Twilit Mage

Chapter 56: Much to Talk About

Mercury stared at her mother. Then at her father. Then back at her mother, trying to comprehend what had happened.

Were they an illusion? They shouldn't be here. Her mother was an exile, banished from this place, and her father...well, her father was a Light Mage. How were they even allowed into the building? How had they managed to get here? And how on earth did they seem to know what had happened to her?

And then it hit her. Her parents were here. They had come to see her. After all these weeks of being apart, all these weeks of only communicating over the phone and the occasional Skype call, they were here. Right in front of her where they had always been.

A laugh escaped her lips, but it came out choked, quickly turning into a sob as she forgot about her confusion, forgot about everything and simply threw herself at them both, trying to hug both her parents at once. All her defenses came down, and she was laughing and crying and clinging to them for dear life, feeling too much like a lost child who had finally found the way home.

"I'm so happy you're here," she said in between her sobs. "I thought I'd never get to see you again...I thought...I thought..."

"Shh." Her mother's hand rubbed circles over her back, warm and calm and comforting. "It's okay now. You survived, and that's what's important."

Mercury tried to answer, but she was crying too hard. She still couldn't believe they were here. She couldn't believe she was with them when she had come so close to dying, so impossibly close that her parents had come here for her because they had been that worried. She...had made her parents worry. Way too much. She had put her life on the line and been reckless and almost been killed and...

She had been so stupid.

"I'm sorry," she rasped out in between sobs and sniffles, furiously wiping her eyes. "I should never have gone out there...and fought the gorgon...and...and everything...I don't know what I was thinking...um...I'll never...ever..."

Her father sighed and pulled her closer. "You're just like your mom," he said. "Always being reckless and coming out fine."

"We heard the story," her mother added. "Normally I'd be mad at you, but I really can't tell you I wouldn't have done the same. Or that you didn't do the right thing. If it hadn't been for you and your friend, your classmate would've died."

Mercury sniffled.

"You did something heroic," her father said, "but please don't ever do something this risky again. I can't handle two of you always running headlong into certain death."

"Hey, I don't always run headlong into certain death!" her mother protested from the side. "Sometimes I walk. Or jump. Or dance."

All three of them laughed.

"Honestly though," her mother continued at last, "if you can find a less dangerous way to save someone, use it. I'd say you could've gone to look for the teachers this time, but..." Her voice clouded over. "It wouldn't have helped. They were held up."

Mercury pulled away to stare at her in disbelief. "What?"

"Sadly, that's true," Principal Blake remarked from where he had taken his seat at his desk. "When they were about to head for the library and rescue your poor classmate, Hecate and the others were attacked by something barely visible and thought the monster was there. It was a fake, but it's still the reason why it took Mr. Warden so long to convince them the gorgon was real."

A fake...Mercury shuddered. This explained everything. The teachers' absence, Raoul's delay...and she had a suspicion what might have caused it all.