by Lily Luchesi
Mitchie nodded her head in agreement, “I agree. Every single one of these goals are completely achievable and I understand why that is your number one goal.”
The instructor pushed her desk chair back and cleared her throat as she continued, “Do you remember why you were brought here when you were only ten years old, Matt?”
The student paced in front of his teacher’s desk, thinking about the night he was brought to Femnora Academy, “I had been in the foster system for as long as I can remember, and you know that most families don’t adopt children older than three or four. I guess the age of ten is when my powers began to manifest, and the foster family didn’t know how to handle it so they brought me here. What I don’t understand is how they knew this place existed for those of us who needed to learn how to control our abilities.”
Mitchie sighed, “I can answer that question for you if you would like but I think it should wait until tomorrow, just in case some of your classmates might have the same question.”
Matt stopped pacing and looked at the instructor, “I know my roommate sure wants to know how humans know about this place, especially since they don’t seem to really care for our kind.”
The instructor nodded, “So that is how we will begin our class tomorrow then.”
She picked up his list of goals off her desk and handed it back to him, “Let’s call it a day. I have a few things I need to take care of before I settle in to grade your papers and you have some homework from other classes that you need to be working on.”
As Mitchie grabbed her laptop and a few other items from her desk, Matt headed toward the classroom door.
“Well, isn’t this a cozy little picture,” Alice stated as she stepped into the classroom.
Each word dripped with scorn as the headmistress took in the scene before her. Alice had been looking for a way to be rid of the instructor, have her moved to another Academy in another town and she felt as if she might have just walked into a really good reason to speak with the Board about getting Mitchie suspended from teaching.
Mitchie looked at the headmistress with a frown, “I don’t like what you seem to be implying, Alice.”
Matt looked at the two women, feeling torn between leaving his favorite instructor alone with the evil headmistress.
Mitchie nodded to her student, “Go on, Matt. Don’t forget to write about how keeping our emotions in check helps control our powers. Make sure to use spell checker and proper grammar. You know how I get with my red pen.”
She gave the young man a reassuring smile, which seemed to help him make his decision. Matt left quickly, afraid to have the headmistress turn her attentions to him. No one in the Academy seemed to like the woman much, something she brought on herself.
Alice let out a sinister chuckle, “If I didn’t know any better, I would think that teenage boy was afraid of me.”
Mitchie gave the woman standing in front of her a strained smile, “As if that isn’t how you want it to be, Alice. Everyone in this school bowing down to you and your superiority.”
Alice chuckled again, “Of course that is what I want, sweet Mitchie. It’s what I’ve always wanted. Why do you think I jumped at the chance to be in control of Femnora Academy?”
Mitchie shook her head, “I have known you since high school and power has been your number one priority. I never expected your ambition to change just because you are now an adult. Now can you please tell me why I have the honor of having you in my classroom?”
The headmistress didn’t argue, “I just wanted to let you know I have reached out to the Board to see if I can get you moved to another Academy.”
Chapter Three
Mitchie was still in shock when she entered her room. She knew Alice wanted to be rid of her, but she had no idea that the spiteful woman would go so far as to reach out to the Board. As Mitchie set her laptop down on the small desk by the window in her room, she saw that the rain was still falling. The instructor knew she should get control of her emotions before the rainfall became a thunderstorm, or worse, but she was having a hard time getting herself calm.
As she sat down and opened her laptop, she heard the familiar ding that let her know she had email, Is it possible the Board agrees with Alice? Is this email going to tell me that I need to pack my things and get ready to leave?
With a heavy heart, Mitchie opened the waiting email, not wanting to leave the students that had grown to trust her and look up to her but knowing if they sanctioned her moving on to another Academy, in another town, there wasn’t anything she could really do about it.
Dear Ms. Jacobs,
We are reaching out to you this evening to inform you of a threat towards Femnora that has come to our attention. We have tried to speak with Ms. Wallace about this threat, however we fear it has fallen on deaf ears so we have had to reach out to someone we felt would take this threat seriously.
We are aware of the tension between you and Ms. Wallace, but it is our hope that the two of you will be able to put your differences aside and work together to keep the students safe. Unfortunately, we are unable to give you any more information into what form the threat will take but our main objective is to ensure our students are not hurt.
As for Ms. Wallace’s request for us to move you to another Academy, we have no intentions of doing that. You are needed where you are, and we don’t want to undo all the good you have done.
Keep vigilant until you hear from us again,
The Board
Mitchie let out a sigh of relief. The Board understood how needed she was at Femnora and didn’t plan on moving her anywhere! Now she just needed to worry about the unknown threat that the Board was worried about. The Academy instructor knew that she was going to have to speak with the headmistress about the email sent so they could come up with a plan to keep the children safe within the walls of the Academy.
Mitchie pulled out her students’ papers and her red pen, intent on getting the grading done before class the next morning. She wanted to get work out of the way before she started working on a list of possible threats that the school might face to present to Alice before school started the next day.
*****
Mitchie woke early the next morning and opened her laptop, ready to reply to the email from the Board,
To Whom It May Concern,
Thank you for sending me the warning about the threat you have received. I will be sure to speak with Ms. Wallace on your behalf to put together a fool-proof plan to keep the students safe. I do have a few questions concerning those same students; some of our students are very powerful in their own rights, as I’m sure you are aware, and I know they will be very helpful in this plan that I am working on in keeping the Academy safe.
The graduating class alone are very strong, and I know will be willing to help us keep the younger students safe. Please get back to me as soon as you can and let me know if you think this will work or not.
Thank you again,
Mitchie Jacobs
Clicking the send button, Mitchie took a deep breath and closed her laptop. Gathering her things, she left her room and headed toward Alice’s office to have what she knew would be one of the hardest conversations in her lifetime.
Chapter Four
Mitchie stood outside Alice’s office, knowing that she needed to speak with the headmistress but not wanting to have any kind of conversation with her before starting her day with her students. The email from the Board flashed through her mind once more and she could feel the urgency the message portrayed. Knocking on the door, Mitchie took a deep breath.
“Come in,” came the reply to her knock.
Mitchie stuck her head through the door, “Alice, we need to talk.”
Alice let out an exasperated sigh, “Can’t it wait until the end of the day?”
“No, it really can’t. I apologize for ruining your day this way, but this can’t wait,” Mitchie stated as she entered the room, making sure the door shut firmly behind her.
The headmistress stood behind her large desk, “What is it then? And I need to tell you that I don’t like this new side of you, Mitchie. I’m not sure where you found the backbone, but I would appreciate it if you would take it back.”
The Academy instructor smirked, “I have a feeling this backbone is here to stay, so I do apologize for that. But enough about me and my backbone. We need to discuss the email I received from the Board yesterday.”
It was Alice’s turn to smirk, “Oh? Is this your way of saying good-bye then?”
Mitchie shook her head, “No such luck, Alice. The Board is not asking me to leave Femnora. However, they did mention a threat they have caught wind of that they have spoken to you about. In their email they suggested that you didn’t seem to be taking the threat very seriously. They want us to keep the children safe and want us to take this threat very seriously, so they reached out to me about it. So, now do you have time to talk about it before classes start? Or should I have one of my TA’s take over my first class while we hash out a plan to keep the students and Femnora safe?”
The look on Alice’s face got tighter as Mitchie continued to talk, knowing that she had been caught, “Well, I guess the Board has put you in control of keeping the students safe, so I have no choice in the matter, now do I?”
Mitchie shook her head, “Not really.”
She took a seat in front of the headmistress, “Listen, you act as if I reached out to the Board and asked for this responsibility. I didn’t. All you had to do was respond to one of the emails the Board had sent you concerning the threat and you would be the one organizing everything. But since you didn’t this is where we are.”
The headmistress returned to her seat, a scowl on her face, “I suppose you’re going to tell me that you already have a plan in place?”
Mitchie nodded, “I have one in the works. I responded to the email the Board sent to me because I have some questions concerning the ins and outs of my plan. I want to use some of the graduating students to help us keep the younger students safe. They have more control over their powers and need the practice using them before they leave the Academy.”
Alice looked at the Academy instructor as if she were meeting her for the first time, “That is actually a great idea. While humans know about our kind, they are not all very comfortable around us so giving the graduates a chance to use their magic without boundaries is smart.”
The headmistress stood and began to pace around her office, “So, did the Board tell you what the threat was?”
Mitchie shook her head, “They said they would email me as soon as they had more information concerning the threat, but they were unsure as to what it was. They were only letting us know so that we could prepare.”
Alice stopped pacing and looked out her office window, “All right, class is about to start so you need to get to your students. Get that plan together and we’ll talk again after school.”
The Academy instructor stood, “Got it. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me before school starts.”
Mitchie left Alice’s office with the feeling that the threat might be a lot closer to home than the Board actually knew.
Chapter Five
“Would all of my graduating students please stay after class today?” Mitchie asked of her students before the bell rang at the end of the day.
The whispers among the younger students began to grow, causing the Academy instructor to raise her hand, “Quiet, children, please. There is no need to get so excited. This is nothing new, we always plan the graduation events with the graduating class.”
That calmed everyone down, though the rumors had been flying around the Academy all day. Apparently one of the younger students had seen Mitchie leaving Alice’s office and the school was full of speculation. Everyone at the Academy, instructor, and student alike, knew that Alice tormented Mitchie and felt the tension between the women whenever they shared a room. So, stories about how Mitchie had been asked to leave the school by end of the week and many of the students were angry. Some were expressing wishes to boycott the Academy and go back to whatever lives they had before having been brought to the school and the Academy instructor knew she had to say something to keep them all calm.
“Listen to me, children. I am here to stay. I have not been asked to leave as I know many of you think I have since one of you saw me leaving the headmistress’s office. I had a meeting with the headmistress for other reasons. The Board is very pleased with my work here at the school, so you guys are stuck with me,” Mitchie stated as she moved to the front of the class.
“Well, those of you that aren’t graduating at the end of the year,” the Academy stated as the students began to settle down.
The bell rang as Mitchie was about to talk with her last class about the papers she had graded the night before, “All right children, that is the last class for the week. I will see you all Monday afternoon. Have a great weekend! And remember, stay out of trouble!”
The graduating students remained in their seats as the younger students left the classroom, laughing at the joke Mitchie used every Friday afternoon.
Alice waited until the last student leaving had disappeared before entering the room and making her way to stand next to Mitchie in front of the remaining children.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet in my classroom, Ms. Wallace. I do appreciate it,” the Academy instructor greeted the headmistress.
Alice nodded formally, “Of course, Ms. Jacobs. This is serious business that needs to be discussed.”
Matt stood, “This isn’t about graduation, is it Ms. Jacobs?”
Mitchie shook her head, “No, it isn’t, Matt. I know I led many of you to believe it was, but I didn’t want to panic the younger children. The Board sent me an email yesterday to inform me that there is a threat against the school and has left it up to me to come up with a battle plan to keep you and all of the students safe. All of you graduating students are going to be an essential part of that plan.”
Alice leaned against Mitchie’s desk, “Did you finish putting the battle plan together?”
“Not yet. But I do know what I want the students doing and how they can go about doing it,” Mitchie stated as she made her way around the desk to pick up the paper she had been writing on all day.
Passing it over to the headmistress, the Academy instructor turned her attention to the students still sitting in their seats, “All of you have been practicing using your powers while keeping your emotions in check, correct?”
All of them nodded in agreement and she continued, “Great. I want to see what you guys can do. Are you ready?”
Matt stood, “I’ll go first.”
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and let the breath out slowly. As the breath left his lungs the ground began to shake, slowly at first then picking up enough speed to knock the chalk off the tray on the board.
“That’s enough, Matt. Very good,” Mitchie stated, gaining the student’s attention.
The ground stopped shaking and Matt returned to his seat.
One by one the students stood and gave the headmistress and their instructor a small taste of the control they had on their powers.
By the time the last student had returned to her seat, Alice had finished reading over the plan outline that Mitchie had put together, “Has the Board gotten back to you yet?”
Mitchie shook her head, “I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to check my email since school started. I’ll check right now.”
Turning on her laptop, the entire class heard the familiar ding, letting everyone know that the Academy instructor had an email waiting for her.
Chapter Six
Dear Ms. Jacobs,
Thank you for getting back to us so soon. Yes, we believe that the graduating students will be a great help in protecting the younger students and Femnora. It will also give them practice in using their powers when under pressure while out in the world around the humans who don’t like our kind.
As for the threat against Femnora, we believe it is an inside job. One of the instructors in the school has been planning this for some time and will be attacking very soon. We are still not sure who the instructor is nor are we sure on the how or when they will attack but we want you to be as prepared as possible. Try to keep the amount of people in the know of this plan limited so that the preparations are effective.
Once again thank you,
The Board
Mitchie looked up from her laptop and looked at Alice, “They think it’s an inside job.”
Alice didn’t look surprised, making the Academy instructor wonder as to why the headmistress hadn’t answered when the Board had emailed her about the threat.
“All right students, I’m going to email you a copy of what I want you all to be preparing for, what your plans are and how you can help us fight this threat. Go on to your rooms and wait for that email. And remember, keep all of this to yourselves. We don’t want to alert the instructor, whoever they are, that we know what they are planning, and we don’t want to frighten the younger students,” Mitchie told the students as they all rose from their seats, eager to work with their instructor to keep their younger classmates safe and protect their home.
While Mitchie had been sending out the emails with those instructions while she had been speaking, making sure to include her suspicions about their headmistress. Alice watched the students file out of the classroom while listening to the Academy instructor.
The headmistress stated, “Are you sure they’re going to get the email before the attack?”
The Academy instructor looked up, “Of course they are. Unless you plan on attacking now.”
