Twisted Wonderland: The Seven Treasures

Twisted Wonderland & The Serpent's Crown-Part 1

  "I smell hurt...I smell hate..." a whispery voice slid through Jamil's dreams, soft as the desert wind. "I smell desire..."
  Jamil frowned and rolled over, troubled.
  "I smell your thoughts, Jamil Viper," the voice continued. "They are delicious and I desire them..."
  Gritting his teeth, Jamil turned over again. "Ngh..."
  "Give it to me!" The voice cried, excited. "Give me your hatred! Give me your hurt! I want them!"
  The dream erupted as dark red flames rose up, forming the appearance of a horrific face with ruby-red eyes. "Give them to me!" The voice exclaimed again, the flames opening up like a mouth to swallow Jamil.
Fear raced through Jamil and he shot up, breathing heavily, the nightmare fading as quickly as it had come.
I smell your fear... the voice continued, fading away. I smell...your hatred...
  Then it was gone, leaving Jamil alone in silence.
  Closing his eyes, Jamil calmed his breath then swung his legs off the bed.
  Walking down the hallway of Scarabia, Jamil paused as he came to the door leading to Kalim's room. His hand touched the knob then pulled away.
  No. Kalim was fine. The nightmare had just rattled him. Making a fist, Jamil turned away from the door and continued on, till he reached the kitchen.
  "Milk...cinnamon..." he muttered to himself, pulling the ingredients out. "Where is that ginger...hm, I'll have to pick some more up from Sam's shop later..."
  In no time, a mug of warm milk was sitting on the counter, seasoned with the cinnamon he had pulled out.
  A noise made Jamil turn around, hesitant, but it was only Kalim, his hair ruffled more than normal and rubbing his eye. "What are you doing up so late?" Jamil asked, pouring another mug of milk. "It's still dark out."
  "I couldn't sleep," Kalim replied, sitting at the counter as Jamil placed the second mug over. "Felt like something was wrong."
  "Nothing's happened since the Overblotings," Jamil said, a little wary. This wasn't like Kalim. "It's probably just stress over your Animal Linguistics test tomorrow."
  Kalim shook his head, running a finger around the rim of the mug. "This feels like something else," he said, his usual cheerful smile gone. "Kind of like something bad's gonna happen."
  Jamil didn't reply to that. Kalim didn't often say that something was off so seriously. He'd just grin and say that it was a part of the show. This felt different. You couldn't scare Kalim easily, yet here he was, when he should have been asleep in bed.
  "I've had this feeling since the Sorcerer of Sand's Staff got put here," Kalim continued. "Not that I want it gone, it's just weird."
  "Hm..." Jamil mused. "Maybe you're just worried about keeping it safe."
  "Maybe," Kalim said, though he didn't sound convinced. Picking up the mug, he downed the contents then stood. "I'm gonna head back to bed, k?"
  Jamil nodded and Kalim left the kitchen. Then Jamil picked up the empty mugs and put them in the sink, quickly washing and putting them away before walking out into the lounge, where the glass case holding the Sorcerer of Sand's Staff stood.
  Reaching out to the glass, Jamil laid his right palm on the cold surface. "Something about you scares Kalim," he muttered out loud. "But what? Your just a staff-"
  A jolt of pain rocked Jamil, making him pull away from the glass, curling his fingers in. "Ngh..."
  I desire...
  The whisper was soft, almost unnoticeable but Jamil heard it and looked up and around, searching for where the voice had come from. 'Wasn't that the same voice that I heard in my nightmare?' He wondered, gritting his teeth.
  There was no one else in the lounge and when Jamil looked back at his hand, uncurling his fingers, there was nothing there that could have caused the pain.
~~~~~
  The next day in class, Jamil was having a hard time focusing. Of course that could have been because the potion's classroom was noisier than normal but the room also seemed unusually warm for the morning class.
  It was only when his eyes shot open did Jamil realize he had been dozing off.
  Azul looked over at Jamil. "Are you alright Jamil?" He asked. "You seem a bit distracted today."
  "I'm fine," Jamil said, shaking off the feeling of drowsiness. "It's nothing you need to concern yourself over."
  "Perhaps it's the potion's steam affecting you," Azul said. "I often feel the effects of potions through the vapour coming off."
  "No, it's not that," Jamil said, raising his goggles and rubbing his eyes. "I'm just thinking about what kind of trouble Kalim's going to have gotten into that I'll have to fix later."
  "Would you like me to watch Kalim for a while?" Azul inquired.
  "Not happening," Jamil said, putting his goggles back on. "You are nearly as unpredictable as Kalim and I don't have time to clean up after both of your messes."
  "You wound me," Azul said, frowning. Then he resumed his devil-may-care grin. "Though, the offer will remain open, of course. If the vice-Housewarden of Scarabia was unwell, I'd hate to see the mess that could be made in his absence."
  "Hmph." Was Jamil's only reply as he turned his attention back to the potion.
~~~~~
  A random Scaribia student was waiting outside the Potion's Classroom.
  "Duty calls," Azul said, shaking his head. "He couldn't even give you time to change out of your lab coat. I'll see you later, Jamil."
  Jamil sighed under his breath as he turned to the student. "Where is he?" Jamil asked.
  "Back at Scaribia," the student said. "Professor Crewel wants to speak with you."
  'Professor Crewel?' Jamil wondered. 'Ah. Kalim must have caused a ruckus in his Animal Linguistics class. *sigh* Why must I always take care of these?'
  "Alright," Jamil said outloud. "I'll go see Crewel."
  Turning away from the student, Jamil walked down the hall till he came to the room Crewel taught in.
  "Mr Viper," Crewel said as Jamil walked in. "Thank you for coming so quickly."
  "No issues, Professor," Jamil replied, putting his hand on his hip and holding his other out. "What did Kalim do this time?"
  "It's not quite the same as normal," Crewel said. "While in the middle of his Animal Linguistics practical test, Mr Al-Asim suddenly began speaking fluently in Cat."
  Jamil raised his eyebrow. "Fluently? Like he'd been speaking it his entire life?"
  "Exactly," Crewel said, nodding. "I was concerned so I asked Mr Al-Asim to repeat it, but he was unable to recall what he had said."
  "Hold on," Jamil said. "Are you asking me if I used my unique magic to hypnotize Kalim into passing his test?"
  "I am," Crewel said. "I have little reason to believe you would, yet the circumstances fall in line with your spell."
  "Professor. I did not hypnotize Kalim," Jamil said. "I haven't learned enough Cat myself to convince Kalim that he knows it fluently. And Kalim made me promise not to use my Signature Spell on anyone for personal reasons."
  "I believe you Mr Viper," Crewel said. "As you have stated, there is nothing you could gain from Mr Al-Asim passing his test with full marks. So the question then is how did Mr Al-Asim know that much Cat and why can't he recall it?"
  "I wouldn't worry about that too much Professor," Jamil assured him. "Unless it happens more than once, it could just be a fluke. He was up late last night. Probably did some extra studying for the test today."
  "The language for the test was different for every student, so it would be nearly impossible to learn enough of any language to speak fluently for the test," Crewel said. "I would like you to investigate this strange moment, Mr Viper. Of course, you may refuse this."
  "I'd better look into it anyway," Jamil said. "If something happens to Kalim, I'll take responsibility for it."
  "Very well," Crewel said, nodding. "I will entrusted this with you."
~~~~~
  When Jamil reentered the Scaribia dorm, he changed into his school uniform and headed to Kalim's room.
  Knock-knock
  "Is that you Jamil?"
"It is," Jamil said, opening the door. "I heard something strange happened in your Animal Linguistics."
  Kalim was lying on his bed, facing away from Jamil. "Yeah?"
  "Professor Crewel said you spoke Cat fluently," Jamil said. "I was wondering when-"
  "Can we talk about this later?" Kalim interrupted, sounding empty. "I'm not feeling too well."
  "Sure," Jamil said. "I'll come check on you after my next class, alright?"
Kalim only nodded and curled up on the bedspread as Jamil left.