Twisted Wonderland Book 5: A Beauitful Tyrant

Chapter 34: Hope for Forgiveness

The next day, Briar and the girls wake up from their sleep to hear a knock on the door.

Briar walks over and answers to see Rook at the door, "Bonjour, Roi des Harmony! Today is off to a most magnificent start, wouldn't you say? We'll be doing morning practice sessions starting, well...this morning! Come to the Pomefiore ballroom."

"Um okay," Briar says.

Sometime later, everyone arrives at the Ballroom. Upon arriving, Ace, Deuce, and Grim look very tired.

"Last night was awful..." Deuce says, tired.

"I'm aching all over after having to sleep on the hard floor," Ace says, exhausted.

Grim whines, "I ain't even in the ensemble. It ain't fair, I tell ya..."

Concern, Epel asks, "Guys? Are you okay?"

"Ah, everyone's here. Good morning," Kalim says.

Then Jamil says, "I heard a bunch of noise last night and leapt out of bed. I thought someone was attacking. But no... When I went to see what was going on, I found you guys sprawled out on the ground with blankets and pillows.

"It wasn't by choice, okay?!" Ace says, displeased, "Vil used his signature spell on us."

"Did he really?" Jamil asks,

"Yeah. He cursed the grub in the fridge. Is that scary or what?!" Grim adds

"He put a curse on food?!" Kalim says, shocked.

"Now I'm gonna be wonderin' if everything I eat between now and the SDC is cursed.

It's got me all paranoid," Grim says, looking scared.

"I'm pretty careful about poisons, but I'll have to be extra careful if there are curses involved," Kalim says.

But Jamil says, "Anything using magic will leave at least some trace behind, but... Hm." and begins to think

"Maybe I could identify it if I brush up on my sensory abilities?" Kalim suggests.

But Jamil says, "You're not exactly sensitive to start with, you know. Mastering that seems a bit out of your reach."

Hey, don't say that," Kalim says, "You never know until you try!"

"Uh, are we not gonna address the part where Kalim said something about poison?" Ace asks.

"Hm? Oh, it's just that I've had my food poisoned before," Kalim says.

Everyone in the room exclaims, "WHAT?!"

"Yeah, that's why I got brought on as his poison tester during the holidays," Grim mutters.

Then Kalim explains, "I've had some awful experiences with it. Before long, I started being suspicious of pretty much everything I was about to eat. But it's exhausting weighing whether or not you can trust whoever cooks your food, let alone whoever sits at your table. It really got in the way of enjoying a nice meal, you know?"

"I can see why," Deuce says, shocked

If I know a dish isn't poisoned in advance, then I can more fully savor it," Kalim says, " And if I figure out it's bad as soon as I take a bite, then I can avert a much worse situation... for myself and the other party both."

"The other party?" Epel asks.

Kalim explains, "Suppose the food-poisoner sees the error of their ways and realizes they've done something wrong. If I'm already gone, then that wouldn't do them any good, would it? I wouldn't want to deny someone the opportunity to redeem themselves after recognizing the error of their ways. That would just be awful."

Jamil remains silent.

Kalim continues, "The Land of Scalding Sands has more legends than just those of the Sorcerer of the Sands. There is also a tale of a street thief who became king."

"Whoa. That really happened?" Grim asks.

Then Briar asks, "Could you tell us about it?"

Then Kalim explains the story, "One day, the thief met a princess and fell in love. He had a change of heart, and he came to regret his life of dishonesty and larceny. After that, he went on to rescue the sultan and princess from the villain who plotted to take over the land! Then he married the princess and became the next sultan, and everybody lived happily ever after! I just love that story to bits! Everybody trusted that the street thief was changing his ways, and they all gave him a second chance."

"That sounds like a really nice story," Sereia says.

"I have to agree," Briar says.

The boys and Trinket nod their heads.

"So, the moral of the story is that there's no undoing past wrongs, but what matters is what you do after that?" Deuce questions

"Guess reality's not as simple as 'bad guy gets their just desserts; the end.'" Ace says.

"Exactly!" Kalim answers. "So I consider it very important for me to survive. Though in the end "studying" just allows me to enjoy fine meals." And laughs, "Aha ha ha!"

"You're laughing, but what you just described sounds really dark..." Epel says, surprised.

"I wouldn't say that. If he can laugh about it, then it's not exactly morbid, is it?" Jamil says.

Then Tanzanite asks, "How did such an earnest guy end up chosen by the Dark Mirror?"

"He's a far cry from the other housewardens, that's for sure," Jasper replies.

"Yeah, seriously. He's TOO nice. Makes my hair stand on end," Grim says.

"Awww, really? Do I sound that strange to you?" Kalim asks, confused.

"It's not that. You're just, er, a bit different from the other people on campus...I think," Epel replies

Then Kalim says, "Actually, I transferred to this school two months late. I wonder if that's got something to do with it."

"What?!" Briar the others reply, confused.

"You can transfer in here...?" Epel asks, surprised.

"Is it really that surprising? The prefect got a special transfer too, right?" Kalim replies.

"That was kind of a mix-up..." Sereia says.

"Well I was technically at orientation..." Briar says.

Then Ace says, "I thought Night Raven College only admitted folks whose souls were chosen by the Dark Mirror."

"You're correct," Kalim says, "But about a month after Jamil left home... I suddenly got a letter of acceptance from the school. I forget if it was an oversight in selection or some special exception or what, but the black carriage came for me right after that."

"So they belatedly recognized the nature of your soul?" Deuce wonders.

Jamil scoffs, "Hmph. I'm still skeptical that the Dark Mirror actually selects students based on that." and softly says, "Knowing the headmage, he probably arranged for a backdoor admission so he could get some generous Asim family donations. And just like that, my nice, free campus life went up in smoke.

"Well, I love every day I spend at this school. And I got to make friends with you all over again, Jamil!" Kalim says.

But Jamil says with a frown, "I keep telling you, we are NOT friends."

"Well, if you don't mind me asking, where did you go to school before transferring to Night Raven?" Briar asks.

Suddenly, they hear clapping and turn to see Vil with Rook.

Vil calls out, "I see my spuds are all present and accounted for."