Before they came here, Jianmen gave Caroline, Jason, Aimee and Thomas each a simple artifact crafted into shapes they felt comfortable with, and with a very simple functionality: allowing them to find each other more easily. This proved handy when the messenger that delivered the message, and Caroline was able to find Jason in a quiet corner somewhere at the back of the main building of Grant Academy.
The circumstances and timing were not very good, however; or they could be very good, depending on the perspective - when Caroline came to the corner, she found that Jason was not the only one in this discreet corner, along there with him was none other than Laura Jensen, whose face seemed smushed together with Jason's from where Caroline was.
"Cough, hrm." Caroline had to fake clear her throat to make herself noticed.
"Oh, Caroline." Jason gently lifted his face off from Laura Jensen's and turned to Caroline: "So you're done with your test?"
"And apparently you're done with yours." Caroline raised her eyebrows and waved at the girl in Jason's arms: "Hi Laura, really sorry about that. But uh - I'm here to deliver a message from Boss."
"That's fine, we still have the rest of the day." Laura Jensen chuckled and patted Jason on the chest: "It's just good to see fresh faces after staying here for too long."
"Thanks Caroline." Jason shook his head and took the envelope handed to him: "What's it about?"
"Something about getting back to the inn as early as possible, and where to find our latest weapon." Caroline shrugged.
"Woah." Laura Jensen looked at Caroline then Jason: "You're about to leave? You just got here. I thought you'd stay here for a while."
"... huh." Jason opened his envelope and took out a small piece of paper with nothing written on it - but the message was delivered to his mind nonetheless the moment he touched it: "Interesting - this is definitely not a good vibe."
"What? What's it said?" Laura Jensen asked.
"Boss told us to come back to the inn by ourselves when we're done, the earlier the better." Jason closed the envelope and put it into his shirt pocket, shaking his head: "He said that he was about to do something with Ms. Wong, and he had a bad feeling about things so it's best to get back to safety. And he left us some homework."
"Okay…" Laura Jensen sighed: "Well … I …"
"We don't have to leave right away." Caroline immediately said: "The academy here is safe enough, I mean we have the headmasters here right, plus we've come here fully prepared. So we could stay for one or two days. Don't we Jason? "
"Yeah, but Boss …" Jason was about to say something but was stopped by Caroline's raised eyebrows: "Well, yeah, I mean I can do the spell practices here. Aimee and Thomas still have more tests to finish right? Since they're fully enrolled students, they have more rounds of tests. Let's stay for a bit."
"Thank you Caroline." Laura Jensen chuckled and held Jason's arm: "Let's go and grab a bite, shall we? God, I feel a little cooped up here."
"Well, if you don't mind. Let's go, the tests made me hungry as well." Caroline shrugged.
"So, Laura, why'd you say you feel cooped up here?" At the diner, Jason asked as he brought over some drinks for everyone at the table: "Didn't you go home after what happened?"
"Yeah, no." Laura Jensen cut off a piece of steak in her plate and put it in her mouth: "I stopped wanting to go home some time back. Come to think of it, it was right after we met during the student duel."
"Oh, if I may ask, what happened?" Caroline laid down her fork.
"Well, uhmm…" Laura Jensen hesitated: "You guys know that I don't approve of the way the duel was started and arranged right?"
"Mm-hm, but you don't need to explain that, I kinda know that already." Jason joked, which earned him a smack on his left arm from Laura Jensen.
"That's just one of my plights with my family, the last straw on the camel's back, if you will." Laura Jensen shook her head: "As you can tell, manners and honor are not the core ideals we Jensens pass down to the younger generation. They are there as core family values in theory, but not many actually have it, much less teach them. And just before this very semester, I've noticed that my family has … things."
"Well, what kind of things?" Jason asked: "Secret weapons under their beds? Or civilian video game consoles as their sources of guilty pleasure?"
"Haha, no, but that would've been great." Laura Jensen chuckled and gave Jason a side hug, then started speaking after a long hesitation: "Well, I guess now is as good a time as any - I won't bore you with the details, but I found that, my family, had some artifacts in their secret collection connected to some very dark things that happened in the past - it's - it's like murder along with a mob of pitchfork holding mobs, if I can reference it in civilian terms. It's not even that long ago - and when I asked them about these artifacts, they were very hesitant and dodgy, which made me wonder if my very own family actually had any part in the terrible thing that happened. And … I just don't know how I can face them."
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Jason and Caroline said at the same time.
"Well, yeah, it's okay." Laura Jensen sighed and scoffed at herself: "Learning to face the dirt that came with your name, I guess that's a rite of passage of some kind, huh?"
Just this moment, a small bracelet on Caroline's wrist, and Jason's phone started buzzing.