Madame Corinne's Club of Winged, Wand-Wielding, and Waterproof Teenagers

Chapter 6- Natalie

The Headmaster's office was more armory than workplace.

Three out of four of the walls were covered in swords, battle axes, daggers, nun chucks, crossbows, and maces. The remaining fourth wall, which was at the back of the Headmaster's desk chair, was a window.

Except the scene behind said window was in fact not a nice little yard in a nice little neighborhood, but what seemed to be a giant football field, and beyond that a giant lake, and beyond that a forest that stretched then to the horizon on all sides. This only cemented my guess that we weren't really in the house on Windchester Lane anymore, but somewhere else. That tiny red house must only be an entrance.

The Headmaster sat in his chair, which was the big black sort that they have in movies. A little placard on his desk read The Headmaster.

I was beginning to think this guy didn't actually have a name.

I carefully sat myself down in one of the chairs on the opposite side of his desk. His desk was covered in papers, framed photos, and teeth. Like, animal teeth, not human teeth. Hopefully. There were also three giant binders; one green, one yellow, one red, like stop lights.

The Headmaster reminded me a bit of my principal at school. I guessed he was fifty, maybe sixty, with grey hair that was almost chin length and a beard. He wore a suit, with a plain red tie. He seemed the type that was respected.

"Ah Jenna, I was just about to file away your battle records," he said. He dug around and found one of the papers, which I saw had Jenna Huber on it in bold print, and tucked it away in the yellow binder.

"Anyway," he continued, "Natalie, it is of my understanding that you happened upon some... well, let's call it sensitive information yesterday."

"I saw Jenna's wings, twice, uh, sir, and saw her and that silver-haired guy disappear the other day," I said, "And, by the way, none of that has been explained properly to me yet. So yeah."

"I see you left all the hard work to me," the Headmaster said. He sighed. "Natalie, do you believe in magic."

Well, that's a stupid question.

"Sir, no disrespect, but what kind of question is that?" I asked, "You must assume that until now my understanding of the world has been strictly scientific. And in the past twenty four hours, I have seen all sorts of things that can't be explained in any way that fits with what I've been taught in school. That's a lot to happen all at once. Do you really expect me to have an answer to that?"

"Fair enough," the Headmaster said, "I'll put it this way instead: Natalie, I know it's hard to believe, but magic is real. Madame Corinne's is a place where magical teenagers gather to learn and to have protection from... those who would wish to harm them. We have-"

"Cool, that's cool," Natalie interrupted, "I think I get all that. You're some sort of school, or club, I guess, you protect magical teenagers from evil or whatever, you guys have magic and extra limbs and all that. I'm not saying all that is easy to believe, but in a theoretical sense I understand enough. Here's the thing, though. It was made very clear to me yesterday that regularly I would not be able to have found out about this. So how the heck did I?"

I could tell Jenna was trying not to giggle at that. I got the sense that the Headmaster was not used to being spoken to so frankly.

"Ah, well," he said, looking a little flustered, "I don't really know. Um, would you mind telling me your parents names? Or grandparents?"

"My mom is Sarah Alvarez," I said, "And my grandparents are Nina and Aaron Garcia."

"Hmmm... any other close relations?" the Headmaster asked. I could tell he meant my father, or paternal grandparents, but I pretended I didn't catch that.

"Oh, no I don't think so," I said.

Jenna gave me a look, like, Gods, I'm sorry about that. I shrugged.

"Alright," the Headmaster said, "I'll look through our files, see what I can find. Until then, I suggest you take The Test."

"What, seriously?" Jenna asked, "The Test? But, but well, there's no way that she'll pass!"

The Headmaster gave her a look.

"What's 'The Test?'" I asked.

"It's an evaluation, to see if you're fit to attend classes here at Madame Corinne's," he answered, "Everyone has to take it. And if you don't pass, well, we'll just have to see..."

Eugh. Shivers crept down my spine. I did not like the way that sounded.

"Don't worry," Jenna whispered to me, "It's not that bad."

She still looked bothered. I wondered what she had meant. There's no way.

"Since there's a possibility that you'll be joining us as a student in the near future, could I have you fill this out?" The Headmaster handed me a packet, with questions like What is your address? What is your age? and What grade are you in? plus other, weirder questions like What is your magical affiliation? What level of battle training are you currently at? and How long have you been aware of your magical heritage?

"First of all, I don't know what half of these questions even mean," I said, "Second of all, how do I know you're not a scammer who wants to hack into my bank account or my social security, and third of all what is this?"

"That's an application packet to become a student here," The Headmaster said, "Jenna can help you with the questions. Also, do you really think a scammer would go to such impossible lengths just to hack into your bank account?"

"I guess that's a good point," I said, "But I don't really know if I want to become a student here. I know next to nothing about this whole place. And I'm still halfway convinced that I'm losing my mind."

The Headmaster laughed, which I thought was kind of rude.

"Only halfway?" he asked, "When Jenna first joined she bruised because of all the times she pinched herself."

I cracked half a smile.

"Although you do have a point," he relented, "This is all quite a lot to take in. Jenna can take you on a tour today, and then we can take The Test whenever you're ready, although hopefully before the end of the week, alright? We don't need to rush."

"But I-"

Jenna grabbed my hand before I could finish.

"We don't even know if you'll pass The Test," she said, "If you don't, we can just have you swear to secrecy or whatever and figure out how you saw through the cloaking yesterday, and then you'll be free to go on living as if this never happened. It shouldn't take too long."

"If I pass though?" I asked, "What'll happen then."

"Well..." she hesitated, "If you pass, I don't think you'll have much of a choice. If you really are some sort of magical, it's just a matter of time before the Monsters find you, and the only place you can be safe from that is here."

"What's a Monster?" I asked.

Jenna and the Headmaster exchanged a look.

"I'll... explain on the tour," Jenna said, "Come on."

She pulled me out of the chair.

"Thanks for seeing us, sir," she said.

"My pleasure." He nodded. It was one of those You are dismissed nods.

As we left, we exchanged smiles with the secretary.

At the doorway, Jenna jumped into the open air, and let her wings spring out behind her. She grabbed my hand and tugged me into her arms.

We dove towards the ground, and I tried not to scream.

"So, what's going to be on this tour?" I asked when we landed, trying to get my balance.

"Well," Jenna said, "I guess we can start with the combat department."