Once upon a Midnight | BOOK I

Eleven

It was Hilda Ackles who spoke. She stepped into the hallway in her perfect figure. As she walked closer, wisps flowed from the corridor into the hallway and Nicolas stopped glowing as the wisps replaced him as the source of light. Hilda was wearing a white blouse, black fitted skirt, and her sunlight hair was left to flow down her back like actual rays of sunlight.

Her lips which were lined with impeccable lip liner, thinned into a tight frown, and her eyes were raised up in amusement, as I and Nicolas began to pour out a poorly cooked lie at her. Nicolas said that I was searching for Midnight without knowing that he was with him, hunting castle rats. However, Hilda seemed pleased by the fact that we got rid of the shadows that plagued the hallway. We carefully left out details about how that happened and did our best in hiding the box I found from Hilda.

"The next time you're found in restricted areas, you'll be punished severely," she said. "Irrespective of who you are," she added with her green eyes on Nicolas. "Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," I answered while Nicolas nodded.

She placed the back of her palm on her head like a damsel in distress and said, "By the gods, you should be preparing for the next trial, not chasing rats and cats around the castle. You don't want to end up dead, do you?" She beamed with a smile.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" I muttered.

"I beg your pardon." The smile on Hilda's face disappeared. "Did you say something, Miss Aldrich?"

"Why do people have to die? Can't you select powerful sorcerers to cast the spell without any death?" I asked the one question that had been bothering me since Christine's death. I've been trying my best to get it off my mind, because if there was one thing I knew as an excommunicate, it's not to question the sorcery council, let alone the sorcery world leaders.

"Miss Aldrich, we are not accountable for Miss Lopez's death in any way," Hilda began with her well-bred British accent. She walked towards me slowly. "You should know that the only difference between a powerful sorcerer and a weak sorcerer is death."

"What kind of twisted thinking is that?"

"Kim," Nicolas warned. Hilda held up her hand to silence him.

"It's general knowledge for all sorcerers. Well, it's no surprise that your mother didn't teach you that," she said, placing more emphasis on 'mother'.

"You know nothing about my mother, Hilda," I bit out with as much venom as I could muster in my voice.

"Oh! You'll be surprised. And by the way, dear, next time call me 'Auntie Hilda'. This is what I get when my niece is raised among mortals," she said sternly.

"Niece?" I said in disbelief.

"Kim, she's your mother's elder sister," Nicolas said.

"Wha–?"

"Off you go," Auntie Hilda scoffed and snapped her fingers. I and Nicolas were immediately teleported out of the hallway. We materialised in another hallway I didn't recognize, but that was far from the least of my worries. It made more sense the more I thought about it. Hilda's blonde hair, her green eyes, and even her build was just like Mum's. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten that my mum's maiden name was Ackles.