Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Augustine was in the chapel courtyard, alone.
With her laptop open, she was sketching diagrams and prediction models for a chain reaction design she had abandoned weeks ago. Occupying her mind with something familiar felt rewarding, especially after so many hectic days.
Normalcy had slowly returned among her classmates.
She didn’t know what they thought of her now, but she no longer cared either.
Following the confrontation with Amanda, one or two of them had said goodbye to her when the lecture ended, and she understood they had finally absolved her of the social punishment so unfairly imposed.
She wondered if Amanda would receive that exact treatment from now on.
Still, she didn’t feel satisfied, even though she had done the best she could. How could she feel satisfied if, in the span of two days, she’d lost two of her dearest friends?
She sighed, exhausted, putting her design aside. Not even working on her projects calmed her mind.
Three distinct tugs on her Silver Thread, and Alderian was by her side. It relieved her immensely to see he looked much better than he had that morning.
“Did you resolve things with Amanda?” Alderian asked softly.
Augustine shook her head, looking at the ground. “If by resolving things you mean I slapped her across the face in front of the entire class… then yes.”
“It sounds like you gave her exactly what she deserved.”
After a brief silence, Augustine confessed, “I was cruel, you know? I’d never acted like that in my life. I just had so much rage inside me.”
Alderian brought his face close to hers, leaving only a tiny space between them. “Stay cruel, my love. Execute those who dare to hurt you with your own hands.”
“You know, for an angel, you’re not exactly giving good advice.”
Alderian smiled playfully, placing an ethereal kiss on Augustine’s lips. She blushed, the pleasure Alderian provided pushing away any remaining sense of guilt. Even though she couldn’t feel his physical touch, the tingling in her lower belly was intense and real.
They stayed close for a few seconds, looking into each other’s eyes, soaking in the other’s existence. Augustine had never felt as beautiful as when she saw herself reflected in Alderian’s gaze. He devoured her with his eyes as if she were the most exquisite creature in the universe.
The sound of the chapel bell pulled them out of their bubble. Both laughed at the same time. Even though it wasn’t the ideal situation, Augustine was happy just being by his side.
“Going back to my problems,” Augustine said, breaking the silence. “There’s something that still bothers me. I don’t have any evidence against Milán yet. I’m at a total dead end there.”
“We must stay alert,” Alderian warned. “We still don’t know how he took your rejection.”
“Tell me one thing, Alderian... if someone were to assault me—physically, I mean—what do you think you would do?” she asked with unease. Then, quickly retracting her words, she added, “Sorry, I shouldn’t ask that. There’s nothing you could—”
“I would kill him, of course,” Alderian responded, his tone turning dark. “The fact that I cannot manifest in this world doesn’t mean I’m powerless. I’ve thought about it many times. It’s a fact that if I kill his A’aruin, he will die too upon losing his connection to A’aru.”
Augustine felt a sharp chill run down her spine. “Why would you kill an A’aruin? Don’t say those things.”
“I already told you what that A’aruin is like. He is a psychopath, just like his human. Don’t feel sorry for him.”
Augustine was surprised to hear him speak so harshly. “What would happen to you if you did something like that?”
“They would probably take me prisoner. I hope we don’t get to that,” he said in a joking tone, but Augustine knew he was entirely serious.
“Are there prisons in A’aru?”
“Only one, Ilyr. They don’t need more than that,” he answered enigmatically.
“Why?”
“You don’t need to know,” he blurted. “Let’s go home.”
Augustine didn’t press further, but she could easily imagine that the consequences would be devastating.
* * *
Quiet days followed the debacle of confronting Amanda. Amanda was not attending classes for the time being, and Augustine preferred it that way.
Isaac had published a statement on the Campus Confessions account, offering a public apology to Augustine.
He pointed out that everything written in the initial post was completely false and announced that, from then on, the account moderator would filter confessions, leaving out any that could compromise the public image of another student.
Augustine felt satisfied with Isaac’s attitude and, from that moment on, held a renewed respect for him, even though their relationship hadn’t started in the best way.
David attempted to speak with her occasionally, but Augustine still felt the wound wide open from the way he had helped create this mess with his lack of action. She didn’t tell him they would never talk again, but she asked him for time to process everything that had happened.
So, everything seemed to be finally getting back to a new normal, and she could concentrate again on her studies, which she had barely touched that week.
Sara turned out to be an exceptional study partner.
The lucidity of her analysis startled Augustine; if anything could fascinate her, it was a mind that operated completely outside the norm, and Sara was truly unpredictable in her reasoning.
As a result, they spent more time together, and Sara seemed to feel more comfortable starting interactions with her.
Everything seemed calm, except for one thing.
Alderian was spending fewer and fewer hours with her.
At first, she attributed it to his exhaustion from the effort of moving her from one dimension to another.
She didn’t fully understand the scope of this feat, though she had previously understood that moving her between buildings was an extraordinary strain.
How much more taxing would it be to do it from one dimension to another?
Yet, as the days passed and Alderian appeared fully restored, his behavior remained unchanged. When he was with her, he was affectionate, as always: caring, playful, just how she liked him to be, but she saw him less and less.
Even Elarión’s visits increased in frequency, and strangely, that didn’t seem to alert Alderian. During one of Elarión’s visits, she dared to ask him directly:
“Do you know if Alderian is busy with something? Or if something happened in A’aru? As you’ve noticed, he spends less time here than usual.”
“I don’t know, Herald,” Elarión said, always short on words.
She made him promise he would try to find out what was going on, though she knew Elarión wasn’t exactly upset by the inexplicable absence of her A’aruin.