Chapter 23 ~ The Christmas Spirit.

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Karil was on his way to the great hall, passing through the empty corridors and simply following the noise as the feast began, when an extremely cold rush of air made him stagger backwards with brain freeze. 

''What the-?''

After regaining mind control after the incident, he attempted to walk on, the same thing happening to him again as he tried to pass a junction of passages. He watched another flurry of blizzard pass in front of him from down one of the corridors. Leaning forward carefully, trying not to experience brain freeze again, Karil look down the corridor to his right and saw an open door at the end of it, clearly the source of the cold wind. He couldn't see what was inside, there was just white light at the entrance.

 Battling against the wind, he managed to get to the door, curiosity winning over exitement for the feast. As he entered the room there was a second of blinding light before he found himself in a disused classroom - though it was most definately being used at that moment. The desks and chairs were stacked against the walls, instead the furniture was glittering ice sculptures draped in glowing white fairy lights adorned upon black wood vines. A tree seemed to have grown in the corner; a small pine decorated with silver baubles and flickering candles. There were icicles everywhere, on the ceiling, above the door, the floor simply a layer of soft, sugary snow. But the centerpiece of the beautiful scene was not a statue but a tall, black-haired girl wearing a lacy lilac dress and a glittering headpiece of darker gems. She smiled at Karil as he froze, not from cold but shock and dread.

''Karil!'' Maurelle took a few steps towards him. There were snow flurries appearing once again as she flicked her wand. Karil himself did not smile, he stood there stiff and awkward, wishing himself out of there with all his might. The girl who was a monstrous villain in his mind was advancing upon him with n alarmingly warm, sincere expression.

''I thought I would have my own Christmas celebration.'' She turned to look at her creations. ''I'm not one for feasts.''

Karil nodded tensely, but Maurelle didn't seem to notice. ''What do you think?''

He flickered his eyes over the scene. ''Yes, err, they're very nice.'' He replied stiffly. He wanted to leave but couldn't move. It felt like he was glued to the floor - that is, until Maurelle took his hand and lead him over to one of the ice statues.

''Do you notice anything about it?'' She enquired in a slightly mischievous fashion. 

One of the reasons Karil wasn't comfortable was because of her light-heartedness; he didn't understand her mood. She was usually serious, hard, solemn. It couldn't be the Christmas spirit making her like this, and it certainly wasn't him. He was just standing there like a statue; the awkward, quiet boy who hadn't spoken to her for a month because he knew she was an evil, twisted villain-in-the-making.

Karil lifted his head to look at the ice statue she was presenting, once again wishing he hadn't come to inspect the strange blizzards and managed to get himself into a conversation with Maurelle. However, those thoughts rushed out of his head after a few seconds of inspecting the statue.

The ice statue was him.

Every detail, the fall of his shirt, the angle of his shoulders, his scar, it was all there, set clearly in the cold, shining work of art in front of him. Karil turned to Maurelle in disbelief.

''W - wha - what the...? 

She laughed. ''I sketched you in the common room last night and thought I'd make a statue of it. You'd make a good artist's model, you know.'' She watched Karil's face as he walked round the frozen replica of himself. It was filled with disbelief, but Maurelle caught a glimpse of something else there too.

''So, what do you think?''

Karil couldn't stop himself smiling a small, shy, smile. ''I think it's amazing.'' He turned to her awkwardly. ''Ummm, is ''thank you'' appropriate?''

''Yep.'' She grinned back, accompanying the gesture with a laugh. Once again surprising Karil with an expression of what seemed to be genuine warmth. Inside he tried to remind himself that she was evil, that he couldn't trust her. But the alarming feeling of warmth was filling him, too, warmth towards her. No, no, no!

Maurelle herself was now inspecting the statue, running her hand over it. She reached it's face - or his face, Karil should say, and ran her eyes down the scar before turning to the real Karil standing beside her.

''How did you get that scar?'' She asked curiously, not seeming to realize it was an incredibly delicate subject for Karil. He blushed.

''Erm, an accident, when I was little.'' He replied with difficulty.

''What happened?'' Maurelle asked, still watching his face.

Karil could feel himself blushing pinker by the minute. '' Umm, me and Rolf were with our parents on a research trip. Some, er, other professionals showed up and, well, you could say they weren't very friendly.'' He kept the explanation short as he felt his cheeks grow hotter. 

Her eyes grew wide. ''People did this to you?''

He blinked a few times. ''Well, er, yes, just a badly aimed spell.'' He didn't know why the subject of his scar had become a light-hearted matter to him all of a sudden, but he was feeling kind of weird at that moment. It wasn't just the subject of conversation and the fact his listener was Maurelle, she was getting alarmingly close and-

Karil felt himself flinch as her cold hand reached out to touch the very disfigurement, Maurelle running her fingers down the slash. He froze, trying to ignore the fact that there was mistletoe above them and he could feel her breath on his face. She didn't seem to be feeling awkward, pale eyes passing down his face as she touched the mauve scar. There was silence for what felt like hours to Karil as he tried to avoid eye contact with his ''enemy''. Finally, after twenty seconds, he managed to open his mouth to speak, dearly hoping an excuse would rid him of the painfully awkward moment. 

Karil didn't even get as far as saying ''erm'', instead the next few things happened in a flurry of shock. Maurelle suddenly drew her hand away in what seemed to be pain, sinking to the floor. Karil watched her in surprise and fear; her eyes were glowing a bright gold, face full of panic.

''NO!'' She screamed, the cry ringing throughout the chamber and causing some of the icicles to drop from above the doorway and smash. Karil, recovering from the shock, kneeling down in front of her, but she didn't seem to see him.

''Sister!'' Once again Maurelle's cry echoed around the room. Karil felt numbness creep from his heart. Something was happening to Mirror and Maurelle was seeing it. 

He grasped her hands. ''Maurelle! Maurelle can you hear me? What's happening, what are you-'' 

She screamed again before vanishing away, leaving a cloud of black smoke.