August 12, 2152
Sam made good on her word and woke up for the day to the sound of Emory's alarm clock. The two girls got ready in silence and groggily walked to the courtyard. Gwen and Innes were already there but hadn't been for more than a couple minutes.
"You convinced Sam to come along too?" Innes chuckled, "Are you sure you're ready for this?" Sam waved him away as she tried to stay awake. Emory thought the whole thing was funny as she was the only one in this group to know the real reason she was there. Though when the four projected their magik covering, it became clear Sam was going to be more than capable of completing this run. Innes was a little more covered than he had before, including his arms, upper chest, feet, and head, while Gwen covered her arms, legs, and head. However, Sam had covered her entire body except her head, roughly on par with Emory. Even with the new additions, the group finished the lap in three hours and five minutes, another new personal best. For all the big talk though, Sam and Gwen were exhausted as they hadn't trained their endurance nearly as much as Emory or Innes.
After running, Sam and Gwen decided to meditate with Emory and Innes as well. Emory thought Sam had been particularly quiet during this whole endeavor and glanced at her while they were channeling. She giggled a little to herself when she saw Sam glaring at a closed-eyed Gwen. "If Gwen continues to hang out with us, Sam's going to have to learn to live with Gwen," Emory snickered to herself. When the meditation session ended, they headed to the cafeteria to meet up with the rest of the group. Tana looked like she had gotten up and done some sort of exercise while Tethys looked prepared for the day in her polka dress, but Gatrie looked like he had rolled out of bed shortly before meeting up.
The group that hadn't ran was surprised to hear the running group had gone faster than last week despite gaining two more runners. Innes explained that both girls were skilled in magik already, so it wasn't too shocking. They all decided to relax the remainder of the day, left to their own devices. Tethys decided to see more of the city, but the other three girls in that dorm room decided to go back and rest in the room. When they got back, Tana immediately jumped on her bed and took a nap. Emory laughed at how fast she could fall asleep.
"What are you going to do?" Sam asked Emory pointedly.
"I've been thinking about a second sphere," Emory started, "I know I just got started on this one, but learning excites me."
Sam put her hand under her chin, "Do you know which one you might choose? Obviously not a Primal one."
"I'm not sure yet," Emory continued, "So I thought I'd look at the Hexbloods book to get a synopsis of all of them. Have you decided on a second sphere yet?"
"Most of my family picks up a Primal one for their other sphere so they can turn into a Primal creature of some sort. That's what I was leaning towards until I met you," Sam sighed.
Emory scrunched up her face, "Until you met me? What do I have to do with this?"
"I shouldn't have phrased it that way. I just mean, Arcane is so cool that the Primal spheres just don't measure up. And before I met you, the sphere seemed like just a legend or an anomaly for Lady Black. But now I've seen it in person, so I wish I could learn it," Sam expressed.
"I'm sorry," Emory consoled Sam, "If I could teach it to you, I would. Say, since you brought up the Arcane sphere, I have a question about Lady Black."
Sam said calmly, "Sure. What do you want to know? I don't know her life story, but I'll be happy to help answer what I can."
"Where is she?" Emory questioned, "I know Ephraim Black died in one of the last battles in the war, but after the war, Cassandra disappeared. I assumed she went back to the Council, though with tensions building up again, I was expecting to see her." Sam took a deep breath and moved off her bed to beside Tana's. She leaned in close and poked Tana gently, as if she was trying to check whether Tana was awake or not. Then she climbed onto her bed but as close as she could to Emory's.
"Look, what I'm about to tell you is top secret. No one outside of the Council and their direct descendants know what I'm about to say, but I really trust you. Or at least I trust your sphere. Lady Black never returned to the Council after the final battle with the Mantoan. Officially to the rest of the Witches, she is off surveying other worlds on a top-secret mission. Really, we have no idea where she went. That's not even the worst part," Sam whispered.
"How does someone like that just disappear?" Emory gasped, "Wait, you said that wasn't the worst part. What's worse?"
Sam said in a hushed voice, "The Supreme Witch or Warlock often spends an oversized amount of time away from the Council, even more so if the Supreme is an Aurelias. The problem is the whole Clan is gone. They were already down to just the two Aurelias sisters. Then Lady Black's sister disappeared; now Lady Black herself has disappeared. Some members of the Council are discussing a new Supreme election."
"What's wrong with an election? If the Supreme Commander went missing, the Sol system would need a new leader eventually," Emory replied.
"First and most problematic in the immediate future, the sentiment from the Council is leaning away from helping the rest of humanity with the Mantoan. I don't know what the other option is, but I know that the main reason they got involved in the first war was due to Lady Black," Sam enunciated with her fingers, "Then we have you, a girl with a mysterious past that just happens to have the Arcane sphere. That's why I'm so concerned about Gwen."
Emory scowled, "What do I have to do with all this? And, again, with Gwen. She's just a normal probably Council girl."
"If she reports you to the Council, they will come and investigate. They might even take you back," Sam explained, "Whether you accept it or not, all the evidence points to you being an Aurelias. Which means that you could vote and fill Lady Black's seat. Gwen could be gaining your trust just to get support for their agenda."
"I doubt she even knows who I am or what my sphere is. Even if Gwen is trying to do something, I can still vote on the side of humanity. I'm not going to abandon us no matter what," Emory declared forcefully. Sam felt convinced by Emory's conviction at the very least, so she dropped the subject.
After a couple minutes, Sam broke the awkward silence, "So what sphere are you going to look at first?"
"Actually, I pulled out the Arcane spellbook first to look up this weird spell," Emory replied, "I came across this spell in the table of contents while flipping through the book. What do you think 'Contract' means?"
"Contract? I have no idea. I know of a specialized magik spell called Seal, but the clans use that on people who marry into another clan. What does the spellbook say?" Sam answered.
"Contract. Once the caster has mastered all normal applications of the Arcane sphere, they can give some magik to another. This will change the beneficiary to the Bonded status; however, if the original caster dies, all those Bonded to the caster will die as well," Emory explained, "Then it just gives some different techniques for transferring magik back and forth and has three pages of empty lines except." Emory froze when she turned the page.
Sam thought out loud for a moment, "This sounds much more intense than the Seal spell. I wonder if it means you give them permanent magik like yours. Wait, you trailed off again. What did you find?" Emory turned the spellbook to show Sam. It looked like an empty list at first glance, but the shocking part was the list's header.
The Aurelias Clan
Emory Aurelias
"Do you think this is me that the book is referring too?" Emory asked in panic, "More importantly, why doesn't it have anyone else's name on it?"
"The only thought in my mind is the reason you're the only person listed is because you're the only person alive. Which means Lady Black is dead," Sam solemnly exhaled.
"I guess this is just confirmation of what we already assumed," Emory stated calmly, "As if I needed any more pressure."
Sam joked, "Since you're the leader of the Aurelias clan, I should start bowing when I see you."
"You stop," Emory glared, "I'm just a normal girl who is seemingly tied up in all this mess."
"Whatever you say, Leader Aurelias. Or will you be going by Lady Reiss?" Sam jabbed a little more. Emory huffed rather loudly and put away her spellbook. Then she got out the Hexbloods book, turning directly to the section with other spheres. Skimming through them all at first, she noticed the book had the same comment on each of the Primal spheres: already gained at level 3 Arcane, which eliminated a big chunk of spheres.
Emory mumbled to Sam, "Well, I found out some more information about the Bonded from the spellbook. This book says that this sphere is only available to Hexbloods and their Bonded. I bet it says the same thing in all the spheres you've never heard of, the Fae spheres."
"That means it must be talking about you permanently giving magik to someone else," Sam hypothesized, "Remember, Hexbloods have their own magik source." Emory nodded as she continued reading. She focused on the Fae spheres because her imagination ran wild with thoughts of the magik power Fae must have. Out of those spheres, a few caught her eye, yet she couldn't imagine using any of them. So, when she was done with the Fae spheres, she took another glance through the other spheres but to no avail. Indecisiveness gripped her as tight as it did before she learned she already had a sphere. Tana finally woke up after the two girls had been looking through the books for almost an hour.
"Have you two been studying the whole time I was napping?" Tana groggily questioned, "You know at some point, you're going to get worn out."
"Say, Tana, what are you going to pick for your second sphere?" Sam redirected.
Tana rubbed her eyes and sat up, "All I know is I don't want to pick up another Primal one." Emory and Sam laughed at Tana's very honest reaction. With Tana awake, the girls decided to play games as they awaited Tethys's return. Surprisingly, she didn't return until it was almost dinner time; unsurprisingly, she was carrying a dozen or so bags under her small arms.
"Geez, Tethys, did you leave anything there for other people to buy?" Tana audaciously asked, "You're more bag than person right now."
"A girl can never have too many clothes," Tethys snidely replied.
"Look, I get that I'm a minimalist," Emory interjected, "But the school forces us to wear the uniform, so at best, you can wear these two days a week."
Tethys fumed, "What if I want to wear them after classes for the day? Besides, I like to have options."
"You know, I actually have a different question," Sam mused, "How do you have the money for all these clothes? Did you save up your money?"
"My family has some wealth," Tethys blushed, "And I'm an only child." Sam and Tana gave each other a quick glance but said nothing.
Emory shrugged, "Who cares. Do you want to come with us to the cafeteria, or did you eat while you were downtown?"
"No, I'm starving. Let's go eat," Tethys suggested. On their way there, they stopped by Gwen's room and invited her to tag along. In the cafeteria, they all also met up with Gatrie and Innes. Everyone talked about the day they had, but Tethys largely dominated the conversation with her downtown adventure details. Emory tuned her high-pitched voice out while she tried to wrap her head around the new problems she had stumbled upon. As a result, she moved her food around on her plate instead of eating it. When they were all finished, Emory, Gwen, Innes, and Sam reaffirmed their choice to run Sunday morning as the group split into its dorm groups. The girls played some more games before going to bed, and though the others fell asleep quickly, Emory had a hard time of it.
"Would the Council of Witches really come to the school if they found out about my magik?" Emory pondered, "Maybe I should talk to Gwen more to see if she's planning something." She tossed and turned all night, worried about the future.