The Twilight Children//The School for Good and Evil

21 ~ Urla

. : Laura of Neverland : .

Sebastian was coming along surprisingly well.

It was suspicious.

Laura watched as he moved around the dim library. They really shouldn't be out this late. Attacks had begun on the castle-- presumably by Sophie and her band of Nevers-- and there was a night patrol creeping around at all hours. It had been nearly two weeks since the first training, and he was taking it in stride. His movement was becoming more fluid, both in the was he used his magic and the way he used his sword.

Part of her was gnawing away, wondering if she was making a mistake. She had no doubts about her ability to overpower him and his magic if she needed to, but Clarissa had gotten to her. Maybe she was making a huge mistake by beginning to train him. Or maybe it was the disbelief that the person she considered her enemy, the bane of her existence, had been surprisingly open to the magic.

"What?"

Laura snapped her gaze back to Sebastian, who held a ball of water above his fingers. The only light in the library was from the candles that floated far above, and the small flame she had bouncing over her fingers. In the shadows, his face looked sharp, but his eyes were focused on her. She hummed a questioning noise.

"You're making a face," He supplied as a way of explaining.

Laura frowned. "I am not making a face."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow but didn't push the matter. Instead returning to the drills. The water drifted around his head in a rough circle and flattened out into a sheet before turning back into a ball.

Laura drifted her attention to her hands, picking at her nails. The cardinal balance certainly liked Sebastian as the Water Sage, and her magic didn't mind either. She had never doubted her magical intuition before, even when it had seemed like the worst possible choice. Still, Sebastian was a hard choice, and to justify it to the council at the next meeting was going to be hell.

Maybe Clarissa was right, and she just needed to finish the job.

She squirmed at the thought. Laura had sworn off intentional murdering ever since she first discovered her magic. She could always get one of the Never sages to do it, but then she wouldn't be much better for letting him be killed when there was no real reason to.

She had been so focused on her thoughts that she didn't notice when Sebastian dropped the ball of water and stepped toward her.

"What are you thinking about? You've got the face again?"

Laura shook her head. "It doesn't concern you."

She did notice the way Sebastian rolled his eyes, but she didn't press it. He leaned on the table across from her.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes and leaned to face her. "You know you get a fate worse than death if you don't get an invite to the Snow Ball."

Laura snorted but averted her eyes already. "What about it?"

Sebastian shrugged, but a deadly smile came across his face. "I know someone who is interested in asking you."

Laura glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Aren't you supposed to be doing your drills?"

"What? You don't want to know?"

He was baiting her, trying to get her to slip up or share something. He wanted something. 

"Either get back to your drills or change the topic, or else I will walk away and you can scramble through training yourself."

Sebastian huffed, but he dropped the Snow Ball. Laura drifted her eyes away again, staring at the candles. She could feel the fire bouncing. She twitched her finger and a single flame extinguished. Another flick and it relit.