𝑨 𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑴 𝑰𝑺 𝑨 𝑾𝑰𝑺𝑯 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑻 𝑴𝑨𝑲𝑬𝑺

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝟑𝟑

NOTE: This wasn't supposed to be a quadruple update, but if I hadn't broken it up, chapters 33 and 34 would've been damn near 20 pages long and by jove, I promised you all the love spell, so you're getting the goddamn love spell! Enjoy!

She didn't want to leave her dorm after that. She didn't want to risk another encounter like that with anyone. Where she came so close to breaking at the cost of her own psyche. But the new commands Mal had made didn't care about what Delphina wanted. Her head hurt so bad, she couldn't keep the hold she'd had on her mind before. What had once been self-built, impenetrable walls of mental shields were now nothing more than a single, pathetic door that was moments away from being blown down.

The rest of the afternoon bled into the exact pattern Mal had wanted. Library, dorm, library dorm. Delphina hadn't spoken to anyone since the encounter with Ben and Chad. Her head continued to throb, and she couldn't even pinpoint the cause at this point. Her phone had been buzzing all day, most likely with calls from Ben and Chad or emails from her teachers, asking why she wasn't in class. Her brain wouldn't let her answer. She couldn't do anything but read, take notes, then do it all over again.

And she still couldn't even take a nap.

It was nearing three o'clock. Delphina hadn't eaten anything all day, but every time her brain tried to tell her to go eat, a larger portion stamped it out aggressively. So far, she was surviving off of the small remainder of snacks in her dorm.

With a heavy sigh, Delphina shut the last book, ready to head down to the library once more when something lurched and shifted inside her. Delphina groaned, holding a hand to her stomach and praying she wouldn't vomit again.

Instead, her thoughts went quiet. The insatiable urge to keep reading, keep writing...it had vanished. Like it had reached its limit on time.

Reached its limit.

The realization slowly dawned on Delphina as she remembered Mal's words that morning.

The notes were her school day.

She'd be doing them while everyone else was in class.

But classes were over. Which meant Delphina's 'school day' was done.

Delphina couldn't help it. She burst out laughing, unable to hold it in. Mal had unintentionally screwed up her own damn spell. She was so busy being a smartass that she had set a clock in Delphina's mind. The urge to read the archive books ended promptly at three o'clock and would probably pick back up tomorrow morning at eight.

Delphina bent over, holding her stomach as she continued cackling, tears beginning to brim in her eyes. She probably would have stayed there, laughing in the middle of her dorm like a psychopath for the rest of the night. But her phone dinging with an email notification cut the humor short. Sighing and wiping her tears, Delphina retrieved her phone and her mood was instantly dampened at the notification.

REMINDER: DETENTION PERIOD

REASON: INSUBORDINATION

STUDENT: DELPHINA TREMAINE

DURATION: 3:15 - 4:00

LOCATION: ROOM 106, MAIN BUILDING, MATH & SCIENCE WING

MONITOR: PROF. VARIAN V.

Now that was just cruel. Whoever was in charge of scheduling detentions was a cruel, cruel human being. The last time she had seen Varian, she had screamed in his face and called him a villain. Now she had to sit in his room for 45 minutes and...what? Think about it?