"So, how was your walk to town?" Ludwig's concerned voice echoed around the empty hallway.
"Not bad," Alexa answered vaguely while she ate her newly harvested fruits.
She was worried about Riley, but she couldn't tell her cousin about that. Ludwig already had so much on his plate. She didn't want to burden him with something that didn't directly concern the kingdom.
"You should've brought Leonel or even Rivalz to accompany you," Ludwig added, crossing his muscular arms as he leaned back in his seat.
Alexa wanted to roll her eyes but stopped herself. It was uncalled for. Besides, ever since she had come to live at Fortunalia, Ludwig had become her father figure, even though he was just a couple of years older than her.
His absolute rule for Alexa was never to go out alone, without the knights, or without him and her other cousins.
Alexa knew Ludwig was just worried about her safety, so she didn't protest, though sometimes she couldn't help but rebel.
"Don't worry, Ludwig," she said, munching on the apple. "I just went to the orphanage at the edge of town. Besides, I was only gone for about two hours, shorter than the royal meetings. I didn't want to trouble your knights with babysitting me. I know they have more important things to focus on than me."
From afar, Alexa could hear Ludwig's seething sigh. "You are important, Alexa. You know that. And I am certain they won't babysit you. Leonel is eight years younger than you, for instance. It would've been the other way around."
Alexa put her legs on the other seat at the table. "Which makes it worse, Ludwig. I'm older than both of them, but I don't want anyone watching over me."
"They're not even watching you. They're protecting you. There's a fine difference. Think of it."
"But you know I can handle danger myself," Alexa pressed on.
Of course, she didn't want to use this card because it sounded so arrogant coming from her. And she knew it was a bluff. She couldn't even do a proper teleportation spell without ruining something else in the process.
"Everyone knows that, but Leonel and Rivalz are more trained for combat and much more willing and determined to fight and kill." Ludwig smirked. "You can't even kill someone if your life is at stake."
Alexa frowned. She wanted to argue more, to assure Ludwig she was capable of defending herself like them.
But one look at the dark circles under Ludwig's eyes made her irritation vanish. She just released all her feelings into eating. Using magic while training Riley had made her hungry.
"All right then," she said as she gulped the cold water. "I'll bring them along next time so you won't worry about me. But don't blame me if they die."
Ludwig grinned. "Thank you for your understanding, Alexa. Of course, Leonel and Rivalz won't die." There was a deafening silence between them. "I know this setup is hard for you, but I just want to make sure Amelia doesn't get you. She got…"
Sorrow and immense anger flickered in Ludwig's fire-blue eyes. "She captured Hiyasmin," he said, almost denying the truth. "I don't want her to get you too. So please…"
Alexa nodded. She understood very well what Ludwig felt at that moment. She missed Hiyasmin very much, too.
Ludwig glanced up at her as he examined scattered papers on his wide wooden table. "That's your seventh apple," he pointed out.
Alexa shrugged. "I used magic earlier, so…"
"Is Sinister okay?"
"I'm okay, Ludwig," answered Alexa. "Don't worry about us." She took another fruit.
"That's your tenth now," Ludwig said, staring curiously at her.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Alexa met Ludwig's gaze. "I've been hungry since I was born," she added matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, right." Ludwig looked away and pretended to read the letters before him. "But you never ate more than seven. Usually, you'll wait for an hour before you eat again. Only this time you…"
"You're thinking too much, Ludwig," Alexa said, yawning as sleepiness seemed to crawl into her eyes. "I said I'm okay. Sinister is okay."
Alexa soon averted her gaze, her eyes falling to her clasped fingers. She was scared Ludwig noticed she was lying. Sinister was not all right, not anymore.
Just last week, when Alexa and Ludwig's mysterious guest Louise talked inside Hiyasmin's room, Sinister had suddenly poked her belly from within.
Alexa's veins turned purple, and she had felt a strange madness she had never felt before. She didn't know the true problem, but she noticed lately that she became more hungry despite not using her powers at all.
Before, Alexa could eat one sack of fruits a day, and it was sufficient. But now, it seemed two sacks were not enough by midday, even though she was just resting.
"You know what, Louise is visiting Hiyasmin regularly. She stays in her room, although…"
Alexa tried to change the topic. She wanted to lighten Ludwig's burdens in any way she could. But then again, she sucked at these crucial things.
"Yeah," said Ludwig softly. "I saw her."
For a few moments, neither dared to speak. Soon, they decided to walk for a bit, savoring the tranquil beauty of Lancaster Castle's sweeping landscape.
"I'll go to Louise later," Alexa said to Ludwig, who was standing beside her. "I want to thank her for this gift."
Alexa showed Ludwig the gift Louise had given her. It was wrapped securely in ordinary fabric. She hadn't opened it yet. She hadn't found the right time to do so.
"Do you want to join me?" Alexa asked. "I bet she's in the library again."
Ludwig shook his head firmly, his lips tightly sealed. "You should go," he said. "I still have a lot to do."
Alexa raised an eyebrow at him. She knew Ludwig wanted to see Louise. She could see her figure in his solemn eyes.
"Are you scared?" Alexa asked, trying to tease. But Ludwig fell silent, his expression unreadable. Her eyes widened in surprise. She was about to roast him further, but he simply turned and left her standing alone before the battlements.
"Damn," she muttered. "The brave and raging Ludwig, felled by the small hands of our human maiden." She shook her head, laughing. She already knew Ludwig felt something for Louise. It was bloody obvious. But she had never thought it was that deep.
Alexa marched back toward the expansive library. She was just a few feet away from the gold-laden door when she opened Louise's gift.
It was merely a hairpin, and a smile etched itself on her face as she examined it. Surrounded by men and only having Hiyasmin as her usual companion, Alexa had never received something so feminine. Only this time.
She excitedly put the hairpin in her long, elegant white hair. Then she conjured a Mirror Spell to see how it looked on her, only for the spell to fade as she saw her reflection.
It can't be.
She conjured another spell with a soft murmur. Then slowly, she took another peek. But it did not change, not at all. This was not true. Her once long white hair had turned greasy black.
Never in the history of witches had something like this happened. Not even once. Vibrant and colorful hair was the distinct symbol of witches, just like how pointed ears were associated with elves, scales meant wyverns, and tribal tattoos marked werebeasts.
A witch's hair was immune to any form of magic. No matter what one did, no matter what spell was cast, one could never alter a witch's inherent hair color.
So why had her hair suddenly turned black? She curiously brushed her hair. Maybe her Mirror Spell was broken. But then, when she looked down, the tips of her hair were indeed black.
That made her smile. She fixed her hair. It now looked normal. She didn't look like a witch any longer. She thought, does this mean I can now walk freely in Fortunalia without anyone judging me?
Suddenly, delight filled her being. She had never admitted it to anyone, but it was tiring being judged constantly for something one had no control over.
Alexa soon went back to eating, and she spent an absurd amount of time trying to understand the inner workings of the hairpin, but she could not find any relevant information.
She guessed it was an ancient magical tool, so she just hid it in a cabinet in her room and soon treated the eight white snakes she had rescued in the SpringLeaf Forest a while ago.
One of the biggest snakes began shedding its gleaming skin. Alexa was busy cleaning it when, suddenly, a soft knock thudded on her chamber door. Instead of throwing away the skins, she put them in a small bag she always carried.
When Alexa unlatched the wooden door, she glanced down and saw a young boy holding five wooden boxes in his tiny, shivering hands.
Alexa looked around the hallway, but there was no one else but them and the silence. "What are you doing here, boy?" she asked. "Are you lost?"
For one, they did not have any child servants in Lancaster Castle, so it was impossible he was one of them.
The dirt-streaked face of the boy looked up at her, then his cracked lips said, "The beasts within lie. Awaken with the dead."
"Cries," Alexa whispered, finishing the boy's trembling rhyme.
Then, realization hit her. Alexa's lips parted and eyes widened as her hands froze. "Who…" She could barely speak. "Who taught you that…"
Before Alexa could interrogate the boy, he dropped the boxes at her feet. Then, without any sort of farewell, he ran away, concealing himself with a black cloak.
The boy was fast. By the time Alexa decided to follow him, he was nowhere to be seen.
That rhyme, she thought, her mother taught her that rhyme. It was written by her mother before she died. She never spoke of those rhymes since then.
So how could someone else know about it?
Alexa picked up the small boxes and brought them back to her chamber. She attempted to search for the boy's presence, but she couldn't feel anything.
When she returned, the boxes were still lying idly on the floor. Alexa needed to tell Ludwig about this.
With a wildly beating heart, Alexa went to the door to do just that. But before she could reach the metallic knob, she heard a soft click from behind her.
It was so soft and low she almost missed it. But her body reacted on reflex. She had heard that familiar click a hundred times before, like it was a clock.
She heard it whenever she was practicing her Teleportation Spell. She kept messing it up, blowing her entire quarter.
That was when Alexa understood. Her eyes seemed to flicker.
The boxes contained Teleportation Bombs!
With panicking hands, Alexa opened her bag sitting nearby. Her hands trembled with her hammering heart. She reached for her pendant and swiftly shouted, "Aegis!"
At the exact same moment, the boxes on the ground shook like quakes, their holes fuming with dark smoke.
The silvery pendant in her hand throbbed like a second heartbeat before it grew heavy until she could no longer hold it anymore.
The pendant stretched itself, transforming into thick metallic walls. Then it curled and opened and swallowed her entire body like she was inside an egg.
The transformation was quick like lightning in her eyes. She was scared that she was only a heartbeat away from burning into ashes. But before the Sealing Spell fully caged her, the boxes exploded with resounding bangs. It rang thick in Alexa's ears, and soon the cage heated up, and finally, the last remaining explosion ensued, transporting her very confinement deep into the unknown.
Alexa closed her eyes as her forehead hit the metal enclosure. She had intended to create a soft cushion between her and her shield, but it was already too late. She couldn't even sit up straight inside, let alone cast another spell.
Her head slammed against the metal several times until her vision blurred. Her throat felt raw from shouting in pain. Now she finally understood how it felt to be a beaten egg—it hurt badly.
The loud ringing inside her head didn't stop. She squinted a couple of times and clasped her hands around her ears, but it did nothing to stop the sharp noises from piercing her eardrums.
Just when she thought she would pass out, the loud ringing stopped. The shaking of her protective metal case ceased, and everything stilled, although her mind was still in chaos.
For a moment, she didn't move. She hugged herself tightly, afraid that if she moved even an inch, the explosion would resume.
As time passed and nothing happened, she allowed herself to relax a bit, gently palming the wounds on her head. Hissing in pain and discomfort, she blinked several times to get her bearings, but her vision remained blurry.
The metal egg around her began to melt, gradually returning to its pendant form. She gripped it and tucked it into her satchel. She was about to shout for help when she saw the old abandoned house in front of her.
Alexa was breathless. It couldn't be. The ruined building looked exactly like the house. Their house. Her parents' house.