Mirren Academy of Spells

Chapter 11: Belltale

Chapter 11: Belltale

I woke up days later with my body aching all over like I've been ran over by a truck. Claudia and Alice were in the infirmary when I woke up. Agad nila akong nilapitan mula sa couch nang makitang gising na ako.

"Do you feel better?"

I sat up and placed a hand on my temple to ease the nauseous feeling. "Did we win the game?"

Claudia smacked my arm. "That's the first thing you would say after being unconscious for two days?"

Two days? "I want to know."

"Nanalo tayo," Alice told me, beaming.

I grinned widely bago bumalik sa pagkakahiga dahil masyado pa akong nanghihina. Alice had her arms folded in front of her chest and Claudia's eyebrow was raised.

"What?" tanong ko.

"Look," Claudia started. "What you did there was dangerous. You can't just push yourself to your limit like that...though that was seriously awesome."

Alice nudged Claudia, who got way too excited to make me reflect on my action. "What? The wind spell was a high-level magic, even the teacher was impressed."

Alice rolled her eyes and sighed. "At least alam natin na nakabalik na ang kapangyarihan mo," she muttered. "And good thing Santi had showed up at the last minute of the game and decided to be responsible for once."

Santi. I couldn't have done it without him. I was only confident because I knew he had my back.

"Speaking of," Alice chimed in, "your prince charming was here this morning."

For a second, I kind of expected someone else, but I knew who Alice was referring to.

The jitters from the assessment test faded and my days were back to normal. I recovered from my injuries and was back in the dorm the following day. It remained a mystery to me how I acquired Olivia's ability.

We were having dinner that night when Alice asked us with evident excitement in her eyes, "So, are you two going home with me this weekend?"

I picked the strands off the pasta with a fork, not really tuned into the conversation. It had been a week since the assessment test, but I hadn't seen Santi on campus. Was he really okay when he showed up during the test?

Claudia dabbed her lips with table napkin before speaking, "I can't go this year. You know how my ugly stepmother would react to these things," she said with a roll of her eyes.

There were little things I knew about them. One, Claudia lived with her stepmother and a brother who works at the sentinel building, but they rarely talked to each other. Two, Alice lived in one of the four towns farthest from the academy.

Alice tried to hide the disappointment in her eyes. "Are you going to my birthday, Olivia?"

Birthday? "Of course," I answered, pulling my attention back to the conversation. "I'll come with you."

Weekend arrived. I didn't really think much of it when I agreed to Alice's invitation, but the night before our trip, I realized it was going to be my first time leaving the town. Since I woke up in this place, I'd been wondering how I could find my way back to my old world if I leave this town, but it seemed like it was still impossible.

"We're taking the train to Belltale," said Alice while packing her things in a tiny bag.

"I didn't know there are magical towns nearby."

Umiling si Alice. "There aren't exactly any nearby. The train crosses dimensions to arrive at the four towns—Belltale, Penshaw, and Hailing Cove are at least five hundred miles away from Cardiff and the academy."