His feet never seemed to be able to follow the figure fast enough, it always seemed a step ahead. It was as if the stair seemed to get longer and longer and his feet was being swallowed by the old rickety tiles. His breath became ragged out of the sheer effort as his feet continued to drag him onto the stairs. The silver eyed figure looked back at him long and hard before turning back around and continuing its trek up effortlessly. Rafal's eyes widened at the sight. He could still feel the same buzz of magic in the stairs oozing down to him from the person climbing above him.
As he began to piece two and two together he began to grow even more cautious and aware of the possible dangers this person is carrying.
As the silhouette reached the landing of the hallways leading to the bedroom the figure stopped and began contemplating which room to enter. With a decisive nod it turned towards the exact room Sophie was in. Rafal's heart hammered in his chest even harder than before, his mouth went dry and sore as sweat beaded his brows.
As they neared the room Sophie's is laying in he only became more and more determined to find out who this person was. Magically powerful or not he needed to protect her from whatever this was.
He couldn't let harm come her way; not again. He had watched her struggle and be miserable for 3 years in his very school and he couldn't even do anything. All the memories of the pain and heartache he watched her endure made him even more determined to keep her safe now once more.
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Beads of sweat made its way down her face as Sophie continued to toss and turn in the rustling silk sheets. That dream, that vision she had seen was now seemed to be haunting her wherever she went. It was such a sweet dream and yet the way it followed her around made it feel like a nightmare.
She couldn't stop thinking about him, that little boy she had seen repeatedly over and over again. His name branded itself onto the front of her mind for the longest times of day, she was like a woman obsessed. She wanted to meet him, hold him, speak to him like a mother would. She wanted him to be real, desperately. She wanted to find out whether this Ryker boy was real, she wanted him to be. He just seemed like such a far away dream, one so tempting and sweet. Like the promise of love she had once made to Rafal.
Then she thought about it, just why did she want him? When she couldn't think of any rational reason she began to panic. Had someone cast some sort of mind control spell on her? Was she going insane? Maybe it was the way he carried all her wishes and yearnings inside his delicate existence, like a promise of stability, love and beauty everlasting in a living breathing legacy. She wanted a son, she wanted Rafal's love.
She wanted to know whether life would've been better if she had taken his hand at that moment. She wanted to rewind time to take his hand.
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That was when she awoke, startled and feverish as if she had been sick all this time. With heaving breaths she propped herself up on the bed with her elbow causing her long golden soft hair to cover one side of her face. She could feel her eyes were bulging out of their sockets, she thought she probably looks like Agatha . Pushing her hair back with a sigh of relief, she sat up fully. As she tried to calm her breathing, a movement at the door caught her eye.
Maybe it was the black leather cloak that gave it away or maybe it was the glowing silver eyes. Sophie turned towards the figure now standing at full attention in the door frame. In an alarmed frenzy, Sophie stabbed out her finger and watched it glow a deep, familiar black; exactly like Rafal's. It seemed so familiar yet so refreshingly different just like Rafal himself.
Just a soon as a stun spell fell of her lips and headed at the silhouette, they deflected it with a large, pulsing, silver shield. Now properly terrified and awake, she screamed out spell after spell at the figure who just kept deflecting her attacks.
Stepping closer and closer each time, the figure began pulling its hood from its head revealing a head covered in short but silky locks of black hair and the delicate and soft featured face of Jalette. Sophie was now more confused than scared. Dropping her hands into her lap, her mouth hung open as Jalette smiled softly at her and waved.
Sophie caught Rafal's gaze as his flushed and bewildered face appeared behind Jalett's shoulders. The teenager followed her gaze and turned towards Rafal. She, to, smiled at him and waved as if she didn't just give them the scare of their lifetime.
"Jalette?," Rafal asked, breathlessly and struggling to stand up right. "Hello," she replied softly as she planted her feet firmer in the carpet.
"I'm glad I found you two. I'm sorry for what happened at the castle but I have alarming news to tell you," she continued, her facial expression morphing from apologetic to concerned and anxious.
"I don't think you could return to the school."
That sentence ripped through Sophie's chest along with a mixture of emotions she couldn't comprehend. It was like relief, anxiousness, shock, anger and confusion had just torn through her at the same time and she couldn't pick apart one from another. "I'm not surprised at this point," Rafal replied with a shrug, straightening up against the door frame. Sophie glared at him hotly before turning to Jalette . "Why not!," she screamed, more of a statement than a question. Jalette turned red with annoyance, this girl had a short temper; Rafal noticed. "Unless you want him dead I suggest you take a leave of absence from then faculty of our school and find somewhere else to stay for the time being!," Jalette retorted, just as fiery as Sophie had been.
When her words sank in Sophie's eyes went wide and she began to stare off into the distance.
Her words hit her like a ton of bricks. It made her wonder if she will ever return to school the same. As much as it seems unlikely she actually adores the school, it gave her a place to be free and express herself. It was so close to the bad memories yet so far from the place where she had once felt so alone and miserable in her head. She had been its walls for the worst moments of her life and yet she couldn't think of them as she walked through them these days.
Just as she was dwelling on the heavy consequences of Jalette's words Rafal stepped forward to Jalette with a raised brow and a strange look. "Hold on. Why does she have to leave? She's not the one wanted all across the woods."
Jalett's gaze pierced through him, cold and calculating. "I want you two to work out you problems together! And I don't trust you or you so having you two to keep each other in check is the best option I have," Jalett spoke, stabbing her finger at Rafal then at Sophie; fuming.
"So what are we gonna do?," Sophie spoke up, standing from her bed. Rafal rushed to her side and held his hands at her hips to steady her. She gave him a grateful smile of love and turned back towards Jalett. The girl chewed her lip in thought before letting out a long groan. "Ugh, I guess you could stay here," she replied, hesitant. "And if we want to leave?," Rafal inquired, testing the circumstances.
"Under my permission," she replied, softly and hesitantly as if unsure of the way she was speaking.
"Please don't cause anymore trouble. I don't know what you're gonna do now that you're back. But try anything funny and I will end you," she continued, her tone slowly growing more and more deadly.
" Food will appear in the pantry the moment you want it to, trust me," she assured as she gestured downstairs. "And what do you propose we do while we wait?," Sophie questioned quietly. "I don't know. Work out your issues I guess. You know Sophie? My ball is a wish ball. It will grant an individual a single soul wish in their lifetime, he wouldn't be here unless you truly wanted him to," she replied, her voice dropping an octave lower until she was basically whispering to Sophie and Sophie alone.
She giggled a little at Sophie's bewildered expression.
"I could have wished for a life without acne!," she screeched out in-utter seriousness. Rafal's facer scrunched itself into an offended one as he looked down at the woman in his arms.
Catching his gaze Sophie laughed nervously and patted his chest softly. "Joking," she said, salvaging the moment. " How long are we supposed to stay here again?," Rafal asked, looking up at Jalett. The said girl's eyes went wide as she sheepishly replied. "I don't know," she replied, scratching at her head. As her head began to process and calculating it she began to get even more confused by her own thoughts, making her even more sheepish and shy.
"Great," Sophie said sarcasm dripping from her voice. Jalett smiled back shyly, "I'm gonna need to go now or else Asoen is gonna come looking for me," she said with a sense of urgency, looking at the sun through the window of the bedroom. Seeing it low in the sky, she began to walk down the hallways; screaming her farewells as she walked.