For several months Lucy had been preparing tirelessly for her first year at Pikweeves university.
She’d been receiving daily visits from her grandmother, who not only seemed to want to get to know her new granddaughter and heir to her power but she was also there to vigorously tutor Lucy on everything from basic to advanced magic, this of course was coupled by duel lessons with Nikki. By the end of each day Lucy was absolutely exhausted and fell asleep almost the instant her head touched her pillow.
Out in the courtyard on another bright morning, granny was relentlessly training Lucy again.
“Focus!” She said to her granddaughter in a sharp tone. Lucy felt sweat drip from her brow as she struggled to hold a ball of rippling hot fire mixed with another sphere of lightning in her hands, she pushed more magic from her core, as granny had taught her and the ball of elements rippled once more, growing slightly larger and stabilizing. Lucy panted as she held the ball of sheer destruction in her hands, waiting for her teacher to give her further instructions.
“Remember carefully, Lucy. Creating magic is simple, probably the easiest part of using magic is creation, the problem is controlling what you create, if you cannot control your magic then it is fundamentally useless. Now concentrate, slowly absorb the magic you poured into the spell and dispel the orb by doing so.”
Lucy did as granny asked and slowly but surely the titanic sized orb of destruction shrank until the magic was completely absorbed into Lucy’s body. She fell to the ground with a huff as her grandmother looked at her with awe and approval.
“Lucy, I must say you never cease to amaze me. That was one of the most advanced offensive spells I know and you have nearly mastered it in just the span of a few weeks, I do believe if this keeps up you’ll be on the head of the council one day.” Granny said with a wide smile as she helped the young Neko girl to her feet.
“That’s all for today, you and Nikki go have a bite to eat and go to bed at a decent time. Tomorrow I will have a transport waiting for the both of you to take you to piksweeve. Make sure you’re already packed tonight.” Granny smiled and hugged her granddaughter tightly.
“I’ll see you tomorrow when you arrive.”
Lucy simply smiled, too exhausted to reply. She hugged her grandmother back and walked inside the manor so she could get started on tonight’s dinner.
It was the night before Lucy’s first day of university and she was incredibly nervous, so nervous that she couldn’t even sleep despite being so exhausted from the rigorous training.
Nikki was sound asleep beside her on the rather large bed they shared, Lucy was feeling lonely and would like to have talked to her partner but she knew Nikki needed her sleep and decided not to wake her girlfriend up.
Lucy snuggled under the covers when suddenly she felt a chill run up her spine, she slowly sat up as she watched the bedroom door open on its own. A gust of wind throughout the room beckoned Lucy to follow the presence that was drawing her in. Against her better judgment, Lucy slowly climbed down from the bed and put on her cat shaped slippers.
She quietly trodded out of the room and into the corridor.
“Follow.” A familiar voice said and Lucy obeyed, burying the lump of fear that threatened to spill from her throat. She walked through the manor, following the strange sensation that compelled her to walk.
Finally once she reached the bottom of the spiral staircase, a ghostly woman emerged from the shadows.
Lucy let out a shrill scream and she fell to the floor and looked at the ghostly form of her deceased sister.
“Jess…? How is this possible? Are you here to haunt me?” Lucy whimpered as she stared at her sisters floating form.
“No my sweet brother, I have done unspeakable things to you as well to other innocents. My soul cannot rest until I fix what has and will transpire again. No amount of apologies, even from the grave will make you forgive me, and I understand that. The sweet, kind, older sister you knew died long ago, long before everything happened in the last year I walked the earth.”
The ghostly form of Jess floated over so she could look Lucy in the eyes, black tears streamed down Jess’s ethereal face as she gazed upon Lucy.
“I’m am so sorry my sweet sibling, what I have done is unforgivable but please heed my warning.. piksweeve university is not safe, not for the students, not for the staff and especially not for you. Take my advice and do not attempt to attend the school. Great evil slumbers and will awaken the very moment you set foot inside the walls of the Piksweeve.”
Lucy simply stared in shock at her ghostly sister and pondered if she was dreaming or not, things felt far to real to be a dream, causing Lucy to shudder at the thought.
“I cannot stay here for long, be safe little one, I will be watching over you.” Jess’s voice faded as her form disappeared, leaving the room in a thick, cold that made Lucy’s breathe look as if she was breathing out smoke.
Lucy shook her head, hoping she was dreaming, this was not the case and with a fright she ran as quickly as she could up the spiraling staircase, she reached the bedroom and slammed the door behind her locking it, she quickly crawled into bed, making sure to snuggle as close to Nikki as possible as she shivered from fright.
