CADDIE's POV:
Sitting on the nearest bench, I devised a plan. The only way to get answers, was to go straight to the source. But I knew Aleksander by now and he wasn't going to come out and say he killed Dmitri. Who would come out and bluntly state that they killed someone? No one sane. Then again, no one with an inch of sanity would kill someone else.
I shook my head. Great, I thought to myself, this whole thing has made you crazy.
"Caddie...are you all right?" Mava said, she gave me funny look and slowly approached.
No I am a lot of things but I am definitely not alright, I thought to myself.
"Sure," I lied, and pushed loose strands of my hair back into the ponytail- in a lame attempt to make myself seem more presentable.
She quickly sat down beside me, but situated herself so she could make a quick get away. "I was just wondering if you were delirious? You were mumbling to yourself."
My cheeks burned in embarrassment. I cleared my throat, "Uh, no I'm not delirious. Didn't you hear people who talk to themselves are really smart?"
"Yeah but people also say a mortal man once walked on the moon," she snorted.
I started to laugh with her until I realized she honestly believed the moon landing was fake. My laughter awkwardly died out. Even though Mava seemed to be a sweet girl, she had the intelligence of a woodpecker.
"Mava, there was a mortal man who walked on the moon. His name was Neil Armstrong."
Mava made a weird face and unsuccessfully tried to hide it from me. "What were you talking to yourself about?" She asked in an attempt to save the awkward moment.
I made a flippant gesture with my hand, accidentally sending sparks flying. Mava's eyes widened but she said nothing. I smiled weakly.
"Don't worry about it. You probably don't know," I said standing up.
She stepped in my way and held her hands up.
"There isn't much that goes on in this school that I don't know about. Try me," she said with a challenging look on her delicate features.
I sighed. The only reason I was trying to figure this out was because it caused Cam so much pain. At least that's what I told myself. But there was something else pulling me towards the truth. Something was whispering in the shadows, calling for help.
"Has there been a recent student, named Dmitri?"
A small gasp escaped Mava. Goosebumps formed on her tiny arms, as if a chilling wind had swept through the courtyard. But it wasn't cold. The name Dmitri had somehow managed to terrify the little girl with no inhibitions.
"How did you hear about that name?" She managed to utter.
"A friend," I said quickly. "Mava, if you know something about him, tell me!"
She looked up at my frenzied expression and shook her head ominously. "He's gone. They took him."
I grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Tell me, Mava, who took him. Was it Aleksander?"
She gave me an odd look, "Aleksander would never hurt Dmitri. The dark ones took him. For revenge."
"What revenge--"
"Hey guys!" Irene yelled running up to us. "Are you okay, Caddie?" She asked.
My eyes flickered to Irene for a moment, her expression changed when she saw the anger in my eyes.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Once I found a certain heir.
Questions kept reeling in my head, my determination never faltered Something happened to this guy. Yes, he was taken by the dark ones, but Aleksander had said that these attacks happened often. What made him so special?
I wandered the halls aimlessly. Partially because I needed time to think, but also because I had no idea where Aleksander was. He had the talent for finding me, not the other way around. I walked down many hallways, opened many doors, and pissed off a few people, but he wasn't around.
"Damn it, Aleksander. Maybe if I wish really hard you'll just appear." I closed my eyes tightly, and wished. After a few minutes of looking like an idiot, I gave up.
I stood in the middle of the hallway, with my arms crossed. I was back at where I started. Sighing, I felt like there was nothing I could do.
"It's not like I can say 'Abracadabra' and something will pop out of thin air," I said sarcastically.
A thud sounded behind me. Turning around slowly, I slapped a hand against my racing heart as my eyes landed on a small white rabbit with beady red eyes.
I jumped back, and screeched. "WHAT THE FREAK?"
The rabbit began to hop down the hall. I stared with a dumbfounded expression on my face as it left.
"How can anything surprise me at this point?" I asked myself as I made my way back to my dorm room.
Rap beats flooded the now busy hallways. I followed the music and was surprised to hear the music flowing from my room.
I walked into the room and tried to hold back an astonished laugh. Alix stood in the middle of the room, twerking.
"Woohoo! Get it girl!" I laughed hysterically.
Alix turned around, her face was bright red from embarrassment and the work out. I laughed so hard I almost forgot why I came here. She grabbed a pillow and chucked it at my head. But much to her dismay I was able to obliterate it before it reached me.
"Damn it. That was my favorite pillow," Alix swore. "Did they release you?" She said with a coy smile on her lips.
"Yeah, but if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have even been in there." I blamed her, even though it was no one's fault.
She paused the music. "Something tells me you aren't here to talk about your time in the infirmary," she prompted.
It was still amazing how Alix can pull off the charade of seeming like she knows nothing. Especially when she knows everything.
"Do you know where Aleksander is?"
Her eyebrows shot up, "I thought you were into the furry one?"
"I am-I mean, I don't know... I just need to find Aleksander." My blood pressure began to climb.
Alix tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. "That's funny because he's looking for you, in the courtyard."
"Thanks, Alix, I knew you would be able to find him," I said with a grateful smile.
She flopped onto the bed and picked up Ebony. Looking at her comforter cynically she muttered, "Yep, that's what I'm here for."
I could feel the conflicting emotions inside of her, a mixture of growing jealousy and bitter resentment. Normally I would ask about it, but something told me I didn't want to know right now.
I left the room with a quick thanks and hurried off to the courtyard. I really needed to quit those mystery books as my sixth sense kept tingling. It was telling me this was important. And I kept telling it to shut up, but I couldn't resist the urge to investigate.
A foreign thought crossed my mind. I didn't feel so strongly about this as when Cam first told me. It was only after the fact my mind seemed to connect to something else in the shadows begging for help. I shook the odd feeling out of my head. I was confusing myself. Gosh, darn it, Caddie. You are going crazy, I thought to myself, what did the dark one do to you?
I pushed my way through the crowded hallway, loose strands of my hair falling in front of my clear blue eyes. I saw the giant French doors at the end of the hall. They led to the freshly tended to gardens, and standing right in front of the roses was Prince Aleksander, looking as lovely and deadly as ever.
My eyes narrowed in determination. I elbowed the much taller obstacles in the groins and stumbled out of the glass doors.
Two strong arms caught me before my face hit the concrete. I looked at the rich fabric of the sweater and gulped. I found him.
He set me up straight but didn't release his hold on me. His blue eyes were centered on me, and I half-expected to feel a pull. Like the one that was gnawing away at my mind, but everything seemed normal.
"Why are you always where you never need to be?" He asked humorously.
I took a step back. The need to put space between us intensified.
"I was looking for you," I told him, my expression hardening.
"Me? You barreled out here like a mad woman, so it must be important," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Do you want me to get down on one knee, now?"
I ignored the comment and went straight to the interrogation.
"Dmitri." I only said the name and the answer I got was more than I expected.
He blinked in recognition. The name stirred some powerful emotions inside of him. Loss, sadness, anger and regret. I felt even more confused.
"Pardon me?" He asked, trying to control his voice.
"What happened to Dmitri, and don't even try to lie."
"How do you know that name?"
"He was Cam's friend and something bad happened to him," I explained.
An aggravated look crossed Aleksander's face. "I told you to stay away from him," he muttered darkly.
I laughed haughtily in response. He had no room anymore to tell me what was right from wrong.
"Why?" I pried. "Are you afraid I'll figure out your secret?"
His anger was at a boiling point, he kept shooting daggers at me. His feet were positioned towards the door, Aleksander was going to take off soon.
"What are you hiding?" I asked earnestly, inching forward.
"Whatever delusional idea you've got into your head is wrong. It's best to forget about him. Everyone else has." he spat out furiously and stalked towards the school. I ran after him but he was gone.
An unsettling emotion stirred in my stomach. I raced into the school. I knew exactly where Cam would most likely be found. And that meant Aleksander was going to be there too.
I ran down the halls like a mad woman. Half of the school must have thought I was possessed. When no one was around, I slipped into the Magicry and behind a large, marble pillar.
I craned my neck forward to hear what they were saying.
"How dare you tell her!" Aleksander seethed.
"I never told her! She found out on her own!" Cam's voice sounded breathy and strangulated as if Aleksander was holding him by the throat.
"You must have said something. She mentioned your name. No one else was brought up. You're going to make this problem go away."
Cam growled, "And if I don't?"
"Then you'll never see Caddie again. I know you like her," Aleksander proclaimed.
"I don't know what your talking about." Cam scoffed. "She's an heir, for goodness' sake."
Aleksander chuckled darkly, "But that hasn't stopped you so far. Be lucky that I'm the one that knows, and no one else. They wouldn't be as lenient as I am."
"I didn't realize this was you being lenient."
Aleksander hissed. "I'm trying to help you. All I've ever done was help you."
The voices got louder, and more strained with raw emotion.
"Who's going to help you? I don't even know you anymore. Forget that. Do you even know who you are anymore?" Cam's voice raised.
"I'm Aleksander Volkov, the Heart Curator's heir. What else do I need to know? Keep yourself safe, Cameron, and make this problem go away."
Approaching footsteps grew louder. I shrunk back behind the pillar. Aleksander walked out of the Magicry in an angry haze.
"You can come out now," Cam said softly, appearing by my side.
I let out a small squeal of shock. I opened my mouth to tell him to stop doing that, but he beat me to the punch.
"I know. You want me to stop giving you a heart attack," he said with his hands tucked into his worn out jeans.
I tried to picture Cam as a warlock. With his hair nicely done, and the scruff shaved off. In the fancy clothing he would have looked very handsome. But he wouldn't have been my Cam. It must have taken a lot to turn him into this disheveled part of a man. Aleksander played a big part of that transformation.
"Tell me what happened," I tried.
An abominable amount of pain overtook Cam.
"Caddie, you need to forget about that. He's none of your concern. Please promise me you won't try to divulge in this any longer," he pleaded, his gold eyes wide. I could see they were flecked with hazel.
"Why? Not telling me only intensifies the need to know," I explained.
"I'm telling you, Caddie, banish that need. The point is that he's gone. We're all just trying to keep you safe by not telling you anything."
Keeping me in the dark of the reality of the situation wasn't going to help. They thought they were doing this to help me. In the end, only I knew what would help me.
When Cam left, my eyes wandered to the books. Those books had information on everything. One of them must have something about Dmitri.
**Thank you everyone who is still reading this far!! I love you all!! Please tell me what you think. Make some predictions, I'll try to tell you if you're on the right track or not. The book is still under editing!!**