Halls of Splintered Souls (Wandering Souls #1)

Chapter Sixteen

"This is stupid," I told Ayn as she opened the door to Professor Cain's office, "and reckless. Stupid and reckless. I don't know why I agreed to this."

"Shut up, you're making me nervous," she replied as she pushed the door open.

Ayn had come up with the idea of looking up the spirit grimoire after I theorized about our tether being each other. This time, the two of us had enough brains to think a little more rationally. We weren't going to steal the book or rip out the pages, we were just going to take pictures of it.

"What if she comes back while you were in there?" I asked her.

"Just tell her I was putting the papers I sorted in her filing cabinets, or whatever, be creative," she told me and closed the door in my face.

I was left alone in the corridor, trying to act natural as students passed me by. This is so, so stupid. How much trouble would we end up in if we were caught? No, how much danger would we end up in if we were caught? Would we even find the answers in the grimoire? This was such a stupid idea!

My hands were sweating as I tapped my foot impatiently, then started pacing. What was taking her so long? What should I do if Professor Cain comes back?

Be creative?

How do I be creative when I'm panicking?

"Why are you pacing back and forth in front of Professor Cain's office?"

My eyes widened, I turned around to face the familiar voice. "Adrien! Thank God!"

"Uh... why?" he looked confused. I couldn't blame him.

I blanked, trying to come up with an excuse, but nothing came up. Instead, I just gaped at him stupidly. I was just glad it was Adrien and not anyone else. They would have caught on right away that I was up to something. Adrien, on the other hand, probably just thought I was being dumb again.

"I'd love to wait for you to gather your thoughts, but I have to grab Professor Cain's teaching materials," he said as he reached for the doorknob.

I wasn't fast enough to stop him as I was a few steps away from the door while he was right in front of it. "Adrien, no!"

Ayn looked up as Adrien opened the door and I tried to stop him. She was still holding her phone as the camera comically flashed. Oh, no.

"Aya, I told you to keep watch!" Ayn saw Adrien then looked to me with exasperation.

I held up my hands. "You know I'm terrible at that!"

"What are you doing?" Adrien asked Ayn. "Why are you taking pictures of my family's spirit grimoire?"

Ayn and I shared a look. "Your family's spirit grimoire? I thought this belonged to Professor Cain?"

All three of us stood in confusion. This was getting ridiculous. Professor Cain could walk in any minute and we wouldn't be able to explain what the hell we were doing, especially with the grimoire out in the open like that.

"I think we should talk about this somewhere else," I piped up.

Ayn sighed. "You're right. Come on, Adrien. Let's talk outside."

***

Yes, sometimes I could be a bit daft. Ayn also had her shares of ignorance. But this was beyond either of our imagination. How were we supposed to know that Professor Cain was Adrien's aunt?

"Well, great aunt, actually. And she's estranged. It's not like she ever visits for the holidays. She barely acknowledged me as anything other than her student." He explained as we sat in the garden.

"And you didn't think telling me about this was important?" Ayn stared at him with disbelief.

"It wasn't relevant? What difference does it make?" he said with a shrug.

Ayn groaned in exasperation. "You're unbelievable."

This changes everything. Adrien might actually help in solving whatever mystery we were facing. He might know something about Professor Cain. Well, I guess it did turn out for the better after all. No matter how weird it was.

"If you don't mind me asking," I slowly began, preparing my first question, "why was she estranged?"

"No idea, it happened long before I was born," replied Adrien casually

That earned him a glare from Ayn who proceeded to hit his arm. "What kind of answer is that?"

"You really don't know anything?" I asked again.

I mean, Professor Cain was a member of the council and the fact that she was estranged from her family is extremely strange. Adrien was our most reliable informant as of now. It was disappointing if he couldn't give any useful insight.

Adrien squinted his eyes. "Why are you guys so interested in the grimoire and Professor Cain anyway?"

Ayn and I shared a look. If Adrien was Professor Cain's family, it made him slightly less trustworthy. It felt odd to place my suspicion on him. He has been nothing but kind and helpful to the two of us since the beginning. To think that he was responsible for any of these freak shows felt like betraying him in a way.

Before I could say anything, Ayn grabbed Adrien's hand. "Swear on your mother and her mother before her that you will never betray us."

Adrien looked taken aback. He was not expecting that. To be fair, neither was I. I haven't decided if telling him was a good idea, but Ayn looked like she made up her mind. I trust her judgment most of the time. Even though a lot of times I ignore whatever advice she gave me.

The three of us were silent for a while as Ayn stared at Adrien expectantly. I was beginning to worry that Adrien might know something somehow. The fact that he took his time to swear that he would never betray us made my fear set even faster.

"I swear it, I will never betray you." Adrien's eyes softened. "I wouldn't have betrayed you even without the vow, Ayn. I'm hurt that you might have thought otherwise."

There was a tenderness in his voice when he spoke to Ayn that I was noticing for the first time. It felt like I was witnessing a declaration of his feelings. I glanced at Ayn, seeing that she was completely oblivious to the obvious longing in Adrien's eyes.

Knowing my sister, she most likely did not return his feelings. It was sad to witness, but it was obvious to me from the start that Ayn was never serious with him. Ayn said nothing but nodded at his response.

I cleared my throat. "So, um... remember that accident I mentioned?"

Adrien snapped out of his melancholic state and flashed his usual smile. It seemed forced and ingenuine, like he was hiding his disappointment. I ignored the pity I felt and continued my explanation.

"It happened years ago. I almost died. Ayn somehow knew what was happening to me even though she didn't even know where I was. She said she felt weak and felt like her power was diminishing. I thought it was similar to the feeling of people who are away from their tether."

"That's what you meant by you are each other's tether?" he asked, starting to catch on.

"Yes, it might be that as Aya's soul was leaving her body as she was dying, I was losing my tether, which caused my power to weaken," Ayn confirmed.

Adrien nodded, finally understanding. "You were looking for answers in the grimoire."

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I might have found a way to test our theory," Ayn said with a smile.

I perked up when I heard it. We haven't actually talked about what she found in the grimoire. We were distracted by Adrien's arrival to the scene of the crime. I was excited to hear what she had to say.

"What are we going to do?" I asked her.

Ayn bit her lip then replied. "One of us will have to die."