Into the World of Twisted Wonderland

🐙The Merchant from the Depths🐙 Chapter 2

A week after exams were over, Ace and Grim were running in the 2nd floor hallway, chasing each other as Grim runs away from Ace as Ace only chases him. "Hold it right there, Grim! You're not getting' off easy today, you hear me?!" Ace shouts to Grim as he runs through the hallway.

"Myeh heh heh! Maybe you shoulda put your name on it if you wanted it that bad!" Grim shouts back at Ace, smirk on his face as he continues to run.

"Why, you...!" Ace yells as he continues to chase Grim. Angel and Deuce could only look at the two with a sigh, as they wonder what event caused this to happen.

"What is it this time?" Angel says as she walks with Deuce, trying to catch up to the two.

"Seriously, don't they ever get tired of this?" Deuce sighs at the two.

"Well, that just means they're good friends," Angel says with a slight smile, and Deuce only smiles at her in agreement.

"Hey, Angel!" Ace yells, making Angel and Deuce and look at him looking at the two. They noticed that the two stopped running in the hallway, waiting on the two to catch up to them. "You're the prefect, so do some prefecting! This lousy furball swiped the doughnut I bought and ate it! AGAIN!"

"I didn't steal nothin'! I just saw a snack left abandoned on a desk and gave it a home outta the goodness of my heart," Grim exclaims, a smirk on his face as Angel and Deuce only approach the two.

"It's not abandoned if it's on somebody's desk!" Ace angrily exclaims. "If you're gonna keep runnin', I've got some wind magic up my sleeve with your name on it."

"Oh YEAH? Try me! I've got fire magic ready to-"Suddenly, Ace and Grim stop fighting. "...Erk!" They both exclaim, making Angel and Deuce confused.

"Y'know what?" Ace says with a smile. "I think I'll skip the magic today. I don't wanna get sent to wash even MORE windows."

"H-heh. For once, I think you've got the right idea," Grim agrees, making Angel look at Grim in shock. "I'd be embarrassin' myself if I was the only one usin' magic, so I'll let you off easy this time."

"...Hm?" Angel hums, bewildered at the sudden development between the two. "You guys stopped the fighting...?"

"Wow. It's not every day I see you two de-escalate one of your fights without outside intervention," Deuce says, looking at the two. "Normally, you go at it until the classroom's blasted to bits and the headmage comes storming in or if Angel yells at you."

Ace only look at the two with a sigh. "Hey, what kinda punk would I be if I started fighting with a weasel over one lousy doughnut?" You guys were literally fighting over the doughnut just now!

"Why do you always have to get in one last smart remark?!" Grim angrily says at Ace while Angel only picks Grim up.

"Give it up, Grim," Angel sighs. "Anyway, let's head back to class, please," she says to Ace and Deuce who only shrug and they all head back to the classroom.

In the classroom, everyone takes their seat, happily chatting as they wait for class to start. Soon enough, Crewel walks in, making everyone silent as the wait for him to get situated. "It's time for class to start, whelps. Get to your seats." The students all scramble to their seats, waiting for the next instructions. "First, I'll pass back your tests," He says as he starts gathering everyone's tests.

"This is it-the moment of truth," Deuce mumbles, in which Angel hears.

"Myah hah! Gimme Gimme! I want that test, Prof!" Grim happily says.

"Settle down, Grim. Stay. STAY!" Crewel commands, using his wand to make Grim sit still. "I'll call you up by your class number. Number one!"

"SWEET! I got a 92!" Ace happily exclaims.

"I got an 88!" Deuce exclaims with his eyes wide at his paper. "I never thought I'd see the day I scored over 80."

"Check it out, Angel!" Grim says as he shows her his paper. "I got an 85!"

Angel looked at their papers, amazed at their scores. "You guys rock!" She smiles at them as the boys only sigh happily at their grades.

"Now I won't get held back a year!" Deuce says with a smile.

"What did you get, Angel?" Ace smirks, getting Angel's attention. "I guess we're on your level now, huh?"

"Oh, I got a perfect score," she says as she shows the trio her paper. They only look at the paper in shock.

"Wait, what?!" Grim says as he looks at the paper.

"Man, Angel, you're on another level," Deuce says as he looks at her paper. "I'm pretty sure some of those questions were hard."

Angel only blushes. "We're not talking about me, guys. I'm very impressed by your scores. I knew you guys could do it!" The boys only blush at her praise.

"You appear to have studied a great deal for this exam," Crewel says to the trio, making everyone look at him. "Yes...a great deal indeed, compared to your quiz scores. In fact," Crewel says to the class, "the class average has gone up to a degree one might call...unusual."

The quartet only look at Crewel in confusion. "And what's that supposed to mean?" Ace asks.

"The average test scores across every level of potionology are over 90," Crewel states. "Professor Trein has remarked upon similarly positive trends in his magic history classes."

"Say what?!" Deuce exclaims in shock.

"Mraaaah?!" Grim exclaims.

"Uh-oh, I don't like where this is going..." Ace sighs.

"The school's fifty highest achievers will be posted in the hall. You can look forward to seeing that shortly," Crewel states, making he students only mumble to themselves. "Now, let us begin today's lesson. Open your textbooks," he commands, making everyone only quiet down and listen to the lecture.