Waves of Destiny (Twisted Wonderland)

Chapter 49

Chapter 49

I saw clouds. Then a bright light. And then... a temple in the clouds? A man held a cute little baby. Someone seemed jealous. This was another dream, wasn't it?

"...ey! Hey, Ona!" said a familiar voice. "Wake up already!" It was... Ace?

I opened my eyes. I groaned as I sat up in my bed. "Huh?" Ace and Deuce stood before me.

"C'mon, you can't go falling asleep when you're the one who called us over at this hour," Ace said.

"I was certainly surprised to hear from you so late," said Deuce. "What's this about Grim going missing?"

I looked around in confusion. "When did I fall asleep...?"

Ace's eyes widened. "Whoa, hold up! What happened to your hand?" He grabbed my wrist and examined my hand, causing me to wince in pain. "It's all scratched!"

"Well, I went looking for Grim, and when I found him, he-"

"Wait, am I hearin' you right?"

"Now way... GRIM did that?" Deuce said in surprise.

Ace frowned as he continued to stare at my hand. His furrowed furrowed in a worry that was uncharacteristic for me. "Let's head to the lounge for now. We gotta get that hand patched up stat."

"Ah, right, good call. We can talk with the headmage after that."

I got up and followed them to the lounge. Deuce found the medical equipment, and then Ace bandaged my hand in a way more careful than I thought him capable of. After several calls to the headmage, he finally answered us and made his way to Ramshackle. With all four us seated on the couch, I explained everything that happened that night.

"So, the mirror in your room connected to another place, and you spoke with a large-eared creature named 'Mickey,'" Crowley said once I finished. "After your conversation, you noticed Grim was missing and went to look for him. Then when you found him, he acted uncharacteristically aggressive and lashed out at you. Hmmm..."

"Grim was eating another black rock off the ground," I said. I had a feeling it was important.

"A black rock, you say?"

"You mean like the one he housed in the mine at the start of the school year?" said Ace.

"Now that you mention it..." said Deuce. "Grim also scarfed down the black rock that fell onto the grass when Housewarden Riddle overblotted."

"And the other times as well," I noted.

"But he didn't freak out back then," said Ace. "What's the deal with those black rocks, anyway?"

Crowley frowned. "I didn't witness any of these incidents firsthand, so this is purely conjecture... But I suspect those black rocks were blot crystals."

My friends and I exchanged looks. "What are blot crystals?" Deuce asked.

"I believe a quick refresher is in order. Overblotting occurs when a magic user accumulates more blot than they can handle. Blot, as you know, is a waste product of using magic. It is highly toxic and contains stagnant magical energy. During such incidents, blot manifests in the shape of the practitioner's darkest emotions."

"And when you want to get someone out of and overblot..." said Ace. "...you gotta rip that manifestation away from them, right?"

"At least that's how we've gotten all the overblotters to return to normal so far," said Deuce.

"Just so," said Crowley. "One must sever the link to the manifestation to free the magic user. My understanding is that when the manifestation fades, the condensed blot can crystallize."