The World Unknown
A Spy Amongst Us
Chapter Seventeen


Both Elizabeta and Hayden had left the group to first return the detinkeller's egg then deal with the students while the others took Gage down to the dungeons. Since they were all so busy, I figured I had enough time to find Vlad to tell him about what just happened.

Since the two prefects had a head start on me, Vlad was now waiting outside while the doors that lead to the gardens were shut behind him. He must have heard my footsteps approaching as he immediately turned his head in my direction.

"_______!" He exclaimed as his feet started moving towards me, "Where was it? You found it a LOT faster than I thought you would've!"

"Well I did have a LOT of help!" I said, remembering Arthur and Amber, "But it was in Gage! He took it."

"Gage took it?" Vlad asked, looking either repulsed or shocked at the thought. "You said... You were just going to have Amber and Arthur help you with this right?"

I nodded, and he looked around the hall for a split second before he turned back towards me, "Follow me, please?" Then, without waiting for a response, he walked passed me and started walking in the direction of the dining hall. Before we stepped foot inside, however, he made a sharp turn at a grand staircase that lead upstairs. He headed up and then took another right down a long and narrow corridor. My curiosity over the situation was getting to me and I found myself asking, "Where are we going?"

"Shh!" Vlad whispered quietly, keeping a quick pace

"We can talk now," Vlad sighed out as he walked over towards the table and sat down. "Welcome to Jinsae's room... He was a very very VERY old professor who used to teach here years before my time. He was also the head of my house!" He explained before I could bother asking.

"I thought, earlier, that perhaps there was something weird about this all, because I really don't like Gage... Like... at all, believe me, he's complete shi—"

"Does this all have a point? Might I ask."

"Yes. Right." He straightened up, "See, I didn't think he took the egg, so this is weird to me."

"I saw the egg with my own eyes, Vlad. It was hidden under an invisibility cloak. Even Arthur was shocked. He couldn't believe it!" I said, recalling the events.

"Arthur helped..." He said frowning, "Arthur helped!" He repeated after a minute or so, but with more excitement in his tone, "WHY would he help though?"

"What do you mean?" I wondered.

"It's just... Since he's such a suck up, I don't get why he'd WANT to help you catch the egg thief if he knew it was Gage or if he knew there was any possibility of it even being Gage."

I furrowed my brows as I too began to really take in what has all happened. In truth, I suppose it was a peaceful moment like this that I needed to really take in everything that has happened thus far.

With a grin on my face, I pulled out a chair and sat down across from Vlad.

"Actually, I did notice that Arthur was acting weird before we found Amber." I recalled, "When I found him, it was as if he couldn't remember what we were talking about before, about him suggesting helping me look and all."

"How so?"

"Well, he didn't remember what we were even talking about. I mean, you remember his idea of coming up with a list of students who hadn't gone in to see the detinkeller yourself! Then, when I left, I found him in the hall, and he looked completely lost, as if he had even forgotten our conversation!"

Vlad nodded, taking this in, so I carried on, "Oh! Then we went to go and find Amber and it was really weird because he couldn't have known..." I trailed off as I remembered how Arthur somehow knew where Amber was immediately after I had told him about her potions list.

"Amber somehow KNEW to cross out the pointless background characters... She KNEW that it'd either be a secondary or main character. She must have been trying to lead me straight to Gage from the start, otherwise we would've been able to have a ton of fun yet endearing visits with a lot of the background characters in order to give the school life or something!" I exclaimed, thinking the events through.

Vlad looked immensely confused, but was working hard to keep up, I continued, "Then with the prefects, Arthur and Amber both agreed that they hadn't seen Gage in the garden! But if Arthur's ass kissing is as we know it, he would never have told us that unless..."

And as Vlad and I met eyes, I could tell we were both thinking the same thing.

"There's someone out there who was controlling Arthur and Amber."

- - ( << Comment now and these twins are all yours!)

"___________," Vlad spoke quietly, "If this is true, that means that someone FRAMED Gage. Someone who didn't go into the gardens today framed a Prefect."

"Do you think it was Noir?" I asked.

"I do." He answered.

We both sat quietly, thinking for another minute before I remembered the events that happened before I had even reached the garden to talk to Vlad, "what are you insinuating here..." I spoke under my breath.

Vlad looked up at me with a brow raised, "What did you say?"

"Huh?" I glanced back at him, "I was just remembering something," I answered, "it was before I talked to you today, I saw Gage and Hayden yelling at each other right outside the doors."

"Neither of them had been in there while I was in there." Vlad spoke, furrowing his brows, "Did you hear what they were yelling about?"

"I just remember... Hayden yelling at Gage because Gage has apparently been doing some 'dark stuff' and then he threatened him that if he hurts any students, he'll have to answer to him. Oh! Then Hayden mentioned Antonio again and Gage got really angry and called him a house traitor then he left!" I looked at the focused look in Vlad's eyes before I came to ask, "What happened between Antonio and Gage? This isn't the first time I've heard about their... disagreements."

"Well, I don't know EVERYTHING because I'm not actually friend-friends with Antonio because yanno, different years and different houses, and then I hate Gage... But, when Bliss used to practice non-verbal magic with me, she's sometimes end up ranting about Gage since they used to be... a thing." He gave a short shutter then continued, "Gage was really smart, but when he was around his friends, she said that he'd turn into a different person and act cruel towards others... Mainly towards Antonio though since he wasn't always so popular."

"Cruel?"

"You know," Vlad spoke, "Like humiliate him in front of others and in class. Give him jinxed candies that would make his face breakout or his tongue bloat until he couldn't speak for weeks... Cruel stuff."

"How didn't any of the professors find out this was happening?"

"Well the candies are sold in the school supplies shop and if you eat one, it's like, you're supposed to know what they look like and what they do, so most teachers brushed that all off as kid's jokes. Then, because Gage was so smart and because so many professors like his family, they'd like, turn the other cheek to his snarky remarks in class and stuff. It's why I don't like him."

I frowned, this now being the first time I've heard so much about Gage's past. Still, I had another question lingering in my head, "What about a house traitor? What is that?"

"Well, at this school, students get sorted in their first year to one of the five houses, but because we grow into different people as we get older, we can choose to switch houses one time. Some people switch houses the very next day because their friends or family are in a different house. Those people usually end up hating their new house since it's filled with people who don't share their same ideas or beliefs, hence the first sorting is what everyone takes as official."

"So, you get called a house traitor for basically switching houses?"

"Well yeah, I mean if you got sorted into the Ians house and switched towards one of the 'enemy' houses, you're a traitor!"

Remembering how Gage had called Hayden a house traitor, I had to ask, "Has Hayden ever switched houses?"