Knight of the Black Rose

by Nissa Gordon

  Chapter Five

  It was finally Saturday night, the night before he would leave for school, he had actually thought that this day would never come, but it was finally here. He had spent the whole day packing and double checking that he had everything that he would need, and also that his clothes were out ready for him in the morning, so that he wouldn't be rushing around as they were leaving quite early because his dad said that it took a while to drive down to the dock. Will had asked about the dock and how they were supposed to get to the school, and of course where was the school, but his dad wouldn't tell him, except that it was a secret but he was sure that he'd like how they got there, it would be something that you never forgot.

  Will was pushing down the last bit of his stuff and closing his case as his dad came in, to check if he was done again, he had added more stuff a couple of times after they had closed it, but he was sure this time that he had everything.

  "Just finished," Will said. "It was a good job that you enchanted it or I wouldn't have been able to get everything inside,"

  "It's the caldron and the books, they take up most of the room," Glen told him.

  "You know, I was wondering about coming home...how am I supposed to re-do the spell?" Will asked him, and then smiled. "I'll have to practice it,"

  "There's that, but it should hold on the case," Glen told him.

  "I can still practice on other things," Will said smiling, looking forward to finally being able to learn real spells and to use his powers like his dad.

  Will really was looking forward to finally going to school, but at the same time he was kind of sad about leaving his dad because he was after all the only family that he had ever know. He just hoped that he really would end up in the same estates as Troy and Alex, he had known them both near enough his whole life, they were also kind of like his family.

  "So, if you're finished do you want to come down for something to eat?" Glen asked. "It's an early night after all; we're up early in the morning,"

  "It doesn't matter when I go to bed, I don't think that I'll actually be sleeping; I’m just too excited about the whole thing," Will told him.

  Glen smiled as he pulled the case up. "Nevertheless, you still have to get an early night and try to sleep,"

  Will followed him out, Glen pulled out his wand and pointed it at the case; it lifted off of the ground about a foot and then he directed it down the stairs as he followed with Will closely behind him.

  "Do you think I'll learn how to do that this year?" Will asked excitedly.

  "Perhaps," Glen answered as he set the case beside the front door and replaced his wand. "Whatever you learn I'll be proud,"

  "Really?" Will asked nervously, yes he knew he had powers but it was different using a wand and magic in front of others, he had never really done it before; but at least everyone else was going to be like him as well.

  "You don't need to worry, you'll do great," Glen assured him as they walked through to the kitchen. "Everyone's probably feeling the same way right about now. You don't need to worry if you don't get it straight away either, for some people it takes a few try’s before they get it and yes others on their first try. If it makes you feel better, I had to work really hard, and I still do, there are always new spells to learn, especially in my job."

  "Well...err...I guess that makes me feel a little better knowing that you did the same," Will said.

  "Of course I did, like I keep saying, everyone does," Glen told him. "Now, food and then your shower before bed,"

  "But dad...it's even earlier than I would normally go to bed...I am older now," Will complained.

  "Will, I told you; we're up early in the morning," Glen told him again.

  Will knew that he kept saying that, and he had seen his ticket, the time that it was supposed to set off at wasn't that early; but his dad had been told that it would take a while to get there. That wasn't the only thing that he was annoyed about, his dad had got a call that afternoon asking him to work, meaning that he won't even get to say a proper goodbye to him tomorrow; he'd have to do it at the house.

  "Dad...err...I was wondering..." Will started nervously, kind of wondering if he should even bring it up.

  Glen was getting a little annoyed with keep repeating himself since he didn't normally have to, it wasn’t how he wanted to spend his last night. "You're still going to bed straight after your shower, I don't care if you don't sleep, just as long as you're at least in your bed...I'm sure that you'll fall asleep at some point."

  Will knew that he wasn't going to win on the whole bed thing, no matter how much he complained. "It's not that...I was wondering about tomorrow...Harding, Troy's dad got the day off, how come you couldn't?"

  Glen turned around to face him, he hated that he had to give up all of this time with his son, but his job was important. "You know that the non-magic's had kind of found out about us this year. Well things aren't going as smoothly as we would have liked, extra security has been put on, just in case anything happens. There's going to be a lot of movement tomorrow with everyone going off to school, and not just yours, all of the schools. Harding might not really have the day off, he's probably going undercover, the non-magical parents and students won't know the difference."

  "You could have done that," Will pointed out.

  Glen wasn't completely sure what to say, he had probably already said too much, but he had to tell him something, and he knew that he wouldn't really say anything to anyone that he wasn't supposed to. "We have different jobs...we kind of do different things...but in the same department,"

  Will wasn't completely sure what that meant. "Err...does that mean that I might see you there tomorrow?"

  "Only if the dock is attacked, and we don't want that to happen," Glen told him.

  "No...of course not," Will said, yes he wanted his dad to be there, but he didn't want an attack because he might get hurt and he so didn't want that. "So...Christmas, will I be coming home for that?"

  "You don't need to ask, you can come home..." Glen told him smiling. "I would prefer you to come home actually than to stay at school,"

  "You're allowed?" Will asked surprised.

  "Yes, if something happens and someone can't go home...sometimes the older students stay if they need time to do extra studying," Glen explained. "But like I said, I'd like you home; for the next couple of years the holidays will be all we have,"

  "Hay...we can write right?" Will asked excitedly, as he always liked getting mail.

  "Yes, you can write to me...and I can even write back to you," Glen told him.

  "Are you sure that you'll have time?" Will teased.

  Glen smiled at him. "Yes, I'll have the time to write to you, as long as you do the same,"

  Will didn't understand. "Why wouldn't I?"

  "It might seem scary living away from home, but trust me; it's fun as well," Glen told him. "I had some great times there, and I bet that you will as well,"

  "I wonder if any of the teachers will still be there?" Will said thoughtfully as he sat down.

  "The head teacher is still the same," Glen told him. "In your first letter, you'll have to tell me who your teachers are, then I'll tell you if I had any of them,"

  "He must be really old," Will said thoughtfully.

  Glen laughed at his remark as he carried over their dinner, putting the plates down on the table before he joined him. "So you think your dad is old do you?"

  "Well no...but if he was teaching when you were my age..." Will said not sure how to explain.

  "He's a Tel'lanerian, they live longer than humans...about one hundred and thirty years give or take." Glen told him.

  Will knew about Tel’lanerian’s, that they were pure magical beings, and that they could make themselves look human so you didn't know what they were. Meaning that he had no idea if he actually knew any, because he had never actually seen one in its native form before, but maybe he would now at school as he was sure that they would be loads there.

  "Don't get an
y ideas...they're a very private race," Glen warned him. "If they want to show you their true form then it's up to them; I know that I can trust you on that...I guess it's when you're a little older. We'll have to have this talk again..."

  "This talk...about what?" Will asked confused not knowing what he was talking about, but he just shook his head and started eating, which meant that he wasn't going to get anything else out of him until after they had finished eating, and maybe not even then.

  There was a soft knock on the door and Will turned over, the door opened bringing light in from the hall; Glen knocked on the door again fully dressed as he had given Will as much time as possible, but now he really did need to get moving or they might be late.

  "Will it's time," Glen told him.

  "...just another...minute..." Will said sleepily, as he turned back towards the light his eyes flickering open.

  Glen smiled to himself remembering the trouble of getting him into bed last night. "And you said that you wouldn't be able to sleep,"

  Will stretched knowing that he should be getting up, it was a very important day, but he was just too tired to remember why it was so important. Then it came to him in a rush, he threw back his covers and shoot out of bed almost tripping over the ends.

  "Glad to see that you're full of energy, but do be careful; you don't want to break anything before you get there," Glen teased as he left him to get ready. "I'll do you some breakfast when you come down; it's going to be a long day,"

  "Okay..." Will said as he followed him out, but he turned right to the bathroom.

  Fifteen minutes later and Will was running down the stairs fully dressed, wearing jeans, t-shirt and a denim jacket; he looked at his case next to the door knowing that it wouldn't be long now until he was setting off. Just as he was walking through the living room there was a knock at the door, he whirled around smiling, hoping that it was going to be Alex had they had agreed to give him a ride because his dad couldn't get the time off either, and Laura couldn't drive. Will ran back over to the door, took the chain off and swung it back as his dad had already unlocked it.

  "Good morning," Nelson said sounding a little on edge.

  "Hay Will," Alex said brightly as he stepped around his dad and went inside. "Morning Glen,"

  "Alex...Nelson nice to see you," Glen said as he came out of the kitchen to greet them both.

  "Err...yeah, morning; thanks for taking Alex for us," Nelson said struggling inside with an even bigger case than Will had; they could even hear the things inside moving around.

  "Dad enchanted mine, so I could get more things in," Will told Alex as he went over to join him.

  "Mum did mine, but I still seem to have loads of stuff," Alex told him.

  Glen could see how uncomfortable Nelson seemed, he kind of understood why, but he would have also thought that the man would have gotten used to it by now considering that he had known the secret for well over ten years now; but it still seemed like a problem to him.

  "So Nelson, are you staying to see them off, it won't be long...Infidus will be here, in about five ten minutes?" Glen asked him, as Will and Alex went through to the kitchen.

  "I'm afraid I can't, I have to get going to work," Nelson told him.

  Glen didn't believe him, mainly considering what time it was. "He's your son; this means a lot to him...it means a lot that his dad accepts who and what he is. Yes he might run around with that smile on his face, but it does hurt him; trust me, I know."

  "What do you know? You're one of them; you can't possibly know how hard this is for me," Nelson told him angrily. "I can't even tell my parents where he's going to school...or why they can't see him that often... So don't you dare say that you understand,"

  "He's your son," Glen said.

  "Yeah well...it isn't as though I signed up for the whole witch thing...I didn't even know," Nelson told him. "I thought with time that I might be able to live with it..."

  Glen didn't like people who dragged their feet, especially when in doing so, it hurt others around him; especially those who he cared about. "If you can't, then you need to tell them, instead of hurting them both like this making them feel as though what they are is wrong all because of your ideals."

  Nelson was taken aback at how blunt he was being, yes they had kind of talked before, but nothing like this. "I don't know what you're saying,"

  "Oh I think you do," Glen said annoyed with the man. "Make a decision and stick with it, it isn't hard,"

  "Well err...err...yes...well..." Nelson said not sure what he was supposed to be doing as he made to leave, and then stopped suddenly remembering that he had forgotten to say goodbye. "Alex!"

  Alex came running through with a piece of toast in his hand and with Will right behind him, then stopped when he saw his dad on the other side of the door, that he hadn’t even come inside yet.

  "I have to go," Nelson told him.

  "Oh...you're not staying?" Alex said disappointedly.

  "I have to get to work," Nelson told him, then slowly held his arms out and Alex went over; they hugged briefly before stepping apart again. "You're going to love school, and then you can come home at Christmas,"

  Alex nodded, wishing that they weren't doing this in front of his best friend. "Right,"

  "I'll see you later," Nelson said, nodded at Glen before he left.

  "Are you alright?" Glen asked Alex.

  "Yeah...sure...he's been upset about this since I got the letter..." Alex told him.

  Glen looked at Will, and then turned to close the door but didn't bother because he heard a car pulling up, so looked out and right on time with Infidus pulling up.

  "They're here," Glen told them.

  "See, he could have waited," Alex said annoyed, and then munched on his toast not looking at any of them.

  "I'll take your cases out," Glen told them as he grabbed the handles of both cases and turned them around.

  Alex waited until Glen had left the house before he said anything. "I can't believe that he just left like that, he promised mum that he would stay to watch me leave,"

  "Really?" Will asked surprised.

  "He doesn't even start until nine...and it's what...sevenish...?" Alex said looking around for a clock because he didn't have a watch on.

  "That's weird," Will agreed, but he also knew how Nelson got about all this.

  "Come on you two!" Glen shouted from outside.

  They both smiled at each other, everything else forgotten and then ran outside down the path to where Glen was waiting for them next to the car; they looked around for their cases but they were already loaded.

  "Those cases fit in there?" Alex asked as though he didn't believe it was possible considering how big they had all been, and then with Stuarts as well; he was already in the car, sitting up front with his dad.

  "It's called magic, remember that's what you're going to be learning at school," Glen told him smiling, then he hugged him. "Behave and do well,"

  "Thanks I'll try," Alex said hugging him back, before he stepped aside for Will.

  Glen hugged Will even tighter. "I want you to remember to behave as well, do the best that you can; and write to me,"

  Will hugged him back, as he told himself that he wasn't going to cry in front of anyone, guys weren't supposed to cry. "I will dad,"

  "Okay then," Glen said stepping back. "You better get in the car,"

  Alex opened the door and slide across first, then Will; Glen closed the door and bent down to speak with Infidus.

  "You'll call me when you get there?" Glen asked.

  "Course," Infidus told him. "Everything alright?"

  Glen looked into the back at Will and Alex before he answered. "Yeah sure. Right then, see you all at Christmas,"

  "See ya dad!" Will shouted and waved at him through the window as he stepped back, and Infidus started the car up again, before he pulled out. They both turned around in their seats so they could wave for as long as they could, before they turned the corner and they were on their
way. "I can't believe that we're finally going,"

  "I know...I never thought that I would be wishing the holidays to be over so quickly," Alex agreed.

  "It wears off," Stuart told them from up front.