The World Unknown
Vlad's Discovery
Chapter Nineteen

"So, should we talk in code or something?" I joked, trying to lift the mood.

"That's a good idea, and we can have code names or something." Vlad responded whilst admiring the wand.

"Are you making fun of me right now?" I muttered.

"Course not, Agent Vladimir... Call me, Agent ________ from now on, though."

I rolled my eyes while a smile spread across my face, "What kind of wood is whitewood anyways? I don't think I've heard of that where I'm from."

"Cottonwood is white, isn't it?" Vlad responded, now waving the wand slowly.

"Well yeah, but when I hear 'whitewood' it sounds like different from the trees back there... Ugh, you know exactly what I mean."

"Yeah, I'm just joking... Anyways, I don't really know about the tree, but in wands, the way Bliss explained it to me is that they're made for those 'pure of heart' but I think she was just trying to talk herself up."

"So, it's not for the 'pure of heart' then?"

"Well, I guess technically it is. These wands make it impossible to kill someone because it doesn't allow you to cast any killing curses properly."

"What does the snake heart do then? Does it make spells poisonous?" I wondered.

"Course not, don't be silly. Obviously, since they're taken from dying snakes, if the wand gets scratched or damaged, the wand will repair itself once a month. It's how a snake will shed it's skin every now and again, the wand repairs itself, basically."

"What kind of wand did you have then?"

"Me? I had a wissenbark wand." He smiled.

"I remember Arthur said that, but what core did your wand have?" I asked.

Rather than respond, Vlad turned to look down the hall, where there were some familiar redheads talking to some small children, probably second years. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, just making sure no one was following us, Agent Vladimir." Vlad laughed, "But on that note, where are we even supposed to start?"

"I think... we should figure out who would have a motive and out of those, who had the means to steal the egg and frame Gage."

"If you don't want to involve anyone, what's your plan?" Vlad wondered.

"I haven't fully thought everything out, honestly..."

"I know you're worried about someone spying on us, so what if we drag people – one by one, up to that room I've showed you – and interrogate them! Then, once we've exhausted all the information, we can out of them, we KILL THEM!"

"VLADIMIR, NO!"

He let out a frustrated sigh before quickly bouncing on his toes and aiming his wand down the hall and shouting, "INFIERNO!!"

There was a loud BANG! Then, as I turned to look at the redheads down the fire, I saw that there was a fire burning at Dylan's cloak. Shouting commenced.

"Who did that?!" Alroy hissed as he jerked his head in our direction, I waved awkwardly, though beside me, Vladimir was cracking up hard. Seeing who it was though, the twins relaxed and joined Vlad in his laughter. Dylan, meanwhile, threw his cloak off and shouted, "Aquint!" Causing water to spur out from the wand and cease the flames.

"Bastard." Dylan hissed as we approached.

"Nice dance, pal." Vlad continued laughing.

"Pish off, mate." Dylan said, brushing up his cloak, "Where'd you get the wand?"

"I ordered it weeks ago, it's finally arrived."

"Owls are in?"

"No, I sent my ma by carriage." Vlad said, causing the twins to burst into giggles with him.

"What's it?" Dylan asked, disregarding his comment, "Another wissenbark? You gonna break it again?"

"Technically it wasn't actually broken, I think the beast ate it whole." Vlad sighed out.

"Naturally." Dylan hissed, "Well, my cloaks burnt so I'm gonna see if Allistor can fix it, see you asshats later."

Vlad's smile faded somewhat as he groaned out, "I got too excited and accidently cast the fire spell instead of saying 'hello,' I hope he can forgive me before the holidays."

"With a smile like yours, how couldn't he, mate?" Seamus joked, "What can we deal ya since you've lit up our day all of a sudden?"

"Nothing too big, but if you'd feel so inclined to say thanks, _______ and I would very much appreciate if you could keep not of things if they look off or wrong, yanno?"

"Who ya playin cat'n mouse with?" Alroy asked, a mischievous smile on his face.

"Not sure how or if I can answer that. But they're capable of mind controlling, so someone in your year or above." Vlad responded.

"Our year? Like the year we're goin to be in or just were."

"Both, I don't know?" Vlad responded, "Anyways, we'll be seeing you two later, we've got some stuff brewing."

"Brewing? That a fancy way of sayin trouble?" Seamus grinned.

"Always." Vlad said, waving them off, "Now, let's head to the library."

The layout of the school was somewhat familiar in my head, so I could tell we were quite a walk away, without facing him, I wondered aloud, "Will you ever tell me what core you had?"

"What?" He asked, "Oh, it's not important."

"If it's not important, could you tell me?"

"No."

"Come on, Vlad, I'm gonna have my mind erased one of these days, why not let me know?"

"Well, if you're going to have your mind erased soon, why worry about anything that happens here if you won't remember anything anyways?"

"I remembered everything after you told me that ugh, magenta tuna? No, it was magenta... magenta tells? No—"

"I eat magenta kelp, and that's different, that was a purposeful remembrance charm I cast."

"Remembrance... Charm? Wait, if you cast that spell again, and if my past is really a lie as I've been told, would you be able to help me remember my real past?" I asked with a jolt of eagerness.

"N-No, it doesn't work like that. Plus, with you, they think it was a memory changing spell that was cast on you, and even if I knew how to cast that type of magic – which, I don't – I'd have to know what your original past was and I'd have to know the spell that was used on you... In your case, I think only the caster knows it."

"Right," I exhaled, "Do you think anything I remember could be real?" Without waiting for a response, I continued, "See, I remember having an aunt on my dad's side who broke her arm and she wasn't able to work for an entire month because of it. Because of that, she would drive me to and from school and she'd help me with homework and she and I were so close. She was really nice, you would've liked her too."

"Would've? Is she...?" Vlad asked.

I swallowed before nodding, "She was in an accident and she died at the hospital." I reached up to touch a necklace around my neck, "She always wore this, her husband gave it to her on their honeymoon and – she gave it to me to remind me of her."

There was a pause between us as we finally reached the doors of the library, Vlad pressed his lips together before replying, "I hope she's real, ________, she sounds nice, and the necklace is also..." He paused as he looked at the gem around my neck.

"She loved the colour green, that's why it's green." I explained.

Though Vlad's eyes were on the necklace for a second, they seemed to waver around as if he was missing something, "You okay?" I wondered.

"Y-Yeah, sorry, no, it's nice." He replied in hesitation, "Um, can you go on ahead really quick? I'll catch up with you."

"B-But we're only here because YOU lead the way here, Vlad, I don't know what you –" I stopped as I watched him sprint around the corner and out of sight. I let out a sigh of frustration before turning and heading into the dim library. Most of the candles around the room were out, but as I walked further into the room, it suddenly became rather bright. There were a bunch of books stacked on the table and a few heads, all which I quickly recognized.

"Amber!" I smiled, rushing over to sit by her, "What's going on? What are all you doing in here?" I asked, noting Lukas and Alfred.

"I couldn't just do nothing after I realized that someone was mind controlling me like a freak, so I asked Arthur, Lukas, and Alfred if they wanted to help me figure out if there's a way to avoid becoming a target or something. Arthur didn't want to though because he was busy."

"Yeah, busy crying his eyes out that his man crush is a thief and as bad as everyone knows he is." Alfred laughed.

"Have you found anything, then?" I asked.

"No. So far, I've just discovered the abundance of books in here. Not that I'm complaining of course, but it's really a shame there's no Mikipedia for spells and stuff."

"Does... Does that mean that you don't remember ANYTHING that happened when you were being controlled?" I continued.

"Like I've told the prefects, it was just a blur."

"Why all the questions ________ __________?" Lukas spoke up, studying me from across the table.

It only felt natural to burst out with Vlad and my theories of Gage's possible innocence and Bliss's request and everything, but I knew if there was someone listening in, I would be compromising everything.

Taking a page from Vlad's super-ability to lie on the spot, "I'm just really curious, back where I'm from, it's not everyday someone gets mind controlled to set someone up, yanno."

Everyone's eyes widened, and Lukas quickly sat up straight, "Set up? What do you mean by that?"

"It seems as if things go less than good when I'm left alone here." I muttered, "Look, I can't say anything."

"Why not?" Alfred asked, leaning closer.

"Then don't say a word." Lukas said, though as I turned to look at him, he hadn't even opened his mouth.

"What?"

"Pretend like you can't hear me right now, _______." Lukas said.

"Er – right, sorry, I just... misspoke." I said, turning to face Alfred and Amber.

"Are you sure? Ah, to think you almost had me going there too." Alfred sighed, leaning back on his broom.

In my head, I began to wonder, "What is this?"

Lukas, who already looked exhausted spoke in my head again, "It's a trick Bliss taught me. It requires high concentration and is like mind reading, except anything I think, intentional or not, will be heard in your head while I'm focused on you."

"They really can't hear you?"

"Obviously not, aren't you paying attention? Fuck."

"Omg."

"Sorry, I didn't mean that to come off as rude, it's just fucking hard, you know. Anyways."

"Omg okay, it's good."

"Look, this is hard, can you tell me what you meant just then? Is it really a set up?"

"Idk if I should answer that."

"STOP THINKING IN SHORTHAND TEXT. Fuck!"

"Ffs no need to be rude, like chill, this is my head you unfiltered loser?"

Lukas who was previously looking exhausted from focusing in on me, now looked more annoyed than anything.

"Stop playing here, this is more serious than you can imagine."

"Right, it's just I'm not sure if I can trust you. For all I know, you're probably being mind controlled right now too."

"I'm not being mind controlled you. Paranoid. Woman. So, tell me, do you think it's Noir who framed Gage? Or do you think someone figured out Gage was Noir, but they couldn't prove that, so they framed him for the egg in the meantime?"

"I don't entirely know, but since I'm here, I feel like I should ask Amber if she got her potions list to the prefects."

"Potions list?"

I nodded my head, something which Alfred was quick to point out, "What are you nodding about?" He asked, squinting slightly.

"Amber!" I called out, "Did you ever get to show the prefects your potions list?"

Amber furrowed her brows, "I... I think so? I don't know." With that said, her eyes widened, "What if the mind controller mind controlled me before I got to them, then what if he took it?" She gasped.

"I think whoever got it from you was the mind controller, but they had to have known you had it in the first place, somehow because when I was talking to Arthur, he somehow knew where to find you immediately. The mind controller had already been trying to find you even before I talked to Arthur."

"How would they have known that, though? You, Dylan and Alfred were the first and only people I showed the lists to, this morning." Amber said, concentrating hard on retracing her steps.

"Wait," Alfred spoke up, "I remember there were two kids on brooms in our dorm, remember?"

"Spies." I thought to myself, "Did you ever see their faces, Alfred?"

"Of course, they came down a while after you left, it was Peter and a second year, Darby, I think."

"Peter and Darby? Well I know Allistor doesn't allow Peter to fly on brooms so that's kind of suspicious..." I thought to myself, something which Lukas was listening in on.

In my head, Lukas's voice spoke, "I don't believe Peter will know who was mind controlling him, but you should still ask him just in case."

"I will."

"Is Vladimir helping you?" Lukas wondered, to which I became uncertain of whether or not I should leak more information, so I shook my head, "He told me he'd be catching up with me earlier, but then he ran off somewhere. I think I should go find him now."

"If you wish... Regardless of whether you're lying or not, I'd like to help you two if there's any way of it. I'm sure Amber and Alfred would be more than willing to help you too. It is, after all, a lot you have on your plate, especially with Noir still being out there."

"You don't think Noir is Gage?"

"I had that theory, yes, but he can't be guilty without proof... But anyways, I'd very much appreciate it if you don't tell anyone about this ability of mine. Since it's secretive and only Bliss and I know I'm capable of it, it tends to work to my advantage in difficult situations. I'd appreciate your silence."

"Don't worry," I thought, and then as I saw Lukas shift in his seat and lose his connection to my head, I pondered the word "proof" a little more. While Vlad is away doing whatever it is he needed to suddenly do, I think I should finally confront the piece of the puzzle who has been out of sight all day except twice. I needed to find Hayden for some questioning.