WHISPERS IN THE DARK
Rinka
The door to Idris’s office had been unlocked with magic.
“Ceri’s magic,” said Idris. “I never should have taught her how to do that.”
“Leo was here as well,” said Willow, sniffing the door frame.
No surprises there.
The only real surprise was that Willow could smell them at all over all of the other smells that must have been in the corridor. Idris’s classroom was right next to his office, and it had been full to capacity all week. It seemed like the whole school—minus Ceri, of course—had turned up to hear his lectures.
Rinka didn’t blame them. Idris was the crown prince of Loegria, which was a novelty in itself, and while magic was generally considered a bit old-fashioned, the study of dark magic had retained a certain allure. Idris called it “sexy.” She doubted him somewhat—was it the subject that was sexy or was it just him?
He had loved that she had asked him that.
It turned out to be both, as she had found out when she attended one of his lectures earlier in the week. And his lecturing style didn’t hurt either. He was passionate, relatable, clear. The class held onto his every word. Dean Whittaker interrupted toask if he’d consider moving to the music hall so that the crowd in the corridor would have somewhere to sit.
Idris was so infuriatingly good at everything, it would have been easy to hate him.
It was a good thing, then, that she loved him instead.
“Where did they go next?” she asked Willow.
“Down the hall.” The tabby cat kept her nose to the ground until a rumble of thunder startled her upright.
“It’s alright, Willow,” said Rinka, stroking her on the back. “We’re safe inside.”
She looked at Idris and knew exactly what he was thinking: Ceri might not be.
“You two go on ahead,” said Idris. “Stay on their trail. I’m going to check my office quickly to see if they managed to get the objects back, then I’ll join you.”
Rinka took Idris’s hand as he was walking away and gave it a squeeze. “We’ll find them.”
“I know,” said Idris. He leaned over and kissed Rinka briefly on the lips before going inside.
Rinka was reluctant to leave him. She knew he’d been struggling with Ceri’s presence since their reunion, and this situation did nothing to help matters.
It was his guilt that was getting to him. He blamed himself for his absence from her life when she needed him, and, in trying to make up for lost time, he had overcorrected and come out on the side of overprotective.
It would be better if she or someone else found Ceri first, for both of their sakes.
“I’m not sure they were together,” said Willow. “Leo’s smell is weaker. Sometimes, it vanishes entirely. I’d guess it was more than a day since he’s been here.”
“Maybe he came here yesterday after Dean Whittaker let everyone know about the storm,” said Rinka. “Or maybe Idris has it wrong and he didn’t take the cursed objects at all.”
“I wouldn’t take that bet. That boy doesn’t care about anything as much as his research.”
“Well, maybe there’s one thing.”
Rinka had noticed the energy between Leo and Ceri immediately, and she wasn’t alone.
In fact, it seemed like the only people who weren’t convinced were Ceri and Leo themselves.
Rinka was confident they’d work it out eventually. Assuming they survived this storm.
The wind blowing through the leaves outside sounded like a whisper as they passed a large set of windows and descended a staircase.
