The One

Snow White

Izar led the way, passing by the school in front of which they had first met Bentley and Zanna and into a street. It was a few hours before noon, and the area was not crowded. Initially, the witch had planned only to bring the siblings, but Feray half-dragged Bentley out of his own house as well, claiming that this was a great time to hang out before they would have to be separated forever. The three males each showed their puzzlement in their own ways: Waylon with a twitch of his eyebrow, Bentley with an audible "hah?", and Izar with a glare as he pulled his hood over his eyes to hide it at the same time.

Granted, Izar was not confused.

As soon as Waylon walked up to ask Izar a question, Feray grabbed hold of Bentley's elbow and leaned closer to him. "Let's walk together today. You don't have a problem with that, right?"

"Well, no..." answered an utterly baffled Bentley. "But what are you up to?"

"Nothing, obviously." She grinned.

"Yeah, obviously," he mimicked with a roll of his eyes and a chuckle.

"Izar." Meanwhile, Waylon began to ask, "Long ago, my mother didn't want to tell me why Hominum and Refica are still connected even though they were split on purpose. I have an idea why now, but could you tell me?"

Izar grinned. "Of course I could, dearie. A thirst for knowledge of your own world is good. Though, I believe Mr. Snyder can answer it more cle..." He started to gesture towards Bentley behind him. As Izar and Waylon turned, however, they found Feray holding on to Bentley's arm with both of her hands, the two of them laughing at something the other two had not heard. "...arly. What exactly are you doing?" Izar finished, his fake smile perfectly in place.

"Feray." Meanwhile, Waylon glared daggers at her hands.

"Ah, how could I piss everyone off in two days? Haha..." Feray let go of her companion. "We weren't doing anything. Besides," As she spoke now, she looked pointedly at Izar. "Even if we were, why should I tell you?"

They both wore their flawless smiles, but Bentley and Waylon knew they were fake. As for the reasons why, they could not even begin to guess.

"That's right, that's right," Izar said, "I don't need to know anyway, do I? Back to the question—Mr. Snyder, did you hear what we were saying?"

Bentley cleared his throat, thankful he was not involved personally in whatever battle was going on between Izar and Feray. Let the impossible deal with themselves, he thought. "Yes, I heard. Waylon was asking why the two worlds are still connected." He added the description of the question just in case Feray hadn't heard. Next to him, the girl looked up at him with a tilt of head and beamed. I was right, she didn't hear it at all. "Isn't it because of status? People here need a 'lower' world to secure their own social ranking, especially the most basic witches. Simply knowing that somewhere out there, there is a world where no one can practice magic, is enough to stroke their ego a little."

"Is this what you figured out by living here as a normal human being?" Waylon asked.

Bentley nodded. "That's why I moved all the way out there. My family lives in the city. We were never close though."

"Dearie," Izar addressed Waylon, "What reason did your mother give you when she refused to answer?"

"That I was too young."

"Why do you think that is?"

A brief silence fell amongst them. Izar waited, his expression giving nothing away.

At last, Feray uttered an "ah!" sound of epiphany and said, "But, the one who did this in the first place was Odessa herself, wasn't it?"

The flash of alertness in Izar's eyes confirmed her suspicions. He recovered quickly, however, as he said, "Odessa is regarded as basically a goddess, dearie, let's not delve into it too much."

As they walked on, the group entered a busier area. On each side of the road were various types of shops and stalls. When they passed by a furniture store, Izar commented, "Once you start to learn magic, renovating Mr. Snyder's place will be easy." To which Bentley replied, "I'm still here, you know?"

Two hours later, Feray slowed in her steps in the middle of the road. Waylon was still walking next to Izar and Bentley next to herself—there was nothing wrong about that. She wasn't tired, either.

This feeling...what is it? She wondered. It was an indescribable feeling, something she had never before known—and it came out of nowhere. It was as if dark clouds washed over her soul, making her heart heavy. However, as a person with no notable past, she knew for a fact that it wasn't something internal haunting her.

That meant one thing for certain: it was an external force.

She stole a glance at Izar. He, too, had slowed, albeit much less noticeably.

I spent the whole morning avoiding him because I thought he'd be mad at me today, but...who else would know what this is?

Thinking thus, Feray reached forward and pinched a corner of his cloak. She expected—in fact, she hoped—that he would turn around with the same playful yet meaningless smile and tease her about being paranoid. Instead, when he turned around, there was no smile on his face.

"You can feel it?" he asked, not really needing her answer.

"What?" Waylon asked, oblivious. Bentley said not a word.

Izar took her by the arm and pulled her towards himself. Waylon stepped back to join Bentley as a result. Due to the seriousness in both Izar and Feray's expressions, the other two did not comment further. When Izar pulled her in, he let a part of his cloak veil her from the outside. Just as he had done so, another figure, cloaked in snow-white, passed by.

"It's useless," whispered the snow-white silhouette. It was a female voice.

It's from her, Feray confirmed, it's her giving me that feeling. But what is it?

She didn't flinch, and when the woman whispered, she felt Izar's grip on her arm tighten, if only slightly. Then, as the silhouette passed, Izar cursed under his breath.

It was only then that he released her. She looked up at him, and he met her gaze, but shook his head.

"Not here, not now," he explained curtly.