Everyone had filed into the assembly hall in a sort of hushed silence. Odd rumbles of whispers sounded off at intervals around the room. It seemed wrong to be happy right now. Wrong to act like everything was normal. But fuck me if I had any idea how I was supposed to be acting. Headmaster Farsight stepped up to the podium of the stage. He was dressed in a black suit with a black shirt and a black tie. He looked different to the few times that I had spoken with him. Older even. He cleared his throat and then glanced around the room at all of the faces waiting for him to speak. No one had to ask for silence. No one wanted to gossip or talk over him at a time like this. A stack of note cards were held in one of his hands. He looked down at them before clenching his fist with them inside and dropping them to the podium top. It looked like a million thoughts and feelings crossed his face at once before he took a deep breath and cast his eyes to the ceiling. I know exactly how you feel but there is definitely not anyone up there that’s helping us out right now.
“Thank you for gathering here with me at such short notice. I know that you are all confused and scared right now. What has happened today at this academy is nothing short of a tragedy. There are people who would have me tell you that nothing like this has ever happened before and that you are safe here at the academy. I don’t want to lie to you. You deserve to know the truth.” He paused for a moment looking around the edges of the room. It was almost like he was waiting to see if anyone was going to stop him. “The demons have infiltrated our realm.” Gasps sounded around the room and hushed hurried whispers chattered animatedly. “This is the fourth incident that I am aware of. They are moving against us. We do not officially know their plan but with the attacks here and those in the human realm we have to assume the worse. We lost nine students today. Nine students that were cut down before they had a chance to have a life. Nine students that were brutally taken from us by something that was sent to
infiltrate the academy and cause chaos. If it was not for the swift actions of four of our own students the losses would have been much higher.” I felt his eyes rest on me but I didn’t dare move. This was the most information that we were ever likely to get about what was going on. “I can’t promise you that you are safe at the academy. I can’t promise you that you are safe anywhere. The demons should not have been able to enter our realm yet they did. The demons should not have been able to infiltrate the wards of the academy yet they did. The only thing that I can promise you is that I will do everything that is in my power to keep you safe. I will do everything that I can to train you to try and keep yourself safe. I will not rest until this threat is extinguished. I will not rest until our loss has been avenged.” He was gripped the podium so tightly that it almost seemed like he would break his fingers. He was clearly feeling the loss of these students and the guilt of having let them down. It also seemed unlikely that he was supposed to be telling us this. I hoped that he wasn’t about to lose his job for this. Selfishly I needed him to help him solve me the mystery that was my magic.
Everyone shuffled in their seats. The atmosphere had changed drastically. Some of the students actually seemed excited and hurried conversations were being whispered back and forth. What was wrong with them? People were dead. Their friends were dead. The headmaster was clearly done. I mean was there really anything left to say. He looked around the room. Fuck this shit. This wasn’t a party. I stood up and strode out and I could hear my guys following behind me. Sykes was grumbling. “That’s some fucked up shit man. We were literally skidding around in their friend’s blood only hours ago and now … what … they’re all fucking excited about it.”
We walked back to our room in silence and then sat around, not speaking, just looking around. I felt lost. I didn’t know what to do. It seemed like a complete betrayal to those who had died to be happy, to just live.
