"Ahhhhhhh!" Anna's scream tore through the forest as she writhed on the ground, clutching her stomach.
"You poisoned it, just as I thought," Azalea said, watching her without any particular expression on his face.
"Don't expect healing potions. Endure it." He turned back to the ingredients he'd gathered from the surrounding woodland and began mixing a detox from memory, using what he knew of alchemy to counter the lethal properties without actually stopping the pain. That part she could deal with herself.
They were in a forest now, positioned at the border between Morntelia and Ezram, exactly where he needed to be. Anna had teleported them there after they left the hotel, which was fortunate, because the paralysis drug she'd laced the food with had started working shortly after. She was immobile now, and largely useless as a result.
"Sobs, it hurts, please, I'll do anything, just one healing potion, I'm begging you," she gasped between sobs, reaching toward him.
He gathered a handful of leaves and stuffed them into her mouth to muffle the noise, then dragged her into the thick bushes nearby and left her there. With the gag in place, she wouldn't interfere with what he had planned.
He climbed a tree overlooking the cleared road and settled in. He didn't care how long it took. He was going to find them.
At a sprawling mansion some distance away, three girls sat together in the shade discussing recent events when a black-haired young man appeared and interrupted the conversation.
"Auston?" The girls stood up, and Cassandra was the first to reach him. "What's wrong?"
"Cassandra," he muttered, then looked at the others who had gathered around him. "It's Annabelle. I want to join the search."
"You aren't fully recovered for that," Angelica said.
"I know, but it's been too long. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen if I don't find her soon." He gritted his teeth.
Angelica sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "You really are a worrywart. But don't worry, according to the information I received, she was spotted near the academy three days ago."
Everyone's eyes went wide.
"Really?" Nora asked, Auston's adopted sister leaning forward with surprise.
"Yes."
"But why the academy?" Auston frowned.
It was the same question that had been sitting uneasily in Angelica's mind. Anna wasn't someone who did anything without a reason, and the academy wasn't a place she'd just wander to without one. The variable that bothered Angelica wasn't Anna's location, it was the young man she had reportedly been seen with. She had a strong gut feeling that it was Azalea, and if that was the case, something was very wrong.
"Then let's go there," Auston said.
"We can't. The academy and Estellia have already put it under lockdown, both of them are investigating," she said, which was a lie, but a necessary one. She didn't want him going anywhere in his current condition. "Just recover. The session resumes in a month, and you need the rest."
She held his face gently between her hands.
"Angelica, could you not?" Cassandra said, her tone sharp.
"Sorry, I didn't realize holding my lover was an offense," Angelica laughed.
"When did he become your lover?!" Cassandra snapped back.
Their argument carried on, but Auston wasn't paying attention to any of it. Only Nora could see how troubled he actually was, standing quietly among them with his fists clenched at his sides.
"Anna," he muttered under his breath.
"Finally," Azalea muttered, spotting a carriage on the road after five days of waiting.
"Hey, Anna," he called, glancing over at the girl glaring at him from the opposite tree.
"What, sir?" she replied through gritted teeth, the title forced out of her like it physically hurt.
"The moment it gets close, blow the road apart."
"What? I can't just blow the road apart!"
"You already know what happens if you mess up," he said, and dropped from the tree. She had cast the flight spell on him earlier, so he maneuvered carefully to a position where he could see without being seen. The people protecting the carriage would be dangerous, and he couldn't afford a mistake.
He waited, watching, and just as the carriage passed his position and moved toward Anna's side of the road:
BOOM.
He dropped down immediately, but the moment his feet touched the ground, something felt wrong.
It was a trap.