Theo had gathered eight of the final ten remaining students at Eldritch Academy together. This included himself, Cleo, Madeleine, as well as a few others.
"As the last of the transmigrators, we have to be careful," Theo announced to the rest of the room. "We have no idea who will be leaving next, since the story has gone completely off the rails."
Everyone looked around at each other. They had no idea that there were others who were also from the real world. Of those remaining, Cecil and Icarus were the only two who were true characters original to the book.
"I would assume that Icarus will try to remove those who oppose him," Cleo guessed. "I would guess...one of those two...or both."
She pointed to Julius and Constantine.
Julius was the son of a Count, and if Cleo was to be honest, not very memorable. His looks were just average. Not good or bad. He had a very mild personality, practically agreeing with anything anyone brought up. In that sense, whoever had transmigrated into him was very similar to the original character. Meanwhile, Constantine was a whole different story. He was supposed to be graceful and smooth, but now he was disagreeable and intolerable. With the way he was acting, Cleo would not be surprised if Icarus decided to give him the boot first.
"Does he really just get to kill people like that?" Julius asked, clearly worried. "And the professors do nothing about it?"
Theo, Cleo, and Grace, who had not spoken for the entire conversation, shook their heads.
Everyone turned towards Grace.
"What?" she asked. "My granddaughter loves this book. She had me read it to her nothing short of fifty times. By now, I've basically got the whole thing memorized down to how many times Theo coughed in chapter nine. And I'll tell you: it was seven."
"GRANDDAUGHTER???" Zeke shrieked in surprise, causing Theo to choke on his sip of water.
Grace simply nodded. "I like this body. I get to do all those things I enjoyed back when I was still hip and young."
Theo was furiously trying to right himself and scrape up the last shreds of his dignity that had spilled along with his cup of water.
"I don't have a problem. At least I'll get to go home soon. This place sucks." Constantine rolled his eyes, looking disinterested.
"If you hate this place so much, why don't you just-" Nathan mimed stabbed himself. Including some terribly executed sound effects. "You know?"
"My culture looks down on self-harm. Suicide is a dishonorable and just a very stupid thing to do. The decision to harm oneself could be made on a whim and then...boom! You're dead. And there's no turning back anymore."
Cleo nodded in agreement.
The conversation between the eight transmigrators continued on for a few hours, but eventually, they disbanded. Cleo motioned for Theo to follow her. Grace secretly trailed them very quietly.
"We need to make sure that Zeke survives, Theo. He is the only way for Cecil to find the witch. None of us knows exactly where she is. Her small cottage in the woods is essentially impossible to find, especially once it gets dark."
"There's no way to guarantee that. If provoked, Icarus will simply stab, stab, and get it over with. We can't do anything."
"I think I can help you with that," Grace said enthusiastically, popping out of nowhere.
The two of them flinched. They had not been prepared for anyone else to be listening in on their conversations.
"I mean no harm, really. I just want to help everyone get out of here."
Cleo nodded. "So you're not going to tell anyone else?"
"Nope."
They both relaxed.
"Anyways," Grace began, energetically waving her hands around like a giddy child about to share an interesting story with her parents. "I've been having this feeling that somebody is watching us, and if you really think about it, the course of the story is still somewhat the same. For instance, Cecil, despite meeting you-" she pointed to Cleo. "He still fell in love with Rosa, and she also died first. That did not change. Sure, the Imperial Ball was slightly different, but generally, that scene was supposed to highlight Cecil's disinterest in Madeleine, and how her flirts meant nothing to him. Yes, because he was mourning Rosa, but really, the idea was the same. And the whole Reinland thing was basically identical, with the exception of Madeleine surviving. Marianne dies because of the Duchess wanting her son, Icarus, to succeed the duchy, no change. And then he comes to the academy in her place, and there are only ten students left. Everything is essentially still on track, only with a few changes to the characters and the events."
Theo nodded. "I agree. It's as if someone is behind the scenes, pulling the strings."
"Truly, I agree," Grace answered. "I don't mean to brag, but I have known myself to be exceptionally sensitive to being watched. And I've been having this weird, unsafe feeling ever since I got here."
Cleo went through a list of possible characters in her head. It had to be someone skilled in magic, powerful enough to watch over an entire book, and each of its characters. It also had to be someone who had a reason to closely spectate the story as it unfolded. And Cleo just could not seem to come up with anyone who fit that description.
"I wonder who that person could be."