A Tale of Magic... (28 page)

The girls climbed down from the three-headed horse and looked up at the knight in awe.

“Thank you for saving us,” Brystal said.

“Yeah, and thanks for the lift home,” Lucy said. “I’d give you a tip but I’m out of cash.”

“What’s your name, sir?” Brystal asked.

The knight didn’t reply, but Brystal didn’t take it personally. She had a sneaking suspicion the knight was quiet because he
couldn’t
speak.

“Well, whoever you are, we’re very grateful to you,” she said.

Just then, a familiar galloping noise sounded through the forest. Brystal and Lucy turned toward the sound and saw Madame Weatherberry’s golden carriage traveling toward them. The knight and his horse were so large they blocked the path, and the unicorns came to an abrupt stop behind them. The carriage door flew open and Madame Weatherberry stepped outside to address the knight.

“Horence?” the fairy asked. “What are you doing here? Is everything all right?”

Clearly the fairy and the knight knew each other. He steered his horse to the side of the path, revealing Brystal and Lucy standing behind him.

“Madame Weatherberry!” Brystal cheered. “You’re back!”

She was overjoyed to see her teacher, but as Brystal walked closer to greet her, Madame Weatherberry seemed very different. The fairy was so exhausted she looked ten years older than when she’d left. There were bags under her eyes, her dark hair was gray at the temples, and
both
of her arms were now covered in gloves. Despite Brystal’s warm welcome, the fairy was absolutely infuriated to see her students.

“What are you two doing outside of the academy?” she yelled.

“We—we—we—” Brystal struggled to respond.

“It’s my fault, Madame Weatherberry,” Lucy confessed. “I went outside the property because I thought it would be fun to explore the In-Between. Brystal knew it was dangerous and came to find me. We were attacked by witch hunters, but luckily, this weird knight guy saved us.”

“How dare you disrespect me by breaking the rules!” Madame Weatherberry roared. “Both of you get inside the carriage! Now!”

Brystal and Lucy followed her instructions and hopped inside the golden carriage.

“Horence, thank you for your assistance tonight, but I’ll take it from here,” Madame Weatherberry told the knight.

The knight bowed to the fairy like she was royalty, and then slowly steered his three-headed horse into the forest and disappeared from sight. Madame Weatherberry joined her students in the carriage and slammed the door behind her.

“How could you do this to me, Brystal?” she snapped.

“Madame Weatherberry, I told you it was my fault,” Lucy said.

“But Brystal let it happen!” she said. “I trusted you, Brystal! I asked you to look after the others, and you failed me! You have no idea how disappointed I am!”

Hearing this brought tears to Brystal’s eyes. “I’m—I’m—I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t want to hear another word from either of you,” the fairy said. “As soon as we get to the castle, you will both go straight to your rooms and stay there until I say so! Is that understood?”

Brystal and Lucy nodded and stayed silent. Neither of them had seen their teacher so livid before—they didn’t even know the fairy was
capable
of such anger. It was like Madame Weatherberry had returned to the academy as a completely different person.

The morning after her restless night, there was a knock on Brystal’s bedroom door and Tangerina poked her head inside.

“Brystal?” she said. “Madame Weatherberry wants to see you in her office.”

Facing another wave of the fairy’s extreme disappointment was the last thing Brystal wanted to do, but she climbed down the floating staircase to her teacher’s office anyway. When she arrived, Madame Weatherberry’s wooden door was opened a crack and she could see her teacher standing behind her glass desk, gazing through the window at the sparkling ocean. Brystal took a deep breath, braced herself for whatever was about to happen, and lightly tapped on the door.

“Madame Weatherberry?” she asked. “Tangerina said you wanted to see me.”

As soon as the fairy turned around, Brystal could tell she was in a much better mood than the night before. She could still see that Madame Weatherberry’s journey had taken an obvious toll on her—there were still bags under eyes, her hair was still gray at the temples, and gloves still covered both of her arms—but the teacher’s cheerful spirits had returned.

“Hello, dear,” she said. “Please come in and have a seat.”

Brystal stepped into the office, closed the wooden doors behind her, and sat down across from Madame Weatherberry at the desk.

“I owe you a very big apology,” the fairy said. “I was utterly exhausted when I arrived last night and I completely overreacted when I saw you and Lucy outside the academy. Tangerina spoke to me this morning and said the entire ordeal was her fault. She said Lucy tried to run away after they exchanged some hurtful comments and that you went into the forest to find Lucy. What you did was brave and selfless, and you didn’t deserve such a harsh scolding. I hope you can forgive me.”

Brystal sighed with relief and sank into her chair.

“You have no idea how glad I am to hear that,” she said. “Of course I forgive you, Madame Weatherberry. I imagine the last couple of days have been grueling for you. It must have been very difficult, you know,
visiting your sick friend
. How is she doing?”

Brystal purposely brought up the topic in hopes of learning more about the Northern Conflict. Now that Madame Weatherberry had returned, Brystal wondered if her teacher and the witches had succeeded in bringing the conflict to an end. Unfortunately, Madame Weatherberry only elaborated on her original story.

“She’s not well, I’m afraid,” Madame Weatherberry said. “But she’s a fighter.”

“What’s her name?” Brystal asked.

Madame Weatherberry went quiet and Brystal assumed she needed time to make up a name for her fake friend.

“It’s Queenie,” the fairy said. “We’ve known each other our entire lives. She’s battling a terrible disease that grows stronger every day and it won’t be long until it consumes her. Although it doesn’t excuse my behavior, I hope that explains why I was so distressed last night. It’s very hard watching someone you love in so much pain.”

Even though Brystal knew the real reason Madame Weatherberry had left the academy, the fairy was very convincing as she spoke about her “sick friend.” Brystal questioned if there was more honesty to her teacher’s words than she realized. Perhaps “Queenie” and the woman Madame Weatherberry was afraid to face in the Northern Conflict were the same person? Or perhaps the disease her friend was battling was the conflict itself?

As Brystal searched for the truth in her teacher’s eyes, she noticed a dark mark peeking out from under her new glove.

“Is that a bruise on your arm?” Brystal asked. “Did something hurt you?”

Madame Weatherberry glanced at her right arm and quickly pulled the glove over the exposed injury.

“Oh, that’s nothing.” The fairy deflected the question. “Just a little mark I received while caring for Queenie. Poor dear hates being mothered and doesn’t know her own strength. I didn’t want anyone to worry so I covered it with a glove. But that’s enough about all that.”

Brystal could tell Madame Weatherberry was eager to change the subject so she didn’t inquire any further into the matter.

“Now, moving on,” the fairy said. “The main reason I called you here was to see how you’re feeling. I wanted to speak with you and Lucy individually to assure you both that, regardless of what lurks in the In-Between, you’re very safe within the perimeters of this academy. Still, I’m sure last night’s events were traumatic for you.”

“It was a brutal dose of reality,” Brystal said. “I’ve always known the world hated people like us, but I never thought someone would actually want to hurt
me
. It all feels so personal now.”

“Everyone thinks they’re immune to discrimination until it happens to them,” Madame Weatherberry said. “It only takes one tragic event to change your perspective forever.”

Brystal nodded. “Last night, those men spoke to us like we were objects without feelings or souls. We pleaded for our lives and told them they were making a mistake, but they didn’t even flinch. And although we did nothing wrong, they acted like we… like we… well, I don’t know how to say it.”

“Like you deserved to be punished simply for existing,” Madame Weatherberry said.

“Exactly,” Brystal said. “Thank God that knight showed up when he did, otherwise we would have been killed.”

“His name is Horence,” Madame Weatherberry said. “And believe me, my gratitude to him knows no bounds. He’s rescued me from countless episodes of peril.”

“Who is he?” Brystal asked. “Is he even human?”

“Not anymore,” Madame Weatherberry said. “Many years ago, Horence was a commander in the Northern Kingdom’s army. Along his travels, Horence had the misfortune of falling in love with a witch. The witch used to own a great deal of land in this area, including the grounds that our academy was built on. Naturally, such a relationship was forbidden, so for over a decade, Horence and the witch carried on a secret affair. When Horence’s soldiers discovered the relationship, the men betrayed their commander. They burned Horence at the stake and forced the witch to watch it happen.”

“That’s terrible,” Brystal said.

“As you can imagine, the witch was devastated,” Madame Weatherberry continued. “To ease her broken heart, the witch conjured one of the darkest spells in witchcraft to bring Horence back to life. However, there are certain spells that are so ghastly they should
never
be performed, and the witch died in the process. Horence returned to life as a dark and unnatural being, a shell of the man he once was. Now he’s doomed to roam the witch’s property for eternity, and he spends his time saving others from suffering an untimely demise like his own.”

The tragic story made Brystal so angry her eyes welled.

“They just wanted to be together,” she said. “Why did humankind have to tear them apart? I’ll never understand why the world hates a community that just wants to be loved and accepted. I’ll never understand why people are so cruel to us.”

“It’s not about the
prey
, it’s about the
hunt
,” Madame Weatherberry said. “Humankind has always needed something to hate and fear to unite them. After all, if they had nothing to conquer and triumph over, they’d have nothing to fuel their sense of superiority. And some men would destroy the world for an ounce of self-worth. But that doesn’t mean humanity is a lost cause. As I told Emerelda in the coal mine, this academy could produce the examples that inspire humankind to change their hateful ways.”

Brystal shook her head and stared at her teacher in disbelief.

“I don’t get it,” she said. “After everything you’ve been through, how do you manage to stay so optimistic? Why aren’t you angry all the time?”

Madame Weatherberry went quiet as she thought about Brystal’s question, and then a confident smile grew on her face.

“Because
we’re
the lucky ones,” she said. “To fight for love and acceptance is to
know
love and acceptance. And anyone who actively tries to steal these qualities from others is admitting they’ve never known love at all. The people who want to hate and hurt us are so deprived of compassion they believe the only way to fill the voids in their hearts is to create voids in the hearts of others. So I render them powerless by refusing to accept their voids.”

Brystal let out a deep sigh and looked hopelessly to the floor.

“It’s a nice philosophy,” she said. “It just seems easier said than done.”

Madame Weatherberry reached across her desk and squeezed Brystal’s hand.

“We
must
pity the people who choose to hate, Brystal,” she said. “Their lives will never be as meaningful as the lives filled with love.”