Chapter 26
This bracelet looked far too much like a pair of shackles.
Even with the elegant engraved swirls decorating it.
What was it even supposed to mean?
The moment that thought crossed my mind, the spirits appeared in the room.
Luis stared at my bracelet, somehow looking even paler than before.
Moirz remained calm.
But Aars let out an amused chuckle as he floated closer to me.
His eyes swept over the bracelet, and the dragon cat only seemed more delighted with every passing second.
“Well, Fireling, looks like they blocked your magic.”
He rubbed his tiny paws together.
“Seems like we missed the most interesting part.”
“The bracelets will stay on until preparation for the Selection begins,” Eugene stated.
“And how exactly am I supposed to study like this?” Joelle asked.
Or rather—
Hissed.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for you to work on your communication skills,” Eugene replied.
My eyes met Moirz’s.
And, surprisingly, he immediately understood what I wanted to know.
“Joelle Fokas is a descendant of Arachne’s bloodline.”
“Try explaining it in simpler terms.”
Aars grumbled.
“She might not even know what an arachnid is.”
I pointedly ignored him and looked at Luis instead.
“Her magic and essence originate from Mataarus.”
“One of its oldest bloodlines,” the spirit explained.
“Can you imagine how badly your hidden ability complicated things for Eugene and Shiford?”
Aars seemed entertained by every increasingly depressing detail.
“They’re responsible for assigning students to their rooms.”
“Unfortunately, he’s right,” Moirz said.
“Students’ powers are supposed to be distributed so their sources don’t oppose one another.”
“And they shouldn’t be identical either,” Luis added.
“A single source of power competes with itself more than anything else,” Moirz began.
But my attention snapped toward the loudly closing door through which Mr. Shiford and Eugene had just disappeared.
Looks like I missed the rest of the conversation.
The red-haired stranger attempted a polite smile.
But the fingers gripping the strap of her pale blue bag trembled ever so slightly.
“I’m Gia. Nice to meet you.”
Her voice was quiet.
Painfully uncertain.
I sighed inwardly.
Maybe it made me arrogant, but I’d never liked people like that.
Or rather—
They unsettled me.
They always made me question everything.
You could never predict what was hiding beneath that soft, vulnerable appearance.
Girls like Joelle didn’t scare me.
At least with them, you always knew exactly what to expect.
“I...” Gia began, only to stop herself abruptly.
My body tensed even more.
Why was I reacting to her like this?
“You’ll be sharing a room with her,” Joelle said, nodding toward me.
“Though honestly, I wouldn’t mind switching roommates.”
“What exactly would happen if we switched?” Stasia asked immediately, locking eyes with Joelle.
The brunette hesitated.
As though carefully weighing her next words.
But before answering, her gaze shifted to Gia.
“What kind of magic do you have?”
“Water,” Gia answered quietly.
I frowned.
Did they put us together so she could keep my fire under control?
“And yours?” Stasia asked.
Joelle didn’t answer right away.
But after a quiet sigh, she finally said,
“I weave poisonous webs.”
“Like an actual spider?” Stasia raised a brow.
“I’m one of Arachne’s descendants,” Joelle replied, clearly expecting that explanation to be enough.
“What world is your magic connected to?” Gia asked.
Fear shimmered in her large eyes.
For some reason, her behavior felt almost too rehearsed.
Or maybe I’d simply stopped trusting people like her.
“Mataarus.”
Stasia froze.
I saw the way her head almost turned—
As though she wanted to look at me.
But she stopped herself.
A few seconds later, she spoke in a perfectly calm tone.
“I don’t see why death magic would conflict with water,” she said with a shrug.
“But I still don’t understand why they’d put two poison-producing mages in the same studio.”
“Poisons?” Gia repeated quietly.
Her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag.
I barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes.
“And your abilities are connected to...” Gia began thinking out loud, but Stasia quickly cut her off.
“To Vuduarus.”
“Ria’s powers are connected to Plaraarus,” she said, nodding toward me and clearly referring to the Fire World.
“I don’t think switching roommates would negatively affect any of us,” I finally spoke up.
Honestly, I couldn’t care less about the rules.
Let the Strongest Twelve follow them.
A flicker of resentment toward Airis brushed against my chest.
But I refused to dwell on it.
“I agree,” Stasia replied.
“Honestly, the real disaster will happen if we don’t switch.”
Her eyes met Joelle’s again.
Slowly, the brunette nodded.
“Fine.”
“But this stays between us.”
“The academy has plenty of punishments for breaking the rules.”
“Punishments?” Gia repeated, her eyes growing even wider.
I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes this time.
Save me.
“Of course.”
“But if you behave yourself, there won’t be any punishment,” Stasia said in an overly sweet voice, smiling innocently.
“Otherwise one of your lovely new roommates might accidentally poison you.”
She shrugged casually.
Apparently, there was a line even for that.
“They don’t inspect the rooms, do they?” I asked.
“Can they somehow figure out we ignored the rules?”
“I’ve never checked,” Joelle admitted.
“I didn’t have roommates before.”
“Apparently, they can tell who’s living where by scent alone.”
“What?” Stasia frowned.
“By the scent in the rooms,” Gia corrected quietly.
“We just need to leave enough of our belongings in each room to mix the scents,” Joelle said thoughtfully.
“We could confuse them completely,” I suggested.
“Mix our scents throughout both rooms.”
“Let them think we became ridiculously close.”
A thin, poisonous smirk appeared on Joelle’s face.
A softer smile spread across Stasia’s.
Apparently, the majority approved of the idea.
Somehow, I couldn’t tell whether this was the beginning of trouble—
Or the beginning of something much bigger.
******
“I had a feeling fate would be on our side,” Stasia said with a Cheshire Cat grin as she unpacked her things.
In just half an hour, she’d managed to scatter her belongings not only throughout Joelle and Gia’s room, but across ours as well.
Naturally, she hadn’t forgotten the flowerpots.
One sat on the windowsill between our beds.
Filled with soil.
But without a single plant.
Either they were still growing—
Or she simply planned to terrify Joelle with the anticipation.
Compared to hers, my belongings looked painfully scarce.
It turned out I didn’t grow attached to possessions very easily.
“I thought maybe you’d had another vision,” I said after changing into comfortable lounge clothes.
“I like pink too, by the way,” she said with a smile, her gaze drifting over my outfit.
And I swear—
In that exact moment, she earned at least sixty percent of my trust.
I was beyond tired of people mocking my taste.
“So?”
“What about the vision?”
I grabbed a large pillow, propped it against the wall beside my bed, and leaned back against it, watching Stasia unpack as though she planned to reorganize the entire academy overnight.
“That grin was dedicated to my brilliant strategy for winning over our roommate,” she said with a wink.
Then her attention shifted toward the pale blue curtains Gia had brought with her.
Apparently, the girl's bags had been packed with bedding sets and tiny decorative items.
Besides the curtains, Gia had already left behind:
● a neat stack of clothes inside the wardrobe,
● a hat hanging from the hooks near the entrance,
● and an aroma diffuser.
Unlike the ones in Vuduarus, the diffuser from Gia’s world looked like a smooth stone infused with the scent of sea salt and lilies.
According to Gia, it carried the same fragrance as her favorite perfume.
All in an attempt to avoid punishment for breaking the rules.
“What do you think about Gia?” I asked directly.
“She’s cute. Maybe too cute.” Stasia frowned slightly.
“And if you’re wondering whether she might be connected to Moss, I doubt it. I think he’d recruit people who are bolder. More charismatic. People like Moss recruit through words first.”
“She makes me suspicious for some reason,” I admitted.
“That could just be the conflict between your elements,” Stasia replied as she finally sat down on her bed, tossing her half-unpacked bag aside.
“She probably feels exactly the same way about you.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
Yeah.
Right.
I doubted that was the real reason.
“Does your second magic only let you communicate with spirits,” Stasia asked quietly, “or is there more to it?”
Without realizing it, she mirrored my posture completely.
We looked like reflections of each other.
“Can we even talk about this here?”
The thought of someone overhearing us immediately put me on edge.
Especially considering how carelessly I’d already asked her about her visions several times.
Stasia smiled and pointed toward the flowers on the shelves.
If I wasn't mistaken, she was pointing at a plant that looked like ordinary grass, except tiny blue beads grew at the tips of each blade.
“That’s Northern Elizarus.”
The name meant absolutely nothing to me.
Apparently, my face made that obvious.
“When it grows indoors, it traps sound within its range.”
“How does it even do that?” I frowned.
“It releases spores,” Stasia replied with a shrug.
“Oh my God.”
“It’s not poisonous, right?”
I immediately straightened, glancing between the plant and her.
Stasia laughed.
“How could I poison one of my co-conspirators?”
“Well, considering the secret I know about you, it would actually be pretty easy.”
“You're right.” She nodded thoughtfully.
“Which is exactly why I had to learn yours too.”
I snorted, unable to suppress the smile tugging at my lips.
Silence settled between us.
Finally—
I decided to trust her.
“I’ve never really experienced that... other power,” I admitted with a shrug.
“So I can’t even tell you what its limits are.”
“But you mentioned spirits.”
“What kind of spirits live on Isthmond’s grounds?”
“Can they spy on people inside the academy?”
I gave her a brief explanation about Moirz, Luis, and Aars.
I also described each of them, making sure to mention that Luis had been a Seer while he was alive.
Stasia’s eyes widened.
“No way.”
“Does he still have his abilities after death?”
“I’ve heard souls gifted with foresight almost never lose that gift completely.”
I froze.
“That honestly never even crossed my mind,” I admitted after a short pause.
“Luis usually stays quiet.”
But after saying it out loud, I fell silent too.
What if he really had kept his gift of foresight?
“Would he even be able to use it after death?”
Stasia shrugged.
“No idea.”
“I never studied spiritology in depth.”
“Spiritology?” I repeated.
“The study of spirits,” Stasia explained immediately.
“Everyone is expected to understand what kinds of dangers exist around them—and who they share the world with.”
“Not all spirits are powerless.”
“And not all of them mean well.”
The second part, I already knew.
But I’d never even considered the part about abilities.
“So some of them can actually affect the living?” I asked.
“Beyond mental or emotional connections?”
“Yes,” Stasia answered simply.
“And what exactly can they do?”
Why had I never asked the spirits themselves?
Had I really convinced myself they were harmless?
“Some can manipulate objects. Push them. Move them around,” Stasia explained.
“Others can draw power from ancient texts and turn vibrations into something tangible. And those vibrations can become dangerous.”
The explanation still felt frustratingly vague.
I was about to ask another question when I flinched at the sudden rise in Stasia’s voice.
“Looks like Tarven and Airis are already here.”
The moment she said his name, something inside my chest tightened.
Resentment.
I didn’t want to see him.
And the worst part was—
My resentment wasn’t even justified.
He simply hadn’t said what I wanted to hear.
“How do you know they’re here?” I asked without moving while Stasia started getting ready.
“The empty flowerpot on the windowsill.”
Frowning, I turned toward it.
I froze when I noticed a branch with orange blossoms growing from the soil—
Split neatly into two stems.
As though it had always been there.
“This is how we communicate,” Stasia explained.
“We send each other messages through plants.”
“How is that even possible?”
“I think the answer is probably Tarven’s level of control.” She shrugged.
“He enchanted that flowerpot back when I still lived in Utararus.”
“The World of Light,” she added, probably realizing I still hadn’t memorized the original names of all twelve worlds.
“That’s how we used to communicate.”
“Okay, but how do you know he’s here with Airis?”
“Because the branch split into two.” She nodded toward the flowerpot.
I let out a quiet hum.
“Why aren’t you getting ready?” Stasia asked.
Raising my hand so she could see the bracelet, I replied,
“What’s the point of seeing him if I can’t even use magic right now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe start another verbal war?” Stasia smirked.
“I’ve had enough battles for one day,” I cut her off.
“Just tell Airis that I’m...” I paused, thinking.
“Asleep, maybe.”
“You do realize how childish that sounds, right?” she asked, raising a brow as she tied her hair into a high ponytail.
“Not at all,” I replied, glancing toward the shelves where I’d arranged several books I'd brought from Vuduarus.
“Besides, I’ve been meaning to read them for a while.”
“I’ll pretend I believe you.” Stasia’s grin widened as she headed toward the door.
“Or maybe you just want to talk to your spirit friends.”
“They’re not here right now,” I said with a nod.
“But that’s an option too.”
“Have fun.”
I smiled.
And, surprisingly, it was genuine.
“You too.”
Once the door closed behind her, I stretched out across the bed and stared at the ceiling.
It would be better to see Airis tomorrow.
Or the day after.
Or when they finally removed these bracelets.
There was no point in seeing him now.
I couldn’t use magic.
And that was the entire reason we’d been paired together.
We weren’t friends.
Just a student and her mentor.
Maybe it was better if things stayed that way.
Even if something inside me twisted painfully at the thought.
Closing my eyes, I took a slow breath.
Trying to enjoy the silence.
Trying to convince myself I liked it.
The sound of the door opening.
I didn’t open my eyes when I heard it close again almost immediately.
“Forget something?” I asked.
“Yes,” Airis replied.
“Apparently I forgot my stubborn little apprentice who suddenly doesn’t want to see me anymore.”
My eyes flew open instantly.
But looking at him suddenly felt far too dangerous.