Cassandra stared at the ravens. They surrounded her, interested by her stillness. Was the girl a statue? The other students looked at the surreal-looking view.
"William, what's she doing?" Mathieu asked.
"Don't ask me, I dunno," William answered.
"This isn't the first time ravens have come to her," Aidan noted. "They just haven't come with this big numbers."
"Does this mean something?" Mathieu wondered. "You know, that view is just so weird."
One of the ravens landed on Cassandra's head. The girl was not disturbed by this. The ravens did not speak her language much – some said common words – but they were good and intelligent companions. She had liked them for long by now.
There was a raven drawn to the ground before the tower. Cassandra frowned and looked over her shoulder and all around.
"Jeremy, is there anything I should be aware of here?" she asked.
"No. Why do you ask?" Jeremy asked.
As an answer Cassandra showed visual on the picture. "Someone's been artistic here but it hasn't been me."
"Who could have done that?" Aelita wondered.
"What is that thing anyways?" Odd asked, trying to make out the lines from behind Ulrich's shoulder.
"Looks like a raven," William noted.
"I thought so too," Cassandra said. She looked over her shoulder again. "Any idea if anyone's been here while we were saving the Core of Lyoko?"
"None that I noticed," Jeremy said.
"Maybe a Creeper got bored and decided to make art for you," Odd suggested, grinning.
"Very funny," Cassandra muttered and kneeled to touch the painting. The lines had been cut into the ground and the dark color was like soot; it got attached to her fingers and spread. "This is no monster's doing."
"Then what has done that?" Ulrich asked.
Cassandra looked up from the painting to the tower.
"Jeremy, are you absolutely sure there is no one in the tower?" she asked.
"I am," Jeremy answered. "Why do you ask?"
"This feels like a trap," Cassandra said and took her sword. It was not spiky, but that proved nothing to her. She could not trust it to indicate a trap by this threat. Jeremy ran a scan on the tower and the nearby area, informing the girl about the result, "There is no one but you in the area."
"I hope you are right," Cassandra said. She went around the painting and walked into the tower. There was no one waiting for her, but the interface was on, blinking with a message.
"What the hell...?" Cassandra opened the message.
"What is it, Cass?" William asked.
Cassandra did not read it aloud nor let Jeremy fetch the message to the supercomputer's screen. This would be her personal business. The message said:
I bet ya noticed the raven there. I'm that good an artist, aren't I?
Yeah, no trap this time. Just an artwork for ya. Ya know, a reminder of where you came from: Earth; Riverain, where ravens are common. Yeah, I looked that up. But ya get the picture. Literally, too. I included it there so that ya can admire it always. I mean, ya like ravens, don't ya?
Why am I doing this all for ya? Well, I just wanted you to know, that I'm still out here somewhere. I'll always be.
You'll never escape me, Cass.
Never.
-You know who
Cassandra closed the message and moved it alongside its attachment into a password-protected area away from Jeremy and the others alongside other nightmare material she had written down and gathered. X.A.N.A. was just messing with her.
"Cass, what's wrong?" William asked.
"Nothing," Cassandra answered evenly. She was not bothered by the message that much; the raven and its meaning bothered her more. The painting had not come out of nowhere. The familiar smell of smoke was strong in the soot that had stuck into her fingers when she had touched the painting. It was definitely him.
But could she tell the others about it?
"Cassandra, if you know something, you must tell us," Jeremy said strictly.
"That attacker from a couple of weeks ago is not gone, it seems," Cassandra told bluntly. "According to the message, he's behind that artwork."
"What was the message about?" Ulrich asked.
"Just telling me that it was him and that he ain't gone," Cassandra said. "Well, the next time he appears, we know to be waiting for him."
"I don't have a good feeling about that," Aelita said. "He's dangerous with his huge sword."
"True, his sword was so heavy it overpowered me. Sure, I do struggle with my own since it's heavy too, but that guy's sword just made it worse," William said.
"Then we must be very careful when he's around," Ulrich noted. "He sounds dangerous."
"He is," Cassandra said. "Very dangerous."
"Shouldn't you be materialized to Earth then? If he's still out there, you are in danger," Aelita asked, worried.
"I'd rather stay here," Cassandra said stubbornly. "I can fight him."
No one wanted to argue. The girl had made up her mind.
Days passed by. Cassandra researched the files of the Dark William's clone. She needed to know what she was up against. She needed to know what this thing was. However, she found nothing that could help. She did not understand the pieces of code, and she certainly did not understand their ties to her.
She knew she could ask Jeremy to look into it, but she wanted to keep it to herself. This was her business, it would always be until X.A.N.A. would make it otherwise.
And X.A.N.A. had better never make it otherwise...
/Code Lyoko (c) Moonscoop, Cassandra Delorien, Riverain and the rest of its original characters (c) Me/