PRIDE (Leona x Reader) [Twisted Wonderland]

Chapter 3

When you reawoke, you were on a couch in an office. It felt soft and plush, and was a dreary velvet color. It was so comfortable. And so not yours.

You jolted upward, looking around. You spotted the masked man a few feet away, collecting floating books from a shelf. He didn't turn his head when he looked at you, nor did he make a sound. Not until he walked over to his desk, that is. He made a humming sound, and set down a thick brown behemoth of a book directly in front of him. You wondered at how it hadn't made any noise when he'd dropped it.

"Tell me, what's your name?"

You bit your lip, hesitant to share any information with him. "Y/N," you admitted. "Y/N L/N."

He flicked through the pages, and you wondered what he was looking for. His staff floated behind him, like it was looking over his shoulder. Leona Kingscholar had not looked at all like a witch. This man looked everything like one. "What year were you born?" he asked.

"Um. I don't know?"

An unhappy sound, then. That hadn't been a good answer. There were right and wrong answers. You folded your hands in your lap, feeling the tension in the quiet air.

"Why are you asking? What are you going to do with me? Who are you?" All three questions echoed through the small room. The man stilled. He looked up at you. His lips curved into a smile. It looked anything but kind.

"I am Headmaster Crowley, of Night Raven Academy. I'm trying to figure out why you're here and fix it." His voice was lilted and brash. "Hopefully," he added, "This will be over within the hour."

"What will be over?"

"You're in the wrong time, somehow. You're not supposed to be here, you're from... Well, I actually haven't figured that out yet, but a long time ago, at least. It's been hundreds of years since whenever you were transported from. You're supposed to be dead by now."

You furrowed your eyebrows. Was he trying to tell you this was the future? Was everyone in the future a witch? Or, was this place just a place of witches, in the future? In the now.

"So what are you going to do, exactly?"

"I'm going to set time proper again, obviously." He stood and pushed out his chair. "I need to go collect a few things, but I'll be right back with you." He exited quickly out the office's back door.

Set time proper. What did that mean? He was going to fix it but... 'You're supposed to be dead by now'

No, that couldn't be what he meant.

Could it?

You heard his footsteps getting farther from the room. Your eyes glanced to the other door, the one on your left. Could you really just stay here? What if he was planning to kill you? Your heartbeat sped up in your chest. You heard him turn around, the sound of shuffling. His staff kept its eyes on you the entire time, floating on the other side of his desk.

You heard him take a step back toward the door. Another. You looked down at the book that he'd left on his desk. You read the title.

'Mortuary Records'. You didn't need to read the numbers. You heard the door reopen. And you ran.

x x x

After you made it out of the first hall, you weren't really sure where to go. The candles weren't lit, so you couldn't tell where paths ended and walls began. The moonlight coming through the windows was faded by the time it reached the smooth tile floors. You took the first exit you saw and dashed down the path. Looking behind you, you recognized the massive building you had been in as the castle. You'd seen it in the distance when you'd entered the one with the mirrors.