Missing
I woke up with a slight pain in my throat. If I had stayed in bed at night I wouldn't be about to catch a cold and I wouldn't feel a kind of emptiness in my chest after that conversation with Talbott. Rowan had already left the room when I finished dressing. Lately she disappeared more than me and we only coincided in class, in the dormitory or in the library. Part of me thought Rowan resented not telling her what I had discovered in the last cursed vault, but I would talk to her about it. Rowan had to understand that I was doing it to protect her, not to exclude her.
I was already driving crazy at the possibility that R would kill one of my friends... It was very stupid to think that I could try to go on dates and act like I didn't have more important responsibilities.
If Talbott didn't want anything with me, it wouldn't keep showing up in his life to make him uncomfortable. He had friends; Penny was there for him when he needed her, and I had only met him because I couldn't sit there while someone needed help. And, at that time, he very much needed my help.
I also couldn't shut up when things were falling apart. That's why I had reacted so abruptly when Talbott asked me if I was upset. Would things have been different if I had taken two more minutes to think about what was going on? Maybe it's a little late to torture myself with questions I won't be able to answer.
I put on my uniform and hurried to the dining room. I wasn't going to eat anything, but it was my habit to greet my friends first thing in the morning before forcing myself to stay trying to decipher the location of the vault. The little ritual was perhaps the only thing that kept me sane.
"There you are!" Penny ran on my direction, the panic in her gaze caused me to put aside everything I had felt up to that moment and go into alert mode.
"What's wrong, Penny? Are you okay?"
"I can't find Beatriz." If it were another situation, I might have taken the moment to dissect all the possible reasons why Penny's sister was missing, but every year was the same. R tried to find the vaults and unleashed a curse on the castle. Then I had to pretend that I had not promised Dumbledore to stop looking for the vaults even though I started solving the puzzle.
"When was the last time you saw her?"
"Last night in our common room" were many hours without hearing from her.
"We will split to look for her."
***
As I made my way to the main entrance, I saw Penny running down the stairs, followed by Merula and Charlie. Bill had gotten in my way, and I almost knocked him down in my attempt to catch up with my friends down the stairs. Surely, they had found Beatriz, but something inside me told me that they did not have good news.
"What's wrong?" I asked my blonde friend as she stared at the wall in front of us.
I turned to see the pictures and the air left my lungs. It wasn't possible... Beatrice was locked in one of the paintings. Penny looked about to faint; she was as pale as if she had seen a dead man.
If before I thought that stirring up the mystery of the cursed vaults was necessary, now it was the number one priority.
"Bea..." Since my brother had disappeared, I did not consider myself fit to comfort people, so it only occurred to me to put a hand on his shoulder.
"We will get her out of there, Penny. I promise you" my mind began to turn in all directions. I wasn't close to solving any of the situations around the vaults, but if there was any way to get Beatrice out of there before me and my friends solve that mystery, I would find it.
Rowan and I spent the whole afternoon in the library between books about paintings. Bill and Charlie were asking Sir Cadogan questions. When Mrs. Pince kicked us out, the sky was already completely dark.
"I feel like this was all useless," I confessed to my friend as we walked into the common room.
Rowan was about to answer me when her gaze got lost in the back of the room.
"Good night, Talbott" didn't want to turn to see him, but if we were the only people here, I couldn't pretend that I hadn't seen him or that he hadn't noticed Rowan's greeting for him.
"Good evening. Can we talk?" I couldn't just pretend he wasn't referring only to me when he said that.
"See you in the room," Rowan said before disappearing down the stairs.
"What's up?" I tried to sound casual, but my voice trembled.
"Do you know Badeea Ali?"
"I don't"
"It's in our house, I think she can help you with Beatriz"
"Do you know about it?" I couldn't hide the impression in my voice.
"Penny is my friend" it seemed like a sufficient answer to him, so I didn't pressure him to tell me more about it. "Besides, everyone knows it. Whenever something happens at Hogwarts the rumors spread fast," Talbott was right, that's what this place was like, and I knew it from own experience. We both knew it.
"Thank you, Talbott..." I wanted to smile at him for his help or say more than just a word and his name, but last night was still too present in my mind and still had no idea where I was standing with him.
"It's nothing. Good night" I hoped he would come downstairs just like Rowan did just a couple of minutes before him, but he took his eagle shape and flew out the window. I had to resist all my desire to follow him. First, I had to talk to Badeea, take Beatrice out of the picture, find the cursed vault... and maybe after all that I could try again to talk to Talbott Winger about my feelings.
I went into my room after looking for the girl's. It was too late to get her out of bed, but if Talbott had told me she could help, chances were he was right. Although the guy did not talk to almost anyone, he observed everything and everyone better than me.
"Are you okay?" Rowan's whisper took me out of my line of thought. The other two girls, our roommates, looked asleep.
"Yes, tomorrow we will have to visit a girl in her dormitory."
"Why have you taken so long to come? Has he told you anything?" I shrugged not wanting to let go of too many details in case our roommates could hear us. It was not my intention for my fantasies with Talbott to return to the halls. The public scrutiny was horrific.
"Not really. We have a long day tomorrow; it will be better to rest."
***
Finding Badeea was not difficult. She spent most of her free time painting, according to her friends. It didn´t took long for me to find out why Talbott has suggested to speak to her last night. The advice she have me, however, was not the one I was looking for.
“Open your mind”, she said. As if it was the easiest thing to do.
From year one I have always tried to not give things for granted and analyze all the possibilities, and somehow, I had no idea where to look for more information. I´ve never been good with artistic stuff, and I was getting tired of looking around for nothing at all.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I mumbled for myself trying to find something in the book on my hands that could help me a little bit more that the stupid voice in my head. I didn´t think possible for anyone alive to be of any help on people trapped in a fricking painting.
“That´s it!” Mrs. Pince ask for silence, but I was already to far away from her and on my way to find Penny. Nobody alive could help, but there were several not death being in the castle that might have some information on the matter. If this didn´t work I had no more ideas left.