Esadora had the strangest urge to counter Allecky’s statement but realized that the girl’s words weren’t exactly false. Whenever she passed those soldiers, they always gave her a glare, as if they really did hate her.

But they couldn’t. They didn’t even know her.

Except she was a witch. Or at least, she had been.

Though Esadora had never been very interested in her mother’s work as a Chamber Representative, she had heard her mother muttering to herself at times about how vampires hated witches. Once, she’d glanced at a report her mother had been writing. She’d merely looked over a few lines—

Unsurprisingly, vampires hold a great contempt for us and wizards…

So it wasn’t too hard to believe that vampires weren’t very fond of them.

“I thought that was pretty obvious,” Holly said, and Esadora let a humorless chuckle fall from her lips. “But I don’t know if we should leave.”

Allecky put a hand on her hip, one eyebrow arching. “So what? You want to stay here?”

“No! Of course not. I just…”

Allecky clenched her jaw. “You just what, Holly?”

Esadora stared at Allecky, not sure why she sounded so offended. “Okay, we get what you’re saying, but… could we—could we think over it?”

“Sure. Whatever.” Allecky rolled her eyes left the room, slamming the door shut.

Holly let out a sigh, sinking onto the bed. “I don’t know what to do.”

“What do you mean? Let’s leave.”

“And I want to, but if I leave, I’ll have to go back to Aster.”

Esadora sat next to her. “Isn’t that for the best?”

Holly shrugged. “Yes… and no. My mom kind of told me to get out of Aster. She said it was dangerous, and I shouldn’t tell my brother. So I didn’t, and I left. And now my brother’s missing.”

Oh.

"In that case, wouldn't it be better if you went to look for him?" Despite how the idea of Holly leaving hurt Esadora, she knew there was nothing for Holly here?

And how could she drag her to Esmeralda?

"I… I know. But every time I think about it, I feel so… hopeless." Holly faced away from Esadora, taking in deep breaths.

Esadora resisted the urge to hug Holly, not sure if she would appreciate it. Then the chance was gone, Holly looking back at her. "What happened with your interrogator?"

Esadora scoffed. "When she thought I was lying, she attacked me, just like Allecky's did. These people are fucking insane."

"Oh, my God," Holly said. "My interrogator was the same. What's wrong with them?"

"I have no idea. But I'm convinced now - we have to get the hell out of here as soon as possible. Let's go talk to Allecky."

It took fifteen minutes of searching before they were able to find Allecky. She sat outside against the wall of the Veharics' house.

She glanced up at them. "Finally come to your senses?"

Esadora rolled her eyes at her choice of words but nodded.

Allecky smiled, standing. "Good." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'd tell you guys my plan, but there are guards watching us."

Esadora's eyes widened. "What?"

"I didn't notice until I looked closely," Allecky said. "Then I saw a few stationed at the corners of the house. You guys have probably been seeing them a lot, but I just got here today. When other guards were dragging me into this place, there were none at the corners of the house. And now, there are some at the sides of your room door. Shouldn't be surprising since this is what that man in the suit said he'd do."

Esadora had noticed the guards in front of their room, and she hadn't forgotten about what Mr. Veharic had said, but it was still a little shocking to hear that she was being watched.

They all went back to the room, Allecky with a bounce in her step.

Esadora sighed. "Why are you so excited?"

"Because we can finally leave." Her voice was an eager whisper.

"Alright," Holly said with a chuckle. "What's the plan?"

Allecky stalked to the window, peering out. Holly and Esadora looked out as well. "It's nothing complicated. We're going to sneak out through the window, onto that ridge underneath the window, and drop to the ground. I can't promise that there won't be any sprained ankle."

"I'll go first," Holly said. "I know how to roll once I hit the ground."

Esadora raised an eyebrow. “The what? Me and Allecky jump into your arms?”

“Yeah.”

Allecky snorted. “No offense, Holly, but I don’t think you could catch either of us and stay standing.”

“It’s either that, or you guys break your legs down there.”

“Well, if you think you can handle it.” Allecky shrugged and walked to the desk at the other side of the room.

“What are you doing?” Esadora said, her and Holly following after her.

Allecky rummaged through the drawer at the bottom. “Those guards didn’t search me when they bought me in, but I was worried they eventually would, so when I came to your room, I hid all the trinkets I had on me in here.” She huffed in frustration, pulling out a satchel similar to the one Holly had had. She reached in and took out three different colored marbles.

“Um… why do you have marbles?” Holly said.

“These aren’t simply marbles—these are the fruit of my hard work as a thaumaturge!” Allecky held them up, as if presenting them to a greater power.

Esadora squinted at her, then at the marbles. “What?”

Allecky rolled her eyes. “I created these with magic, simultaneously infusing each with a different spell. Because I wove a spell within the creation, it’s a lot more than a marble. It’s made out of magic, and as long as it continues to have said magic, the spell inside of it can continue to be used. Use the spell one too many times, and the marble disappears.”

Esadora hadn’t known it was possible to create something with magic. It was a myth in Esmeralda.

“Once we’re all down there, I’ll take the guards out with these. Then we’ll get out of the Vampire Belt—tonight.”

“Tonight? Isn’t that a little fast?” Holly said, mouth set in a grimace.

Allecky shook her head. “I came here to warn Esadora about her mom, not tour around the Vampire Belt. Besides, that guy in the suit wants to use Esadora for something, and it probably means nothing good for Wirania or Aster. The sooner we’re out of here, the better.”

Esadora nodded.

Holly sighed, looking at the ground.

Allecky smiled. “Let’s meet here at midnight.”

At around ten, when she assumed most would be asleep, Esadora stalked around the Veharics’ house with careful steps, determined to find Leon. When Allecky had declared that they would be leaving, Esadora had become determined to confront Leon once and for all.

But he’d seemingly been avoiding her for the past week, and her resolve didn’t change how difficult he was to find. Under no circumstances would she check every room in the house—that was asking for trouble—so she had to think outside the box.

Had Leon really been avoiding her, or her avoiding him?

Or rather, the one hallway she had never seen in light.

What if Leon happened to stay in the part of the house that Esadora had automatically avoided like a storm?

And now, she stepped into that hall.

Unlike what she’d thought, it wasn’t pitch black in the hallway. Light slightly filtered through the curtain of the window at the end of the hall. There were three doors, one on the left wall, two on the right. The door on the left wall differed from the other two. Though it was hard to see, it had a deep carving at the top.

LV

Leon Veharic.

With a deep breath, she opened the door. It creaked a bit but not loudly. She stepped inside and shut it. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to how dark the room was. It had a window, but the curtains barely allowed any light to come through.

She shuffled toward the bed, making out a figure beneath the sheets.

She didn’t waste a second, throwing the thin blanket off of him and climbing on top of him, covering his mouth and nose with her hand. He stirred and soon began to struggle to breathe. His eyes snapped open, the immediate desperation in his eyes disappearing when he comprehended his situation.

His body tensed, and she leaped off of him right before he jumped off the bed. Her newfound speed was a shock to her, but she didn’t have time to marvel about it.

“Leon,” she said. “I don’t want to fight. I just want to ask a few questions.”

She couldn’t see his face as he said, “So you came into my room at night to ask me some questions?”

She flushed at his suggestive tone but kept her voice steady. “Yes. And I’ll be out of your business quickly if you just answer my questions. I’m sure you're tired.”

A moment of silence passed before he sat down, bed creaking. “Ask away.”

Esadora leaned against the desk across from his bed, calming her racing heartbeat. “Why did you bite me?”

“I was angry.”

She pushed away the irritation that bubbled up in her stomach. “Why were you angry? What would make you so angry that you would come all the way to Esmeralda just to bite me?”

He chuckled. “Don’t flatter yourself. I had a much greater ambition than that, but sometimes things don’t work out as planned.”

“And what was this ambition?”

“None of your business.”

She sighed. “When you… bit me, you said, “I just want to cause you a lot of pain. Why? What did I do to you?”

He didn’t answer for a minute or so, every beat of silence causing Esadora to regret this more and more. “You really don’t know?”

“I not only don’t know—I don’t think I actually did anything. If you have a grudge against witches, whatever! But I didn’t personally do anything to you! Why do I have to suffer?” Esadora hadn’t realized she was stepping closer to him until she was only a foot in front of him, staring down at his indistinct figure.

He stood, towering over her, and Esadora refused to step back, instead crossing her arms.

"Originally," he started, "you weren't going to be a part of this. Despite your ties to certain people, you didn't actually do anything. But, like I said, things didn't go as planned, and I was angry, so I thought, Who else can I hurt that actually deserves it? And I thought of you. You're a snobby, magical little rich bitch who thinks she's better than everyone else. And you have relations to the Chamber. But at the end of the day, you're inconsequential. So I chose you. I actually feel a little bad about it, but-"

Esadora punched him.

He didn't go flying across the room like she'd hoped, but his face did snap to the side. She didn't stay to see how he'd react, dashing out of the room as fast as she could.

Which was way faster than she thought.

Surprisingly, Leon didn't come after her - thank God - and she bounded up the stairs, hyped up on adrenaline. She slammed into something she couldn’t even see, and whatever—whoever it was person grabbed her wrist and pulled her up before she could fall.

Before Esadora could freak out, the person said, "It's me, Holly. I've been-"

"I can't even see you!"

"I got Allecky to cast an invisibility spell on me."

"Why?"

"I want to sneak into Mr. Veharic's office."

"What? Why?"

Holly scoffed. "My satchel might be in there, and it has my wand and my book of spells. I know I'm terrible at magic, but I don't really want to have to shoot anyone instead."

"Okay…" Esadora nodded slowly. "But why were you looking for me?"

"His office is kind of big, and the clock is ticking."

"Fine," she said, "but I'm getting Allecky to cast a spell on me too."

She walked past Holly and to their room. Allecky sat on their bed, blue light from the window dimming the bursts of dark green light coming from her hands.

"Are you… playing with pure magic?" Esadora said. "That's dangerous."

Allecky laughed. "Yeah, but it's pretty."

Esadora rolled her eyes. "If you say so. Can you cast an invisibility spell on me?"

The frizzy-haired girl glanced up at her. "First Holly, now you? What are you guys doing?"

"Sneaking into Mr. Veharic's office."

Allecky shook her head. "That is what's dangerous. Are you a child?"

Esadora put her hands on her hips. "Says the one playing with pure magic."

"Yeah, well, I'm seventeen, so I have the maturity needed to handle pure magic, unlike a certain fifteen-year-old about to break into an office."

Esadora cocked her head. "How do you know how old I am?"

Allecky shrugged. "You're famous. And I got curious and looked you up. And now I know how old you are."

Famous? "Whatever. Just cast the spell."

Allecky pulled out her wand and pointed it at Esadora. "Envislin!"

The electric feeling of magic zipping over her body was familiar and welcome. But it reminded her of the invisibility spell she'd used the night Leon had bitten her, and the good feeling faded.

“Thank you,” she said to Allecky.

Allecky didn’t spare her a second look, already playing with her pure magic again. “Get back here by midnight.”

Esadora sighed and left the room. She scanned the area, not seeing anyone. It was a little silly, but she’d thought she’d be able to see Holly if she was invisible too. A hand grasped her wrist.

“Come on,” Holly said, dragging her along. She pushed straight into Mr. Veharic’s office.

The gigantic window behind the equally large desk bathed everything in blue light, giving the room a strange feeling. Esadora set to the bookshelves, hearing Holly’s footsteps toward his desk. Despite how spacious Mr. Veharic’s office was, there wasn’t much there, and no place she could imagine him putting Holly’s satchel than in his desk.

Honestly, Holly might have just asked her to come here for company.

“So, where were you?” Holly said.

Esadora peered between two books. “What do you mean?”

“Before I found you.”

Esadora sighed. “I was confronting Leon.”

“...Are you serious?” Holly said, her ruffling pausing. “What if he’d, I don’t know, killed you!”

Even though Esadora didn’t have many good things to say about Leon, she really didn't think he'd kill her. She didn't say this to Holly, however, considering she didn't have anything to indicate that he wouldn't kill her. He'd been nothing but rude and violent toward her. A little apologetic, yet not enough that he actually regretted it.

She just shook her head.

Holly sighed. “Well, I can’t really tell you not to do it again. Just don’t act like an idiot again, please?”

“What? I wasn’t—”

“Oh, would you look at that—I found my satchel. Let’s get out of here.”

Esadora rolled her eyes and opened the door. She peered in both directions and found a guard coming straight toward her.

She closed the door.