After the contract was signed, Ilena did not immediately break free of the Small Sapling and step gracefully out of the transparent sphere, as Zheng Qing had imagined she would.
Her eyes remained closed and her head bowed, as though she were a statue.
"She will come back, but not now."
Mister Wu made no secret of this. "You need to understand that we have already done everything we can. The rest depends on her. It's like someone falling off a cliff. We have thrown down a rope, and she has caught it, but when she will be able to climb back up is anyone's guess."
"Perhaps an hour, perhaps a day, perhaps a month, perhaps a year."
Mister Wu did not continue.
Zheng Qing felt he had already explained enough.
"All right, all right. Now that the important business is finished, you two should get back to school!" Standing on his hind legs, the Yellow Calico Cat clapped his front paws and flicked his tail, motioning for the two young wizards to follow him. "I'm only responsible for getting you onto campus... if you get back too late and Fifth Master Ni locks you out of the dorm, that's none of my business."
Zheng Qing took out his pocket watch and glanced at it. It was already eight in the evening.
"I think we missed today's class meeting," he muttered, forcing a smile at Jiang Yu. "Is it too late to ask you for leave now?"
The witch glanced at the young scholarship student.
"Today is Saturday," she reminded him softly. "The class meeting is tomorrow evening."
The boy suddenly realized he had mixed up the days.
So much had happened in a single day that he felt disconnected from the real world. Magic could transform life and death