Twisted Wonderland: The Seven Treasures

Twisted Wonderland & The Queen's Card-Part 3

  Night had once again fallen on Night Raven College when Riddle awoke, the moonlight spilling in where the sun had once lain.
  "Can't believe my own stupidity," Riddle muttered as he discovered that the collar had just been an illusion. "I fell for a trick..."
  Looking around, Riddle became aware of an uneasy feeling in the dorm and entered the hallway outside of his room to try to find what was giving off this feeling.
  There were no lamps out here, just small strips of moonlight, all occasionally cast into shadow as thick clouds sailed across the moon.
  It was in such a clouded moment that Riddle stepped out and his foot hit something, making it skid a few feet away. A strip of moonlight peered out from behind the clouds and lighted upon the object, shocking Riddle with what it was.
  "Cater's phone?" He wondered, walking over and picking it up. "But he would never leave this behind on purpose..."
  Turning the phone over, Riddle noticed the screen protector was cracked.
  "What happened?" Riddle asked out loud, turning the phone on and unlocking it.
  Cater had left Magicam open, his newest post loading up, the "POST" button untouched. "He took this less than fifteen minutes ago," Riddle said. "And tagged it "runningformylife"? That's out of character. Cater likes to use at least four or five hashtags, not one."
  The photo attached was that of the hallway, Cater holding up a playing card and two figures behind him, concealed in the shadows. It was fuzzy and looked rushed, with Cater's eyes wide with fear instead of excitement.
  Tapping on the photo, Riddle discovered that Cater had tagged three other accounts in the picture.
  "Baker_Trey, BlastCycle-Spade, and AceTrap..." Riddle read out loud. "Who are they? I know Cater has lots of friends but I don't-"
  A shot rang through Riddle's mind, causing him to grab his head. "Gah...what's going on?"
  Dropping the phone, Riddle felt the pain subside and looked back down. One of the corners of the case had popped off, letting a bit of a playing card show.
Picking the phone up, Riddle popped the case off then pulled the card off, turning it over to see the artwork, his hand shaking as the moonlight appeared to assist.
Cater, looking dejected, was on the face of the card, his eyes closed and the diamond on his cheek showing.
  Riddle's eyes widened. "C-Cater? What...what's going on?"
  A noise came from the end of the hall and Riddle ducked into the nearby shadows instinctively, tucking the phone and card away behind him.
  A door opened farther down the hall and Cater appeared, looking up and down the hall.
  Riddle didn't move till the door had closed again. Then he returned to his room, closing the door behind him before pulling Cater's card out. "That wasn't Cater," Riddle said. "This is. But then, who was that?"
~~~~~
  Riddle carried Cater's phone and card in his pocket during class the next day, fingering them. How was it possible for Cater to have taken his own picture and been holding onto the card that had his face on it? Not only that, but a second card, with the same backing as Cater's card, had been in his room.
  The second card showed an ace of hearts, but was depicted like Cater's king of diamonds, with a young man who wore a red heart around one of his closed eyes.
  These thoughts continued to spin around in Riddle's mind through the rest of the day, finally getting pushed back for Equestrian Club.
  "Riddle!" Sebek cried out, as Riddle walked towards the stables after class. "You must come quickly. Something has the horses acting up."
  "It's not you?" Riddle asked, recalling that the horses tended to get skittish and a bit spoked when Sebek was around.
  Sebek shook his head. "Silver remained inside to see if they calmed down once I left," he said loudly. Which was how he did most of his talking. "I'm certain he would have called me back in if they had calmed down unless he's fallen asleep again."
  "I'm sure it's nothing we can't take care of." Riddle said.
  Sebek opened the door to the stables and Riddle was nearly thrown back by the loud whinying and neighing. This was far more than acting up. The horses were in a full panic!
  "What's going on Silver?" Riddle asked as the silver-haired young man walked over to them, closing the door behind him, muffling the sound.
  "They were like this when I arrived as well," Silver said. "I haven't been able to find anything that would set them off this badly."
  "Nothing in the stalls?"
  Silver shook his head.
  "I'll try to get them outside," Riddle suggested. "Then we can take a closer look."
  Stepping into the stables, Riddle was surprised when the horses stopped their panicked noises and stood still, trembling.
  "You really are an idiot," Cater said, stepping around a corner on the other side of the stables. "I mean really, who carries around two of the cards but doesn't ever visit The Queen's Card room? It seriously took me too long to find out where you would be after class."
  "You're not Cater," Riddle said. "The horses could tell, which is why they acted up. You're my Overblot form."
  "I'm glad I left such a lasting impression," Cater said, melting into Overblot Riddle. "I'll be taking my two cards you held onto so nicely for me."
  The king of diamonds and the ace of hearts flew out of Riddle's pocket and over to Overblot Riddle, who grabbed them out of the air.
  "In return, here's a personalized card, The Queen of Hearts." Overblot Riddle said, flicking a card at Riddle, who mimicked Overblot in grabbing it in the air.
  "Think of it as your free-pass card," Overblot Riddle said. "It'll take you to your companions. But it'll only work once."
  Puzzled, Riddle turned the card over. "It's blank?"
  "Of course," Overblot Riddle said, spreading his arms out. "You'll have to visit the real Queen of Heart's card and overlay the two."
  "Are you implying that I steal one of the Seven Treasures?"
  "It'll be at midnight," Overblot Riddle said. "I'll leave the case unlocked, so it won't be stealing. You won't even leave the room."
  Waving, Overblot Riddle vanished around the corner, the horses calming and leavening  Riddle holding the blank card.
  "Riddle! What happened?" Sebek called.
  "It's alright now," Riddle called back. "They've calmed down."
  "Thank goodness," Sebek said, entering the stables.
What aggravated them?"
  "It wasn't anything," Riddle said, tucking the card away. "They must have sensed a storm."
  "Must be a big storm," Silver said, following Sebek in. "Perhaps we should postpone practice till after the storm."
  Sebek nodded. "What do you think, Riddle? Will you head back to Heartslabyul?"
  "I'm going to stick around for a while." Riddle said. "See you both later."
  After the two Diasomnia students left, Riddle opened one of the stalls, leading a brown horse out. "One quick ride Vorpal," he told himself, rubbing the horse's neck. "I need to clear my head."
  Swinging up onto Vorpal's back, Riddle galloped out of the stables and out into the grassy field.
  With the ease that comes with practice, Vorpal jumped over one of the barrels set up in the field and began the loop around the field, as thunderclouds began to gather overhead, dark and foreboding.
  As Vorpal jumped over the forth obstacle, the rain began falling in a sheet, drenching Riddle and Vorpal.
  "Come on girl," Riddle urged. "Back to the stables."
  Vorpal, eager to warm up her dry stall, huffed her appreciation then turned in the direction of the stable, maintaining a steady gallop till she had exited the rain by entering the inner area of the stable.
  "This storm is rather too convenient," Riddle said, sliding off of Vorpal's back. "I suppose this is what I get for saying the first thing on my mind."
  Riddle stayed in the stable's, brushing Vorpal till he finally looked out at the sky and frowned. "This isn't going to let up anytime soon," he reasoned. "So I might as well head back to Heartslabyul to change into something dry then head over to the exhibit."
~~~~~
  Now wearing the dry school uniform, Riddle slipped into the main building of Night Raven College and into The Queen of Heart's Room, just as a nearby grandfather clock was dozing off.
  "Pardon me," Riddle said, waking it. "But would you be able to tell me what time it is?"
  "What?" The clock asked, sleepy. "Oh, it's around twelve, I'd say. Far too late to be awake. Curfew was a few hours ago, but I wouldn't be able to tell you when that was."
  "I see. Thank you." Riddle said, just as he heard a lock click behind him.
  Turning around, Riddle saw the glass case around The Queen of Heart's Card was now on the floor beside the pedestal, leaving the upside down card exposed.
  "All I have to do is overlay these two cards," Riddle said, withdrawing the blank card his Overblot form had given him. "So far, everything that was said has happened so I have little reason to doubt this won't work."
  Walking over to the card, Riddle paused, looking at the patterning on the back.
  "...how very odd," Riddle turned quickly as he heard Headmage Crowley's voice from outside. "I could have sworn I felt a strong magical mana being released..."
  'Dang it!' Riddle thought. 'I can't get caught by the Headmage with The Queen's Card out in the open like this. I'll just quickly touch the two cards together...'
  Reaching over, Riddle laid the blank card on top of The Queen of Heart's Card then tried to pull it away.
  "Why won't it move?" Riddle whispered. Then a light began to shine from the blank card, blinding Riddle.
  Just before the light overtook Riddle, he heard Crowley's voice asking "Mr Rosehearts? What are you doing here?"