Song: High waist to hell // Cloudy June

Btw, the credits for the idea (which will come further in the chapter, not to spoil it for ya) goes to my little brother xD.

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"Oh my God! please stop. I can't... I am going to die, and all of you will have to wear black but I don't wanna die yet!"

Ava fell to the ground in exhaustion, her knees sinking slightly in the moist soil and the dew-dripped grass blades caressed her feet. Hector paused jogging and swiveled his head back, sweat dripping off the tips of his ash-brown hair and trickling onto his eyebrows. He scoffed at his fallen companion, who had seemed to give up in the second lap.

Ava rolled onto her back and held up a hand to her head dramatically. Hector walked back to her and crouched down beside her.

"Stop being so bloody theatric. We have ten more laps to go."

"Wait, what? We've just done two yet? I can swear I've been running for over an hour!" She exclaimed. "We are not made for this Kingsley, we were made to sit at home and enjoy the luxuries the world has to offer."

"You spit in the face of evolution, don't you?"

Kingsley just stood up, pulling Avyanna back to her unsteady feet, watched her tottering around as though she had languor. Avyanna looked ruefully ahead of her, only to see a vast field of blunt curves and long stretches. She huffed in defeat, the loose strands of hair blowing away from her face.

"Here goes..." She muttered under her breath.

An hour and a million death threats later, Ava and Kingsley were waiting at the sidelines for as per their trainer's instructions. Kingsley was slightly out of breath, hands on his knees, and panting. Meanwhile, Avyanna, who chose a more dramatic way out of this, was on the ground, clutching her stomach and wheezing as though she was suffering from an asthma attack.

"Oh, is she finally dead? Who do I have to thank?" A snarky voice said.

She tilted her head upwards to see the unmistakable blonde hair and cocky expression. She gathered as much strength left in her sore limbs and pushed herself up. Throwing a scowl at Katz, she triedher best not to beat the living daylights out of him.

As if on cue, Ace showed up from behind, chugging water from a flask. Katz raised an eyebrow at the trio and scoffed.

"Well, if it isn't the Bitch Queen and her henchmen."

Kingsley growled at this, and Ace looked mildly lost as to why he was suddenly on attack. But Ava, being ever so refined at cussing, knew how to respond to unwanted, self-absorbed, loathsome jerks.

"Is that all you do in your sorry little life? Come up with witless insults to hurl at us?" she shot back.

"It's better than hunting for a dead brother."

Avyanna went slack-jawed at this. Her heart stopped for a moment and her breath hitched in her throat. How dare he say that?

Katz smirked at her befuddled expression, tears welling up in her eyes and her shaking, clenched fists. "What happened, Avyanna? Cat got your tongue?" He mocked in faux-innocence.

Ava took two deep, shuddering breaths before she attempted to lunge at him, only being held back by Ace. Had it not been for him, Katz would have been lying in a pool of his own scarlet. To say Ava was mad would be an understatement. She furious and seething with rage, red in the face and desperately trying to claw out of Ace's grip.

"You shallow, narcissistic, son of a b-"

"Language." Ace cut her off.

By this time Diem had left, having done the damage. Ava stopped struggling and spoke without turning around, "Let go off me Loughty." Her voice was low but vehement and that scared people more than when she was mad. He loosened his grip and she walked back inside, not looking back at them.

The two boys exchanged a glance, both of them equally confused at the exchange which had just taken place, neither of them very clear about what Katz had said and why Avyanna had gotten all worked up over it.

Before either of them could voice their concern, Clarence jogged up to the tiny gaggle of kids and asked them to move inside, leading them to a giant greenhouse whose upper floor had been cleared of plants. Instead, elongated rectangular tables were placed in rows, decked with apparatuses of unfamiliar liquids. Hector went to the closet one and lowered himself to eye level with the apparatus, squinting to observe it more clearly. The dark liquid swirled and bubbled as though it had a life of its own.

Moments later Ava burst through the door as if someone had just notified her that her presence was required. Clarence gestured everyone to take a seat behind each table. Kingsley sat on the first row, keen on listening to whatever was about to be explained. Avyanna however was put in a rotten mood by a certain entitled jerk and took a seat at one of the furthest benches.

Clarence walked among the gap between two columns of benches, making sure his voice reached all.

"Poisons. Nature's deadliest creation, our best ally, and our worst enemy. It just shows how mortal we are... A single sip of poison-laced wine can leave you choking. Almost all poisons are fatal when concentrated but some have antidotes. Cennet has provided us with these antidotes, provided you with them. But what use are they when you don't know what the venom was?"

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There had been no more news. Bexley had been on his toes every day, making trips back and forth to the Council to badger Gerald, who was growing more and more exasperated with the boy. After the seventeenth time he was asked if there was any news, Gerald calmly, yet firmly explained,

"Look here, Aillard. The Mage only contacts us when something big or something terrible happens. The fact that they have not called infers that it's all going smoothly. So don't keep hoping for news, because I tell you, it won't be pretty."

Bexley shook his head in defeat and looked up at Gerald, his mismatched eyes brimming with desperation.

"So, we hope for silence?" He questioned.

"We hope for silence," Gerald repeated.

Walking under the warm sunlight, Bexley should have felt relieved that Ava was alright. But somehow, he found it queer that updates were not being received more frequently. This whole ordeal of the Masquerade seemed quite secretive and sketchy to him. And if the Crown or its associates wouldn't provide him with enough information, he'd have to do some digging himself.

He had almost reached his mother's bakery when he spotted a huge commotion near the valley. According to his policy, when you see trouble, you run straight to it. Jogging down to the ravine, he made out what was a mob of terribly angry people surrounding a figure clad in black. Bexley pushed his way to the front, still confused at to what caused a crowd to gather there.

"What's going on?" He asked randomly in the hope of a response. One of the men at the front seethed, without turning back to face who he was answering.

"They caught a spy. Here, in Spiritfalls."

A spy in Spiritfalls. Which meant shit was happening. Which meant Gerald lied.

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Avyanna grabbed fistfuls of her hair as she tried to remember which of the five poisons was the deadliest and which one the least toxic. She slammed her palms on the table out of frustration, causing the liquid in one of the flasks to spill out a bit, dangerously close to her hand.

Clarence, who had witnessed this tutted and spoke in a condescending tone, "Mortis Honore, Avyanna. There is honor in death, but for your country. I daresay poisoning yourself is very honorable."

She had successfully managed to arrange the first three into increasing levels of their toxicity but was left with Ricin and Botulinum toxin. It was common knowledge that Botulinum was the most fatal of all; an intravenous dose of just 10-7g would be fatal to a 70 kg person. But the catch... she didn't know what was what.

She craned her neck to look at Kingsley, who had arranged the apparatus and was waiting patiently but was a tad too far away to cheat from. Avyanna mentally slapped herself for not sitting in proximity. She looked beside her to see a boy with wavy black, longish hair. He had placed the pale yellow flask at the lower end of the spectrum. Which meant the other one was Botulinum.

"Bingo." She whispered and placed both the remaining venoms at their respective ends.

After their trainer checked the order, they were dispersed, Avyanna immediately made a beeline for Hector, but thought of thanking the boy she cheated from. Ava went up to him and said, "You saved my life back there. I think."

The boy turned around and Ava got a better look at his face. He had bright hazel which seemed at odds with his sallow, pale face. He cocked an eyebrow in amusement.

"I did?" He asked.

Ava nodded and smiled, "The Ricin. I couldn't tell that and the Botulinum apart."

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm Nox Carathy."

"Avyanna Irvine. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Well then Avyanna, you owe me one."

With that, he turned and left. Ava chuckled and went to join her little trio. Hector raised his eyebrows at her, surprised to see her in a better mood.

"Did you kill yourself?" He inquired.

"Nope," She confirmed.

"So did you get the spectrum correct?"

"Yes, I did it myself," She declared proudly.

Ace, who had witnessed Ava's breakdown and her conspicuously cheating off her partner, shook his head and muttered under his breath,

"What a little fib." 

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Heya I'm finally back! Remember that joke I made in the last chapter? No? Let me remind you. I said,

"I finally have a writing schedule and I'll update every alternate day."  

Also me: Updates a month later.

Anywhoo, my exams are over and I'll try to be more regular, no promises lol.

Until then,

Toodles Cinnamon rolls 😘😘!