“But to be honest,” Monica went on, “I find you too clueless of magic to even come up with such a potion. Someone used you, Miss Leighton.” Sophie swallowed again.
“Had you told anyone that you wished to see me that night?” Sophie shook her head stiffly.
“How odd,” the head girl went on. “Anyway, it isn’t atypical, pranks like these get played on prefects all the time. Someone might have overheard Lola and you talk and decided to take advantage.” Monica didn’t seem particularly interested in Sophie’s input, and Sophie was glad about that.
“Run along, Miss Leighton. You don’t want to be late for tennis practice, do you?” Sophie ran, and didn’t stop or look back until she ran into Connor.
“Whoa, relax newbie,” he said with a laugh. “You’ve got-” he looked at his wristwatch now, “three and a half minutes to spare,” he reassured her, before walking away.
¨Are you sure you're alright?¨ Klaus asked during the water break, noticing that Sophie was distracted over tennis practise.
Sophie studied him more closely, now that she knew his family was very important. She analysed his soft brown eyes that did nothing to hide his attentive nature, then slowly took the whole of him in, his dark brown hair, athletic body, and the authoritative way with which he stood.
¨Is your family royalty?¨ She then asked. He appeared startled for a second or two before recovering.
¨Some people think us so,¨ he answered in that calmly assured manner of his, as though everything was a decided fact before then, and all his answers are read from a script.
He won't get rid of her questions so easily this time.
¨What do you mean?¨
¨I'm a direct descendant of Hans I.¨
Sophie remembered then that one of the members of the original council, and the benefactor that had given this castle and island to the Supernatural Realm, and who happened to be the King of Denmark and Duke of something-something at that time, was called Hans I.
¨Rheinhart? It sounds very German.”
¨The king had an affair with a maid in his courts, that too happened to be a Witch.” Klaus must have certainly recited this narration, for it poured out of him unrestrained, and too eloquently for it to be natural.
“She bore him a son, his only supernatural descendant, as all his children with his queen were born human. He arranged for the Witch to be married by a wealthy Lord somewhere near modern day Bonn. Lord Rheinhart was his name. The king later had Lord Rheinhart killed, before his son grew of age and caused his stepfather's suspicions to rise. We are the descendants of that first Rheinhart Sorcerer.¨
As preposterous as the narration sounded, Sophie couldn’t see a reason why he’d choose to lie.
¨Hey Sophie! Klaus!¨ Connor, the tennis club captain called just then, interrupting any further questions she might have on the matter. ¨We have a meet with a school in Hamburg the weekend after next. Do you want to come?”
¨Of course!¨ Sophie responded almost instantly, completely forgetting anymore questions she might have had. Here was her chance to get off this claustrophobic island, and be around the normal people she was used to and had grown among to play a sport she loved.
¨I was hoping you'd say that,¨ Connor answered with a very unhinging smile. Sophie couldn’t help but beam up at him like a fool.
¨What about you Klaus? Are you upto playing against some human kids?¨
¨Very!¨ Klaus said without hesitation either.
Chapter 21
It was not with the usual cheerful smile from Tom that Sophie was greeted with the following Saturday morning. Instead, he narrowed his eyes with displeasure, and Sophie immediately fell into a panic.
He knows! She thought to herself frantically as she answered his stiff wave by walking up to his desk reluctantly, dreading already whatever he was going to say.
¨Sophie Leighton- I’m disappointed in you, Faery.” He began quietly, his normally soft eyes now steeled.
“I don’t understand..” Sophie feigned innocence.
“You’ve played me fool long enough, child. I thought you cleverer than this.” Oddly enough, Tom seemed more worried than annoyed. “Don’t you know that you need to be very careful here?”
“Have I done something wrong?” Sophie chose to keep playing dumb.
¨I know who you are often with in here, and many think that offence enough. Be very careful, child. Do not walk into the same mistakes your parents did. Some things are best left buried.¨
Now he had her full attention.
¨What do you mean about my parents?¨
He looked momentarily stricken.
“Oh- nothing, nothing. I thought you knew- nothing, forget I said anything.” He realised his mistake and instantly regretted it, looking about them flittingly.
¨Please do not keep this from me,¨ Sophie begged of him, and something in her voice must have softened his resolve, for his eyes turned back to her, mellowing to gentle kindness again.
“I don’t know anything. My parents tell me nothing. I feel blind, making my way through this maze that is the Supernatural Realm, and its sets of rules and norms.”
¨Oh child!” He scratched his white head slowly, and then he sighed, before starting to speak again. “Your father sought to be friends with the last Wailer too. The Maiga girl, your friend’s mother. It only brought him problems.”
“Maseke and dad were friends!” He ignored her statement.
“Listen to me, do not ruffle the wrong feathers too. Go back to your friends, be a teenager, enjoy your youth, and graduate out of here in peace.¨His tone was grave, and his warning screamed at her, but Sophie found herself unable to do what he’d instructed, and even unable to pretend that she would.
¨I can’t,¨ she told him apologetically. ¨Not now. Not until I get to the bottom of this.¨
¨I feared you'd say that,¨ he answered her sadly. ¨You are your father's daughter after all.¨
¨Please, tell me what you know?¨ She beseeched him, but Tom only shook his head.
¨I am too old child. I know better than to meddle now.” He scratched his head again. “I won’t report you though, that you are often in the company of the Wailer Witch in here. That kindness I’ll gladly afford you. Out there however, you have to be very careful. There are many eyes on her, and few of them are kind.¨
Sophie thanked him, before hurrying off to her corner.
¨Morning Boke,¨ Sophie found her at their secluded corner. Boke looked up with a smile as Sophie settled opposite her, the stack of newspapers waiting for her separating them.
Being a Saturday, they stayed in the library all day, only breaking away for the compulsory meal times. The research went much faster now.
The August papers featured pictures of the first Wailer Witch to attend Drachenburg in over half a century. The controversial writer Chu Mana, had attributed it to the fact that all known Wailer Witches had been hunted down and killed. Like her previous post, this one was also greatly contradicted by other columnist, and quickly shot down.
More publicity photos were taken depicting the saved Witch child enjoying Christmas dinner with her new family of pale Avalons later that year. The young woman in the picture always bore the same expression, after she shook off the one of fear. She wore a determined raised chin, a hard set jaw, and fixed eyes- a look of one on a mission. She didn’t look miserable, but neither did she look happy. She reminded Sophie of Boke, not only because of their resemblance, but also because Maseke wore Boke’s air of purpose about her. If Sophie’s father was as similar to Sophie as Tom had alluded, then it was no wonder he’d sought to be Maseke’s friend.
The '95 papers didn’t have much entry of interest, but for an opinion piece by Chu Mana. Sophie quickly tapped at the table to summon Boke, who then rushed over to her side.
Writing for an independent periodical, Chu Mana claimed that members of the Supernatural Realm were being duped. There still were many retaliatory attacks by Nyangwi, but the chief ed
itors of newspaper houses had been ordered by the High Council to stifle such reports. She argued that the whole realm was being manipulated into thinking that the wronged mother had given up on her pursuits, yet she was still going strong in her campaign to get her daughter back.
¨You have tennis practice,¨ Boke interrupted the silence around them to whisper. Sophie looked at her watch, quarter to four. ¨Go ahead. I’ll put this away. We can keep going on Monday.¨
Unexpectedly, Sophie felt a tinge of disappointment that it was almost four already. She enjoyed tennis, but at this moment, it was a slight nuisance. She looked at the pile of papers lying unread between them, then her eyes swept over the racks of newspapers still to be read stacked on bookshelves. There was so much to research, and so little time!
“Go,” Boke said. “We’ll continue next week.”
“Alright,” Sophie said, then reluctantly got up to leave.
Sophie hurried into Rhiannon House, for she had just a few more minutes before 4pm, when she should be at the tennis court. Tardiness was not something Connor, the tennis school team captain, easily overlooked.
“Sophie! Where’ve you been?” Keira queried when a winded Sophie pushed into their shared bedroom.
“Uh- computer room,” she lied breathlessly, struggling to change out of her school uniform into the sports kit.
“Really? Aimi and I looked there too as we searched for you,” Keira said with a frown, leaning against the door as she appraised her cousin.
“Keira, I have about three minutes tops to be at the tennis court. Could we hold this conversation later?”
Only Keira didn’t step away from the doorway. In fact, she straightened up a little more, and gave her cousin a very stubborn stare.
“Honestly, Keira! If I’m late for practice, Connor could remove my name from the people attending the school meet next weekend.”
Keira held on for a few more seconds, then she blessedly stepped aside. And on time too, as Sophie had been about to run through her.
Sophie had never run as fast as this all her life. Her feet barely touched the treads as she flew down the stairs.
She got to the tennis court with only seconds to spare. Connor frowned, but said nothing. The first part of practice was endurance, so there were many laps and half court suicides to do before any of them could touch a racquet.
The tennis team had no coach, not officially. Connor called out all the drills and organised them. When Sophie had questioned on why other sports clubs had coaches apart from their team, Connor only shrugged before saying, “None of the supernatural staff know enough about tennis to coach, or are interested.”
“What about our patron?” Sophie was yet to meet the said patron. She’d only heard of the Avalon woman.
“Mrs. Jannik was practically arm wrestled by the principal to be our patron. She barely knows anything about the sport.”
“I suppose this school runs odder than I’m used to,” Sophie said in response.
“What do you mean?” Connor asked, only half-attentively.
“There’s Mrs. Jannik, patron of tennis, though I’ve never seen her here at the courts, and then there’s the principal.”
“What about the principal?”
“Other than my first evening here, I’ve never seen him again. How can he run the school if he’s nowhere about?”
Connor laughed before responding. “He’s around alright. He stays indoors- it’s his allergies.”
“Allergies?” Sophie asked puzzled. It was the first time she was hearing anything about it.
“Yes, allergies. I’m not sure to what exactly, but it is why he avoids leaving his office unless it’s absolutely necessary.” Their conversation ended right then, for Connor was needed elsewhere to correct another freshman’s swing.
Chapter 22
“Just as with the origin of life and human existence, there are many theories to explain our origin,” the pale Avalon’s voice drew on. Half the class was once again asleep, as was typical with Sup. Realm History and civics class, but Sophie found herself attentive and hungry for information.
“The most common and widely accepted is that of evolution, of course,” she said. “We are as a result of mutations geared towards our survival. But like any origin theory, this too has its shortcomings. Why would we mutate so extensively, yet majority of our ancestors remain human? There is also the loophole on our abilities. If our evolution is scientific, then how can we explain a Witch’s power or a Werecat's transformation from beast to man, wholly and completely, and vice versa?”
Sophie raised her hand here, and the teacher seemed momentarily surprised, as though she’d assumed all in class were asleep, and she was talking to herself.
“Yes, Miss Leighton.”
“I’m not trying to answer your questions, I wouldn’t know where to begin. But I have a question of my own. When a Werecat is in animal form, are they wholly animal, or only partly. And if the latter, by how much?”
“According to extensive research done, Werecats in beastly form are 100% beasts, and in human form the same case remains, 100% human.” The teacher saw Sophie’s puzzled look.
“Yes,” she acknowledged her confusion with a nod. “it is, in a way, like we all are a freak in nature. Their transformation is not only on the surface, it goes to their cellular level. Their DNA transforms completely, one minute feline, and the other human.”
“Why?” Sophie didn’t even realise that she was whispering.
“Why are you Faery? Why are you Avalon? Scientifically, it is still to be explained. But who needs science when we’ve got Descartes?”
“Descartes?”
“I think, therefore I am, he claimed. I am, I exist. So you see, though at the moment we mightn’t have science to support our existence, philosophy does.”
“I think, therefore I am,” Sophie repeated.
“Exactly,” the teacher said. They might as well have been the only ones in the classroom. “The Supernatural Realm has always used other more spiritual theories to explain their origins. There are hundreds of folktales from your various communities explaining our origins. That is your assignment for the term paper. Each of you shall write on an origin theory of your race.”
Sophie sighed as she assembled her books into her bag after the class. She knew next to nothing about Faeries, let alone their myths and folktales. Once again she felt like a drifting boat surrounded by miles and miles of unknown waters, having no course, and not knowing where she came from. How could her parents do this to her? They had no right to take away her identity, she thought to herself angrily.
She was going to need her cousin’s help in this, but she didn’t know how to approach Keira, who was still not talking to her.
Sophie suddenly felt weighed down with exhaustion. She was tired- with her new identity, Boke’s secret and library researches, tennis practice, school work, being angry with her parents- all of it was exhausting.
Herbs and Potions, was next, and Mrs. Ming had informed them last week that they were to meet her at the school farm for this lesson. The HP 1 class was attended by all freshmen magical beings, so while Avalons and Werecats relaxed into their free period, Sophie dragged herself after the rest of her Witch and Faery classmates.
She almost groaned soundly when they arrived at the school farm, and she saw the small Faery woman surrounded by wrapped seedlings and farm tools. Sophie hated gardening!
“Hurry up! Come on, don’t drag your feet. We don’t have all day,” she began. “Today you’ll be introduced to your very first herbal gardens.” Sophie rolled her eyes as some of her classmates cheered with excitement.
“This project is done in groups of two, so pair up, everyone.”
Sophie’s first instinct was to find Boke. Not only because she’s a great Witch, which means she’d be good at this exercise, but maybe also because they were friends. But then again she remembered that they were to keep they distance when around the rest of the school and staff, as s
o she turned to her friends instead.
But Keira turned away and promptly chose Aimi as her partner, clearly still angry with Sophie. That left Sophie free to partner up with Klaus, and then she watched sadly as the rest of the Witches and Faeries partnered with each other quickly, unabashedly showing how much they would hate to be forced to partner with Boke.
Was this the same thing her mother underwent as a Wailer Witch here at Drachenburg?
“Well, Miss Maiga, you are on your own. The class is odd numbered after all, and one was bound to do the project on their own..”
“She can join us,” Klaus proposed. Sophie wasn’t too surprised at hearing his offer. Having gotten to know him these past few weeks, she’d decided he was a born diplomat, a politician’s child, and so knew how to gloss over things smoothly and always find himself in a politically correct standing.
“No-” the teacher said almost too abruptly. “I mean, it wouldn’t do to have three in a group. Miss Maiga you’re on your own.” Sophie narrowed her eyes, but said nothing.
Klaus was a very good partner. He knew a lot, probably from having watched and helped his parents on their own garden, unlike herself.
Sophie trudged with her muddy gumboots towards the tap after an hour of gardening. Her rubber gloves were filled with disgusting mud, and some had gotten onto her face and hair! She hated farming!
What a great Faery I make, she mocked herself. Most Faery powers came from spells aided by brews made from herbs, unlike the case with Witches. She’d never be able to just recite spells, and something magical happens- like in Boke's case. Even knowing that, Sophie still had no interest in herbs and earth, and crawly insects in mud patches. Sometimes, she missed her old life when she’d just been a normal teenager, at a normal school, with normal issues.
¨How do you do it?¨ Sophie asked later that day as they settled to their daily research task. She’d just watched Boke, with a mere flick of her finger, cause the last newspaper they had looked at to fold out and open to the exact page where they’d left off.
A Different Kind of Witch Page 12
