Radiant Dawn's Daughter

🌹 CHAPTER 3

Emerald green eyes fluttered open, staring up at the dark ceiling of the old bedchamber she was occupying for week now. It was not a horrendous sight anymore but slowly adjusting to it, the once-abandoned structure became a temporary home. Mary furrowed her brows gazing down, she ended up clutching the necklace again and drifted to sleep. Good thing it did not break when she was shifting in her sleep although she wasn't a heavy mover.

The pendant which almost reflected her eye color was gripped hard by her hand close to the chest, scared to let go or have it stolen again.

Mary sat in the bed, beyond the windows showed a still dark sky and some thin noises from crickets. There was a forest nearby but she hadn't gotten the time to explore it yet albeit this strange inner calling beckoning her to go.

"Hey Mary, why are you up? We have classes later." Grim was peeking from the ajar door, he was the one who suggested to not close the door of her chosen room so in case she was freaking out, it would be easy for him to hear.

From the looks of it, Grim was disoriented and forced to get out of bed. Mary wondered what made him check on her. "I'm fine actually I was just about to get some water. How about you?"

"Someone is--" Timing it was, the reason for Grim's unwanted wake became louder—downstairs the duo heard another set of banging and this time followed by a voice.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! "Heyyyoooo, Mary! Grim! I know you two are there! Help me!"

Realizing who it was, Mary turned to Grim. "What is Ace doing here...? Needing help?"

Both were reluctant to go down because they were still feeling quite sluggish and lazy because you know, it was 2 in the freaking morning. Reaching the front door, the redhead turned the knob and pulled it open.

Ace was standing there in his Heartslabyul Dorm uniform, the only thing standing out in his garb was this thick uncomfortable metal collar around his neck. He looked Mary up and down, "You look so fancy, Mary." He was pertaining to the girl's knee-length, long-sleeved soft pink modest sleepwear.

His statement made Mary slightly flustered, "Professor Crewel got it for me, this was part of the clothes he sent on the first day of school."

"Huh, sounds to me like he already warmed up to you" Ace scratched his cheek, "I gotta say the opposite when he is in class though, he always referred to us as wolves or something"

Grim cut through the chat, he didn't look happy that Ace was here. "What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?"

There was no air of contempt between them since after the task of acquiring crystals for the chandeliers, although the back-and-forth with Grim never disappeared, it gravitated more towards a friendly bickering.

A frown sculpted on Ace's face, recalling the reason for shifting to this desperate means. "I got kicked out by our damnable Dorm Leader." He scratched his head and glanced sideways. "It's not like I was stealing or something...I was just not aware"

Mary tilted her head, blinking. "What do you mean by stealing, Ace?"

"I got hungry and went to the kitchen, saw these scrumptious tarts. I wasn't informed those were reserved for a special occasion." Ace explained, already scowling the entire time. "It's not fair and he even put this annoying collar around my neck! Now I can't use my magic"

It already dawned on Grim what his purpose for coming here was for, "Huh, that's not our problem anymore"

"Hey! It's just for one night! Like only now!" Ace insisted, fuming. It was pointless to reason with this creature so he turned to Mary instead. "Mary please, allow me to spend the night with you"