“And thank you for saving me,” the young girl says.
I look her over, pursing my lips. “Follow orders, or you might just die next time.” Her face falls, but she needs to understand the rules are there for a reason.
I glance at the time, realising it had taken us nearly fifteen minutes to kill it. It hadn’t felt so long inside there. They aren’t easy to kill, and there were so many of us… Things really are getting harder.
Someone whistles, and I look up to see Holden watching from the sidelines, and he isn’t the only one there. I smile slightly at the way he’s looking at me. He is extremely handsome…
“Nice work!” Holden says, clapping lightly.
“You can have the rest of the lesson off,” Sister Hesta says, filling the team with relief. Some have already emptied theirstomachs at the sight of the gutted manananggal.
I walk towards the small crowd, and Holden steps forward.
“Let me treat you to something tonight. Come on, you did great.”
“Tonight… I’m a little busy, I have…” I trail off, remembering the parcel.
The parcel! Where’s my bag?!
My heart thunders as I spin around. “My bag, where is my bag?!” I ask, panic filling me.
“Whoa there, I haven’t seen it. What does it look like?”
“The same one I always use, the white with the gold-”
“Looking for this?” My eyes darken in annoyance at the voice. I turn to seehimholding my bag in one finger.
“You!” I snatch my bag, unable to control the quickening of my heart rate. I hate him.
He smirks. “You missed me, j-”
“No, I didn’t. And don’t talk to me unless you change your mind about what I asked,” I say quietly. Our eyes meet, but he doesn’t push it. He wouldn’t risk wanting anyone to know about his truth.
“Ok… well, excuse us,” Holden says, placing a hand on my back, pulling me closer. I open my backpack, relieved to see the package still inside.
How careless of me.
“What was that about?” Holden asks, cocking a perfect brow.
I shake my head. “Nothing. A date night sounds great, just don’t let me down,” I say to him. “I’ll see you at seven.”
He smirks, tilting his head. “I definitely won’t, not when you agreed after so long.”
I think a little distraction will do me some good. He leans in for a kiss, but I look at the manananggal. “I need to shower,” I say apologetically, although he doesn’t seem to care.
“Alright,” he says, throwing up his hands.
Now to go shower and see what Aunty Delsanra sent me…
A Date & a Plan
Heaven
The moment I enter my dorm room, I lock the door so even Karen can’t enter, and open the package. It’s photos from the grimoires belonging to Endora, the ones that are in the possession of Uncle Rayhan. The books contain a lot of dark magic, but there are a few spells I had wanted to see, and Aunty Delsanra had said she would look into them for me and would only give them if she thinks they are ok.
I know she asked Mama before giving any to me, but at least they didn’t refuse outright. I can live with that.
I hope Mama understands that keeping me suffocated won’t help, but she has become even more protective since Sienna left. I can’t even blame her for it.
