Chapter: 5

Hello Lovely People!

Read the chapter till the END to know what exactly is going to happen. Rate my book with 5 stars, share the book with your friends and comment to share your voice. Also read my other book called 'Sealed Desire'.

Love,

Eeman Faisal

***

I was fuming with anger. If I would have been in some cartoon then probably there would have been steam looming out of my ears. However this was evident to me that my face was as red as a tomato.

Eleanor was hot on my tracks. On approaching my bedroom door, I opened it wide enough for Eleanor to enter and then banged it loud enough for all the kids having their rooms in that hallway to hear it. Poor they.

"Cressida, calm down." Eleanor's shrilling voice bounced off the walls and then into my ears.

I kept on pacing in my room with my fists clutching and unclutching. Eleanor quickly roamed her eyes in my bedroom and then spoke; "I like your room. It is very alluring."

"Seriously? Is that what you are thinking?"

"Look, I know you are angry at Lord Higgins but we do have our proof. We can easily study the case while the rest is running smooth, as stated by Lord Higgins." She said the last part with air quotes and while rolling her eyes.

"I get it but having a picture and a video.....I don't know if that is enough." I said plopping on my bed and pushing my brows together as my mind was a maze at that moment.

"If there wasn't anything fishy then Lord Higgins wouldn't have wanted to wipe out that symbol. It is the only last communication that Mike made with all of us in order to deliver his message."

"But Lord Higgins allowed us to take the picture and capture a video which means that he isn't the one who wanted to clean that symbol. Someone else wants." This ringed in my ears and I turned to her who was sitting at my left side and the door to my bedroom was in front us.

"Hmm"

"Anyways," I continued while rubbing my forehead," Let's talk about the symbol. I don't know if what I am going to say is something that you will agree with but as you said before that that symbol is the one of our academy, then it might mean....I mean......I don't know. Just this that it might be possible that Mike wanted to say that the one who killed him was from the academy." I said with my hands fiddling in my lap.

"You can be right but it might mean something else too." She said while running her right hand on her chin.

Just when I was about to speak the door to my room opened and in came the devil, the last person on earth whom I wanted to see at that moment. I huffed and started to glare at Damien.

"What were you guys talking about? Hmm?" He asked while shutting the door behind him and then standing in front of me with his hands in his pockets, his signature standing style. I crossed my arms.

"I think people got their separate bedrooms for some privacy." I stated while Damien simply gave me a confused look.

"Don't you know how to knock mister?" I asked while Eleanor kept on looking between me and Damien. Then me and again at Damien.

"I do but was too lazy to do that."

"Why on earth are you here?" I asked frustrated.

"I came to make sure that you hadn't gone insane or something so that I could get rid of you but to my disappointment you seem perfectly alright and by the way you look better in these clothes."

He said the last part while motioning to my attire. What kind of person was he? How could someone say something that clearly lays the idea of dislike while at the same time compliment that person? Well, it was the one and only Damien Willows.

"I'll take the last part as a compliment. " I said and then sighed.

"That was a compliment. " He said while rubbing the back of his neck.

I looked at Eleanor whom I found to be smiling at me and Damien. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"I think I should be leaving." Eleanor said while getting up. I quickly gripped her right arm once she stood up and then pulled her down on the bed.

"You are done seeing how I am doing. Now you can leave."

"So you are not interested in staring at me anymore like you did the first day we met, hmm?"

He asked as I flushed a tinge of red. I gave him my best glare and it worked. He turned around, opened the door and stepped out but didn't close the door until he gave me wink. If my face was not flushed at first, it was now. Eleanor pulled me out of my thoughts by clearing her throat.

"So, mind if I know that what is going on between you guys?" She asked making me  feel angry.

"Nothing at all." I replied quickly.

"Since you say so. Anyways, I wanted to inform you about few basics of the academy. You missed them when you had passed out after you witnessed the scene of your brother's.....you know. So, I hope you know that tomorrow is Mike's funeral at 5:00 am in the morning. Be ready by that time and some staff member will come and escort you to the graveyard. Apart from this, I and Damien are assigned to help you out in controlling your powers and answer your questions regarding them."

"However, due to the death of Mike, the academy has shifted the date of the commencement of the classes earlier. They will start from tomorrow. I know that is too early." She said when she saw my tired and annoyed expression.

"Timings for tomorrow will be shorter than they will be for regular classes." Eleanor continued with her speech.

"They will be giving the intro for everything like our schedule, what is the difference between the training of Dark Magic and Light Magic and all the other stuff including the rest of the tour that was left."

"Eleanor, you are the only one who is too good at explaining things to me. Thank you. That means a lot." I said with a genuine smile on my face.

She shocked me when she gave me a tight hug. I awkwardly hugged her back. It felt good. After pulling away, she stood up and I copied her movement.

"No thanks. I would love to be your friend. You know, you are really strong. If I would have been at your place, after witnessing what you witnessed, I might have committed suicide, not that I was expecting you to do something like that but that only a fool like me would have done." She said with a light chuckle. Then she waved at me and left the room without another word.

I looked at the clock above the door and found that it was 10:14 PM. Time for sleep according to the rules of conduct chart that every room had in its cupboard for the students to read and make the part of their lives.

I went to the closet and after choosing a pair of sleeping dress, changed myself and plopped onto the bed but after switching off the lights. My room was still illuminated with the light that was coming from the window at my front. Although there were white net curtains hiding the windows behind them but the moonlight was bright enough and net curtains thin enough to let the light enter my room.

I kept on shuffling in my bed in order to try to sleep but failed profoundly. I got up from the bed and then slid my legs out of the blankets. After slipping through my slippers, I headed towards the windows.

On pulling the curtains away, I glanced at the view. I had not noticed the mesmerising view before until now. How could I be this lucky? Before me was a flowing lake. God knows if it was an artificial lake or a natural one but it was beguiling. There were a handy of trees here and there but other wise the place was empty. The grass was cut perfectly and right outside my window were gaudy flowers planted which I had never seen before, apart from the red and white roses.

I opened my window and my face was instantly fanned by the soft and cold breeze. My dehydrating cheeks felt better after the contact. Few strands of hair started to flow with the moving breeze and my sleeping dress was dancing too. My room was soon engulfed with the subtly sweet and soft scent of the flowers.

After my eyes began to feel heavy due to sleepiness, I decided to make a way to my bed. After shutting off the window, when I was about to turn I saw someone nearby the lake. Damien.

He walked by the side of the flowing lake and his hair which were glistening under the moonlight were swaying with the moving air. He looked good. While I was busy gazing at him, I saw Lord Higgins coming out of no where and stood beside him. That was the first time I had witnessed something magical. I squinted my eyes at them and tried to make out what they were talking about.

They seemed to be talking about something intense, the way Damien furrowed his eye brows again and again. Then I noticed that Damien at one point flushed too red that even from where I was standing could notice that. He started flailing his arms around while trying to explain something and started to move his head in a right and left direction, nodding a no.

What on earth are they talking about? I thought. After their quarrel, I saw Lord Higgins sighing and within a blink of an eye, he disappeared or shall I say that he ran very fast as I could see a sort of fast and blur movement and through that path of the movement, the grass from the ground danced too fast and the mud went flying in those paths. Hmm, fast as Flash from DC comics. That was a good power.

I then noticed Damien staring at me. My heart skipped a beat. He stared too intensely. I stared at him for a little too long before I realised that he had caught me staring at him. I blushed hard and then quickly turned around and hid behind the curtains without closing the part through which I was peeking.

I waited for a few minutes after which I decided to steal a peek. I slowly shifted at my side and then tried to find Damien but he was no where to be found. I let out a sigh of relief but just when I was about to close the curtains, I found Damien's face right in front of my window.

I let out a very loud scream but covered my mouth with my both hands. It came out quite muffled. Thank God I had covered my mouth or legit, I could have waken up all the students.

I placed my right hand on my heart and found it thumping loudly. Damien started to chuckle at my reaction. I swiftly opened the window and again met with the same cold air but this time it sent chills down my body.

"That was not funny at all!" I whisper yelled.

Damien stopped chuckling and then his eyes found my eyes. They were looking too deeply but behind that depth I saw regret. I don't know if my mind was playing tricks with me because of the burden that my mind had been carrying within such a short period of time. He simply let a smile capture his face.

"And stalking someone isn't funny either."

"I wasn't stalking. If you don't know then let me highlight that where you were standing, my room is right in front of that place. I do have the right to look out, don't I?" I said after which I crossed my arms over my chest.

His eyes started to roam my body and then I remembered that I was wearing a very thin pale yellow coloured sleeping dress that only had thin straps at my shoulder with a deep v neck design. Since I was flat chested, not too flat, I didn't have any cleavage to show.

The dress reached right below my knees showing the rest of my legs. I blushed even hard and hid the rest of my body behind the curtains apart from my face. This earned me a laugh from Damien whose eyes were still looking at me with amusement dancing in his eyes.

"Shameless." I whispered a mutter.

"You are not the only one who have the right to stare at people shamelessly." I gawked at him.

"You look very nice." He muttered that was very hard to hear but yet I heard. I met his gaze and felt like I was going to drown in them.

"Good night!" I croaked and mentally slapped myself for the voice.

After saying that I quickly shut the curtains and sprinted towards my bed. Once I was done covering myself with the blankets, I took in a long breath from my nose and then let out from my mouth. I was able to calm myself after a few minutes.

My sleep had vanished and all that was left was the picture of his intense gaze which was also filled with some regret and guilt, his face that looked too good under the moonlight and the sound of his chuckle. What was wrong with me? I was stucked so bad in all the mess and yet my mind drifted off to some annoying person and out of all, Damien.

Stop it Cressida! You have a huge mission; to train yourself, solve the mysteries and found a way out of here. I thought.

After debating whether to go again check if Damien was still there or not, I finally felt tired and my eyes gave up. Soon I was succumbed to a deep slumber.

***

"Cupcake?" I heard my name but it was too dark to see where that voice was coming from.

I heard footsteps approaching me. Then I was hugged from the back. The touch felt too familiar. I instantly relaxed but my eyes welled up with tears. They soon started to release the pools of warm tears. I sobbed harder and harder. The hug from my back tightened it's grip and began to whisper soothing words in my ear.

I, after building up enough courage, turned around and came face to face with Mike. His face was totally unrecognisable. He had a deep scar just like getting clawed. It was the same one that I had seen on his head that was placed at the table in the middle of the library.

He smiled showing his two adorable dimples. He then placed his hands on my cheeks and wiped out all the tears on my face. However, his touch wasn't warm like it used to be. It was very cold that ran shivers down my spine. His gaze was very soft and sympathetic. Then he spoke something that began with 'd' but I couldn't get it.

Then I noticed that he had started to get surrounded by darkness. It began to pull him away from me. His hands left my face and his soft gaze turned into a panicked one. I fell to my knees as I felt energy draining out of my body. I couldn't run to help him.

I screamed and shouted for help and begged that darkness to let go of him. And then there was a flash before my eyes. On opening my eyes I saw that Mike had gone. He was no where but on the floor that I was seated on was that symbol drawn out of blood. It was the same that was in the library. All of a sudden, I started hearing the screams of Mike. He was calling me to help him.

"Cupcake! Help me! Please help me." Those cries got fainter and fainter and then what I heard at last was, " Be careful Cupcake. Help me but choose the right. Avoid the wrong."

After which I felt a pang at my heart. I clenched my chest from there as tightly as possible to relieve the pain but it increased. Perspiration ran down my forehead and at that, I gave up.

I turned myself into a ball and wanted to make myself dissappear. The cold floor made me shiver. I shut my eyes tightly and the little light that I could see was also soon turned into pure darkness.

I shoot up from my laying position on the bed and found myself panting hardly. My eyes were widely open and my heart beat was as fast as a leapord. It was as if it would burst out of my chest to be able to beat smoothly.

If one would have seen my condition, he or she might have thought that I was coming from some arduous journey. After the awkward situation wore off me, I shut my eyes close and inhaled deeply from my nose and let out with my mouth, something that I did often to relax myself, once I had realised that it was a bad dream that strangely had felt too real.

It felt quite better. On opening my eyes, I found the moonlight showering my room with its light and making it look less haunted. I glanced at the alarm clock that was placed on my side table and found that it was 4:00 am. The funeral was within an hour. I gripped the sheets of my blanket and was about to take them off when I heard the clicking of shoes from my closet.

My all senses woke up and my eyes automatically found their way to the closet. Then I heard the bathroom door opening and my poor heart began to beat fast again as the adrenaline pumped through my veins.

I saw a dark figure coming out of the little dark corner of my bathroom door and closet and on approaching the area of window, the moonlight made his features visible. My heart stucked in my throat and I gasped out loud.

I was on the verge of crying or maybe getting faint. I couldn't make out my condition since all that mattered was who was in front of me. The first one might have been a dream but this one wasn't.

"Mike?!" I was shocked to hear my voice since it was still alive.

What I saw next made me 100% sure that if I had not faint before, I was about to. He smiled showing off his two adorable and my favourite dimples.

***

Sooooo, what do you think? Is Mike still alive? Or is there something else going on? Keep reading to find out and don't forget to share your opinions and guesses in the comment section. Till then, take care.

Love,

 Eeman Faisal