Chapter 218: Midnight Snack

Before the sun had risen, Cia got up early out of bed, and checked the clock sitting on the night stand next to her.

’3 am, they won’t be awake for another few hours,’ she thought to herself.

She had woken up early on purpose as she still needed to store the fruit in her boot soon. It was particularly difficult when the two people who mustn’t know she was part of Pure were living in the same room as her.

Carefully and quietly, she removed the crimson veritas, and placed it in a ziplock bag, then she slowly opened the freezer, and shoved it into the back where no one seemed to pay attention.

’Actually, has anyone aside from me touched the freezer in a while?’ Cia thought, taking a closer look at the contents.

There was raw, frozen animal meat everywhere, as well as a few ice cream brands that she remembered were Layla’s favorites, but they remained undisturbed for over a week now.

’That’s around the time period when Layla started to act strange,’ Cia concluded, then checked the fridge.

Yet again, there was another giant slab of animal meat, and she instinctively recoiled in disgust.

"Blegh..."

However, upon a second sniff, Cia realized the meat hadn’t gone bad. It still smelled like fridge, but it wasn’t expired just yet.

’The expiration date says it will tomorrow, but that’s besides the point,’ Cia then wondered, ’Why did they even get so much meat if they weren’t going to eat it? Could it be because—?’

"What are you doing awake?"

Cia jumped, and nearly squealed hearing such a voice speak so close to her. She hadn’t even heard them come so close. Turning to the source of the sound, she saw it was Layla, standing just a few feet away.

"Layla! You startled me!" Cia whisper yelled.

"I said, what are you doing awake?" Layla repeated, drowsily.

Cia frowned, "Can’t a girl get some midnight snacks without someone jump scaring her? Seriously, what are YOU doing up?"

Layla blinked, then remembered that not everyone had just as good night vision as her.

"Ugh, I’m just going to grab a yogurt," Cia waved her hand, and grabbed the item she wanted.

It was strawberry flavored, a favorite of Layla’s. Cia had chose this one on purpose to see if it would garner a reaction from Layla, which got a glance that lasted a second too long, before she returned back to bed.

’Something is definitely different here,’ Cia placed a hand on her chin, ’She would’ve gotten mad at me for stealing her food, but why? Why would her diet change?’

With the fruit now in the freezer, Cia climbed into bed, and returned to sleep. As far as Cia knew, neither Layla nor Erin seemed to suspect anything.

—

The next morning, Cia left early as she usually did, so Layla and Erin were together in the dorm. They received a message on their watches that school was canceled, so they had the whole day off. However, Layla couldn’t help but think about how Cia acted last night.

’I’m not imagining it right? Did she grab my yogurt on purpose?’ Layla thought, ’And that noise back in the underground city, could it have been her?’

"Stop staring at the wall, Layla," Erin coldly stated.

"Huh? Wha...?" Layla looked around, then remembered that Erin was in the same room as her.

Erin hummed, clearly thinking something about Layla, but didn’t express it.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about... Well, it doesn’t matter," Layla shook her head, "So I’m actually going to learn the shadow ability today?"

It was a little exhilarating, receiving a new ability after a while of not having one, especially since it was a long time coming.

’Unfortunately, I couldn’t get taught by Arthur, but some part of me is still hesitant, even now.’

Erin stood straight, and lifted an arm out, showcasing the shadow forming around her hands. Then she recalled the lessons of the shadow book before she absorbed its knowledge to Layla.

"Remember what I told you?" Erin said, "The shadow is like a living limb, one that’s part of you."

Layla nodded, and remembered the feeling she felt back when she played Logan’s game. Even though the boy was diligent to make the game as accurate as possible, one thing he did not replicate was the feeling of acquiring an ability. Likewise, Layla had only ever used the shadow ability, never gained it.

The game was a bit of a cheat, giving her the ability without needing to do the work of improving its level. Still, the two things weren’t dissimilar.

Layla closed her eyes and concentrated. Gaining an ability always had a slightly different method from each other due to how different each ability was. She had heard of the Sunshields partaking in a secret ritual involving fire, and it was a similar method with the Greylash but with electricity. No one knew all the details about these rituals aside from the members of the family themselves though, and these rumors could very well be rumors.

Recalling what it was like to gain the telekinesis ability, Layla applied the same logic to the shadow ability. The two didn’t feel too different judging from her experiences in the game.

"There we go," Erin nodded with a hint of approval in her tone.

She opened her eyes, and saw a shadow slowly flicker around her hand. Focusing, she was able to control its shape and form in simple ways, like a sphere, a cube, then a pyramid.

"I did it!" Layla said with a smile, "Now what kind of things can I do with this?"

Erin then asked the system the same thing, and it paused before giving a response.

"She is only a level 1 shadow user since she just acquired the ability," The system said, "Judging by the skills you currently have, I would say that Layla can currently only use the less costly skills, like shadow control, dimensional storage, and shadow equip."

Erin repeated what the system had said to her, then demonstrated the skills so Layla knew what to try repeating. She already displayed shadow control as a skill, which left the other two to try out.

Since Layla already had her burnscale ring, the first thing she did was place it in her dimensional storage, which was easy enough to grasp.

"Now place it on your finger," Erin instructed.

Closing her eyes, Layla imagined forming the ring on her finger, but instead, she felt a small weight in her palm instead. It wasn’t actually equipped on her, only sitting in her hand.

"Maybe that’s a later skill?" Layla wondered, "Although it’s not too much of an issue for me right now. I don’t have any other armor pieces aside from the ring, and I’m sure I can use dimensional storage for other things like..."

Layla grabbed a handful of her arrows from her quiver, shadow enveloping them. Her hands were suddenly free, then she took them out of the shadow storage just as quickly.

Erin nodded, "That’ll make sure you never run out of arrows."

"I should probably have a quiver still so my arrows don’t seem to come out of nowhere," Layla pointed out.

"It’s a start, most abilities are not very useful at level 1." Erin noted, then added, "When I was a level 1 ice user, the most I could do was cool things down."

Layla snorted, then quickly put on a straight expression to hide her reaction. The mental image of a younger Erin running around her parents with cold hands almost made her laugh.

’I’m sure mom would’ve said something about this when I could’ve stayed abilityless,’ Layla said in her mind, which then started to make her a little sad.

Maybe she’d been spending too much time around Erin. At first, Layla was thinking it was fine that she learned the shadow ability because she had already changed into a ghoul, but it was because she was with Erin so much that she wasn’t human anymore. Who’s to say that Layla wouldn’t further change for the worse the more she stuck with Erin?

’Would mom even recognize me if I went down this path?’

Layla pushed the thought down as fast as it came, but it didn’t fully go away. What if there was some sort of truth behind this idea?