Lenaria: The Party Begins CONTINUED

Until Next Time - Part 7

Bella came crashing into the room, drenched and shivering but with a big smile. She slipped off the soaking cloak, dropping it on the floor in a sopping puddle. The bard shook her hair, apologizing when Evgenia scooted away from her with a glare.

"What's with the smile?" Adva grinned, watching as Bella grabbed a pair of clean dry clothes to change into. After traveling together for so long, the crew had gotten used to changing in front of each other.

Except for Victor. He usually went to change in the bathroom, looking away politely whenever the others changed in the open.

Bella slipped a loose short over her, grabbing a hair tie and clumping her hair into a thick bun. The bard smiled harder, cheerfully saying, "He said he'll think about it!"

"Sato?" Minerva looked away from the window, eyes wide with surprise. She, just like the others, didn't expect to hear that.

Bella nodded excitedly, "Yup!" She shivered, plopping next to Adva on the bed. She dug her face into the mattress, letting her partner lay the blanket over them. Bella muttered, "I'm really tired and cold..."

Evgenia sighed, flipping through pages of books. "We still have a lot of researching to do." She wrote down a note, biting her lip in annoyance. Muttering under her breath, Evgenia wondered to herself, "What if we combine two unlocking spells? No no no, that's too complicated-"

"Actually," Victor looked up from his book, "That's... genius!" He started flipping the pages, finding a part he had bookmarked. Once he found it, Victor levitated the book over to his sister while reaching over to grab another one. "I was thinking, the unwinding spell allows certain objects to go back in motion, granted it doesn't work all the time," He motioned to the book that was floating in front of Evgenia's face, flipping through another one, "And there's this spell that nullifies magical effects."

"Hm," Evgenia set the floating book down, frowning deeply at the marked page, "I'm not sure if that's enough... Unless we can add a normal spell that would open normal locks like keyholes?" She rummaged through her books, trying to find the specific spell.

"A combination of spells?" Adva scratched their head, glancing at Bella who had already dozed off. The necromancer pouted, "That does sound really hard. I thought you couldn't do more than one spell at a time?"

"That's true," Evgenia said not looking up from a book she had picked up, "But we could try piling spells one of the other. Like... a spell pancake."

"Pfft," Adva smiled, hiding their amused smile, "A spell pancake?"

Minerva sighed, "I just hope you open the journal soon."

...

Evgenia yawned, eyes getting wet from the lack of sleep. With the glow coming from a ball of light by her head, Evgenia's eyes slowly scanned the room.

Her and Victor had stayed up late to look at more spells. Everyone else had fallen asleep.

Evgenia looked over at her brother. He had dozed off, head laying in his folded arms on the desk. His hair messily covered his face but Evgenia knew he was probably drooling.

Sighing, the witch got up and grabbed a blanket. She flapped it in the air before gently laying it on her brother.

Evgenia yawned again, rubbing her eyes. Cracking her back, Evgenia decided she could last a couple more minutes of looking through the books. As she sat back down, Evgenia's eyes kept drifting over to her parents' journal.

The string around the journal was glowing brightly. Occasionally the journal itself would shimmer, reflecting light in a mysterious way that just irked Evgenia and made her even more annoyed that she couldn't open it.

The witch let out an annoyed sigh, poking the book hoping it'll do something. The book was motionless.

Muttering a curse, Evgenia wanted to bash her head in.

Before she couldn't even do it however, Evgenia froze when there was a soft voice singing.

Singing?

Evgenia glanced over at Bella.

Nope, the bard was snuggled up to Adva.

She slapped her cheeks, jumping at the pain that tickled her cheeks. Rubbing them, Evgenia sighed again for the hundredth time that night. The lack of sleep and pure boredom must be taking its toll on her sanity.

Evgenia...

The witch almost fell out of her chair as the melodious voice said her name. HER NAME!

"Okay, Evgenia," She muttered, "You're just tired and probably going crazy."

The hairs on the back of her neck rose as the voice was, singing? She didn't know if it was singing per say. But it was very... calming. It was like someone was... calling her? God, she really was going crazy.

Maybe sleep would cure this insanity-

Evgenia... The Forest... I'll be waiting.

The witch jumped from her chair, frantically looking around. That time, that time it really felt like there was someone there. Someone whispering in her ears. In her mind.

But, there was no one.

Everyone was asleep.

Evgenia looked down at Victor.

He was softly snoring, head still buried in his arms. Even if it was a prank from Victor, there was no way he could just... talk in her head! There was no such thing!

Oh no... What if she was being haunted!

A haunting chill ran down her spine. Feeling the taunting shiver, Evgenia looked at the window.

It said... The voice said it was waiting for her. At the forest?

It had stopped raining, meaning it'll be musty and very muddy. Not the way Evgenia wanted to go out.

The witch sighed, talking quietly to herself again, "You're not going. You're not going. You're not going." She kept repeating it, those words, denying the voice. But with every movement of her lips, the words became... meaningless.

She could still hear it. A faint singing. It had to be... a woman? It sounded like a woman, someone who was... peaceful. Whoever it was... the voice kept calling to her.

But she wasn't going to go! Stranger Danger!

However... it would be a good excuse to go explore the forest...

Evgenia looked around the room again, making sure no one else was awake. Carefully and quietly, Evgenia slipped on her shoes and grabbed her hat. She turned to the desk, turning off her ball of light with a wave of her hand. The room was engulfed in darkness. Making sure she had her trusty pouch at her side, Evgenia silently left the room.

As soon as the door shut, unknowing to Evgenia, someone rose from the bed.

Forcing her eyes open, Bella squinted in the darkness.

Where in the world was Evgenia going?

Petting Adva's head gently, Bella slipped out of bed and put on her own shoes. Slipping her guitar onto her back, she quietly left, following Evgenia.