******

I staggered towards the training room in a daze. Both from the wakeful sleep I had and the revelation of Markus' identity. When I'd looked into the mirror this morning, a sallow-faced girl was staring back at me. Heavy bags were lining her already dark eyes. The nightmares had lessened ever since I'd been here, but not last night.

I'd dreamt that I was one of the people down there in the secret chamber, trapped, lost, with no idea how I'd ended up in the chrysalis in the first place. I'd seen Markus coming towards me, his face contorted into a monstrous expression through the barrier between us. I screamed and screamed as he did something to me.

Then I'd woken up.

To think that Markus was the Pied Piper, the person responsible for the plague that had ravaged so many provinces across Aschein. The one who had somehow lured all the children away. The man of legends who had left me behind, indirectly causing me to suffer at the hands of those who didn't know how to deal with the grief of loss.

And I'd been so close to trusting him.

I should have seen through his façade a long time ago. The very first day, I had a glimpse of the cruel, ruthless lord in his eyes—that was his true nature. Not the subtle tenderness he had displayed; not the moments where he would say my name as though it were a caress of the wind. I was a fool. And perhaps, I still was a fool.

When I entered the room, Elise took one swift look at my face, decided that it wasn't worth chiding me for my lateness and said, "Today we'll learn how to work with spells of the earth."

"Won't they reduce the whole castle into rubble?" I said, unable to keep the wryness out of my tone.

Elise swept a hand around her. "Powerful magic keeps this castle in place. It would take a lot of power to make it crumble. Two Magi certainly won't be able to topple it over."

With an inward sigh, I relented. Elise gave me a curt nod and took out her Medium.

She taught me a great deal today, more so than I've ever learned in the past few months. Maybe it was because I was now a lot more conscious of my Affinity, and she finally deemed me as a Magus of sufficient ability to perform greater feats of magic. At any rate, I learned how to make the earth open up and swallow enemies; how to commune with the earth so that I would be able to find my way around should I get lost; and how to become one with it, to form a solid armour of rocks to face any physical attacks.

I should have been absolutely elated at this. It would take some time for me to master everything, granted—I'd accidentally made the ground open up at Elise's feet—but I was starting to exercise my true potential now. Yet I performed the spells half-heartedly, not even pretending to be cheerful about it. The boy stuck in his living grave down there in the chambers haunted my mind. They must be the children from Hamelin—all of them. Even the shrivelling husk I saw at the farthest corner.

And Markus was doing...something to all of them.

I needed to find a way to stop this madness. But how? Who could I tell? How could I be sure that I could trust anyone around here? I wanted to shriek and wail and let out all of my despair. I never signed up for this when I'd agreed to Markus' proposal.

I snuck a glance at Elise, who was currently tuning the strings on her violin. Remember that no matter what, always, always obey Lord Himmel's orders. Her ominous words rang in my mind. Was it a warning or a threat? Could I trust her? She was the one who had saved my flute and had given it to Josef, thus triggering his memories. How did she fit into all of this?

As I rested on a stool and recovered my strength from casting spells, I clenched at my flute. I tried not scream in frustration; I truly was on my own for now.

"Klaudia, are you all right?" Elise was suddenly beside me. She'd pulled up a stool too, and was studying me with an immobile expression.

I hissed through my teeth. I had to work on covering up my signs of stress—my hands were scrunching my skirts into fists. I released them, and replied, "Why shouldn't I be all right?"

"You look distracted."

I probably did. I pushed my curls out of my eyes and glared at her. If only I wasn't so readable. "It's nothing," I insisted.

"There has to be something."

I looked down, at my still clenched fists resting atop my lap. "It's just – you told me to always heed Mar – Lord Himmel's orders. Why?"

She pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side. "He's your lord," she said. "Is there any reason for disobeying him?"

Whatever I was going to say got stuck in my throat. "Of course not, Mistress Elise," I resumed after a brief pause. He was still a lord, after all. And I still had to obey him, no matter what.

Only, I remembered the tone of her voice: the sudden clarity in it which rang sharply across the room, as though it were a winter's wind cutting through autumn clouds. There was more to that, I knew. What I didn't know was how to extract the information I needed from her.

"I think you've rested enough. Come, let's continue." Elise stood up. I followed suit. The conversation was clearly over, and my stomach churned with dissension, but I pushed it down. Walking towards the centre of the room, she propped her violin on her shoulder and demonstrated a spell for me. I observed and focused entirely on the rest of the lesson.

******

It was midday by the time we were done. I was tired, and my headache did nothing to uplift my sour mood. I was almost glad that training was over, and it appalled me: I was always eager to learn more about magic, no matter how draining it was.

Josef. I needed to see Josef. Goal in mind, I bid a painfully cordial goodbye to Elise and headed for the Tinkers' workshop. Everything was different in the daylight; I found my way easily enough without asking any passers-by. I imitated Elise's unlocking spell for the door to the best of my abilities. It took quite a while, and I actually like the door was pushing against me, but it swung open. I admitted myself inside.

The din of activity assailed my senses. Tinkers rushed by without taking the slightest notice of me, far too absorbed in their work. Shyly, I approached a young sorcerer who had her dark hair bound into a tangled knot at the nape of her neck, head bent over a pile of wood. "Excuse me, I'm looking for Josef?"

Recognition dawned in her eyes once she saw me. "Oh, milady! Pardon me for not noticing you earlier." She leapt onto her feet and curtsied so low that she hobbled. "I'll take you to Josef myself," she offered.

It turned out that Josef was inside the room where they kept the Fountain running. He was holding a clipboard in hand, checking off several items on the list while standing in front of a whole row of shelves, stacked with vials that contained golden-silver liquid. They were the daily prescriptions for every sorcerer around, I presumed.

"Oy, you there, go and see if Tinker Pravus has those new valves fixed up," he barked towards a fellow Tinker. It was rather odd, seeing him bossing a boy who couldn't be three years younger than him around.

"Yes, master!" The boy, unperturbed by Josef's domineering tone, took off in a shot.

Josef must have noticed our presence, for he turned towards us—eyes not leaving the clipboard—and said, "Good lad, that one."

"Viktor's a fine boy," said my companion.

"Aye. Reminds me of myself when I was his age." He nodded at his apprentice, who was now chatting away with a grizzly-looking Tinker on the other side of the area. "Anyway, forgive my state of disarray, milady. As you can see, I wasn't expecting you to grace us with your presence today."

Indeed, his hair was more dishevelled than usual, one half of his shirt was out of his belt, and sooty stains greased his skin. But he seemed more at ease than usual. I silently thanked the saints; this was probably the best time to approach him about the secret chamber.

"Thank you, Tinker," I said to the woman beside me.

She took the hint and curtsied again. "My pleasure, milady." Then she quickly scurried out into the main workroom.

"Do you know someplace where we can talk more...privately?" I said once I was sure that no one was within earshot. My words weren't suggestive, but one could never be too careful.

He raised a brow at me. "I'm not caught into any trouble of any sort, am I? Don't tell me Lord Himmel has started using you to deliver his unpleasant messages."

I shook my head. "Please," was all I said.

He exhaled loudly, and I knew that I had won. "Viktor, I'll be in the storage rooms for a while. Try not to get into trouble," he hollered.

"Yes, master!" Viktor's reply shrilled from across the room.

Josef, content that his apprentice wouldn't be alarmed at his sudden disappearance, led me down a dank little passageway cleverly nestled between shelves. I stumbled behind him, trying not to wrinkle my nose at the mustiness of the air. I felt like I was wading through a crypt.

Eventually, we emerged into a cramped space. It was a storage room of sorts, with more shelves carved into stone. They were stacked with tools I didn't recognise, even with the assistance of the steinliohts. It was morbidly fascinating to watch the shadows curl around the deadly-looking objects.

"So, what do you want?" Josef started, folding his arms and looking at me.

"Last night, you and Lord Himmel..." I trailed off uncertainly.

Something shifted in his expression. "Lord Himmel and I what?" he said impatiently. But I didn't miss the faint tremor in his tone.

"The hidden chamber in your room," I resumed, deadly quiet, "the children from Hamelin are down there, aren't they?"

Any walls he had built around himself instantly crumbled. Despite his height, he looked like a simpering child. He clasped and unclasped his fingers, trying to hide the trembling. "You were spying on us." A weak accusation.

"So what if I was?" I drew myself up, slowly regaining confidence. "You were hiding something...despicable. In your very room!"

He groaned into his palms. "Could you try to cast an illusion of sound around us? In case anyone drops by."

Whatever he was going to say, it would be damning. Something that had to be kept as a secret between us, to our dying breaths. I took in a deep breath, beginning to weave a low, solemn tune. The energy I'd lost during training suddenly came back, fuelled by the desire to know the truth.

My Core rose to meet my song. I imagined an invisible bubble of protection encasing us, slowly pushing outwards and distorting the reality that was contained within it. It was easier to perform illusions when no one was watching—when no one had already caught sight of the truth. Fortunately, only Josef and I were down here, otherwise I might have exhausted myself performing a higher-level working.

Soon enough, the illusion was done. "All right, so what do you have to say about the chamber?" I said.

"How did you find out about it?" he murmured.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is whatever you and Lord Himmel are doing to those wretched creatures!"

His head hung low with guilt. Massaging his nose bridge with his fingers, he said, "He's been draining the life out of them."

******