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 let her have something over him. 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, the paint set he had his eyes on was still 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.

He tucked the gift into his bag and headed back to the academy. Remigius hadn't come to Ahalo just to buy Yun's gift. Academy photos were taking place that week and Remigius happened to have the time to go to town, telling Yun and Maven that he had to meet up with Ms. Bello. They believed the lie and reminded him to come back on time before the third and second year students finished with their photos.

He made his way back to the academy, deciding to take the shortcut through the alleyways. 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. Perhaps he should have gone the long way. 

The cold nipped at his skin. Remigius forced himself to stop shivering and buried his hands into his jacket pockets. He was barely halfway to the academy and he would rather die to a demon than to hypothermia.

One thing to know about the shortcut was that 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 went with his gut and found 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.

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. 

Damn it. 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.

Distance talking echoed from deeper into the alleyway. The cobblestone path fell to a steep slope where Remigius could peek down and spot the source of the sound. Within the dull light of the rusted lampposts were two students in uniforms. 

It was hard to make out who they were, but once Remigius squinted his eyes, he spotted the familiar long silver hair. Malachi? And he could only assume the other person was Eugene.

Remigius walked down the steep path. What in Paradise were they doing here? Also lost? Surely not; Eugene and Malachi appeared to be 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 see Remigius, eyes glued onto each other. He made it to the bottom of the slope, glancing around the corner they walked into without making a noise.

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.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Malachi hissed out. "It's starting to get personal. I feel guilty."

Remigius had never seen Eugene look so ticked off. Malachi was no short guy, but Eugene seemed to stare down at him like a serpent in a tree.