Both Anasthasia and Michael locked eye to eye with astonishment on their faces. That voice gave a deathly chill in her embrace.
'Daniel! What is he—'
"I'm confident that he's recovering." The feeble voice resounded after Daniel's.
"Why do I think otherwise?"
She discerned the irritation dripping from his tone as she scrunched up her face. Questions began to surge from her mind. 'Who's the accomplice of Daniel? What is exactly going on here?'
"It must be your imagination, Your Highness—"
All of a sudden, a loud bang erupted and assaulted their ears, making her flinch from her stead. Luckily, Michael was there to embrace and console her.
"What kind of nonsense is that?! How long do we have to keep this up?!"
"That—I'm not sure myself, Your Highness."
This time around, his tad long of frustration shattered the silence in the room. Anasthasia bit her lower lip as she felt that substantial forlorn coming from a prideful person like him.
"It's been five years, this day is special to me, yet he's still not awake…"
"Your Highness, we couldn't fathom how deep your sorrow is, for we are but lowly loyal subjects."
Daniel clicked his tongue. "Is there anything we can't do at this point?"
"The flower over there, Purpledream Hibiscus, grows on the sacred land, Perpetual Evergarden. It took us great lengths to achieve and get our hands with it, Your Highness."
"But we can't rely on it further—and did that flower showed signs of withering, or is it just me?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Look over there."
The old man coughed so subtle and hummed with his feeble voice. "My, it seemed that it's perfectly fine, Your Highness—"
"Look closely, you scatterbrained imbecile!" Daniel spat as though venom covered every word uttered.
Their footsteps grew heavier, which only had their hearts thumped stronger than ever. Both of them had beads of sweat forming on their foreheads.
She could feel how their muscles tensed more than ever before.
Anasthasia didn't dilly-dally as she cast for both of them.
'Concealment!'
'Refraction!'
This melded themselves to the background. In a timely fashion, she then eyed sideways and saw how Daniel bore popped out from the divider. The vanity's location was a couple of yards away from the dresser.
But behind Daniel turned out the person that fueled the rage buried deep inside her heart.
As she thought of it, the man in a white robe, which looked remarkably familiar, appeared. It's a wondrous outfit, purposefully designed to give off an impression of a nobleman, and set off immediate warning signs in her mind.
She was stunned by the sight of it.
'Wasn't that the old man I saw from the forest?!'
She trembled but fell like a feather into his arms, letting her head rest against his chest that was solid like a monolith. She tried to push away, but his embrace locked her. Only then, she looked up, and his head vaguely shook.
"Your Highness, as what you have guessed, this flower is in its faltering state. We shall procure another one as soon as possible!"
"Then, what are you waiting for?! Get yourself moving!"
The old man scurried away; Daniel let out a loud grunt and grabbed the glass jar. He launched it in a blink of an eye, shattering akin to sand. The flower soon dwindled, losing its hue and life, and eventually rotted on the cold porcelain floor.
"This isn't helping anything at all! I can't lose father at this point!" He grabbed a handful of his hair and raked all the way.
From afar, Anasthasia could see his disheveled hair coupled with his raging grey eyes. His teeth gritted hard that the veins popped from both his neck and forehead.
At some point during his monologues, Daniel shot up his head as he stared at the mirror with his face contorted manically.
But so does his incomprehensible thought process, Anasthasia couldn't guess his expression until he uttered the very words that loomed her heart with discord.
"That's right! Maybe—Ana could help me on this matter!"
It caused a lightning strike from his core. She never thought things would turn out this way. Not at all.
"I must rush my way towards Lucy's abode. There, I might be able to get some answers!" Daniel waltzed his way out of the room, which is such perfect timing; the invisibility started to wane.
Their staring contest grew intense as time marched on, but shock overwhelmed them. Anasthasia had to pinch her cheeks and slapped them over and over to regain her composure.
"Michael, this is no good. We have to hurry! We shall fly through the window over there!"
"No! We will be detected."
"But—!"
"Trust me. I know the shortcuts." His eyes gleamed so pristine and convinced to follow his whims.
"We'll just run as fast as we can then."
He gave a low hum as his affirmation, and soon they sprinted their way out of the room.
Time was the essence—a ticking bomb they had to diffuse.
Anasthasia dragged Michael, enhanced by her powers, back to the secret passage. She expelled more than what was sufficient. On the other hand, he moved swiftly from the hidden entries and to their exit.
The evening greeted them as they moved out of the passage. The beautiful shimmers of fireflies that hovered among the floras made a spectacle in their eyes, but this wasn't much of Anasthasia's concern. Looking back, she ought to muse her tone.
"Where should we go?"
"We shall take that route over there."
"Alright!"
At this point, Anasthasia followed his every command like what her heart's desire. They burst forth like a bullet that obscured their vision around them. The wind blew past them, giving their ears abuzz.
'I hope we aren't too late!'
With a bite in her lower lip, they moved faster and faster. She tried to ignore the throbbing pain that surged on her head.
When they got close to the location, her eyes lit up with joy. She then started to slow down their course into hasty strides, by and by, into few silent motions.
In the distance, Anasthasia saw how Lucy, who rocked her feet with her hands clasped at the back, with the twins behind her. Her head frantically peered around until she took notice of their direction. Her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as she approached them at a trotting pace.
"Sister Ana!" Her sweet voice rang as she beckoned over.
"We're here. I hope we're not late."
"Oh, you are also with His Highness." She then gave an elegant bow—gracefully held the hem of her skirt and lowered herself.
"Hello, Lucy. It's nice to meet you today."
Lucy beamed a wide grin, leaning more to be cute than a fool. "That's quite a compliment, Your Highness."
"Did you take note of the homework I gave you?"
"Yes, Sister Ana. Although there are things that left me hanging in thin air."
Anasthasia hummed. She observed how Lucy began to fidget her fingers then faced the twins, who only sighed in defeat.
"Well, I can always try and answer to satisfy your query. Shall we go in?"
Lucy chirped and trotted onward. They all chuckled and followed her joyful pace until they reached by the door.
'Daniel... Was it all bluff?'
Michael met Anasthasia's gaze, nodding.
'It's good to be back…' she stopped her ponders for a hot moment as she savored every detail that fleshed out before her.
She could feel how those words choke her. It was incredibly special, and she sought for a long time. It was, for real, to settle once more.
Anasthasia, having the leisure to sit on the comfortable couch, propped her elbow on her crossed legs to the living room.
"Why don't you show me your progress."
Lucy closed her eyes and cupped her palms near her chest once Anasthasia gave the cue. From there, the air around her froze and converged over her palms. Frigid winds roared, but that didn't flinch them nor interrupt her mere concentration.
"Keep it up! Don't lose your—"
Anasthasia squinted her eyes and saw the deviation of her power. Hence, she extended her fingers and enveloped her glacial power with a ring of fire.
"Stop, Lucy."
Lucy snapped back to her senses, and the ice blasted, launching crystal fragments comparable to a blink of an eye. Fortunately, the ring of fire offset the haphazard movements that lead to ultimate vaporization.
"You missed some of the magic sequences, even from activating the power of ice."
"Sister Ana…"
"Don't worry, and we can take this slow. Did you memorize them?"
"Well, I do memorize them by heart—"
"Still not enough, Lucy." She strutted towards her and bent down. "In this path, which you're about to take, familiarizing the conduits of the magical sequence is paramount. But I'll give you that as you're new—memorize."
"It's hard, Sister Ana."
She smiled. "I'm not saying it was easy in the first place."