Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ender
The headmaster and Priscilla had decided a night in an actual bed instead of the plane chairs would do everyone some good before we left Singapore.
I had been sure we would be headed back to Fives Academy, but I imagined that was a conversation Priscilla and the headmaster would have had—and then they’d had to persuade Selene.
The four-star hotel’s floor gleamed of marble, but I wondered if it was real.
Wood panels lined the walls from the floor to the vaulted white ceiling.
We were quiet as we headed to the front desk with our bags.
Headmaster John spoke to the concierge—in Mandarin.
Turning to us, he explained that I would be staying in a room with him, and Selene would stay with Priscilla—undoubtedly because Selene would be uncomfortable with her newfound father.
Glancing at Selene next to me, I tried to read her expression. Her lips were pressed together as she watched her father face the reception desk. I leaned over her shoulder.
“You know,” I whispered, “we just traveled alone. You’d think he wouldn’t be so concerned about splitting us up.”
A hint of a smile formed on her lips and she blushed, sending my heart into a frenzy. I wished we weren’t in separate rooms.
“We have our keys.” The headmaster turned around and held up two matte grey rectangular cards.
While everyone’s backs were turned, I took a deep breath.
Prior to arriving at the hotel, I had visited my parents’ grave and Selene had made her dreaded phone call to her sister, filling her in on everything.
The image of the smooth headstone of my parents’ shared monument had imbedded itself in my brain.
Someone had been taking care of the grounds, and the grass had been cut around their stone.
Daniel Galang and Maria Galang were each engraved in cursive writing with a knot underneath, along with their birthdates and day they died.
Priscilla had shown me a picture of my parents—the only one she could find—but it didn’t feel real until we were standing in front of their grave.
Growing up, I had been told my parents were not into photography and hadn’t kept photos, even their own.
At the time, I thought I understood. I was a child who didn’t care much for his picture being taken, but now, I realized it had been suspicious.
There might have been a subconscious part of me that didn’t want to ask questions that had answers I didn’t want to know.
After a quiet ride in the elevator, we found our connecting rooms. I tossed my bag onto the queen bed closest to the window, and it landed softly on the comforter.
The headmaster’s familiar had already claimed the bed closest to the hallway.
I frowned at the locked latch on the adjoining door to Selene’s room.
“The lock will be unlocked, but the door will remain shut at night.” The headmaster didn’t look up as he glared out the window, the setting sun turning his hair a slight orange. He didn’t need to explain the reasoning—if his daughter was attacked, he needed to be able to get to her.
“Sir,” I said out of respect, “I still don’t understand. Why did you let her leave the academy if it’s the safest place for her?”
“Have you ever had a dog?” He faced me, closing the curtains as he turned.
“No?” Priscilla didn’t have time for a dog, and my training kept me far too busy—though I would’ve made time and asked her frequently for one.
I internally laughed at the thought of Mr. Scott frowning at all of the dog poop in the yard and muddy paw prints next to my own shoe prints on the kitchen floor.
“If a dog wants to run but you don’t want them to run, what do you do?”
“Put the dog on a leash.” If he was going to say Selene was a—
“Yes.” He clasped his hands in front of him.
Despite his dress pants, collared shirt, and relaxed posture, he radiated power—not magical power, but power in knowledge.
“You then walk the dog outside and it pulls and pulls, causing itself to choke. If you take them off the leash, they’ll run, but they are no longer choking.
They now face the challenges of the weather, traffic, hunger, but they will acquire new knowledge and do not feel restrained. Most of them come home.”
“Selene is not a dog.” I narrowed my eyes at his comparison. “Your daughter is not a dog.”
“No.” The headmaster shook his head. “Sal most definitely is not a dog. But keeping her at the academy would ensure her own chaos and internal struggles. Sal was the initial target. In her mind, keeping her distance from Vivian would keep the dark mages away. If she wanted to leave, she would, unless I put her in a holding cell. She is brilliant and would do anything to keep her sister out of harm’s way. ”
I looked at the small flat-screen TV. His use of the word sister threw me off. Knowing the truth, it was hard to hear him say it.
“And now that she knows what happened, you think she’ll go back?” The truth didn’t change the danger following her.
John glanced at the carpet, then back at me. “I think she’s torn. While the dark mage after her could give chase, it could also go for a target that’s not hiding.”
“Vivian.”
“Yes.” John nodded. “Out here, Selene could be found by dark mages. They can find you too.” He paused, letting that information sink in.
I still didn’t believe I was an ether mage.
“But if it is the dark mage who killed her aunt and uncle who is after her—which we have reason to believe—the better tactical plan would be to go after what she treasures and would do anything for, if it is an easier target.
A dark mage may have a dead soul, but it does not mean they have lost their intellectual capabilities.
“Plus,” the headmaster continued, “we believe there is someone inside the academy after her.”
I glanced back at him. “You mean someone my grandmother may or may not be involved with.”
“Possibly.”
“She escaped,” I said.
“Yes—once she was out of our custody.” He nodded. He started to say more but there was a knock on the door connecting our rooms.
The headmaster strode over to the door, unlocking the silver latch and opening it—the heavy wood would not keep a strong mage out. Priscilla stood on the other side with Selene behind her. Selene clutched her mom’s white hoodie in her hands, the ghost visible.
“Sal would like to see you, Ender.” Priscilla’s gaze landed on me.
She had taken the news about us being soul-bound surprisingly well and vowed not to disclose the information to Selene.
She had, however, encouraged me to tell Selene soon, and there was no doubt the look she was giving me now was indicating that tonight would be as good a time as any.
She had said bonds like this were sacred and rare, and leaving the other half in the dark could end badly.
“What?” Selene asked the headmaster, who had been smiling at her.
“I gifted that hoodie to your mom in good fun. She was essentially a ghost to the world.” His expression softened and his eyes glistened as if he were somewhere else; another memory perhaps. “She adored it.”
“Oh.” Selene held the hoodie tighter, shifting her weight from foot to foot. “Can we walk the hotel?” She asked, changing the topic.
Headmaster John looked at her.
“Do not leave the building,” he finally said.
“Not that I plan on running, but you let me travel across the world and now you’re tightening the restrictions?” Selene put a defiant hand on her hip.
“You were never alone.” The headmaster’s expression didn’t change. “You have two hours, and Aura goes with you.”