After that wonderful night, days passed after days. Lulu continued to play the violin, and Sophie listened to her and forgot about everything in the world. Sorrows, fears, and worries went away to the most remote corners of the soul. Sophie couldn't take her eyes off Lulu with the violin, which was spinning around the hall in the moonlight. But it couldn't go on forever.
"My lady, you have finally fallen under the spell of Lulu," Bonbon was saying for the umpteenth time.
"Nothing like that!" Sophie replied. "Her music helps me relax a little. But don't think about it, I'll still make her break the contract!"
She was sitting at the table in her room and drawing. The lines and dashes formed the contours of someone who had burst into her life like a hurricane on a clear day.
"Can you break the contract yourself?" The familiar suggested.
"No, I can't do that. Lulu is the darling of Krivda," Sophie mentioned the name of the head of the academy with hatred. "And I don't want to spoil the relationship with old hag yet."
"Ha, this old hag accepted you here without any questions," Bonbon remarked. "And you treat her with such disdain."
"She is not our friend, but our enemy!" Sophie pressed down hard on the pencil, which caused an uneven line to appear, which spoiled the drawing. "No, what have I done!"
Bonbon immediately cast a spell. His voice changed, it became rougher and a little scary, as if it belonged to a creature from the abyss.
The piece of paper caught fire with a bright flame and burned to the ground before Sophie's eyes. After a few seconds, a bright flash illuminated everything with white light. When Sophie regained her sight, she saw her drawing on the table, but without that uneven line.
"Bonbon! How I don't like your time control spells," Sophie said with displeasure.
"After all these years, you could already get used to the fact that I'm a time-controlling demon."
After finishing her creation, Sophie put the drawing aside and took out a bottle of wine called "Moonlight Sugar" from a drawer. Taking a glass of black glass, she filled it with wine. Having assessed the quality of the drink by color and smell, I took the first sip.
"Mmm, it's been a long time since I've had it."
"But this sugar can't compare with the taste of real blood," the toy bear sat motionless on the bedside table, turning his head towards the door.
Sophie remembered the moment when a student almost died in front of her eyes. Her heartbeat quickened, and a passionate desire appeared in the navel area. Sophie couldn't forget the taste of Lulu's blood.
"Don't remind me!" she exclaimed. "If you bother me, I'll put a silent spell on you."
"And what exactly is the problem?" the familiar continued. "Lulu would love to share her blood with you, wouldn't she?"
"She might be scared of me, " Sophie lowered her head. "And I don't want to lose my only friend."
"I'll never understand a woman's mindset," the familiar began to reflect. "Either you want to break the contract, or you don't want to lose a friend. This is an unfathomable dilemma."
"I don't know what I want!" Sophie sighed. "But I don't want Lulu to get hurt anymore because of me."
Their heartfelt conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Who is it that came to me at such an early hour?" Sophie muttered under her breath and opened the door.
Her assistant stood on the threshold with an innocent smile on her face. Lulu ran up to Sophie and hugged her with such force that she almost dropped the glass of wine from her hands.
"Good morning!" Lulu greeted her.
"Morning… Did something happen to you?" Sophie tried to pull away from the embrace. "Stop it! You'll strangle me to death like that!"
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Luli calmed down and immediately recoiled. "I'm so glad to see you."
Sophie sat down on a chair and motioned for Lulu to sit on the bed:
"Come on, tell me, what do you want from me?"
"I'm just in a good mood, so I decided to share it with you all! Good morning, Bonbon."
"Greetings to our irreplaceable assistant," he said reciprocally.
Plopping down on the bed, Lulu began to look around the room and noticed a bottle on the table.
"What is it? A new potion?" she asked.
Sophie had completely forgotten about the wine:
"This is an alcoholic drink that you are too early to drink."
"Why? I can drink as much as I want," Lulu disagreed with her.
"No, according to the rules of the academy, you can't," Sophie insisted. "And stop stalling, you clearly have business with me?"
"Well, I wanted to know what you're going to do on vacation?" Lulu got out of bed and looked at the wine label inquisitively. " Moonlight Sugar? What a sweet name this drink has."
"This is a very rare kind of wine," Sophie said and, after a pause, answered the question: "Most likely, I will stay here as a teacher on duty."
"Wonderful!" Lulu was delighted. "Then we'll have plenty of time. And I also found out that your birthday is coming soon. Is it true?"
Her words took Sophie by surprise, she had already forgotten the last time she celebrated her birthday. Gathering her thoughts, she was able to squeeze out only one word: "Yes."
"That's nice!" Lulu clapped her hands happily. "I hope you will invite me to it."
Without waiting for an answer, she stormed out of the room. Sophie wanted to stop her, but before she could blink, Lulu slammed the door behind her.
Bonbon laughed:
"I like her. What kind of pie will we order? Liver pie or with blood gravy, as your sister like?"
Sophie grabbed the toy bear out of anger and threw it into the far corner of the room. Crimson spots of hatred appeared on her pretty face:
"Don't you dare mention her!"
"Very well, my lady," the familiar calmed down. "As you wish."
***
These days, before the winter holidays, it was a solemn time. The halls of the academy were decorated with colorful toys, garlands, and green paws of fir trees. There was a pleasant aroma of pine needles, which made anyone dizzy. Gloomy corridors and rooms were radically transformed into something bright and joyful. The magic lamps shone in full force with all the colors of the rainbow, driving out the darkness even from the farthest and darkest corners of the academy. Spirits and ghosts flew in beautiful, colorful outfits. Everyone was happy about the end of this year and the beginning of a new one because the thirty-first of December will soon come. On this momentous day, darkness and light will merge together, and everyone will be able to feel truly free.
By luck or bad luck, Sophie managed to be born at the turn of the years. She hated her birthday, as she received only one gift from her parents, and it seemed that her relatives were not celebrating her holiday, but simply celebrating the New Year. When they were gone, the last person to give her gifts was her sister.
Lulu was sitting at a lecture, hiding behind the backs of her peers. The teacher jumped at the blackboard and drew all sorts of schemes and equations that explained the essence of magic. But Lulu, instead of comprehending the granite of magical sciences, was thinking about what kind of gift she should make for Sophie.
" Moonlight Sugar," the name of the wine stuck in Lulu's head. "But where can I get it?"
"What are you thinking about?" Nana whispered.
She's been beaming with happiness these past few days. Her parents bought her a ticket to the capital of the kingdom, where the New Year's ball was to be held. The Queen herself will appear at it and congratulate the guests on the holiday. The mere thought that she would be lucky enough to see the first lady of the kingdom made Nana shiver with anticipation. She ran around the academy and, to the envy of everyone else, told everyone about what a wonderful gift she had.
"Listen, do you know about the Moonlight Sugar wine?" Lulu asked suddenly.
Nana thought about it:
"No, but for some reason this name made me want to try it."
"Yes, I agree with you too, but Sophie strictly forbade me to drink it," Lulu sighed heavily.
"So you want to get it for her?" Nana guessed.
Lulu blushed and turned away:
"I just don't know what to give her for her birthday."
"If she loves this wine, then I think she will like such a gift," Nana supported. "Are you ready to stay at the academy for her?"
"Yes," Lulu nodded. "Especially since the parents did not send an invitation letter. It looks like they're still sulking at me."
"And I understand them. To exchange the Royal Academy for our Witch Academy. Only a complete fool is capable of committing such an act."
"Thank you for your "kind" words," Lulu was even more embarrassed.
"Listen, you can find out about the wine from Mrs. Krivda. After all, she is a specialist in such matters."
"It's a crazy idea. And I like it," Lulu agreed.
At the end of the day, when all the lectures and classes were over, only the shadow of one student flashed through the deserted corridors in the administrative wing. Her black dress dragged on the floor and collected all the dust from it. The Witch Academy had another disadvantage, it employed the laziest cleaners in the whole world. They reluctantly cleaned the halls, left garbage in containers, and the latrines and living quarters had to be cleaned by the students themselves.
Lulu stopped at the door of the head of the academy and knocked. She came in as soon as she got permission. In the apartments of Mrs. Krivda, everything was in its place, only a small table covered with a black blanket appeared in the corner. Lulu showed respect to the elderly woman, bowed, and greeted:
"Good evening, Mrs. Krivda."
"Good evening, what brought you to me, my Moon?"
she smiled.
Krivda was comfortably seated in a chair, stretching her legs forward. In her hands, she was holding a glass filled to the brim with some kind of drink. Ignoring the student who entered, Krivda turned the glass in her hands and drank a little. Licking her lips, Krivda broke off a bar of chocolate and began to slowly absorb it, savoring the palette of flavors.
"I wanted to ask you," Lulu was a little shy of her question.
"Yes," Krivda raised one eyebrow. "I'm listening to you carefully."
"Where can I get Moonlight Sugar wine?" Lulu squeezed out.
Krivda almost choked on a piece of chocolate. Rising from her chair, she took a sip from her glass and caught her breath.
"Do you know what it is?" followed her question.
"Madam Sophie said it was wine," Lulu smiled. "It seems that she loves him very much, so I wanted to give her a birthday present."
Krivda raised her eyebrows in surprise:
"Did you see that she drank this wine?"
"Yes, but is that a bad thing?" Lulu didn't understand.
"I didn't think Sophie would..." Krivda was amazed, but then she smiled insidiously. "I can give you a whole bottle of this drink, but with conditions."
"Like what? I'll do everything!" Lulu was naively delighted.
"Firstly, you will not try it, and, secondly, you will test my ball of predictions," offered Krivda.
Putting the glass on the table, she got up and walked over to the table covered with a black blanket. Throwing off the cloth from him, Krivda showed a crystal ball. The artifact exuded a mysterious power that caused feelings of fear in Lulu.
"This is an ancient and dangerous artifact of predictions," Mrs. Krivda began to tell. "Once a year, when light and darkness merge together, it allows you to lift the veil of the past, present, and future."
"And what will I need to do?" Lulu asked.
"Put your hands on it and think about something exciting."
"Why me?" Lulu was surprised, pointing at herself with her finger.
"As soon as Sophie Mandragora appeared in our academy, strange things began to happen. Energy fields collapse, traps don't work, doors are blocked, lamps go out, in general, everything goes upside down!" Krivda complained.
"Sophie didn't do anything!" Lulu stood up for her. "She is kind, good, and will never give offense to anyone. She is always ready to help!"
The head of the academy smiled:
"That's why you should use this ball. If you don't see anything bad, then it's not about her."
"Okay, I'll do it!" Lulu approached the table without a drop of fear.
Resolutely raising her hands, she leaned them against the cold and smooth surface of the magical artifact. At first, nothing happened, but then she became very ill. Everything swirled around. She had a feeling of nausea, which was inexorably increasing. Lulu tried to resist, even closed her eyes, but her strength still left her. Having lost consciousness, Lulu fell into the abyss, where she was surrounded by impenetrable darkness, from which there was no way out. She was left all alone, alone with her thoughts.