The Secrets of Madrid

Chapter 6

Pinx knew she was running, but she couldn't feel it. She knew there were flames growing higher and higher but she just couldn't bring herself to process it all.
'Holy shit, I'm in a burning building!' It was as if she'd just woken up from a fever dream, except it was real.  At that moment it was all very real. Maxis was leading them both down each hall that wasn't already in flames but couldn't seem to find a way out. They had come to a dead-end hallway with a window peering out to the grassy fields of the Akribus grounds where students and faculty stared in horror as the school fell apart. Maxis turned back but before they could make it to the end of the hall sparks lit the floorboards and suddenly they were trapped. Both backed up alarmed by the ignition of their only exit.

"I'm so sorry!" Pinx cried as she saw the fire growing bigger.
"There's no time for that right now we just have to find some way out of here." Maxis knew that it was nearly impossible at this point, but something in them hoped a magical solution would just appear; but none of their spells or charms could fix this. So they stand backing up toward the wall as they await their demise. They could feel the cool glass against their wings and now the two had nowhere left to go. Then they saw Pinx take a sharp turn towards them out of the corner of their eye. They jumped slightly.

"What is it?" They asked.
"The window, if we smash the window then you can fly us down onto the field." Maxis looked out the window and down to the ground.
"We're on the top floor, I'm not strong enough to fly the both of us out." Pinx considered this for a moment. Maxis could see the flickering reflection of fire in her dark brown eyes and felt the smoke slowly start to enter their lungs. 

"Then don't." She stated plainly.  She looked back up at them. Tears started to form but she hardly looked sad.  She just seemed blank.
"What?" Maxis didn't understand what she was implying. She turned to the glass and kicked it in with a grunt. After she had cleared away the extra shards around the edges of the frame. She stood back up.
"You have to go without me. I'm the one who got you into this mess in the first place." Maxis was stunned, they couldn't believe she was even proposing such an idea.
"I am not going to abandon you here! I came in here to save you and if I can't do that then I at the very least won't be leaving you." The fairy persisted, refusing to escape. They leaned against the wall in an attempt to back farther away from the fire but felt something in their pocket. A wave of hope washed over them, but Pinx spoke up before they could.

"Very well, then I hope you're able to forgive me for what I'm about to do." Before Maxis had time to process what she had said, they felt two hands shove them out of the empty window frame.

Maxis felt the strong arms of Pinx push them out of the window, as they yelped. They fell about a floor or so before using their wings to their advantage and flying back in, full force. As they flew back in, they rolled over Pinx, who had sat down, mid-air, and landed hero style in front of her.
"I'm not leaving without you. We'll get out of here together."

Pinx just stared blankly at them in shock from the idiocy of that action. "I-. I pushed you out of a burning building and you flew back in? Now this may just be because of all the smoke I inhaled but that doesn't seem right."
Maxis paused and thought about it for a moment, but remembered that the fire crept ever closer, as they felt their wings heat up. "No time to think about that. We have to go."
"N-no I think we should think about this for a sec- ok and we're going now," she said as Maxis pulled her into a room to the side.
"I already checked in here. There's nowhere out."
"You haven't been here for three years. You don't know the shortcuts."

They pulled aside a medium-sized painting to reveal a small hole. Pinx looked at them skeptically as it was obvious neither of them could fit in there. Maxis reached into their pocket and pulled out a small vial of a teal liquid.
"Olivinoa. But how did you-"
"I'll tell you when we're out of danger. Now drink this, and hold on to the hole."
As Pinx gulped it down, she felt her clothes get more roomy and baggy and her hand slightly scrape against the stone as it shrunk as well. Suddenly she was wearing nothing but her birthday suit and was clinging to the hole.         

She pulled herself up and went to turn from Maxis as she heard the soft pitter-patter of feet against the stone floor. She heard them rustling through something, walk back up to her, and drop something at her feet.
"Don't worry. I'm not looking. There are some clothes."
Pinx looked behind her and saw a pile of clothes and a fully clothed Maxis with a hand on their eyes. She swiftly got dressed into a light blue dress and black leggings with sneakers.
"I'm decent now."
"Great. Let's get moving then."

She adjusted the itchy fabric on her body and followed Maxis as they led the way out. A thought occurred to her as they were walking.

"So let me get this right, we walked through a burning building for about 15 minutes, sat at the end of a burning hallway for about 5, I pushed you out a window to save your life and now you reveal your shrinking potion?" Maxis looked over their shoulder and shrugged at the girl.
"I tried to tell you but you pushed me out of a window before I had the chance." Pinx scoffed at the pure nonchalance of their statement.

"Okay so where exactly do we go from here? The school isn't becoming any less on fire and we're still on the 5th floor." Pinx crossed her arms but quickly uncrossed them to catch her fall when she tripped over the leggings she had been given that were too big for her.
"And where'd you get these clothes anyway? They look like they were made for a doll."
"Well, where else do you expect me to get tiny clothes?" Maxis smirked slightly as Pinx rolled her eyes.
"Okay but two different changes of clothes?" Pinx wondered how the teacher had come so prepared.
"What can I say, I like to have my options." Pinx laughed letting out a little snort at the end. She never thought she'd come to see the day when she and Mx. Forast were cracking jokes.

She was about to ask them something when she felt an arm stretched out in front of her stopping her in her tracks. The two were standing on a small ledge before a thin stone staircase. Pinx gasped before exclaiming,
"This is a-"
"A secret passage." Maxis finished her sentence for her.

They grabbed her hands in theirs.
"I'll lower you down and then fly down myself." She complied, carefully stepping off the edge, trusting they wouldn't let go.  She let go once she was low enough to one of the stairs and landed with a thud.
"Alright, your turn!" She yelled up. Maxis stepped off and fluttered down to the same stair Pinx had landed on. Pinx side-eyed the professor with a mischievous smirk playing on her lips.
"What? What is it?" The smirk grew into a bright grin and she yelled,
"Race ya!" and started jumping down each stair. She used a technique called distantia they had learned in Hunter school to gain a head start on the winged creature.

Maxis chuckled before chasing after her down the passage. They flew up beside her and yawned as they passed her.
"Hey!" She practically laughed. Maxis became amused by how hard she was trying to keep up. They suddenly stopped in front of what appeared to be a wall. Pinx looked confused.
"Secret passage." Maxis reminded her. She sighed in relief through deep breaths. She watched in awe as Maxis uttered the magical words to open the door.
"Aperi nunc."

Word count: 1376

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