the shadows at night never did scare casper, but she was a bit nervous right now. earlier that day, leonora had passed her a note at lunch. it only had three words.
balcony. eleven o'clock.
casper was intelligent enough to know that the red-head meant casper's balcony, eleven o'clock at night. the grounds were silent as casper leaned over her balcony. the moon shone down through the fog wreathed around the school, and the wind was chilling.
briefly, casper wondered what leonora had wanted her here for.
they were now halfway through the year, and the weather had cooled suddenly, bring the freezing gusts of wind towards their castle. casper and leonora could be considered friends now, or even good friends.
it was almost like a game, to casper. every day, she woke up. she went to classes. she talked to leonora during their free periods. it was almost scary the way she could tell that she was gaining the reader's trust... and leonora was gaining her trust. she liked talking to the red-head, and the conversations they had, leonora told her, were sometimes the only thing she looked forwards to now.
a sudden noise startled her thoughts. the soft glow of red emanated from the balcony a little ways below her, and she saw a familiar figure, even in the dark, back out of the room. a strange thing followed her, like a not-quite-corporeal person. the red glow came from its eyes.
casper sank to the floor immediately, peering at them from between the gaps in the rail.
"what do you want?" leonora asked timidly, her voice muffled by the wind.
the figure paced towards her. "leonora of gavaldon, i've told you countless times." the voice was masculine, and there was a strange hiss to it, almost like a snake. "i've helped you in your classes, talked to you, trusted you. i just need you to trust me."
casper held her breath, wide-eyed at the scene below her.
"how?"
the stranger moved closer to leonora as he spoke. "we're destined to be together. they say evil can't have true love, but..."
"we can?" leonora murmured, seemingly entranced by the person. casper dipped her head, not sure what leonora meant. surely she wasn't planning to be the "true love" to this stranger? who even was he?
from what she had heard of their conversation, the mysterious person and leonora had some kind of history. knew each other.
casper frowned.
she could see leonora's head suddenly tilt upwards, towards her, then look back at the figure.
"use your magic," the person said, his words slicing the wind. "and when the times comes, we will be together. i just need you to do this one thing. i've been with you every step of the way, remember?"
leonora stayed silent, and the figure vanished.
next chapter, explanations.
