Legacies (Rewritten) S1

Chapter 24: Do I?

Dr. Saltzman stared at Hope’s not closed door, the ghost of her voice haunted his mind. She was right. Plain and simple. Fear rose in his heart, clawing at his conscience. He didn’t want her to be, but she is. 

With heavy footsteps, he strutted towards the Mess Hall. Young students, innocent students enter his field of vision and a question emerges from his mind.

Do I?

A sigh escaped his trembling lips, what choice did he have?

“Students! Gather round!” His voice boomed around the mahogany walls, hushing the rest as all attention turned to him. ‘Everything is fine’ his mind urges him to tell the comforting lie, but when his gaze met Hope’s cold stare, the ugly realization settled in the pits of his human morals. “If you’d asked me a week ago. I would have told you that I knew the difference between myth and fact.”

He took a deep breath because there was no going back from this.

“I would have said that supernaturals were limited within the three factions this school caters to. That folklore and fairytales were just…stories.” His eyes swept across the vastly quiet room, “But I can no longer say or believe that to be true. A few days ago, we were confronted by the existence…of a dragon.”

The students began to whisper among each other, some doubting his words, others were as shocked as he and Hope did. “And today, our campus was terrorized by a Gargoyle come to life.” His eyes finally landed on his two daughters, “Some of us were forced to fight, and we won…this time…for the second time. But I fear that a third time might not be a charm.”

Dr. Saltzman could see the fear projected amongst the students’ eyes, fighting everything in him to speak of anything comforting, because it would mean that he would have to lie. “From what we’ve observed, they are drawn to a knife that went missing earlier this week. Why?” He took a deep breath, “We don’t know. But, for whatever reason, they consider us to be the enemy. Like we are standing in their way. That we’re the villains because we won’t give them what they want. We don’t even know why they want it, but we will get to the bottom of this.” 

He could see a question form within them, “I can’t say for sure what their intentions are, and with how vicious they are willing to go just to reach it, I don’t think surrendering it would be in our best interest. I am telling you this, not to scare you, but to ask you. To look out for each other. To protect each other. It’s what we need the most right now.”

As he spoke, brown eyes wandered to meet blue. Nothing was said, but Hope understood what Josie’s smile meant. 

‘Thank you’

‘No problem’ Hope smiled back.

Both girls turned back to Dr. Saltzman, unaware of another pair of eyes drowning in self inflicted jealousy.

The students, even Hope, began applauding their Headmaster. “Well, um, you are all dismissed. Lights out in 20 minutes.” The students burst into aw’s and yawns as the moon shined beautifully. Everyone is blissfully ignorant of the chaos stirred just outside their gates.

“Where the fuck is he?!” Dana groaned for an unknown time, resisting the urge to slam her hand on the steering wheel of her car. She turned to her ‘best friend’ on th passengers seat, “Call you fucking boyfriend to get his ass here with the spray paint. The Salvatore School isn’t gonna fuck itself.”

“Connor said he’d be here.”

“Like a fucking hour ago! Call him!”

“No! I don’t wanna come across as needy!”