Everyone slept after the argument last night.

Raven and Vivian woke up early the next morning, but Vivian woke up earlier than Raven because she heard some noise coming from downstairs.

Vivian checked her table clock, and it read 6:45 AM. Her normal wake-up time was 7:15, but an extra thirty minutes was something nice to have. She often slept with her beast, the Seraph Leaper, because it was fluffy and comfortable. They were curled together.

Rubbing her eyes, Vivian rolled out of bed and walked to her windows to check out what was responsible for these sounds.

The sun was rising at the same time she was parting her curtains. The estate welcomed the sunlight. The bird ponds, the hedges, the roofs, and the gates. It also smelled like earth, stone, and grass.

When she looked down at the noise, she saw servants carrying out bags from an SUV parked in the estate, while having conversations. Vivian also saw the top of someone with silver hair, but she couldn’t identify who it was.

It wasn’t unusual that some activities happened in the estate without her knowledge, but Vivian was suspicious about this one. So, she sought Raven’s help to find out. She left her room for Raven’s and woke her up before 7:15, too.

After telling Raven what she saw, Raven agreed to check what was going on.

Still in their nightgowns, the sisters came downstairs and walked outside, receiving greetings from servants, guards, and maids. They stopped walking when they met the SUV and the bags unloaded from it. Familiar bags.

Then they saw someone also familiar near the gate.

Their stepbrother, Adrian.

Adrian was talking to a guard when Raven and Vivian came outside. He felt their presence, so he looked in their direction, showing them that detestable face of his.

"You! What are you doing here?!" they demanded offensively.

Adrian sighed and replied, "What kind of question is that? This is my father’s house. I have as much right here as you do, maybe even more."

"Cut the crap and tell us why you’re here," Raven said as they walked to where Adrian stood.

Vivian’s eyes were already sparkling with light, but Raven grasped her hand to calm her, because this wasn’t like before when they could try to fight Adrian. Last night, their father had obliquely said Adrian and his mother were more important than them to him. They wouldn’t want to mess up now.

"Oh, you haven’t heard?" Adrian said with his signature smug face. "My suspension has been lifted. I can now return to Montclair and participate in the Trials even though I’m late."

When his sisters didn’t reply, Adrian said, "Yes, yes. I wanted to see those expressions on your bitch faces. Take all the time you want to absorb the reality."

"It— It’s not possible," Raven stammered. "You were suspended indefinitely..."

"He’s lying..." Vivian said, refusing to accept it, and was still ready to throw punches right there.

But Adrian wasn’t in the mood to trade words with his half-sisters.

After a week in suspension, he had gotten some mature traits like calmness, patience, and rationality. This wasn’t good because Adrian’s immaturity had been his downfall. What happens now when he’s actually calculated?

He turned his back on his half-sisters and said, "Raven Kingsley #15, Vivian Kingsley #19. In the Trials? Muddied water! You should be ashamed of yourselves, sisters."

"At least we don’t have -3000 GT, you imbecile."

"What’s 3000 points I can’t overcome in five days?" Adrian laughed. "Didn’t Luke get half a million points in a day? Hard as it is to swallow, but that loser is the only one here worth being proud of. And I am dying to see him again."

Adrian left the estate before more words were exchanged, leaving his sisters staring at the killer of all joy.

The academy would fall apart with Adrian’s return, and things would never be the same.

*******

Vivian ran back into the palace, unnerved by Adrian.

She ran upstairs, barged into her room, and picked up her phone to alert anyone she could about him.

Luke was the first person she messaged, then Scarlett, and even Lucy. Vivian had a feeling that her half-brother was coming for Scarlett and Lucy just as much as he was coming for Luke.

Raven entered her room a while later and saw her sister biting her nails, staring at the text messages.

"Do not be afraid, Vivi. Adrian is a paper tiger. He won’t do anything while we’re here," Raven said. "You should get ready; let’s leave and keep him in our sights."

"Yes, you are right," Vivian replied in haste and got to work. She undressed herself in front of Raven because Raven was her sister, then she tied a white towel around herself.

But instead of entering her bathroom, Vivian ran out of her room to Raven’s room so she could use Raven’s bathroom. It took Raven a while to realize that, leaving her chasing after her sister, who was as fast as light.

"This girl!" Raven snarled as the bathroom door shut in her face.

Vivian’s bathroom had some mold, which is why she used Raven’s any chance she got instead of fixing the mold.

Ten minutes passed and Vivian was still inside, forcing a frustrated Raven to pound on the door to make her hurry up.

"Vivian! You’ve been in there long enough to brush your teeth seven times. Don’t you dare tell me you’re brushing your teeth!"

"But I am brushing my teeth!" Vivian yelled back.

"Liar! I can’t hear any brushing!" Raven banged on the door. "Vivian... are you masturbating again? I told you that thing is addictive!"

"No, I’m not!" Vivian screamed as her face turned pink.

"Ugh, I can’t believe this! Hurry up and finish yourself off!"

After Vivian came out after an eternity, Raven side-eyed her and entered the bathroom, coming out seven minutes earlier than Vivian.

A maid helped Raven put on a clean, ironed Montclair uniform while Raven looked in the mirror to check herself. Then she went to a cupboard and took out the armor that Luke had made for her. She also grabbed a piece of paper that a Kingsley teacher had given to her and Vivian. This paper had the map locations for the monster zones they had to visit today.

Raven put the items in her bag and went back to Vivian’s room, where Vivian was smiling because Luke had texted back.

But Luke’s text did not mirror their worry. It seemed like Luke thought Adrian was just an old problem from the past.

But past problems are always bound to return when you least expect them, and they are the most dangerous.

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