The bathroom was the only place in the dormitory wing without cameras.
The fluorescent lights here hummed at a different frequency than the corridor, the vent above the third stall rattled in a way that covered the sound of voices if you knew where to stand.
He was standing there now, in the second stall from the left, his back against the cool tile wall, his eyes fixed on the door. The lock was engaged, the latch secure, but his hands stayed at his sides, ready. Always ready.
The minutes passed.
At 2.14 AM, the door opened.
Sarah entered with the casual grace of someone who owned the space, her footsteps silent on the damp floor. She was wearing the same clothes as earlier, a simple black sweater and dark jeans, but there was something different about the way she moved tonight.
She stopped in front of the second stall, her amber eyes gleaming in the dim light.
"Why did we have to meet in this claustrophobic and putrid place? This reminds me of the peasant homes a millennium ago." she said.
"This seems to be the only place where the boy doesn't have his eyes on."
"Anyways, I have news for you, Lord Rouge, the boy figured it out," he said finally. "Hoshimi. He had cornered Dominic two days ago. Used the girl as leverage. A gun to her head, a bullet through her palm." He paused, watching her face. "He was trying to force me out, but since I had no attachment to the girl myself, I didn't come out."
Sarah's expression didn't change, but something in her posture shifted. The lazy amusement that usually draped her like a coat had sharpened into something more focused.
"And?"
"He pulled the trigger twice. The second time, Dominic's soul rapidly grew in size, nearly pushing me out towards the surface of his consciousness." His hands curled at his sides. "The boy with the violet eyes saw."
"The flicker." Sarah nodded slowly. "He's observant. More than I gave him credit for."
"He knows about the reincarnation. About the blackouts. He said the symptoms were the same as Audrey's."
Something flickered in Sarah's eyes. She turned to face him fully, her back against the sink, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Audrey Mirlo was unfortunate," she said, her voice light, almost careless. "I needed a test subject to see if I could break that boy. But he barely seemed to budge, even with how close he was with her, he really does keep his relationships hidden doesn't he?"
Jack replied. "You told me to kill her."
"I told you to break the boy." Sarah's smile widened. "She was collateral. Useful collateral. Her death served multiple purposes, it tested the ritual's parameters, it provided fresh mana for my recovery, and it drove Hoshimi exactly where I needed him to be. For now, he seems to be obsessed with finding the killer."
"He's been investigating since the funeral. He won't stop."
"He doesn't have to." Sarah pushed off from the sink, crossing to the window at the end of the bathroom. The glass was frosted, opaque, but the moonlight filtered through anyway, casting her shadow long and distorted across the tiles. "The investigation is useful. It keeps them looking inward, watching each other, waiting for someone to slip. We're not staying here forever anyways, it doesn't matter if we get discovered. All I needed was a quick and efficient boost in magic, and the rest I could handle by myself, and the invasion was the perfect catalyst. Anyways they suspect everyone now. Neila, you, that little girl. It's better if there's internal turmoil."
"Seraphina?"
"Especially her." Sarah's laugh was soft, almost affectionate. "I pretended to be Asmodeus and she signed a contract with me around two weeks ago. A Witch's Oath, three weeks for Dominic. She thinks I'm helping her. She thinks she's being clever, trading something she doesn't value for something she's always wanted. I have to fill in my end of the contract later, and you'll help me for that."
"And what did she actually trade?"
Sarah turned to face him, her amber eyes gleaming in the dim light. "Three weeks. The Witch's Oath I wrote down didn't really specify what the three weeks really meant. I took the rest of her lifespan except for three weeks from her, how funny is that? The body will remain. The mana will remain. But Seraphina Shaw will cease to exist, absorbed into yours truly, far more deserving of the flesh she's been wasting."
Jack said. "What would you have me do?"
"I promised her that Dominic will profess his love." Sarah's smile was radiant, terrible. "But he doesn't have to be conscious does he?" She patted his back. "And that's where you will come in, you will tell her that you love her, tell her that you will spend the rest of her life together with her– technically you're not lying, she only has like a few more days left anyways."
She crossed to him, her footsteps silent, her presence filling the small space until Jack could feel her warmth through his clothes, could smell the strange sweetness that clung to her skin like perfume.
"Speaking of which," she murmured, her hand coming up to cup his face, her fingers cool against his cheek, "the boy's investigation is becoming inconvenient. He's looking for evidence. Looking for witnesses. And now he's identified you as the primary suspect."
"He doesn't have proof."
"He doesn't need proof." Sarah's thumb traced the line of his jaw, light as a feather. "He has suspicion, and suspicion is enough to make people watch. Enough to make them ask questions."
"I am different."
"Yes." Sarah's smile widened. "Of course you are, and that's why you're my favorite pawn." Her hand slid into his hair, fingers threading through the dark strands. "You've always known what you are. What you're capable of. What you deserve."
Jack didn't move. Didn't speak. He stood in the dim bathroom with her hand in his hair and her body pressed against his and the weight of two lifetimes pressing down on his shoulders, and he let her words settle into his chest like stones dropped into deep water.
"Of course, your words are too generous to be given to me," he said.
"I am merely fulfilling my purpose and so should you." Sarah's voice was soft now, almost gentle. "I'll bring this world to its knees, I'll bring the next age of witches, I am the next extinction event for humanity and the resurgence of witches, after all, I am the only one from my sisters that haven't become a fallen angel after all, I'm still doing my task given to me by Heaven, just like the asteroids that caused the mass extinction event 66 million years ago."
She stepped back, her hand falling away from his face, and Jack felt the absence like a wound.
"The Zenith from the invasion," she continued, moving to the window, her reflection sliding across the glass in fragments. "The caster is still alive, I plan to make use of him until the very end, his Zenith is still useful after all."
"You're going to use it again."
"On Sophia Miller." Sarah's smile was sharp as glass. "The girl is the only real threat to my plans. Without her, the Academy falls. The government falls. The entire system that's kept witches enslaved for centuries crumbles overnight. That boy with the violet eyes is only alive because of her, during the entrance exam, he had killed one of the Smiths. From what I've heard from their family, they seem to be very aggressive about their possessions."
She turned to face him, her amber eyes gleaming with something that might have been hunger or might have been joy.
"In 8 days, I'll activate the Zenith. It will target Sophia alone, pulling her consciousness into the same loop that held us all during the invasion. But this time, there will be no escape. I'll kill off the Zenith caster and trap Sophia's body in a magical tool."
Jack studied her face. "You want me to help you leave."
"I want what's mine."