Chapter Sixty

Syaoran gives Serne a strange look. “No, I don’t mind.” He says as if to stand his ground on the topic. I know he isn’t the type to be shaken easily just from the interactions I’ve already had with him, so having him tag along and find out about our plan to deceive Adrian is going to be impossible with him. Syaoran seems like the extremely loyal type, so if he finds out that I plan to go against Adrian’s direct request to not engage in this magic business, he’s sure to try and stop it.

I shoot a look to Serene saying as much, to which she continues to smile as if nothing has happened to change our plans. “That’s good, it might take a while. I’m sorry if coming with us is going to interfere with your schoolwork at all, but I’ll buy you dinner afterward to thank you for keeping my friend here safe,” Syaoran glances from Serene to Adrian, apparently confused on whether he should accept the offer for a free meal. He really feels the need to ask his Alpha before doing absolutely anything, doesn’t he? How exhausting. Adrian tilts his head in the ghost of a nod, seeming to tell Syaoran to do whatever he wants in terms of accepting or refusing the meal. Serene wraps herself around my free arm, giving it a tug to get Adrian to let go of my opposite hand. “Before we go, I really have to use the restroom. Will you come with me, Lydie?”

I glance to Adrian, asking for him to let me go. After a long moment of looking back at me, he releases my hand and reaches to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, his expression softening the slightest amount. “Hurry back. I’ll wait for you so I can say goodbye.” I nod and produce a smile to assure him that we'll be back shortly, allowing Serene to pull me down the hall. Only once we’ve made it to the bathroom and checked the stalls to make sure we’re alone does she drop her innocent act.

“Shit,” She murmurs, turning to pace the floor in front of the mirrors. “That mindless grunt is going to tell on us if he finds out. I already told Aruellis to expect us in his lair soon and gave him a brief rundown of what we discussed.”

I swallow, careful to keep my voice lowered. Even though the nearest restroom is two hallways over from where we left the guys, I don’t know how good their hearing is yet and decide it’s best not to risk it. “I know, I wasn't expecting that. I think it’s because Vincent catcalled me in the hallway earlier, but Adrian suddenly won’t let me go anywhere unaccompanied by a Wolf. What do we do?”

Serene doesn’t stop her pacing as she casts a glance in my direction, reaching to knaw on the nail of her thumb, chipping off even more of her worn nail polish. “I’m not strong enough to do it myself, but we could cast a glamour spell to make the big guy think he’s following us. They’ll look and smell just like us, so he shouldn’t be able to tell we aren’t really there.”

Hope lights up my heart and I lean forward in my eagerness, stepping away from the door. “Would another Sorcerer be able to help? What about your girlfriend?” I ask hopefully, watching her pace the tiles with her battered high-top sneakers.

Serene shakes her head, giving an apologetic look. “No, she isn’t strong enough either. Auriells would be able to do it easily, though. We just have to find a way to get to him.”

“Don’t you have his phone number or something? Or can you cast some sort of communication spell?” I ask, feeling my heart drop at the news. There has to be a way to get to De Leon. I refuse to give up so easily now that we’re so close. Jasper needs this. I need this.

Serene pauses her steps, turning to look at me. “No, but you do. Do you have the number of the school in your call log from when you were speaking with a representative while transferring everything?” I whip my phone out of my pocket and scroll through the recent calls, hoping that the phone call was recent enough to still be documented. Serene abandons her pacing to come to look over my shoulder, anxious to see if the number is still present. “That one,” She exclaims in a lowered tone, pointing at a long number without an area code. I never noticed how strange it was before now as if it belongs to someone out of the country.

I tap on the call log and dial the number, hyper-aware of how much time we’re taking in the bathroom. If we waste too much more time in here, Adrian is bound to come beating to door down to come to check on me. The phone rings in my ear and tells me that the administration office is closed for the day, but lists off a number of options to be connected elsewhere. Serene holds her hand out in a silent request for me to hand it off to her, so I pull the speaker from my ear and offer it to her. She pulls the keypad down and types in a long series of numbers that seem unrelated to any of the options that were given then hold the speaker up to her ear. Miraculously, I hear the phone ring a few times before someone answers.

“Hey, Dean,” Serene whispers, glancing towards the bathroom door. I’m sure she has the same worry that I do about Adrian, so she makes quick work of explaining the situation as hushed as possible. Once she’s thoroughly explained what we need from De Leon, there’s a pause where she listens to something that he says, nodding once in understanding and looking over to me. “Okay, I got it. You’re sure he won’t be able to tell it isn’t her?” She asks, sounding dubious. Another pause before she nods again, scuffing her shoe against the tile floor. “Alright, thanks. We’ll see you soon.”

I wait anxiously for her to hang up and hand the phone back to me. “Well?” I ask, unable to mask my hopeful tone.

Serene offers a tight smile. “He’s going to help us. He said to wait a few minutes before leaving the bathroom for our doubles to exit first. They’re both right outside waiting for us, so the doubles have to exit first to be convincing.”

I glance towards the door again, suddenly realizing what she’s saying. So they did follow us over to the restrooms after all. Hopefully, we were quiet enough that Adrian couldn’t listen in to anything we said, otherwise this plan is going to be pointless. My heart thuds in my ears as I nod, following Serene over to the sink and running my hands under the water, pretending to wash them. “Yeah, sorry about that,” She says loudly over the sound of the water. “I had a hefty lunch. Are you about ready to head out?”

“Oh, yeah no problem,” I respond, following her queues to continue the conversation. “Let me just fix my hair really quick.” Something akin to guilt begins to settle in my stomach at the lies, but I try my best to shove them down. I have to follow my instincts of this, and they’re telling me that I have to unlock this magic inside of me. My whole life I’ve been living as someone else, not knowing who I truly am. Aside from doing what I can to help Jas, I have to do this for myself, too. Hopefully, when it’s all said and done, Adrian will understand why I had to do this.

“Okay, you look fine,” Serene says loudly, glancing at the door. She motions me to step away from the threshold, out of view from the hallway. “Let’s go before Adrian loses his mind.” I press my shoulders against her as we wait against the farthest wall, stifling a startled sound as the two of us appear out of thin air. Our doubles start off looking like projections, just the basics of what we look like and what sizes we are. They turn to look at us, making my heart begin to gallop in panic. It’s like looking into a mirror, except that my reflection moves on her own. They regard each of us closely and somehow copy the exact outfits and accessories that we each wear, flawlessly mirroring each of us. It’s beyond freaky to watch and I can’t help but cling to Serene’s arm as I gawk at them.

I swallow my fear as I stare back at myself wide-eyed, watching her turn to walk out the door with Serene’s double following behind. My voice comes from my double’s lips, perfectly matching my pitch. “Sorry, we took so long…” The rest trails off as the door falls shut, cutting off my ears from the rest of the conversation. I open my mouth to express how weirded out I am by what just happened, but Serene squeezed my hand, shaking her head in a warning and holding a finger to her lips.