Yet again, she found herself sitting alone.

Alone enough to allow her mind to wander back to the tall figure with red eyes, alone enough to allow that same fear she felt to freeze her blood still. She was able to play off her innocence during the feast, hiding from her own family the horrors that she witnessed during that ceremony. It wasn’t the first time she had deceived her parents, but pretending like she didn’t see what she saw while holding back her body from shivering from the memory was a monumental task.

If it was not for her brother holding her hand throughout the whole feast, she was sure to break under pressure. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Marcus knew of her situation, even though she tried to hide it from him too. She was a great actor, but to him she was an open book.

She shook her head, trying yet again to distract herself from the memory of that thing. She needed a distraction, but she was sidelined by the nature of the party. Her family left her shortly after they finished eating, to go mingle with the guests. Her auntie was busy tending to the guests, her brother was shaking hands and having boring conversations with her father’s friends, and Tiffany was still nowhere to be seen. She had already spotted Tiffany’s father. Which was strange because she thought she would at least have seen her stepbrother by then. Tiffany’s father loved flaunting him around. Despite everyone in the party being supposedly close with her family, one thing rang true for the young Schmidt. She needed a distraction. One that could take her mind away from the horror of that moment.

“Maze?” Maze turned her head excitedly, finally hearing Tiffany’s voice. Seeing only a blurry image of the person in her rush to hug her best friend. The hug was decent, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of unease she got. It was only after she pulled away did she ask, “You are Tiffany, right?” The person before her had the same build as her best friend, being short and chubby. Their hair texture and color were the same, but the mask obscured her vision of their face. Being a full mask styled to look like a 1 eyed chameleon. She remembered her brother mentioning that they were predators with hypnotic abilities. Maze even questioned how they could even see as there were no eye slits on it.

“Uhh, uhm… No?” They said, questioning their own response.

She must’ve misheard their voice because it wasn’t Tiffany’s.

“Who are you?” Maze asked, feeling the warm flush of embarrassment begin to rise up her cheeks. They seemed to hesitate as if they were considering their options.

Their hair stood in a well combed afro and their skin, a nice chocolate tone that reminded her of Tiffany. They were as well dressed as everyone else at the party and there was no family crest on their blazer to help her identify them.

“M-My name is Tristan. A pleasure it is to meet you madame.” Maze was a bit apprehensive with them, to her they were too suspicious. From the way they bowed Maze could tell that they were a boy. Left hand on the heart and right hand reaching out to her and left leg sliding behind the right.

“Wanna see something cool?” Tristan asked with an excited grin on his face. It wasn’t Tiffany, but it was a distraction. Anything to shove the memory of that entity to the back of her mind.

Tristan jumped for joy at her compliance, “Meet me at the garden.” He said before running off. With a sigh Maze got off her seat and went to go ask one of the maids to tell her brother of her whereabouts, feeling it would be too tedious to look for him herself given the size of the dining hall. She was promised candy and she still wanted it.

Walking through the hustle and bustle of the guests Maze passed by a familiar face, or at least one she didn’t want to see for another year. Oh gosh, what is he doing here.

Headmaster Vander stood tall among the other guests as he noticed her gaze. Although everyone else was laughing he kept his stoic expression. Maze also noted that among the guests he was the only one not wearing a mask. Yep, he’s still as creepy as the last time I saw him. Did he come here for Marcus?

After their gaze met she tried her hardest to avoid eye contact with him, walking as fast as her flats could take her to the garden. No matter, just avoid talking to him. That’s the plan.

“Hello young Schmidt, tis quite the wondrous festivities we are celebrating is it not?” Maze flinched at the feel of his lanky fingers on her shoulder. His tall and skinny frame towering over hers.

“The young Master has surely blown all my expectations out the water. Ushering our school into the top 5 during his 2-year term. Aren’t you proud to have a brother such as him?” Vander asked a Maze who was too nervous to turn to him.

“I-I am, Headmaster.” She stuttered, getting a chuckle out of the older gentleman. “Hohoho. Come now Ms. Schmidt, I may have a reputation, but please.” He knelt over to be level with her. “I don’t bite.” His deep voice, paired with those words, were enough to send shivers down her spine as she felt petrified by his touch. He wore a glove, but she could still feel his cold fingers on her exposed shoulder.

“Headmaster Vander, what a surprise bumping into you.” Marcus came, pulling Maze towards him and out of Vander’s grip. “I don’t know if you read the invite, but it specifically said all guest are to wear a mask.” Marcus had a smile that masked his stern tone.

“The invite said, all guests of the church are to wear a mask young Master. I am of a different faith than the God you worship.” Vander replied reaching his hand out to him.

“Well why don’t I educate you a little more about our faith,” Marcus gripped the Headmasters stretched out hand and shook it. “Who knows, you might wanna convert.”

“Excuse my impertinence, but I think we both know that you worship a false deity.” Marcus patted Maze on her shoulder, signaling her to leave as he had successfully stolen attention away from her. “How about we have this conversation over a few drinks?” Maze took her cue to leave, feeling relieved that she got out of that situation.

The outside had a calming cool to it with the full moon shining brightly above them. Tristan stood at the center of the bed of flowers they were not supposed to walk on. Maze hoped whatever he wanted to show her was excusable enough for her breaking the rules like that, joining him on the flower bed.

“So, what is it that you wanted to show me?” She asked, keeping her hopes low in case she was just dragged there to talk. Or, even worse, a confession.

The boy raised his arms, and a ball of water began to form under his hand. It began to circle them as it glowed a light blue hue, sparkling beautifully with the soft white light of the moon. Maze’s eyes grew wide in shock, seeing the stream of glowing water surround them before exploding above them in a dance of sparkling water droplets, like the sky was sprinkling water on them.

“Y-You’re a Mage!?” Maze exclaimed.

“Well of course madam, and I’m here to dazzle you with my magical prowess.” The boy sang holding Maze’s hand before both of them began slowly levitating off the floor. Maze panicked as gravity became nonexistent for them. But it didn’t take long before they both slumped back to the ground.

“I’m sorry. I’m still learning how all this magic stuff works.” Tristan admitted. Picking herself off the floor, Maze couldn’t help the giggle coming out of her. Her dress was dirty, but she didn’t mind.

“What else can you do?” She asked, her eyes sprinkled with stars of excitement.

“Oh, uhm, well…” He thought before facing up, and out of the thin mouth of the mask came a stream of water coming out like a fountain.

Maze laughed at the boy’s silliness before an idea popped into her head.

“Let’s have a water-balloon fight.” She didn’t even wait for the boy to agree with her as she dashed to grab the remaining balloons for the party. She came back to the garden in no time at all, with her arms full of unblown balloons.

Tristan adopted the same mischievous smile as he began filling the balloons with water. It didn’t take long before each of them had 12 balloons each. They got into their hiding spots, and they each started stalking the other. Maze was the first to get spotted getting an unapologetic hit on the face. She was first shocked by how cold the water was before she threw hers in retaliation, missing him entirely. She chased after him and thanks to his weight he was unable to outmaneuver her in the thicket of trimmed bushes.

Seeing that he was on the losing end he used his magic to stop some balloons before they hit him. Turning menacingly at her, Maze screamed, “No fair!” as he hurled those balloons her way, each of them hitting her with incredible precision.

She took cover behind the swan styled bush, realizing she only had one balloon left. But the same remained true for her opponent. Tristan walked over to her hiding spot with a menacing chuckle.

“It’s over Mazekien. You lose.” He used magic to ready his water balloon and just as he readied it Maze jumped out of her hiding spot, throwing a stone at the water balloon and popping it mid-air. She rolled before running to her flabbergasted opponent. Tackling him to the floor before popping the balloon directly on his face.

“I win.” Maze rolled off laughing as the boy coughed up the water that had slipped in his nose.

“Yeah, you got me.” The boy got up, still coughing, only to notice his mask had slipped. Maze got a brief glimpse of his eye, a bright blue like the morning sky. Before he covered it.

“I need to go.” He scurried on his feet before running back into the mansion. His eyes looked familiar, but before she could think properly about it her auntie came out to the garden.

Her eyes widened in a horrified shock.

Darn, I really did it now. She thought as her auntie angrily stomped to her.