Into the World of Twisted Wonderland

🐙The Merchant from the Depths🐙 Chapter 23

"Argh..." Jack pants and groans. "I never knew housewardens were this powerful!"

"Let that be a lesson to you. NEVER try to steal my contracts again," Azul emphasizes to the five with a smirk.

"Shouldn't you guys be hustling over to the Atlantica Memorial Museum?" Floyd asks.

"Your deadline is sunset tomorrow. The clock is ticking, you know," Jade states as he smirks at Angel and she only flinch and look down at the news.

"Then again, after we're done workin' you over, you'll be spending the rest of that time passed out in the nurse's office!" Floyd says as he raises his pens.

"They're about to attack again!" Deuce says as he sees Floyd's action.

"Crud! Summoning magic ain't my strongest suit, but..." Ace sighs as he raises his pen. "I summon thee, cauldron!" A cauldron appears and Ace prepare to the throw it.

"Hey! Don't crib my magic!" Deuce yells at Ace as Ace throws the cauldron towards the trio.

"Didn't we go over this yesterday?" Floyd says as the cauldron approaches them. "You'll never touch me with that! Bind the Heart!" With Floyd saying his spell, the cauldron that was heading towards the trio changed directions, heading towards Angel, and Angel could only freeze, remembering how the chandelier almost fell on her. The cauldron was moving fast, but she couldn't dodge it, and closed her eyes, at least hoping that by some miracle it misses her, but luckily Jack pulled her arm and brought her to his chest as the cauldron missed it's target and instead aimed at the vault where she was in front of. The cauldron collided with the vault, eventually hitting it and then falling to the floor.

The boys could only look in relief at the fact that Jack's quick thinking help preventing her from heading to the infirmary, and even the twins were relieved that they weren't the cause of a murder, but Azul only looked at the vault angrily, then turned to Floyd. "Floyd! Watch where you're directing that spell!" Azul yells. "You've aimed right for the vault, you fool!"

"Whoopsie-daisy," Floyd says as he puts a hand behind his hand nonchalantly. "Sorry about that."

"No..." Azul says as he hurriedly rushed to the vault, passing by Jack and Angel, looking around, inspecting it. "The door's damaged! The dial and hinges aren't shot, are they?!" He says as he inspects the door. After a moment, Azul breathes a sigh of relief. "Phew. Okay, good." He turns to Floyd angrily. "How many times have I told you not to use your signature spell so carelessly?! What will it take to get it through your head?!"

"I said I was sorry, okay?" Floyd says with an annoyed tone. "You don't gotta get all bent outta shape over one little ding." The five only look at each other and nod, using their argument as a way to get out of the room as they carefully navigate their way around the conversation.

"You'd have me save my protestations for when it's completely demolished, then?!"

"Okay, you two, settle down," Jade says as he steps between the two. "Otherwise...they'll get away."

"Huh?" Azul and Floyd says as they look around, seeing that the freshmen weren't around them, only at the doorway, making their escape.

"Now's our chance! So long, suckers!" Grim says as the group only leaves, trying not to look back.

"Hey, wait!" Azul calls out, but it falls on deft ears. Azul grits his teeth. "Jade! Floyd! After them!"

"Getting' yelled out kinda harshed my vibe," Floyd says unenthusiastically.

"Is that really relevant right now? How can you let moods dictate your behavior so much?!"

"What about you, Azul? What're you getting' all snappy for? So what if the vault gets busted? The contract scrolls are unbreakable, right?"

"Do you expect me to walk around carrying a whole bunch of contracts everywhere I go?!" Azul yells and then sighs. "Oh dear. That was careless of me," Azul says as he composes himself. "I let Floyd derail me entirely again. Gracious. Jade, continue keeping an eye on them...and look after Floyd, while you're at it."

"Understood, sir," Jade replies.

"Maaaan, this stinks. I think I'ma cut class this afternoon and catch a nap somewhere," Floyd says with a sigh.

Jade sighs. "Here we go again..."

In the Mirror Chamber, the five collected their breath, happy at the fact that they weren't being chased by the twins. "Phew. I was scared stiff there," Deuce says with a sigh.

"We wouldn't be in this mess if you weren't such a huge target, Jack," Ace says.

"Wh-hey! I just work out more than you guys! What's wrong with that?!" Jack says as he looks at the two. "Besides, wolves are naturally large creatures."

"Um..." Angel says, getting Jack's attention. "Could you...?" She says pointing to her arm, seeing that he was holding on to it the whole time they were running. He let go quickly, letting her have her arm back and looked away, his face a little red from pulling her thin arm as they were running.

"Well, we can't tear the contracts up. We can't even touch them as things stand," Deuce sighs.

"I think we'd better call it a day," Jack says as he scratches his head.

"We wasted a whole day, and for what? Nothin'," Grim whines.

"Is there really a way to shred those dumb things?" Ace says with a sigh.

Angel looks at everyone's dejected faces and felt bad about the whole ordeal, but she felt that something was strange. "Wait a minute..." She starts, only to feel a sharp pain in her head as she kneels and out her hands on it, trying to subside the pain. While trying to ease the pain, she saw a brief vision: ink clinging on a figure, slowly engulfing them. She couldn't figure out who the person was, but she had a feeling that they were going to experience overblot not to soon. Ace and Deuce saw this and helped her out, at least trying to give support to lean on while her headache goes away. After a while it does, but not without look of concerns heading her way as she only sighs and give the guys a small smile. "Sorry guys, I'm just thinking to hard, but don't worry, we're going to figure something out." The boys could only look at each other and sigh, hoping that anyone could come up with a plan before the day is over as they all head back to class.