"Bella? After school, don't you want to go to the school library with me? I need to study something there," Charlotte said.  Bella stopped on the steps and thought for a moment. She still had to think about History class and Masters. They still live among us. The sentence kept running through her head. She didn't know if she should be afraid of the Masters or admire them, but she knew she had to know everything about them!
"Yeah, calm down. I need to get something there, too," she nodded.

As in every library, there was a grave silence. Nobody made a sound. Charlotte aimed it directly at the library marked with the letter "E". She wanted to read about the elements. Bella looked around the library for a moment until her eyes stopped on the letter "M".

The library was high to the ceiling. Surprisingly, there are more books on "M" than Bella thought. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, except that she's looking for a book among the books. A ladder leaned not far from Bella. Looking at the high ladder, she noticed that it was missing several rungs.

"It'll be funny," she sighed. "Well, Bella, you just have to get what you want," she said to herself as she climbed up. She moved on to some blue books.
"Mythology, Montanistics, Artifacts. Artifacts? What do Artifacts do under the letter M?"  she stopped. Curious, she pulled up the book, and a book about the Masters hid right behind it.
"Ooh, look. What's hiding here?"  she grinned. She thought for a moment. Should he also borrow a book on Artifacts? She could be useful to her. But why was the book hidden like that? She realized it probably wouldn't be just that. Teachers probably don't want them to know everything.  But why?

Bella descended carefully. She looked around to see if anyone was watching her, and discreetly cleaned her books into her bag.

Charlotte came to see her for a moment.  She was holding a book on water.
"Shouldn't you have searched under the letter 'W'?"  Bella smiled at her.
"No, this is a collection of element books. Did you find your book?" she asked in return.
"I didn't find it," Bella lied. "Come on, we're going to the librarian to write down your book."
Charlotte nodded and left with Bella.

...

As soon as they arrived in the room, Charlotte immediately pulled out a book about water and began to read from it.
"Do you really think you'll learn to control your element better if you read something?" Bella asked doubtfully.
"Probably not, but at least I can improve my grade in theory," Charlotte said, staring at the book again.
"You know, I could try to teach you something. Maybe tomorrow?"  Bella offered her.
"You'd be really nice, thank you, but I'll read about it first," Charlotte said. Bella nodded and opened her book about the Masters.
"Wait! You said you didn't find the book!" Charlotte stopped.
"I didn't mean to tell you in the library -" Bella said, but Charlotte immediately interrupted, "Did you steal the book?!"
"Oh my gosh, no! It's just clear to me that they're hiding something from us, and without these two books I won't find out what! They would definitely confiscate my books!" Bella began to convince her.
"So, two books," Charlotte sighed, slamming her book. "What's the other book about?"
"About Darion's Artifacts, the Book of Masters was hidden behind," Bella replied.

Charlotte looked at her sadly and said, "Then I'll read a book about the Artifacts and you about the Masters. Okay?"
Bella looked at Charlotte in surprise. Did she hear well? Does Charlotte really want to help her?
"What?" she asked. "Do you really want to help me?"
"Of course! Throwing yourself in danger can be fun, or not?" she smiled. Bella nodded in agreement and handed Charlotte a book about Darion's Artifacts.
"Thank you, I appreciate it," Bella said with a smile.

...

They both read until about two in the morning, until they fell into a deep sleep.

Bella seemed a strange dream.  She was sitting in the auditorium of a tournament. She looked around. Next to her sat a boy with curly brown hair and a hood on his head. He looked at Bella and threw an encouraging smile at her. Bella smiled back at him and looked at the people around her.  Everyone around stared at the duel in front of them. There, the Ruler of Fire fought against the girl ruling the water. The platform on which the fight took place was high above the ground. Bella focused on the girl to see who she was. At that moment, the girl turned to Bella and looked at her in surprise. Bella was surprised who she was. She was Charlotte!  The moment their eyes met, there was joy in Charlotte's face. Bella smiled at her. When Charlotte suddenly came to the side, he struck the Ruler of Fire and knocked her off the platform.  Charlotte fell and Bella stared at her idly. Tears welled in her eyes.

Bella couldn't stand it anymore and she got up. She shot to her feet and ruffled her hair nervously. She looked sadly at Charlotte asleep on the next bed. She lay still on her side, not even noticing that Bella had woken up. She probably had a nice dream.

Bella just hoped that hers would never be filled...

..................................................

There will be more action in the next chapter. You'll see :)

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