While living peacefully with her beloved father, Lili Mause sees her life turned upside down. A man comes to fetch her to take her to the School of Bermuda, where she will learn magic. Lili proves to be a very talented witch and a truly extraordinar...
As he had been invited to do, Karel stepped forward, taking his place on his knees on the floor, facing the alphas.
"I am here, as you requested," he announced. "What do you want?"
"You ask us?" Jehel grumbled, his grimace not at all matching his angelic face. "Mistakes keep happening as if they were intentional!"
"Silence, Jehel," the one-armed cut in.
Karel had to use all his self-control not to throw himself at the bratty kid. At only fifteen years old, he assumed that superior attitude solely because he was an alpha, but he was still just an arrogant child.
"Karel," Niheel continued, "you are not to blame for marrying a witch; many of us have been deceived. But I would like to remind you that you begged us not to kill your daughter in case she turned out to be one too, because you were convinced she wouldn't be. What is the result now? She is one of those soulless monsters. Even worse, you trained her to become a hunter, which makes her our equal in close combat."
"That is simply inexcusable," the teenager continued. "If I had been an alpha at that time, I would have refused! A hunter who shows mercy cannot be a good hunter!"
"But you were not an alpha," Hethael cut in. "And let's not forget that Karel is twice as successful as you, Jehel, so you can't claim he is a bad hunter."
"I am searching for her," Karel said then, darkly. "I fully intend to kill her."
"I have no doubt about that. You will be the first one sent when we gain access to the Bermuda School; you will lead the hunters."
"Have you found a way to break the protection?"
"No, but it won't be long; our undercover agent there is working on it."
"Him? You must be joking! He's been there for twenty-three years!"
"The first nine years, he couldn't afford to get caught;" Jehel interrupted, "he had to do nothing."
"And how does he plan to do it?"
"Thanks to your daughter."
Karel looked at the old woman who had just spoken. How? His daughter? What did she have to do with all of this?
"The agent contacted us," Jehel explained. "It seems that Lili Mause is in possession of a unique wand with unlimited power. If he manages to get hold of it, he could destroy the magical barrier and allow us to enter."
"How could my daughter have such an object?" Karel whispered. "Why her?"
"We don't know that. Nevertheless, we need to be patient. In the meantime, we would like to give you a mission."
"A simple mission," Rathel continued. "You will find orphans and train them, make them hunters as good as you. We are becoming fewer and fewer who can fight; we need a new generation of hunters. If you find children who meet our requirements but still have their parents, don't hesitate to make them orphans by blaming it on the witches; that will only make them better hunters!"
Karel nodded silently, then an idea came to him. He gave his superiors a disturbing smile.
"I think I already have a candidate."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The days and weeks went by at the Bermuda School. Snow had begun to fall at the beginning of December, and the teachers and other staff had worked hard to decorate the entire school for Christmas.
On the eve of the holidays, the students had a surprise in their summoning class. Professor Tant was behaving strangely; he even told them that he wouldn't be teaching them.
"Sir," Lili whispered. "You're not Professor Tant, are you? You're Mr. Wildi."
The man in the guise of Donatello gave her a smile before reverting to his original appearance.
"Excellent, Miss Mause! How did you guess?"
"I've seen you take his form before, and Mr. Tant doesn't wiggle and laugh at every sentence he says."
"I need to work on my imitation, then."
At these words, he burst into laughter.
"Where is my father?" Ree asked.
"Gone. You'll join him tomorrow since you're not spending the holidays here, Miss Tant, but he had an emergency."
After that, he casually sat on the desk, gesturing for silence while giving them some exercises to do. Despite everything, the students were worried. What could be so urgent that their teacher would leave school one day early? And why hadn't Ree been informed?
It was the last class of the day, and the students who were going home for the holidays were packing their bags.
"You're not going home, Izãdo?" Ree asked, placing her luggage in the common room.
"No. My father believes that as a prince, I should set an example as a diligent student and stay here to study during the holidays."
"That doesn't sound like much fun. You can come with us next year if you want."
"No, it's okay, thanks."
Ree shrugged as Lili joined them. The prince then took out two small packages from his pocket and gave them to both girls.
"Here, open them on Christmas, not before."
"For us?" Ree exclaimed. "I know a fan club that will be jealous!"
"Stop it..."
The two girls said goodbye to their friends and left the castle to board the ship that would take them to the normal world.
"Do you think my father is okay?" Ree worried. "He didn't tell me..."
"Yes, I'm sure he is. Don't worry."
Once aboard the ship, Ree and Lili settled in the dining hall, waiting for the journey to end.
The blonde even rested her head on her friend's shoulder and fell asleep, only waking up upon arrival after long hours. Outside, it was already night, but the dock where they arrived was not empty; the sorcerer parents were calmly waiting for their young students.
Among them, Ree spotted her father with undisguised joy, as well as her mother, who had lost her round belly and was holding a baby in her arms.
The little girl rushed to them to meet her baby brother, Ciel, who would celebrate his first Christmas right after his birth.
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