#no because i think we all get the armour being glass or Snow White necromancer instinctually but

[werewolfpdfs]

if u guys weren’t so busy condemning the princesses for their murder suicide pact we could talk about cinderella’s glass armour and rapunzel’s spy hair

[passiveplayersonly]

Chapter 8

The next two days had passed by without further incident and I would have considered myself all but safe, but there was a nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that the route would not allow itself to be resolved so easily. This consideration was further cemented by the fact that since Tuesday I had gotten the uneasy feeling that I was being watched.

 Unfortunately with Felicity now in my life it was a feeling that was becoming all too common.

 The Vampire hadn’t shown herself for some time, however, and I wasn’t entirely convinced that it was her. Though I couldn’t say I knew her particularly well, she did not seem like one to simply observe. She liked to be in the middle of things.

 What an annoying trait.

 My paranoia made it near impossible to pay attention at school. This wasn’t aided at all by Ms. Enni. She had been on edge all week. Her normally cheerful temperament had been replaced by a rather jumpy and agitated personality. Though, to be entirely fair, that might have been because of Emi.

 Emi.

 My eyes drifted towards Emi’s empty seat. True to her texts Emi had indeed been late to school. So late she had actually not shown up. Nor had she shown up the next day. It wasn’t until earlier this morning that she had finally bothered to stop by the school with nothing but a hand written note signed by her mom, with handwriting that looked suspiciously like her own, along with a fair amount of band-aids and bandages covering her body. She had been quickly dragged to the administration’s office despite her protests. Her loud protests.

 I sighed and turned my attention out the window. The skies were growing dark already, a storm front moving in from the west. The clouds were heavy with rain but had yet to open. A frown tugged at the corner of my mouth. I hadn’t bothered to bring my umbrella today.

 The weatherman had assured that the chance of rain was almost nonexistent.

 The weathermen are never right. I don’t know why I continue to believe what they say.

 “Asher, are you alright?”  

 I looked up to find Ms. Enni standing over my desk, staring down at me through her thick-glasses. I hadn’t noticed until today but her eyes were a dazzling shade of green. For a moment I had the strangest feeling in the back of my mind before I realized I had been silent for too long.

 “Huh? Oh, Yes, Sorry. I was just thinking it might rain.”

 I turned my eye back to the window. Ms. Enni followed my gaze.

 “It has gotten dark. You should hurry home before it starts to come down.”

 Hurry home? My eyes glanced to the clock. The school day was indeed over. Not only that, but I was the only person still in the room. How had that happened?

 “Yeah… Sorry.”

 Ms. Enni looked down at me with a soft smile. The feeling returned, again only for the briefest of moments.

 “Are you worried about something?”

  Was I worried about something? To be quite honest I was worried about just about everything and more, but that wasn’t something I was going to burden Ms. Enni with. Actually, even this interaction was unfortunate. As considerate as I’m sure Ms. Enni was being as an instructor, getting the attention of a teacher was not something I wanted. Attention, positive or negative, is still a dangerous thing. It leads to that teacher taking a ‘special interest’ in your life. I would prefer it if no one took a special interest in anything about me.

 I shook my head.

 “Not really.”

 “Are you sure? I’m sure you’ve heard about Emi.”

 “I think the entire school heard that scream.”

 “Well I don’t want you to worry, she’s not actually injured… well that injured. She just has some scrapes and bruises. The school sent her home with her mother. I’m sure everything is okay.”

 I nodded, though personally I was sure Emi had just done something extremely stupid. No doubt I would get to enjoy a good part of my night hearing all about it when Emi inevitably called me. Or showed up at my house.

 “Well, I’ll be going, then.”

 I stood up, grabbing my pack and slinging it over my shoulder. I was just to the door when I heard Ms. Enni call out to me.

 “Asher.”

 I turned around.

 “Yes?”

 Ms. Enni stared at me for a long moment before smiling and shaking her head.

 “Stay dry! Don’t want you to catch a cold!”

 The smile she gave me was forced, like every one I had seen on her face this week. The smile I gave her back was just as fake, but it seemed to be enough as she gave me a wave and I left the room.

 The school hadn’t yet cleared out completely, with some people hanging back to talk with friends and others scurrying to their clubrooms.

 It was here when I again felt like someone was watching me.

 Despite the feeling I did my best to keep my walk natural, heading straight to the exit of the school and stepping out into the thick, humid midday air. Taking a moment to look around, and seeing nothing, I let out a soft breath and began on my way home.

 There were quite a few ways to get to my home, but with whatever was quite possibly following me I decided to take the shortest route.

 “Asher!”

 I clenched my teeth as the familiar voice of Harlow Loques reached my ears. My shoulders involuntarily hunched for a moment before I was able to catch myself. Turning around to cover for the action I was met by the unimpressed glower of the student council president, staring down at me from the entry way of the school.

 “Hello, Harlow.”

 She marched down the steps towards me, her arms clasps behind her back.

 “Are you heading home?”

 “Trying to.”

 Harlow looked up at the sky.

 “I see. Well, it appears it is going to rain.”

 I nodded.

 “Looks that way.”

 “Well then… Here. If you are going to walk you will be needing this.”

 Harlow brought her arms around and shoved something into my chest. I barely caught it as she quickly pulled back, returning her hands behind her back.

 It was an umbrella. A rather fancy one at that. Long and with a hook made out of dark wood. Her initials were embossed in gold against the wood. I vaguely wondered what her middle name was, considering I didn’t know many names that started with Q.

 I looked up at her.

 “Oh, thanks but I don’t live that fa-”

 Harlow cut me off. She was very good at doing that. I felt a pang of sympathy for anyone who ever had to deal with her in an official capacity. I imagined it was much worse.

 “Nonsense. If you are walking in the rain you could easily catch a cold. That is unacceptable.”

 “But if I have this then you will get wet.”

 “I have other methods of transportation to return home. Remember, as President it is my duty to watch out for my constituents. Furthermore you are my junior. As your elder I cannot allow you to leave unprepared.”

 That was a lot of reasons. More than I cared to debate, not that I thought I could actually win the debate.

 “Oh… Alright. Thank you?”

 Harlow nodded and turned around, making her way back up the steps.

 “Think nothing of it. You may return it to me at your earliest convenience.”

 I watched her go, slightly bemused for a moment before I pulled myself together and again made my way towards my home. This time I actually managed to leave the school grounds proper.

 The shorter route home was actually somewhat off putting, as it required me to pass by a graveyard. Now I have nothing against graveyards, personally. But due to circumstances outside of my control when I pass one I become quite nervous. To most people a graveyard is nothing more than just that, a yard full of graves. To me, it represents more routes that I even want to think of listing.

 Let’s not even get started on what a necromancer can do with one either.

 Today did not cause any issue, though, and I was able to make my way right on by. This actually lifted my spirits somewhat.

 Unfortunately it was only moments later that my hopes of a quiet day were dashed quite expertly. I was only three blocks away from the safety of my home when someone stepped onto the sidewalk in front of me, blocking my path. Her red eyes focused on me with an intensity that I was fully incapable of matching.

 “Asher Mara of House 1308 Bitter Ave. I have come to challenge you!”

 My shoulders slumped as Snow stomped towards me. She almost looked like any other high school girl, with her black pants and long white jacket. I say almost because the illusion was shattered by the pieces of armour she had strapped over her clothing.

 I held up my hand and gave a small wave.

 “Hello.”

 Snow stopped in front of me.

 “I have come to challenge you!”

 “Yeah, you said that already.”

  “Prepare yourself.”

 I rested the tip of Harlow’s umbrella on the ground and leaned on it for support. Might as well start by trying to talk my way out of this. I had absolutely no doubt that if I ran that Snow would be able to catch me.

 “We can’t just fight in the middle of a neighborhood.”

 “I have already set a Boundary here. No one shall disturb our battle.”

 “A what?”

 Snow’s face grew incredulous.

 “How small is your house if you don’t even know what a Boundary is? Is this some kind of ploy? Do you take me a fool?”

 “No, I really have no idea what you are talking about.”

 “A Boundary keeps those who do not share the blood of the ancients from entering the battlefield. A liminal space where the damage we do to this world will not be felt by those who exist in it. It is small, unlike those cast by the Elders, but it is more than enough for single combat.”

 While I couldn’t be sure, having never taken the time to trace my family tree back all the way to the source, I was confident I did not have any ‘blood of the ancients’ running through my veins. Somehow, I felt information like that would have come up during a family gathering at least once.

 Still, it wasn’t like I didn’t believe her. It seemed like something the universe would allow to keep everything balanced.

 The Universe is a dick.  

 “Well… That’s convenient.”

 “Now, prepare yourself!”

 “I am not prepared.”

 Snow smiled. A cold smile. Reaching into her pocket she drew out a small crystal and tossed it to me. I caught it more on reaction than actual thought. If I had been thinking I would have let it pass right on by.

  “With that you may summon any weapon you wish. Simply think whatever weapon you wish and it shall be summoned. Consider it a gift from the House of White to the House of 1301 Bitter Ave.”

 I continued to stare at the crystal as Snow drew her sword and leveled it in front of her. Her stance was strong and confident. After seeing her abilities in the park the other day I wouldn’t say it was a false confidence.  

 “Oh… Wow… Thanks. So uh, I’m guessing there is no way you’re going to just let me walk out of here, right? Can I just surrender?”  

 “No! I have defeated the Champion from the House of Black and yet the Light of the Divine did not shine upon me. As you are the only other candidate in the park that day, clearly the Light of the Divine is waiting for a true victor to emerge. To prove myself I must defeat you in true combat!”

 At no point during her rambling explanation was there anything that I would have I have personally described as “clearly” defined, but again as she had a sword I wasn’t particularly incentivized to vocalize that to her. Even less so as she leapt forward and brought her sword down towards me.

 I took a quick step back and avoided the blade. Snow was not deterred as she stepped forward and swept upwards. I dodged to the side, again avoiding the blade before I hopped back a few more feet.

 Snow bared her teeth at me, taking her sword in both hands and raising it high above her head.

 “Coward!”

 She surged forward, the sword coming down in a graceful arc towards me head. A quick sidestep allowed me to keep myself in a single piece. Snow growled and swung her arm towards me, her armored fingers curled like a claw. I was not fully prepared for that and winced as sharpened tips of her gauntlets sliced through my jacket, just barely missing my skin.

 A deep frown set on my face as I looked at the damaged fabric. That would pretty much mean a full replacement. I would have to adjust my clothing budget later.

 Snow’s sword came back around and my fingers tightened around the crystal in my fist. Dealing with this with nothing more than an umbrella wasn’t going to work.

 ‘CLANG’

 Snow bounced back a step as her sword slammed against the heater shield that had formed around my left arm. It was actually smaller than I had been hoping for, but something is better than nothing.

 “A shield? Do you mock me? Are you so confident?”

 I knocked her next thrust away with the shield, angling myself to the side to keep as much of my precious body protected by the shield as I could.

 “I actually just really don’t want to fight. I want to go home.”

 “You have no choice in the matter! Now, I shall end this!”

 I wanted to disagree but Snow did not allow the conversation to continue as she abruptly swung her sword towards me. I blocked, but the blow had more power than I had expected. My bones ached as I was sent skidding to the side before catching myself.

Snow gave chase. Her sword had ignited into a brilliant white that was almost painful to look at. Unfortunately, look at it I had to. As I braced myself against an onslaught of attacks I watched as her sword came up again and again to rain down increasingly powerful swings.

 With every strike against my shield Snow yelled.  

 “This is my right! This is my Path! I shall not fail!”

 I really didn’t want her to fail. You never want the ‘good guy’ to fail. Honestly, she seemed like a very committed, maybe a touch overly so, young woman. I’m sure she was only doing this because she believed it was the best course of action. With that said, I also really, really, really didn’t want her to stab me with a sword.

 As she brought her shimmering blade up for another attack I glanced tot eh left, then the right, before letting out a deep breath.  

 I was ready to go home.

 I flung my shield arm up just before Snow’s blade began to come down. With no power behind the strike she was sent stumbling off balance. As she slid her right foot back to catch herself I dropped low and hooked her right ankle with the handle of Harlow’s umbrella.

 Already in an awkward position, a quick tug was more than enough to topple Snow over. As she hit the ground I dropped the shield and began to back up. Snow was back on her feet in an instant, her sword held high over her head as she charged at me, mouth opening in a war shout…

 And she stopped.

 “You coward!”

 I shrugged as I stared back at her through the veil of the Boundary. The colors inside were muted, but it was easy enough to see through. Snow paced back and forth like a caged tiger, her eyes narrowed, but she made no attempts to chase after me.

 I didn’t think she would. If she had been restrained enough to create a Boundary in the first place I had been then she wasn’t the type of person who would attack me outside of one. I gave her a slight nod of my head and continued, at a slightly faster pace, towards my home.

 Behind me I heard a scream of anger.  

 “This isn’t over!”

 My hand reached down into my pocket and I drew my phone. Snow was right about that.

 I was already in day 3.