Mystic High ✓

MH │24

In the previous chapter: Oriane left the underground repository and went straight for the staff area in search of an Enforcer, be it Uilliam or not. Instead, the handouts she had taken were forcibly snatched away by Carolina.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"You've got a lot of gall bringing this around with you."

Oriane's next breath seemed choked in her throat and she couldn't speak. Her eyes widened, like a deer in headlights.

It was a sure thing she was in a lot of trouble. Her mouth bobbed open and closed, robbed of her ability to form coherent sentences. "I– I–" she stammered, voice quavering.

The vampiress blinked, looking away. And when she returned her gaze back to her, the startling gold disappeared, returning to their original chocolate brown state. This time, instead of incredulity and suspicion, she looked worriedly at her, a hint of apprehension and, perhaps even, hesitation.

Does she think I was in league with these... Rosicrucians? she wondered.

Carolina lifted those sheets abruptly and, shaking them for emphasis, she said with urgency, "There's classified information on these papers, forbidden alchemical equations, and detailed descriptions of worship for Balor, a god of evil. Some of these even referred to... to... human sacrifices!" Throwing the sheets angrily onto the ground, she further reprimanded, "Did you know that if anyone saw you holding these in your hand, you could be expelled or, if for the worst, taken away?"

She couldn't be more stunned than she was at that moment.

Oriane felt weak all over, but she couldn't bring herself to move, frozen on the spot.

She wasn't sure if she was more shocked by the fact that those little sheets of paper had that much-restricted information on it. Although, it was obvious whatever was written there were, at the very least, valuable. Or more so by the fact that Carolina was able to understand all those funny arcane magickal words.

Because most certainly, those pictorial sheets were not written in English. It was written in glyphics and symbols. And who or what was 'Balor'? Were human sacrifices detailed in those little sheets?

Oriane paled by the seconds.

She had known those people were trouble, but she just didn't realise how much trouble they were.

Human sacrifices... She began to feel nauseous.

"Listen here, darling. I know you're not one of... them," Carolina reassured her and put her hands on her shoulders. Oriane noticed how her nails retained its steel-like and long form. The vampiress leaned forward, inches from her own and continued in hushed tones, "I'm going to tell Mister McMurphy to come find you when he returns to the office. For now, you are going to lunch with your friends. You're going to finish your classes like nothing's happened. You're going to pretend you never saw anything, you didn't hear me say anything to you, and you're not going to talk. Do you understand?"

Oriane nodded promptly.

Carolina nodded back only in acknowledgement, then slid gracefully to squat on the floor and gathered the sheets of papers. "I don't know how you managed to get these and I'm not going to ask you. But you will tell everything you know to the Enforcer tonight, especially since I'm going to show these to him at the earliest opportunity possible."

Standing to her full willowy height, she patted Oriane on the shoulder, urging her to go now.

Mechanically, Oriane turned to exit the kitchenette. And just as Carolina had instructed, she went straight for the dining hall to wait for Marian and Charlotte there. Once her mind cleared enough, she pondered, so is Uilliam an Enforcer or not?