All For Not

Page 46

Waking up was the worst thing I could have ever done...

"To think the Addams would use such archaic magic, all for the sake of keeping you hidden. What were they thinking..." I felt frozen as the blonde woman sat at her desk, her head against her hands. I was no longer cold but, ashamed and embarrassed, fearful even, something that made me wish I was still cold instead., I had never felt this before it was something entirely new to me. Maybe I had never been completely proud of myself and everything I have done but I was never ashamed of what I was, but this, now, the eyes on me, the panic. The pain and aggravation, all of it piled together made me wish I had never been born or at least sent to Nevermore, I felt weak in every sense of the word, the one thing I never was, "after the race I should have known..."

She stood up behind her desk as I finally pulled up my legs, curling in on myself in the chair and pulling the blanket tighter around me, my wings stretching out and slumping against the chair and the floor as I looked down at the ground over the top of my knees, "does anyone know where Wednesday is?" I looked up at the woman as she turned around and I shook my head, Xavier speaking up as he stood next to my side, "she left right before Miss Thornehill, haven't seen her since."

The phone rang suddenly just as Enid burst through the door in a rush with an arm full of clothes. She froze before closing the door as she looked back at the rest of us, Principal Weems sighed answering the ringing phone on her desk as Enid paced towards me in quick long strides, "here," she whispered as Weems turned back towards the windows speaking through the phone, "are you okay, is she okay?" Her question was directed to me before she looked between the boys spaced out around my chair and the empty one that had been pulled before my own, "how long have you been wearing this?"

"It was a gift I received when I turned six..." Weems nodded aggravatedly before listening to her phone as my eyes shifted to Enid. "Does anything hurt?" I swallowed, nodding my head, "I'll be fine..." She lifted her hands up before placing the pile of clothes on the side table adjusted to sit next to my chair. I nodded side eyeing the boys in the room next to us, completely oblivious to my situation as I leaned up clutching the blanket to my chest with a frantic grip. My wing lifted higher so I could reach under and grab the clothes but when I eyed the wolf before me my eyes shot down to her hand, "did I burn you?"

She paused, glancing at the others as I looked at the reddened patch of skin, "yeah, but it's okay, I mean you didn't mean to right..." She fiddled with her hands looking down at them before showing me her injured palm as her words rushed out and her cheeks flushed, "see, it's not that bad, a few days tops and I'll be..." she swallowed, her smile dropping as I reached a hand up to wipe at my eyes, "are you crying?"

Licking my teeth I stayed quiet before leaning forward and reaching out towards her, wiping my hand against her palm as she sat frozen wanting to jerk away in confusion. The tears dried against my fingers as I pulled away, but the drops that smeared into her skin absorbed into it, the burn crackling and smoothing out as her hand healed.

"Thanks," she looked entranced at the site of where the wound used to be and all I could do was swallow and nod before leaning back against the seat again just as Mr. Kinnings came back into the room. With the reflex of shock, my head turned to look behind me and my wings crossed over my legs, "alright then," the click sounded and signaled that the phone was set down, "Mr. Kinnings, I assume everyone is back in their rooms," he nodded in his response before looking over to me as I turned back around, "have her parents answered yet?"

"No, it seems maybe it's too late for a phone call or maybe they're just too absorbed with themselves..." She sighed and I didn't hear another word from the elemental teacher, "alright," Weems walked around her desk before facing everyone present and speaking in a strict and firm tone, "I want to make this very clear to all of you, this does not leave this room and this does not leave your mouths. If anyone were to find out about this, not only will she be in danger but the rest of us could very well be put in harm's way as well. This is a very sensitive case..."

"But why? What even is she?" I swallowed at the voice of Ajax, Weems looking down at the floor thinking about her response before she looked up and peered at the lot of us, "Miss Feathertail is a very rare creature, one thought to be extinct... I'm afraid the situation is very dire because of this as there are not many left of her kind, in fact when I was a student here at Nevermore," I looked up watching her intently as she leaned back against her desk, "there were only a few families left, without a doubt even fewer now and most, if not all have become used to surviving by hiding, from not only humans but other creatures such as those in this very school."

"Phoenixes are amongst the rarest beings to grace this planet and I'm sure you've each heard of them in your own ways whether from rumors and myths or fairy tales as mere children but this isn't just a children's story, this is a very dangerous situation for many reasons. And if I find out any of you let it slip then your family will be blacklisted from Nevermore and you will be removed from this school, permanently and publicly..."

My peers were quiet until Mr. Kinnings knocked them from their minds, "not only will your reputation be in ruins but so will your family's reputation," Enid swallowed, looking up at me before looking back up at our principal, "does everyone understand?" A resounding chorus of 'yes' rang through the room as Weems nodded in response, "good..."

"I guess that explains the whole poisonous food thing..." I didn't look at anyone besides Enid who looked like she was contemplating on grabbing onto me but was maybe scared of being burned, "that necklace, was it hurting her?"

"I'm afraid so, but unlike your amulet, hers doesn't protect people from allure. Think of it like a frozen bottle, slowly filling with boiling water, but the glass doesn't shatter from the heat and so it keeps filling up until it's unable to hold any more water. The main problem however is even though it's full it keeps filling up until the glass finally stretches like wires. Once it's at its limit the wires snap and everything explodes and shatters. The only difference to this analogie is there is no water, only fire..."

"Wait a minute, so you're telling us that she," Ajax in his shocked mind pointed at me with his mouth open, "is some kind of mythological pigeon that shoots fire."

"Who in hell told you that?"

"I, I don't know. I'm pretty high man..." Weems could only sigh before putting her face in her hands as I sat there blinking.