“How did you”
Chancellor Singh held up a hand and straightened her posture, cutting me off before I could finish, leaving me to stare at her gape-mouthed. “Let me stop you right there. Don’t worry about the how.” She leaned forward, folding her hands on her desk and softening her gaze. “What matters is that I know that you and Mr. Thomas were involved in an incident late last night, during which time you removed your class ring. I also know that this incident resulted in a serious injury to Mr. Thomas that landed him in the Medical Wing.” She shrugged and winced. “I’m afraid I’ve little patience for this sort of thing, Meena. I’m a no-nonsense woman,” she separated her hands and raised her eyebrows, “so let’s just skip right to the part where you tell me how all of this came to pass.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have been worried about Chancellor Singh finding out about our run-in with the dangerous cult. As head of the school, surely she could be trusted to look out for my safety.
But then why did I feel so exposed? Madam Petrovich’s advice to keep my encounter with the cult a secret and to trust no one echoed through my brain. Would she have specified if she hadn’t intended her warning to extend to Chancellor Singh? I couldn’t say, but I decided to reveal as little information as possible without actually lying.
“Uh, well, I did take my ring off last night.” I fingered my ring and glanced away briefly, but quickly forced my hands to be still and returned my gaze to the Chancellor so as not to appear nervous or shifty.
Chancellor Singh tilted her head as her eyes widened. “And you’re aware that such an action is in direct violation of Broken Wand Academy’s rules?”
“Um, I guess so?” I grimaced, thrown off by the Chancellor’s accusatory tone. “I mean, I do remember you saying at the Choosing Ceremony that we were required to wear them at all times.” I scanned the bookshelf to my right before turning back to her. “But I didn’t realize it was, like, a very serious rule? Am I in trouble?”
She ignored my question and narrowed her eyes. “Why did you remove your ring, Meena?”
“I, well, there was a, uh.” I stumbled over my words, tripped up by Chancellor Singh’s frank intensity. I hadn’t thought anything of taking my ring off in the woods—partially because of the life-threatening situation, yes, but I also wouldn’t have expected it to be such a big deal. “It was kind of an emergency.”
“Ah, I see.” Chancellor Singh sat back in her chair, and I exhaled with relief as some of the tension eased from the room. Some, but not all. “And what exactly was the nature of this emergency?” She fixed me with her penetrating gaze, and I felt the same sensation I had during our first meeting in Professor Wallace’s office. Like she was peering into me.
I stared back at her, afraid to lie and certain that she would know it if I did, but also unwilling to divulge information that could put both Braden and me at risk.
“Well, like you said, Braden was hurt.” I held her gaze, though, in that moment I wanted nothing more than to look away and shrink down into the stiff-backed chair.
“Yes, we’ve established that Mr. Thomas was injured last night. The question is how?”
I glanced off again toward the bookcase on my right as I chewed my lip. There was no way I could answer her question truthfully without revealing what had really happened last night.
I looked back at Chancellor Singh. She watched me with a curious expression, and I wondered if it was a mistake not to trust her. Leia practically worshipped her, and the Chancellor had not done anything so far to imply malice or ill-intent. But something in my gut told me that the less she knew about last night, the better. I hated lying more than anything, but I didn’t feel that I had a choice.
“Professor Wallace wanted me to meet Braden yesterday, since he’s also a Proteus. Or, uh, Drifter? I don’t know, he barely explained anything to me.” My thoughts leapt around as I strained to construct a believable narrative.
“Yes, congratulations, by the way, Meena.” Chancellor Singh flashed her brilliant white teeth. “It’s a great honor to be named a Proteus. That’s the official term, though most students do refer to them as Drifters. In any case, we’re very excited to have a student of your gifts here.” Her smile faded and she gestured toward me. “Excuse me, please continue.”
“Yes, well, uh… Braden mentioned that people might target me, not only as a new witch but also as a Drifter. He said I might have some difficulty with other students, and I already have, so he was right about that.” My voice took on a very real tremor as I recalled my first run-in with Serenity, and I felt my story gathering steam as I followed the narrative thread.
“Yes, I heard about your tub incident. Embarrassing, I’m sure, but such things are not uncommon here.” Chancellor Singh raised her hands and smirked. “Comes with the territory of being a new witch, I’m afraid.”
“Right.” I pursed my lips, somewhat taken aback by the Chancellor’s casual dismissal of Serenity’s very real attack on my person. “Wait, so you knew about Serenity trying to boil me alive? Has she been punished?”
“Focus, Meena, we’re not here to discuss that.” Chancellor Singh waved my question away, holding up her hand to indicate that it wasn’t up for debate at the moment. “We are talking about what happened last night, with you and Mr. Thomas.”
I swallowed my frustration and continued with my false tale.
“So he offered to show me some stuff to defend myself, a couple of martial magic moves. I was hesitant at first. I didn’t think I needed it. But he told me that Serenity was probably just the beginning.” A stab of genuine fear knotted my stomach as I recalled Braden’s warning to me yesterday in his dorm. “Braden told me that once people found out I was a Drifter, I’d have a target on my back. That I wouldn’t believe how competitive people here could be, the things they would do to prove they were the best.” At least part of my story was true. “So I agreed to meet him in the woods last night so he could teach me a few basic things to protect myself.” I met Chancellor Sing’s narrowed, dark eyes with an even, composed gaze of my own. As we stared at one another, I found the ease with which I was lying directly to the head of my new school both horrifying and exhilarating.
“Yes? So, what?” Chancellor Singh raised one eyebrow and tilted her head, resting it again on her hand and tapping one finger against her cheek. “Are you telling me that this was a training accident?”
“Well, he pulled out a knife at one point.” I glanced away unconsciously, but quickly forced my eyes back to the Chancellor’s. “I told him it wasn’t a good idea, that someone might get hurt. But he’s very cocky, Braden.” The false grief in my voice almost sounded real even to me, and Chancellor Singh gave a little smirk, narrowing her eyes. “He assured me nobody would get hurt, that I needed to know what to do against an armed attacker. I didn’t think it was necessary, but he insisted. And that’s when he fell, right on the blade.” I looked away from the Chancellor and gave a shudder that was lent an air of legitimacy by my recollection of the sight of Braden’s awful wound, his blood draining into my infamous bathtub out of the deep gash in his abdomen.
Chancellor Singh contemplated me with her lips pursed, still tapping her finger against the side of her face. “He fell on his own knife, huh?”
“Well, I, uh, may have… pushed him?” I winced in feigned remorse, hoping to add some legitimacy to the story with a minor, falsified confession. “I didn’t mean to hurt him! I was only doing what he told me, but I guess maybe I hit him too hard? And he went sprawling down and let out this terrible shout. I thought he was joking at first, but he couldn’t get up, and when I turned him over there was just so much blood.” I clasped my hands over my face, again shocking myself with the conviction with which I delivered my insincere tale. “I just can’t believe it.” I looked up at the Chancellor with all the fake innocence I could muster. “He’s going to be okay, right?”
“Oh yes, Madam Petrovich assures me that he’ll make a full recovery in no time.” Chancellor
Singh waved her hand in a placating gesture, but she still considered me carefully through her dark eyes. Suddenly her expression shifted, her pursed lips giving way to a toothless smile. Her eyes softened, losing some of their intense perceptiveness. “Well, that’s not so bad as I’d imagined. Training accidents do happen, of course.” She shrugged. “I’m afraid that also comes with being a new witch—embarrassment and bodily harm.” She grimaced and quirked her head. “Unavoidable. Happens to all the best witches. There can be no progress without risk.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” My muscles relaxed as the tension eased from my body, and I had to strain to let out a huge sigh slowly and quietly so as not to give away my immense relief.
“So after Mr. Thomas injured himself, you, what?” She raised a brow and inclined her head. “Removed your ring and transported him and yourself to the bathroom in your and Mrs. Barrett’s room?”
I held her gaze, which had regained some of its intensity and suspicion. “Yes.”
“And you removed your ring why?” Her head remained slightly cocked as she drummed her fingers on her desk.
“Um, well, I remembered you saying that the rings would help control our powers while we were still learning to control them ourselves. And I guess in that moment it seemed like maybe I needed my powers to be out of control? Like they were when I accidentally, uh, transported myself to the dining hall.” I tried to appear casual as I watched her to gauge her response.
“Hmph.” She frowned. “So you intentionally removed your ring, with the understanding that it might result in an uncontrolled magical outburst?”
“Uh, yes?” I winced, apprehensive about where this line of questioning was headed.
Chancellor Singh pursed her lips and nodded her understanding. “Well, I do see that your intentions were in the right place. Unfortunately, removal of one’s class ring without the permission of a faculty advisor is a very serious offense,” her eyes widened, impressing the seriousness of the situation, “and a training accident is not an acceptable excuse.”
“I’m sorry, Chancellor, I didn’t realize it was such a big deal.” Despite the fact that I had just spent the last twenty minutes lying to Chancellor Singh’s face, the thought of being in big trouble on the first day of classes at my new school still horrified me.
“Maybe it’s my mistake.” Chancellor Singh gestured at herself. “Maybe I didn’t properly impress upon you the gravity of the situation at the Choosing Ceremony.” She spread her hands apart, speaking slowly and dramatically. “Let me take this opportunity to make myself clear now. While on campus, you are not to remove your ring for any reason.” Her eyes shone with a ferocity I had not seen before. “If something like what happened with Mr. Thomas happens again, you will use what magical skills you possess control over to heal him as best you can, or to contact someone who possesses the proper skills to assist you. If you do not possess the necessary skills to heal, or to contact someone who can heal, then you will have to carry him to safety, or run and fetch someone better equipped to handle the situation. If this results in the death of Mr. Thomas, then that is what happens. Under no circumstance are you to remove your ring without permission from either myself or Dean Wallace. Am I clear?”
I was left speechless by the intensity of the Chancellor’s message, and it took me a few moments to process what she was saying.
“So, I’m supposed to let someone die because I don’t know magic?” My shock turned to frustration as I considered the implications of this rule. “If I could use my cell phone, this wouldn’t be a problem. I mean, how do you expect me to just leave someone to bleed out because of some stupid rule?”
As soon as they left my mouth, I wished I could’ve taken the words back. Chancellor Singh’s jaw clenched, and I knew that I was testing her patience.
“This rule is in place not only for your safety, but for all of our safety.” The Chancellor strained to keep the animosity out of her voice, but much of the tension remained. “Yes, you successfully transported yourself and Mr. Thomas to your bathtub. Great. Lucky for you both that you didn’t open a breach to the middle of the Pacific Ocean.” She spread her arms apart, her volume rising. “Lucky for all of us that you didn’t open a breach into the middle of a baseball stadium, or onto the stage of a sold-out concert.” She narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice, though it lost none of its bite. “Because an outburst like that would put all of witchkind at risk, Meena. Sure, we can clean up a small mess here and there, but if we expose ourselves often enough, and in the wrong places, we’ll be right back to where we were three hundred years ago, tied together to stakes over bundles of kindling.”
Her eyes softened and she looked off, lost in reflection, before closing her eyes. We stayed silent for a while, her with her eyes closed and hands steepled under her chin, and me glancing around the room uncomfortably.
“I’m sorr”
She held up a hand to silence me, which was fine with me because I wasn’t really sure what to say anyway.
“It’s alright, Meena, it’s alright. I have to remind myself that you’ve only just found out about this part of yourself.” She tapped her hands together and opened her eyes again. They had lost their intensity and taken on a thoughtful glimmer as she held my gaze. “I know it’s not easy to come here directly from the outside world, but it is crucial that you abide by our rules. You may not understand them, but they are what has allowed us to remain undetected for so long.” Her eyes glistened, threatening tears. “You can’t imagine what it was like for us before. The fear. The hatred. Peaceful healers drowned, or burned alive, or chained up and left for the buzzards and vultures.”
A tear fell from her eye, running through her makeup and down her cheek in a black line. She wiped it away with the sleeve of her dress and took a deep breath, composing herself.
“For now, we must remain hidden. And in order to remain hidden, it is vital for our young, blossoming witches to abide by our rules as you learn to control your powers.” She seemed truly shaken at the recollection of the past persecution of witches, and I wondered what her personal connection to them was. “Understood?”
She leaned across the desk and held my gaze, and I saw a vulnerability in her that I hadn’t sensed before. Maybe my mistrust had been misplaced, because the emotional, passionate, sensitive woman across the desk from me seemed a lot more relatable than the detached, intense Chancellor that I had seen in our previous encounters.
I nodded my understanding, and would have been satisfied to leave it at that, but something she had said struck me.
“For now?” I didn’t want to press my luck, feeling that I had tried the Chancellor’s patience and understanding enough for one day. But I couldn’t help my curiosity.
She cocked her head and wrinkled her brow. “I’m sorry?”
“You said we had to remain hidden ‘for now’. What does that mean?” I pried gently, not wanting to disrupt the sense of peace that had settled over us.
“Did I?” Her brow creased and she pursed her lips. “Hmm.” Her expression returned to the intense but vaguely cheerful one that I was used to. “Perhaps I misspoke. It’s true that there may come a time when we can safely coexist with the general populations of non-mages.” She gave a casual wave, and I saw that our vulnerable, sincere moment had passed. “Unlikely, given human prejudice, but possible. Anyway, Meena, I’m sorry we had to have this little chat.” She grimaced and shrugged. “I don’t want to take up anymore of your lunch time than I already have. Please, go enjoy your break. You have History with Professor Pickwith next, yes?”
“Yep.”
“Healing with Madam Petrovich and history with Professor Pickwith.” She chuckled. “Not the most exhilarating start to your magical studies, I’m afraid. Not to worry. There will be plenty of excitement to come, you can bet on that.” She shot me an earnest gaze. “But do try to pay attention to our resident historian. You would do well to learn something of our history. Learning from the past is crucial to movi
ng forward.” She rose from her chair and extended her hand over the desk toward me.
I stood and grasped her hand, anxious to be out of the dim room. The stuffy, heavily scented air had begun to make me feel claustrophobic. “Thank you, Chancellor. I’ll do that.”
“And we have an understanding regarding the ring, yes?” Chancellor Singh dropped her chin and looked down at me as our linked hands moved up and down. Her gaze was severe and her grip a little too tight, and I wondered if it was just the authoritative handshake of a powerful woman, or something more threatening.
“Yes, Chancellor. It won’t happen again.”
She patted my hand before she released her grasp and resumed her chair.
I bounded down the stairs toward the promise of sunlight and fresh air as soon as the office door was closed behind me.
I processed the meeting as I reached the second floor, where Professor Wallace’s office was. Though she seemed willing enough to buy my story of Braden’s training accident, it was impossible to tell how much Chancellor Singh really knew about the events of last night.
I stopped dead on the second floor landing, struck by the recollection of something Professor Wallace had told me during our first meeting, when I had asked if Chancellor Singh could read minds.
“It’s nearly impossible to lie to the woman.”
I glanced up at the bottom of the staircase above me, back toward the Chancellor’s office, and wondered how dangerous a game I was playing by attempting to keep things from her.
Chapter 5
Chancellor Singh had been spot-on about one thing: my first day of classes had not been quite the exhilarating experience that one might have expected at Witch College. If not for the seemingly enchanted chalk that had scribbled unaided across the blackboards behind both Madam Petrovich and Professor Pickwith as they lectured, I could’ve mistaken the classes for somewhat odd community college course offerings.
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