Chapter 9

CARINA'S POV

"Are we in Paris?" I ask in a daze staring wide-eyed at the French decor, the rows of confectioneries, and the tiled marble floors, every inch of this café dripped 

I swipe at my side to grab hold of Felicia, the excitement ran rampant through my body combined with the aftershock of her little door trick I was afraid my legs would give out on me any minute now, I needed her for support, Sadly every swipe was at air, after the fourth I realized she wasn't beside me

The daze vanished immediately turning my head from side to side trying to find the extravagant little traitor

Who ditches a person on a completely different continent?!

"One Caffe Coretto please, White Chocolate Instead of cream and a Cognac and Calvados blend" My head snapped towards the sound of her voice, there she was, perched against the glass counter smiling warmly at the receptionist who was blushing a bright shade of red, the poor thing looked like she had weaker knees than I did

I roll my eyes at Felicia, she was flustering the poor girl and she knew it she was probably enjoying it, I march over to the poor girl's aid

"Aunty, we're going to be late" I walk in front of her standing between her and her unfortunate victim, from the corner of my eye I could swear I saw the girl breathe a sigh of relief, adorable

Felicia on the other hand was unfazed, "Of course darling, Let me get my coffee first...." she touched up her perfect ponytail pushing non-existent stray strands of hair back Into her bun and looking over my shoulder at the still bright pink reception "... to go please" she says and the girl perked up instantly straightening her spine smiling nervously

"Of.. course" her voice cracked as she spoke the sound of it making her squeeze her eyes shut in frustration

I feel bad for her, if anyone knew anything about how domineering Felicia could be it was me, and now, it was the little pale-skinned, purple-haired barista at a Café in Paris

"Would you like anything dear?" Felicia asks, a small smile tugging the right corner of her mouth making me narrow my eyes at her low blow

"No thank you," I said with a fake smile and a slight nod of my head for emphasis

"Order up!!" the barista calls from behind me making me swell with pride, she finally found her voice

"Would you like to get that for me dear?" Felicia asks me pointing at the coffee cup the barista was handing us gesturing that I was in her way

She's enjoying this at my expense

I scoffed before stepping to the side and bringing them face to face once more, the newfound confidence the Barista mustered up crumbled instantly, the moment her eyes landed on Felicia the blush began to fester

Felicia smiled, taking the cup from her hands her nails grazing her lightly, the touch so light yet it was enough to make the poor barista jump, thankfully Felicia grabbed the coffee before it could spill all over the counter, she said a small "Thank you..." pulling a €100 note dropping it on the counter and walking towards the door with a wave of her free hand "....keep the change"

I give the shaken-up barista an apologetic smile while following Felicia out the door, she pushes the door open with one hand and the other securing her coffee cup wide enough that I could slip out before the door closed

The morning air was crisp, the smell of coffee and fresh pastries still clung to our bodies mixing in with the smell of herbs from Felicia's house

I resist the urge to stop and Marvel at Parisall itsitss glory because I feared Felicia would leave me behind, I knew damn well she would leave me behind

I match her stride walking side by side seeming to walk with no destination, Felicia hasn't told me anything about the school talk-less where we were going, she'd much rather sip her coffee with a content smile on her face

"Was any of that necessary?" I ask which she replied with an innocent

"I have no idea what you're talking about" not bothering to even look up from her cup

How could she be so calm after traumatizing a poor barista?!

I could have grilled her, I wanted to grill her, but frankly,y I didn't have the energy for it, I had an exam to prepare for and who could be angry in PARIS?!!

I'm in Paris!!!

I fought hard to contain my excitement, I had never once set foot outside New York and now I was in PARIS!!, it was always my dream to travel but I never once thought I'd get to do it

"So this Magic University is in Paris?"

Felicia freezes mid-stride turning to give me a perplexed, slightly astonished, dare I say, mildly insulted look before continuing

"This MagicUniversityy, as you like to call it...." she stressed the words Magic University as if she was spitting out a nasty piece of gum "....is the Margovich College of UnseenArtss and it would be wise of you not to refer to it as such on school grounds... you might loose an eyeball in there.." she mutters the last part which makes me roll my head back in laughter, she can't be serious

But the laugh got caught in my throat when I saw the serious look on her face, that wasn't a joke? She was being serious!!!

A small smile tugs at the corner 

 her lips at my distress having conveyed her message leaving me slightly numb, If I wasn't dead already I was going to die in there

"...and as for your question, the answer is Yes and No"

"I don't follow," I say in a daze, what question did I ask?

"The location of the Margovich school, it is and isn't in Paris," she says calmly taking another sip of her coffee

Oh right!! I did ask that, must have slipped my mind while I was thinking about different ways I could mysteriously disappear on school grounds for saying one bad joke "....But, how is that even possible?"

"Well, the Margovich College doesn't exactly exist anywhere on this plane, it's like a small pocket dimension made by the school's founders many many many many many many years ago, they made it so that it existed everywhere and nowhere in the sense that it can be accessed from any part of the world but doesn't have an exact location"

"So what I'm hearing is, we didn't need to come to Paris?" I raise an accusing eyebrow at Felicia realizing the absurdity of this all

"Excuse me, Paris happens to have a store that makes the best Caffe Coretto" She replies defensively hugging her cup to her chest

"So you dragged me to another continent just so you could get a cup of coffee beans and alcohol when you could have just sent me to school with your little door trick?!"

"....That 'little door trick' is a Leblanc family Ancestral magic unique to the Leblancs alone, it allows me to open a door anywhere in the world as long as I've been there once, and I've been just about everywhere, you should work on your choice of wording otherwise you could get in a lot of trouble...." she says with a pointed look offended that I called her Ancestral Magic a 'little trick' "....and to answer your question, no I can't open a door to the Margovich College, no one has been able to access the school without going through the sanctioned checkpoints, breaking into the school is damn near impossible so remember that" she finishes her coffee and discards her cup into a bin near a small flower shop

"Alright, how do we find the checkpoints?" we've been walking for a while and I still had NO IDEA where we were going

"They're everywhere darling, you just need to know where to look"Shee points her finger to the sky giving a sly smile,

Curios, I followed her finger looking up to the sky and seeing a large figure soaring above us, a golden bird-like creature with large wings and a long trail of tail feathers that swayed as the bird soared giving an illusion that it was veiled with fine silk

How did I not see that?! That is a

"..Heridian Phoenix, the symbol of the Margovich College...." Felicia voiced as if she could read my thoughts ".... we must be close" she said turning down an alley leaving me to wonder about her actions so far, every step she had taken didn't seem to guess nor imply that she didn't know where she was going but turns out she was chasing a large bird, she had no idea where the checkpoints were, her guess was as good as mine and that made me nervous

We walked down that alleyway which stretched for what felt like an eternity, turn after turn after turn till we finally hit a dead end, a large wall of brick that towered over us both stood blocking our path

"Now what?" I turned to Felicia sounding rather Impatient, I was going to be late for sure

Instead of looking panicked having gotten us lost, she takes a step forward standing right in front of the wall she feels brick after brick then stops to knock three times very slowly on a brick that stuck out slightly more than the others before taking a step back

Silence

I wasn't sure what I was expecting but after staring at that wall for a whole minute it's safe to say that Felicia got the wrong alleyway, I prepared the barrage I was about to send her way when the cracks in the wall began to glow

A warm light started from one crack shooting into the next crack, then another, then another till they formed a rectangle glowing a warm light till the bricks disappeared and in it's place was a large wooden door

Grabbing the steel handle Felicia pulls the door open turning to me who was still trying to register what just happened, she stretches out her hand "Shall we?"