"Alright. We wait for 4th at night and beat the asses of those guys. " 

Maria slumped down in her bed and took a deep breathe. Nature's scent filled her nose and it made her heart calm. The green vines got her eyes and she stared at them. 

A pinkish ball of light came out of her necklace, and then Mara was there. " You're back."

One of Maria's eyebrows went down and she smiled. "You live in my necklace now?"

Mara shrugged "I guess?"

Maria raised her left hand and decided to twirl a vine. The vine she chose was covered in pink hue then it bent in her will. "Since when did I have this ability?"

Mara looked up at the vine she was playing at. "Magicalities have their powers the moment they were born. "then she looked Maria. "Do you remember when you were a kid? Anything that's related to this ability?"

Maria's eyes narrowed as she racked her brain for answers. 

blank

"No... I-i can't seem to remember anything-"

"Hide!!"

"But Maria we can't leave you here!!"

"Just give me your money and we can all be happy."

The twins hid behind Maria as they shivered in fear."Why aren't you listening to me?! I said hide!"

"But-"

The sound of gunshot was heard all around. In the small corner of the street, blood was flowing on the ground. Slowly it becomes a pool of nothing but red thick liquid, larger and larger as seconds pass by. The smell was new and overwhelming to the three girls.

"Wh-what happened??" the twins looked at Maria who has both of her arms stretched out. "Maria...?"

Mara suddenly noticed the long pause from Maria, so she looked at her. "Maria?"

With a blink of an eye Maria turned her back away from Mara, and put down her hand. "I'm going to sleep. "

Mara looked at the hourglass. It's already 3rd at night, another hour before the meeting time. Her eyes went to Maria's back and wondered about that long pause.

And then finally she went back to being a pink ball of light and went back to Maria's necklace.

Maria despises this. Every time that memory resurfaces to her mind she'll have a panic attack that she can't control. That sound, that gunshot still rang in her ears like an alarm in the morning.

She tightly shut her eyes and after seconds  the feeling of sleep took over

- - -

"..ria...Maria!" she felt the pressure at her back getting stronger. " Hey Maria!!" Maria slowly opened her eyes as she heard the shout of Daniella. She sighed loudly as she shook her head" Waking you up is no easy task." then she looked her in the eye with seriousness. " It's almost 4th at night. "

As soon as she heard those words the drowsiness left her and she was 100% awake. She nodded " Let's go."

And now they're walking pretty fast paced in the hallways following the petals of Angelica. It slowly fluttered in the wind. It kept moving forward, and whenever it falls down for some reason it would fly up again and the cycle continues. 

The school is quiet at night despite the loud noises Maria heard all morning in the Main Hall. It was also dark of course since it was night already. The blue flames at the walls helped light their way in the dark corridor. Besides the blue flames the glass windows caught the light of the bright moon outside. 

" I wonder what time is it." Lucilla asked, then she looked at the others shrugging." You know in the human way."

Maria thanked Lucilla for talking. As much as she wants the peace and quiet of the place, she's pretty scared of someone jump scaring them by the next corner.

It was Daniella, of course , who tried to answer the question. " It's pretty easy to guess actually.  " Daniella rummaged through her stuff in the bag and pulled out her spell book. She opened it and flipped through the pages and stopped on a certain paper. Maria glanced as she caught a glimpse of another source of light coming out of Daniella's spell book. "Cast: Light pen." 

Lucilla chuckled as the words left Daniella's mouth. " Seriously Daniella?"

A tint of red appeared in Daniella's cheeks. " Do you want me to answer your question or not?" 

Lucilla stopped laughing, but the smile was still present in her face. "Fine go ahead."

They were still walking, paying attention to the fluttering petals. But half of their attention was on the hourglass Daniella drew in mid-air. 

As soon as she was done drawing the whole thing, she drew 6 lines on the top part and 6 at the bottom. "I'm thinking hours, minutes and seconds work the same thing in this dimension. " suddenly Daniella shaded the top part dark blue and the bottom part yellow. "I'm guessing the time of the day is at the top, while the countdown to the next time of the day is at the bottom. And then since there are 24 hours per day you have divide it by two that makes 12. Then since there are only 6 lines maybe one line means two. So if you count it by 4th at night.... It's maybe around 6-8 at night." then she looked at Lucilla. "Do you get it?"

But instead of a firm nod she was greeted by confused look. "uhm..."

Maria laughed to herself. "Daniella"she looked at the short haired girl, who has the same confusion on her face as the blonde one. "You have to try better than that."

"What do you mean???"

Maria and Lucilla looked at each other. It was Maria who spoke up. "Well sometimes you have to understand that not everyone has the same intellect as you. You have to breakdown the basics to them and build up to the complicated stuff."

Lucilla laughed. "I guess I get it...somewhat?? " she shrugged "But it's still not clear."

"But you got your answer right?" Maria smiled.

" Ya around 6-8 at night. But with this dark? I'm guessing around-"

" Guys..." the urgency in Angelica's voice made the others alert and stood their guard. And as Angelica turned around- "We're here." 

But instead of feeling the blood rush of adrenaline, Maria felt the cool breeze under the moonlight in her skin. She was on guard at first, but the sight that was laid before her disregarded all of that.

" So this is the garden." Maria whispered

The wind swept away Maria's hair off her face. She could see glowing insects flying around the trees who also held colorful fruits that lit up under the starry sky. The four of them were speechless, but they  stepped closer so they could expect the unknown that covered the whole ground. 

Angelica bent down at the bluish flowers and smiled. " There are so many ..." she brushed the petals between her fingers. "...so many astonishing flowers here. "

Daniella was on the trees, looking up to the glowing fruits. " How on earth do they glow like that? " she muttered under her breathe. 

"Aw." a yellow glowing butterfly went to Lucilla's hand. " You're a cutie." 

Maria wished time could stop and just lay down at the grass to appreciate the art nature had created.

For a moment the girls forgot what their objective is. Same goes for Maria as she walked towards Angelica. "Who knew the garden here would be this breathe taking?" 

Angelica stood up after examining the flowers, then she looked far away to the garden "It reminded me of my mother somehow..." 

" Why is that?"

Angelica revealed another rose. " I mean, this was originally hers before giving it to me. I just figured that she loves flowers." Maria saw Angelica's love for her mother through her eyes as she stared lovingly at the rose in her hand.

Maria remained silent.

Angelica shook her  head. " I mean...that's what I think. " she put it back to bag. "I don't know." then she took a deep breathe. " The air here seems refreshing though." 

Maria inhaled the colorless air. " Yeah..." she looked at the other 2 who were busy admiring their own field of expertise. Then she looked at Angelica who was beside her, busy admiring the stars in the sky.

Everything was perfect for a moment...

Then in with just a blink of an eye Maria saw the change in Angelica's expression. It had full panic. The girl turned around immediately and shouted. "LUCILLA! WATCH OUT!!"

The others heard this and were confused immediately. But Lucilla trusted her new friend and rolled away from her current position.

Pechew

The tree Lucilla was standing in front of has a bullet mark now. Realizing this the girls went on full alert, and tried to search for it source. 

Angelica was the one who had them busted. " Check them up in that tree!!" 

" I'll take care of it." Daniella had her book ready then she casted. "Saggealla!" with her arms extended to where Angelica pointed, the released arrows went for the enemy. 

The shadow hidden in the branches jumped higher to avoid the damage. 

Daniella cursed " It's not giving up." she flipped the pages in her spell book and then the light changed around her as she casted her second spell." Cast-"

Maria scanned their surroundings to see if there is an accomplice. Her eyes landed on another tree at the opposite direction. But as soon as she saw the shadow, it disappeared behind the trees.

"Who are they?! why are they attacking us?!"  she raced towards the shadow but when she turned to the spot where it disappeared it was gone.  Then she felt a hot wind behind her, with her instincts on fire she forced a nearby object to block the attack. The rock that protected her cracked into pieces as it absorbed the attack. But past that rock she saw the shadow that made the attack. And just as fast as the attack, it disappeared in plain sight.

Maria heard the spells made by Daniella and the continuous firing of bullets made by the attacker. Angelica rushed to Maria when she was done checking up with Lucilla." Maria, Lucilla will scan the garden on air to check what she could find. "  

Another hot wind was sensed by the two girls and they dodged quickly. They were lucky enough to receive no damage from the explosion. Both of them were too surprised to speak after a second. 

Maria was the first one to regain her composure. " Do you have an idea who's causing this?!" 

Angelica stopped for a moment. " I have an idea but-" 

Lucilla transformed just to warn the two girls crouched down on the ground. " WATCH OUT!!"

Maria saw an incoming beam towards her and Angelica, but the distance between them is so close it's impossible to dodge it.

The two closed their eyes-

...

...

She felt nothing.

Suddenly a new scent filled her nose and when she opened her eyes, she was greeted by a green gas.

And a familiar blonde man standing in front of them ...

Peace turned around to check on the girls he just protected. " You two ok?" 

Maria stood up. " You-!!"  she said. The anger, obviously on her voice

But the calm expression on Peace's face didn't falter one bit. " Hey, before you say anything I tried to protect you." 

Angelica fixed herself as she stood up. " He's right Maria..."  then she looked at the guy. " Thanks... Your name was Peace right?" 

Peace gave them a warm smile. " Yes ma'm. That's correct, I'm surprised you remembered me." 

Maria tried to analyze the guy. His yellow hair was tied and he had these welcoming eyes. And his hair was a bit long for a guy. The length was down to his shoulder. He was a bit taller than her or Angelica. His expressions were nice compared to the other guy Maria met earlier today.

But that changed immediately. His expression hardened as soon as he was finish talking to Angelica. " Now if you'll excuse I'd like to have a talk with you attackers. " 

The gas slowly cleared as he walked forward to the direction of the attack. Daniella and Lucilla rushed to their side as soon as the man was gone. " Are you guys ok?" Lucilla asked worriedly.

" Did that guy hurt you?" Daniella checked the arms of the two to see if there were any damage . 

" No." Maria shook her head.

" It tried to protect us." 

Daniella looked baffled when she heard those words. "What?" 

Lucilla looked at the guy. " He's one of the guys we met this morning right?" 

Peace stopped walking in a certain point and just stared off in space. Then out of nowhere he said. " You guys... That was too far, attacking a fellow classmate at night?  Seriously?" 

The girls looked confused. " Who is he talking to?" 

His words were answered by silence. 

He sighed. " Not funny guys."

Still nothing.

" Fine, you won't come out?" he positioned his hand in a certain way. Like he was showing his palm to the enemy. " I'll release that certain smell again."

THUD

A guy made a long loud sigh. " This is why we don't want you coming along Peace..." 

Another guy appeared beside him. " Well it was fun while it lasted. What about you Clarence?" 

" I only offered one attack nothing more." the calm looking guy made his way to Peace's side. " I was sure our plans would be stopped once Peace is aware of our location. " 

Lucilla crossed her arms, her face was full of anger. Same goes to the other girls.

The guy who had his arms on the back of his head rolled his eyes. " Don't give us that look. We were just testing you. " 

The anger never left Maria's face. " Testing us? You could've caused serious damage. Heck you already did."  she turned around and looked at the hole the explosion fro earlier left behind. 

The guy who sighed a little while ago answered Maria. "Clarence could fix it." 

The black haired guy sighed and revealed a book. " Cast: Repair."

Daniella was shocked. " You're a spell caster?"  but when she looked at the book he was holding, it was completely different. 

With one hand extended, light from the book went straight to the trees and the ground to fix the damage. " Was it that surprising. " he kept his gaze to the damage they created. " Knowing you, you could've also fix the damage. " then he looked at Daniella. " So why don't you help out." 

Maria was irritated. " Don't change the subject. You guys could've hurt us. " 

"Again, Clarence could've just healed you or something." 

Maria glared at the guy. She walked in front of him and looked him in the eye. " So it also doesn't matter to you if I hurt you right here right now. " sharp  branched and rocks lift up to Maria's will. Their sharp edges shone under the moonlight. 

Peace decided to go between them. " Now now. What is your name?" he looked at Maria.

" ...Maria..." 

Now Peace looked at the guy. " C'mon Lex, you know you're the wrong one here. " 

Lex looked at Peace, then at Maria. " Fine I'm sorry."

Angelica couldn't believe it. " What, that's it? How would we know you guys wouldn't hurt us again?"

Peace tried to calm the girls. " Well Vlade was right... "

Angelica looked at Peace. " Vlade? Who's Vlade?" 

" You know that guy with his arms at the back of his neck... Anyways, these guys were just testing you. "

"Testing us?" Daniella asked

" We heard that there were magicalities here that came from the Normalities dimension. " Vlade put down his arms and put his hand on his waist. "That hardly ever happens. We thought some Normalitie slipped up in Magica." 

Angelica held her necklace and showed it to Vlade. " From what I heard this serves as acknowledgement from a fellow Magicalitie to another Magicalitie. Are you saying they committed a mistake giving these to us?" 

With her words Maria continued. " You didn't just hurt us. You insulted our capabilities and the judgement of the Magicalitie that acknowledged us. "

The guys kept their expressions straight but Maria noticed the shame in their eyes. 

"Why don't you keep that in mind. " Maria motioned for her friends. " Let's go."

The girls were still irritated by what happened, but they decided to go back to their room with Maria.

After a while they were out of the garden, and then they exhaled at the same time. 

Lucilla went berserk. " I WAS SO NERVOUS BACK THERE!!!" 

Angelica smiled at Lucilla. " Same. I wonder what would have happened if I was hit by their attacks. "

Daniella laughed. " My heart was definitely racing there." 

" You know what's funny. " Maria said. " Even after that scary experience you three are still smiling."

Lucilla raised a brow. " Maria, the same thing applies to you!" then all of them laughed.

Suddenly the girls heard steps running towards them, so they all turned around.

"Wait!!" Peace stood there catching his breathe for a second. "Wait. haaa...." then he straightened up. "We're really sorry about earlier." 

Lucilla shrugged. " Peace, you didn't do anything wrong."

Angelica nodded. "Yeah, it was your friends who caused trouble. Not you."

" But still. After you left it was the first time they smiled in ages." he looked at Maria. " I swear they're not bad guys. " 

The girls looked at each other.

"As their friend I ask of you. Please forgive them." then he looked into space. " It was the first time they were excited living." 

Maria remembered the feeling. The energy just got to her as she dodged those attacks. It's like her body was already trained. The wits to outsmart the enemy. And finally to defeat the strong.

"Well for me as long as they don't do it again." then Maria glanced at the others. " I don't about the others." 

Daniella shrugged. " Whatever." 

Lucilla smiled. " Fine by me. "

" Well they did gave me a fun time. " Angelica said

Peace beamed " Thanks ! In return why don't we show you around here tomorrow." 

Lex shouted from behind. " Hey Peace!"

"Sorry that's my call." then he nodded towards the girls and walked back to the guys.

The girls smiled at Peace. 

"Well this is going to be fun."

"Agreed."

"Let's go back shall we?"

So the girls continued walking to their room. And then out of nowhere Maria remembered something. "Wait Angelica I have a question." 

"What is it?"

Even while talking the girls continued walking. " Earlier when the first attack was made, how did you know the target was Lucilla? I mean...You had your back turned."

Angelica's brow moved. " How? Well-" she held her chin as she scrambled for the answer. " I don't know. I just felt it."

"Maria's right. The bullet made no sound, only after it hit the tree." Daniella remembered.

The girls were silent for a while then Lucilla broke the silence. She stretched her arms. " Nggg!!! Why don't we just sleep for today and think about the hard stuff tomorrow?"

" Agreed."

~To be Continued~