Chapter Thirty Eight
Aftermath

“I don’t care why he did it. He got away, he’s still out there, and we need to find him and… bring him to justice. Who even cares why?”

“I care! The world, our world is going to come crashing down around us, there’s a reason for all of this, Ellen!”

“Don’t you raise your voice at me, Alastair,” Lady Lalonde said, pointing a finger in Lord Mangrove’s face. She had a bandage around her head and one arm in a sling. They were standing in what had been the Headmaster’s office. Magic had put the structure back up, but since turning back time was apparently not within the purview of magic — it would have been ridiculous if that had been the case — that office consisted of four walls, a ceiling, and all the furniture they’d been able to salvage. “You do not get to do that. Not here, especially not now.”

“There was no way for us to know he’d get through the barriers unnoticed,” Mangrove said. “And unless we know why he did all of this, we’re not getting to the bottom of how he did any of it, either.”

Lady Lalonde threw her hands up in frustration. “I don’t care about how either! He killed Vigours, and until we’re finished digging everyone out of the rubble, we won’t even know how many others have died! We need to stop him!”

“Stop him from doing what?” Lord Mangrove demanded. “I want justice as much as you do, but my first priority is the well-being of the children and the fallout of what happened.” Emily sat on a couch covered in dust, not sure what to do. She knew why she was there, of course, and her friends were all outside helping out with triage. Even with magic, a lot of injuries had been really bad. 

“Are you okay?” Jenna asked.

“Yeah,” Emily responded. “There’s a lot of shouting.”

“Then help me stop him hurting more people, you coward!” the Headmistress fired back, pacing back and forth. “You’re supposed to be a soldier, Alastair, or did you forget?”

“No, I didn’t,” Lord Mangrove responded icily. Her comments seemed to have struck a sour note. “But whether we like it or not, things have changed. Everything’s changed. But not, if I understand correctly, as much for you. Have they?”

“Don’t you start,” Ellen said, rolling her eyes. 

“I think now would be a good time to start, actually,” Lord Mangrove said, and he turned to look at Emily. His expression softened for a moment. “I think the children deserve that much, at least.”

“I’ve done what we’ve always done. The right thing.”

“Clearly,” Lord Mangrove said. “Miss Rosewood.”

The sound of his voice saying her name rang through her head like a bell. Lord Mangrove’s commanding presence wasn’t lessened by the fact that his clothing was torn, his jacket lost somewhere, and his forearms were a mess of scratches and bruises. “Yes, sir?”

“Do you understand what you did?” he asked. He didn’t seem angry or upset.

“Yes,” Emily said. “I think so.”

“She thinks s—” Ellen said in exasperation. “She’s a child who thought she was getting one over on an enemy. That’s all there is to it.”

“No, it isn’t,” Emily said. It was like her mouth had moved on its own accord. She’d just talked back to Headmistress Lalonde. Even Lady Ellen seemed shocked. “The… The Heart of Primaris blocked almost everyone in the world from ever being able to access magic, just so the remaining few could fight some kind of secret war against the Spirits. Without the Heart.”

Lord Mangrove crossed his arms and leaned against the remains of a desk, shooting the Headmistress a look that could have stripped paint. “You knew.” It wasn’t a question. Lady Lalonde’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t even look at him, instead just staring at Emily, making her feel less than safe.

“Do you have any idea—” Ellen started.

“Yes,” Emily interrupted her. “I do. And I’m not apologising either.” She stood up. “I did the right thing! Even if— Even if we weren’t just kids being made to fight someone else’s fight, wh— which we are, then it would have still been the right thing to do!” She waved out the window. “I thought it was really cool to be special and to be important and that we can do magic! But we’re not even making the world a better place!” She matched Lalonde’s glare and jutted her jaw forward. “If I hadn’t been one of the lucky few, I would’ve either still been made to look like a boy, or I would have been dead, wouldn’t I?”

Lalonde stepped forward, and opened her mouth, but Lord Mangrove cut in. “Yes,” Lord Mangrove said. “She would have. Don’t deny it.”

“If even one more person cuts me off today,” the Headmistress said with a voice like razor wire, “I’m going to start cutting things off myself. Alastair, we have spent our entire lives protecting the world. We’ve upheld traditions that trace back to the start of your family, to do what we had to!”

“And it was built on a lie!” Mangrove shouted. “You told me the Heart created magic! And like a fool, I believed you! How did you even know?!”

“Bring enough pieces together, anyone can figure it out,” Lalonde said, rolling her eyes. “That’s why they had to be kept separate. You saw what happened! Anyone who got their hands on it tried to change the world! That’s why we always shut them down!”

“I suppose we,” Lord Mangrove said, shooting Emily a quick glance, “appreciate change more than you do, then. Or is it just that you didn’t want to give up power?” He held up his hand, letting a little blue flame flicker in his hand. “You’re lucky Cunning didn’t take our magic, or our lives.”

“Have you seen the world out there, Mangrove?! What do you think they’ll do once they find out that just anyone can do magic? Do you think it’ll be a smooth transition? Or do you want to go out there and educate them? Will they be grateful, you think, that we kept this to ourselves for centuries, for millennia?!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Emily said. Ellen Lalonde’s lips were a thin, white line. She looked like she’d been slapped. Or like Emily was about to be. “I did the right thing.” Emily tried to stand her ground, but she could feel her hands, her legs shaking. “If you try to punish me, I’ll resist.”

“You’ll what?!” Lady Lalonde’s voice was getting raspy. “If I decide you deserve to learn a lesson to fully appreciate the consequences of your actions—”

“Then a qualified teacher will teach her,” Lord Mangrove said. “Or what, you’re going to put her over your knee?” He took another step forward, putting himself between the two of them. Emily was glad for it.

“She needs to respect the people that saved her,” Lalonde shrieked. “We gave you a second chance, we gave you a home, we gave you a life!”

“Uh, Jenna,” Emily said. “She’s getting really mad.”

“Lalonde? On our way.” Emily felt the little tingle in the back of her head that told her Jenna was getting closer, and she felt her perspective shift as she turned back into a cat.

“See! Even that! You can change your shape, and you’re just going to take that for granted? You ungrateful little—” Mangrove stepped forward to stop her, but she was way ahead of him. Bands of magic wrapped around his wrists and mouth, and she almost casually tossed him backwards. “You haven’t been worth the trouble since you got Vigours killed.” Her hand on her brooch, she approached Emily unobstructed. “Now I’m going to see if there’s any of the Heart left in that mind of yours.”

“Jenna? He—”

Emily suddenly felt herself being lifted in the air, and tried to reach out with her telekinesis, but she wasn’t fast enough. There was a pressure on her forehead, and her senses were being overwhelmed. The Headmistress was doing something to her vision, it was hard to think, like a cloud of fog that had suddenly drifted into her head. If Jenna was talking to her, she couldn’t hear it.

And then the pressure fell away. A bubblegum-pink sphere surrounded her, and she fell down again. Well, just a little bit. She was snatched out of the air and wrapped in Jenna’s arms. “How dare you, Ellen,” Charlie Ferman said, standing in front of both of them. 

“Get out of the way, Ferman. That child has—”

“—gone through enough.” Charlie glared at her. Dennis and Simon and their Wizards also burst into the room, Sarah and Leah closely behind them. “Step away, and I might think about forgetting about all of this and chalking it up to a trauma-induced episode. Drop him.” Jacob, Benjamin and Leah all had their focuses trained on her. Sarah, big fluffy Arctic Fox, ran over and shoved her face into Emily’s

Lady Lalonde scoffed. “A traum— Hah! That’s rich, coming from you!” She snapped her fingers and Lord Mangrove fell to his knees, rubbing his wrists. “Little Emily has destroyed the school and might as well have doomed the world, but I’m the one having an episode? Go to hell, Ferman.” She glared at the Headmaster. There seemed to be tears in her eyes. “To hell with all of you.” She touched her brooch, and disappeared.

Immediately, Charlie spun around and knelt down next to Jenna and Emily. “Are you okay?” Emily poked her head out from Jenna’s hug and nodded. 

“I think so,” she said. “I’m sorry for the trouble.” Before she could get the last of the words out, Charlie had ever so gently pressed her on the nose. 

“No apologies necessary, Rosewood. You know that by now. You genuinely didn’t do anything wrong.” She stood up and put her hands on her hips, then looked at Lord Mangrove. “I think?” He nodded in confirmation.

“You okay?” Sarah whispered. “Really okay?” 

“Really okay,” Emily whispered back, and she saw Sarah starting to wag her tail.

“Things are going to be very difficult, very soon,” he said. “You might want to contact the rest of the Afterlife Social Services. We’re going to need all hands on deck for this.”

“Agreed,” Charlie said. “I’ve already got colleagues on their way here. Get these kids somewhere safe.” She looked at Benjamin and Jacob. “I’m taking a bunch of them to the Unfamiliar House until we figure out what to do next. Mangrove, you best start working on a public declaration. When Spirits come through, the world won’t know what’s happening.”

“I do. Where do I even start?”

“Figure it out,” Charlie said, matter-of-factly. “You’ve always been good with speeches, Alastair. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get these—” she gestured at Emily and Jenna, “—somewhere warm and safe. Thanks to Miss Rosewood, they’re no longer ‘military personnel’ and this is something I can actually help with.” Sarah’s tail was reaching terminal velocity. Jenna put her down, and immediately Dennis, Simon and Sarah all crowded around her, trying to make sure she was okay.

“Sor—” Emily started.

“Don’t you dare,” Charlie interrupted with the widest grin. “I’m proud of you.” She turned back to Mangrove. “Get to work, Alastair. The kids will be fine.” Lord Mangrove nodded as Charlie started ushering the kids outside. Emily almost couldn’t believe she was going to go back to the Familiar house. The past few weeks had been a blur. She looked forward to a bit of calm and quiet. 

As they left, the Headmaster rubbed his face and looked around the poor excuse for a room. “I’m going to need a pen,” Emily heard him say.

Elamimax

EDIT: it's not over!! there's like 2 more chapters! I'm dum!

 

Guess what, if you did, and you really want to support me, you can buy a copy here, for ebook or a physical copy :D

There will likely be a sequel, of course, but until then, consider reading one of my other novels or go to my patreon and read what I'm working on now.

i'll see y'all in the next one! :)

Ela