"Someone's making it so you can't find her," she revealed, leaving me speechless as she continued to stare up at the sky. "You can't see the grid up there, can you?"
"Grid?" I questioned and tried to see what she was witnessing but had no luck.
"Maybe only I can see it. In my recent class, I learned that there are certain grids that can linger in a designated area. It's created for only two reasons. One is to protect someone from the enemy's eye, and the other is that it is created by an enemy who seeks to hide what's most important to their victim. I have a growing hunch that you're dealing with the second option," she revealed.
"Someone put up a grid to block me from finding Lisette," I concluded.
"Mhmm. Looks like someone may know of your girlfriend's predicament and wants to make sure none of you find her in time."
"We have to find her," I stressed and tried to hide my anger. "If we don't, she'll either die or think we abandoned her when we didn't."
Alicia nodded and smirked with determination.
"I think I can help you," she confessed. "I'm not really good at it yet since we're still learning about it, but I can use the stars to locate her."
"You mean like astrology?"
"Nah." She rolled up her sleeves and widened her stance. "The actual stars. A little gift I discovered recently and have been learning how to use at school, but I can at least find your friend with it. I just need one distinct quality about her."
"Neon pink hair!" I stressed and watched as a large magic circle of that very color emerged beneath her feet. "That's good enough. Now I need just a few seconds of complete concentration." She winked then closed her eyes as she lifted her hands up in the air.
"I call upon the dazzling stars, oh great power of universal innocence. Seek flashing radiance of pink and a heart begging for salvation so that those who love this being of life can find her and save her from eternal slumber. Starry Skyana Le Ray Freeda Locarota!"
My eyes grew wide at the foreign magic, and I felt Shadow Jade appear behind me to watch the dazzling, shining star show unfolding all around us. Stars and glowing lines seemed to morph around Alicia, and her hair glowed a brilliant neon orange as it levitated along with her body, which began to rise and hover above the growing magic circle.
The magic circle grew bigger and bigger, as if it was becoming a grid itself before Alicia's eyes snapped open and revealed her eyes that were full of twinkling little stars.
"Found her."
I was shocked by her words, and if it wasn't thanks to Shadow Jade holding me, my legs would have given away from mere relief.
"Follow the pink starry path. It'll remain until you reach her and then my work here will be done," she said with a transfixed expression. She had to be deep in concentration, trying to multitask and keep the spell going. "The moment I see you've reunited, I'll return to my world."
"Alicia. Thank you so much! I-I..." What could I even say to repay her?
"We're friends now," she whispered and allowed herself to smile, which gave a bit of emotion to her blank eyes. "Whenever you may need me, I'll try to be there. I'm sure you'd do the same."
"I will and the same applies. If you ever need me, don't hesitate to summon me," I assured her and very quickly moved to hug her just slightly without tampering with her structure. "Bye, Alicia, and thank you!"
"Good luck, Jade," she replied, and I ran in the direction of the glowing path of pink stars. I couldn't have been more thankful as I raced past a place I'd easily checked two hours ago. The familiar trees and markings I'd left to help myself and the others know that I'd already searched this area was clear as day, leaving me even angrier because someone had definitely wanted us to abandon Lisette.
Why do I feel like I know exactly who'd done this?!
It left me with great desires to go and kill the very culprit I was thinking of, and yet I knew without "proof" that I'd be committed for murder versus delivering justice.
The semester hadn't even started and we already had problems. Guess we'd have to tackle them the moment school started.
The path of starry pink began to thin and I entered a clearing that had me coming to a dramatic stop. My eyes locked on the glowing pink tree, a large one that had to be hundreds of years old.
If not thousands...
The tree continued to glow in a mystical way, and as I moved my gaze from the mass of pink leaves with hints of white detailing, my eyes looked down on the woman we'd been searching for.
Lisette sat at the trunk of the tree, her back pressed against the brown bark. Her eyes were closed, her hands laying by her sides, and I could barely see the movement of her chest.
She was sitting in blood, loads of it that tainted her usual Lolita attire while her feet were bare and slightly discolored. Her face was sickly pale, her lips barely had any pink color left to them, and her aura that had once been so brilliant with power was dim and fading away with every second that ticked by.
"Lisette!" I screamed and began to run to her, but my feet slammed to a stop. Shadow Jade was suddenly before me with her scythe colliding against metal swords.
We were both shocked by Ceil's appearance. His black attire looked more traditional, like a male version of a kimono. His dangerous eyes were pitch black, and from the slight instability of his appearance alone, I knew he was struggling to remain in his physical appearance versus being in a silhouette form which Shadow Jade and the others would take upon to conserve energy.
"Ceil!" I exclaimed. "We're not here to hurt Lisette! We came to help her."
His eyes only narrowed before he pushed Shadow Jade right back with enough force for her to crash into me and send both of us flying back. We didn't expect the attack which left us falling to the forest and sliding through the soil and bushes, but Shadow Jade was up and already in a defensive stance before me while I fought to recover.
"Ceil! KILL!" Shadow Jade snapped but still remained in her place. I could feel her conflict and pain, but she had her priority of protecting me, even if Ceil was now our enemy.
"Ceil," I whispered as I slowly rose up. "We don't want to fight. We're running out of time!"
The pink starry path faded entirely and I knew that meant Alicia was now gone.
I have to tell the others.
ZACKERY! I found Lisette but Ceil is acting weird and fighting us!
"What? Why would he be turning against you? Does he not recognize you?"
Recognize. It made sense. We couldn't even find this place because it was hidden, so what if the culprit decided to make it so that anyone who arrived would be deemed an enemy?
You may be right! How am I going to get through to him? How much time left till New Years?
"Five minutes. We’ve got your location. We'll be there a minute before, but you have to make sure Lisette's conscious and picks the gender she wants. Leave the rest to us!"
I'll try my best.
"Shadow Jade. He doesn't know it's us," I warned her.
"Distract. Save Lisette!" she urged. "KILL!"
She darted forward - mimicking Ceil, who was now darting our way. Their weapons clashed, the fight only getting started, but my focus was on Lisette as I quickly began to make my way to her.