Pretending To Be Gilead's Prince and Master Wizard

Despite the fact that we only have two days before the start of the holiday season, our teachers are already in holiday spirits by means of letting us off early by not meeting us in person and only assigning us things to do for today.

"That is all. Just be sure to pass your assignments tomorrow at my office. You're dismissed." Mr. Wimbshaw, our last-period teacher, said with a straight face and took his leave once he was done giving us homework.

It sounded like great news to us that our teacher won't be using his time, again, to discuss a topic. We hurriedly stuffed our things inside our bag so that we could get out of here as quickly as possible and meet up with Alex at his house while wearing some disguise in the process.

"You look like you are all in such a hurry."

Just as we already left the classroom, we froze into our places right away after hearing that intriguing voice of our class president. His footsteps are getting louder and louder by the time he gets nearer in our direction.

"What seems to be the rush, girls?"

Ariella was the one who faced him begrudgingly and answered, "It's actually none of your business."

Sighing, the class president then said, "Yeah, you're right. It is actually none of my business so carry on with whatever you're up to."

I don't know if it is just me or what, but the class president sounded like he already has an idea where we are headed?!

"Come on now Krisella. Don't mind him." Maggie says and pulls my hand but I didn't budge. It's my turn now to spin around and face him. I kind of recalled Alex's words again inside my head about having backups in our group, and the class president seems to be a guy who is both good at magic and is trustworthy as well.

"I have something to say to you…" I trailed off and carefully observed his confused reaction. "So I wanted you to come with us and we will explain everything to you… that is, if you are up for something challenging?"

There was a smug look on his face for a while as he crossed his arms and replied, "You know me, I am always up for challenges."

"Good," I said. "Come on then."

***

Alex seemed a bit surprised to see I brought along some new faces in our small group once I arrived at his house. He's a bit morbid about having some strangers into our plan, but I also can tell that he is somehow glad that we are growing in numbers.

Right after classes and after I explained everything to our class president, he immediately agreed to join our group to take down Lancelot and the dark wizards who are about to take over Gilead a few days from now. It took us a while for me to introduce my comrades to Alex before we headed straight on right through planning.

Alex has already mentioned once that I need to blend in to the crowd by pretending to be one of the maids. But since my friends are joining us as well, then they needed to pretend to be maids as well alongside me. He and Lady Margaret would still act naturally in front of Lancelot so that he wouldn't suspect a thing, and the class president could pretend to be one of the butlers on the event.

Once the mood is set, me and my friends would sneak out of the crowd and find the source of the plague which could be in the castle's backyard according to Alex's hypothetical guess. He said that maybe somewhere in there is where the body of Salazar was secretly buried by one of Lancelot's descendants in the past.

I shuddered at the thought that maybe my friends and I would encounter his brother, Raven, for the second time around. The first time I encountered him was when all of us went to Citrus Town, and I felt that kind of chill inside as I stared at those hollow eyes of his. Raven is like an empty shell of a man, though he may have a body like ours, his soul is somewhere not there any longer.

"Don't worry," Alex must have seen the frightened look that must have reflected with what I am currently thinking and gently patted my right shoulder. "As soon as we have incapacitated Lancelot and his troops, I will come right away to your aid. Everything is going to be alright, Krisella."

Sighing, I tried to be calm but ended up being obvious in front of him. "I… I don't know what I will do in case I will have to deal with Raven. He is a powerful wizard, no doubt about that. But I… I just turned to being a rank A wizard."

"Hey, you don't have to be hard on yourself, I've trained you, remember?" Alex blankly looked at me and gently poked me in the head. "Ranks don't really matter, but skill does. I've seen you grow and improved on your skills, so you may as well do good there."

"But still…"

"And as I have said earlier, I will be there as fast as I can to help."

I tilted my head down for me to stop showing the doubt I had within myself. It's not that I doubt his words, but I doubt my own capacity.

"You will also have us," Ariella said proudly to somehow help me cheer up. "We've got the highest marks in the last magic skills test, remember?"

I know that the actual battlefield and the staged magic skills test are two different things, but I never had spoken this out loud and instead turned to face my friends and smiled at them.

"Thanks guys," I said, still smiling. "I know that as long as we have each other, nothing could stop us from accomplishing anything."

"Yeah, that's right." Alex agreed. "Not Lancelot, nor Raven… not even their leader Salazar."

As I shifted my gaze to face Alex, I happened to catch a glimpse of Lady Margaret's troubled face since she is now standing behind the captain. Once she saw me looking in her direction, Lady Margaret immediately turned away and walked away from here.

That got me guilty. I know she had first known Alex before me and it seems that I am taking him away from her, but I also know that it is for the lad to decide whether to choose me or choose her and that I don't have anything to do with that. But if I really wanted for this group to stay solid until the day that we are going to take the plan into action, I have to reach out to this girl and clarify things with her.

With these thoughts running into my mind, I looked at the small group of people standing before me and said, "Excuse me for a moment guys."

I didn't wait for their reactions and just went outside to catch up with Lady Margaret. I had to say, she is one fast walker huh. When I left the room, she was already nowhere to be found in the hallways.

After walking around for a bit, I finally saw Lady Margaret seated in the small hammock that was placed in between two poles in the front porch of Alex's house. She looked like she was in some serious thinking, that is until she noticed my presence and lifted her head up as she casted a confused look in my direction.

"Why are you here? I thought you are not yet done with your planning." Lady Margaret said it in a slightly spiteful way as she frowned.

"Yes, you are right. We aren't done yet…" I said and crossed my arms over my chest. "Yet I also saw you walking away from the room and coming all the way here."

"That is actually none of your business…"

"Oh, okay."

After treating me in a despicable manner, I don't think I could deal with this girl any longer. Forget my hopes of making this group a solid one until the end. Blah! I'm going back now to our 'planning'.

Frowning, I was just about to turn around and go back to our group when I heard this girl spoke all of a sudden.

"I guess I cannot have Alex back, huh?" I heard her say that caused me to face her once more. There was this genuine sadness in her eyes that makes me want to comfort her as well, but I don't know how.

"I deserved it anyway, after I left him devastated after leaving the country to chase after my dreams. I thought at that time we will never have a future together, like my father always told me before."

"I…" I tried to speak, but what exactly would I say? 'I'm sorry because I stole your boyfriend from you?' (Come on, we really don't have time for this!)

She carried on, but this time Lady Margaret looked me straight in the eye and said, "It's up to you now to take care of him. Show him the love that I haven't shown when we were still together, in that way I would be relieved to leave him in some great hands."

"Alex is not a child, you know…" I don't mean to be rude, but what exactly does she think of Alex? Geez. "But yeah, I will do that. You can count on me."