morning." And with that, she takes off running, leaving me out on the fields with a dumbfounded expression.

Stupid robot.

But at least Croix seems to like me… kind of. Maybe she just enjoys watching me suffer. Or both. This girl is so confusing!


A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it.

Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.