Wiggin Academy and the Forbidden Curse

Mako was slowly pulled out of the thick black tunnel she was trapped in for who knows how long.

“Mako…”

Mako peeled her drowsy eyes open and found Penelope sitting at her bedside, she had a few bandages wrapped around her elbow. “What happened?” Mako asked as she blinked a few times and recognized the dull room that had high ceilings and multiple beds, it was the infirmary.

“You passed out,” informed Penelope. “And then-”

“Here Penelope, your orange juice,” Aiden’s voice interrupted them as he appeared from the large entrance with bag full of food in his arms and spring flowers tied into a charming bundle, his ebony eyes widened and a small smile threatened to show when he spotted Mako.

“How are you feeling?” He asked.

“My head feels like it’s being hammered with nails,” she chuckled before she struggled to get up from the stiff white thing they call a bed.

Penelope quickly came to her side. “Don’t get up your arm’s injured,” she scolded.

Mako gaped at her casted arm. “What the-” she froze when the hurricane of memories came rushing back- the mission in the forest, the orbs, the monstrous hound… Nēra and that Wiggin brother.

“Penelope,” Aiden placed the flowers in a clean pot. “Can you go get Neo.”

Penelope trudged off towards the far door as Aiden took the stool from the other bed and sat next to Mako.

“What happened to the mission? Did we pass?”

Aiden sighed before tugging on his turtle neck. “You were attacked by the dark hound, Kolstradam. You even injured yourself and the orbs shattered-” he pointed to her broken shoulder. “We failed, and the mission ended when Professor Gregor and Professor Wiggin came to our rescue.”

“How did you find me?”

Aiden’s dark eyes accessed Mako. “When you separated from us we naturally went looking for you, but it was nearly impossible in the forest fog, and that was when we found Professor Wiggin. He seemed to be already looking for you though, almost like he knew you were in danger.”

“Aiden, when we separated I met someone in the forest.”

He sighed, “I figured as much, I noticed you had acquired the black smoke orb.”

But before Mako could say more she spotted Penelope and Neo with his odd red loafers running towards her bed.

“How are you feeling,” Neo pulled out a weird contraption out of his coat pocket and started checking her heartbeat. “Your pulse is steady-” he then pointed a blinding light in her eyes- “Pupils are normal, but your skin is still looking terribly pale, I’ll have to take another blood sample, just to be sure.”

“But I thought you took one yesterday,” believed Penelope.

Neo chuckled. “No, I didn’t.” His hand reached over the counter and handed her a putrid purple liquid. “It may smell like dirty socks, but it repairs torn muscle ligaments faster than anything, trust me.”

Mako plugged her nose and threw the drink down her throat, although she tried terribly hard from vomiting on the floor.

“No eating for tonight,” instructed Neo, and immediately, Mako’s stomach growled and her lips pouted into a grimace. “Don’t worry, you’ll be asleep with the help of the medicine so you won’t even know,” he said before walking off with the supplies he came with.

“I’m really hungry though,” she murmured.

Penelope put all the snacks back in her bag and hid it under the bed. “It’s okay. Mako,” began Penelope. “If it makes you feel any better I won’t eat with you-” Penelope froze, “-wait, I take that back, I love food way too much.”

“You’re not helping,” grumbled Mako. “How long have I been here anyways?”

Penelope and Aiden shared a concerned look.

“Three days,” replied Penelope.

“Three days!” Mako exclaimed startling everyone in the infirmary. “Oh god, I probably missed so much.”

Penelope patted Mako’s foot to get her attention. “We have all the notes and we grabbed extra worksheets for you just in case,” she said. “Also, Professor Wiggin made sure to let the staff know about your condition.”

“They didn’t teach anything hard anyways,” said Aiden indifferently. “Unlike Penelope, I’m sure you’ll get it on the first try.”

Penelope shot lasers at Aiden through her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Aiden shrugged his shoulders. “It took me a whole day to explain the origins of alchemy to you,” he stated.

Penelope’s mouth dropped. “That’s it, I’m never going to ask you to help me again,” she barked.

“Stop lying to yourself,” he remarked.

“You’re awake-” a deep voice interrupted Penelope and Aiden’s harmless squabbling.

Professor Wiggin- the younger one strolled into the infirmary, many eyes followed him and whispers began to fill the room but he seemed to ignore them, and so did Mako. But she understood the reason behind the hushed whispers, this man looked like someone you wouldn’t want to cross.

Penelope jumped off her stool offering her seat and went to stand next to Aiden, but when Professor Wiggin sat on the seat, his massive form overpowered the small wooden stool, Mako felt a little bad for the stool. Mako smiled into his sharp grey eyes, which were much more light-hearted than the ones she witnessed in the forest.

“How are you feeling?” He asked.

“Alright,” she answered. “My shoulder is just sore and I’m starving.”

He smiled slightly. “You scared us pretty badly back there,” he said.

“I’m sorry… what are you doing here?” she asked bluntly because she was trying to understand why a person like him would put any attention to her.

His brow arched. “Can’t a teacher visit his student.”

Mako’s head tilted. “I don’t have you for any of my class though.”

“I’m your alchemy trainer, Mako,” he said offhandedly.

Her eyes widened just as much as her mouth dropped open. “Wh-what?”

“Since I’m the only other black smoke user here, I have to train you,” he said as he took out a long thick cigar, but he put it away just as quickly when he realized he’s in an infirmary.

Mako and the other two looked at each other with bewilderment.

“Mako,” a familiar voice called out as Neo appeared around the corner. “Oh!” His dark eyes widened from shock or joy when he spotted Professor Wiggin. “What a surprise,” paired with a bright smile he said, “I never expected to meet you here, Professor.”

“And you are?” inquired Professor Wiggin.

Neo’s smile never died. “I’m Neo, the intern for Dr. Franklin.”

Professor Wiggin’s brows were laced together as if he was in deep thought, but soon enough, he nodded and acknowledged Neo’s greeting.

“I’m here to take a blood sample, Mako,” reminded Neo.

“Blood sample?” Professor Wiggin puzzled.

“Yes, her skin is looking a bit pale,” said Neo chirpily. “Just as a precaution Professor, is that alright?”

Professor Wiggin moved and let Neo extract some blood (a full tube of it) from Mako’s frail arm.

“Oh god, Aiden we’re late for class!” exclaimed Penelope as she waved goodbye to Mako and dashed out of the infirmary.

“We’ll visit you before bed-time curfew,” said Aiden before running off after Penelope.

“Your friends are quite eccentric,” said Professor Wiggin. “It’s nice.”

Mako smiled. “I got lucky.” She was a bit taken aback, he was completely different from his older brother even though she only met the headmaster once. “You’re quite unusual yourself, Sir.”

“We, black smoke users are the oddest of folk,” he remarked. “You’ll get used to it.”

“How’d you find me, Professor?”

“I was led to you,” he revealed.

Mako’s head was swimming with questions but she pushed them aside. “Thank you for saving me, sir.”

He nodded and let out a deep breath that he was holding for a while. “Training will be tough, Mako,” his eerie warning didn’t scare Mako.

“Sir,” Mako smiled at him. “I finally got a teacher, and a thumping good one at that, if you can help me become better at my alchemy I cannot be more excited.”

He stood from his stool and held back his stiff grin. “Go to sleep, kid-” he pressed his beefy hand on her warm forehead and shoved her in bed like a rabbit jumps in its hole.

Mako was tossing and turning as she waited for her seemingly late friends. The empty infirmary was lighted dimly with torches that strangely had a mind of their own. Every time someone would walk by the torches would lit up alive and help that person find their way safely- although it was a great signal for Mako to see if someone was coming. Finally, Mako’s eyes snapped around when she heard fierce whispers echoing through the corridor.

“Shhh, or else someone will hear us,” scolded Aiden.

Then Penelope’s cocky voice rolled in, “Rel-aax, everyone’s asleep.”

Mako froze under the bedsheets and waited for them to get closer.

“Is she sleeping?” Penelope asked.

Mako jumped up from under the sheets. “Boo!”

Penelope tumbled back and crashed into Aiden. “What the!” Penelope exclaimed.

“Shhh!” Mako and Aiden both shushed Penelope.

Penelope glared and harshly whispered, “Oh, so I’m the loud one.”

“What took you guys so long?” Mako asked quietly.

“All the teachers were called in for some emergency at the front gates of the school,” said Aiden. “So, the students had to wait before being dismissed.”

Before she questioned further, Mako quickly pulled her legs under her so Aiden and Penelope could sit down on the bed. “Emergency?”

“Yup, my brothers told me there was a tear in the border,” informed Penelope.

Mako gaped at them and remembered the creature Nēra’s weary prediction, she recalled how he had slyly warned her of the danger that might bestow on Wiggin Academy, she didn’t believe the creature at first, but now someone was trying to break into the school, the creature’s prediction was beginning to sound more real.

“How did you find the black smoke orb?” Aiden suddenly questioned.

Mako leaned forward, “I met a creature that goes by the name, Nēra.”

“I’ve never heard of that creature before,” said Penelope.

“Because no creature like that exists in the forest,” said Aiden.

Mako froze. “Are you sure?”

Aiden tucked his chin under his turtle neck. “Well, in the forest digest there’s no such creature.”

Maybe she should ask Professor Wiggin? Mako puzzled over the idea for a few moments. “Nēra told me that someone is trying to harm this school, and now that you’re telling me that the border was broken into-”

“Who would want to harm our school?” Penelope whispered.

Mako sighed. “A monster with a sweeter face,” she mumbled under her breath.

“Look, it’s going to take a lot more than breaking into the school to overthrow it,” said Aiden. “This is Wiggin Academy we’re talking about, for centuries it’s been an impenetrable fortress.”

“Aiden’s right, Mako,” Penelope laid a reassuring hand on Mako’s knee. “A creature probably caused the tear.”

Mako nodded but didn’t disregard anything Nēra told her in the cave.

Penelope and Aiden left the infirmary after handing Mako piles of homework and assignments, her head started to swoon under the dim light of the torches after reading so much.

Aiden explained the school work to the best of his ability, but thankfully, Penelope just pulled out her work and laid it in front of Mako to copy, as much as Mako tried she finished, but the rest of the alchemy science questions she needed their help.

Mako’s eyes grew weary and started to droop on their own, she sluggishly pushed all the work to the side and laid her head back on the pillow when she heard quiet shuffling just outside the infirmary doors and the torches lit up, her eyes peeked open just in time to get a glimpse of red and gold streaks cutting through the mild darkness. That was weird, thought Mako before falling fast asleep.