Mounting Worries

"What? Why so sudden? … Did he and my son get into another fight? Daren has been slightly different than normal all winter break. Are people speaking nonsense again about who is the true heir of the Halcyon City Lord?"

"No, my lady. Young Master Daren and Young Master Trey have been avoiding each other recently. No one's said anything strange to Young Master Daren either. He said that he has some work to take care of at the university."

"And your personal thoughts?"

"… Pardon me, my lady, but Daren's emotional intelligence leaves much to be desired. I think he's actually much more interested in Aayla Glowery than any one realizes. Even himself."

Chris bowed his head as the pressure in the room increased. The door slammed shut behind him. A stack of papers flew off of one of the shelves and landed in Rebecca's hand.

"We really don't know much about that girl. Even with Deputy Heston vouching for her, I don't like how little we know. If I didn't check on Daren myself, I would be concerned that he was under the effects of some spell."

"If I may, she treats him very differently than what he's used to. Ms. Glowery is polite but either doesn't fully grasp his position or doesn't care. She doesn't put him on a pedestal or treat him like glass. She's highly intelligent but secretive and humble. Much like him, Ms. Glowery becomes overexcited about the subjects that she likes and prefers to avoid others.

"No, I take that back. The eldest young master will occasionally seek out company but Ms. Glowery avoids other people like the plague, with Deputy Heston the only exception. She even tries to avoid him."

The Lady of Halcyon nodded.

"Daren's always seemed to be slightly repulsed by young ladies around his age. Are you suggesting that he's just confused about how Ms. Glowery treats him and why he's curious about a young lady for once?"

"Yes, Lady Rebecca."

"… You're sure that she's not playing hard to get?"

"Yes, Lady Rebecca. That does not appear to be in her nature."

Rebecca looked over the thin report in her hands.

"All right. Arrange for some others to travel with you. The larger the group the better. I'll foot the bill if necessary. Strange disappearances have been reported all over the nation lately.

"As for Daren… keep a closer eye on him. Dig up every last piece about Aayla Glowery's life at Nafriton that you can find. Maintain the utmost secrecy. I'll talk with the lord and your father to arrange for some more help. You are dismissed."

Chris bowed before he left the room. He had a lot of work to do before the trip back to Nafriton. The door firmly shut behind him.

A long sigh escaped from Rebecca's lips. Complicated emotions bubbled to the surface of her heart. She was ecstatic that her nephew was showing interest in a young lady. However, that person could be very, very dangerous for him to get involved with.

She flipped through the small report again. Knowledge about her personality, goals and extent of her health issues was limited at best. Similarly, Ms. Glowery's origins were a complete mystery. Parents unknown. Birthplace unknown. Education and employment both unknown. True connection with Ramona Heston unknown.

The family's sources couldn't find any shred of evidence of her life. Either Ms. Glowery was born in the most isolated Chinebarian village or she was foreign. Even then, students who get into Nafriton make some waves in their hometowns. It would take some time for the rest of the international results to come in. So far, there was nothing.

Her records at Nafriton were locked up tight. Ms. Glowery's work records were sealed since she was a student. Her student records were kept in the headmaster's office since she was related to a deputy headmaster. Even the other deputy headmasters and her own professors aren't allowed to casually look. Headmaster Marin's fingerprints were all over this blatant coverup.

It was like she didn't exist before arriving at Nafriton.

**********

Fakes! All of them were fakes! At the very least, all of the creatures were very much not alive anymore.

Extremely lifelike displays of magical beasts stood on display bases. Aayla sighed in relief. She walked up to one of the displayed creatures and poked it with her shield. No instant death. No sudden attacks. The earlier movement in the dark must have been her imagination or her shadow.

Aayla patted her cheeks. She was still way too jumpy due to her first experience in the maze. Since she finished the last test, then the trial was over, right? No one outside would have video evidence of this minor incident, right? Her gaze inspected every last inch of the ceiling. She never saw any cameras or artifacts in the maze, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

With no video recording devices in sight, Aayla decided to move on. There should be stairs somewhere unless the other stories that she saw from outside were fake. There was a large enclosed space in the center of the floor. It was covered in displays, but Aayla found a door on its white walls.

She pulled it open to reveal a staircase. The light from her spell illuminated the inside, but the stairs above kept blocking the view. There were two more floors above. One was almost an exact copy of the first floor, but the top floor was a bit different. Part of that floor was encompassed by a round dome.

She searched each floor from top to bottom. Aside from various exhibits and decorations, Aayla couldn't find anything else. There wasn't even a light switch! She could see light fixtures in the ceiling, so there had to be a power source somewhere.

Frustrated, she decided to search the staircase. That was the only place left for a secret entrance to hide. Remembering the basement entrance at the residence hall, Aayla went to the bottom of the staircase. Sure enough, there was empty space below the first flight of stairs.

Eventually, she found a keyhole hidden on the floor. Invisible to the naked eye, Aayla had to crawl on her hands and knees to find it. She pulled out the brass key that unlocked the front doors. It fit perfectly into the keyhole.

The floor lit up underneath her. Before she could move, it disappeared. Aayla quickly curled into a ball and tumbled down the stairs. Several crashes later, Aayla landed on the bottom. Her body ached all over. She could already feel the bruises starting to form.

This floor felt like an icebox. Frost formed whenever Aayla exhaled. She walked around briskly to keep her heat up. Most of the rooms down here seemed to be small offices. There were a couple of conference rooms and some cleaned out storage rooms.

One storage room was twice the size of the rest of the rooms combined. At the very back of that storage room, she found a large black panel on the back wall. Conveniently, it had an outline in the shape of the brass key. When Aayla placed the key on the outline, the panel began to ripple. Aayla quickly pulled her hand back as the key was absorbed into the panel.

Like a computer booting up, numbers and text flashed by on the panel. Soon a simple interface appeared with various sections. Of course, the words seemed to match those from the maze's signs. The box had mysteriously disappeared. Mechanical thumps and whirring noises resounded from all around. Lights flickered to life and a sudden heat wave hit the room. A loud rumbling started off in the distance.

Aayla dashed up the stairs and out of the building. The hedges had shrunk and parted on the opposite end of the plaza. A path directly to the residence hall had revealed itself. A few of the security guards were already on their way.

She sat down on the edge of the fountain to await their arrival. Surprisingly, Professor Nestah was the one who arrived first. She had never seen the professor so excited before. The professor practically drooled over everything in her sight. Deputy Downer and security arrived right after her.

"Professor Nestah! We told you to stay back while it was safe."

"It's fine! It's fine! Ms. Glowery's alright, isn't she?"

"No! It's not fine!"

"You two! Escort Professor Nestah back to the residence hall!"

"ACK! Stop it! No! I just want to take a small look!"

A couple of them hauled the furiously shouting Professor Nestah back to the residence hall. Apparently, no one else was allowed inside until security had ensured the stability of the area inside. Quite a few researchers were overly stimulated and directly ran inside before they could be stopped. Professor Nestah ran the farthest.

"Sorry about that, Ms. Glowery. What happened during the last trial run? The guards and the researchers panicked when you didn't return after the video feed went dark."

"Long story short, I found this place," Aayla pointed behind her. "One of the keys that the headmaster gave me opened it up. There's a strange panel in the basement that might control this entire place. It ate the key. Check the back of the large storage room."

"Hmm. Good work today. You two, escort the student to safety. You four secure the grounds. The rest of you follow me."