“Sorry, my lady. This is Unicorn Dorm’s strategy. It’s not against the rules to get in the other team’s way.”
“It’s not?!”
That was the first I heard about such a rule. I looked ahead and saw Dark blocking Dee’s path. Only Dum and Robins were running at full speed. It seemed like Dum’s longer legs would give him the advantage in speed, but Robins pulled ahead, his white sheet fluttering in the breeze.
So fast!
He was quick and nimble from all the cricket he played, reaching the stand faster than any of us. He hopped up, bit into the apple, then landed firmly on two feet.
Unicorn Dorm is going to win!
The crowd cheered, but Robins didn’t move. Instead, he spit the apple out on the ground and jumped at Dum before he could bite into his own apple.
Dum looked at Robins, irritated by the unexpected tackle.
“What is it?”
“Don’t bite into them. These are poison apples!”
“What are you talking about?”
Jack led me by the hand toward Robins. The prefect was pleading with us desperately.
“They look like apples, but these are fruits from something called manchineel trees. They contain a terrible poison that burns your mouth and makes it too painful to drink water. Some even die from it. Although, they’re supposed to be green…”
“It looks like they’re painted red.” Dark crouched down and studied the fruit that had fallen.
Robins’ bite had torn away the outer layer, revealing green skin underneath.
“Who would do such a thing…?”
Leeds and Charles rushed over to us.
“What’s wrong?!”
“These are manchineel fruits, Charles. Who prepared these?” Robins asked.
“Headmaster prepares the apples for the competition. He harvests them from the land around Ark School every year.”
“Did he take them from manchineel trees by mistake, thinking they were apples?” I asked.
Charles answered my question with a grim look on his face. “Those trees don’t grow in cold places. Someone had to have shipped them in from outside the island, and the Headmaster manages all the cargo shipments…”
“So the headmaster tried to kill us.”
There could be only one reason for that. He knew that we’d tried to free the immortals from their spell.
Charles stood up and addressed the noisy crowd. “It looks like the apples are too bitter to bite into. We’ll have to call this year’s match a draw.”
The audience started to boo.
“You can all leave. We’ll clean this up tomorrow. This year, both dorms will get to eat the victory sweets.”
The students started excitedly heading for the dining hall when they heard they would all be treated to the reward.
Charles turned away from them and let his expression become serious again. “…I’m going to take Robins to Unicorn Dorm and make sure he rests. The rest of you should go back to Lion Dorm and make sure you’re never alone, even for a minute. Can you look after them, Nurse Leeds?”
“Of course. You be careful too now, okay?” Leeds said.
Charles nodded and left with Robins.
Robins was able to walk and speak without any difficulty. It was hard to believe he’d just bitten into something containing a deadly poison.
Was the apple really poisoned? I reached out for the fruit on the ground, but Dark grabbed it before I could.
“You shouldn’t touch this thing.” Dark’s fingertips instantly turned red when they touched the fruit’s juices.
“How are you just holding it like that?!” Jack smacked it out of his hand. But the poison had already formed blisters on his skin.
Dark spread his fingers out. He looked like he didn’t feel any pain at all.
“My magic is keeping the poison in check, but it’s still causing this much damage. A human shouldn’t be unaffected by biting into a poison this strong.”
“So a human would definitely be harmed by it?”
The puzzle pieces of information I’d gathered were starting to fit together in my mind.
The trap-laying demon had manipulated the growth of Dark and the others.
Legends said that a monster lived on this island.
The headmaster and teachers shouldn’t still be alive.
A being called Gryphon protected the students from misfortune.
Then there was the prefect unaffected by poison.
“I understand now…”
The more difficult the riddle, the more of an anticlimactic conclusion the solution was. I’d only struggled to find the true identity of Ark School’s demon because of the contradicting concepts of “good” and “evil” overlapping each other.
I should have known from the start that, just like humans, the culprit might fall somewhere between them.
“Let’s go see Gryphon now before we send our evildoer into the flames of Hell.”
I glared up at the top floor of the castle. It was going to feel so delightful to banish this good-for-nothing demon to Hell.