I came back from the library with a smile plastered to my face and my heart pounding in my chest. Owen and I had figured we should keep our new friendship underwraps since Silvian would probably not be too thrilled with it. If he asked me about where I went tonight I would just bullshit something.

I burst into the room now saying the words, “Silvian! I’m back!” The same way a sitcom dad might say ‘honey I’m home.’ To my surprise however, I was met by silence.

I looked to his bed and with a start realized it was empty. “Silvian?” I said slowly, my gaze darting around the room.

Then I saw him. He was standing in the back corner of the room, his face to the wall. What the actual fuck?

Cautiously I made my way over to him. “Hey, Silvian, bro are you okay?” I grabbed him by the shoulders, turning him around to face me and my breath caught at what saw.

Silvian’s eyes were rolled up into the back of his head.

“Silvian?” I said again, my voice quivering.

He didn’t respond and then suddenly I realized what was happening and my stomach turned to ice water.

The Dark One was contacting him.

God, I should have known this would be coming any day now. This was the part in the book when the Dark One would ask him to go to the woods the night of the blood moon, October 30th, Owen Thorn’s birthday. There he would officially begin his plan of influencing Silvian to do his bidding and eventually get him to merge with him.

I was snapped from my thoughts when Silvian suddenly took in a sharp intake of air, as if he hadn’t been breathing this entire time. He blinked a few times, his eyes returning to normal before he glanced to me.

“Hey,” I said softly. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said dryly. “I’m just, tired.”

“Yeah, I’d imagine-”

“I don’t really want to talk. I just want to go to sleep.” And with that he brushed past me, climbing into bed. I stood there a moment, my gaze still lingering on him.

I had to figure out a way to stop him from going to meet with the Dark One.

And then suddenly a plan came to me.

----------

It took me a few weeks to get the entirety of my plan together. Over the course of that passage of time there were many classes, training sessions with Banecliff and one or two secret meetings with Owen Thorn which kept me so busy that it was almost impossible to actually put my plan into motion until the day before the 30th.

I had been waiting all day to get Morgana Wilds alone so I could officially begin. Now, as I spied her smoking by herself on the great lawn, I saw my opportunity to strike.

I made my was over to her trying to act as casually as possible.

“Hello Morgana,” I said.

She slowly lowered her cigarette, narrowing her eyes. “Chester Price,” she said cooly. “Now, this is a surprise I didn’t expect today.” She quirked a pierced brow. “I didn’t know you had any interest in talking to anyone besides that literal piece of shit you follow around.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why you hang out with him. You’re one of us.”

“What do you mean,” I said slowly.

Morgana gestured to the tip of her ear. “I’m a human. You’re a human. He’s an elf.” She smiled thinly. “Us humans are supposed to stick together. Or maybe you forgot how the Dark One wanted to slaughter and enslave us all. That’s why you can’t trust elves, deep down they want him to do it.”

“Not all elves are like that,” I said. “Take Banecliff or the Elvish League.  The only way the wizarding world can grow stronger is if we work together.”

Morgana shrugged. “You really are starting to sound like Banecliff. Maybe you’ve been spending a little too much time with him. Ever heard of the Human Resistance Price?”

“Of course I have. They’re an elite group of the 4 most powerful human wizards in Mageteria. They’re in charge of keeping us safe from the Dark One. They raised Owen Thorn after his parents were killed to guarantee the chosen one was protected.”

“Right,” she said slowly. “So, tell me Price, do you think any member of the Human Resistance would ever befriend an elf from a family which is rumored to be devout Dark One supporters?” She let out a little huff. “That’s why, on your pride as a human, you seriously need to stop hanging out with that prick.”

“Actually,” I said, “I wanted to talk to you about Silvian.”

“Listen Price, I had absolutely nothing to do with Owen’s weird little quest to seek redemption from him. I told him it was a bad idea.” Her gaze flickered to the ground. “I should thank you by the way. I might be a bitch 90% of the time but I really did appreciate you jumping in front of Owen.” She brought the cigarette back to her lips. “He’s kind of been in an emotional slump after the dragon incident and…” she hesitated a beat, as if planning her next words carefully, “...another thing that happened last semester. When Owen gets super emotional his power tends to get kind of explosive and uncontrollable.” She took a deep breath. “So I guess what I’m trying to say it that...I really appreciate what you did for him back there.” She glanced to me and then rolled her eyes. “Oh for the love of God Price, wipe that shit face eating grin off your face. I only thanked you, I’m not suddenly declaring us BFFs or some shit. Now, why the hell did you come over to talk? Did you want something because I can assure you that the answer is going to be no-”

“I want you to help me prank Silvian.”

That got her attention. “Okay,” she said slowly. “I retract my previous statement. What kind of prank are we talking about?”

-------

It was the night of the 30th. Silvian and I sat in our room, both separately studying. I knew that in probably an hour or so Silvian would head out to the forest to meet with the Dark One which meant it was finally time for my plan to begin. I chucked my pen at him managing to strike the dark haired elf in the back of the head.

Silvian turned around in his chair to glare at me. “What the hell Ches?”

I grinned at him. “I have something fun we can do tonight!”

Silvian rolled his eyes. “I can’t. I’m busy.” Yeah, busy with being drawn into an evil scheme that will ruin your life and cause you to kill Owen Thorn.

“We should sneak into the great hall and try to steal some left over snacks! C’mon it’ll only take like, 5 minutes! It’ll be fun.”

“That doesn’t sound like fun,” Silvian said curtly, “that just sounds like a terrible idea. Besides, I already told you I’m busy.”

I leaned forward in my seat. “What if I made you an offer you couldn’t refuse?”

Silvian rolled his eyes. “There is literally nothing you could offer me that would make me want to-”

“If you come with me then I’ll come with you to the goblin market.”

That got his attention. I saw him silently weigh his options, the gears turning in his head. “Okay,” he said slowly. “I’ll come but you have to promise me it’ll only take five minutes. I need to go somewhere after this.”

If I went through with this then there really would be no going back.

I would have completely broken my promise to Banecliff not to influence this timeline.

Was it really worth it?

Yes, I decided.

Owen Thorn was always worth it.

Besides, what was the worst that could happen?

I smiled slyly at Silvian now. “I promise.”