“But why can’t I speak on my own behalf?” I felt obstinate; those men tried to kill my friends.
“Haven’t you been through enough? Besides the trial will take place in Romania.”
“Romania?” I blurted out, much louder than I had intended. “What does Romania have to do with what happened here… in Nebraska? Isn’t there something about jurisdiction or international law or something?” I was now completely confused. Surely a Romanian court system could care less about what happened to a bunch of teenagers in the middle of America.
“They will not be tried by a Romanian court system,” Principal Saint once again answered the questions in my head and I was sure now that he was reading my thoughts. “We have our own judicial system and they will answer to us. Like I said, their fate, I’m sure, will be much worse than any human justice system is prepared to give them, trust me,” Principal Saint looked down at his shoes and shook his head slightly as if ashamed.
“Ok, I have no idea what you are talking about,” I looked at Aunt Syl, hoping she would shed some light on this bewildering conversation. “You are really starting to freak me out.”
“It’s alright Eden. You need to start trusting me,” he approached the bed and pulled my desk chair closer so that he could sit near me. My aunt stood up and crossed the room to look out my window. My throat began to close in nervous anticipation. “Sylvia would you make us some tea? This might be harder than I imagined.” Aunt Syl left the room silently and obeyed.
“How do you know what’s been happening to me? How do you know what I’m thinking? What do you mean by our justice system?” my questions tumbled out quickly and all at once. Principal Saint obviously knew much more about what was happening to me than I did.
“What is happening to you is completely normal,” when I rolled my eyes he continued, “Well it’s completely expected anyway. It’s completely expected for someone in your position,” he clarified. “You see Eden; you are special, very special.”
“If by special you mean crazy and this is some sort of weird intervention then just let me know where you are sending me and get on with it!” I couldn’t hold back my tears this time; they came in waves of choking sobs. All of my fears and anxiety finally manifested themselves in a very real manner. The strange things that had been happening to me and the inexplicable things I was responsible for were not normal, but more than that, they were scary.
“You are not crazy,” Principal Saint replied a little disdainfully, but even more impatiently. “You did the only thing that anyone would expect you to do and that was to protect yourself and your friends. From what I’ve heard it was a very dangerous situation; you are lucky to be alive,” he said this with finality, as though this should be enough. “And I will say it again, you are not crazy. You drained those men of their magic; it was not a pretty task, but a necessary one,” he paused to let his words sink in. “I’m sure the magnitude of force you used on those men felt like murder, it probably felt worse to them, but Talbott was able to revive them. They are in custody now and soon we will find out what their exact purpose was. Then we will know why they attacked you children…. although I am sure I already have a reason in mind.”
“Drained them of their magic? What are you talking about?” I asked, highly irritated. I thought I was the crazy one? My emotions were at a level I had never experienced before and I felt as if I were on the verge of a breakdown; maybe I’d been on the verge for a while and this was finally the breaking point I’d been waiting for.
“Yes Eden, magic. I am sure you are aware that you are different from other humans, that you possess a set of skills that appear…. super-human. We have all been a witness to your erratic and unexplainable behavior; and after last night you can no longer deny it to yourself. I had hoped that somehow through your experiences you would become aware of what your powers are capable of and see that others around you possess the same set of skills. However, I see now how stubborn and self-absorbed you can be and can wait no longer. If something were to happen like this again, you need to be aware of what you are capable of,” he was a stern man, and I didn’t know whether to feel offended, shocked, or like a fool. This had to be some type of joke.
“This is not a joke,” he said louder, and with more conviction. “Open your eyes, Eden,” he shook his head and I knew he was frustrated with me.
“Amory, please, she’s just a child,” my aunt entered the room again carrying a tray of hot tea. She handed me a steaming cup and I took it from her gratefully. “This is new to her, she’s never been around anything your people can do until now; of course she’s going to deny it, to her it doesn’t make sense,” she walked over to hand Principal Saint his cup of tea, but turned back to address me soothingly, “It didn’t make sense to me either the first time I saw what your people could do,” Aunt Syl sat back down with me on the bed and put an arm across my shoulders. I knew that I should feel comforted by her gesture, but my mind was still reeling.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, my head spinning.
“Eden, I am not your real aunt,” Aunt Syl began. And Principal Saint gave a small chuckle. “You were given to me at a very young age after your parents had disappeared, I never knew them; I have always told you that, and that has always been true. But you see, we’re different, you are extremely special and I am only human,” she smiled at me and something stirred deep inside my soul, something that told me I should listen closer.
“You keep saying that I’m special, that I’m different, that I’m not crazy, but what does that mean?” I demanded; it was my turn to become impatient.
“Like I said earlier, you possess a set of skills that make you more than human, that make you different,” Principal Saint rejoined the conversation.
“If you’re talking about how I am able to burn down school buildings, or create tidal waves, or make things explode, then yes, I suppose I do possess a certain set of skills; but the last thing I wanted was for any of that to happen,” I folded my arms across my chest and shook my head. I was relieved in a sense that someone would finally be able to tell me what had been happening to me; but even more, I was angry that they felt the need to wait this long.
“Well, I suppose that’s part of it. But a better example would be what happened last night,” Principal Saint’s tone had softened. “You see all of the things that happened before, when your school flooded, or burned down, or you made a trashcan explode in the theater, oh yes, we know about that, those were all manifestations of your magic. Eden, you have refused to use your powers, you continue to ignore their very existence. Because of that, the magic builds up inside of you and forces you to use it in less than ideal situations. Last night when you finally used your magic, instead of letting it explode meaninglessly, you saw what it could finally do; what you could finally do.”
“You’re saying all of the terrible things I have caused could have been avoided if I had been using my magic all along?” I cringed as I used the word “magic;” as if it were a real thing. “All of this could have been avoided if we would have just had this conversation a long time ago?” I was livid. I thought about the three schools I closed down before Kingsley and winced, knowing it could all have been prevented.
“You’re right, dear,” Aunt Syl rubbed my back gently, in an attempt to soothe my boiling anger. “We had no idea those things would happen though. And we certainly never expected them to keep happening. You see, you are the first of your kind to ever be raised apart. We knew the magic would manifest eventually, we planned to deal with it when the time came. When it did appear however, it was so much stronger then we could ever have anticipated. We weren’t quite sure what to do, and we definitely weren’t sure if it was safe to integrate you into your kind. Finally we made the decision to send you to Kingsley, but it was a last resort, and even then you were in such strong denial. Magic was happening all around you, people were constantly reading your thoughts and you still refused to see the truth about who you are. We were not sure how to approach the subject.”