"It changed at some point. We don't know why," Bianca answered and crossed her arms over her chest. "Something had to have happened to change ancient scripture, but I’m not sure what."
"What if Alicia was added?"
Everyone looked over to me as I tried to think about it. "She can manipulate the stars, right? What if she desired to have some great purpose in this world and that wish ended up throwing her into the prophecy? It's a huge guess, but it would make sense. If she's just learning about how to use it, it could be a possibility."
"That...may be exactly what happened," Bianca replied with a curious expression. "We'll have to look into it more and we'll have to try and connect with Alicia again at some point."
"Can't I just call her again?" I asked. "Well...we need a new fancy phone unless Shadow Jade lets me borrow hers again."
"It won't be as easy," Lisette admitted. "There's a limit as to when you can go through universes. Connecting too much with one universe will change its timeline so we have to be careful. I was lucky with connecting with Silver because it's been quite some time since I've seen her. In their world, they have gatekeepers who take away the burden that comes with traveling through worlds."
"That's true," Alaric spoke up. "Other universes have those who are capable of Spell Traveling, while some need a gatekeeper who manipulates time and space to complete the act. Some have godly potential to open portals, but all these individuals are extremely rare and normally sought after by those who just want the power for their own greedy needs."
"We have to be getting closer in pinpointing these individuals seeing as we have three out of the five," Tanner concluded.
"We can do more investigating during the summer months. Interfering now may cause them to be screwed over if they're in school. We can visit the library and then maybe after some of our own research, we'll try to communicate with Alicia and see what academy she attends and all that," Lisette summarized.
"That sounds like a good plan," I agreed.
"We should get talking about those transfers, Alaric," Bianca encouraged.
"Right." He nodded and reached for his glasses.
"We'll take our leave then," I announced and looked at Lisette. "Wanna chill in the other office? I just have a few things to wrap up. Shouldn't take long."
"I'd gladly chill with you!" she exclaimed like I'd asked her out.
"So happy," I commented with a grin as I rose up and reached for my stack of papers.
"Where are you going with those?" Alaric asked.
"To the office to finish," I emphasized. "You thought I wasn't going to complete my job?"
He gave me one of those guilty looks that made my smile only widen. "Get used to me helping you." I winked and claimed our favorite pen. "I'll bring this back."
"That's his favorite pen," Tanner pointed out.
"She knows," Bianca laughed, and my sly grin only confirmed it.
"Bye, everyone!" Lisette cheered and waved at the three of them as I headed to the door. She skipped over to open the door for me, and we were in the hall and heading to the second office.
We didn't speak until I was settled in my desk while Lisette was sitting right next to the signed documents, kicking her legs up and down while quietly singing a tune.
"Have you been feeling okay?" I asked her while signing on the dotted line of each packet.
"Yup!" Her cheerful smile was followed with her turning her attention to me. "Have you been sleeping okay?"
"Barely. I get anxious when my elements are so low. I close my eyes and hope for sleep to take me, but nothing happens. Even being sandwiched with the guys during the day when we were allowed to sleep, I couldn't."
"You look tired," she admitted.
"I'll try to get some sleep after the party tonight," I suggested. "Hopefully I don't fall asleep."
"Why not take a nap now?"
"Gotta finish these first," I pointed out.
"Hmm." I felt like she was trying to figure out a way, but as I continued to go through package after package, I noticed her lingering gaze.
"What, Lisette?"
"Nothing," she quietly stated, but I felt like she was hiding something.
"Why do I feel you're holding yourself back or something?"
"Maybe yes, maybe no," she shrugged with the comment but continued to stare at me.
"You could just let yourself go?" I pointed out, not bothered if she wanted to talk or something
"If I let myself go, you wouldn't be signing papers," she muttered while looking away.
Oh...
"Well, I better sign faster then," I concluded and returned to the pages, but felt my cheeks grow hot at the idea of doing something other than talking.
Kissing? I can actually do that. Why does it feel so weird just to think about it? Maybe cause it's a new relationship? Hmm.
It didn't take me long to finish the stack of documents, and I sighed in relief when the point of my pen finalized my last signature on the dotted line.
"Finished!" I declared with pride. "And we still have a few more hours till the assembly."
"Naptime!" she encouraged.
"Shouldn't we stay at school so we don't have to rush to get to the assembly?" I reasoned.
"Yes," she replied and walked over to the nook near the window. "Here's a perfect spot."
"We don't have pillows and a blanket."
Her smile only grew as she clapped her hands and poof, there was a fuzzy blanket and two fluffy pillows. I gave her a judgemental look and she sighed.
"Ya, ya. We're not supposed to use magic, but c'mon. It's like integrated into our lives and we're going to take a nap to rejuvenate ourselves," she acknowledged and patted the fuzzy blanket before setting it right down and purposely posing in a silly leg lift stance.
"Come hither, Jade! I have cookies!"
I shook my head, but giggles left me as I got out of my seat and walked over to where she was. "Scoot over."
"There ain't a lot of space for my booty and curves!" she reasoned which only left me laughing even harder.
"Your booty can have all the space it wants," I encouraged and sat down to slip off my shoes.
Lifting my feet, I lay down next to her before she kicked her cute, Lolita-inspired shoes. I pointed my finger in their direction, stopping them from crashing into the floor with a slight gust of wind.
"Why'd you save them?"
"They look expensive," I pointed out. "That's your only nice pair, right?"
"Ya," she admitted as I lowered my hand and turned to my side to look at her.
"We should go buy you some more. Like different types."
"Why?" she questioned. "I didn't do anything."
"You don't need to do anything to be pampered, you know," I pointed out.
She stared at me for a long moment before she whispered, "Does that mean I don't need to do something good to get a kiss?"
Awww. Lisette.
I’d known for some time that it would take a while to reroute her thinking after all she'd endured from Charles, but it didn't make moments like these any easier.