“I was pretty amazing.” Yaritza smiled big and bright, much like I’d grown used to over the last few years.
It was a spectacular sight.
Itdidn’t take long for the Global Guild to respond in waves, properly detain Winston Cobalt, and remove him from the area. Their first responders tended to citizens, cleaned up the area, and dealt with the bulk of the incident before most reporters arrived.
I followed Yaritza, Jamius, and Melanie to the hospital, where they were seen alongside their enchanter mentor, Santos Ortiz. Thankfully, most of their injuries were superficial.
After telepathically eavesdropping on their well-being, I responded to Milo’s text and made my way to the Global Guild detainment facility. They didn’t have an official location of operation, so this prison-like building remained cloaked from unwanted eyes and hidden from all forms of magic. Since the location constantly shifted, I had to follow a specialized GPS coordinate that’d undoubtedly expire within twenty-four hours as they continued moving throughout the city.
Much to my surprise, Gladiatrix was there with her interns. That much I expected. However, I didn’t think she’d be so brazen as to hold a press conference a mere hundred feet from the cloaked facility.
Still, with a name as renowned as hers, she couldn’t simply drop back into Chicago without some official statement. The press demanded answers, and as the fourth-highest-ranked witch in the world, it was her job to steer them to an appropriate response that didn’t compromise the case.
“Does your return indicate a return of the Celestial Coven to Chicago?”
“Why weren’t you at the incident today?”
“Did King Liberty reveal his identity to you?”
“Is this strike the first of many to come?”
“Are the rumors true about your involvement with King Liberty?”
“Will other high-ranking Global Guild members be arriving in Chicago?”
“How does the Global Guild intend to secure the situation?”
“What inspired you to become an enchanter mentor?”
“Will you be publicly introducing your interns?”
“Can they handle the expectations required of a Global Guild witch?”
Carter maintained a soft smile and positive demeanor. According to his surface thoughts, Gladiatrix had prepared all her interns for the bombardment of questions she usually received during press conferences. Carter sat between Gladiatrix’s other two interns. Vik’s face remained red the entire time, despite the calming affirmations they continued repeating in their head over and over. It didn’t matter. A crowd this big made them anxious.
Name: Vik Smythe
Branch: Arcane (Copycat)
Personally, I hoped working with someone like Gladiatrix would help Vik with their anxiety.
Sitting on Carter’s other side was a young woman with a dark olive complexion. I’d never had her in any of my classes. Honestly, I didn’t know much about Zoya other than the glimmer of details that sat on Carter’s surface thoughts. She was apparently an active member of the Gemini Pride Club.
Name: Zoya Khan
Branch: Alteration (Speed)
She probably possessed the closest branch to Gladiatrix, even if her physical power was limited to speed and reflex.
“Do you think it’s a valuable use of Global Guild time and resources to take on interns?” asked Clint Johnson, a reporter from everyone’s favorite conservative station who only believed in the value of magic when certain witches carried the torch.
Gladiatrix wasn’t one of the witches this reporter approved of, and keeping his heinous surface thoughts out of my head was no easy task.
“Global Guild witches take on acolytes all the time,” Gladiatrix responded. “It’s important to train the next generation of enchanters. And as someone who was never afforded an internship during my time at an academy, I take the privilege of mentoring quite seriously.”
Geez. I didn’t realize there were academies out there that flagrantly disregarded their obligations and sent studentsinto the industry without proper training. It was even more impressive to see how far Gladiatrix had risen independently.
“A follow-up, if you’ll indulge me,” Johnson said, diving right into his next question without missing a beat. “Did you choose your interns specifically because they’re trans?”
