Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ender
If Miss Lee—Bernila Galang—whoever she was—really was my grandmother, it didn’t answer any of the questions. It didn’t explain why she had attacked Selene or why she had hidden her identity from me.
I ran a hand through my hair as I paced the sidewalk outside the academy staff living quarters where Miss Lee was being detained.
My entire body pulsed with pain, my head threatened to burst, and the wound underneath the bandage on my shoulder was a nuisance.
Nurse Adair had given me pain medication and a healing elixir before letting me leave the infirmary with a promise I would return in the morning, which I had falsely granted.
Headmaster John exited through the front door of the staff quarters. His tan dress pants were still covered in dust from the attack.
“You can go in now,” he said.
I nodded and entered the building as the headmaster led me through the halls. It was similar to the setup of the dorm except the doors were farther apart. Flowers and plants had been pressed into the bland walls like a book, but there was nothing extraordinary like inside the main building.
We passed a door secured by guards and descended a flight of stairs.
Four individual glass rooms were on either side of the underground level.
Their glass glowed a faint green—the same as the magic-infused handcuffs that acted as a magic nullifier.
I had never been inside the staff quarters and hadn’t known an area of this sort even existed.
My supposed grandmother sat on a bench in one of the cells and watched me, her cheeks hollow and eyes dull. I stopped in front of her cell, openly studying her.
“I’ll be right outside.” Headmaster John stepped outside, where the guards were.
“So, Miss Lee, Bernila … or should I say, Grandma.” I needed to say something to break the silence. “Are you going to tell me why you tried to kill Selene? Was the dark mage your doing?”
Miss Lee didn’t flinch at my question, as if she had been expecting it, but her eyes briefly softened and then hardened again.
“No. I had nothing to do with that foul dark mage.” Dark mage hissed off her tongue with disdain as her voice filtered through the glass. “As far as Selene, yes. I tried to kill her.”
My fists clenched as hot anger fueled my blood.
The images of Sal’s bruised neck and wrists flashed in my mind along with my internal promise that I would tear apart whoever did that to her.
It didn’t change that Miss Lee had been like family to me or was truly my blood relative—she wasn’t my family.
“You had no right.” My voice dropped, surprising me with its venom.
Miss Lee swallowed—a short break in her defiance. “I had every right,” she said calmly as she straightened. I began to pace, ignoring the sharp throb from the wound in my shoulder. “Selene Thomas will get you killed. Now more than ever. I wasn’t sure …” She trailed off.
“You weren’t sure of what? What she was?” I stopped pacing in front of the glass, my gaze pinning her.
“It’s not just what she is; it’s who she is.” She paused, as if calculating what to say next. “Dark mages are an abomination. High-level ether mages are dangerous—it’s more tempting for them to turn.”
“Selene will never become a dark mage.” My teeth ground against each other so hard that I wouldn’t be surprised if I chipped a tooth. “You wanted her dead because … what … she maybe, someday, will turn into a dark mage? Anyone can turn into a dark mage if their soul turns dark enough.”
“You don’t know who she is.”
“That sounds more like a what she is reason because you absolutely don’t know who she is.” I took a deep breath, trying to keep my still healing magic from bursting.
“I do know who she is. I knew the moment she arrived at Fives Academy.” Miss Lee stood, moving a little closer to the glass.
“She’s the reason your parents—my only son and daughter-in-law—are dead.
Her mother led them to your parents. Instead of staying to help them, she fled while your dad’s magic was siphoned until he withered away.
Your mom had hidden you before they gutted her.
” She stared at me, studying my face. “You have your mother’s hazel eyes, you know. ”
I stood there, confused. “My parents died in a robbery.”
“That was the story the news told, which was mendacious. The dark mages were following Anna Thomas. All traces of Anna’s existence were hard to find, besides what little remains here at the academy.
That day they ran into her, they had also found your father.
They must’ve assumed he was an easier target.
Your mother had tried to protect him. She paid with her life. ”
“My dad was an ether mage?” My heart was pounding in my ears.
“The council sent you to the States with a new name after their death. I thought your new identity would keep you safer than being with me. They had kept you hidden at their Canadian homestead and school. I came to the academy before you would’ve enrolled, assuming their plan would be to send you to this esteemed academy—the same school the person who had killed your parents attended.
I kept an eye on you and to see if your magic had or would emerge, but it never did.
” Miss Lee took another step forward. “Your mother, father, and I lived a quiet life, hiding the majority of the time. I didn’t know if Daniel’s”—my heart skipped a beat at my dad’s name—“magic had manifested in you. It wasn’t until the dark mage siphoned your magic that I confirmed it. ”
“What do you mean?”
Dark mages could only siphon from ether mages.
It was the main reason ethers were thought to be extinct.
I had believed them to be gone, until Selene.
They were rare to begin with, but dark mages had been hunting them for centuries, and about two decades ago, they were to have thought to have been killed off.
The only natural enemy of dark mages were dragons—enchantments didn’t work on them, and they warded off negative magic like a shield.
They were also known to be extinct.
“You understand what it means,” she said.
Deep down, I did. I am an ether mage. But I didn’t want to process that right now. The entire kill Selene overshadowed that thought.
“Even if any of what you are saying is true, Selene had nothing to do with any of it. That was sixteen years ago.” I kept the other swirling emotions at bay.
“I stopped once I fully realized what she was to you.” She watched me, like I was supposed to know what that meant.
The door opened and Headmaster John strode through.
“One of our guards needs to talk to Bernila.” He stayed near the door. “I have to cut your session short.”
“Did you know you had a level five ether mage in your academy?” Miss Lee pinned the headmaster with a glare—a side of her I had never seen.
“After all, you run the tests. Not only did you let one ether mage slip through, a powerful one albeit, you failed to detect a second one.” Her eyes softened as her gaze drifted to me.
“You must protect him. They’ll only keep coming.
Especially now, and especially if she is here. ”
“Miss Lee.” The headmaster pinned her with a deadly glare.
“You managed to keep your identity hidden in your background check and for the duration of your employment. That alone is a crime. I understand your need to protect family; however, that doesn’t justify your lies.
The reason you are being transferred to a containment facility under the council and will remain there without release is a result of your attempted homicide.
I take the security and safety of all our students very seriously. ”
Headmaster John pivoted away from her cell and ushered me out.