Page 66 of House of Ydril

He stops to shoot me an indecipherable look. “The Pied Piper is among the most trustworthy people I know.”

Fuck. I think for a second, but I ultimately nod. I watch Faust disappear into thin air, wondering if I’m making a mistake simply by being too desperate. But hey, that’s what trying to prevent an imminent bloodbath will do to you.

Chapter twenty-nine

WonderingwhatthehellI’m doing, I make my way into the Professors’ Tower and climb all the way up. I find the Pied Piper’s assistant sitting at her desk in the foyer, scribbling away. When I enter, she looks up for a moment, just to say, “They’ll be ready for you in a minute, Miss Longborn, take a seat.” And she goes back to her work.

I do as she says, the memory of her questioning me after the incident at the woods flashing through my mind. I shake it off, fixing my eyes on the giant double door leading into the Pied Piper’s office. I strain my ears, but the only sounds coming from the other side are too muffled to be of any use.

So I’m alone with my thoughts again. And I assume that it’s Faust, talking with the Pied Piper, which fills me with dread. He’s probably recounting what I told him. Asking for her help. But is she really someone that can be trusted, I wonder.

Or even better, ishe? Sure, he acted pretty maturely and honorably at the training session today. But even when I put my personal feelings aside, he’s mostly behaved like an inconsiderate, privileged fucker.

I let out a sigh, lifting my eyes to stare at the ceiling. The ancient-looking relief up there seems to depict some kind of battle, one side posing as the Light and the other as the Darkness itself. In real life, sadly, things are never that black and white. What the fuck does he plan on doing, I think to myself, my thoughts escaping back to the matter at hand.

But it’s at that exact moment that I see Professor Mistila appear in the foyer. She spots me and gives me a nod, but then she turns to the Pied Piper’s assistant and says, “I was summoned by the prince.”

The assistant opens her mouth to say something, but I hear a creak to my left, my head snapping in its direction to see the Pied Piper squinting from behind the now open door. “Mistila, Quinn…” she says in a low, serious voice. “Why don’t you both come in?”

Professor Mistila shoots me a funny look, but we both obediently follow de Groot into the office. Faust is already there, leaned against the window frame to my left. Despite the casual way with which he keeps his hands in his pockets, he looks very official.

“Now,” the Pied Piper says as she flings the length of her cloak aside and takes a seat, motioning for us to do the same. We do as she says. “Andreas has already filled me in on all that’s happened. Is that right,” she adds, turning to shoot me an indecipherable look, “Miss Longborn?”

For a second, I just stare at her, panicking because, of course, it’s not the whole story. There’s also the matter of the blood rituals and the imminent bloodbath. But what am I supposed to do? Risk it all? So I just nod.

“My apologies,veneranda,” Professor Mistila cuts in. “I don’t seem to know what you’re talking about.”

I open my mouth to say something, thinking it should come from me, since I’m the one who cooked this up.

But Faust beats me to it. “There’s a chance, Professor Mistila,” he starts without moving from where he’s standing, “that you’ve been glamored.”

“Glamored?” she echoes, frowning. “When? By whom?”

The Pied Piper says, “That we do not know. But if you were, it was in relation to Miss Longborn’s parents.”

The professor throws a glance at me and then turns back to the Pied Piper. I wait with bated breath, thinking she’ll start laughing or maybe even attacking us. For a second, I imagine seeing her fangs bared.

But she just says, “I see.”

It makes me frown with surprise, the pensive tone of her voice. “I guess it would explain things. Primarily how Miss Longborn can be an Olarel without any of us knowing anything about her parents.”

“Indeed,” the Pied Piper replies as she leans forward in her chair, clasping her hands in that elegant way of hers. “So… With your permission, I’d like to try breaking the spell.”

Professor Mistila nods, but I suddenly feel so afraid that I feel the urge to ask, “It won’t bring the professor any harm?”

I feel all three pairs of eyes on me. I don’t even want to look in Faust’s direction, but my eyes dart between the Pied Piper and Professor Mistila. The former is squinting at me, while the latter is throwing me a look filled with, well, tenderness.

“Don’t worry about it, Miss Longborn,” she says as her lips curl into a smile. “I’ll only feel slight discomfort. If you’re wrong and I haven’t been glamored, then nothing else will happen. And if I have been, well, it’ll only make me remember what I was forced to forget.”

That makes me breathe a sigh of relief, but when the professor turns back to the Pied Piper and I see the two of them give each other quick nods, it still sends my heart racing.

I feel Faust’s presence, but he neither moves nor speaks. With bated breath, I watch the Pied Piper close her eyes shut, Professor Mistila’s body almost instantly stiffening.

There are no words uttered, no wands waved. At one point, the Pied Piper frowns, as if she’s searching for something. And the very next second, the professor’s shoulders slump, making my heart skip a beat.

“Quinn,” she mutters.

Sensing both the prince and the Pied Piper tensing up, I get up and come to crouch next to Professor Mistila. There’s something strange about her voice and the way she holds herself. As if she’s grown a decade older in a matter of seconds.

---