"Ring....Ring....Ring....."
The ringing of the bell echoed in the classroom, sending the once quiet room into a cacophony of noises.
Everyone stood up and grabbed their bags, ready to leave the classroom and eat their long awaited lunch.
Unlike everyone else, Mari continued to sit until the whole room was empty, even the teacher already left.
Mari waited for a couple of minutes, making sure no one would come in and ruin everything. Once the coast was clear she opened her bag, right there was the emerald necklace, placed comfortably.
Mari grabbed the necklace and as soon as she touched it, the same jolt of energy surged through her body. This time however the energy didn't fade, instead it coursed through her body.
She began seeing visions of the girl from before, Izzy. She saw her play outside, go to school, and ride her bike. The vision then shifted to her walking down the street, wearing a pink dress and pigtails.
She was happily walking, when all of a sudden she stopped. She turned her head and saw she was right in front of an old wooden house, the house had a terrace and in the terrace a man stood still.
The man watched the girl, his face covered by the shadows. The girl swiftly turned away and ran, the man on the other hand watched the girl disappear before going back inside.
The vision then shifted again, this time it showed a series of images. A bright blue mailbox with an address, a giant metal rod, the oak tree in the forest, a rope, black metal chains, and a date: March 26, 2003.
The vision then went dark, Mari snapped back with a jolt letting go of the necklace. Mari stared at the necklace, seeing the green color of the emerald show a hint of red.
"Oh god...."
Mari stood up, she frantically put all of her things together. She covered her hands with a towel and grabbed the necklace, securing it in her bag before leaving the classroom.
She was now walking in the empty hallway, occasionally running into people now and then. She took a sharp turn, climbed up some steps, and went down the hall.
She continued walking until she was now standing in front of two wooden doors, she opened it and went in.
She was greeted with the smell of dust and old, worn down books. She looked around checking if anyone was here.
In her search for anyone's presence she saw a sign that read 'School Libraray'. Walking pass the sign (after making sure things were clear) she went in, disappearing among the bookshelves.
Walking pass many bookshelves, Mari finally arrived at the school computers. She sat down and powered it on, before continuing, she listened once again, after hearing nothing she opened the browser.
Mari looked at the search bar, she tapped it and typed in the date she saw in her visions. The computer then showed various articles, but the first thing that popped up surprised Mari.
"10 Year Old Girl Found Dead, Hanged In The Great Oak Tree In The Middle Of The Forest (March 26, 2003)"
Mari scrolled down the article, reading everything that was said.
"Elizabeth Denver....Izzy!"
Mari muttered to herself, she continued to scroll down, the screen then showed the picture of the victim. The picture showed the little girl from before, wearing her pink dress and in pigtails.
Below the picture, a little font read:
"A picture of the victim, a couple of hours before the murder"
Mari stared at the picture for a while, the girl's face was so happy, so innocent. Without knowing it, a tear trickled down her face, Mari couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl and her fate, while raging at the disgusting criminal who did this to her.
Mari wiped her eyes and closed the article, she then typed the address she saw in her vision.
"That's right beside the forest...."
Mari's hands started shaking, but this time it wasn't out of fear, it was of rage. She closed her browser and turned off the computer, standing up she gripped her bag tight, remembering the picture of the girl.
A new type of determination surged through Mari, she's gonna solve this mystery, she's gonna find her.
Mari walked out the library, heading towards her next class. Just as she sat down on her desk, the school bell rang, signalling the end of lunch. Mari closed her eyes and relaxed, after school she's gonna visit that house and find that disgusting murderer.
______________________________________________
It was now 9:00 PM, Mari was hiding behind a tree, she observed her surroundings and saw it was all quiet.
Everyone was already in their homes, Mari walked pass each houses, trying to be as quiet as possible.
In order to sneak out, Mari placed a sleeping spell on her parents, she's been learning pretty useful basic spells from Lloyd.
Mari was now a couple houses away from the one on the address, she very discretely walked passed each house until she managed to pass by one certain house.
"Bark!....Bark!....Bark!"
The loud barking of the dog startled Mari, she lost balance for a bit and fell down. She looked behind her and saw the dog was now barking even louder, lights started turning on, as shadows could be seen walking pass the windows.
Mari started panicking, she stared at the dog and flicked her wrist.
"Ka tugo Inkarone"
Glitter-like dust appeared from Mari's fingers, they started flying around until honing in on the dog. The dog watched the glitter circle around its head, the dog started to move weirdly, as if it was drunk until it fell onto the grass, asleep.
Mari breathed a sigh of relief, until a light was shone onto her face. She flinched from the light and immediately covered her face, Mari was now caught, what is she gonna do?
"Mari....?"
That call managed to catch Mari's attention. The light shining on her disappeared and she opened her eyes. She looked and saw a boy looking at her, Mari's eyes widened and she immediately stood up, dusting herself off.
"Angelo....Hi!" Mari waved awkwardly, she stared at him until her eyes showed a hint of realization "Oh yeah....you live on this street"
"Yeah, I do Mari" Angelo answered, getting a little bit worried "What are you doing here? and at this hour?"
"Ugh.....well.....I...." Mari paused, she had no idea what to say. Angelo was now looking at her suspiciously, scrunching up his nose and narrowing his eyes.
"What are you up to Mari?" Angelo said bluntly.
"I'm not up to something, I'm just....jogging"
"Jogging? in the middle of the night?"
"Ugh...yes..."
"Yeah sure I believe you"
"Really?"
"What!? of course not!" Angelo raised his voice a bit "You've been acting weird all week, you've been lying to me, and you've been avoiding me"
Angelo said, keeping his eyes from leaking any tears.
"Mari I thought you could tell me anything, but now your lying to me"
"I'm not lying to you Angelo" Mari was now getting more and more nervous. She had no idea Angelo felt this way, because she's been so busy with this whole magic thing.
"I'm sorry Angelo, I didn't mean to lie"
"I know Mari" Angelo sighed "I respect you and the fact that you can't share everything, but your worrying me!"
Mari stood there frozen, she started thinking about all the things she was doing, but her time with Angelo was important to.
Mari fixated her look, she's going to make it up to Angelo, but for now Izzy comes first.
"I'm really sorry Angelo, I promise to hang out with you later, but for now I have important things to do"
"What important thi---"
Angelo didn't have time to finish his sentence, when he immediately fell to the ground, sleeping soundly.
"I'm sorry Angelo, I will make it up to you for sure"
Mari quietly left the property, sighing when she found out no one saw her. She continued walking, stopping when she arrived at the house. The house itself looked exactly like from her vision, but a sign stood right next to the terrace.
"For sale, call the following number if interested" Mari read the sign aloud.
What happened to the owner? Mari was now at a lost for what to do. How is she gonna find out anything if no one lives here, it's not like she can just ask.
Mari perked up at that thought, she can't ask, but she can see! Mari immediately turned around and ran towards the Axis, smiling at the idea forming in her head.
Mari was now right in front of the alley, she was currently panting, having to run all the way here. She straightened her back and slowly walked through the wall.
She was now standing in the balcony, but something was different. The lights were turned off and no one was here.
"Lloyd!"
No one answered at her call, Mari bit her lip and walked down the stairs.
"Ugh...Axis?"
The walls began shaking, releasing a sweat little hum.
"Ok...at least your here, could you turn on the lights? it's really dark"
After she said that, the room progressively got brighter, causing Mari to hum in satisfaction. Mari walked up to the round table at the center, she took a chair and sat down.
"Axis could you get me the book 'The Collections of Mattea Al Forque: Volume 3'"
The Axis hummed in response, soon a book flew towards her and landed right at the table. The book was a leather bound book, with the sigil of a rose rotting on the cover.
"The sigil of Lady Al Forque" Mari said to herself, she opened up the book and started skimming through the pages.
She discovered this book when she was learning spells a couple days earlier. Lloyd dismissed her from this book, saying it was for more advanced students, but Mari ignored it.
"One of the spells I need is in this book"
Mari continued skimming through the pages, stopping on an image of a white flower. Mari smiled, she found it! she continued to read the page and the list of materials.
"Um..Axis do you have any of these materials?"
".....hum....hum...."
"Hmm?" Mari questioned, unlike Lloyd she couldn't understand the Axis's humming.
Soon a piece of paper appeared in front of her with words written on it.
"I said, this book is for more advanced students"
Mari read aloud.
"Ugh....I know but I need this spell, so could you?"
"Fine...."
The paper disappeared into a puff of smoke, Mari chuckled a bit, she just had a conversation with the the Axis.
After a couple of minutes, various items were now laid out right in front of her. There was a crystal, a bag of 'Amaranian dust', a piece of cloth, and a match stick.
Mari smiled at the assortment of items, she quickly took the items and placed it on her sling bag. She walked towards the stairs and climbed up.
"Thanks so much Axis!"
Mari yelled, before turning around and disappearing out into the night, not knowing someone was watching her.
"Axis, bring me the spell she asked for"
Lloyd walked out of the shadows, smiling at what he just saw. A book soon flew right in front of her, opening onto a specific page. Lloyd read the contents and laughed.
"If she can pull that off then call me impressed"
Lloyd sat down on a chair, summoning a cup of coffee and some bread. He bit down on the bread and took a sip of coffee.
"But I have to give her credit, she really has talent"
Lloyd was now thinking to himself, he could see a specific someone in Mari. They both were talented, eager to learn, and very determined.
Lloyd chuckled again, finishing up his bread and coffee. He stood up and walked towards his room.
"Looks like we'll just have to see where this ends up..."
Lloyd snapped his fingers, the lights went out and everything was now quiet again. Lloyd started walking, he took one last glance at the balcony where Mari once stood and smirked, he soon turned around and left.