Twilit Mage

Chapter 45: The Thing in the Hallways

Mercury woke up to find the building still on lockdown. Nothing had changed since yesterday evening. When it was time for breakfast she headed downstairs to find the doors still closed, rows of confused people gathering in front of it.

Frowning, she made her way up to the crowd, standing on her tip-toes to try and read the sign everyone was staring at. She couldn't make it out. There were too many people in front of her, and most of them were at least a few inches taller.

"Um– what's happening?" she ventured quietly, but nobody heard her. Everyone was whispering and muttering and talking at once, and her hesitant voice was simply drowned in the noise.

"E-Excuse me–" she tried again. But before she could ever finish her sentence a hand grabbed her arm, none-too-gently yanking her away from the crowd and around a corner.

Mercury gave a start, spinning around in alarm but quickly relaxing when she saw who had caught hold of her. "Georgiana!" she said, her face lighting up. "You scared me..."

"Apologies." Georgiana let go of her arm, her eyes darting around in search of eavesdroppers. "I didn't want them to see you. For all we know they may have started to blame you for the lockdown."

Mercury's smile faded. She was right, she realized. The way things were right now people were blaming her for anything and everything, and having this lockdown right after her run-in with the lab and hypnotic was definitely suspicious. It wouldn't be far-fetched to suspect a connection, unless...

"Have they told us anything?" she asked. "Why they're keeping us in here?"

Georgiana shook her head. "Nothing. All we know is that some danger seems to be roaming the campus, but no one knows what or where it is."

Mercury sighed. "Okay," she said. That made sense. They wouldn't want to cause rumors or a panic, after all. But it was still concerning. If it had appeared after the misadventure in the lab, then what if it really was connected? What if this danger had something to do with her...or Raoul–

"No need to jump to conclusions," Georgiana said, and Mercury blushed at how easily she had seen through her. "As long as we know nothing more, this is all we can do. Panicking will not help anyone."

Mercury sighed again, then she paused, and despite everything a smile made its way onto her face as she chuckled. "You really took that don't-jump-to-conclusions thing seriously, did you?"

Georgiana stopped in her tracks, then she turned her head away. "W-Well," she said stiffly, "you did have a point. And in light of everything that happened, I decided to stop believing anything I have no proof for."

"Thank you."

Georgiana blinked. "For what?"

Now it was Mercury's turn to get flustered. "Oh, um..." Her whole face heated up. "I'm not sure, I just...It just...um...slipped out? But I guess...I do mean it. I mean, you've got my back and you believe in me...well, not really but to me...it feels like it, you know? And that means a lot..." She laughed sheepishly. "Does that make sense?"

"I...think so."

There was an awkward silence. Mercury tugged idly at the fabric of her sweater.

"By the way," Georgiana said at last, "did you make up with Raoul yesterday?"

Mercury glanced up, then she nodded, the giddy, happy feeling from last night flooding her once more. Lowering her voice, she told Georgiana everything that had happened, from the closed-door conversation to Raoul's confession, the book and Precious. Georgiana listened intently. Her eyes were fixed on Mercury but distant all the same, and one could almost see all the thoughts and explanations rattling past before her mind.