Just Like Fire | J. Saltzman - Legacies [2]

T H R E E

As Stella and Ms. Marshall sneak down into the basement, a low growl echoes off of the concrete walls. "Damn," Stella mutters. "Saltzman must have really pissed it off." They quickly get down the stairs as a loud bang sounds.

Stella's eyes widen at the sight of the troll, large and green and smelly as it growls at Alaric, who is now sprawled over the floor. She rolls her blue jar across the ground, letting instep beside the monster's disgusting toenail.

"Sol." She says, pushing her hands out. "Cover your eyes!" She shouts as she covers her face. Light explodes around the creature as it cries out in pain, stumbling away from the mortals.

"Hope!" Alaric yells, throwing an arrow to the woman.

She holds her hand up, stopping the arrow in the air. Throwing her hand towards the creature, it flies straight into its chest.

It shouts in pain, stumbling backward yet again before falling flat on its back. Ms. Marshall and Stella step out of their hiding spot, both walking towards the creature.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and agree with your troll theory," Alaric says as he gets to his feet.

Stella shrugs. "Well, it's nocturnal, so I thought I'd make some artificial sunlight. Also, turns out, our new teacher's a witch."

"Look, I am just here to kill this monster," Ms. Marshall says. "Then I'll be on my way before this gets any more complicated."

Stella scoffs, turning back to look at them. The girl standing behind the teachers makes Stella say, "Don't think that's possible."

"What is that?" Maya asks, her eyes wide as she glances between the group of monster hunters and the actual monster.

"Sorry, Maya," Stella grins. "Your day just got a whole lot worse."

"Stella, enough," Alaric snaps. "How about we all go up to my office, and we'll get this all sorted out, hmm?"

Stella swings her arm around Maya's shoulders. "Don't worry. It's just a monster. I mean, it's dead, so it can't hurt you."

Maya shakes her head. "What?"

With a sigh, Stella just walks Maya to Alaric's office with him and Ms. Marshall right behind them. "Everything will be fine, new friend," Stella says as she sits in the office. "I'm sure MG will be here in like three minutes, and we can go back to just girl talk instead of monster talk."

"What?"

Stella shakes her head. "Never mind. Invisique." She disappears from view.

Maya gasps. "Where'd she go?" She whispers.

"She's being dramatic," Ms. Marshal mutters. "You want to come out now?" Stella does not respond. "Fine. Be that way."

Alaric rolls his eyes as MG walks in, his backpack clinging to his body. "Hey, Dr. S!" He greets. "Who needs to forget?" Alaric points to a clearly terrified Maya. "Hey, no need to be scared." He looks into her eyes. "The sound was just a busted water pipe. And then, Dr. Saltzman—"

"Principal Saltzman," Alaric says.

"My bad. Principal Saltzman turned the water off and took care of everything."

"Wow," Maya says. "Crazy first day, huh?"

With a sigh, Alaric says, "Great. You can head back to class now."

As Maya walks out of the office, MG turns to Ms. Marshall. "Don't even think about it," she says, holding up her hand and narrowing her eyes.

MG glances back at Alaric. "Hey, if he trusts you, so do I. By the way, I don't usually do this. I'm not trying to take anyone's agency or anything, you know?" She nods with a small smile on her face. "I gotta jet. I got a study date with some...someone." MG's eyes widen as he looks at Alaric. "It could—it could be anyone, really."

"Well, thanks for getting here so quickly. I appreciate it," Alaric says as a soft giggle echoes in the room.

"Any time," MG replies. "You're...You'll always be my headmaster." With a final smile, he walks out of the office, closing the door behind him.

Stella reappears in her seat. "So, why aren't you headmaster anymore?" She asks as she twirls a strand of hair between her fingers.

"It's a long story," he says with a chuckle.

The teacher pushes off of the desk. "I'll be back once school lets out so we can clean up what's probably a dead troll."

Alaric frowns. "You're really not fazed by any of this, are you?"

Her eyes widen. "I-I mean, I just think that the legend of Malivore and the scary black pit, it just makes a lot of sense, I guess." She squeezes her hands into fists, ignoring as Stella glances down. "I'm really glad to hear that it stopped. I'm sorry that it's happening again."

"It's not your fault." Ms. Marshall looks down. "Now that I know your cover story is a lie, I'm assuming your references aren't real." She nods. "The school I used to work at, you'd be welcome there."

She chuckles. "Yeah, that sounds amazing. But I'm just passing through." She starts to walk towards the door. Stella watches her, narrowing her eyes.

"Hey, look," Alaric says. "I don't really have access to that school's resources anymore, and I'm trying to give my daughters some space." Stella glances back at him. "But if these monster attacks are starting up again, I could use the backup. You know, I don't really have anyone else."

"So sad," Stella mutters, low enough for Alaric to miss but enough to make Ms. Marshall send her a look.

"I work better alone."

As the teacher walks out of the room, Stella asks, "What's her first name?"

Alaric frowns. "Why do you ask?"

"Just..." She shrugs. "What is it?"

"Hope Marshall," he says.

Stella hums as she looks back at the door. "Interesting. Hope."

"Look, I've been meaning to ask you—"

"Yeah, yeah," Stella waves a hand as she steps towards the door. "We'll talk later. Let me know how monster clean up goes."

Sort of a short chapter, but important. Thoughts?

Hope you enjoyed!

-L