After seeing that Cheka had returned to the bodyguards, Lotus and the others returned to their respective dorms. With a sigh of relief, Lotus hurried to her room after using study and tired as her excuse. She then hurried from the window.
Without time to spare, she hurriedly left the dorm and headed south for the hall of mirrors.
.....
"Cheka isn't with you?!"
Leona's eyes widen in alarm as he stood up from his bed in his dorm uniform.
"Ah." The deeper voice man responded over the phone with dismay, "You said that his bodyguards came by to pick him up this evening?"
"That's right." Leona responded with a grimace and deep thought, "He was with us till a few minutes after the call. We left shortly after they came to pick him up..."
Leona's eyes widen upon realization, "Dang it... So, that's how they're trying to do things! I'm joining the search!"
The man over the phone responded, "Bring someone with you. If anything else happens, he'd be your witness at least."
"Got it..." Leona grumbled reluctantly and hung up the phone before rushing out of his room closing the door behind him with his goat skull staff in hand, "At this point, if we don't find him in one piece, it'd be useless even if they become my alibi..."
He quickly rushed over to Ruggie's room and banged on the door after a slight hesitation.
"Coming..."
Ruggie opened the door and was surprised to find a nervous Leona. Ruggie's eyes widen in bewilderment, "W-Woah! Leona?"
"There's something going on outside. Go get the other three to watch over the dorm." Leona instructed firmly, "Don't let anyone out of the building."
"A-Alright?" Ruggie looked to him in surprise, "What's going on?"
Leona hesitated nervously pondering whether to tell him or not before he sighed, "Cheka's gone missing."
"Wh-what-?!" Ruggie quickly covered his mouth with his own hand and glanced around before whispering, "But we dropped him off with those big guys!"
"We were tricked!" Leona growled, "Right now, I need to bring someone to act as my alibi."
Ruggie thought for a bit before responding, "I'll let the other three know. We should bring Jack with us. You know how others see hyenas."
Annoyed, Ruggie grumbled, "I'll give them with an alibi but that won't be enough. Jack was there too. A search party needs more than just two people and Jack has Unleash Beast."
Leona smirked, "That was already on my mind."
Leona's firm look quickly returned as he responded, "Now hurry. Don't let other people know about this."
"Right!" Ruggie hurried back in to change as Leona fast paced through the dark halls to Leona's dorm room.
There were three other people in his room as he knocked on the door expecting for it to be another student but was relieved to find that Jack had gotten up to answer the door, "Get dressed and come out."
"W-What's going on?" Jack questioned in confusion.
"I'll explain later. The others better not leave the dorm tonight." Leona warned him with a growl as he was losing his patience.
To be honest, if it wasn't for Peony's warning, he wouldn't have been bothered calling out the other two in the least. However, aside of it being a case that could be blown out of proportions, his own life is also at stake. He's never like his nephew, but he also had to deeper grudge against him either. If the enemy's plan succeeds, he'll be accused for something he did not do and that would be a bigger hassle to deal with.
Leona breathed a trouble sigh as he strode out of the dorm into the cold air, "Damn it..."
He scowled bitterly with a scary glare that penetrated the darkness and a dark sneer across his face, "Wait till I get my hands on those guys... Huh! Want to set me up? They're a hundred years to early for this."
It wasn't long before Ruggie and Jack rushed out the dorm that Ruggie called out, "We're here, Leona!"
"Ruggie told me what happened." Jack responded with a scowl, "From then to now, it should be at most an hour and a half..."
Leona grumbled and pulled out a handkerchief. Jack was really reluctant but he shook his head with a sigh and took the handkerchief before chanting, "Unleash Beast!"
A howl echoed through the air as a large white wolf stood before them. Ruggie and Leona would've teased the Fresh-baby had the situation were not so tense that there was no room for laughter or jokes. Jack sniffed the blue handkerchief and, strangely, smelled a few unfamiliar scents, but it wasn't long before he caught onto a familiar scent of sugar and apples.
.....
In the mirror chamber, the headmaster and a few staff members had rushed to the Dark Mirror as the head master chanted his spell to call for the mirror's help as a few ghosts were called to supervise the hall of mirrors for the safety of the students.
"Oh, Dark Mirror. Where is the young child of Sunset Savannah's royal family?"
The green flame aura erupted revealing the talking white mask again as he spoke solemnly, "The place the little child rests... is in a shroud of darkness... where light do not penetrate and magic is not in the soul. A place that can not be described..."
"What?" The headmaster was bewildered by the answer as he sought his staff for advise.
However, everyone, even Mister Trein, had no clue as to the whereabouts of the child. What surprised them was that even Sam, who ran the Mister S shop of strange objects, was befuddled by this and he wasn't one that was easy to be confused by things similar to these words.
.....
Lotus had the butterflies lead her through the mirror just as a ghost came to guard the mirrors. quickly had her disguise on and slipped into the Savanaclaw dorm with her ability on. She picked out a black veil laced with gold as she flew through the dark savannah plains as if her bare feet glided across the dusty warm soil.
"Mistress." Crystal spoke to her, "The dorm leader have left the dorm with Jack and Ruggie."
Lotus nodded with a frown and pulled out a few needles from her spare bag before inserting it into her stitched arm. She didn't need much to know how to stun it for a few hours. She knew there'd be a consequential burden to carry from her choice later, but she really doesn't have much of a choice.
She quickly followed the white butterfly as Little Jun asked from her mind, "Big Sister. Why are they calling out Jack? Isn't he a freshman? Wouldn't he be in more danger being out here than inside his dorm?"
Impressed by Little Jun's train of thoughts, Lotus smirked as she responded telepathically, "Good thinking. However, that's not the case this time, because his magic allows him to become a wolf and wolf have a strong sense of smell and can track out the scent of most things. Some are even better than tracking dogs. This is why Leona has chosen to call him out. Or rather, I bet it was Ruggie who convinced him to bring Jack out with them because Leona wouldn't want a freshman to be dragged into his mess and him being responsible for his safety to get called out by the guy's family."
She continued firmly, "However, Ruggie insisted because a hyena's standing in society is not very stable and often misunderstood. He knew this and insisted to bring out Jack with them who can act as a firmer eyewitness to all this. In fact, Leona probably brought Ruggie out because he was the only one he can trust at this time regardless of what happened this afternoon. Not to mention, Ruggie is more responsible in these matters and would think first before accidentally pulling Leona back down."
Lotus knew everything because it was common thinking back in her world as a member of royalty. Schemes and conspiracies have always been at play for the longest time. How could she not know what that guy is thinking? Not to mention his only connection to any power at the moment is his elder brother whom he still has some connection to.
She picked up her speed as she hurried after the butterfly. Still, she couldn't help but wonder how the lion didn't notice anything strange when he handed his nephew over to them?
She narrowed her eyes as she observed their surroundings. Sure enough, they soon arrived in a much darker place with large pores of lava. The place was littered with skeletons and thorns as steam and ashes drift in the air. Lotus grimaced as she hurried into the large graveyard. It was more humid and dense as she entered the area.
"Crystal." Lotus called out to her contract beast, "How's the other three?"
"They're closing in on the elephant graveyard, mistress." Crystal responded matter of factly.
Lotus nodded, "Get the butterflies to stall for time. Don't let them get too close to this place. This could be what they want."
"Understood." Crystal responded and sent out more butterflies from her ring.
Lotus grimaced before calling out to Leona, "Leona... Leona... Ahead is a dark miasma, it's really dangerous. Be careful!"
"Shut up!" Leona's inner thoughts hit her like a brick to the head.
"Ow..." Lotus whined aloud as she rubbed her temple and grumbled, "Leave it to Leona to yell at me as if he was bashing my skull with a rock... Geez..."
She sighed and hurried after the butterfly.
"How's the child?" Lotus questioned Crystal.
"He's still fast asleep." The butterfly responded.
"His bodyguards?"
"Still looking for him on school grounds."
Lotus grumbled in dismay and double-checked her phone making sure it was off before hurrying deeper into the place. Shortly after getting a hold of him, Lotus received an urgent report from Crystal that those bodyguards weren't the correct one and the one before them had drugged the little lion into a slumber. She frowned and dashed into the fog.
The place was almost endless as Lotus hurried into the thick fog where she later found another spider. She frowned and crouched onto the ground with a scowl. The spider was dead...
Suddenly a dark thought came into her mind she scowled, "Hurry!"
.....
"Gah!"
Jack reared back and reverted to his human form as he fell to the ground with his fingers pinching on the nose of his bridge in pain.
"Wh-What happened?" Ruggie responded in bewilderment.
Jack scowled, "Ugh... I thought I picked up a rabbit stench just now with the nephew, but my nose suddenly felt pain... Grr... I think my nose is numb..."
Leona cursed under his breath, "So they figured we'd be coming..."
Leona thought for a bit as he looked around curiously with a frown, "I've never came this far into this area before..."
Ruggie shuddered nervously as he looked around with a wary sigh, "Me neither... I wonder what's out here anyway..."
Leona peered his eyes into the darkness before turning to Jack, "In which direction did the scent go to?"
"There." Jack responded as he got up and massaged the bridge of his nose.
Leona thought for a bit before responding with a grumble and sighed. Suddenly, a flash of white dashed across the corner of his eyes. He turned around and saw that it was a white butterfly.
Leona raised a brow and watched in confusion as the butterfly flew closer to them.
Jack narrowed his eyes in confusion, "What is that?"
"Seriously?" Ruggie sighed, "You don't even know what a butterfly is?"
Jack frowned, "That's not it..."
Leona frowned too as he pulled up his phone only to find that it was out of commission. He was ready to close his phone when he saw the butterfly landed next to his feet on a flower and raised a brow.
"Clear wings..." Leona muttered in confusion before taking a picture of it.