Chapter 17: The marriage trap
This night I slept worse than usual, but despite that I force myself to wake up at 5am and head towards the conference room. Damien still occupies my thoughts,
but apart from that… I feel like I'm forgetting something? Something important… what was it? I open the door to the post office and freeze in shock.
On the floor lies a passed out Grabiner and over him hovers a djinn-like creature, only that e has horns and claws.
Oh right, the Manus. My knees feel weak upon the sight and I kneel down. I look at the calendar – January the 25th. "Run away, little girl. This meat is mine, and I intend to feast.", e tells me, sounding like a movie-villain. I pull myself together and stand up again, while crossing my arms. "Why would I need to run away?
You're trapped in the circle, after all.", I answer him calmly. Or at least I try to sound calm, but fail pathetically. This situation is a lot scarier in real life after all.
"Besides, the meat isn't yours, you belong to him." The Manus looks absolutely shocked due to my deduction. "You… how… How did you know, that I can't eat him?", the Manus asks me completely perplexed. I shrug. "Just a hunch. Grabby wouldn't summon something dangerous, if I could burst into this room any minute, so he obviously already lies there for quite some time, and yet you haven't eaten him." And with that I turn to the door, to look out for Potsdam.
"Wait, you…! You don't care about him? You're just gonna leave him here with me?", the Manus asks me. I roll my eyes at him. "Of course I care about him. A lot.
But I'm no match for you. He would be very angry at me, if I would run towards him. So I'm gonna look for someone, who is a match for you."
With that, I open the door and step out. And… don't run into Potsdam. The hell? Where is she. Frantically I look around. She's nowhere to be seen. I cast Awareness, but I can't detect her presence. I look back at Grabiner. Another change in the game flow? I don't want to leave him alone here. How long is he lying there already? What if he swallows his tongue? He is lying flat on his back and in the first-aid-course I attended in school, they warned us about such situations.
But no, he was fine in the game. He would wake up, as soon as I rushed into the circle and be attacked by the Manus. Now, how do I contact Potsdam? I'm not good enough at white magic to contact her spirit, if I don't know where she is. I go back into the room and bend down to look at Grabiner.
"Oh, you're back, little girl?" The Manus bends down and strokes Grabiner's cheek with one of its claws. "Did you change your mind and want to rush in, to save him?", he teases me. "Don't touch him!", I hiss at him. I take a deep breath. Gotta calm down, I'm beginning to lose my composure.
I could simply use Farspeak, to speak to the door of her office? The door is enchanted in a complicated way, maybe Potsdam will be able to hear it. I decide to try it. "Professor Potsdam, please come to post room! Grabiner is in danger, please hurry.", I send the message. Nothing happens.
I start to pace around the room, biting my nails. "Dammit!", I swear. I don't want to leave Grabiner alone. I simply can't. What to do? I have to wake him up somehow. "Sir? Professor? Wake up!", I sit down near the pentagram and call out to him. He doesn't move. "Sir?! Wake up, Sir!" My voice grows louder.
"Sir, please wake up! Grabiner! Grabby! Wake up!" He still doesn't move. This isn't supposed to happen. Why is this happening? If I wouldn't have broken the game flow, would he then be alright? "Wake up!", I crawl a bit towards him, careful not to touch the circle and yell at him. Why isn't he waking up?
I have to change my method. But how? I look around. There lies a pencil on the desk. I rush towards it and throw the pencil at Grabby.
"Sir, wake up!", I yell while throwing. I miss. Wow, how shameful.
I rummage through the cupboards. My eyes start to sting a bit. In one I find some water bottles, but I would risk destroying the pentagram, if I would use them to wake up Grabby. I frantically keep searching, growing more and more desperate. Apart from the water bottles... Paper stacks? Useless… Paperclips… Useless! Envelopes… Also useless! A glass of marbles – bingo. Why are there marbles? I take the glass and open the lid. Then I take a marble out and stand close to Grabby. "Sir, wake up", I continue yelling at him, while aiming with the marble at his head. I miss. I take another and this time I hit his head, but he doesn't even twitch.
I take out another and try to step a bit closer, without touching the pentagram.
Suddenly I feel something under my foot and a small gust of wind touches my shoulder. I shriek, while I lose my balance and fall into the circle, on Grabiner.
My head hits his stomach and he groans. Sh*t. Now I'm in trouble. "Wake up, Sir", I cry and shake his shoulders. I hear the Manus laugh at me from behind, while his claws grasp my neck and he drags me from Grabiner. He slowly starts to squeeze my neck while laughing like a maniac. I suddenly feel dizzy and more and more tired. "Fool. This one was protected. But you have crossed the wards that bind me…" Yeah, well we already clarified that, didn't we? "Elise!", I suddenly hear Potsdam shout from the door. Great, now she is here? Well, better late than too late, I guess. "You will not touch that child!", she commands the Manus.
"She is my rightful prey", counters the Manus. "She is… of the house of Grabiner.", Potsdam continues in a depressed voice.
Grabiner finally woke up and looks around confused, while he sits up. As he catches sight of me, his expression hardens. "She is his affianced bride, whom he has pledged to marry this very day!", Potsdam dramatically declares. "…It is so sworn.", Grabiner reluctantly responds.
The spirit vanishes while hissing frustrated and I can breathe again. "You absolute imbecile!", Grabiner yells at me furiously. My cheeks start to feel a bit wet, but he IS right. How the f**** did I manage to trip into the pentagram? Even though I knew of the dangers. I'm an IDIOT!
"Not here, Hieronymus.", Potsdam interferes. "Do you know, what you've done?", he continues to shout at me. Yes, unfortunately I do know, what I've done, but that just makes it worse. "She was trying to save your life. Surely you wouldn't want her to lose her soul for such an act.", Potsdam tries to sooth Grabiner.
She's awfully relaxed. "I'm not sure this is an improvement.", Grabiner snaps at her. "I'm sorry…" I supress a sob. "In the future, Miss Ojousama, you should learn not to meddle with things you do not understand!" Dammit, what's wrong with me? Why do I lack so much composure these days?
"Not here, please. We should speak away from the watch.", Potsdam reminds Grabiner. "I will take her away and explain. We see you again at noon?"
"As I appear to have little choice.", Grabiner hisses at Potsdam. I pick myself up and head with Potsdam to the door.
I take another glance at the room. Grabiner gruntingly started cleaning up the whole mess. He looks at the marbles confused and then puts them back into the glass. He touches his face for a moment, while doing so. Does it hurt?
"Now, come with me, Dear. It's better to leave him alone now." Potsdam softly grabs my shoulder and leads me to her office. It was an empty classroom in the game, wasn't it? Well, this place makes more sense anyways. I take a deep breath and sit down on one of the chairs in front of her desk. Something bothers me, but I can't quite grasp what it is. "So… " I stop, unsure on how to continue. "Professor Grabiner recently came into possession of a Manus, a guardian spirit sworn to the service of his family line. He has been… experimenting with it. When you crossed the containment wards, it began to feed on you. The only way to save you was to cause the spirit to recognize you as a rightful member of the family it serves." I sigh. "He has to marry me now, right?", I ask, even though I already know the answer.
"Yes, my Dear. A wizard's word is binding. A Manus would not be fooled by simple trickery.", she replies in a sad tone of voice. "Therefore you will have to marry him. Today.", she adds with a light smile. Wait a minute. She doesn't seem to be actually sad! Is she secretly glad about the whole situation?
"Professor… you're not actually GLAD about how things panned out, right?", I ask her aghast. "But you tried to save him, and now he is saving you. Isn't that romantic?" I'm stunned. Is this whole ordeal just some kind of soap opera for her?! I rub my temples. "Professor Grabiner is going to kill me.", I dryly remark.
As soon as he finds out, that Potsdam is entertaining herself on his expenses, I'm dead meat.
"Really, his bark is worse than his bite. Haven't you noticed that by now?", Potsdam chirps. This woman drives me crazy. I just continue massaging my temples.
"There is no other way. The oath has been given. To break that now would cost his magic and your life. This isn't forever. You will be joined for a year and a day, that's all. After that, your promise has been kept, and you can go your separate ways." I can pick out of her voice, that she wants our promise to be kept longer.
At least try to hide your opinion on this matter more!
"I'm sure this isn't quite the wedding a girl dreams of, but I have some lovely robes that should fit you, and I think it will all turn out for the best. Perhaps you'll even come to like each other!", Potsdam laughs heartily. Could you please be a bit less enthusiastic about this wedding?! I sigh. "The mail?" "Oh, don't worry about that.
My little helper will see to it." So Donald will do that, huh. I wonder, if he will be suspicious, he is quite clever after all. But Minnie is the one, who will spill the beans. "Now, we need the ribbons, and a basket, and a witness, and I'll need to alter the dress…" Potsdam excitedly begins to plan our secret emergency wedding.
I stay quietly in my chair, while Potsdam runs around and organizing everything. I glance around in the room. Potsdam has some plants standing here and there and a huge bookshelf, filled with rare-looking books. Her desk is mostly hidden under different documents. In a corner behind her desk stands a kettle with dried plants and some instruments used for potion-making over it. Next to the kettle are two shelves, one filled to the brim with potions and another filled with glasses with special ingredients. Next to the wall to the left of my, stands a big couch with a lot of cushions on it. The couch is big enough to also function as a bed. The main colours used for the interior are light green and light brown, but due to the various flowers it's rather colourful in here. The chairs are well-padded and very comfortable, making me relax a bit. Since I'm finally composed again, I start to recall what happened. Something felt wrong, what could it be?
I gaze around in the room again, absent-mindedly. On the shelf with the ingredients for potion-making I spot a glass filled with colourful, small balls.
They kind of look like candy. Suddenly it strucks me. "Marbles!", I exclaim. "Marbles? What marbles? Whatever, here, an apple for you. It's your breakfast." Potsdam appears next to me and thrusts an apple in my hand. I reluctantly take the apple and stare Potsdam directly in the eyes.
"I threw only 3 marbles. But Grabiner picked up five.", I remark, still looking at her. "Oh my, what an interesting observation, Dear. But you should eat.", Potsdam chirps. "I wonder, where the other marbles came from. Anyways, what a coincidence, that I couldn't find you, Professor Potsdam, but as soon as I fell into the pentagram, you appeared just in time to save me." Potsdam laughs cheerfully. "Oh my, you're such a smart girl. Now, eat, I still need to arrange a few things, before I can prepare your wedding outfit." I'm speechless. Absolutely speechless. WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER? How can someone like this become headmistress?
Meanwhile Potsdam drags me to a bathroom next to her office and commands me to wash my hands multiple times and I obediently obey. After that she hands me a white dress and while I try it on, I composed myself enough for another try. "So, why exactly am I 'accidently' getting married to my teacher, Professor Potsdam?
Why would someone go so far as to trip her own student with a Breeze-spell and some marbles into a circle with a soul-eating monster?"
"And not to mention a Manus as well", Potsdam jokes. The heck? "My, you even noticed the Breeze-spell, how clever. Well, I work with Hieronymus for about eight years, it's time that he changes his grumpy attitude.", she continued, at least a bit more serious. That is all? You didn't like his constantly sour mood?
"May I ask, why me? Apart from that, I don't think he will change his grumpy attitude, just because he was forced to marry a minor. I'm afraid it might even have the opposite effect.", I inquire, still managing to stay calm. Finally, I'm back at going with the flow.
"Darling, he was never so interested in another student, I don't know anyone more suited than you. I wanted to give you the choice initially; if you rush in to save him, you would marry him, and if you would look for help instead, then I would think of something else. However, the circumstances have changed. I heard about your incident with Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Ramsay is dangerous, but he was careful to never do something, which could get him expelled. Nevertheless, he has shown an unusual amount of interest in you, cupcake. I'm sure the marriage will protect you in more than one way." Potsdam tone of voice sounds way too jovial for discussing something so serious. The thought, that my marriage could actually protect me from Damien's affections calms me down a bit.
With a chuckle Potsdam leans towards me. "Besides, you should have seen Hieronymus face, when he told me Damien kissed you. You could have boiled a pot of water with his anger, it was really cute." Somehow, I get the feeling, that this was the more important factor…
Apart from that, I can't imagine Grabiner's angry face as 'cute'. I think it's rather scary. "But… how did you manage to arrange for this all? Won't Hieron- Professor Grabiner suspect you?", I ask her perplexed. "Oh well, he's too occupied with being angry to wonder why his concentration was drained so fast. It was also his first time doing that ritual, so he will simply think, that he would have miscalculated it a bit. And to keep him sleeping, until I could push you into that circle, was really not a big task. As for the room, well I was the one to suggest the post office, but I had good arguments, so he won't suspect a thing." I think about her words for a while. "But, aren't you afraid of me telling him all about this?", I question her. Potsdam laughs about my question. "But Darling, you're a smart girl. You know Hieronymus,
he wouldn't continue working here, if he knew, that I did that to him. But you're his wife and a student here. Besides, you know, that I didn't mean harm."
Is… is that blackmail? "If Professor Grabiner wouldn't have agreed on marrying me, I could have died!", I accuse her.
"But he would never let a student die for his mistakes, if there was a way to save em. And even if that would have been the case, unlikely as it is, I'm more than capable of dealing with one Manus, don't worry." I slouch my shoulders. "I feel so weak due to the attack. Got my soul damaged?"
Potsdam comfortingly touches my shoulder. "No, your energy just got a bit drained. You'll be able to get it back in no time, don't worry. You're an exceptional student to begin with. So, I'm finished with the dress, wanna see?" I step towards the mirror Potsdam points at.
It's a medieval dress, which is composed out of an upper dress in white and an underdress in blue, matching my eye colour. The upper dress is laced around my waist, and my sleeves are very long. Potsdam had adjusted the colour to fit my eye colour using black magic. The rand of the fabric of the upper dress is embroidered. I really like it, to be honest. "Now, let me do your hair as well." Potsdam sits me down on a stool, opens my pony tail and starts to comb my hair. She braids my hair at the sides, joining the braided hair strands at the back of my head to one strand. It's a simple hairdo, but a put-up hairdo wouldn't suit the medieval-like dress.
With this, our preparations have finished and Potsdam leads me down through a hidden door to a narrow stone corridor.
Soon we arrive at a wide open room, lit with candles. Wow, this place is so romantic, I think sarcastically to myself. Not that it matters, this is a marriage in name only.
I wasn't married before, but it shouldn't be a big deal, given the circumstances. Minnie has already arrived and is waiting for us.
I bet she didn't know her class president duties would include being witness for a secret wedding between a teacher and a student.
Minnie approaches me to squeeze my hand and tries to smile in order to comfort me. Somehow I feel calmer than her though? I hear a cough behind me.
I slowly turn around to face Grabiner with a calm expression. He wears some kind of red coloured robe, which suits him very well. He usually dresses so plain and inconspicuous, that I'm really surprised at seeing him actually wearing something so colourful. It suits him though. A hint of a smile appears on my lips.
He's really good-looking; my husband is handsome at least. Could be worse.
After this quick assessment, I turn to Potsdam, before he starts glaring at me for staring at him. She claps her hands. "Shall we begin?" I simply nod, while Grabiner grunts something about getting done with it. "Come and stand with me then." We walk in step across the stone floor, each of us carrying a basket. His basket holds a tree branch, while mine contains an ear of corn. The baskets are decorated with ribbons, blue and orange ones for me and black and gold ones for him.
These wedding traditions are so strange. "We have assembled today, to join the hands of these two people in marriage. They appeared here before us, out of their own free will" …Well, it's not really volunteering, if the other option is dying, but I guess, it's free enough. "… to pledge upon their honour as magical beings to be loyal to each other. Honour and loyalty, these are the pillars, our magical society is built upon…" Man, it's such a long speech, and we're like, just standing here.
I glance towards Grabiner. He looks almost as bored as I am. His brows are furrowed; doesn't he get tired of it? Or are his face muscles cramped, and he is actually incapable of relaxing his expression? I look back at Potsdam, before he notices me staring. Potsdam still cheerfully chirps about loyalty and honour and how important these two things are. "… and with each, the gifts provided for the other … " Ok, now is our cue.
I turn back to Grabiner and present the basket to him with my left hand. "I give to you my kindness and courage.", I make my oath calmly, while looking at him.
He holds my basket with his right hand, while presenting me his with his left. "I give to you my wisdom and my protection." I could use some wisdom.
And some protection as well, as Potsdam hinted. I reach out to his basket with my right hand, while still holding onto my own with my left hand. Minnie and Potsdam step to our sides, to drape the dangling ribbons over our hands. "As two streams join a river, so your two lives join to create something greater than they were.
One family and one future, for one year and one day are ye bound." Is the marriage automatically invalid after a year and one day? Or is that simply the minimum time for a magical marriage?
"You may now kiss the bride." Potsdam, you're way too optimistic. Please don't embarrass me just due to your impossible dreams. "Is that strictly necessary?"
Potsdam looks away, disappointed that it didn't work. "Well, no." "Then I have no intention of demeaning myself."
Yeah, well, maybe it's demeaning to me too? To be kissed by a man, who doesn't love me, that's simply awful. Even if that man is handsome. I sigh.
I better just shut up, he has enough reason to be angry at me, after all. Grabiner lets go of the baskets and steps away, while I still hold onto them.
Should I place them down? They're not heavy though and I probably have to carry them back, so I keep them.
"Well then, I see you in a year for the severance.", Grabiner says to me, while smiling evilly. Is he trying to hurt me or something?
Furthermore, he'll see me for the severance? So we need a divorce, that means, we would stay married otherwise, right?
"I will still visit your classes though, Sir?", I reply calmly, totally ignoring the mood he tried to set up.
"Hieronymus, don't be cruel. She's your wife now.", Potsdam scolds him playfully. She just sees him as a child, doesn't she? Is it because she is in fact really old?
I wonder how old exactly. Hundred? More than hundred? She looks as if she would be around forty to fifty years old, but she very skilled in green magic.
"We should all go for a nice meal together.", Potsdam proposes cheerfully. "She may be my wife in name, but that is the end of it.", he comments dryly.
Then he turns to me, "You are to stay out of my way. Do not expect special treatment or privileges. You will not use my name, you will not enter my rooms and no one is to know about this. Do you understand?" "Well, yeah, that is kind of obvious?", I remark. Ok, I'm a bit irritated, I admit. I'm emotionally tired, ok?
I had a lot to deal with lately. "I hope this whole affair has taught you the cost of foolishness." Indeed. For example, it was foolish to trust Potsdam.
And it was also foolish to rebel against the game-fate-thingy. I should simply have used the knowledge I had about the game to my advantage.
Why didn't I play with the flower stones with Damien? Why did I reject him in the cafeteria? No, I simply shouldn't have taken his hand in the beginning.
Damn you, funny jelly! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have acted nicely towards Damien in the beginning!
"Goodbye, 'Miss' Ojousama." "Ms Ojousama-Grabiner.", Potsdam teases him. She is surprisingly mean, isn't she? Grabiner just sighs and rolls his eyes at her.
I guess he is also emotionally exhausted. Grabiner sweeps away and I turn to Potsdam. "And now?" Is it finally time to go to the Glen? "I think that's largely up to you." That's not what I asked… "Elise… here." Minnie gifts me an envelope with 25 Dollar. "You ought to have some sort of wedding present."
"Thank you Minnie. That's extremely nice of you.", I honestly thank her. "Yes, that's right. And we will go out for a lovely meal, even if the groom doesn't care to attend. But first we'll need you to get out of those robes."