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I understood now, why despite what had happened today, I felt better than I had in ages. Years and years of that pent-up energy had finally broken free. That crushing hand on my heart could finally unclench.
“It’s ok Conrad. We will figure this out.” I gave him a weak smile. I looked at Meredith, understanding how much they were sacrificing by trying to help me. Amon’s cut emerald gaze flashing through my mind. I shivered. Conrad squeezed my hand and gave me a half-hearted smile of his own. I stood up.
“Ok. Enough worrying about things we can’t change,” I stated, determination settled in my chest. “That…thing touched me. So what? I’m supposed to be powerful, right? If I learn how to control it, then maybe we can just put this all to bed.” Meredith smiled at me.
“I could not have put it more eloquently myself,” She stated. I wasn’t sure if she was poking fun at me or being completely serious. Maybe both.
I looked at the two of them and the ferocious part of me that lived in my chest growled. I had thought that all of the fights I had gotten into had made me a bad person, now suddenly they made me feel like a survivor. I hadn’t sought those kids out and ruthlessly attacked them. They had always been the ones to start it. This didn’t feel any different. If the daemon world wanted to pick a fight with me, I would make sure I was ready.
Just then, someone unlocked the front door and I, of course, was the only one that jumped. Meredith turned her glittering gaze towards me and smiled. “Welcome to the Board, Raven.” She said before gesturing to the door that was opening down the hall and through the foyer. “I believe you’ve already met my father, Walter?”
I turned to look at the front door and watched as Mr. Abbey, my principal, entered the house.
13
“Hello Raven, I thought I might find you here.” Mr. Abbey said amicably as he hung up his bowler and shrugged out of his tweed jacket. He stepped out of his brown leather loafers and made his way to the kitchen. I stared at his socked feet, slightly weirded out that my principal wasn’t wearing shoes. I don’t know why I felt like the man slept in his three-piece tweed suit.
“Um, hey sir.” I muttered. The pieces fell together smoothly in my head. Conrad had mentioned that Meredith’s father had suspected for some time that I was the one they were looking for. Here was the man in question. I had been in and out of his office since I had transferred to St. Bernadette’s. My previous school had finally had enough of my…unpredictable behavior and had kicked me out. It suddenly made sense why St. Bernadette’s was the only school that would take me in. Mr. Abbey must have known from the beginning.
“Did yuh take care of di…mess?” Conrad asked. His polite avoidance from mentioning my avian massacre was appreciated.
Mr. Abbey settled heavily into one of the mismatched chairs around the scrubbed wooden table and nodded curtly.
“Yes, the birds have been cleared up.” He took off his spectacles and polished them on a handkerchief that appeared as if from nowhere, before turning his gaze to me. “I have also warded your home, Raven. It should be safe for you to return this evening.”
I glanced at the clock, it was now 3:30. Clair and Jeremy would be returning home shortly. I wondered how I would be able to keep what had happened to me from them. At least there wouldn’t be a tiny graveyard waiting to greet them. I glanced over at Mr. Abbey.
“Thank you.” I whispered. He smiled at me kindly.
“Not at all Raven. It’s the least I could do. I must apologize for not bringing you to light sooner. There was no way I could be sure until your… demonstration this afternoon. I didn’t want to bring you into our world unless it was absolutely necessary.”
I knew why without him saying it out loud. Once you learn that the monsters under your bed are real, there isn’t really any coming back from that.
“I understand,” I said blandly. Though it was frustrating to know that all those weeks in anger management was time I could have spent learning to manage my aura instead. Mr. Abbey chuckled at my unspoken thoughts.
“Ah yes. A fruitless but necessary endeavor.” He said, referring to the classes I had been forced to attend. His eyes twinkled and he returned his spectacles to his nose. They were just as perfectly round as the rest of him. His large middle and rotund jolly face made him look like a beardless Santa Claus. It was hard to be mad at him for too long.
“You don’t seem so shocked to see me.” He pointed out as he accepted a steaming cup of tea from Meredith, who smiled at him fondly. I snorted.
“Your grand entrance was far from the most shocking thing that has happened to me today.” I responded, leaning against the counter. Conrad returned the seat I had occupied earlier to its rightful place at the table. “I somewhat suspected it when Meredith introduced herself at the door,” I admitted. ‘Mr. Abbey nodded.
“You’ve always been brighter than most.” He said thoughtfully, taking a sip from his tea. “Have you put any thought yet into how you would like to proceed?”
Truthfully, I hadn’t had much time to process everything, but I already knew there weren’t many options, other than dealing with it upfront. I mean, I could always curl into a little ball and have a panic attack. But realistically, that wouldn’t help anyone. Least of all myself.
“It is what it is,” I said, surveying the small group of magick folk around me. “Before anything else happens, I need to learn how to control this thing inside of me. What happened today can never happen again. If Jeremy and Clair had been home…” I shuddered at the thought. If they didn’t die from that blast of power, they might have been seriously hurt. I refused to be responsible for that. Mr. Abbey seemed to understand and nodded.
“That is a wise choice, Raven. Your situation is unfortunate. Young witches are taught how to use their magick responsibly from a young age. I believe even daemons follow a similar practice when they raise their young. Early education minimizes casualties.” He met my gaze, his face serious. It didn’t go unnoticed that he said minimized casualties, and not that it prevents them entirely. “As it is, you have not had the luxury of a teacher in these matters. If you will accept our help, we can begin your training as early as tomorrow.”
“You would be able to train me?” I asked doubtfully, “Even though I’m not like you?” Sitting in this bright, scrubbed kitchen, I felt like my power came from somewhere else. Somewhere dirtier, darker. Conrad’s clean ocean smell and Meredith’s warm gold and green aura were a far cry from the dark shadows that welled up in my chest. I didn’t have to be trained to know that they were different kinds of magick. Abbey seemed to mull this over for a moment before answering.
“It is true that you will perhaps need someone of your own kind to act as a mentor at some point. There are depths to your power that even our oldest spells will not be able to make sense of. However, for the basics, I am sure we will be more than adequate.”
He smiled then, and the kitchen suddenly felt brighter. “We can figure out the rest as we go along.”
At his words, I almost felt like laughing at the ridiculous thought of a witch being able to teach a daemon how to manage the shadows. I jumped as this aggressive notion tore through my mind. It wasn’t mine. That thought did not belong to me. I glanced around at the room, panicked, but not one of the witches in the kitchen, for once, had seemed to hear what was going on in my head. Weird.
“We will begin training in the morning. Conrad, I trust you will be able to pick Miss Fisher up. Class will begin at 8:00 am sharp.” Mr. Abbey stated, falling back into his role as principal as if it were a second skin. Conrad smiled that easy smile of his.
