The Other Side of Darkness

Alarming Caretaker

Episode 1: Chapter 10~11

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Later that day, the group met near the edge of the woods on the outskirts of the school grounds. The botanical garden sat right next to them. Lev tugged at her new pair of gloves and thin tang top. She and Grim had ran back to Ramshackle Dorm for Lev to change out of her school uniform into something more comfortable. She was glad she did. It was surprisingly warm outside and she doubted the garden would have been much better. She felt bad for Deuce and Ace who looked like they were sweltering in their dark, heavy uniforms.

Grim, despite being all covered in dark fur, bounced around with his normal excited aura.

"Look at all these chestnut trees!" he shouted, jumping up onto one of the lower branches of one tree. "I bet we can pick enough to make a hundred tarts! Let's get pickin'!" 

"Careful," Lev warned. "Those trees have--"

"OW!"

"--Thorns..." Lev sighed. 

Deuce chuckled. "We probably shouldn't pick them with our bare hands. Let's find some baskets and thick gloves."

"I agree," Ace sneered. "I don't want to turn out like Grim." Grim growled. "Let's look inside the botanical garden. They should have everything we need in there."

They all agreed and walked into the large greenhouse. A pleasantly warm gust of air blew over them. Water could be heard rushing through man-made ponds and streams to water exotic plants. A strong smell of flowers and fruit entered Lev's nose. She sneezed quietly.

"Was that a sneeze?" Ace teased. "You sound like a girl."

"Maybe because I am a girl," Lev said, sneezing again. "I think I might be allergic to something in here."

"Are you allergic to flowers?" Grim asked.

"Only specific kinds," she told him. "Most don't bother me, but if there just so happens to be a certain type of flower around--" She sneezed a third time. "Ugh. I feel awful."

Ace laughed a little. "Your sneezes are so cute. Sadly, we should probably hurry and find what we need."

Deuce nodded. "Yeah, we should split up and find the caretaker." 

Going with Deuce's idea, they split up. Ace went right, while Deuce went left. Grim and Lev went further to the back of the garden. Luckily, whatever Lev was allergic to didn't seem to be nearby anymore, so she was able to stop sneezing. 

At one point, Grim ran ahead to one a large bush with plump fruit hanging from its branches. 

"Woah~! Look at all this fruit!" Grim gasped. "It looks soooo good!"

"Don't eat that!" Lev objected. "It might be poisonous!" She ran up to stop him from eating the mystery fruit, but she tripped on something. She fell face-first onto the ground. A deep voice grunted. "Uuh, Grim?" She flipped around onto her back. A tan face greeted her unhappily. She squeaked and shot up into a sitting position. 

"Oi, you got some nerve stepping on someone's tail without saying anything," the man growled. 

He had long dark brown hair and chocolate skin. A long scar crossed over one of his deep green eyes. He had a different uniform than what Lev was used to seeing. Her Heartslabyul friends always had a red vest that was sometimes visible between their uniform jacket. This man didn't wear his jacket and his vest was a pale yellow. Lev also noticed that he had two brown ears poking out of his messy hair. She looked to the ground to see that she had indeed tripped over his long lion's tail. 

Her face heated. "I'm so so so sorry!" she apologized. "I swear I didn't see your tail there! It was an accident!" Grim, distracted from the fruit, slowly walked toward Lev. 

"Is he the caretaker?" he whispered. 

The man glared at them. "I was right in the middle of a nice nap, then you come pouncing over and stomp on my tail. This sucks..."

"I said I'm sorry," Lev muttered in an annoyed tone.

The man studied her for a moment, he started to grin darkly. "Hey, aren't you that herbivore that the mirror said couldn't use magic?" 

Lev frowned. "...Yes..." 

The man hummed in thought and leaned very close to her face. He sniffed her neck. Lev stiffened.

Did he just...?

 The man chuckled and pulled away from her, but only a little. "Hmm, I really don't smell a speck of magic on you. That's disappointing. It's not fun fighting someone who can't resist." 

"Hey! Stop talking to my human like that!" Grim shouted, jumping onto the man's arm. The brown-haired male easily swatted Grim away, sending him flying into the large bushes and flowers.

"Grim!" Lev felt a bead of sweat roll down her neck and between her shoulder blades. "I don't want to fight," she whimpered, trying desperately to scoot away and stand up.

Like a cat, the man pounced on her. He pinned her wrists to the ground beside her waist. He put his face close to hers again, narrowing his eyes in warning. She couldn't decide if her face was paling in fear or flushing in embarrassment.

He smirked at her panicked expression, revealing his long canines. "Just because you can't use magic doesn't mean I don't wanna punish you for ruining my nap."

WHAT THE HECK DOES HE MEAN BY THAT?!

"Leona~!" a voice chirped. The man paused and looked behind him to where the voice was coming from. His grip relaxed just enough to allow Lev to break free of his hold and quickly move a safe distance away. 

The man--Leona--Stood up and growled at the intruder. This boy was around Lev's height, with messy dirty-blonde hair and silver eyes. A pair of ears, much bigger than Leona's, twitched irritably within his hair. 

"Ugh. The annoying one's here," Leona groaned.   

Ruggie gave the large man an annoyed pout. "Jeez, that's a great way to greet the person who just worked their butt off trying to find you, y'know. I came to tell you that it's time for your remedial lessons."

"Okay, now go away," Leona ordered.

"C'mon, Leona," Ruggie whined, his ears flattening against the top of his head in an annoyed manner. "You need to go to your class. If you keep failing we're gonna be in the same grade next year."

Leona rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Just shut up. I don't need lectures from you."

Ruggie sighed. "Let's just go already." He started walking away. 

Leona began to follow him, but suddenly turned around to shoot Lev a dirty glare. 

"I'll let you go this time, herbivore," he growled. "But, you better watch out next time you violate my turf." He spun back around and disappeared into the exotic plants.  

After a minute or two, Lev still sat stunned on the ground. 

What in the world was that?!

Grim poked his head out from under the foliage he had been hiding under. 

"Is he gone?" he whisper-shouted. Lev nodded. The monster sighed and ran up to her. "That was terrifying!" he exclaimed, jumping into Lev's lap. "What kind of caretaker was that?"

"I don't think he was the caretaker..." Lev muttered, still staring at the spot where Leona had disappeared, like he could pop out at any second. She shook her head vigorously to clear it and stood up. "Let's find Deuce and Ace." 

"Oh yeah, we still gotta pick those chestnuts." Grim started grinned and jumping around again, the memories of the past few minutes fleeing from his mind. "Let's go, let's go!" He started running back to the entrance of the garden.

"Grim!" Lev exclaimed. "Wait up!"

I hope those two had better luck then we did. Lev thought with a sigh, hoping that neither of them also ran into the strange lion-man. And is it just me, or are there a lot of delinquents at this academy?