Be mine

Chapter 13| Miranda Johnson

Miss Hardbroom PoV

Right after Eli ran out of the lab, Ada asked me to come to her office in an hour.

She seemed to be standing something beside her.
This was not surprising either.
Just like her, I didn't want to believe that my girl had anything to do with the threat thing.
Still, we had to think in all directions to find out the truth.

I could still see the angry face of the young woman in front of me.
All of her anger was reflected in her eyes.
There was also something like remorse or guilt to be seen in her.

But what for?
What did she regret?
Could she have lied to us after all and knew the clerk?

Or was her remorse for something completely different?
Like our kiss, for example.
Did she regret having returned it?

I felt my eyes go down with tears.

Then my heart began to ache.
I clawed my long fingernails deep into the palm of my hand and hoped the pulling would soon subside.

I loved Eli so much.
Not knowing whose side she was on or what she seemed to regret drove me insane.

I hurried quickly to the shelf with the potions and reached for the small bottle that contained a blue liquid.

I opened the stopper with my teeth and took a sip of the brew.

I screwed up my face in disgust as I swallowed.
All the stimulant potions tasted like old sneakers.
Unfortunately, this cannot be avoided when brewing.

An incredible energy shot through all of my limbs.
I only felt so alive when I was around Eli.

Oh Eli.

Buckled, I marched back to my desk and tried to focus all my concentration on the remaining fourth-year essays.
Because tomorrow I wanted to give my students their corrected homework back so that they could better prepare for the upcoming potions test.
But my thoughts wandered, as always, to my student.
So the last six essays were left uncorrected and I let out a frustrated sigh.

Where was Eli on July 14th?
Something must have happened that day.
Otherwise she would not have freaked out earlier.

When the hour was up, I transferred to Ada's office.

There I saw a strange woman sitting in front of the headmistress's desk.

She had white, short, curly hair that stood out a bit wildly.

I put my hand on my forehead in greeting and bowed the traditional way.
"Well met Ada and ...", I made the last word sound like a question and hoped the woman would tell me her name.

"Miss Johnson!", Said the elderly lady at last and immediately turned to me.

I bowed again.
"Well met, Miss Johnson!", I greeted her and rose to my full height.
"Well met Hecate!", Ada's voice echoed to me.
"Well met Miss Hardbroom!", Came from her guest.

I marched elegantly to the desk and stood directly behind the chair of our headmistress.

I then folded my arms and took a closer look at Ada's guest.
Somehow I felt like I knew her.

I studied her fine features, noticed the gray eyes that stared at me watchfully and on her lips I saw the unmistakable smile that I only knew from one particular person.

In her I saw my Eli again.

Immediately my heart jumped excitedly in my chest.
I had to pull myself together strongly so as not to fixate her any longer.

Who was this woman?
Is it her mother?

I leaned down to the headmistress.
"Ada, you owe me an explanation!", I hissed in her ear.

This nodded.

"True enough," she pushed back softly.

I resumed my previous posture, clearing my throat.
"Hecate, this is Miranda Johnson! She is Eli's grandmother and an old friend of mine. "

I raised both eyebrows in surprise.
I had drawn a thin line on my lips.

I quickly recovered.

An old friend like that.
I screwed my eyelids together suspiciously.

,, How come Miss Johnson that you are honoring us with your presence tonight of all times?
Especially when your granddaughter is suspected of helping a criminal.", When I said this, I observed her every gesture extremely closely.

Completely unimpressed, she first looked at the headmistress and then at me.
"Do you want to assume something specific to me, Miss Hardbroom?", Ada's friend chopped up in an extremely friendly manner.

I pursed my lips.
,, I don't know. Do you have something to hide?", I put in coolly and stepped next to my boss's chair.

Our eyes dueled violently.

Now I realized from whom Eli inherited her aggressiveness.

The thought of her stabbed me in the chest.
I really wanted to see my little one now.

I missed her so much.

,,Stop it now, both of you!" Miss Cackle intervened and clasped her hands tightly.

"Miranda is here to pick up her granddaughter."

I gasped in shock.

,,What? But why?", I said.

"We have no other choice, Hecate," the headmistress replied sadly.

Did Ada know something I didn't know? If so, why wasn't I allowed to find out?

If Eli was no longer with me, there was no reason for me to continue teaching on the Cackle.
Without her, I felt like I was in a prison.
Locked in and abandoned by all lovers.

I fixed my eyes on the headmistress with a pleading look.

But she shook her head.
"Hecate I'm.. sorry!"

Everything in me burned.
The first tears made their way outside.

I had to get out of here!

Immediately.

Without a word, I transferred to Eli's door.

I carefully raised my hand to knock.
When I realized that I was going to be the last person who wanted to see her, I let her down again.

I leaned my head tentatively against her door and let my tears flow.

Why couldn't she stay?

Would I ever see her again?

Suddenly the door swung open and a sobbing Eli stepped out.

It hurt my soul to see her standing in front of me like this.
Was she crying because of me?
Most of all I wanted to pull my girl into my arms and tell her how much I loved her and it regretted that I had tormented her with my questions.

But I couldn't.
I was too afraid of how she would react to that.

We looked at each other in silence.

Tears trickled down my cheeks again.

"Eli." I breathed.

Xxx