The Soul Devourer

XI

       ALYSSA

It had taken Alyssa over three hours the previous night to convince her father that she was fine, that she had been in police's custody along with some others to give an account of the events and no, she couldn't call him and no, she didn't know why the officers didn't walk her home, that she was perfectly unhurt.
None of it was the truth, of course.

Waking up, there was a moment when Alyssa wasn't sure whether the previous day's events had actually happened or were an hazy dream. She had narrowly escaped with her life, had been driven to an academy which housed magicians and had been told that she was one of them. It was too much to wrap her head around and she wasn't sure she even understood half of what the lady at the academy- Victoria- had said.
But then her eyes fell on the "summer camp" brochure Xavier had given her and she closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before getting out of bed. If magic really existed, she'd discover what she could do and she would also discover the truth of what had happened to her mother. The thought hurt, that her mother had never told her about the academy but she remembered the memory again, when they had been visiting a caravan and passed by it, and her mother had said one day she'll be ready for it. She hadn't known what she meant back then, wasn't sure of it now.

Grabbing the brochure from her bedside table, she opened the bedroom door and the smell of omelette frying drifted up the stairs. Descending down them, she discovered her father was on the sofa, his eyes trailing the words on the newspaper in front of him.

"Good morning." Alyssa said, moving towards the kitchen.

"Morning. How are you feeling?", he said, folding the newspaper in front of him.

"I'm fine!", she called back as Martha handed her a plate with two toasts and an omelette. A cup of milk waited on the table and she hurriedly gulped it down before settling in. Her father joined her a moment later, his hands cupped around a steaming cup of tea.

It was only when Alyssa had finished one entire toast before realising her father had been watching her the entire time. She groaned and raised her gaze to meet his. "Dad, stop looking at me like I'm going to break any moment. I told you I'm fine. I got lucky last night."

He took a deep breath and nodded, taking a sip of his tea and immediately cringing as it burned his tongue. Alyssa laughed and her father grinned at her as footsteps sounded on the staircase.

"Actually dad, I wanted you to sign this slip before you leave for work. It's for the summer camp. Lots of activities and physical exercises", she said sliding the brochure across to him.

"Summer camp?" He echoed, taking out his glasses from the front pocket of his shirt.

"Al doing physical exercise, now that's a new one". Her brother's voice sounded from the entry way a moment before he appeared. Sam and her looked nothing alike, save for their hair colour which was dark, dark brown, almost black. His eyes were light brown and he was over six feet, taller than even their dad.

"Shut up, you're supposed to encourage me as an older brother."

Sam took the plate Martha handed him, giving her his widest smile so she placed another omelette on his plate and flopped in the chair next to Alyssa.
"Oh no, I'm being very encouraging. You should definitely do it."

"I'm not sure, aren't the hours too long? And you would only have sundays off. Is it safe?", my dad said, taking off the glasses from his nose.