The last person Sancho expected to see as he walked into the Castelobruxo library was his Mentor. He was there to find a book on giant uprisings — classes had resumed the week before, and despite the fact that Sancho was beyond exhausted and that his anxiety was only building up and getting worse, he was determined to not only succeed in his classes but spend his every free moment researching what could've attacked María Luz. Even Felix had been scared by his fervent desire to spend every waking moment in the library, reading book after book about Dark magic and creatures. But Sancho was persuaded that he could help his friend speak, and eventually sing, again. It had gotten to a point that even María Luz had to step in, pleading with Sancho to stop destroying his mental and physical health. Sancho had nodded and mumbled empty words of comfort, but as soon as her back was turned, he had rushed off to the library again.

As he observed his Mentor, who had her nose in a book, he realised that he wasn't the only one who was getting less sleep than the rest of the school. If it was possible, Headmistress Praelia looked even more exhausted than Sancho. While she normally kept her frizzy hair in a tight bun, strands were sticking out, making her look like a mad scientist. It was at a time like this that Sancho was struck by how young she was. Being naturally gifted in magic from her birth had forced her to mature and to gain experiences that people twice her age still hadn't gotten. His respect for her increased tenfold as he timidly walked up to her.

"Hola, Profesora," He greeted her as she jumped up, her eyes frantic. She relaxed immediately when she saw him, and smiled. "Quite busy, I see." He looked at the piles of books around her.

"Good evening, Sancho," She gestured for him to sit as she conjured up a comfortable chair across from her. "And — er — yes, I've been a little preoccupied. Just wanted a change of scenery, so I came here."

"From one library to another." Sancho added lightly.

"I've heard you've been spending quite a bit of time in the library yourself." He down looked at his shoes, embarrassed to have been called out.

"Who told you?"

"Sancho, I'm the Headmistress, I know everything," She leaned in, pretending to be serious. "But if you must know, it was your lovely friend, Felix." He laughed, and the tension in the air faded slightly.

"Don't worry, Profesora. I'm getting plenty of sleep." He said, trying to sound like he hadn't slept less than five hours the night before.

"But I do worry, Sancho. You worry me. These things, these demons that I'm chasing after and trying to find... it's not your responsibility. You don't have to carry this burden." Sancho's head fell as tears formed in his eyes. All of the weight that he had been carrying on his shoulders seemed to come crashing down.

"But w- what if it's my burden to carry, too?" He asked, looking at his Mentor in her eyes. "The shift of b- balance — I felt it too. I have a d- duty to bring it back to normal... don't I?" The tears were slowly running down his face as he sniffled, and Praelia was heartbroken to see her favorite student in such a state — he truly had a heart of gold.

"Right now, Sancho," she said softly. "You have a duty to take care of yourself. Your intentions are honourable, but if you do not stop to make sure you are sane, they will lead you nowhere." He nodded, too tired to disagree.

"May I still help you, Profesora?" He asked, wiping the tears off of his face and looking up at her, the determination in his eyes blazing through the exhaustion. She sighed, knowing there was no use for her to try and deter him.

"Of course you can, Sancho. But I want you to rest first." She drummed her fingers on the table. "Let's meet on Friday in my office, after dinner. You can share your findings with me then." He nodded and stood up, the chair scraping against the floor.

"Thank you, Profesora. Y- You're right. I need all my strength to help María Luz," He looked down at her and added softly. "If you don't mind me saying this, you look like you might need some sleep too."

"I will," she promised, telling herself she'd go to bed in half an hour. "Good night, Sancho."

"Good night, Profesora." He bowed his head to her with deep respect and left the library, the weight on his shoulders considerably lighter than it had been before.

◦

"What do you 'spect you'll talk about tonight?" Felix asked absentmindedly at dinner on Friday night. Sancho had been annoyed at first that he had reported him to Praelia, but quickly forgave his friend as he knew Felix meant well.

"I don't know what to expect," Sancho sighed and pushed his plate away from him, too full to continue. "I haven't found much, honestly... it's just strange. The whole situation is strange." He glanced over at María Luz, who was signing words in the air to some of her Third Year friends, spelling out what she was trying to say. She seemed happy, but Sancho could see the grief in her eyes of losing her voice. The scars on her throat made him nauseous — images of her body on the clearing ground resonated in his head as he tried to refocus on Felix, who was engaged in a conversation with one of their classmates.

Sancho waited diligently for the bells to ring, signaling the end of dinner. His mind wandered as he waited: he thought of the others schools that his father often talked about, and wondered whether they had ever faced instances of Dark Magic like Castelobruxo was facing now. He had heard the story of Merlin Ambrosius, who was educated at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry along with his mortal enemy, Morgan le Fey. Merlin had an epic battle against Morgan and eventually ended up defeating his classmate, who had meddled in incredibly Dark Magic. Sancho wondered if Castelobruxo's own battle with the demons in the jungle would go down in history as Merlin and Morgan had. If it did, he hoped he would be as strong and as brave as his hero.

After what seemed like an hour, the familiar chime of the bells rang through the Hall indicating the end of dinner. Muttering a brief good-bye to Felix, Sancho slipped out of the Hall and sprinted in the direction of Praelia's office before any of his teachers could tell him to slow down. He reached her bookcase and waited. A book titled Yvain, The Knight of the Lion slid forward and Sancho grabbed it, opening the doors to his Mentor's office.

Her office was, if possible, in an even more chaotic state than it had been during Sancho's first visit. The shelves had been reorganized alphabetically by genre (rather than by colour, as they had been the first time) and Sancho spotted an enormous pile of black and dark gray books on Praelia's desk that almost reached the ceiling — he found it hard to believe that one person could own so many books.

Praelia was at her desk, and Sancho was glad to see that her nose was not was not plunged in a book about the Dark Arts, but rather a map of what he recognized as the Castelobruxo grounds and the jungle surrounding it.

"Please, Sancho, sit down." Praelia instructed, rolling up the map and stashing it in a drawer.

"Have you read all of these books?" Sancho was still staring at the pile that looked like it could come tumbling down any second.

"Yes," she replied, waving her wand to make the books rearrange themselves into the shelves. "I can be a very fast reader when I want to be." She explained, ignoring Sancho's wide-eyed and impressed stare.

"What have you read about so far?"

"Dead ends, Sancho. Dead ends. What happened to María Luz seems so out of place, so rare." She sighed and gently massaged her temple.

"That's what I was thinking about too, Profesora," Sancho started, his energy renewed. "But I feel like the answer is right in front of us, we're just not looking at it the right way," Praelia raised an eyebrow at him, urging for him to continue. "Señora Guerir doesn't make mistakes. She's a strong Healer, and I believe that María Luz's voice isn't lost completely." He sounded so sure of himself that Praelia stood up straight.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked, her curiousity rising. Sancho shifted uncomfortably in his chair — he wasn't sure if the theory he had been building was close to being correct, and he didn't want to disappoint his Mentor.

"W- Well..." He took a deep breath. "What if whatever attacked María Luz was preying on the strongest source of her magic, which was her voice? I don't think the beast or demon was trying to kill her, I think it was just trying to take her magic somehow. I know it doesn't make much sense, but I felt the energy our class had — it was pure and innocent... Light Magic, you see... what if it was preying on that?" There was a long pause and Sancho blushed and looked down to his hands, embarrassed. "I could be wrong, of course." He added, trying to backtrack. Praelia remained silent. When Sancho finally looked up again, tears were running down her face.

"Profesora!" He exclaimed, concerned.

"I figured it out, Sancho." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. She went to a corner of her library that was partially obscured in the dark. Sancho hadn't even noticed it until then. She brought back a book, and Sancho could tell that it was incredibly old, much older than most of the books in her library. She wiped the tears from her face, and Sancho noticed a new emotion in her eyes: rage. It was hot, fiery rage, and it almost made Sancho concerned for whoever or whatever was going to be on the receiving side of it.

"What is it?" He asked nervously, his eyes flew to the book in her hands.

"My mother." She replied darkly.

◦ ◦ ◦

i'm sure you all (maybe) saw this coming, but this marks a huge transition in sancho's story! do you think maria luz will ever get her voice back? what's going to happen between praelia and her mother?

i hope you are all ready for the start of the end. at this point, immortality has been roughly planned out until the very last chapter (it'll be around 55 chapters total). there are exciting things ahead.

as always, comments/votes/questions/declarations of war/love poems are always appreciated. i hope that you are all having a lovely end of your week. 

 best,

clara