<< FON CARLSON >>

It is the perfect night to start their travel to the North. There is a gentle breeze in the air and enough moonlight to light their way.

Fon, Madame Rose, and her two guards are preparing the carriage when suddenly, Fon feels it. Something changed in the air. It is a chill that has nothing to do with the night air. It is too subtle that she almost didn't notice it.

"Something dark happened," Fon informs Madame Rose.

She frowns at her, her face tense and drawn. "What do you mean?"

"Give me a few minutes. I need to check this out."

Fon is about to return inside the Academy Halls when Madame Rose groans, "I hope this is not your strategy to delay our departure any further!"

Fon ignores her. Instead, she quickly walks back to the Academy rooms. This is one of the rare times that her heart is pounding. It's hard to pinpoint, but she knows that the darkness is there. Something is wrong. Very wrong.

When she reaches the infirmary, she finds it in chaos. Students are either running, shouting, crying, or petrified. Fon presses herself against the walls as she watches the crowd.

Annoyed, she catches the arm of one passerby. He looks at her, frightened, but not at her. In a whisper, the male student whispers, "Prim."

Fon frowns at the same time that she lets him go. This time, she strengthened her magick and let it trickle out of her so students would make way for her.

She walks towards the door of the infirmary. Her steps pound on the marble floor, and the students look at her. Same as the male student that she stopped earlier, they are all scared. This time, she is not the cause.

When Fon enters the infirmary, her breathing stops at realizing what happened.

Prim is dead. She was killed. Murdered in cold blood within the walls of Freya Academy.

Fon's stomach lurches. She looks into the body of Prim on the floor of the infirmary. Her face is pale and still.

Fon never liked Prim and yet, taking her life away is nothing but a pointless act of violence. Her issue with Utente is done. Why is there a need to kill her?

And so, Fon kneels before her, looking for any clues about how she was murdered. Darkness still swirls around her like wisps of air that surround her corpse. Her body is badly broken and bends at unnatural angles. A pool of blood is around her corpse, and a stake protrudes where her heart should be.

"This is terrible," someone sniffs close to her.

'Yes, it is,' she thinks.

It doesn't take long before Fon discovers something. A small shimmering object sits in Prim's hand. It is a silver ball that Fon recognizes as a magick memory. As its name suggests, it stores magick specific to the person who stores the magick in. It can also mimic the magick of that person.

The magic tool is hidden by glamour and will only be seen by the person who the dead bestow it to. Fon quickly retrieves it and hides it inside her coat pocket. She will take a look at it once she is in the North.

Then Alexander pushes himself into the crowd. Fon looks up at his deathly face. It is an uncommon look on his good-natured personality. As if being brought back to reality, he flinches and shoos the apprentices away from the infirmary.

<< PHILOMENA >>

Philomena walks into the library with a heavy heart. The sight of the bloody corpse of Prim hits her like a ton of bricks. Despite Prim's wrong upbringing, she is still a talented witch. She didn't deserve a violent death.

She opens the dark library with only a floating light beside her to light her path. She enters the restricted section and meets up with the other teachers. The discussion is already underway.

"Jayden, stop being on edge just because that event with Utente happened."

"Stop saying that old man's name!" Jayden scolds. "I remember her name every time you do."

"Her name is still a taboo for the Council?" Alexander asks.

"It will never change. History rejected her; the same way that Seraphin was rejected."

"When you talk that way, then we do not differ from the aberrants," Philomena interjects. She sits in front of Jayden and continues, "We also fear those who are different."

"I tell the two of you these things because there's no one I trust more than you, Philomena, and Alexander."

Silence.

"The two of you know that I am responsible for the report of what happened during the Great Search, as much as Myrielle Kleinfeld handles the research of Great Search candidates."

Another pause.

"On the report of the first event, they requested a more thorough report of Fon Carlson. I obeyed. I even included the part about her taming a dragon. That's when it got strange."

"In what way?" she asks.

"They advised me to pull Fon Carlson out of the Great Search. They told me to make up some excuse. But they never gave me a proper reason when I asked why."

"So, you already planned to take Fon out of the Search at the onset."

Jayden waves his hand in front of him. "No, of course not! I didn't obey because it would be unfair to her. However, after that dark wizard appeared with the dark witch Rose, not to mention the event with the anthuriums, I had no choice."

Then, in a softer tone, he adds, "Aside from the reports, I am also responsible for the safety of each candidate. I may be unable to stop what happened to Prim because of the restrictions from her family, but that anthurium event..."

Jayden looks at both Alexander and Philomena to see if they are still listening.

"I made sure that the portals will only open to specified places. I even got witches and wizards to guide each portal. I give the plan to the Council, but somehow, when the portal opened, it opened up to a different place."

"That is why you are still pushing Fon out of the Great Search," Philomena starts. "This time, the motivation is different. You think that her life is in danger?"

"Yes. It's for her own good. But Myrielle is against it. She is still very young and can't understand the reason behind it. I'm not sure why the Council allowed someone as young as her to be included as one of the judges."

"Don't blame her. She is still idealistic, a trait very common to witches her age, especially in her clan," Alexanders defends.

"Maybe she's invited because Myrielle is a skilled Sealer?" she asks. "They are expecting that Utente and Rose will be able to enter the Academy?"

"I think so too, but I do not want to doubt the people I work for." Jayden breathes a sigh of relief. He looks at her and says, "Thankfully, you are sending her to the North. She will be safe with Theofolso, especially with his divination."

"I didn't know you cared about her safety," Alexander remarks.

"I may not be her greatest fan, but I don't want her to come to any harm," Jayden says.

"It's not my decision to bring her to the North. If I had the choice, I would like her to stay here. Hidden away from all the dangers. Unfortunately, it seems like I can no longer offer that."

"So, Theofolso requested for her?" Jayden asks at the same time that she nods. "How did he know about Fon?"

"You know how skilled he is with his divination and clairvoyance. Too skilled, in fact, that he can go past my barrier," Philomena adds in a tired voice.

"Then she is safer there. Theofolso will know once the danger is coming."

"Yes, as much as I hated to admit it. His place is a good place to hide."

"Well, I've been gone for too long. They might suspect something is amiss, especially after what happened with Prim."

Both Jayden and Alexander leave the restricted section. However, Philomena stays to think about things. It puzzles her why the Council doesn't want Fon to become one of the Greats. Fon is powerful, but there is no reason for the Council to fear her, especially now that her magick is cut to over half.

Are they already aware that a dark witch has marked Fon? Is it Prim who informed them before she died? But how? She was incarcerated, questioned by the Council, and brought to the infirmary to recuperate. There is no way she'd be able to tell anyone anything unless, like Utente, somehow, they can get past her barrier?