CONSTRICTED/ ✓

18 / The Necklace

The empty dorm was dark as Willow waited in the still silence, tucked under her blanket seeming cozy in her bed, although she was far from slumber. Her lilac eyes were trained on the door that was barely visible by the dim moonlight filtering through the windows.

Jordan had been coming back to her dorm late ever since she cut ties with her old friends; this left Willow waiting in the dark for nearly longer than she could stand, her thoughts running rampant with steps of the intricate plan.

With a harsh creak that shattered the silence, Willow quickly closed her eyes, pretending as if she were asleep as the door swung open, revealing two booted feet backlit by the torches in the hallway. Jordan did not notice the strange-coloured eyes that followed her every step, until the feet kicked off the shoes and disappeared into the bed that stood across the room for Willow's.

Willow patiently waited until Jordan's breathing pattern had steadied to be rhythmic and heavy before quietly slipping out from under her covers and onto the chilled stone flooring. She slid and crawled over until she was face to face with the redhead girl who was deep in a slumber; Willow held her breath.

The fairy had just began to wrap her finger around the necklace that hung from the girl's shoulders when Jordan suddenly tossed around in her sheets. Willow's heart roared against her ribs like a caged lion when Jordan groaned and spun over in her sleep. Willow held her breath as she waited for the sleeping girl to still while she ducked underneath the ledge of the bed frame to hide.

Long moments of dead silence had passed before Willow decided it was safe to reach back out, her steady hands gripping around the warm, glistening silver chain. After unclipping the hook, she slowly and carefully pulled, although, it seemed to stick to the sleepy redhead's skin as if they had began to grow as one.

Willow held up the necklace in victory as it came loose, watching the deep green emerald as it glowed with the light of the moon shining just outside the window. The weary fairy girl wondered how such a simple piece of pendant could do such horrible damage.

She quickly shook the moment of hesitation before sneaking back out of the dorm hurriedly. Slipping through the empty, dark common room, she emerged out into the corridor to where Toby stood guard.

The boy greeted her with a look of relief as he carefully took the necklace from her grasp and placed it into a small cloth bag.

"I'll get this to Michael so he can conjure up a replica, meet me back out here in 20." Toby whispered in a low and hushed tone. Willow nodded in response before turning back into the dorm room and into bed. Jordan would surely find suspicion if she woke up to find her roomate missing, as well as her necklace.

Toby, being the most athletically inclined besides Willow, was the designated runner as he took off in a quiet sprint to the astronomy tower where Michael sat in the dark with his face in a book. The boy looked up through his glossy glasses and shaggy hair with a smoulder.

"Just in time, I've just mastered the replication spell." Michael whispered as he pointed out two identical books laying out in front of him. There were several objects behind him with what Toby could only assume to be the attempted replicas.

Toby approved as he pulled out the glowing green necklace, placing it down next to another necklace made of cheap metals and a fake jem.

With a wave of Michaels wand and the hushed words of a complicated spell, the cheap necklace changed from until it was identical to Jordan's.

"Now," Michael explained quitely, "the effects will only last 12 hours, meaning that by mid afternoon tomorrow, this necklace with change back into its original form. We have got to tell Jordan before that happens."