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“This morning,” Iris said. “She was here at breakfast, everything seemed fine.”

“She didn’t look as if anything weighed heavily on her mind?” Tom squinted and she shook her head. He looked at all of us.

“Chas?”

“She looked just like she did every other day, Tom. Nothing out of the ordinary. Why are you asking?”

“Just answer the question.”

“I just did.”

A couple of girls giggled softly but when Tom looked at them they immediately went quiet. “It’s not a joke, Fox could be in real danger.”

“Do you have any thoughts about who could be behind this?”

“We have our suspicions but it’s nothing for you girls to worry about. Fox’s replacement will be here shortly while we try to find her.” He held out his hand and Henry flew from the coat stand and landed on his arm. “I suggest you girls go to your rooms while dinner is being prepared. Try to stay inside tonight, please.”

John got up too and our eyes met for a few seconds. He gave me a soft smile and both of them left.

That night I struggled to sleep. There were so many questions on my mind and Mr. Grey wasn’t in the mood to talk.

The replacement that came was nothing like Fox. She reminded me of an Italian grandma that knew how to make a mean pasta sauce.

I was worried about Fox. Was she okay? Who took her? Was Dingle behind this?

The next day no one made a peep around the breakfast table, until Mila had to open her big mouth.

“I told you she wouldn’t last.”

My eyes shot up and I saw gloating reflecting off her. “She’s been taken, Mila. Probably lying somewhere in a ditch for all we know without a heartbeat. Have some sympathy and if you don’t know how then keep your mouth shut.”

Mila’s smile vanished as I got up. I didn’t care what she was going to do. I could take her if I used everything my mom had taught me, and maybe bring her back down to earth. I hated bullies. I ran up the three steps and through the kitchen, back to my room to get my backpack.

“You seriously have a death wish or something.” Sophie was right behind me. I didn’t even see her get up or hear her footsteps.

“She just pissed me off so much.”

“Still, Chas. She is going to make you regret that, it’s what Mila does best.”

“Well, then maybe it’s time someone other than Natalie stood up to her, Sophie.”

We left for first period and said goodbye to Natalie right in front of Delvaga’s class.

It was another lesson that didn’t fit the past couple of days.

Something was seriously wrong and it could be felt in most of the lectures.

Mrs. Delvaga wasn’t her giddy self. She had a huge migraine and was snapping our heads off whenever we made a peep. It was the most horrible lesson ever.

Dingle was missing from his class too and Max and Margot took over. It was physical training and no time in the ring, still it didn’t stop Mila from trying to go after me.

She shoved me from behind and I fell on the floor.

“What was it that you said this morning, mix-breed?”

“Mila, back off.” Natalie was the first one to react.

“What’s going on here?” Max seconded.

“Stay out of this, parrot face and don’t make me hurt you, pretty boy,” Mila snapped at both of them.

“Mila this is enough, you were out of order this morning.” Margot came to my defense too, but the only thing that kept rolling in my mind was what she’d called me, mix -breed. It felt dirty.
‘Don’t cast your sand if you are not in the right mood, Chas. The dark will show.’
My mother’s voice replayed inside my head.

Mila was going at Margot now as I got up. “That the best you can do, ogre?”

Mila’s head snapped to me. Her nostrils flared.

“Chas, enough!” Margot yelled.

I could see Max had a grin on his face.

“Do something you idiot,” Margot yelled at her brother.

“This is Guardian class, maybe it’s something that needs to happen, Mar. Chill, I’ll step in before they kill one another.”

“Oh, I’ll be the one doing the killing, don’t you worry,” Mila said through clenched teeth and came at me.

I kicked her once, just once, right in the gut and we all heard how the air in her lungs escaped with an
umph
. She fell backwards, and gasped for air.

I found myself standing over her body and I cupped my hand underneath her chin and lifted it up softly. “If you ever call me mix-breed again, you will regret it. This is over.”

I let her go and walked up the stairs.

Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind and chucked hard onto the ground.

Some girls just never knew when to give up. When I looked up she was busy doing a somersault and was about to land on me with a kick, but I moved out just in time and she found nothing below her. She grunt as her leg connected hard with the floor.

Next I found myself on top of her, punching left, right and center; she somehow blocked my fists and got the upper hand again.

Mom had taught me a lock grip, and as she was ready to give me a punch I saw the surprise on her face when she was once again on her back, with her massive boy thighs still around my waist. I knew that this was far from over.

Plenty of the girls yelled on the side lines. Margot tried to break us up, but Mila got in a punch and she fell backward.

The only word I heard was
hooligans
as Margot ran up the stairs.

I took a good few beats, but Mila got a couple of really hard punches and kicks from me too. She just didn’t know when to give up and without realizing I’d grabbed a bat, I swung and the bat connected with her body. She fell backwards.

Everything in my body was aching.

“You have enough? Margot’s right. We are a bunch of hooligans!” I yelled at Mila who was lying in a fetal position, cradling her body.

I chucked the bat down next to Mila. “If you know what’s good for you, you will back off, Mila. This is over,” I said again and felt sorry for her as she just lay there, defeated.

She sure was one angry girl, but this had to stop.

“Let me see.” Max touched my face and I slapped his hand away.

“Your sister was right, you should’ve stopped this, Max.”

“And miss how you beat up someone twice your size? I knew you had it in you, Chas.”

“It’s not funny.”

I walked away as some of the girls crouched beside Mila to check if she was okay, others just stared at me with huge eyes. I reached the stairs and ran up toward the infirmary.

Later that afternoon, we entered the house for lunch, and Selene was waiting for all of us in the lounge.

“Sit, please,” she said with a kind tone.

Mila didn’t even look my way and from the way she still looked, something told me that her pride was way too big to let her get help from the Leonora.

“What happened to you?” Selene asked and I slid into in my chair.

“It’s nothing, Dingle’s class.”

“He’s making you fight against one another?”

Everyone was staring at Mila. She was such a bitch.

“You put him there. What? You thought he was going to teach us history or something?”

“Mind your tone, Mila,” Selene said and Mila cowered away. “I’ll deal with him later.”

She looked at all of us. “I’m sure all of you know that Fox isn’t here anymore. But I assure you she is perfectly safe. The Seekers found her early in the wee small hours and she is busy recovering. Still it will take a few days for her to come back home. So Mrs. Pottermeyer will stay on for a few days longer. I thought you all should know that your Guardian is well and safe and we are dealing with what happened to her.”

I knew it, Dingle was behind this and Leigh was wrong about him.
I was glad that she was safe, that they found her and I hoped that Selene’s eyes would open this time and that she’d chuck his ass into the Oblivion where he deserved to be.

We broke and Selene laid her hands on me as she passed. “Don’t look so worried, Chastity. Fox will return soon.”

“I’m just glad that she’s safe.”

After dinner I went straight to my room, waiting for Shades to see if he had any answers about what was going on.

The cat finally came home but something was wrong. He looked tired.

“Shades?” I asked.

He collapsed on my carpet and I bent down next to him.

“What is it?” I asked, worried that he was going to breathe his last breath.

“The air,” he thought. “I can’t breathe.”

I took a deep breath, and the air smelled fine, but whatever my cat was experiencing I had to make it stop.

A shield jumped into my head and I wielded my sand without any thought.

I closed my eyes when a big enough heap was lying on my carpet and started to concentrate on a bubble contraption that would have oxygen flowing freely into it.

When I opened my eyes it was right in front of me. It was a big plastic bubble, something that belonged on a space craft. It had small pods attached to the inside and I could see that air was releasing through. The contraption in front of me was just like the picture inside my head.

I’d never conjured anything other than the dagger before and guessed Mom was right. Your will for something had to be strong.

I put his pillow from his basket inside and put him in gently and closed the door of the bubble.

All I could do was wait and pray that it would work and wait for him to wake up and find out what it was he knew and who did this to him. I knew he had the answers as there was someone here that didn’t want him to speak, but whoever it was hadn’t bargained on the connection we shared and that someone had the ability to save him.

If there is one Anitule that figured everything out on his nightly strolls, it was the cat lying in that bubble. My cat.

I DOZED OFF SOMEHWERE IN BETWEEN MY
worrying about my cat and what was happening. I awoke with a start and found Margot’s face inches from mine.

“What the hell…”

Margot pressed her palm over my mouth while Natalie stood like a ghost by the door, or where my door used to be. It was just a wall now.

The Compound jumped into my mind.

Shadow Casters were here.

I took Margot’s hand and whispered, “What’s going on?”

Both girls’ eyes looked bewildered. Okay Natalie was downright losing it? sitting on the floor with her hands cradling her head. Her eyes were red from crying, and then I realized why. Charlie wasn’t on her shoulder.

“It’s happening,” Shades said in my head and I jumped on all fours, crawled off my bed at the speed of light and opened the ledge of his bubble.

“What the hell is that?” Margot stared at the bubble.

“Someone attacked Mr. Grey and he couldn’t breathe so I had to think fast.”

I took him out, he was still a bit weak but at least he was speaking again, and laid him on my bed. “Thanks Chas. I think that bubble just saved my life.”

I didn’t care whether he liked it or not, I grabbed the cat and hugged him tight against my chest.

“What is happening?” I asked out loud, remembering what he said when he woke up.

“What is Mr. Grey saying?” Margot grabbed Shades from my arms and held the cat up to meet her gaze. “Speak fast.”

“Leave him alone.” I pushed Margot hard as Shades scratched her hands. She dropped him.

“Guys, don’t fight please. They’ve got Charlie and I can’t deal with this going on as well.”

“If the cat knows something, Natalie, he needs to speak,” Margot said.

“He’s a cat, he won’t talk if you try to squeeze it out of him and he just woke up from a near-death experience.”

“Deranged girl, lunatic, psycho…” Shades babbled a lot more words but I only caught the last three. “It’s going to take forever to get her smell off of me.” Okay, that manhandling from Margot actually worked for some reason and Mr. Grey was sitting on my desk, licking his fur fiercely.

“Calm down,” I said to the cat. “What happened?” I asked Natalie.

“They came out of nowhere.” Her lower lip trembled. “Sophie is dead, Chas.”

A jolt of shock mixed with numbness rolled over my body. “What?”

“We found her body, blood was pouring from her ears and eyes,” Margot said. “She’s dead, Chas.”

I started to pace up and down with my hands clutching my hair. Soph couldn’t be dead, she just couldn’t.

“If it hadn’t been for Margot killing one of them…” Nat spoke again. “Grabbing my hand, I would be dead too. They must have Charlie. I have to get him.” She turned around to face the wall where my door used to be and started to feel for a knob. “Open this, now!” She hit with her fists hard as tears rolled over her cheeks.

I just stared at her and then looked at Shades who was staring at her too.

“Are you insane? I’m not risking my life for a bird.” Margot grabbed both her hands and shoved her toward the bed. “And keep your voice down. They might still be in the house.”

“It’s not just any bird, Margot. It’s my Anitule, please we’ve got to go get him.”

“Calm down Natalie. I’m sure Charlie knew danger was near and he got away.”

“How?” The girl had more tears streaming down her face. “I didn’t leave a window open for him to fly away. They’ve got him, Chas.” She started to sob.

I wrapped my arms around her. I could only imagine how she must feel as mine was still safe with me. Even though he was still ranting about what Margot said about Charlie, that I could not possibly say out loud.

“Tell your cat to speak, and fast too,” Margot barked.

“Mr. Grey?”

“Tell her to apologize first. And she needs to make it sound sincere.”

“We don’t have time for this.”

“Apologize!”

“Fine! He wants you to apologize.”

“What? He’s a cat.”

“Apologize or you can forget about the cat saying a word.”

“Fine, I’m sorry.”

“Not sincere enough,” Shades said.

“For what are you sorry?” I translated.

She gave me the
huh
look. “You’re shitting me, right? My brother could be dead for all I know and he wants to know in detail why I’m sorry.”

“You want him to speak, make it sound as if you mean it.”

“Fine, I’m sorry that I manhandled you and that your ego is bruised.”

“Margot!” Natalie yelled. “You will never get it. Anitules aren’t just animals. They have feelings and I know you think that we are psychos for hearing them, but they are more than just animals. Now, apologize as if he was your brother.”

“Fine, Mr. Grey. I’m sorry, okay?”

“Better,” the cat spat and jumped onto my bed again.

“So, what’s going on?”

“It was someone in this house that stole Margot’s pendant but it wasn’t you. I tried to get their scent that was why I was in her room.”

“Dingle.”

“It’s not him, Chastity.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, now translate.”

I started to translate, and Margot just stared at me and the cat. “That’s why your top was ruined but he said that it was the only thing that had two scents on it, he couldn’t make out the other scent clearly.”

“It still doesn’t answer what is going on.”

“You still owe me an apology.”

“Chas, we don’t have time, please. Max could be dead.”

“What else?” I asked and listened again. “He said that over the past couple of weeks things in Revera have started to change.” Leigh had said that too, that he could feel it inside the Virtual Realm. “They needed your pendant so that nobody would be alerted when they entered.” I looked at Margot. “Margot’s pendant is real.” Natalie asked.

“Why is this happening?” I had to know.

“Why do Shadow Casters always try to get into Revera? They want to eliminate us.” Shades’ voice sounded grave, but his facial expressions were still those of a grumpy cat. I translated again.

“So they’re out to kill all of us?” Natalie asked him.

“Pretty much and they’re trying to destroy Revera.” I spoke Shades’ words.

“If Revera no longer exists, it will become like the Oblivion. I can’t stay inside the Oblivion, men or no men, I’m going to find my brother.”

“Not so fast Terminator,” Mr. Grey ordered and I had to translate fast.

“Mr. Grey knows of another way,” I said and the cat jumped off my bed and ran toward my closet.

“Tell the war freak to draw what I tell you, Chastity, precise translation this time.”

“Got it. He wants you to draw what he says on the door.”

She didn’t say a word and took her marker out of her pocket.

“What about Charlie?”

“Natalie, we will find him later, I promise. Right now we need to get out of here, safely.” I put my hand on her shoulder and gave her a pleading look.

She nodded and Mr. Grey grunted annoyingly.

“Okay, shoot.” I said.

“On the left top corner of the closet, draw a triangle with two diagonal stripes running through it.” I translated and Margot drew fast.

“Mark a circle with a pie sign in the center. Right corner and square with a circle around. Another triangle right below in the middle with diagonal stripes in the opposite direction. Right corner below a circle with a square sign around, next to it another square with the same pie inside and left corner below an infinity sign with the sign of a crow’s beak right on top of it.

She finished and Mr. Grey put his paw on the infinity sign.

My cupboard door started to turn into a mirror but it wasn’t like the one in the lighthouse.

It was bright, like the Celestial, and we all jumped through it.

I fell with a thud on top of Margot, right behind a thick set of bushes right behind our house.

“Tell the girl to remember those signs, and when you find others alive, go back to any door, Chas. Draw it again and tap on the crow’s beak. above the one I just did. It will take you to your lover boy. He can help.”

“He’s not…” I wanted to finish but the cat ran away. “Where are you going?” I hissed.

“I have something else to do.”

I shook my head. Stupid cat.

“I heard that.”

I shook my head again as I watched his bushy tail disappear inside another thick set of bushes.

Voices that made my skin crawl filled the air and it felt as if my heart was going to stop.

They were walking in the opposite direction away from the house, toward the school, and I poked my head out from one of the bushes and saw a couple of men leaving the house with the rest of the girls. Mila was in the front, her ogre body was just as big as the guy walking in the front but he was at least a head taller than her. Her trio of friends were a couple of paces behind and I saw how one pushed Tarryn to walk faster. Iris and Andrea were there too.

Why did they kill Sophie if they took the rest?

Where the hell were all the Guardians, the lecturers and Seekers? I didn’t see Mrs. Pottermeyer at all and got a flash in my mind of her body lying somewhere next to Sophie’s.

Maybe it was part of the plan to lure them away so that they would succeed. Still someone had stolen Margot’s pendant, someone close to all of us and I don’t care what Shades or Leigh said, Dingle was still my number one suspect.

When they were out of view, Margot made a run for the boys’ house where Max stayed.

We had no choice but to go with her. We needed her to get into the Virtual Realm.

The House of Knights had been raided just like ours, still standing but abandoned.

“Max,” Margot said softly.

We found a body that belonged to Sy and I swallowed hard.

Margot shook her head with her eyes closed as she felt for his pulse and carried on walking through the pieces of ceiling that had fallen through the floor. The boys had put up a fight, that was for sure.

“Max,” Margot said a bit louder and a cough from the stairs made all of us jump.

We rushed to the stairs and found Max in bad shape. Blood lingered on the edges of his mouth and Margot took off her hoody and cleaned his mouth.

“You are going to be fine,” she said hurriedly. Her voice broke a couple of times.

“There are little kids upstairs, I locked them in with the protection charm, Matt brought them here minutes before the attack came,” he coughed.

“They attacked the house of Squires?” Margot had tears in her eyes.

I could put two and two together that the house was filled with little kids.

“You need…”

“No, I’m not leaving without you,” she said.

“I’m as good as dead, Mar, I’m not going to make it.”

“Bullshit, you’ve been through much worse. We got a charm from the cat that will take us to the Virtual Realm. Leigh will know what to do with you.”

She started to lift her brother, and he let out a loud grunt.

“Get up.”

“I can’t.”

“Oh, for crying out loud,” I said and bent down to help Margot. “Your sister is right, Max, you’ve been through worse. Now stop being a girl and get the hell up.”

He chuckled and grabbed me around the neck. His weight was heavy even with both of us sharing it. But we managed to get him onto his feet.

Natalie walked in front, up the stairs with the three of us stumbling as we followed her.

We put Max back down on the floor near the wall and Margot drew the protection charm that would open the doorway to the room of the kids on the wall. The door appeared and we found five boys and one girl between the ages of seven and eleven hiding inside.

“It’s okay.” Natalie spoke sweetly and bent down to comfort the seven-year-old boy with big blue eyes and ginger hair. “Get Max in here, we can use the closet door to go to the Virtual Realm.”