Chapter 17: Chapter 17

I drop myself on the bed.

There are two provided beds in this room, in between those is a glass window, the room is painted white, and the width is perfect for settlers with playful kids. On the other hand, my arms are stretched on the bed while staring at the ceiling. That smell bothers me as if it's telling me that the enemy is swarming around with an unbreakable gaze. In the middle of my worries, Dandeline stood beside my bed with her hands at the back.

"I got something for you," she uttered with a smirk. I was about to feel excited until I spoiled the supposed presentation because the smell of metal was coming from there. And when she shows it, I stare at it ignorantly.

"Scissor?"

"Yes," she rubs the blade with the tip of her finger, "I always trim the furs of my dogs and I'm a professional when it comes to that. Maybe I can do the same with your hair?"

"I'm so sorry, woman. Mine is hair, not fur."

"Let me cut it for you. I swear I won't charge for the service." She leans her knees on the bed, attacking me with those scissors! I'm holding her wrists to block her.

"My hair has nothing to do with you!"

"It has. My hands are itching to cut your hair! Trust me. I know what's best for you."

"No."

"Don't be stubborn."

I giggle and say "No." Her actions remind me of Cormelio. I can't help but laugh at her whilst she's struggling above me! The mischievousness ceased when someone knocked at the door. I thought it was a roommate who's about to complain about our noise but no voice came out after. Silence shuns our mouths, then we look at each other confusingly. She walks towards the door with her scissor, like a criminal, and finds nothing on the other side of the door.

"Tsk. Just a nuisance roommate, or a ghost." She turns around and closes the door immediately. I'm sitting with my knees folded on the bed when her eyes flabbergastingly circles. "Hessuel, behind—!" I knew it from her reaction, that's why I swayed my fist behind me. However, I hit no one. I only caught a glimpse of black fabric disappearing in the air. I stammer and tremble a little.

"A g-ghost?" When I look at Dandeline, she's gone. I was left alone in this room with Acro. I walk around while calling her name, slowly unleashing my claws under my coat. I knew that it was not a ghost, this might be the scheme of the enemy who finally launched its attack. I can't hear or smell her. "Dan, where are you?" I exerted like an anxious pup looking for its fur mom.

I left the room and looked around the hallway, there are doors on opposite sides. And when I thought that it was better to stay inside, I bump my nose into the wall. "What..." I kept on groping on the wall where the door is a while ago! Yet all I'm left to do is to choose between two doors. I chose the door on the right—because they said to choose the right—and another hallway is leading me to another door. When I open that door, it's the same scenario as before. Nothing changed for the fifth time. I'm stuck in the loop again.

"I knew it, Tanya," I murmured.

Instead of patting my anger to worsen, the idea of passing through the wall excites me! I'm done walking on this wheel, so it's better to destroy it. I hid Acro inside my coat before ripping down the walls like papers through my claws. I pause in between two hallways to shake off the specks of dust on my head. But even my claws got stocks of dust. Just like I did before, my nails crawl to cover my fist like knuckles, and destroy walls again.

Fortunately, I found Dandeline after several attempts. Her shriek shivered me. The impact pushes her together with the shreds, she falls to the floor and leans on the wall while an enchanted shield is activated. And since I can't break myself instantly from the speed, I knelt in front of her with my arms stretched forth upon the wall to cover her from the falling dust.

"Dan! Are you alright!"

"Hessuel, what on earth happened to you!" She shakes off the dust on my head up to my clothes. "Nothing happened to me! And I've been looking for you!" She pressed the wall to stand and I stood up, too. "A reaper attacked you earlier. We were caught under its magic." The projecting book floats above her hand again. The pages are turning on their own but all of them are empty. "My powers are limited here. We have to break free before we kick some asses."

"I don't kick asses. I scratch." I wiggle my fingers.

"Well, I prefer kicking! I bite sometimes."

"Me, too."

"That's not the case here!" she scolds.

"I think I know who's behind this."

"Yes. That flirt… This is her special power, toying her enemies in her loop."

She flattens her hand on the wall and the whole place waggles like an ocean wave, our balance remains. "This place is a maze. We can only get out of here if we luckily figure out the exit."

"Then we can go straight to the exit through the walls." I pressed the walls when the waggling stopped. "Can you tell which way we should go?" When I look behind, she's gone again! "Did the reaper attack me?" I questioned myself, bewildered. I was about to run in the hallway when a hand caught mine.

"Hessuel, this place has enchantment filters on our vision. Don't let go so we can stay in contact," she counsels. I thought she vanished again. I followed and intertwined my fingers with hers to hold her tighter. I exhale gently to calm myself.

"Did you figure a way out?"

Her lips press into silence. I thought I have to contribute an idea until Acro flew off my coat. ["Follow me."] I heard her say. Without hesitation, I pull Dandeline's hand to follow Acro. We run together with our hands firmly attached while I'm trying to make sure that she can cope with my speed. Yet I stumbled too when she stumbles. Holding hands vibrates the reactions. Acro is taking us into different doors and directions several times, I'm certain that this inn isn't as puzzling as this.

"Hessuel, what's happening with your pet?"

"She said to follow her!"

"She can talk!?"

"Haven't I mentioned it?" I question ignorantly. We turned left for another hallway then we found Acro flying in a circle before perching on my shoulder, that's when we stopped. ["She's there."]

"The caster?" I took Dandeline closer to the door ahead of us.

"Someone is there?" she asked. "Then it's time to kick some ass!"

She was about to kick the door when I slightly lifted her on her waist just to stop her. "Dan, that's not an ass!"

"I know it's not! It's just an act of being cool and intimidating!"

"Tanya... She's inside. I know her smell," I informed while looking at the door. Since I'm reluctant to make the first move, Dandeline did. She opens the door casually and I'm just following her steps behind.

Tanya is confidently sitting on the bed with her legs crossed and skin exposed. She's wearing an extremely red lip, floppy sun hat, and black two-piece with transparent laces stitched to it, but she isn't wearing anything for her feet. In short, she's seductive in any way, so I'm just standing behind Dandeline like a boy with a furious mother.

"You found me." She smirks.

Dandeline threatens, "Tanya, this is my precious time to sleep but you ruined it. Don't be such a wench in front of me." She spreads a magic circle around the two of us and its power is gently raising the wind upward. "You still have arrears with Hessuel."

Even Tanya's laugh sounds sexy. And it makes me squirm! "What arrears? We just had a sweet night, aren't we?" She tilts her head while looking at me. She's waving her head with a smirk on her lips. As I remember the night with her, cold sweats are coming out under my clothes. I was startled when Dandeline was enraged.

A round enchantment appeared behind Tanya, chains came from there to bind her arms, Dandeline forms a gun with her fingers, the tip of her index encircled by another round light that accumulates an amount of power, and the wind beneath us is getting stronger.

"Perhaps you have no idea how badly it affects him. And perhaps you don't care." The chains tightened, that's when Tanya broke free from that bondage in a blink of an eye. The chain clunks when it tangles. I saw a glimpse of her sprinting towards Dandeline from the left corner of the room. I pulled Dandeline on her waist with one arm and kicked Tanya's stomach when she was within my reach, without hesitation.

"Hessuel—!?" Dandeline was surprised.

I felt a pang of fleet guilt when Tanya was thrown into a wardrobe and flops on the floor. She barely lifts her face on me and her glaring eyes pierced through my nerves.

She hisses, "So, this is what you want?"

"I didn't want to. But you tried to hurt her."

The movement of her eyes transfers repeatedly between me and Dandeline. And then she laughs. "Do you really need to fight me with your hands holding each other!?" She stands up and flips her hair behind. "And it's intriguing that you'll stay in one room for tonight before traveling together. How romantic~"

Dandeline replies, "Oh, please, think whatever you want just don't bother me!" She shoots exploding enchantments against Tanya but Tanya is dodging them playfully. She flops herself back on the bed again.

"Dandeline~" she raises her hat, "you know that's not the way out of here. Let's start making this game hotter!" I heard even the tiniest sound of the wind behind us and when I look back, a reaper is there! I pull Dandeline closer to cover her from the sway of the scythe. Immediately, she adds a dome shield around us. The next scenario lefts us waiting for something expected but didn't take place. Tanya and the reaper are gone.

"She escaped," Dandeline groans. "That insolent flirt! And that snivel smug dares to contend with a scholar!"

I caress Acro's neck and check her condition as well.

"Hessuel," she calmed when she spoke again, "This may be out of the blue but I hope this will help you not hold a grudge against Tanya. I've known most of the werewolves as a moon priestess. Tanya is a victim of sexual harassment when she was young. Same fate to her sisters who were sexually abused and murdered... all because of silver wolves."

I blinked multiple times. That reminds me of Tanya's glare, it exclaims deep resentment. Now that the picture seems bigger, things are getting more understandable. "I'm a pureblood. I'm responsible for their grudges."

"No. It's not your fault. She’s overdoing it and I won’t tolerate that bad dog."

"I understand. Everyone has their own background to be the character that built them today. And I'm not holding a residue of grudge against her, she only cringes me."

"... Hessuel, you're very unexpected," she said but it confused me. My tongue pulled back the words I was about to spill when I saw Dandeline's comforting smile on me. "I'll make sure she'll still pay for what she had done." She turns her back on me towards the door. "We will be traveling for weeks. I suggest we become comfortable with each other no matter what. Especially that we've got each other's back."

"Of course!"

"I'll speak frankly then. This inn was cursed and we are the only target. When I touched the wall and everything waggled, innumerable eyes were watching us. Sounds creepy? But it's not manifesting itself to naked eyes. It's like we're inside the monster's body. And I know a way out of this cheap spell." She removes her coat, then starts loosening her upper piece. "Those eyes can see us through our colorful apparel. Tanya isn't wearing modest clothes to make herself invisible. Thus, we have to do the same."

I was frozen and speechless when the back of her skin was displayed in front of me. Until the left clothes that cover her are the two pieces. I don't want to but I swallowed.

"I'm expecting another obstacle now that we've figured out the tactic. So, hurry up and undress."