The Dark Magic 2

Part 18

Tracy's POV

I continued throwing glances at Austin, or ''Wraith'', the whole walk back. How come he's never told me about this before? Is this what he was really doing during his "spy business"?
When we got back from the village. Austin peeled off toward his room. I followed him.
"So, uh, who were those two you went off with?"
"Just two people who wanted a spying job," He walked into his dorm room. He began to close it but I stopped it with my foot.
"Who did they want to spy on?" I could tell his eye was twitching, even past the glowing purple of his mask.
"There's no point in lying to you, now is there?" He sighed "They asked me to spy on us,"
"What do you mean 'us'? You mean Bell, me and Kevin,"
"And me," He said.
"But why?"
"I don't know, but I found this," He held up a dagger. He threw it over to me and I caught it, looking closely. This looked... familiar. I asked Austin if I could borrow it.
"Sure. May I ask why?" His voice was still distorted in a weird raspy manner.
"I...I think I recognize it. But I'll need to do some quick research," I said, "Meanwhile, when are you meeting up with them again?"
"In about a month, why?"
"Give them false information. Or at least modified information,"
"That I can do," He grinned. I said my goodbyes and quickly ran off.
I burst into Skylars still unlocked dorm room. I looked around at the weapons adorning the walls and found a few daggers. Lining them all up, I quickly noticed a pattern in them all. They all had similar handle designs carved onto them. This was way too big of a coincidence. I headed over to Bells dorm room and explained everything in as short as bursts as I can manage.
"We need to get to Arlium. I think Skylar is trying to get someone to spy on us. We need to go now,"
"Uh...why?" She asked.
"She hired Austin to spy on us. Don't ask Ill explain later. He isn't don't worry,"
A hand on my shoulder suddenly caused me to jump. It was only Kevin.
"Tracy," He said, clearly out of breath "I just saw someone go into the same shed that leads to Arlium,"
"What were they wearing?" I asked
"Well, one was wearing black robes. I couldn't make out the others," He said.
"Crap. Ok, both of you, long story short Austin made a deal with someone in the Dark market to spy on Skylar. The same person asked him to spy on us he isn't don't worry. But she left behind this," I held up the dagger "And it looks like Skylars,"
"How are you sure?" Kevin asked.
"Its similar design to the rest of her blades in her dorm. Now come on, we need to get there," I said. Bell and Kevin, both still processing what I just explained, followed me to Austins dorm. When we arrived, my hand flew against the door like a jackhammer.
"Uh, one second!" I heard a loud crash coming from inside.
"Its Tracy. I found something interesting you should see,"
"Ok, just give me a seco-" I interrupted him by suddenly bursting into his room. Turns out, the reason he was asking me to stay out was that he was...in the middle of changing. He quickly grabbed his Wraith mask and hung it over his crotch, blushing furiously. I felt my cheeks reddening as well but talked anyway.
"We need to go to Arlium. Now,"
"What? First, you burst into my room and now you're telling me you need to go to Arlium?" 
"According to her, I think what she's trying to say is Skylar is...spying on us?" Kevin scratched his head, confused.
"No no no, I think she means uh, something about Skylar's blades being left behind?" Bell sounded equally confused as Kevin.
"Well someone who has a grasp on reality please tell me what's going on?" Austin asked, still holding the mask in place while trying to slip into underwear.
"The blade you picked up might be Skylars. But we can't be sure unless I match both blades side by side," I explained.
"Oh. Couldn't you just see if Skylar is missing a dagger or something?" He asked.
"Sure," I said "But we need to go to Arlium. Now,"
"Uh, alright. But you'll need to be bac by nightfall because you don't actually have any dorms to sleep in over there," Austin said "And do not accept any offers to stay in the dorm room with someone else. Trust absolutely no one,"
"Including you?" Bell asked.
"Most defini-I mean no, don't include me,"
"Kevin, can you get the robes to form your dorm?" Kevin had brought the robes back.
"I still got them right here," He said, putting two white and gold robes on Austin's bed. He had finally slipped into some clothes.
"Alright, you girls get changed. Kevin and I'll meet you by the shed,"

Bell's POV

"I don't like this," I complained "It's too tight,"
"Me neither," Tracy agreed "But we have to do this,"
We arrived at the shed. When Austin noticed me he immediately looked away, blushing furiously. Possibly harder than he was when we caught him changing.
"Ready?" Tracy pushed past him and stepped into the shed. The moment she opened the door rats and... fertilizer hit my nostrils. before Tracy went any further Kevin gave her a hug.
"Be careful," He whispered.
"I will," She said. Austin was now approaching me. We hugged and he said
"Alright. be back by one. Don't follow anyone into their dorms. Skylar might have astronomy so...I don't know. Look around the fields or a tower maybe. If you need backup, mentally contact me and I'll mobilize," I grinned.
"Austin, you sound like a cross between an army officer and a dad," I teased.
"Well, unlike a dad, I love you in a different way," He kissed me on the forehead "Be safe,"
I nodded and followed Tracy down the tunnel. We stepped through the portal and soon were at Arlium. We carefully climbed out of the bushes, which revealed a bright. The shining school made of quartz and gold. Tracy whistled in amazement. Tall spires dominated the skylines, their tips giving off a sense of possible supririority and calm. It looked almost like our school, except for the colour scheme and the architectural design. Otherwise, they almost resembled each other.
"Alright. I think its around nine or something, and hopefully, she has astronomy,"
"Where is she, anyway?" I asked.
"Uh, I don't exactly know. Lets... let's go search around,"
"In the meantime, can you please tell me what's up?"
"What do you mean?"
"I want to know what happened in the Dark market,"

We walked around for about an hour. For some reason, it wasn't that surprising that Austin had a alter ego named Wraith. Either that or I'm just really good at handling information. I wasn't mad at him. I just had a slight annoyance that he never told me.
Students were walking from their dorms up to the castle. Tracy leaned over and whispered.
"I think that's our best bet on finding Skylar if she has astronomy," I nodded. We followed the students. The inside looked like the outside. Grand, white and gold, and decorated beautifully. It was a breath from Lonerths stone corridors and dark colour scheme. We followed the students up, and up, and up until we stopped at a rather large balcony. Several large telescopes were placed around and a teacher was waiting for us.
"Hello class," She said.
"Hello Miss Luna," The class replied.
"Tonight, we are going to observe Mars's patterns. Everyone, pair up and head to a telescope,"
I followed Tracy to one, then realized we didn't have a textbook, pencils or anything. The more I thought about it the more I realized just how rushed this mission was. I walked over to the teacher.
"Uh, miss Luna, me and my partner forgot our textbooks and paperback at our dorms..."
"Oh, don't worry dear, just go over to those cupboards. I'm sure we have a couple of spare books and pencils you could use,"
That was...surprisingly easy. And nice. Normally you would get a death glare and get sent down to the library to find some. I got the materials from the cupboard and hurried back to Tracy.
"You know, Miss Luna is pretty nice," Tracy jumped a bit, surprised I was back so early. I told her what she said.
"Huh. Well, this is Arlium. A light school," Tracy went back to adjusting the telescope and I looked around. I soon spotted Skylar, her hair was in braids, and another girl bent behind a telescope near the balcony's edge. I touched Tracy and pointed to them.