Heaven's Shadow

Chapter 12 | Sonnet and Sallow's Secret

In town, Remigius purchased Yun's gift.

He paid back Maven the moment he got his hands on his wallet. She insisted it was fine but Remigius never liked carrying any debts and he would rather be broke than have it hanging over his head. So now the money he earned from Ms. Bello sunk down the drain and his financial situation was back to where it started at the beginning of the year.

Thankfully, no one bought the paint set he set his eyes on in the art shop; an array of 42 different colours of oil paint—the paint Yun adored to use but rarely could due to the expensive price—in a sleek black case. Remigius didn't dare to run his hand over the case. Only Yun's nimble artist's hands were allowed to touch the gift. 

He tucked the gift into his bag and headed back to the academy. Yun and Maven surely wondered when he would arrive, as he had snuck away after their landing on the airship, lying that he had to meet with Ms. Bello. He hadn't come to Ahalo just to buy Yun's gift. Academy photos were taking place the week and Remigius rushed to make it on time before the third and second year students finished with their photos.

He took a sharp turn, deciding on to take the shortcut through the alleyways. He took it mostly out of habit to avoid the bustling crowds, but this week, the town seemed quieter with no children playing in the snow or the raucous chatter of the people in the square. Remigius's cold breaths puffed into the air as he trudged along the wall of snow that froze over the stone pavement of the alley, careful not to slip. The cold nipped at his skin, and he forced himself to stop shivering and buried his hands into his jacket pockets. 

The alleyway contained a crossroad where each path could take you to a different twisting path. Remigius couldn't say that he knew the path on the back of his hand, but he generally followed the path with the collection of trash bins on the side to find his way out of the maze with trial and error. Yet, the last left turn he made appeared to be the wrong one as he walked deeper down into the alleys with the stone walls getting taller and narrowing in. Perhaps someone had moved the trash bins for winter break. 

Ms. Bello had told him that the stone alleyways were built by their ancestors to confuse demonic enemies from finding their way to town. The only thing it was confusing was Remigius. 

He cursed. He would have to turn back and retrace his steps. What had been the shortcut way had now wasted him ten minutes of his time.

Distant talking echoed from deeper into the alleyway. Perfect! Remigius could just ask for directions to get out of this mess. The cobblestone path fell to a steep slope where he peeked down and spotted the source of the sound. Under the dull light of the rusted lampposts stood two students in uniforms. 

It was hard to make out their identities, but after squinting and remarking the familiar long silver hair, he raised a brow. Malachi? And he could only assume the other person was Eugene.

Remigius inched down the steep path, wary about slipping and sliding all the way to the bottom. What in Paradise were they doing here? Also lost? Surely not; Eugene and Malachi huddled close to each other, talking in hushed tones with no indication of confusion.

Just before he could announce his presence, he stopped himself when Eugene grabbed Malachi's arm and dragged him around the corner of another pathway. They didn't seem to notice Remigius, eyes glued onto each other. He made it to the bottom of the slope, glancing around the corner and tiptoed to conceal his footsteps. 

Although he was never one to spy, something about the way they looked seemed like they didn't want to be interrupted. They stood at the end of the dead-end alley with Remigius hidden by the shadows of the walls as he peeked over with just enough distance to hear.