--A Few Hours Later--
Vesper was being led down the hallway to the treatment section of the infirmary by headmaster Theodore Milton. The rest were barred from entering and had to remain in the waiting area.
"What can I do? I'm no healer," Vesper inquired.
"Its because of that," Theodore pointed to Vesper's mouth, more specifically the pair of fangs barely poking out of his mouth. No matter how many ways he tried to close his mouth, the fangs would still be slightly exposed.
"You and Celine were linked by whatever that dagger was enchanted with," Theodore elaborated, "you might have the same venom as her. It's a stretch but we're lost here. Whatever Celine put in Freed is giving the healers a very difficult time."
"I'll help anyway I can," Vesper offered, poking his fangs with his tongue idly.
They stopped just outside the doorway to the healing section.
Freed lay out on the oversized bed with a trio of healers surrounding him, light flowing from their hands to try to counteract the venom. The claw marks in his chest actually looked worse than they did yesterday, black veins spreading out from the wounds and covering a fair portion of his chest and edging closer to his head. Freed was laying on the bed gasping for air.
"He's been like this for the past 4 hours," Theodore explained sadly. "If you'll excuse me, I must leave you here. A meeting has been called to find out how we should approach this."
"You're not gonna hurt her are you," Vesper asked urgently.
Professor Milton levitated up to place a hand on Vesper's shoulder and sighed. "I cannot make idle promises. She should be fine so long as no one else has been harmed, but I will do all I can." Theodore dropped back to the ground and walked off, hands clasped to the small of his back.
Vesper watched him leave and then turned back and stared intently at his barely alive friend. 'Celine, what have you done?'
-At Alyvia's Shop-
Alyvia placed back and forth in her study in deep thought. She had been watching a live image of the incident at the arena through her imp lackeys and had been shocked at what the dagger had done to her.
"Damn you Raphael! Did you know," she scowled. The sudden opening and slamming of the shop door downstairs jolted her out of her raging thoughts. Alyvia slowly walked out of her study and down the stairs, ready for anyone foolish enough to attack her. As she walked down the stairs she heard sobbing coming from behind the counter. There huddled in the corner was Celine, wings wrapped around her as if to protect her from the world.
"Celine, what happened to you," Alyvia knelt down.
Celine opened her wings slightly. "There was an accident," she sobbed, "Vesper accidentally got the knife and- and-." She began to cry more.
Alyvia came closer and stroked the outside of her upper feathered wing. "Shh, it's okay. Well figure this out," Alyvia was actually surprised at herself to find she meant it.
"No it's not," Celine opened her wings more and whipped away the tears on her cheeks. "I- I killed people. I killed Freed. "
"What happened?"
"Some guards saw me and thought I was a monster and attacked me. I- I killed them all. Some people saw me."
"I'm sure we'll fix this," Alyvia pushed past Celine's wings and hugged her.
After about 30 minutes of comforting Celine, Alyvia made her move.
"I'm sorry about the knife. I didn't know it would make things worse."
"But what can I do? I'll be thrown in prison as a monster. I'll be stuck this way."
"Celine....there is something I want to tell you. I think I may be able to help you."
Celine began to look hopeful. "How?"
Alyvia helped Celine up to her clawed feet.
"Come, let me fix you some tea and I'll tell you all," Alyvia led Celine up the stairs.