Chapter 9:
While running along the stone wall, she could feel the wind in her hair and through her robe. The sky was grey and she felt slightly cold. There was nothing around except, on her left, a lake, and grass, and a wall on her right. Still running, she opened the door and rushed inside the building, trying to follow the voice. The voice was familiar but she just couldn't remember who it belonged to – though her heart kept telling her she knew whose voice it was.
"I'm here. I'm here."
"Where?" she called out, stopping a bit and looking around the corridor for any clue.
"I'm here. I'm here."
Suddenly feeling hopeless, she felt her heart beating faster and her instinct told her something was wrong – and it was because of her. She started running again, faster this time, as the voice keep repeating the same words. No matter who the voice belonged to, she needed to help and protect them. If anything happened to them, she could never forgive herself.
"I'm here. I'm here."
She ran through a long corridor, and she stopped again when she saw blood on the floor.
"Where are you?" she screamed, starting to panic.
But instead of the voice telling her the same sentence, a distant laugh, a cold, high, and victorious laugh, and a small scream of pain. She felt tears coming out of her eyes, and, as the laugh continued, she ran out of the corridor, finding herself in another one. The first thing she saw was blood again on the floor, but this time there was a person in the middle of it. She only saw the person's back, and she instantly knew the person she had been looking for was in front of her at last. It was a man, with untidy black jet hair, who was wearing a blood-soaked jacket and had a long, thin wooden stick in his hand.
"You let me die."
She almost jumped at the young, masculine voice.
"What?" was all she could stay.
"You let me die," the young man repeated, still not facing her. "He killed me because you didn't find me earlier. You abandoned me."
She felt a tear rolling down her cheek. She loved him, she knew she somehow did, how could she have leave die? She couldn't her but shake and starting to cry. No, he couldn't be dead, she couldn't bear it-
"No! I saved you, I-"
"You. Let. Me. Die." He repeated in a cold and slow voice.
She heard the distant, cold, victorious laugh again and the hissing of a snake, and at the same time the young man started to move, turning towards her. After all this time, she was going to see his face at last. She looked at him in awe, and saw a bit of a bloodstained cheek, and she was about to see his eyes when a green light blinded her. At the same time the corridor around them began to fade, and she only had to see his mouth moving, pronouncing a single word.
"Mina…"
"Mina! Mina! Mina!"
Mina opened her eyes, and had trouble breathing for a second. She felt the covers over her, and saw Roxanne at the end of the bed, gently shaking her foot under the covers.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I…I just had a nightmare." The brunette said.
She felt her eyes were watery, and dried the tear that fell down her cheek during her sleep.
"Are we late?" Mina asked.
She got down the ladder right after Roxanne, and saw the latter, Sonia and Kenna were still in their pajamas.
"Not really," Sonia said, checking her phone. "We were worried about you, Roxy had a hard time waking you up."
"I had a nightmare too," Roxanne said. "I dreamed that I was falling, and I knew I was going to die. I don't remember seeing anything except that weird red figure above me. Oy, my neck hurt."
She put her hand on her neck and cracked it.
"We should get dressed. Thanks for waking me up, Rox."
"Sure."
They all put their uniforms on and quicky got ready. On their way to breakfast, Mina felt a tired, and couldn't think of anything but the blood on the castle's floor – as it was a castle, right? – and mostly the young man with jet-back hair. Everything about that dream – the castle, the young man, the stick he was holding in his hand, the laugh, – was familiar, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. She felt distraught and heartbroken at the thought of the young man dying. How was it possible to love someone you didn't know so much? She followed the others into the canteen, and didn't participate at their conversation. When they arrived, they saw the boys seated around the same table as usual. There were four of them this time, as Sebastian was back, looking way better. He smiled at Mina when she sat next to him, and she was so lost in her thought that she barely saw his smile and didn't notice when he leaned towards her in order to get a kiss.
"Oh, sorry, Seb."
But instead of just giving him a kiss, she put his arms around his neck – where the green thing had disappeared – and hugged him. She needed comfort, and she knew only Sebastian could make her feel better. He instantly hugged her back, as if he knew something was wrong. He kissed her on the cheek, and Mina felt slightly better.
"I'm glad you're back, kitten. How do you feel?"
"Oh, much better, eso es seguro. The Nurse said it was probably some kind of weird fever."
Of course, he barely believed Mina and Roxanne when they talked to him about the fact that he shared symptoms with a fictional character. They talked about Sebastian's potential illnesses for so long that they were late when they left the canteen for building C for their first Potions class of the year. They ran to the class, where everyone was already here. That class was bigger that the other, it had green walls and there were laboratory benches instead of regular tables. When they entered, they met their teacher's cold gaze for a second.
"You're late." Mrs. Berkeley said with a high-pitched, cold voice. "Seat before I give all you detention."
She was a tall woman with curly dark-blond hair, cold brown eyes and a mole above her upper lip.
"Excuse-us, Ma'am." Sonia said shyly. Her cheeks had turned pink.
Their teacher didn't even look at her. Mina and the others shared a look, not surprised at all. Unlike Mrs. Walcott and Mrs. Stanton, their Potions teacher wasn't known for being warm and wasn't popular among students. They sat on the free chairs after getting their cauldrons in the cupboard, and opened their books to the page they were indicated.
"Try to be better than last year if you can, although I don't have much hope. And work in silence. I don't want to hear a single word."
They worked in duos for half an hour, but Mina just couldn't focus on their work and barely listened to Roxanne's reading of the instructions of the potion they were supposed to make. At one point, Roxanne looked randomly out of the window and pointed at the greyish sky.
"Guys," she whispered – she knew the others around them would hear too. "It's snowing."
They all turned to the window and saw the same thing as she did.
"Snowing?" Mina heard Alden. "In September?"
They all knew what he was talking about. Mina, still thinking about her dream, didn't even heard what they were bickering about, though it seemed the word "fun" and "snow" were pronounced at some point.
"Guys, quiet it down," Roxanne said, anxiously looking at Mrs. Berkeley. "What do you think, Mina? You didn't say anything since we got here."
"Huh?" Mina said, finally focusing on the others.
"Kenna said we should have a snowball fight in the courtyard at lunch time," Sonia smiled.
"It'd be fun," Sebastian said, looking at Mina.
"Dude, what are we, five?" Nathan answered, rolling his eyes.
"I mean, you are a five on a scale to one to ten, so-"
"Stop it! Mina?"
Mina raised her small shoulders. "Yeah, if you want to."
Kenna and Sonia jumped in excitement, and even Alden seemed to enjoy the idea. Kenna and Sonia spent the next three classes – Universe, Language and one hour where they were supposed to do their homework – talking about the snowball fight, and made everyone eat their lunch fast.
"Come on, we don't have much time!"
"Chill, we can still do it after our last class of the day – what it is, Magic?"
"Yeah."
Mina didn't feel like talking, just kept her eye on her plate as she ate. She was trying to find an answer to that when she noticed the others had finished their plates and were leaving.
"Are you coming, Mina?"
She followed them into the courtyard, noticing as she went by the teachers' table Mrs. Roth and Miss Gardner in serious conversation. As soon as she was outside, Mina shivered, and suddenly felt Sebastian's arm around her, gently stroking the back of her arm.
"You should go and take a warm coat and a beanie at the laundry, corazón. You're gonna get cold."
Mina shook her head. She saw some people playing with snow or casting a spell on it to give it a particular form – a student from the Sixth year had done a very good castle – wearing the blue winter clothes from the laundry. Kenna and Sonia had started throwing snowballs at each other, and were soon followed by Nathan and Raphael.
"Go with them," Mina told Sebastian, "I'm tired, I'm just gonna find a beach."
"Are you sure? I can stay with you, I don't really care about snowball fights."
Mina nodded, and Sebastian kissed her hair before walking towards the students. She didn't feel like doing anything, and just wanted to be alone. She thought she felt the same sadness as she did when she thought about her relationship with her parents – especially her mother, but she realized that, if she soon got over the fact that her parents didn't care about her or her siblings, she could never ever get over the young man's death. But how can you be heartbroken by the death of someone you didn't know? No finding any answer to that, she thought about the second question that occupied her mind: who was the young man? She was sure, in her core, that she knew him, and she knew the castle she always saw him in. Even the laugh was familiar. She felt like the answer was obvious, but she just couldn't put her finger on it and that pissed her off. She focused, trying to remember what he looked like – black hair, untidy, right? The clothes weren't really as familiar, and thus weren't of any help. Come on, Mina, think. He was young, maybe seventeen, dark-haired. Hold on, he had an accent, hadn't he? She tried to remember his face before realizing she never actually saw it, always somehow waking up seconds before seeing it. He also had some kind of stick in his hands. She felt like the pieces were coming together when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay, hun? Grey was right, you're gonna get cold."
Kenna took her beanie out – had she and the other been to the laundry without Mina nothing it? – and put in on Mina's black hair before seating next to her.
"I'm just tired, that's all."
"Are you sure? After that weird nightmare you had last night, I'm sure it's beyond tiredness. What if you told me about that dream, huh?"
Mina hesitated, before telling Kenna. For once, the blonde listened carefully, nodding a bit as Mina went on. When the latter was finished, Kenna sighed.
"My, hun, that's what I call a nightmare."
"Thank you, Sherlock."
"But I'll tell you," Kenna said in a serious tone that was unlike her, "It reminds me of the dream I had the night we got here. I was in some kind of castle, just like you, and I saw a body on the floor. It was a man, he was blonde, holy Baba Yaga, he was bleeding. I remember he was wearing a white shirt, and there was a stick next to his hand. His chest just being covered in blood, then I started crying, then I tried to help him, and then I woke up."
"Did you see his face?" Mina asked.
"No, never. I've dreamed about him several times, but I never saw what he looked like. At first I thought it was Nathan, but his hair more like, white or silvery, you see."
Mina nodded.
"I just feel like I know him," Mina said, her eyes on Sebastian casting a spell to throw a considerable amount of snow at Nathan. "And I wished I could see his face or know his identity."
"Oh, me too. It's kinda frustrating." Kenna said in a kind tone. "You know, I was sad too after that dream, I wanted to help him too. But don't worry, the sadness eventually goes away – or you don't think about it as much anyway. Plus, it might just be a dream."
"A dream we have several times a week?" Mina asked. "Plus, like Alden said, the Great Barrier is open now, so I don't think that's a coincidence. Weird dreams, snow in September, who knows what's next."
"Well, only time – or Sonia – will tell. But now, let's teach these boys a lesson, shall we?"
Mina took the hand Kenna was holding out, and moved her other hand's fingers to raise a bit of snow in the air, focused to form a ball with it, and pointed at Sebastian's direction.
Their first class of their afternoon was Combat – a thing Eagle School considered imperative, and Mina tended to agree. The class took place in the school's gymnasium. There was a few snowball fights and a lot of laughs on the way, and their hair and clothes were covered in snow when they arrived. They changed clothes and entered the main room.
"Today you guys will separate in duos and do everything we did last year, I wanna see if you kids still got it. Be careful, and if any of you little clowns use magic, he'll get detention. Go."
Mina and the others formed their usual duos – her and Roxanne, Sebastian and Raphael, Alden and Nathan, Sonia and Kenna – and got to work. Mina was very agile and dodged Roxanne's attempts to make her fall for a moment until Roxanne took a step back.
"Mina, you're supposed to try to hit me or make me fall," the blonde said with an amused smile.
She actually couldn't bring herself to hit Roxanne, even to practice. She knew the latter wouldn't mind but what if Mina injured her by accident? No, no way.
"Oh, I actually want us to stay in good terms, bestie." Mina smirked.
They made each other fall into the ground a few times as Mr. Fields was walking around helping and advising the class. He watched Mina and Roxanne fight for a few seconds, and nodded.
"Good job, ladies. Just try to actually fight, you know?" he said with an amused smile.
"Yes, sir."
If Roxanne and Mina only tried to make each other fall into the ground, Alden and Nathan weren't playing around but Mina knew they obviously wouldn't hurt each other on purpose. She just thanked the First Three that it wasn't Sebastian against Nathan, because that would have a been another story. Raphael and Sebastian were also doing really good, with Sebastian being very agile and Raphael being very quick. Roxanne and Mina got back to work and the class went as usual when she heard Raphael and Sebastian laugh. She turned to them and saw Sebastian on the ground, and Raphael was quick to help him get back up. Roxanne and Mina chuckled and worked for a few minutes when they overheard Sebastian's voice.
"What do you mean, you can't take it off? Just it off, man!"
"I'm trying, dude, but I can't!"
Mina and Roxanne turned towards them again. Raphael's hand was on Sebastian's shoulder and was apparently trying to take it off. The two girls shared a look and walked towards them and Mina saw that a few students were looking at the two boys.
"Will you quiet it down, Seb?" Mina said with a lower voice. "Some students are looking at you."
"I don't care, his hand is tuck on me!" Sebastian said, lowering his voice.
"What?" Roxanne said, her eyes going from Sebastian to Raphael's hand.
"It's stuck, man, I can't get it off," Raphael looked a bit panicked.
"Just get it off his shoulder, Raph', what are you-"
Raphael shook his arm but after a few tries, it seemed that his hand was indeed somehow glued on his best friend's shoulder – t-shirt, precisely.
"Alden!" Mina called out. "Alden, can you come here, please?"
Alden was the smartest among them – and the class – so if someone knew a solution to this, it would be him. After all, he always understood everything.
"I don't understand," Alden said. "Try to use magic, maybe?"
"Are you crazy, I don't want to get half-naked in front of everybody, man!" Sebastian snapped.
"Seb!"
"Maybe we should go see Mr. Fields," Raphael suggested.
