A Second Generation Whateley Academy Adventure
Glyph 5: Turning the Page
by
Morpheus
Part Three
Chicago Il, Saturday morning, Nov 26th 2016
It had been awhile since any of my major spells had gone off, other than a few detection runes. Many of my traps were still out there, waiting for someone to walk into them, but it seemed that nobody wanted to oblige anymore. Scorn’s people had learned to be cautious.
“Too bad,” I muttered in disappointment. After all that work, it seemed like a huge waste to have so many of my traps left unused.
Then I felt the link to one of my traps suddenly go dead. It didn’t feel like the trap had gone off, only that the link had been disconnected. A second one snapped and then a third, all within the same hallway as each other. At first, I was confused about what this meant, then it came to me.
“Someone is deactivating them,” I whispered in realization. “Someone is taking out my spells.”
I frowned at that, annoyed but not too surprised. After all, Scorn was a magic user, and I knew that he had other magic users in his organization. It had only been a matter of time before one of them realized what I was up to and began to interfere.
“And I’d been hoping it would take a lot longer,” I muttered with a sigh.
Before long, I felt my wards being disconnected as well. This left me somewhat blind as to where they were now moving, but since I felt my connections to the wards snap, each one gave me one final warning.
“They’re coming here,” I muttered, feeling wards in the nearest stairway go off. They were moving too fast to disconnect all of my wards, which meant… “Time to go boom.”
I activated my traps in the stairway, setting them off before they could be deactivated. There was another burst of magical explosions, hopefully enough to catch the magic user. However, I wasn’t about to count on that, especially when I knew there were some pretty powerful shield spells out there. A couple minutes later, my suspicions were confirmed as I felt another ward go off at the bottom of the stairs.
My enemies were on this floor again, and this time, I couldn’t count on my traps to stop them. I scowled at that, knowing that I couldn’t remain in one spot any longer. It was time to go on the move again.
When I left the area where I’d been hiding, I reached into my jacket pocket and felt the spell cards that were held there. I’d lost most of my spell cards along with my belt, but not all of them. I still had some useful ones on hand and ready to go.
For a moment, I considered activating a ‘nothing to see here’ spell, one which would help conceal me as I walked through the hallway. I quickly tossed that idea, though. That spell would keep people from paying attention to me when I was walking across campus, but it would be practically useless now. These were people who were looking for me specifically, and that kind of attention was more than this particular spell could handle. If one of them actually saw me, all this might do was make them hesitate for a second or two.
“I need a cloak of invisibility,” I grumbled. “But definitely not a ring. I don’t want the responsibility of having to drop it into a volcano.”
Several explosions echoed down the hall near me, still muffled by my sound dampening runes but not silenced entirely. That brought a smile to my lips, until I glanced down the hallway and saw a woman running right down the middle…and straight into one of my runes. It went off in a burst of heat and force, completely obliterating her. Another woman stepped into the hallway after that and also ran straight down the middle, past where the first woman had been killed until she too hit another trap.
“What the…?” I started in confusion, until the next three people turned the corner and stepped into the hallway.
Two of them were women, dressed in blue and black costumes, with brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. They looked nearly identical, though one of them seemed off somehow. The other woman looked a bit more normal, but held a staff in her hands. It was the third person who explained what was going on.
“Funhouse,” I spat out in annoyance.
Even as I said this, one of the two women took her turn and began running down the hallway, until she too hit a trap and was destroyed. They’d gotten tired of disabling my traps and had switched over to using expendable reflections to intentionally set them off instead. The last woman remained behind, beside Funhouse. She was obviously the original.
“There she is,” the woman with the staff exclaimed.
“Yes, Lapis,” Funhouse responded dryly. “I can see her for myself.”
The woman, Lapis, held out her staff and recited a quick magic spell. A moment later, she sent a ball of fire shooting down the hallway towards me. I dove around the corner and out of sight, easily avoiding the attack.
“Not good,” I muttered grimly.
I activated my built-in fire spell, causing the glossy glyph tattoos all over my body to glow a reddish orange, right before I stepped back into the hallway and sent my own ball of fire back at them. Lapis held up her staff and a glowing blue shield formed in front of them, blocking my attack. I fired several more fireballs at them, partly in hopes that I could get through her shield, and partly because I only had an extremely limited amount of time with that power, and I wanted to make use of it while I could. Once it ran out, I turned and went back down the other hallway, away from them.
A minute later, Funhouse and Lapis caught up to me, along with four more reflections of me. It was creepy seeing twisted copies of myself coming at me, but I suppose that was the purpose. Funhouse got a nice psychological weapon with his manifested minions.
“You’ve been quite troublesome,” Lapis said from where she stood back with Funhouse.
“Surrender now,” Funhouse ordered as four of his reflections came towards me. “Don’t make us hurt you any more than we have to.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “What? You don’t want to hurt me…before you kill me?”
Lapis held up her staff and recited a quick phrase, right before firing another fireball at me. I dropped to the ground to avoid the attack, though I was already rolling and coming back to my feet in a well-practiced move. It looked like BMA was turning out to be useful after all.
I would have loved to return fire, but my fire spell had already been used up and wouldn’t recharge for an hour. However, I did have other options, and I realized that my other option was MUCH better than simply throwing another fireball. With that, I flipped the mental switch that activated another of my built-in spells, causing all of my tattoos to glow with a silvery color.
“My turn,” I announced as I held up my hand, showing the glowing symbol on my palm which translated to ‘air’.
A massive blast of wind rushed down the hallway, knocking Lapis, Funhouse, and all of the reflections off their feet and sending them tumbling down the hallway. They’d come into the hallway through an intersection, and they quickly rolled past that intersection and further down the hallway, into a section that they hadn’t cleared. Traps activated and explosions went off.
I stood there for several long seconds, taking deep breaths and letting my spell fade. I’d used every bit of stored energy for that wind blast, and it had been worth it. I was still alive and free.
What I saw further down the hallway was somewhat disturbing. There were several twisted copies of me, all torn to pieces and melting away into goo. Funhouse was pretty messed up too, with limbs that were bent in the wrong way. He wasn’t moving at all, so I was pretty confident that he was dead.
Then there was Lapis, who was badly injured but not nearly as bad as Funhouse had been. She was still moving, though not much. A faint glow around her body suggested that she’d used some kind of shield spell to save herself from the full brunt of my traps, but it hadn’t been enough to save her completely. Still, she was clearly not a threat to me anymore, so I saw no reason to do anything more.
My eyes remained on the wreckage of these people as it felt wrong to look away from what I had caused, at least not until I’d taken a good look. I wanted to wretch and close my eyes, but I didn’t. With my earlier traps, I hadn’t actually had to watch them go off like I had this time. That made it harder…more personal.
“I can’t stay here anymore,” I said as I finally turned away. Too many of my traps on this floor had been used up, and there was a very good chance that Funhouse and Lapis had reported where they were going. “It’s too dangerous to stay.”
After taking a minute to settle myself, I went to the stairwell, though as I began to climb the stairs, I couldn’t help but notice the mess that had been left behind. When I’d detonated those runes, someone had been caught in them, one of Scorn’s normal guards, one without any costume or apparent powers. I merely took note of what was left of his body and continued on my way.
Chicago Il, Saturday morning, Nov 26th 2016
It was quiet. Too quiet. There were no sounds of explosions going off, nor any alerts from my wards to indicate enemy movement. I didn’t hear anyone else moving about either, and that worried me. My mom used to say that anyone with a toddler knows that silence is suspicious.
“What to do now?” I quietly asked myself, trying to keep my nerves under control.
I’d spent hours moving about the building, staying in out of the way locations that had been heavily warded and trapped. I’d even replaced a lot of the runes that had already been deactivated or set off, giving me a bit more to work with. However, that wasn’t nearly enough to protect me for much longer.
When I’d made all those spells, I’d been working with limited time and resources, which meant that they weren’t especially stable or long-lasting. It wouldn’t be long before the spells started to collapse on their own, losing whatever essence they were charged with and just fading away. Once that happened, the protections that I’d been relying on would be gone and I’d be a sitting duck, trapped in the building and waiting for them to find me.
“I need to get out of here before that happens,” I thought aloud.
There were reasons that I hadn’t actively tried to escape yet, ones beyond my desire to hurt Scorn and his people. They’d blocked one of the stairways going down with some pretty heavy magic, and from what I could tell, there was even more of it below. That left me with limited options to escape, and none of those were very good. Until now, my best option was to continue sneaking around in the building until I could find something better, but time was quickly running out on that.
My eyes moved up to the air vent in the ceiling and I smiled faintly. I’d always been more interested in reading than watching movies, but I still couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to do a John McClane. If I could crawl through the ventilation system, that would be an even cooler way for me to sneak around the building without being seen. Unfortunately, the real world didn’t work like the movies. These ventilation ducts would be far too small for someone like me to crawl through them, much less do so without making a lot of noise.
“You know,” I told myself with a weak chuckle, “if Whateley had a class on sneaking around through the ventilation system, I bet it would be taught by the Imp.”
I was running out of time and needed a way out, and the ventilation system was not an option, no matter how cool that would be. That meant I had to go with one of my other options, one that was probably my best choice, but which I’d been hesitating to do for several reasons. I could create holes through the floor and then simply drop down to the floor below. But unfortunately, I was pretty sure that the floor I couldn’t get down to otherwise was already heavily protected and that I’d likely just drop right into a trap.
“But I don’t have much other choice,” I said with a deep sigh.
I’d done what I’d wanted to do, at least in part. I’d hurt Scorn. I’d taken out a number of his people, including Funhouse, and I’d sent a message that I wasn’t easy prey. Now, it was time to escape while I still could.
But in spite of that, I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted to hurt Scorn a bit more. I wanted to hit him directly, not just his people. Was that dangerous? Yes. Was that stupid? Probably. Going after Scorn was also the main reason that I hadn’t seriously tried to escape the building yet, and I hadn’t really done that nearly as much as I wanted.
“I’m out of time,” I reminded myself with a grimace. “My traps will all break down… I only have an hour or two left before they have a clear path.”
I spent far too long debating myself over my next move. Escape or go after Scorn. One was the smart move, the one that would be best for my own immediate survival. The other would satisfy my need for revenge…and could help ensure my long term survival.
“Escape,” I finally decided. I was too tired to keep going, so I’d have to be satisfied with what I’d already done. But then, I chuckled faintly. “But there’s no reason I can’t cause some more trouble on my way out…”
It wouldn’t take me long to set up. One more spell, a more powerful trap with just as much essence as I could possibly cram into it. I could drain a whole crystal, the last stolen essence crystal that I still had, and if I could lure Scorn close enough…
“Now, I just need to find the right place,” I thought aloud. “It would have to be closer to Scorn, just to make it easier to get him there…”
With that decided, I began moving through the hallway, glancing around nervously. I knew that my wards would give me warning if someone was nearby, but some of those had been used up or destroyed, so it was best not to take them for granted. My eyes kept darting to the air vents above as I was reminded of the cool movie experience that couldn’t be.
I didn’t know where I was going to set up this final trap, but I was confident that I’d find a good spot for it. I turned down one corridor and then another, following my instincts more than anything. Without having anything else to guide me, my instincts were as good as anything else.
Eventually, I stepped into a large but empty room. It had once been a conference room, and was still clearly labeled as such by the door. Inside, I could see the stained footprint of where a large conference table had once rested, along with similar marks indicating other furniture along one wall. On one wall, there was a large window which gave a nice view at the neighboring buildings, which I imagined must have been quite a distraction for any meetings held in that room. Now, however, the room was completely empty except for a small pile of something on the far side of the floor.
“What is that?” I muttered, my curiosity drawing me closer to the small pile.
Once I was a little closer, I realized that I was staring at my own belt, the one that had been taken from me when I’d been kidnapped. My eyes widened slightly and I began to grin in delight as I took a couple more steps towards it. My gun and spell cards… That was exactly what I needed.
Then I saw something on the floor and my grin immediately vanished. I stopped where I was, practically freezing in place. There was writing on the floor, all around my belt. It had been drawn in white chalk or something similar so that it blended in with the tile and was hard to see, just like what I’d done with my own runes.
“Oh no,” I gasped with a horrible sinking feeling.
Now that I was closer, I could see the circle that had been drawn around my belt along with many of the runes. I couldn’t make out the entire spell, but I could see enough to get a basic understanding of what it did. It was a lure…subtly drawing the owner of that belt to it. Drawing ME in.
I immediately snapped around and rushed for the door as fast as I could, but it was already too late. There were glowing runes on the walls and ceiling, right where I hadn’t thought to look for anything. When I was close to the door, I came to an abrupt halt as I slammed into an invisible wall and bounced off.
My heart raced as I tried to push myself through, but it was about as useless as trying to walk through a brick wall. I was trapped, caught in a cage that I’d simply walked right into. They’d beaten me at my own game.
I quickly looked around, desperate to see if there was any weakness in the spell or a way out of the room. They’d obviously designed this trap to contain, not to kill. They still wanted to capture me, at least for the moment. That meant I still had a chance.
Before I could come up with any ideas, two figures appeared at the doorway. These were two men carrying those devisor ray guns, both of whom had those weapons pointed at me. I jumped to the side and activated one of my built-in spells, then fired a blast of fire at them. Both men jumped back out of the room and away from the door way. One of them returned fire with a blast of energy, but my fire kept him from getting a good shot.
“Don’t make me burn the whole building down,” I called out. There was a reason that I hadn’t used my fire spell much inside of the building. Specifically, I didn’t want to accidentally cause a fire while I was still trapped inside.
I knew that I didn’t have long with this spell, so I took a risk and tried to burn off a couple of the runes on the wall. Nothing. The wall didn’t even burn, which meant that some fireproofing spell had probably been added to the mix, just in case I tried something like this. My flame spell cut out a few seconds later and the two men came back into the room, their weapons pointed at me.
“Don’t move,” one of the men ordered.
“Give me an excuse,” the other man said with a cold glare and a sneer. “You killed my friends…”
“And Mister Scorn will deal with her for that,” a third voice said from outside the room.
A moment later, Robert Grace entered the room. His suit was a lot nicer than the ones that the generic rank and file goons were wearing, which was a clear reminder that he was probably a lot higher up in the organization. Like the other two, he was armed, but he was carrying a normal looking pistol rather than some fancy devisor weapon. Grace looked around, then nodded to the two men. They moved to opposite sides of the room but both kept their weapons pointed at me.
I hesitated a moment and then let out a sigh of defeat. They had me and there wasn’t much I could do. Sure, I could blast them with air and knock them around, but probably not before they shot me.
“We have her,” Grace announced in a calm voice.
“Good,” Scorn responded as he stepped into the room as well. “It seems that our preparations were not in vain.”
“It’s a good trap,” I grudgingly admitted. Putting on my metaphorical White Lady mask and acting calm helped to distract me from the terror I really felt.
“I’m pleased that you appreciate it,” Scorn responded, almost sounding amused. “It is only a pity that you’ll never be able to appreciate the more intricate work I performed on the Castle.”
“A pity,” I agreed wryly.
“And I must acknowledge your own accomplishments,” Scorn told me. “The amount of spellwork you have performed in such conditions is…impressive.”
“She killed our people,” one of the goons grumbled. “Why are you complimenting her?”
“Silence,” Grace told the man with a warning look. “Don’t interrupt Mister Scorn.”
Scorn looked at the man who’d interrupted, though I couldn’t see his expression through the mask. “Now, Aaron, there is no need to be impolite at this time, and one sincere compliment deserves another.” Then he turned his attention back to me. “You do me proud, young White Lady, and it is a shame you must die anyway.”
“So, what now?” I asked, desperately trying to think of a way out of this. Nothing good came to mind. “You take me to that ritual you made and kill me?”
“I’m afraid that will no longer work,” Scorn replied in an almost regretful tone. “While I was able to recreate the ritual, I no longer have the resources…the essence necessary to power it.”
“And that is a shame,” I said, not keeping the sarcasm out of my voice.
“It is,” Scorn agreed, acting as though he hadn’t noticed the sarcasm. “Of course, I could acquire the necessary essence, but I do not want to risk the delay. You see, mademoiselle, you have proven yourself too dangerous for that, and I find that I would prefer to deal with another potential successor than to give you another chance to cause us trouble.”
Suddenly, the sound of gunshots filled my ears even as the bullets went into my back. The impacts sent me sprawling face first onto the ground.
“About time,” Aaron said with a laugh.
I groaned in pain and terror, fully aware of the two people who’d moved closer and were now crouched down over me. One of them was Grace, who held out the gun that he’d already used to shoot me with. The other, of course, was Scorn.
“There will be no delay in your execution,” Scorn stated in a flat tone, “though I do feel obliged to witness it for myself.”
I winced at that, nearly pissing myself in fear. My eyes locked into the gun that was now being aimed at my head. I wanted to close my eyes so that I didn’t have to see it coming, but instead, I realized that I still had a chance. I wasn’t dead yet.
With a grimace and a silent prayer, I carefully reached into my coat. My arm was underneath me and largely concealed by my coat, so they couldn’t see me pull out a spell card. They couldn’t see the card that I clutched in my shaking hand, nor the fact that the symbol on it was beginning to glow.
Grace pulled the trigger, and I winced in anticipation, but nothing happened. He tried again, only to get the same results. Then he stared down at his gun, gasping in surprise as the barrel was completely covered in rust that was rapidly spreading.
I saw my opening and lashed out, kicking Grace in the leg, in a move that I’d learned in BMA. He staggered forward to catch his balance while I scrambled back to my feet. My whole back hurt and was definitely bruised, but none of the shots made it through my coat. The spells I’d put on it had actually worked.
“What did you do?” Aaron demanded as he opened fire with his energy weapon.
The blast pulsed and went wide before abruptly stopping, only halfway fired. The stray shot hit the window and melted a large hole through the glass, though when he tried firing a second time, nothing happened. His weapon, like Grace’s, was now covered with rapidly spreading rust. His companion, the other guard tried shooting me as well, but he wasn’t able to get a single shot off before the rust disabled his weapon.
A moment later, Scorn let out a howl of frustration and yelled, “MY MASK!”
Everyone turned to look at Scorn, and I was almost surprised to see that his golden mask was now covered in rust as well. Real gold didn’t rust and corrode, but it seemed that his mask did. In seconds, his mask crumbled away, revealing his face.
Scorn was an old man who looked to be in his sixties, with a large rune tattooed over most of his face. It was much like the magical tattoos that my grandmother had given all the Loyal in order to enhance their physical abilities. And while I wasn’t familiar with this particular rune, my power translated its meaning for me, not that I really needed it to. Scorn’s tattoo was a powerful magic spell, and it was radiating it’s meaning to everyone nearby. Contempt. Disdain. SCORN
I sneered in disgust at this pitiful old man, all of my other feelings towards him evaporating under the power of this spell. At that moment, I suddenly understood the curse that my grandmother had placed on Scorn, the curse that he’d desperately blocked with that enchanted mask. Grandmother had wanted to make sure that he knew exactly what she thought of him…and that everyone else nearby would also share those feelings.
“DON’T LOOK AT ME,” Scorn ordered, trying to cover his face with his hands, though that didn’t weaken the spell’s effect in the least.
“You don’t tell me what to do,” Aaron responded with a sneer of disgust.
Aaron’s companion shared a similar expression. “I can’t believe I ever listened to this…thing.”
Even Grace was caught under the spell’s influence, though he looked like he considered fighting it for a moment or two. He shook his head and gave his employer a look of pity and disgust.
Everyone was now looking at Scorn instead of me, so I took advantage of this distraction and ran across the room to snatch up my belt. One glance at the buckle revealed that my belt had been far enough back that it hadn’t been caught in the effects of my rust spell, which meant that my own gun should still be fine too. I quickly pulled out a few spell cards, but before I could use them, two more men burst into the room to see what was going on.
“Damn,” I muttered in frustration, seeing that there were too many people between me and the door. Even if I could get through the spells that Scorn had set up, I wouldn’t be able to do so before these new guards shot me.
With a muttered curse and a desperate silent prayer, I activated my spell cards and threw them towards the center of the room, right before I leapt out the window. I screamed like a little girl as I fell, though I’d already activated my built-in spell and almost immediately used a powerful gust of wind to catch me and slow my fall. A quick glance downward nearly made me piss myself, especially when I realized that my spell wouldn’t hold out long enough for me to safely reach the ground.
“Come on,” I gasped as I desperately looked for a solution.
For a brief moment, I considered using the wind to push me through another window in the same building. If I was lucky, I’d be able to get below where Scorn’s security had set up. But then, I realized that first I’d have to actually get through a window, which wouldn’t be easy while I was still falling. I was far more likely to bounce off the window than break through the glass.
Instead of trying to go back inside the building I’d just escaped from, I used the wind to push myself away from it as hard as I could. There was another building nearby, one that was much shorter, and if I was lucky, I’d be able to reach the roof. I silently prayed to any god who would listen as I used the remains of my built-in spell to fly towards my target while also slowing my fall. Then my spell abruptly ended, and I fell.
I hit my target rooftop from higher up than I would have preferred and while moving too fast. I hit hard and then both rolled and slid across the surface before finally coming to a stop. When I did, my entire body hurt like hell, far worse than it did after being shot in the back.
“Ouch,” I muttered once I was finally able to speak. It took me a good minute to get to that point. “I made it.”
For the next few minutes, I remained nearly motionless, only moving my head enough so that I could see the building that I’d just left. There was fire and smoke coming from one of the windows, the very window I’d just jumped out of. The sight made me chuckle as it confirmed that my explosive spells had gone off.
Once I was ready, I slowly sat up and checked myself over for injuries. Nothing seemed broken, just bruised and scraped. One of my hands was bleeding from where I’d torn the skin off the knuckles, and I had a similar injury on my jaw. I was pretty sure that I’d sprained a few things as well, though my regeneration was already hard at work trying to fix it all.
I staggered across the rooftop, moving slowly but still moving. When I reached the door to the stairway going down, I wasn’t surprised to find that it was locked. A quick spell card on the door made the whole thing rust away.
It didn’t take long before I encountered people, though they immediately ran away as soon as they saw me. After a quick glance down at myself, I understood why. With my chalky coloring and the fact that I had a lot of my own blood on me, I probably looked like something out of a horror movie.
One woman dropped her purse as she ran away, and I didn’t hesitate to look inside. I ignored her wallet and pulled out her cell phone instead. Then with a faint smile at my good luck, l as I dialed a familiar number.
“Hey, it’s me,” I greeted Marcus with a voice that carried my exhaustion. “Can someone come pick me up?”
Chicago Il, Saturday evening, Nov 26th 2016
The chair was soft and comfortable, perfect for easing my aching body. I didn’t hurt nearly as bad as I did right after my fall, but I could still feel it and probably would for another day or so.
“Regeneration is my favorite power,” I mused aloud.
Then I looked at the book that was open in my lap, a Russian spy thriller set during the cold war and told from the Soviet perspective. It was an interesting take on the genre, and I never would have been able to read it without my translation power.
“Or maybe my second favorite,” I corrected.
At the moment, I was trying to relax with a mug of hot cocoa and a good book. I’d already taken a shower and a nap, and now I just wanted to distract myself and get my mind off of what had happened. However, Marcus and Tessa had other ideas, and once I’d rested, they decided that it was time to talk about what I’d gone through.
“Philippe Dumas,” Tessa said with a grim expression.
“What?” I asked blankly.
Tessa shared a look with Marcus who scowled at the name. “I never would have imagined that Phillipe Dumas was Scorn, but with everything he told you…”
“It makes sense,” Marcus admitted. “I thought that Dumas must have died, decades ago.”
“Philippe Dumas,” I said, testing the name. “That’s Scorn’s real name?”
Tessa gave a faint nod. “It fits. Dumas was one of the Lady’s…one of your grandmother’s apprentices. He became a Hand…the first and only male to do so…and he betrayed your grandmother and tried to take control of the Family.”
I looked back and forth between them. “I’ve never heard of him…”
“This happened a long time ago,” Marcus told me. “Before I was even born.”
“Nobody in the Family talks about him,” Tessa explained with a thoughtful look. “Most don’t even remember that he ever existed. Your grandmother preferred it that way, though every Hand and Loyal were told the story.” She shook her head at that. “He’s the reason we don’t allow men to become Hands. We share his story as a warning about what could happen.”
Marcus nodded at that. “The Loyal share similar stories.”
“I knew that your grandmother took revenge on him for his betrayal,” Tessa said, “but I didn’t know the details.” She shuddered a little. “Her vengeance could be quite…personal.”
“It’s impressive that you were able to beat him,” Marcus told me, looking rather proud. “From what I’ve been able to find out, he survived your goodbye present but not without injury. We haven’t found much beyond that yet.”
I nodded at that, disappointed to hear that Scorn was still alive. However, I was no longer afraid of the man who’d terrified me so much before. Now that I’d met him in person, had felt the power of his curse, and had actually beaten him, he’d lost that power over me.
“He said that he and my grandmother were…together,” I said carefully. At the time, I’d been too distracted to realize the possible ramifications of that, but now…
Marcus and Tessa shared another look, though neither actually spoke, almost as if each was waiting for the other person to speak first. After a few seconds, Marcus let out a sigh and looked at me again.
“He and your grandmother did have a relationship,” he said in a careful tone. “From what I know, they were together for many years, though I’m not sure exactly how long.” He paused at that, his expression hardening a little. “He’s also Andre’s father.”
“What?” I blurted out in surprise. Uncle Andre was…old. Around eighty. For Scorn to be his dad… That meant that Scorn was even older than I thought.
I took a moment to absorb that information, though I also felt an immense sense of relief. For a little bit, I’d been worried that Scorn would turn out to be my dad’s father…that he might actually be my grandfather. Then something dawned on me.
“Oh,” I whispered with a sinking feeling.
For a moment, I hesitated to say what I was thinking, then I just came out with it. “The official story is that I’m Uncle Andre’s secret granddaughter…”
“And Scorn would be aware of that,” Marcus agreed with a sour look.
“So, Scorn thought that I was his great granddaughter,” I said with a wince. “And he still tried to kill me.”
That shouldn’t have surprised me. After all, Uncle Andre had been present when the Messenger attacked grandmother, and if Scorn was willing to kill his own son… Well, it was clear that he didn’t have any loyalty to either Family or family.
“We’ll let you rest,” Tessa told me as she and Marcus got up. “I have to make a couple calls.”
“Me too,” Marcus agreed with a grim expression. “Scorn won’t get away with this latest attempt. It’s about time we bring the hammer down on him.”
After this, Marcus and Tessa left, and I was able to turn my attention back to the book I’d been reading. But unfortunately, I quickly found that I now had too much going through my mind to be able to enjoy the story.
Chicago Il, Sunday late morning, Nov 27th 2016
I slung my backpack over my shoulder and stepped out of the house, sighing a little as I did so. My Thanksgiving ‘vacation’ was over, and it was time to head back to Whateley. But the truth was, being at Whateley was a vacation compared to ‘home’.
It would be nice to get back to school and away from all the danger and drama that hid around every corner in Chicago. At Whateley, I didn’t have to worry about hitmen, just obnoxious and overzealous teenagers. After dealing with Scorn and his people, those Spy Kids were a joke.
“Charon should be here any minute,” Tessa told me. “She’s extremely punctual.”
“Good,” I responded since I didn’t have anything else to say.
I glanced over at my guards, Family members who were determined to make sure that nothing else happened before I left. Dominic and James were close by while a few other people kept watch from a distance. Stones was present as well, though he was there mostly for training and experience than because he was expected to contribute much.
Marcus was late, being caught up on an important phone call. I’d hoped that he’d be there to see me off, but it looked like he was going to miss it. But then, as I was expecting to leave without saying goodbye, he finally arrived.
“Sorry for my delay,” Marcus told me. “I was getting an update on the situation with Scorn.”
“Oh?” I asked, eager for the news.
“We already knew that Scorn survived,” Marcus told me. “But he was injured and some of his own people saw him without his mask. It seems that they immediately rebelled and sent him into hiding. His entire organization is now in complete chaos.”
“It couldn’t have happened to a nicer person,” I responded wryly.
Marcus chuckled at that. “No, it couldn’t have, and we’re already moving to take advantage of the opportunity.”
“I’ll have a couple Hands ready to assist,” Tessa told him. “If anyone approaches the Castle, you’ll need Hand assistance.”
“Good,” Marcus replied. “And it looks like your ride is here.”
I looked over to where Marcus was indicating and saw the bubble appearing, which signified Charon’s arrival. When the bubble faded away, the blonde woman stood there, looking exactly the same as the last time I’d seen her. She even wore an identical black suit, if not the same one.
“Speaking of Hands,” I said, glancing over at Stones. “In spite of Scorn’s past with the Family…it would really suck if we didn’t give Stones a chance, especially after saying we might.”
“I’ve been considering that,” Tessa admitted. “I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to become a Hand, but we can at least train him… And maybe, one day, if he proves himself…”
I nodded in approval at that. I’d never liked the Family’s sexist views on magic, especially back when I’d been Bryan. I’d grown up knowing that my mom could do magic, and my sister Paige was following in her footsteps, but that as a boy, I was forbidden from such knowledge. I’d never been particularly interested in magic myself, but that limitation had still bothered me. I still disagreed with that attitude, though at least I now understood where it had come from.
“Well then,” Marcus said. “I suppose this is goodbye for now. Until Christmas.”
“It’s only a month away,” Tessa added with a sigh. “Hopefully, the Scorn situation will be completely resolved by then.”
“That would be nice,” I admitted.
We said a few more quick goodbyes, then I went over to join Charon. As I did so, I straightened up and walked with my head held high, and not just because I wanted to project the image of a strong White Lady for the Family. After everything that I’d just been through, with facing Scorn and finally being able to hit him back, I felt a new sense of confidence.
“Time to go back to school,” I told Charon, who merely nodded and began forming a bubble around us. “It will be nice to be back.”
