Throughout the rest of the day, Alice took the time to carefully watch Mrs. Handley. Despite her extreme focus, she couldn't spot anything remotely suspicious about her, so she came up with a plan. She would check the records to see if anyone with Emmet's name had come in, after which she would tail the teacher to see whether or not the teacher was actually suspicious.
After coming up with this plan, Alice, of course, went into action immediately. She had faked wanting to go to the bathroom so she could sneak to Mrs. Handley's desk. She had no reason to go there, as what she needed for the plan wasn't located there, but she wanted to check anyway to see if she would find anything.
Utilizing her abilities, she quickly sneaked into the teacher's lounge and found the desk. It was covered in papers and books, some teaching-related, others not, but still work-related.
Alice brushed through all the papers, only to find nothing of interest, so instead, she checked the drawers. The first drawer was the same as the desk, only a lot more packed; it was the same for the following two. The last one, however, was relatively empty, having only a few papers, and on those papers was a folded sheet of letter paper, held in place by a pendant.
The pendant was molded from silver into the shape that depicted a heart held within an open, fanged maw.
Holding no importance to the pendant, she brushed it to the side and picked up the paper. Unfurling it, she saw that a letter from Mrs. Handley to something or someone called "Absolution" was written on it.
'What the hell is Absolution?'
Since she didn't have even a lick of understanding, she decided to read through the letter to glean more information. After reading just the first line, a chilling horror seeped into her bones as her eyes widened.
"T-this… This is—"
***
After what she had just seen, Alice decided to abandon her original plan and act as if she had seen nothing, at least, until she could find a way to stop it.
She quickly but sneakily rushed back to class, and she ducked and hid while moving quickly, eventually stopping at the classroom door.
Now that she knew her secret, she couldn't help but be paranoid.
'What if she knows that I found out?'
'What if she knows that I awakened?'
'Is that where she took Emmet?'
'Am I next?'
Taking a deep breath, she prepared to face the teacher. Exhaling, she entered the classroom.
'It'll be fine…'
Mrs. Handley turned to her, and an invisible pressure weighed on her. The usually warm smile of the teacher now seemed so eerie and disturbing. Her hazel eyes, which looked like honey before, only reminded her of mud, grime, and other unsavory substances.
Gulp.
Alice swallowed the saliva that had built up in her mouth and 'calmly' walked past the teacher and headed towards her seat. Internally, she was screaming and desperately trying to run away, but she desperately tried to show that nothing was wrong.
It seemed that no one had noticed anything as she walked past, because as she sat down, no one took notice or pointed her out for acting strangely
She quietly looked forward, toward Mrs. Handley, who had continued teaching.
The silence that lasted no more than a few moments after she entered stretched all the way to her sitting down because of her jumbled mind.
Throughout the class, each time the teacher's eyes even glanced in her general vicinity, her mind was sent into disarray, while her body fought tirelessly against the urge to jump out of her seat and run away.
Luckily, she didn't have to endure much longer, as lunch break soon came. Now she would be able to calm herself and think about the situation properly— or so she thought. Throughout the entire lunch time, her paranoia caused her to jump at and go into a mental frenzy at every little movement around her, even her own shadow.
This caused her to not even be able to eat her lunch, not only due to being unable to focus, but also due to her thinking something was in the food.
The rest of the day passed like this, without her being able to focus, until near the end of the day. When she was able to calm herself down, her thoughts were still quite jumbled, though, so she would have to wait before she could think properly.
***
— After the school's dismissal
Alice walked out of the building sluggishly. Having given up on pursuing anything related to Mrs. Handley, she no longer had anything left to do for the evening, so she was going to quickly get home and have a long, deep sleep to take her mind off things.
She walked while dragging her feet, slowly moving towards a nearby bench.
After moving no more than three steps, she heard someone calling her name, and she stiffened.
"Hey Alice!"
When she turned to face the person who was calling her, she involuntarily relaxed. The figure of Aries is moving towards her while waving, met her vision.
Despite relaxing, Alice remained quite confused and unconsciously tilted her head.
'He has never sought me out before… What could he possibly need?'
Her confusion didn't stall her, though. Not wanting to waste time, she fixed her posture and walked forward without dragging her feet, meeting Aries halfway, then she asked:
"Hey… What do you need?"
Instead of answering immediately, Aries took off his bag and then held it in front of her.
"Can you keep my bag and take it home for me?"
'What? Is that really it?'
She didn't know what she expected to hear, but it wasn't that. She thought that he had sought her out for some secret mission or had come to tell her that the village was in grave danger. Instead, it was just him wanting to have her carry his bag home.
Taking the bag, she questioned:
"Sure, but why?"
He gave a crooked smile and scratched his cheek.
"There is somewhere I need to go, but I don't know if I can be back before your parents come to pick us up."
'What? Where are you going? Is it about something supernatural? Magic? In that case, take mee!'
Then she thought about it for a moment.
"They'll be worried."
He pat her shoulder and smiled.
"I'm sure you can tell them something to calm them down."
Alice's expression shifted slightly.
'What? Why Should I? I'm not involved, why should I cover for you?'
Despite her inner thoughts, she let out a sigh of resignation and agreed.
"...Alright…"
Without stalling, Aries ran off, leaving her alone in the school yard. Now that he was gone, she slumped down and began dragging herself towards the bench once more.
***
Picking up the tired-looking Alice, Marisa asked with a soft but concerned voice.
"Honey, Where is Aries?"
Alice groggily answered:
"Friend… Be with… Soon… Come back."
Hearing Alice's 'explanation', Marisa turned to Arthur with a worried look, who in turn nodded and said:
"I'll wait for Aries. Bring Alice back home."
She thought for a moment before beginning to walk away.
"Be careful, come home safe."
Arthur simply gave a sweet smile and waved.
Marisa, return the smile before completely turning away and heading home.
After getting home, Marisa put the now sleeping Alice to bed and tucked her into bed before putting up the two bags.
She then leaned over Alice and kissed her on the forehead, then quietly left the room.
***
— A While later
Alice had been sleeping peacefully for the past hour or so, but her blissful rest did not last much longer, as she began hearing a buzzing sound, similar to that of a mosquito.
She swatted the air beside her as she tiredly sat up and opened her eyes.
As she cast her sight on her surroundings, she quickly jumped up and took a defensive position.
It seemed that she, along with her bed, was transported to a different location, a different realm, in fact. A realm that seemed to be entirely hand-painted.
'What. The. FU—'