The top ranking student was dragged by the tenth ranking student to a seldom used hallway and she hadn't been able to shake him off. Risa looked at her classmate, Hadley, and frowned.
She couldn't understand how she hadn't been able to break free from him when
"What's wrong?" she asked.
What was with this happy-go-lucky kid, calling her out to this deserted place. She wasn't the one who questioned his abilities or the series of unusual freaks of chance that had enabled him to move up from the last ranking place in class to the tenth place. He had no beef, no argument and barely even talked to this classmate at all. So why had he called her out here to the backend of nowhere? Did he want to fight?
"I heard you stood up for me against the others," Hadley smiled at her, giving a slight bow. "Thank you."
"You didn't have to drag me all the way out here just to say that," Risa shifted her weight to her other leg in impatience. "What is it really?"
"The Houses of Winter and Juniper have attacked the Houses of Regal and the Climbing Rose," Hadley told her in a solemn tone. Risa's heart stopped for a moment and then thumped painfully. "I just got the news. Your House of the Climbing Rose have all perished. You are the last one left."
Risa froze. Her chest felt tight and stuffy, as if a stone was weighing her down. A wave of catastrophic images rushed through her mind.
"My family?"
"Your family," Hadley nodded with all seriousness and caught her by the arm before she could run. "You can't go help them now. You'll be captured and killed. Anyway, they're all dead. My House of Thyme will protect you, but you have to let me keep you safe until the royal family make their decision. Come with me."
"No. Impossible," Risa declared, trying to break free from her classmate's grip. "I have to go. I have to go home. Let me go. I have to go home."
Damn. Since when did he become so strong? Had he been hiding his strength all this time?
"There is no home for you to go to," Hadley told her. "Calm down. I'm trying to help you here."
"I don't need your help. I need you to let me go home," Risa gasped, trying to pry his fingers off her. She kicked out but Hadley easily blocked her. He easily wrestled her down to the ground and subdued her. "You've been hiding your abilities all this time, haven't you?" Risa mumbled at him from where she was pinned to the ground.
"Yes," Hadley said briefly. "It's not always a good thing to stand out."
"Then those absurd events that led to you somehow taking fifth place. They weren't accidents or coincidences, were they?"
"I needed to make you notice me so that I could approach you and protect you in case your house really was eradicated."
Risa lay limp on the ground, no longer resisting.
"How long have you known?" she asked.
"Everyone has known this would happen sooner or later," Hadley snorted. "Have you not been paying attention to the news?"
"I've been busy studying. Who has time to keep track of mostly negative news?" Risa grumbled but her voice faded as she realised she might have received warnings in those letters from home if only she had read them.
"Have you calmed down now? Can I let you go?"
Risa nodded, but the moment Hadley let her go, she jerked free and raced away, only to run into a body coming toward them. The person held her tight, but she recognised her serious chemistry and potions teacher from the mixed scent of various potions stuck to his clothes. She didn't struggle too hard.
Teacher Firend was one of her favourite teachers after all.
"Teacher Firend," called Hadley, hurrying toward them, "don't let her go. Don't let your guard down. She still wants to try and go home. She doesn't believe us."
"What are we going to do with you, Annarisa?" Teacher Firend sighed and opened a vial on his belt, wafting it in front of Risa's nose. "Go to sleep. We'll help you deal with everything. Be a good girl now."
"No, Teacher," Risa struggled but unexpectedly inhales the sweet dreamy fumes from the open vial. Her body grew heavy, as did her eyelids.