Mage Academy

Unwanted Revelations

I start walking back to the tower.

Gibby is clinging on to my shoulder, and so far he hasn't said a word. 

I wrap my arms around myself. The Academy is still so quiet-- everyone must still be in the towers, mute to anything going on in the building below. 

"What happened to you?!" Gibby asks, trying to stable his voice. 

"I don't know." 

"Has that ever happened to you before?" 

"If it had, you would know about it."

"You completely changed, Mal. You were--"

"Out of control, I know." I finish for him, wrapping my arms tighter around myself. 

"If that guy wasn't there to stop you... you would've gone straight back to the dorms." 

"I KNOW, Gibby, I know. But I didn't, alright? I just want to forget it ever happened."

"But--" 

"Please," I say firmly. "Not now."

I turn the corner and see Lydia, peeking behind a door. When she spots me she takes a deep breath and hugs me. I smile weakly, keeping my arms wrapped around myself. 

"Malory... I'm so sorry," she says, looking genuinely upset. "I was coming after you, but I wasn't fast enough and I lost you." 

"It's okay. I just went to get some fresh air." 

"The other girls in the dorm were angry with Lauren, by the way. They think she was out of order; attacking you like that, out of the blue," Girls start to pour out of the doors leading up to the tower, and I see Greg directing them down a corridor. We walk over to them and join in. "I feel like this is all my fault. I was the one who made you laugh in the first place-- she should've turned against me."

"She shouldn't have turned against anyone. It's fine, really. I know she's just ignorant. She's the only one who has those views anyway." 

"Well..."

"Well?" 

Lydia looks pained. "She isn't the only one who thinks that about Fire majors... that you're all fated to be Sorcerers." I look seriously at Lydia. Sorcerers are the most evil magicians, the most ruthless. They kill people. They destroy life. Sure, some of them may be talented at Fire, but that doesn't mean that you can generalise...

Lydia sighs and carries on. "Lauren is from a very rich, very powerful family in Moonbeam, who also happen to be very traditional. They work in the Guild of Security, and think that the biggest crimes they fight have a strong relation to Fire Sorcery." 

"What I don't understand is how any of that has to do with my mother." I remember Lauren calling her a "stupid monster hunter". "My mother works for the Guild of Security. She fights those Sorcerers." 

Lydia bites her lip and looks at me. "Monster hunters don't work for the Guild. If anything, they rebel against it."

"What?!" 

"The Council don't really support monster hunters, and the Guild of Security in particular thinks that they're corrupt. They think... they think that they work with the Sorcerers." 

We make our way into a massive dining hall, and sit down on large tables. I hardly look around, my eyes are fixed on Lydia. "What do you mean? How can they work with Sorcerers? They fight monsters, including Sorcerers-- everyone knows that."

"Most people know it, but people like Lauren believe that monster hunters secretly work for dark magicians, and fool the Council into believing that their evil has been wiped out. When really, the Sorcerers just implant random monsters for the hunters to pretend to kill, while they get away."

"No," I say, shaking my head. "No. My mum isn't evil." I can't believe I even have to defend myself like this. I bow my head. This is all too much to take in. My own mother has been lying to me for my whole life? Why would she tell me she works for the Guild... if she didn't have anything to hide?

"Don't worry about it, Malory," Lydia assures. "Like I said, most people think it's just a rumour." 

I look up, at the dining hall quickly filling with magicians. Most of them smiling, chatting away, having fun. I want to be one of them. That's what I came here for. Not this. 

I try my hardest to put everything behind me, and smile.

"I wonder what's for dinner."