Melisa burst through the doors leading to the upper courtyard, her cheeks flushed.
She'd checked the botanical gardens, the dining hall, and even the stupid fountain where couples went to make stupid wishes about their stupid love lives. No sign of her sister or Isabella anywhere.
[Hmm...] Melisa wondered, panic rising in her chest. [Where would an oversexed kitsune with no filter and a penchant for mischief take my impressionable little sister?]
The answer hit her like a bucket of ice water.
"Shit."
She took off running toward the infamous willow grove. A secluded spot behind the advanced spellcasting building where students went to practice "extracurricular activities" of the... horizontal variety. It was so famous that even Melisa and her friends knew about it, even though they mostly kept to themselves. Over the last year, Isabella had dragged Melisa there once, claiming it had "the best view of hot upperclassmen" on campus.
Sure enough, as Melisa rounded the corner, she spotted them: Isabella and Hazel, crouched behind a flowering bush, peering at a group of older students lounging on the grass nearby.
"Now watch closely," Isabella was saying in a hushed tone. "See how Lenra keeps touching her hair? That's a dead giveaway. She's totally into him."
"Ooooh," Hazel whispered, eyes wide with fascination. "What about her fluffy tail? Why does she keep flicking it like that?"
"Because she's a kitsune with game, baby girl! That's how we signal interest without being too obvious. For nim like you, it's all about the subtle horn tilt." Isabella demonstrated, angling her head slightly. "See? It says 'I'm available but discerning.'"
"ISABELLA!" Melisa hissed, dropping to a crouch beside them. "What the HELL do you think you're doing?"
Isabella didn't even have the decency to look guilty.
"Giving your sister some essential life skills. You're welcome." She grinned, tail swishing behind her. "Figured I'd start her early so she doesn't end up as socially constipated as you were when you first got here."
"I was not—" Melisa began, then cut herself off with a growl. "She's NINE!"
"Exactly!" Isabella nodded sagely. "Prime learning age. I was already flirting circles around people when I was her age." She waved a hand.
Melisa had no idea what to say to that.
[These kitsune, man...]
Hazel tugged at Melisa's sleeve.
"Sis, don't be mad. Isabella's just teaching me how to talk to people. She says all nim need to know this stuff."
Melisa's anger deflated slightly as she took in those words. Specifically, she remembered all too well how unprepared she'd been for nim puberty.
It had been, without mincing words, awful. It started when she was 13 and Margaret had asked her to go buy some bread around the corner. At that point, even the faintest touch or whiff of any good, feminine scent sent Melisa into a frenzy.
Now, thinking about it, it came to her that Melisa herself never really learned how to deal with it. In fact, she mostly managed to make it through the next five years by remaining locked in her room, until last year when she met Armia and Raven and Isabella and so on. Anytime Margaret or Melistair tried to have the talk, Melisa would brush it off, saying she was doing fine when she really wasn't.
And, yes, that meant that for five long years, Melisa had been utterly hopeless.
If Isabella had been around, if Melisa had taken advantage of Margaret's talks, maybe those first awkward years wouldn't have been quite so... well, awkward.
[Still,] Melisa thought, [there's a time and place.]
"Come on," she sighed, taking Hazel's hand. "We're going back to the library. Isabella, you're on thin ice."
"What? Why? I didn't even get to all the juicy stuff, I swear!" Isabella protested, scrambling to follow them. "I wasn't going to tell her about the tongue thing until she was at least twelve!"
"The tongue—never mind, I don't want to know," Melisa said firmly. "Let's just get back before you corrupt her any further."
---
As they walked, Isabella chattered away about the upcoming spring festival, apparently oblivious to Melisa's lingering irritation.
"—and I've already started planning our costumes. I'm thinking you could be the Moon Goddess, with this gorgeous silver gown that's just sheer enough to—"
"Isabella," Melisa interrupted, "you do remember we discussed my little sister's innocent ears, right?"
"Right, right." Isabella rolled her eyes dramatically. "But you're still doing the costume contest with me, right? Because Armia already agreed to be the Hunter God, and I've got this whole celestial three-way theme planned out—"
"Isn't it supposed to be a couples' contest?" Melisa asked, momentarily distracted.
Isabella's grin turned wicked.
"I may have bribed the organizer to bend the rules a bit. Three hot deities are better than two, after all."
Despite herself, Melisa snorted.
They rounded a corner and nearly collided with Raven, who was standing perfectly still in the middle of the path, staring at nothing in particular.
"Whoa!" Melisa stumbled, instinctively reaching out to steady herself against Raven's shoulder.
The world tilted.
Suddenly, Melisa was looking at... herself? No, a mirror—Raven's mirror. She was watching through Raven's eyes as the normally stoic girl practiced...
Smiling? She was practicing how to smile.
"Hello, Melisa," mirror-Raven said, her lips curving upward in what could only be described as the most awkward, forced smile in the history of facial expressions. "Would you like to engage in recreational activities together? I have researched several friendship-building exercises."
Mirror-Raven's face reset to its usual blank expression, then tried again.
"Melisa. I notice your skin looks healthy today. That is a positive quality in a potential m—" Raven cut herself off, shaking her head slightly. "No. Start again."
Melisa snapped back to the present, her hand still on Raven's shoulder, her mouth hanging open in shock.
"Are you alright?" Raven asked, her face as expressionless as ever. "You seem disoriented."
"I, uh..." Melisa removed her hand quickly. "I'm fine. Sorry about that."
Isabella looked between them, her fox ears twitching with interest.
"What just happened? You went all weird for a second."
"Nothing," Melisa said quickly. "Just lost my balance."
Raven's gaze was uncomfortably penetrating. Given that she touched the disc too... That meant she'd seen one of Melisa's recent memories, right? But, she didn't react at all.
"Anyway, we should head to the library," Melisa said. "Javir will be waiting."
Melisa kept sneaking glances at Raven the whole time, though.
---
{Javir}
Javir squinted at the ancient text, the faded script was barely legible. She'd been at it for hours, cross-referencing every mention of the Memory Snare she could find in the academy's restricted archives.
"This can't be right," she muttered, tracing a finger along a particularly illuminating passage.
According to this text, the Memory Snare had been commissioned by a very specific human: Lord Callum of Syux, the great-great-great-grandfather of Queen Melara.
"The late queen, huh?" Javir sighed. "Who was, herself, a Shadow Mage."
If the Memory Snare had been a royal family weapon, that would explain much about how the Shadow Mages had maintained such a powerful grip on the kingdom for over a century. They hadn't just been spying on nim, they'd been spying on everyone, collecting secrets like currency.
[But then, why would they throw a weapon like this away?]
A knock at her door jolted her from her revelations.
"Come in," she called, hastily covering the most damning texts with blank parchment.
Melistair poked his head in, his expression apologetic.
"Sorry to disturb you, Javir, but Margaret sent me to check if you're joining us for dinner. She says you've been cooped up in here all day."
Javir smiled tiredly.
"Ah, I lost track of time. Tell her I'll be down shortly."
As Melistair nodded and withdrew, Javir glanced back at her research.
[The Shadow Mages... At least they're gone, now. And, if they aren't, I'm damn sure they will be soon.]
---
{Jaylin}
Jaylin sat on the edge of her bed, staring at her hands as if they held the answers to all her problems.
She flopped backward onto her mattress with a groan.
She'd been... debating something recently.
[It's wrong,] she reminded herself for the thousandth time. [She's practically family. Also she's Melisa's mom, for fuck's sake! And married!]
But a traitorous voice in the back of her mind whispered something else entirely:
[But what if...]
What if, just once or twice, she let herself touch Margaret?
Just a brush of hands. A momentary contact. A carefully orchestrated accident.
She would, of course, see a memory. Probably something mundane like cooking or shopping. Or...
[Or something with Melistair,] the voice suggested. Searᴄh the NovelZone.fun website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Jaylin's cheeks burned at the thought.
To see Margaret through Melistair's eyes, to experience what he experienced when they were together...
It would be wrong. Definitely far from the "right" thing to do.
But it might also be the only way she'd ever know what it was like to be with Margaret given that, obviously, Margaret doesn't see *her* that way.
A little stolen moment that no one would ever have to know about. A secret she could lock away and use to finally move on from this hopeless crush.
[Maybe,] Jaylin thought, rolling onto her side and hugging her pillow, [maybe that's what I need. One glimpse, and then I can let this go.]
As she drifted off to sleep, her mind filled with possibilities.
[Tomorrow,] she decided as sleep claimed her. [And... Just once. Just one time. It'll be fiiine.]
The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!