Chapter 255: I really hope she is

"Oh dear Moon Goddess," Zeke muttered unbelievably as she quickly turned around, hiding the laughter that wanted to spill out. You could see his muscles clenching and unclenching, and his shoulders vibrating suspiciously as he tried his hardest to keep it in.

A few students exchanged puzzled glances at what she’d just said, but her smile only grew wider.

"I look like him, don’t I?" She reached up and started to massage her face.

Sylas didn’t panic at all, "Another punishment for you," He looked at her, but a muscle in his face twitched. He was also holding back his laugh, although one couldn’t tell.

Then, he looked at the class and said, "As you can see, he’s drunk on Silverbloom. This is a new student, a special case that was accepted by the school. He will be joining this class from today, and I will serve as his special instructor,"

"No!" Theo disagreed, "I’m Thomas!"

"His name is Thomas," Sylas added, "Now take your seat,"

She grinned at him sheepishly, looking so adorable that he almost smiled back at her right there. Then, she turned around and walked over to her seat by the window.

Again, it felt quite familiar and she didn’t know why.

A few students kept stealing odd glances at her, but once Sylas continued speaking, their attention was on him again.

Theo sat down, her head swaying back and forth. She kept looking around the room, wondering why the unfamiliar faces were slowly becoming familiar to her. Even the voices sounded like what she’d heard before.

Weird.

Her eyes fell on the empty seat right next to her, and she stared at it for a few seconds. She couldn’t explain why, but she could see the shadow of someone who used to sit here.

And the thought of it, was making tears gather in her eyes.

Her eyes drifted above to the ceiling and her eyes began to spin. Her mouth fell open in awe of the spinning ceiling, and she tilted her head even further back as the spin got worse.

"I’m spinning," She said out loud, causing wolves to look at her. Then she started to humm out loud too, "I’m spinning like a ballerinaaaaaa,"

A few of them held back their laughter, while others ducked their faces under the desk.

Sylas walked over to her desk, then slammed his palm on it.

She jumped and looked at him, "Oh no!" She cried, "It’s the cold-blooded demon. Please... don’t take my boobs,"

He closed his eyes for a moment.

Could this get any worse?!

"Thomas,"

"Yes, you handsome thing?" She flashed him a wink.

He actually smiled right there, then quickly swallowed it down and resumed who he was, "I cannot allow you to stay in this class, if you cannot concentrate. Gravemont condones no nonsense, and what you’re displaying right now...in fact getting drunk on school premises could get you punished and expelled!"

"If you’re doing the punishing I won’t mind," She flirted again, winking at him again.

He almost smiled again.

"Thomas! Stand up!"

She shot up to her feet, but swayed. He caught her arm and helped her stand up.

"Remain standing," He said and turned around.

"Is it just me, or is Professor Veylor being...soft on the new, weird kid?" A student murmured to another behind them.

"Definitely," The other agreed, "Or else the weirdo would have gotten expelled the moment he walked in,"

Sylas heard them. The moment he turned, they straightened up again and pretended to be doing something else.

Meanwhile, Theo was back to staring at the ceiling.

"I’m spinning," She murmured again, "Weeeeeeeeeee,"

More students covered their faces.

Sylas started walking around the class between seats as he continued his lecture, particularly lingering around her. Anytime she wanted to fall, the shadows under her feet would wrap around her body and steady her once again.

Finally, the period ended and the students started gathering their things to leave for practicals with Professor Naina.

Sylas quickly slipped away with her. They appeared in front of his place in a burst of shadow, still holding her arm.

She blinked into focus, and looked around the tall maze of trees around them.

"Where are we?"

"Somewhere you can spin like a ballerina as much as you want,"

"Yeyyyyyyyyyyy," She clapped.

He led her into the house, and quickly swayed to the middle of the room and started to stare at the ceiling again.

In no time, her legs started to move. She was walking around in circles, following how fast her eyes were spinning with a smile on her face.

She tripped many times, but his shadows also steadied her.

"If you keep that up, you’re gonna come with up a bad headache soon,"

She ignored him and asked instead, "Why are you so cold?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your skin," She touched her arm, the same place he had held her a second ago, "It’s almost freezing,"

"It’s Erebos, not me,"

"What’s Erebos?"

"My demon,"

"You have a demon?!" She gasped but she didn’t stop spinning.

"Yes,"

"That’s crazy!" She lifted both hands up as though she was trying to catch something, "I’m about to lift off into the sky!!"

The shadows pushed her off her feet under his command, and she squealed in excitement as she finally got to the ceiling.

"I can fly!!" She kept grinning, "I can actually fly!!"

It carried her around the room for a few minutes, before the shadows finally dropped her on the couch he was already sitting on.

Sylas had taken off his coat and threw it over the seat, and the moment her butt hit the couch softly, her head fell sideways and landed on his shoulders.

"That was amazing!" She cried excitedly, "Again, again again!!"

"I really don’t want you getting a headache too,"

"Again!" She cried.

"How about this? If you drink more miracle drink and get some sleep, I’ll let you spin again and this time, you can fly all around the house and even outside!!"

"Really?" Her eye twinkled again.

"Yes,"

He gave her the water and she chugged the whole thing down again, then she settled even more on her shoulders and sighed.

"I’ll try to fall asleep now," She murmured.

Silence.

"Tell me more about Erebos,"

He knew she wasn’t gonna fall asleep that easily, and so he reached over and began tracing a finger up and down the side of her face lazily, "Erebos was a demon, but he got defeated and his fragments were separated. My... father," He paused and looked down at her, hoping it doesn’t trigger her in any way.

When nothing happened, he continued, "found a fragment and merged it with me. I struggled for years before I finally achieved full control. Then, I met this girl that I wanted to protect and I needed to be stronger to do so, so I found the rest of his fragments and merged completely. It took a while, but I also achieved full control,"

She nodded, "What about the girl? Were you then able to protect her?"

"No," He replied hesitantly, "Not much. I...left her for a while, and she suffered,"

"How much did she suffer?"

Sylas looked down at her, and his lips trembled, "From the looks of it, she suffered a whole lot,"

"What happened after then? Were you finally able to protect her?"

"Yes," A single tear rolled down his face, "But...I might have returned a little too late,"

"So," Theo yawned, sleep slowly settling in, "How is she doing now? Is she feeling better?"

"I really hope she is, because that’s all I wish for,"