Part 5
Dunno why, but Alexia drags me into the girls’ dorm.
“Are you sure it’s okay to bring me in here?” I ask her.
“Don’t worry, I got permission.”
“You know I’m a dude, right?”
“It’s fine. You’re an involved party.”
“I’m a what now?”
Alexia stops in front of a particular door. If memory serves, it’s the one that leads to Claire’s room.
“Your sister didn’t show up at breakfast today.”
“Huh.”
“Someone got worried and went to check on her, and they found her room unlocked.” With that, Alexia opens the door. Sure enough, there’s no one inside. “We checked all the places she seemed likely to be, but there was no sign of her.”
“Weird.”
“Do you know anything?”
“Nope,” I answer without a moment’s hesitation, and Alexia looks at me like I just grew horns.
“Aren’t you worried about her?” she says.
“Nah, this happens all the time.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“She’s been going missing all the time ever since she was a kid.”
“That’s the kind of information that falls under the category of ‘anything.’”
“Oh yeah. So it is.”
“Where did she go when she went missing?”
“Beats me. She always just kinda showed back up.”
Ever since the Seven Shadows came onto the scene, they’ve always been bringing her back. Zeta was in the area this time, so between her skills and the fact that she hasn’t taken any action, I assume everything’s probably hunky-dory.
“So she runs away from home?”
“Basically, yeah.”
“I hope that’s all there is to it, but there’s something that has me worried.”
“What’s that?”
“Take a look.”
We step into the room, and Alexia picks up a collar from the ground.
“Is that a dog collar?” I ask. “It looks really sturdy.”
“That’s not all—it also places a seal on the wearer’s magic. This isn’t the kind of thing a normal girl would just have lying around in her room.”
“I dunno if I’d describe my sister as ‘normal,’ per se.”
“Someone might have broken in and tried to use the collar to kidnap her.”
“But why’s it still here?”
“Maybe it fell off during the struggle. There’s something else that has me worried, too.”
Alexia’s gaze falls to the documents on the desk.
I recognize them the moment I lay eyes on them.
“Oh boy…”
There’s ancient script, badass magic circles, and incantations that look important but don’t actually do anything. It’s one of those notebooks—the cringey ones that edgelords make.
“Do you know anything about this?” Alexia asks me.
“Nope. Nuh-uh. Not me. No ma’am.”
“Are you sure? You’re acting shifty all of a sudden.”
“Y-you must be imagining things.”
“If you say so.”
Alexia looks back down at the notebook of cringe.
“I don’t think you’re going to find anything important in there,” I offer.
“We’ll see about that.”
She begins earnestly thumbing through the notes. Sorry, Princess, but there’s nothing written there but the mortifying ramblings of a teenage edgelord.
Now that I think about it, that magic-sealing collar is the exact kind of thing that edgelords dig, and I’ve seen my sister drawing magic circles on her hands and covering them for her own amusement. From the look of it, it would appear that her condition has kicked into overdrive.
Suddenly going missing is a classic symptom of edgelord behavior.
“I’m sure Claire is fine.”
“You really believe in her, don’t you?”
“I mean…I dunno if I’d go that far…”
It’s more like there was nothing we could’ve done to stop her, so it is what it is.
“When it comes to my own sister, I…” Alexia frowns like she’s gazing into the far-off distance. “I feel these days, I don’t understand what’s she’s thinking half the time.”
“Huh.”
“Do you ever feel that way, Fido?”
“Oh, I never understand what Claire is thinking any of the time.”
“Is that so…? Maybe everyone has things they don’t understand about each other.”
“We’re related, but we’re practically strangers.”
“That’s a cold way of putting it.”
“Is it?”
“I want to understand my sister. I really do.”
“Fair enough.”
Alexia lets out a little sigh. “You can return to class now. I’m going to do a little more digging.”
“’Kay.”
I leave Alexia behind to pore over the notebook of cringe and head on my way.
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