The rain that had still been pouring in the morning had died down around noon and by the late afternoon the sun was finally starting to peek through the clouds. We took the chance to move to sit at the table by the window, so we could enjoy what little sunshine came through it. Zeze had seemed particularly happy about the decision. She's been sitting on the windowsill ever since the first sunbeams peeked form their cloudy hiding spot.
"Enjoying the sun?" I ask her as she stretches and flops onto her stomach, flapping her wings around for a bit before relaxing them.
"She said that she's happy she finally has time to relax in the sun. She's been traveling for a long time," Percy says. He's putting returned books back into the correct shelves.
"Really?" Percy asks, surprised. I raise my eyebrows, but he's looking at the faerie.
"What did she say?" I ask. Percy opens his mouth but doesn't say anything for a moment.
"Well, she said, that faeries draw energy from the sun, and if she doesn't recharge often enough she could fall into, like, a coma? I guess she'd wake up as soon as she gets more energy from the sun, or a 'strong enough magical presence'. She also mentioned that all Fae are like that, not just faeries," he explains finally. That sounds interesting, although somewhat impractical. I guess that's another explanation why there're no faeries here, the weather being what it is; when it starts to rain it's often several days before we see the sun again.
"Didn't you know that?" I ask.
"Hm?"
"Judging by your reaction, at least, you hadn't heard about that before." He looks away. He really hates to admit he wasn't aware of something.
"Well, no, I hadn't," he says. "Our collection on magical creatures is far more limited than on other animals, because magical creatures generally are very self aware and tend to dislike being studied. There's only been a few people who have studied them extensively, and they have all had very powerful magic themselves."
"That's true. I guess it's the whole magical presence thing, they get drawn to places with strong magic." Just like at the beginning of the term... It's possible that the faeries appeared, because they felt someone powerful use magic. Although... who? And how? Perhaps the leaves on the tree were the reason the faeries appeared, not the other way round? It's a possibility at least... We do now know that there is at least one person, Viper, in the school with magic that powerful, but what would be his reason to make a tree grow? Perhaps there is someone else, with magic as powerful. If we could only find them, maybe they could help us stop Viper, magic against magic.
"Why is she hanging around here though?" Alica asks, leafing through a book about international relations. "You know, she delivered her message, she doesn't really have anything else to do anymore, does she?"
Zeze props herself on her elbows and flaps her wings idly, watching as Percy, for some reason, becomes flustered and shuffles for an answer.
"Well, ah, I guess it could be... Maybe she... uh," he tries, and fails, to come up with something.
Percy swallows, a red tinge rising from under his collar. Whatever she had just said about him, surely garnered some interesting reactions.
"She, uh, says that she's going to wait here for the Grand Sorceress, because she really doesn't want to fly all the way back, and she usually goes where the Grand Sorceress goes anyway, so..." he says. I wait for a moment, to see if he'll elaborate on the second half of the little speech.
"And..?" I ask. He gives me a confused smile, but I know he knows what I'm talking about. "What did he say about you? I heard her say your name, so don't try to deny it."
"Oh, well, ahh," he says, flushing again. "She said that... she really liked how soft my hair was. She, um, likes to sleep in it."
"Pfft, really?" Alica says with a grin and he's up and running her fingers through Percy's hair in seconds. "Woow, she's right, this is so soft! I'd totally sleep in here too, if I were that that tiny!" She laughs, and he laughs too, a little awkwardly and the blush gets deeper. Poor sod.
"Uhh," says Percy, his eyes flicking to us in a panicky nature.
"Wait, what," Percy interrupts, his face falling serious. Zeze stops her scolding and flailing and quiets down. There is a tense moment when no one speaks. "Say that last bit again?"
The library doors slam open with a loud bang and we all practically jump out of our skins. Zeze is in Percy's hair faster than anything I've ever seen.
"Master Woodsham!" someone shouts from the front of the library. Eclaise. We rush to the front to find him standing there, looking distressed and slightly out of breath.
"Professor Eclaise, what's the matter?" I ask and he takes a deep breath when he sees me.
"Oh thank gods you are here!" he says, grasping the front of his robes. "I need to tell you something, and I might get into trouble for this, but Icthys be my witness, you are our best chance to get out of this mess. The principal is a good man, he really is, but he sees the world much too simply and right now we don't have time for dillydallying. Too much is at stake here, you understand, everything depends on this, and it's - "
He's started to ramble, a nervous tic, and I place my hand on his arm to catch his attention. He looks at me, snapping his mouth closed.
"What has happened?" I ask and he nods, and rubs his hands together.
"Herbert Cole has been imprisoned," he says.
I... fuck. "Could... could you say that again?" I say, trying to understand what exactly made me hear something like that.
"Chief Wismuth has taken professor Cole into custody today, just a few hours back," Eclaise says and okay is this really happening? This has got to be a prank, this makes no sense whatsoever, if there's something Cole is not it's a criminal. Unpleasant, sure, but criminal? They'd arrest me before him, and the chances of that actually happening are very low.
"Why?" Gil asks. "I mean, what did he do?" Eclaise rubs his hands together.
"He caused a scene at the Pines' farm," he says. "He stunned three people. With magic."
I burst out laughing.
"Oh, that is rich," I say. "That is, that's a good one! Cole with magic, now I've heard it all. Next you're going to tell me he burned all his history books." My laughter dies quickly at the look on Eclaise's face. He is absolutely serious. "No," I say. "Really? Cole has magic?"
"But, that can't be," says Percy from beside me. He's staring into the middle distance, eyes unfocused. "He can't have, I... I don't understand, he..."
"Ah, a faerie," he says, and frowns. "Why is there a faerie here? This is quite unusual, isn't it? Why's she in your hair, Masters?"
"Ah, quite right," says Eclaise.
"Okay," I say, rubbing my face with my hands. I need to get a grip, I need to find out more. I need to... "Okay. Professor?"
He turns to look at me.
"Tell me everything."
________________________________________________________________
Dundundunnn.
I know I'm late, I got confused with the days. But at least it's not, like... midnight. Or four in the morning and the tears are pouring so I guess that's something.
I can't remember what the topic I gave you was, but I gave it to you and you know what it was, so it's no matter.
Zeze says all kinds of shit all the time, but finally it's something relevant huehue. Don't worry if you can't be bothered to try to decipher it tho, all will be revealed eventually. I also really wanna draw Zeze, but I haven't yet gotten to it. Maybe for Monday...
Well, I'm gonna go now. Can't wait for an update from Knute. Toodles~
Pie out.
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