"How close are you to the Aces?" Anne asked randomly, her face half old, half young.
Fina ignored her face.
"You mean the best of the best?"
"I call them the Aces. How close are you with them?"
"Not that much" She replied "The girls are scary and weird"
Anne nodded in understanding.
"Don't get too attached with them. They've been keeping close for some reason or the other."
Fina straightened up.
"What do you mean?"
"Figure it out. You are smart. Keep that book safe, Clark. Few eyes can see what is written in it" Anne said
******
"You're back" Zo said
She was pacing the bedroom, extremely worried.
"Bad dream?" Fina asked
"Yes. About you."
Fina sat on the edge of the bed.
"I died again, right?" Fina asked
Zo wrung her hands together, her lips trembling.
"Yes. Someone killed you. Fina, we have to stop"
"Zo. We can't stop. If we stop now, we are going to be good as dead. I'm just confused about what Black told me and what Anne meant."
Fina looked at the leather book.
"What is it?" Zo asked
"Valérie gave this to me"
Zo eyes widened in surprise.
The leather cover was plain both in front and the back.
Fina opened the book and words flew out of it in white light and blues.
"Believe in what you see and what you can't see. Sometimes, what we see can be deceiving. It's up to us to be wise. And it's up to us to fail. Be wise, Fina Clark. There's a line between believing and trusting. I don't just believe in you three, I trust you three. Choose wisely."
"Does she knows everything?" Zo asked, taking a seat next to Fina.
"I don't know. I'm confused. If she knows, why isn't she helping?"
"The Queen Guardians are busy right now, I'm surprised Valérie even had the chance to come to Elfina"
"I broke my wand when we were at Zedler's. The Queen gives wands. I can't tell Mr Walker. I can't tell anyone. I don't know Valérie to ask her anything. I can't tell Bryce Parker either. Too much questions to answer. The only one I can ask for help is Xavier and he's sick."
Zo touched her forehead.
"You know I was really scared. He looked so ready to kill us. Why would a person who teaches how to deal with monsters keep a monster with her all the time? How did Walker even find us? Where was Zedler's?"
Fina shrugged.
"I don't know how to get to the Queen for a new wand. What do I do?"
Fina brought out her broken wand from the air.
"If we fix it together. Let me try"
Zo tried to fix the wand together using her own wand.
"Perhaps the spells weakened it"
"What sp..? Oh. I have no idea. They just pop into my head. We have no class tomorrow. It's sunday. A day to search for another"
Fina's eyes widened suddenly.
"Let's go to the School Recording Hall."
"Why?"
"To search for Jessica Young"
Zo shook her head.
"Tomorrow. I want to sleep"
An hour after.
Fina pushed aside the covers and walked out of the room into the elevator.
Her head swarmed with thoughts as the lift shook.
Even when the lift stopped, she didn't move.
Scary as it may seem, she walked out of the lift.
She wandered through the foyer, not knowing where she was going.
She was out of the castle when she saw a silhouette.
Someone was sitting on a bench staring at the sky.
The night was young and the moon shone brighter in its gloriousness.
"Hi"
Bryce Parker.
Fina's eyes met his and for a while they stared at each other.
"Can't sleep?"
"Well… Thoughts"
Bryce tapped the seat next to him.
"You're welcome" He said
Fina took her time before sitting next to him at a distance.
"Why can't you sleep? You just came to Elfina."
Fina glanced at him.
"I know."
"The first level is always the easiest. Then, you realize that you are in the real world"
"Oh"
Bryce was still staring at the moon.
"You learn fast without being told at all. Magic becomes your life. You become one. You breathe it"
"Tyrell once said something like that too"
Bryce glanced at her, his blue eyes brighter in the moonlight.
"What about you?"
Fina looked at him.
"I don't feel anything. I feel more disconnected than ever"
Bryce Parker smiled.
"Don't learn the hard way. That's more painful"
"What happened in your first level?"
Bryce looked away.
"Strange things."
"Like?" Fina asked
Bryce Parker sighed.
"It's nothing. When things are too much to handle, you take the biggest one. It might just be the one causing the others and breaking them into hard fragments"
"How do you get to the Queen?"
Bryce didn't as much flinch.
"You don't get to the Queen. The Queen gets to you. Why?"
"I lost something"
Bryce raised a perfect brow.
"Ask Walker. He can help"
"You are not even going to ask?"
"I'm certain it's your wand" He said confidently.
Fina cleared her throat.
"And you didn't lose it. You broke it"
Fina stood up suddenly.
"I'm suddenly feeling sleepy. Maybe it's the moon or air. Goodnight" Fina said
Bryce Parker hid a smile.
"I can't be the best student if I can't detect lies" He said
"I'll know how to keep away from you then, lie detector" Fina mumbled under her breath and walked away, her face red like tomato.
As she entered the lift and it started to close, she saw the figure of a lady in black staring at her at a distance.
Then, she heard it.
Loud and clear.
The scream of a banshee.
Which?
She has no idea.