Chapter 7

Leila could simply not believe how far Paige could go to ruin her life. She had triumphed in manipulating her husband in her favor, and even nurses the plan to kill him afterwards. Delaney Hunows Morphed back into a Vaylix shadow and made to leave Leila’s presence. He paced toward her and whispered a few words.

“Paige Granger will not succeed. I am here for you and my friend, Kartemis,” he said; Leila felt a great deal of relief from his assurance. He turned to leave.

“Uhm…wait, can I ask you something?”

“I’m ready.”

“How did you transform in to a Vaylix Shadow. I thought it was impossible to duplicate the shadows of The Escapee Magrid.”

“Well, I can and I just did.”

“But why didn’t you come to me your real self?”

“Take care of yourself and don’t you worry,” he assured and flew away as most Vaylixes do. Leila seeped in some cold air. She sighed as she enjoyed the soothing effect. At least, for a short while, she hoped not to be haunted by anything.

***

            Providence had been extremely gracious to Jesi; he managed to calm the eccentric Caulin down to the barest minimum. He fussed about his newly found frog and the knowledge about his ability to talk made him itch for time to speed.

“I feel amazing; the keeper of a frog that takes milk and talks as well.”

“You are happy instead? A frog that is crazy is what you are damn fond of?”

            Jesi said nothing and did not feel in the least perturbed. He was a lover of animals of all kinds and would do anything to ensure their safety. He was intensely obsessed with them and had an amazing knack of making them trust him.

The Gore Brothers now hurried down the road on the hill side, eager to find Ariadne Rooney. They needed to find out all about the underground dealings of Professor Shade Quist to ascertain his possible affiliation with The Escapee Magrid.

If they could push their dream to fruition it would be awesome. Caulin had earlier circumspectly cogitated a couple of times pertaining to the involvement of Professor Shade and realized there was no doubt about that. For him, their meeting with Ariadne Rooney was just to prove his guilt.

They paced farther and after a few more minutes, came across the train station that led them to Royal Lundin, the place on the map where the huge building of which Ariadne Rooney was resident in was located. In that realm, it was hardly a task to find someone, especially being a wizard, except if the person been south didn’t wanna be found.

In this case, Ariadne Rooney didn’t know what was coming for her and that, the boys thought, was a great thing. At their destination, It a fairly great number of stairs to climb when they got ushered into the building by servitors. Caulin disdained it so much, the stairs, recalling how many he had in his own house – a castle would be a better word.

Having entered the foyer; Jesi wondered how they were going to start the talk. Caulin didn’t seem to be bothered about that, unlike Jesi he was pretty good at being outspoken.

“You there, what’re looking for?”

A huge voice questioned which got Jesi startled though it was friendly. He recovered quickly when he saw who it was.

“We want Ariadne Rooney, your daughter.”

Caulin offered.

“Why, anyway? Is she expecting you two puppies?”

“She is our friend in Gramway, uhm, sort of,” Caulin said.

“Sort of?”

“Well, it’s safer to say we’re class mates.”

“She is in her room then; getting to the second floor, turn left. You shall know what to do. And,” he said, “there’s a button in her room which she can press I case you two try anything funny,” he made a face. Jesi cringed. “Kidding. Get outta here…”

“Thanks awfully,” Caulin thanked him and scooted to the directed in an eager hurry, almost laughing at Jesi for his diffidence.

            Climbing the stairs as swiftly as he could, he came to the door of Miss Rooney. It wasn’t difficult to locate, her name was engraved on a brass plate at the head side of the door.

“Wait, Caulin, how do we start the topic of The Escapee Magrid?”

“Create a few jokes, make her feel at peace with us, tell her everything we think and all will be well. Trust me on that.”

“And we have to be explicit enough to make sure she gets convinced that Professor Shade is into something sinister…that makes me…”

“Chill,” animatedly, Caulin said, patted him on the back and knocked. The door moved open in seconds and for seconds more, the face that smoked before them seemed surprised…very surprised. Needing no introductions, she narrowed her eyes at them in an effort of asking what the hell they wanted in her house. In her room. Imagining how her father had easily let them in without having to call her out instead, she opened the door ajar and let them in. Forcing a confused welcome smile and letting her twelve-year-old mind scout for answers she didn’t yet have, she watched as Caulin held on to the seat in front of him and stared at her. All she did was stare back too, waiting for them to make the first words out.

“You looked perplexed, pretty. Brighten a bit,” Caulin said enticingly and then Jesi thought, is that his idea of a joke?

“Hey,” she said. “We’ve come to see you for the first time.”

           “What do you want, Caulin?” She asked, inclining her head, although with noticeably less respect than Caulin had given her.

“I welcome you to my home. You have intrigued me greatly, with your arrival and the –” She paused, a cute, derisive smile playing about her luscious mouth.

“And the tone of your words right here; it has been a long time you and I spoke in school but here you are…in my house.”

“Then perhaps, my arrival is most timely, indeed, Miss Rooney, if you so forget your heritage. Now I have come quite far and I’ve had such a stressful travel to this place. May Jesi and I take advantage of the hospitality of your room?”

Caulin spoke as ingeniously as he thought was best, noticing the glare Ariadne was feeding him on his attempt to sound older. In answer, Ariadne stepped aside, indicating that they could sit down in the couch. Ariadne still looked like she was shocked.

“Hey Pretty, it is Caulin, not any hideous beast?” he said. Jesi felt left out of the talk though it hadn’t started yet. He rolled his eyes at Caulin for the funny utterances he was making and the fact that he was sort of trying too hard.

“Oh, but you are in my room today…”

“You don’t like my presence?”

“Far from that, I am fine with you,” she said.

“Jesi too, how surprising!” She seemed elated to have some company which is hard to come about.

“Anyway, I reckon you are doing just great pretty girl?” Jesi spoke for the first time, the struggle he had mastered to speak the words evident in his incapacity to keep eye contact with Ariadne.

“You boys should cease calling me that pretty girl thing, it makes me itch. I know I’m pretty, but I’m Rooney,” she said, not playfully. Caulin and Jesi looked at each other and and kept a straight face.

“To business now huh, I presume you came here for something, apparently. We’re not…friends…not exactly. So, what do you want?”

She urged, skillfully. “We were just passing by and opted to see how the pretty girl was doing, just that.”

“Okay, never done that before, we know,” said Caulin. “But things are about to change, and hopefully, you’ll change with it.”

            It was a pretty pleasant day for the three. They talked, teased and made numerous jokes. Caulin, a genius at making poems composed a beautiful one for Ariadne which she idolized a lot. It made her mellow. She loved and adored it. His graceful poem performed part of the magic.

            They certainly did have a great time talking and beating around the bush. Ariadne too.