With the angel's arm wrapped around him, Erik hurried to the nurse's office without any time left to be caught. They should've been in their respective dorms an hour ago, but Erik, as per usual, skipped his bedtime to lounge about in the common room. He often did it when it was quiet and with zero interruptions.

"It's gonna be locked, so just give me a second," he said, and he tried to find a way in somehow while the angel still held onto him. When he couldn't, he remembered something.

"The spare key!" he exclaimed, and glanced at the two flower pots on either side of the door. "It's supposed to be in one of these flower pots," getting the angel to rest gently on the floor, he bent down and searched for the key, not finding it. Sighing in frustration, he moved over to the other flowerpot and grinned brightly when he saw the small silver key lying there in the dirt.

"Yes!" he whispered in satisfaction, and unlocked the door. Picking up the angel again, he stepped inside with him, the smell of antiseptic hitting his nostrils.

He laid the angel gently on the bed, the angel letting out a low, painful groan. "One moment, buddy, I've got you," Erik declared, and began searching for the first aid kit.

After a few moments of rummaging through the cabinets and drawers, he found the kit and swiftly attended to the boy. With delicate care, he examined the angel's wings and noticed a significant gash, but fortunately, it didn't require stitches. Carefully, Erik cleaned the wound with the antiseptic wipes, the boy flinching in pain. He whispered a soft "Sorry," and continued what he was doing. His blue-green eyes glanced up at the clock, seeing that it was almost 10 pm. He knew he had to be quick or else a night monitor will catch them.

Once done, he applied the soothing, healing gel, relieving the angel's pain with no reaction, and then proceeded to search for the bandages. "What the hell?" he mumbled, not seeing them.

He slapped his forehead in annoyance, shaking his head. "I can do it," the boy spoke for the first time, his voice strained. Perplexed, he watched the boy propping himself up on the bed, his face twisting in discomfort. His hand, glowing with a radiant blue light, lightly hovered over the wound, healing it instantly.

Erik stared at the angel in astonishment. "How—? how did you do that?" he questioned in disbelief.

"Just an angel thing," he replied, his voice sounding a tad better than before. Erik had many questions to ask him, but knew time was of the essence. The boy shivered, caressing his arms.

"Here, you can have my jacket," Erik offered, taking off the black jacket and placing it over his shoulder. "Thanks," the angel replied, finally making eye contact with him. His eyes were a clear crystal gray, with little specks of silver in them.

Erik averted his gaze, darting his eyes to the clock on the wall, seeing that it was nearly 11 pm. "We should—um—probably go now. It's late and we have classes tomorrow," the boy nodded, gently getting off the bed, as some parts of him were still sore from the fall. "I'm Erik, by the way," he introduced himself.

"Nate," the boy replied, wrapping his arm around him once more.

"Are you new? I've never seen you around here before," Erik wondered as he carried him out. "No, I've been going here for two years. I'm a junior," Nate answered.

Peeking around the corners, Erik pulled out his wand and whispered a spell to put everything back into place. The room now looked untouched. He was about to carry him back to his dorm until he realized something. "What house are you in?"

"Snake House," he replied. Erik mumbled softly, annoyed at the response. "That's literally upstairs, are you kidding me?" knowing he had no choice and had to be in bed as soon as possible, he picked the angel up in his arms bridal style and sprinted toward the nearest staircase he could find. What made it worse was that it wasn't just one staircase, but two.

"Hey, careful!" Nate quietly shouted as Erik almost tripped over a step. Once they reached the top, Erik set him back down. "Well, I guess this is it. Are you good now to walk to your dorm?"

Nate nodded. "Yeah, I didn't break my leg anyway," he shrugged, wishing Erik had kept carrying him to ease the strain on his back, but knew he could use his powers later to get rid of the pain.

His face changed suddenly, patting himself in search of something. "What's wrong?" Erik asked, noticing something was off.

"Uhh, nothing, nothing at all," he lied. "Well, thanks. I will see you in class, I guess. If you know, actually notice me this time," he retorted sarcastically.

"Wait, you're in class with me?" Erik replied, his brows furrowed, not remembering ever seeing him. Despite being in different houses, they would combine some grade levels in one class. Erik never understood it, but it was apparently the traditional way for norm schools as well.

"Just two, actually. Creature Study and History of Magic," he answered, subtly still searching for the book and trying not to look too awkward while doing it.

"Aren't you an angel? Why do you need to that class? I mean, creature study makes sense, but History of Magic?" Erik recalled.

"This school isn't exactly diverse regarding extraterrestrial classes, meaning that I'm the only angel attending. I'm the lone angel in a school full of witches, wizards, mermaids, you name it," he replied, irony in his voice. Giving up searching for the book, he sighed, leaning against the wall.

Erik raised a brow. "Only angel? How come?"

"Because, for some odd apparent reason, my dad stopped me from going to school for the past seven years of my life," he began, clicking his tongue. "He never explained why, just that I had to be homeschooled for a while. Then a while became seven years like I said. I don't know what changed his mind all of a sudden, but the next thing I knew, we were flying from Maine to Madison, Wisconsin. He said it was because he got a new job here and it could help us with money troubles, meaning he would no longer work flexible hours from the computer and teaching me at the same time," Nate finished explaining.

"Woah, that sounds like—"

"A lot, I know," he cut him off. It went silent for a moment. "So, where does your dad work now?" Erik questioned randomly, breaking the silence.

Nate gave him a look. "I told you. Here," he replied.

"Wait, he's a professor here?" Nate nodded his head in response. "Who is he?"

"Professor Finch," he answered casually.

"Finch is your dad?! He's like the coolest professor we've ever had! Well, there was our primary school teacher, Ms. Highmore. She made us get away with anything. And boy was she a looker," he said, staring into the distance with a smirk, reminiscing.

Realizing what he was doing, he snapped out of it and brought his attention back to Nate. "Anyway. So, he's your dad, huh? Cool guy," he added, trying to dodge what had just happened, and leaned his hand on the wall next to Nate's head.

"Legal guardian, actually. Foster dad at first. He took me in when I was seven after my previous adoptive parents died. I'd thought another family would've adopted me by then but nope," he said in disappointment, crossing his arms.

"Finch seems like a fantastic father figure to have. You should be lucky," Erik reassured.

"Yeah, I know," he said. A sudden realization came to his mind, and he quickly leaned up from the wall. "Crap, it's probably super late now. It was nice talking to you. See you tomorrow."

"You too. See ya," Erik replied, waving goodbye to him.

"And don't you forget me either," Nate warned, pointing his finger as he began to turn away. Erik couldn't help but smile, feeling his cheeks grow warm as he chuckled. "I won't," and at that, they went their separate ways.

___

"The nerve that boy has. Trying to get back together with me after all that shit he pulled last year with Thalia. Can you believe that?" Azzie rambled, throwing her hands in the air as she and Drew walked along the muddy grass toward their school.

They didn't attend classes yesterday because Azzie's parents had gotten the date wrong—again. Drew was contemplating whether to stop sleeping over during school nights on the last day of summer break.

Supposed, last day, that is.

"Az, I love you, but you talking about Cory twenty four seven gives me a headache. Just so you know," Drew replied, annoyed.

Azzie, offended, responded. "Well, in that case, how are things with you and Erik? Haven't gotten back together like usual, huh?" she retorted.

Drew ignored her friend's witty response. "For your information, I'm the one who dumped him, remember? I'm not looking to get back together with that jerk. Four years together and not once had he ever showed me any interest. I felt like I was just his little puppet that he had to have on his arm at all times. I deserve better."

"So true," Azzie agreed, patting her on the back. They entered the school and walked toward the double staircase, their voices carrying through the halls as they continued their conversation. They finally made it to their first-period floor, opening the door to another outside entrance.

"Ugh! It's muddier up here than it is downstairs," Azzie gagged, pulling a disgusted face at her shoes that became covered in mud. "Hey, what's that?" Drew questioned, her eyes lingering on something in the mud.

"What's what?" Azzie replied, not knowing what she was supposed to be looking at. "Over here, look," Azzie, curious, stepped toward what Drew was looking at. They noticed an imprint in the mud, resembling a square shape object.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" she whisper yelled as Drew bent down and began pulling the object out of the sand. Finally retrieving it, Drew brushed the mud off the object, her uniform getting stained in the process. "It's a book."

Azzie raised a brow. "What's a book doing out here in the mud?"

"I don't know," she opened the book to see what was inside, Azzie leaning over to look as well. There were photos of symbols and old pictures of random objects. She flipped through it and saw even more old objects and drawings. But what was even more interesting was that each picture included a map and text explaining what the object is and where it was located.

"Oh my god, Azzie, this book is like—the key to richness!" exclaimed, Drew, still flipping through each page. "Imagine how rich we'd be if we found these things."

They continued skimming through, ignoring the first bell and students bumping into their shoulders as they ran to class. "Wait, stop!" Azzie exclaimed, her eyes glimpsing something familiar.

"What? What is it?" Drew wondered, and Azzie pointed her finger on the page. There was a painted portrait of what looked like an 18th century couple. "I've heard this story before. Apparently the necklace grants wishes," Azzie explained, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. Their eyes lingered to the side and saw a closeup of the pearl necklace around the woman's neck. Below was a description of the jewel.

The Pearl Necklace was one of mystery. Dating back to 18th century Vesnovia, it's said to grant anyone their heart's desire. Villagers, priests, even peasants ventured on their way to discover the whereabouts of such jewel.

"See? Told you," Azzie exclaimed, making Drew chuckle. "I never doubted you, Az." They continued reading, getting to the history and location of it.

There was a conspiracy that one of the castle's staff members, Erik Bergström, who was also the partner of Princess Märta of Vesnovia and soon to be future husband, had stolen the necklace, but they later retrieved it from a nearby lake. When news of its capability came to light, all of Vesnovia became greedy for a wish. Even people from all over the globe sailed to the European country to get their hands on the prize. However, the greed didn't last long, as King Güstav had reached his breaking point with the greedy peasants, and threw the necklace into a nearby river. Since then, people from all over have been relentlessly searching for the lost necklace, hoping to fulfill their deepest desires.

Drew glanced up at Azzie. "It's all the way in Europe. What a loss cause," she said in disappointment, closing the book. Azzie's lips curled up into a mischievous, sneaky smile.

"Maybe not quite."

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Hope you guys liked this chapter!
No, seriously, you better have liked it, because all my editing was wasted last night when I meant to update and it all got deleted😭
I may still have to edit some more, but until then, see ya soon!.xX

By the way, no, you're not confused if the chapter number is wrong. I combined chapter 2 with 1 for more organised pacing.
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