A Study On Destiny

28: And.. Why The Gloves??

Ana woke as she usually would. Well for the evil castle. Her messy bed of which was covered in books, parchment and clothes. Somehow she managed to get back to sleep after her nightmare and it was quite peaceful too. No more signs of a nightmare on acid. It may have been a sign. Could it? Ana wondered as her eyes tried to stay open. She looked at the clock on her bedside table, it took her time for her eyes to adjust to the light but when they did...

"Oh fuck I'm late," She immediately scrambling out of bed. The clock displayed the time of 10:37. She should have been at class over an hour ago! She had no time to think about anything as she chucked her uniform on, brushed her fingers through her hair and grabbed some fingerless gloves. Before she did she paused, only for a second, to examine them. Still wrinkled and riddled with moles. She put the gloves on the cover them before grabbing her books to bolt out of her dorm. She rushed down the corridors, flying down staircases and practically running to Lady Lesso's class.

Ana was half way down the corridor as she felt the cold chill come from the classroom. She started to slow down to catch her breath before she approached the door.

"So for one to cast such a curse one would need to include a herb such as-" Lady Lesso paused as she saw Ana appear at the door "Ah, Miss Charming! So glad you came to burden us with your presence,"

"I'm sorry I'm late, Lady Lesso," Ana spoke positioning her books in front of her chest. Somehow hoping if a dagger or axe was thrown at her vital organs will have some sort of protection. There was a giggled from the sides of the classroom as everyone stared at her. It was then Lady Lesso noticed the girls added accessory today.

"Are you cold, Miss Charming?" She asked with a plain tone. To be honest she only spoke in a cold manner towards everyone. No one crossed her path when clearly something bothered her and it was quite obvious. The women didn't have much chill. Well...

"No, Lady Lesso," Ana started, to be fair she forgot the gloves covered her hands. They were on full display as she clutched her books to her chest.

"Well then you would have no problem with removing your gloves," She replies rather quickly

"But actually I would like-"

"What we want and what we get are two different things girl," Her voice somehow seemed darker as she stared off thinking possibly of what was bothering her. She then snapped out of her trance and spoke at once"Now remove them,"

"Yes Lady Lesso," Ana said walking over to her desk to place her books down.

"In fact give them to me. You are no longer a princess and villains do not need such accessories," She explained as she walked around her desk to stand in front of her chair. Ana turned to face her desk and started to remove her gloves. Her hands remained how they were this morning. She walked over to her Deans desk and handed her the gloves. Yet not before Lesso grabbed her hand. She examined the girls hands as her eyes lit up. Almost like some hope had sparked into hers. "On second thoughts... you may keep such an accessory. Now go sit down before I change my mind,"

"How come she gets gloves!" A boy yelled from the other side of the classroom.

"Do you make the rules, Mr De Vil?" Lesso asked as her eyes shot daggers to the poor boy who clearly regretted his choice of words.

"No, Lady Lesso," He hung his head. I'm not sure whether he was more disappointed about not having a pair of gloves of his own or being embarrassed in front of the class. "Now continuing on from earlier. For you all to be ready for the Trial by Tales you must get your finger glow. It is power of which fuelled by emotion. Whether that be rage, jealousy or fear,"

Ana took her seat behind Jay while listening to Lady Lesso. She pushed her gloves onto her hands quickly praying no one took any notice. They didn't. They were all too engrossed in trying to win the trials and they were all desperate to try and get picked.

"For you to get picked you need to have the highest ranks in the school, need to be able to control your power and control your finger glowing," Lady Lesso explained "Only the best will get the privilege to have such a chance. As you all know at the start of next week we will be choosing those to be representing our school,"

Everyone sat up in their seats. Their egos showing as they looked down at everyone else in the room. Thinking they would win, get a place in the top 10 of the school. Even the ones with ranks higher than 200 still had hope. No one slumped into their chairs they all sat up as if they'd already made it. I guess that's the thing about being evil, the more delusional you are... the more likely you are to get it. It was then the wolves howled early and everyone's ranks changed. We still had around 20 minutes left of the lesson yet because of the finger glow ceremony we all had to leave earlier.

"I would say good luck to you all in the final stretch," Lady Lesso announced "but I have no hope in this class. I highly doubt most of you yet the very few I wish my luck to. Now all of you get out, all expect Anastasia. I wish to talk to you," She sat at her chair and began to tidy her desk while the classroom emptied. Ana told Jay to get his food from the gathering before the cooks for the evil school forgot to make the right amount of food, again. So at least we could share a lunch instead of us both going hungry. Ana didn't even catch Chris and Raven leaving yet that was the least of her problems right now.

"Lady Lesso," Ana started as the room was now empty "did you ever catch that ghost? Did you find anything?"

"Never mind that right now, your hands," she said before she paused to look up at Ana "have you been having strange dreams?"

"How do you mean strange?" Ana asked. She knew her answer but wasn't sure if that's what her Dean was looking for.

"Dreams you can't explain. Violent, powerful or even dangerous dreams," Lady Lesso explained as Ana thought. It wasn't long before Ana nodded "How many have you had?"

"Just two," Ana responded "One a few weeks ago and one last night,"

"Are they getting worse?" Her dean asked to which Ana returned with a nod.

"The first was suggestive in violence. It was confusing, as you said I just couldn't explain. Last nights was different. It was murderer. Bodies everywhere. A maze, I chased someone then..."

"Then?"

"Then I fell down a rabbit hole. Then that was it,"

"How strange,"

"What do you mean?" Ana said "Am I in danger?"

Lady Lesso laughed before she responded "No my dear. Have you heard of a Nemesis dream before?"

"Yes! I read up on it when I was back in my castle," Ana said "A dream shared between a villain and a hero. The hero grows stronger while the villain grows weaker,"

"Very good," Lady Lesso praised "have you any idea who your nemesis could be?"

"No clue. The dreams have all had different people in it," Ana explained

Lady Lesso thought for a moment before declaring "Tell no one,"

"What why-"

"Because if people know of these you could be deemed as too dangerous by the other school. Evil may finally redeem itself from last year!" She exclaimed a little too excited. Ana knew she meant what happened to Sophie, the girl never mentioned it and the rumours were all over the place. Who knows what she really did? Did she really poison a pineapple? Did she really fall in love with a prince? Did she spend a day disguised in the good school? Did she ruin evil by attempting to destroy the schools? Did she really have a best friend in the other school? Did she really make a poisoned upside down cake with the pineapple? Seems weird but whatever. What is it with fucking pineapples? "Now go and do not say a word about this,"

"Yes Lady Lesso," with that Ana left and walked to the hall. Don't tell anyone... easy enough right?