Eden's Gate

Chapter 24: Christmas Approaches

The first snows had finally descended upon the forest, and the soccer season had moved to the gymnasium. Taylor had taken to wearing their Bulldogs Uniform when they could, as that was now totally acceptable. It was the height of the season, after all.

Christmas usually brought excitement to Kaitlyn. Being orphans, they couldn't exactly afford gifts for one another, but they did draw and make things for each other. Eliza would also usually buy the lot of them trinkets - nothing very big or expensive, a lot of the time, but she was getting one for each of the children in the school, so that was understandable. But this year, they couldn't afford to use their Workshop and Art time for gifts. They had to use it for plotting and building their plan, in the hopes of saving their own lives. The entire year had been twisted by the monsters so very far away.

Kaitlyn missed not being afraid of the woman she called mom. She hated how she had killed her friends, and her parents. She seethed a bit more with every revelation of the things Eliza had done to hurt them all, and a part of it made her very tired. She just wanted things to have been the way they were.

But they weren't. This was a race. Maybe even a war. And in war, as Richard was always happy to point out, there was no time for frivolities.

They were leaving math class, having stayed behind because Taylor had a question about something they had learned in class that day. As they turned to leave, they heard Professor Pollock call out "Ah, bollocks."

"What's wrong Professor?" Kaitlyn asked.

Professor Pollock was sitting at her desk, typing away at the computer before she had objected. She had put her hand over her mouth, realizing she shouldn't have used that word in front of the kids, but thought to just let it go for the time being.

"I was trying to schedule a flight to America over the break but the cheap one I had my eye on just went up ridiculously and now I have to either pay an additional 100 quid both ways or change my whole plan." She sighed. "You snooze, you lose, I suppose."

Taylor quickly caught onto this being unusual, "don't you usually stay for the break?"

"I do," she said, "but my uncle came down with a terminal cancer. They say he's not to last the year, if he even makes it a fortnight. I'll be going to the States to see him one last time, if not participate in his funeral."

Professor Pollock didn't usually talk about her family, so this was unusual to say the least. Richard shot a look at them, but Kaitlyn didn't understand. She realized he'd explain later, and they went about the rest of their day.

At the end of the day they met in Kaitlyn's room and Richard has the answer:

"I think this is it," Richard said. "This is the last move she's going to make."

Richard twisted the falcon on top of his cane between his hand as they sat and talked.

Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow. "How do you mean?" She took a seat on the bed.

Taylor was at the desk, doing a homework assignment.

"A lot of the teachers leave for the holiday, right? Nikolai is one of them, usually going back to spend the Holiday with his family in Russia, but he's staying." Richard explained, "and Professor Pollock is always here on the holidays, since making the trip to America is difficult."

"You're saying that somehow, Eliza made her uncle get cancer?" Taylor asked, a disbelieving smile on their face.

Richard shrugged, "she's got all those spell books and is clearly a magician of some sort. I wouldn't put it past her abilities."

"She also wouldn't need to," Kaitlyn reminded, "as long as she can make it look like that's the case at a distance, she can get her out of the school."

An unsettled silence fell across the room. Kaitlyn handed Mr. Lepus another garland, which he began to string up around the room.

"Either way, it's clear. She plans to make her move during the break." Richard said.

"Then we'll just have to make ours first." Taylor said.