“That was scary” Helga whined softly as she wiped her forehead when they left the class.
Now mentally happy to be away from their Potion’s Teacher who gave them occasional stern warning about misuse of potions and spells.
So far she stayed with the group since they had nothing left to do for the day.
Eventually however everyone arrived at Merlia’s room which consists of blue walls, on the walls and ceiling they contained light green markings that glowed softly in the dark.
Near the bed was a single wall shelf that had some books while some dresses that were half made were littered on the table by a sewing machine.
Moving a stray sleeve from the chair Helga took a seat while Merlia happily resumed her sewing, Mordred meanwhile activated a statue on the ledge of their window with his magic.
Soon a grey owl made of stone was formed and began to take flight for it’s usual rounds.
“More news?” Marcus asked looking curious, meanwhile he sat on a stool as Merlia began to pester him about his measurements.
Marcus who continued to ignore her fussing he looked at Mordred who remained pensive as he read the notes carefully.
“The king’s apparently speaking about bringing more of us to this school” Mordred replied solemnly before the owl entered back in with a few parchments.
Helga and Morgana took one each before Mordred grabbed the other parchments, scowling at the parchments as he tried to make sense of what he was reading.
The owl meanwhile perched itself on his shoulder but didn’t bother him one bit.
“Not only that but the prince is having another party again... as usual his father is looking to make it grander due to the prince's upcoming birthday” Helga muttered darkly before tossing the parchment to Gawain who began to read it silently.
“A party?” Merlia asked with a curious smile, her face now perked up from Helga's comment.
“Nice try Dark Dwellers aren’t invited no matter what” Gawain said dryly causing her mood to deflate.
“Then what’s the point of bringing us here? Surely we have rights to go?” Merlia asked looking completely offended by the fact they were not invited.
Anberine meanwhile silently was reading a book on spells due to an upcoming test that was taking place tomorrow. Not that they minded as she was listening anyways.
“Bringing us here is for publicity, the king has always tried to stay in power. The Light Dwellers- sorry some of the Light Dwellers are like him despite concealing their prejudice towards us” Morgana said with a sheepish smile as she saw Marcus and Anberine staring at her blankly the moment she said the first part about Light Dwellers.
“Shame we can’t find a way to kick him out of power, he’s keeping us on a leash by having our families in the Dark Realm. Country, Realm or whatever they like to call it. It’s a prison for us that his ancestor enchanted to keep us trapped” Morgana commented bitterly.
“Well it’s going to be his mistake for underestimating us” Helga grinned before frowning and sighed heavily at how powerless things seemed.
“What are we going to do though? We need a plan to help free the people, it’s no coincidence that he’s letting us out when people have been vanishing. We have had no leads on their whereabouts but it’s very odd he would suddenly decide to let us out” Helga added as she took out a salty cracker and nibbled it.
“It’s to make it seem like he has nothing to hide” Mordred said as he read a letter, his brows furrowed thanks to what he was reading. Eyeing Marcus and Anberine he gave his kin a nod catching their attention.
“Dinner time is coming up in an hour right?” Merlia asked as she finished a knee-high brown jacket that had four pockets in it and handed it to Marcus who thanked her politely.
Seeing this she smiled widely and began to take out her sketchbook and began doodling some designs.
“I’m hungry though” Helga said while Morgana grumbled in agreement.
“You just ate three hours ago” Gawain commented bluntly, his face showed how perplexed he was with her eating habits.
“Makes me wonder how you’re not fat” he muttered lowly, earning him a pink rubber to the head earning her a wince from Gawain as he rubbed his head weakly.
Frowning at Helga who had stuck her tongue at him, she sharply turned her head in a huff.
Raising a brow at how childish she was being, Gawain stared at her before turning to look at Mordred.
“What is it?” Gawain asked noticing a frown appear on Mordred’s face earning him worried looks.
“A letter from the king” the group tensed up, even Anberine and Marcus looked at him in surprise.
“We’re not in trouble are we?” Morgana asked with a pout as she nibbled on some crackers Merlia handed her to keep her busy.
“You would ask that wouldn’t you?” Mordred commented dryly before shaking his head, earning him a glare from Morgana.
“He just wants to see us about something after dinner” this piped their interest.
“Maybe it’s about the party?” Merlia asked with a curious smile as she began to grab some fabrics to begin stitching.
“I highly doubt it Mer” Gawain said with a sigh that left her partly deflated at how quick he was to shoot the idea down.
“Whatever he wants, we’ll need to remain on guard” the Dark Dwellers nodded in agreement before they realised it the time now signalled for them to have dinner.
The group after packing up began to their usual route to the canteen area.
As bright and sunny as it looked, it was filled with various tables and students often sat in their own circles causing groups and frictions to occur.
Staring at this Anberine looked at her friends and began to sit with Marcus and Merlia who watched their friends grab their dinner thanks to what happened in lunch.
To Anberine’s relief most of the popular group was still in the toilets or now in the medical room waiting to be treated.
Not that the nurse would find anything wrong which Morgana was sure to make sure happen.
This in turn allowed a semi peaceful silence as they enjoyed light talk and listening to the light buzzing of students talking about various things about their lives or what gossip would come to their ears.
Soon Anberine and Marcus were heading their way towards their dorms after bidding their friends a good luck for their meeting with the king.
Despite the worry the Dark Dwellers continued to chat amongst themselves until it was time for them to go and see the King.
“Enter” the king’s voice boomed causing Mordred to open the door and enter with his friends, once inside they saw a simple office with books of what they could imagine were records involving students.
“Take a seat” he said not looking at them, instead his back was facing them as he stood facing the window.His hair was dark brown and his eyes were sharp cold grey and often sent chills down the one’s spine.On edge the Dark Dwellers observed him as they either sat down or stood by the others.“I’m sure you’re wondering why I called you here” the king said while holding his hands behind his back.Mordred frowned at the king not saying anything as he suspected they would hear it anyways.“You see the kingdom has been at peace for a while however, I grow tired of the separation between our realms” the king said calmly piping their interests.At the same time they masked their suspicious glances in order to not arouse the King’s suspicions.“Well your family has been the reas
“I’m glad I found you Anberine! I have a project for you” she cheered while a stunned Anberine who had been close to dropping more than one drop of the vial’s contents into the pot froze.Not trusting her voice she stared at her friend in surprise as she placed the vial down.“Um... what?” Anberine asked looking speechless from the sudden entrance, seeing this would have made Helga laugh had she not remembered why she needed her friend.“Come on! The others are waiting for you” Helga cried as she dragged her friend out the room.“But what about my stuff?” Anberine cried in shock from the sudden pull as she still had the vial in her hand.Flashing a worried look at her bag and books she had a sense at that moment people could steal once they realise who it belonged to.“Forget that, we need you
“I need air” Anberine said weakly as she walked away from Merlia and Morgana, grabbing her bag she opened the door and didn’t look back leaving some of them surprised at how she would refuse so quickly.“She does have morals” Marcus said calmly catching the girls’ attention.“Her aunt had taught her to never use magic as a way of getting revenge since it would never solve anything”“But we need her to help make it, she’s the best potion maker we know and we’ll most likely ruin it” Helga said with a weak withered look, frowning Perceval watched them.“Stop using her to help get ahead, we’re smart aren’t we?” Mordred said as he now stood beside Perceval, Helga and Morgana stared at him in surprise.“We made it this far so why are we using her to get ahead? Why don’t you study
“I can’t otherwise he will not fall for any of you, the potion requires one person to make it. No involvements or exceptions” Anberine explained with a grumble, blinking Mordred tried to think of a solution.“What if we make the food or drink and slip it in after you’ve made the potion? Surely that would counteract the requirement?” Helga suggested causing Merlia and Morgana to ponder on that question.“Worth a try” Merlia said before looking at her anxious friend with a sheepish smile.“Please Anberine, we really need your help and we wouldn’t ask you to help us with something like this unless if was important. Our people need to be free from the King’s control and I’m sure you want the Light Dwellers to be free from his rule as well right?” Merlia asked, Anberine bit her lip as she stared at them and then the paper.Walki
“Exactly, so don’t give it to anyone else and please Morgana for our sake" Mordred stressed as Morgana sorted out her dress skirt."Don’t mess it up” Mordred warned sternly knowing what Morgana was like, hearing this she frowned at him.After placing the cake in a small protective grey tin, she held it while placing her left hand to her hip.Her pouting grew from his cold words knowing that he meant well but wished he didn't treat her like she was incapable of doing something important.“I know what I’m doing, it’s simple. All I’m doing is giving him the cake and that’s it, why do you need to make it sound like I’m going to mess it up?” Morgana asked bluntly as she shook her head, her dark green tresses moving side to side before they rested on her right shoulder.“Because this is crucial, we can’t mess
“I just realised, the spell won’t work if he is in love with someone else” Anberine scolded herself quietly before pausing as she realised what she had said.A dry chuckle left her lips shortly afterwards at the funny thought of him actually being in love with someone other than himself, or even the fact that he even cared for anyone in particular given how he acted like he had a heart of stone.Hearing her reply Marcus snorted sharply from the amusing thought.“Worst case it just increases his obsession” Marcus said jokingly before shaking his head with mirth in his eyes, placing his arm around her shoulder he gave her a comforting smile.“It’ll be okay, with luck the spell will attract him to Morgana” Marcus assured Anberine who was still uneasy about the whole thing.“IF it works” Anberine said sternly before hearing
“And I want you to get your hands off of her” however Marcus remained close and refused to release Anberine who was on edge from what was taking place.“Why? So you can hurt her?” Marcus challenged coolly, his eyes caught a brief glint in Prince Skye’s eyes before it faded quickly.Catching this Marcus felt an uncomfortable feeling enter his stomach at what could have caused the glint to appear.“I want her” Prince Skye replied in a firm tone, his eyes narrowed at being denied the right to speak to her quietly, while at the same time he wanted nothing more than to keep her away from the male who refused to leave her side.“What could you possibly want with her?” Marcus asked coldly only to pause as he saw Prince Skye show Anberine a withered purple flower that had yellow on the bottom petal that he had in his right jacket pocket.
"What... did I just say?" Skye almost froze but his body and mind kept consuming him with ridiculous thoughts that left him wanting to pull his hair out and scream that it was not true.However to the prince's dismay, he felt no willpower to fight back against these thoughts and was forced t