Staying Under

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

I felt a déjà vu from the evening when I'd sat in front of Principal Edgerton. She had dismissed Carter and Luke—though I was confused she let Luke go without a punishment for roaming in the woods at night. She was still in her nightdress and I still looked like I had been taking a tumble in the woods.

"So what are you going to do now?" I asked the principal. "Lock me up? I'm a menace to society. A murderer—"

"Riley," she said. It was the second time she had called me by my first name today. Or maybe it didn't count because it was past midnight. "I've always known what really happened to that sick bastard."

Nothing else could have made my head snap up any faster. I also couldn't believe Principal Edgerton had just said 'bastard'. "What?"

"You don't really think we didn't run a thorough investigation on your case before we took you to the academy? I could sense the amount of magic residing in you when I first met you. We did research and it was obvious what you had gone through and what you did to him. I think your action was justifiable."

Now I was definitely confused. "Then why—"

"I was angry, Miss Williams, because you didn't tell us that the black magician had been in contact with you. I can't protect my students if I don't even know the heights of danger they're facing. The black magician's particular interest in you isn't a small thing, Miss Williams." She exhaled, looking very tired all of sudden and every year of her age. I sometimes forgot how old she really was.

"I'm sorry." Something she said clicked. "You said you've always known about my...potential in black magic. Is that why the Council suspected me? They knew a black magician killed Mr. Hollister and they thought it was me, didn't they?"

"What you did when you were a child didn't make you a black magician, Miss Williams—I want you to understand that. A black magician took magic that wasn't his to become stronger—this process required a great deal of raw magic to begin with, which you possess, but as long as you haven't stolen magic, you're not a black magician."

"Stealing magic, like what he did to Mr. Hollister and my parents?"

The principal nodded. "The sacrifice spell had been forbidden for centuries. It could only be performed by a very strong raw magic." She exhaled again. "A few weeks ago, a Council member suddenly convulsed in the middle of a meeting and spoke in a voice that wasn't his. Possession of tongue was a forbidden form of magic that couldn't be done with spells—only raw magic. The voice sent a message, proclaiming to be the Dark Prince who had finally come back to take his rightful place in the magical monarchy that existed before the Council. He challenged everyone in the Council to step down and be his 'subjects'.

"When they refused, he said that they would regret it in the following month and there would be no place safe from him, not even our treasured academies. It didn't take us long to figure out what he meant—a black magician would hunt in October, the weeks prior to Samhain, where he could increase his power and stay young at the same time. That was how we knew to tighten our security. " She looked at me in the eye. "We just never knew why he targeted Asphodel in particular, but now we do. He wants you."

What a discomforting thought. "What's Samhain?"

"It's a time when all magic in nature is the strongest—including our raw magic, and the magic that opened small doors to another dimensions." Principal Edgerton leaned back. "But the thing is, Miss Williams, we doubted that this black magician is the real dark prince told from stories a century ago. At first, we thought he's only an impersonator who practiced black magic."