Chapter 39
My footsteps echo down the wide, dark stone hallways as I walk to the meeting room where my life is about to change irrevocably.
Max never showed this morning after her suspiciously early disappearance from our room, leaving me to deal with my final moments on campus alone.
Even though she stayed up all night with me, consoling me and providing whatever comfort she could, I can’t help but feel disappointed that she wasn’t around to bid me goodbye.
I can barely breathe as I approach the large wood door with a metal plaque beside it designating the conference room number. Runes are carved into the dark wood, though I’m unsure of what they mean.
With trembling hands, I raise my fist and knock. The door swings open a couple seconds later, and Chancellor Aldrich stands on the other side.
“Please come in.” Her expression is neutral and her voice sharp. I resist the urge to scream at her as I walk into the conference room—which is triple the size of an average classroom—and take in the panel of people facing me.
The board members are all here, ready to cast their judgment on me for a crime I didn’t commit.
I zero in on an older couple seated just to the left of center.
My grandparents. Max and I had searched the library after Delilah’s revelation for pictures of them and managed to find just one.
Charles, my grandfather, has wide shoulders, a square jaw, and steel-gray hair.
Melinda, my grandmother, has black hair streaked with silver and sharp features.
I’d guess them to be in their late sixties, every bit the proper couple that fit right in on this panel of admittedly supercilious-looking board members.
I don’t know why I didn’t think about the fact that I’d be seeing them here, but it makes sense.
What doesn’t quite make sense is the pang in my chest when I look at them.
I trust my dad’s letter, but it still hurts to know they’re my family and I can’t have a relationship with them.
Do they know who I am? Probably not, considering their bored expressions.
Chancellor Aldrich closes the door with a heavy thud and saunters to a table off to the side in the front of the room where two others sit.
I recognize them as faculty members, but I can’t quite remember what their titles are.
The Chancellor gestures for me to take a seat in the one chair that’s isolated in the center of room and facing the panel of board members.
Guess she wants to put me on display for this public humiliation.
“Before we begin,” the Chancellor says, “I’d like to introduce our board members.
” She rattles off their names, though I’m not sure why she’s bothering.
The only other people in the room who aren’t on the board are me and the two other administrators.
However, I do note her smug expression and intentional eye contact with me when she introduces Charles and Melinda Langley.
The only other name I catch is Mr. Escher, the president of the board and former vice president of the Fae academy.
He’s unsettlingly handsome, almost too perfect in his appearance, with dark hair and an intimidating, sharp gaze.
I understand now the descriptions I’ve heard of the Fae being unsettlingly striking.
When the Chancellor finishes the introductions, her gaze lands on me.
“And this is Vivian Harver. She is the student on trial for expulsion today. Shall we begin?”
The president of the board nods. There’s something familiar about his features that I can’t quite place, but I can’t bring myself to care too much. I’ll be forgetting everyone and everything about this place soon enough.
The Chancellor opens a folder before rounding the table and standing sideways in a way that allows her to see both the board members and myself.
“Our meeting today is to address the expulsion of Vivian Harver due to serious allegations regarding your conduct at Arcadia Academy. Specifically, her lack of magical control and potential involvement in the death of student Mitchell Hansley. The evidence we’ve gathered is substantial.
” She approaches the board members and distributes photographs.
I can’t see the details, but I can make out from the distance that they’re photos of the strange space in the forest and of Mitchell’s body.
The expressions of the board members as they pass around the photos range from disgusted to curious to downright angry.
“As you can see,” the Chancellor continues, “Mitchell Hansley’s body was discovered deep in the forest in an area that has been affected by unsanctioned natural magic.
Miss Harver, a Naturalist, has admitted to visiting this area more than once, and traces of her magical signature were found in the surrounding plants. ”
“What does that even mean?” I ask. “Yes, I was out there, but I didn’t hurt Mitchell. The only reason he was discovered was because I was out there while you ignored his brother’s concerns.”
“We’ll get to your statement in a moment,” Chancellor Aldrich snaps. “I’d like to present the rest of my findings.”
She slips two more papers from the folder and passes one of them to the man in the center.
“The toxicology report,” she states. “As you can see, Mr. Hansley’s death was determined to be lethal poisoning from neurotoxins derived from Conium maculatum, otherwise known as—”
“Poison hemlock,” I whisper in sync with Chancellor Aldrich’s declaration.
“This is a highly toxic plant that can affect the nervous and cardiovascular systems and result in respiratory failure. And while this plant does grow naturally in our area, it has been reported that Miss Harver has had unusual access to one of the restricted areas of the academy greenhouse. Multiple witnesses have provided verbal and written reports of seeing you in the greenhouse with Dr. Vale, who happens to be the only professor with a key to this particular restricted area, as it relates to his research.”
She distributes yet another paper to the panel.
“He’s been tutoring me!” I argue. “My Affinity is Naturalism, and I haven’t had any magical training up until I started attending here, and he was kind enough to offer to help.”
“But you have had access to the greenhouse after hours, correct?”
I deflate. “Yes.”
And you are the only person you know of who has been in that particular area of the woods where his body was found?”
“Yes, but—”
“The truth is,” Chancellor Aldrich interrupts, turning her attention back toward the board members. “Vivian is the only student we are aware of who had means, opportunity, and motive to poison Mitchell Hansley.”
“I had no motive to poison him!” I shout, my voice cracking. “Why would I ever want to kill someone, let alone someone I hardly know?”
One of the board members, a bald man with a long, gray beard, chimes in. “Actually, we have a witness who claims otherwise. A student came forward to report that you had, in fact, made romantic advances toward Mr. Hansley, and that those advances were rejected.”
Confusion muddles my thoughts. Maybe someone saw my friendliness with AJ and made a mistake? Then I remember the extracurricular fair and my mistaking Mitchell for AJ.
“I have never made romantic advances toward Mitchell. I do, however, know someone who’s insecure enough to mistake my friendliness toward him—when I confused him for his twin brother—as a romantic advance. Your witness wouldn’t happen to be Clarissa, would it?”
An uncomfortable silence fills the room.
I stand, a sliver of confidence sparking inside me. I still don’t have high hopes for my future here, but at the very least, I won’t go out without a fight.
“Clarissa has had a vendetta against me all semester, and I’m still not quite sure why.
She’s the TA for my Intro to Magic course, and she’s gone out of her way to make my life difficult.
She even gave me a failing grade on my midterm that Professor Showen had to override while admitting that Clarissa was in the wrong.
You can ask her yourself. But I’m good friends with Mitchell’s twin brother, AJ, and I’ve hardly ever said two words to Mitchell. ”
“That doesn’t change the other facts of this matter,” Chancellor Aldrich states.
“I had no motive to kill Mitchell; I have never had access to the greenhouse without Dr. Vale’s supervision, and even if I had, hemlock grows naturally on this island; and my magical signature was only out in the woods because there were unidentified mushrooms that I had hoped I’d be able to get better insight on with my magic. ”
“The mushrooms have been taken care of,” The Chancellor snaps, moving on to her next statement without pause.
“But that’s the last point I was planning on getting to: your magic.
You yourself stated that you weren’t aware of your abilities until recently, and when you were admitted to Arcadia Academy, it was under the assumption that you’d learn to control your power.
We have documentation from our admissions office that your initial manifestation of magic resulted in a man being killed. Is that correct?”
Nausea rolls through my stomach. “That’s not relevant; I was in danger, and I couldn’t control—”
“That’s exactly the point,” she interrupts. “You couldn’t control your magic, and it resulted in a man’s death. You continued to struggle with controlling your magic throughout this semester, which I believe is why you sought out Dr. Vale for tutoring, yes?”
Before I can answer, the door to the conference room slams open with a force so heavy that everyone jumps.
Alaric strides in, and behind him, Max, Callista, and Delilah follow suit with their heads held high.
My knees wobble at the sight of them, but I manage to stay standing.
“This hearing is closed to outside parties,” the Chancellor barks out.