The Magicians

Chapter 45- Another Council Meeting

***Rose's point of view***

I woke up early on Saturday morning. I had another council meeting. Apparently a few young magicians we hadn't recruited because they were to young, and their families, had disappeared last night.

Something about a bad history with Castor, bad meaning the parents had fought Castor when they were younger.

Jackson was up and moving now, and he'd said Mr. Blackwood is letting him back on the council because they'd lost quite a few members to Castor, and they could use a great fighter and senior camper on the council.

What was even better was that Mr. Blackwood was letting me stay on the council. He said that obviously, I was going to play a big roll in this whole endeavor, and Castor wanted me dead more than anyone, so I should be part of the decision making.

I brushed my hair out and put it into a braid. I stared at my reflection. I looked like a stranger.

I had circles under my eyes from lack of sleep that seemed to get darker every day. I covered it up with foundation powder, but I was worried one day I would look like a raccoon.

Other than that, my skin was tanning from being out in the sun, my hair was growing unnaturally long, and I constantly felt unfocused and shaky. I took a deep breath a brushed foundation the color of my skin under my eyes. I had taken it from my house on my birthday.

When I was done, I closed my eyes, took a few deep breaths, and walked out of the bathroom. I walked into my mini kitchen and made some toast.

Yum.

I munched on my toast and waited for Jackson. I told him to meet me here at 7:30 and we could go to the council meeting together.

At 7:32 on the dot, someone knocked on the cabin door. I opened it to find Jackson leaning against the door frame, smirking. I shook my head at him. "You're two minutes late. Now you don't get the pleasure of walking me to the meeting.

I pushed past him and closed the door behind me as I walked incredibly slow so Jackson could catch up to me. "Sorry. Alex yanked me back and took some blood. I can show you my arm..." Jackson said, ruining my joke.

"No! Oh, God, NO!" I yelled as Jackson twisted his arm to show me the inside of his elbow. I put my hands over my eyes. I peeked through my fingertips and saw nothing if his arm.

Jackson burst out laughing, but winced in the process. He held his stomach and frowned. "Just kidding. That was the wrong arm. I hope it stops hurting to laugh." He mumbled.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "It'll get better. I promise." Jackson linked arms with me and and walked me up the hill to The Mansion.

Once inside, we all sat at a large polished-wood table. I'd sat in it many times now as I attended these council meeting.

There were 55 people on the council. 30 were senior campers, including Jackson, 10 younger campers, including me, and 15 adults.

We were a pretty intimidating bunch, let me say. The adults were mostly camp staff, so they were trained in combat, the senior campers are masters in combat and/or magic, and the younger campers usually excel in combat. I'm the only exception.

I am not a senior camper or adult, obviously, I don't excel at combat, through I'm pretty good, I'm okay at magic, at best, so I kind of violate the rules. Ah, well, that's how it goes.

There was already fighting going on. A young black-haired boy was fighting with a group of senior campers about how to deal with our campers dieing.

"We have to do something! We can't just let them die!" The young boy yelled. "We can't! Castor wants us to do that! Do you want to be captured too?" A older girl with bleach blonde hair and tanned skin, probably from California, screamed.

The argument went on as so, the same point being expressed on both sides. After five minutes of yelling, a young girl pushed in between the senior campers and the young boy, and told them to walk away and sit down.

The boy lingered until the seniors sat on the left side of the table. Then, the boy sat on the right side of the table, far away from the seniors. He grumbled to himself as the young girl who broke up the fight patted his shoulder.

I realized that they must be brother and sister. They both had thin, black hair, pale skin, and dark, coffee colored eyes. They were probably from China, or Japan, or another country in Asia.

Mr. Blackwood walking in and everyone silenced and played a funny game of musical chairs. I watched everyone scramble for a chair.

"Alright! We have another matter to discuss today other than that disappearance. Castor is entering campers dreams. Telling them lies, manipulating them, driving them insane." Mr. Blackwood said.

'Driving them insane'. He said it so casually. It sent shivers down my spine. A girl stood up. "We should hunt him down! Find out where all these campers are disappearing to!" She said.

I stared at the table.

"It's not that simple." A boy mumbled. The girl glared at him and sat down. "I think we should bait him. We have the Clearwater girl. Why not get him to tell us where his hide-out is?" Asked an older boy. He was probably in his late twenties.

He said 'we have the Clearwater girl' like he didn't know I was there. I stood. "I don't care. Honestly, I just want Castor dead." I said. A wave of mumbles went through the room.

Tanner stood. "I think we should send a message to Castor saying Rose will meet him, alone, outside his hide-out, and when she does, we will attack. The details will be decide later, obviously." He said, watching me the whole time.

"Fine. Just don't let Castor kill me." I said to the table. The adults talked it over. "Alright. We'll work out the details, and talk to you at a later date." I nodded.

The rest of the meeting consisted of arguments about the families disappearing. Then, an agonizing hour later, the meeting was over.