Umber In Level 8

+Chapter Twenty-One+

I crouched in the crawl space above the roof. From here, I had the perfect view of all that went on in the Foxfire courtyard. I had a mission. Find Dame Alina, and see if she had an inkling about how I had 'helped' her.

I was minding my own business, examining a tree, when I slipped on a glass pane. I rolled down the pyramid, screaming the whole way. When I reached the bottom, I looked up to see Dame Alina staring down at me. Great.

"Umber," she purred. "How curious. I just had your little friend Claude Trix locked away in my office right now for suspicious activities at the water fountain."

I raised an eyebrow to hide my panic. Had Trix been compromised?

"What did you do with him?" I asked, playing it as cool as possible.

Dame Alina rolled her eyes. "You children make me out to be such a villain. I simply took him away from the other Prodigies so he can't make mischief. If you ask me, you've been a bad influence on him. He used to be quite well-behaved."

"For how long?"

"Until he tells me what he's done. And now you're going to join him."

+++

"Uh... Hi." I said awkwardly as I sat down next to Trix in the principal's office. "What brings you here?"

"I was rigging the water fountains to spray on people," Trix admitted.

"And risk Dame Alina becoming suspicious of us?" I scolded.

"You're one to talk, Umber. Why are you here?" Trix crossed his arms defensively.

"I fell down the roof of Foxfire at Dame Alina's feet." "Sorry, you what?"

"I wanted to spy on Alina, and the top of the pyramid has the best view. I was hoping to watch what she was doing."

"What's with your obsession over Alina lately?" Trxi asked.

"I'm just curious about her. It's not an obsession. The only one with the obsession is you over my friendship with Gisela. It's really none of your business." I crossed my arms and scowled at him.

For a good minute, Trix just scowled back. Then he sighed. "You know what, you're right. It's not my place. I'm sorry."

I eyed him for a second to make sure he wasn't about to say LOL, just kidding!

To my surprise, he remained silent.

"Trix?" I asked, waiting for him to direct his attention towards me. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you when I first met you. There's no excuse."

Trix nodded. "Thank you for your apology. I accept, I guess."

"You guess?" I asked.

"Fine. I accept your apology. And I have a confession of my own."

I raised my eyebrow, my curiosity piqued. "Really? Spill!"

Trix squeezed his eyes shut like he was steeling himself. "Uh, well... I guess I like you, Umber. And not in a 'friend' kind of way."