Chapter 4:

The next day I woke up later than I had wanted to and because I had woken up late I was forced to get ready obnoxiously fast. I threw on some cloths and practically ran down to the cafeteria, grabbing a quick bite to eat. I stopped only long enough to say hi to a few people, and then took off. When I finished I headed straight to the headmistresses office. I reached her office and knocked on the door waiting for her to answer. When she didn’t answer I knocked again, this time not waiting for an answer and just going straight in. I closed the door behind me and looked around the room. Lauren wasn’t there and I considered leaving and coming back later, but decided against it. I figured she’d be back soon and didn’t think she’d mind me waiting in her office. I walked over to her desk and collapsed into the chair I had been sitting in the day before. I glanced at her desk and a piece of paper caught my eye. I picked it up and started to read it. The first few words, Melanie Harris or Zamros, gave me permission to continue reading. It was from the headmistress and it was telling me that if I read it, as she suspected I would, I was to wait in her office until she came back. She did not say where she had gone, or when she’d be back. I was tempted to go through some of the other objects on her desk, but decided it’d be better if I didn’t. I really was not in the mood to get into trouble for something like that.

I sighed as I collapsed back into the chair, thinking that I should have brought something to do. I had no idea when Lauren would be back, so I wasn’t going to risk leaving and then have her confront me on why I was not there. About half an hour or so later I heard the doorknob turn and I jumped out of the chair I was sitting in. The door opened and the headmistress walked in with Jennifer Damian our spells teacher.

“Headmistress. Ms. Damian,” I said nodding slightly.

“Ms. Harris,” Ms. Damian replied smiling slightly.

“Ms. Zamros,” Lauren replied also smiling slightly, although I figured it was for a different reason. I smiled back at the two, giving Lauren a glare as well.

“Would you please use Harris around here headmistress?” I asked as I glared at her.

“That depends on why you changed it,” Lauren replied shrugging.

I sighed slightly and glanced over at Ms. Damian. “Am I explaining myself in front of Ms. Damian as well?”

“If you are willing to, then yes, but if not then that’s perfectly acceptable too. I would like for Ms. Damian to hear your explanation as well so that I am not the only one at this school who knows of your past. I’m sure you have not informed your friends here of where you came from, as much as I’ve hear them pry.”

A slightly guilty look crossed my face and I looked down at the ground. “No I haven’t, and I’m sure they deserve to know, as do you.” I sighed heavily and looked back up at the headmistress. “I don’t mind her being present to hear what I have to say. She’s welcome to stay.”

I sat down in the chair I had been in only moments before and looked between the two adults. This was going to be an annoying telling, and I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to tell absolutely everything that had happened in my past, at least not yet anyway, plus if I was, it was going to be a long day.

Lauren went behind her desk and sat down, placing her things on top of the desk, while Ms. Damian planted herself in the seat that Mr. Demeter had occupied the day before, although I was pretty confident she was not aware of that fact. I crossed my legs and sat back in the chair, and tried my best not to meet the gazes of the other two women in the room.

“Now, where to start,” I muttered under my breath as I collected my thoughts.

“Why not start from the beginning, where you came from?” Lauren suggested raising an eyebrow. “I take it your mother doesn’t actually know you’re here, does she?”

I sighed slightly. “No, she doesn’t, and as far as I know my friend Bethany hasn’t told anyone, she’s the only one from my past that knows where I am and the only person I’ve kept in contact with. She’s also the one who forged my mother’s signature on the slip to come here. My mom doesn’t even know about my gift.”

“How can she not know? I mean for you to have them wouldn’t she, your father, or both of them have to have the gift as well,” Jennifer asked.

I turned the question around in my head and then considered what the best way to answer it was. “My birth mother did have it, she is, however, deceased. I never knew her. I was adopted when I was a baby, and my adoptive mother knows nothing about it, I just kind of…ran away I guess,” I started, getting lost in the memories and laughing slightly. “I haven’t really thought about it since it happened. I never really considered my mother and sister. I just really needed to get away from Mr. Demeter. I guess I didn’t want to tell them because I didn’t want Mr. Demeter to use them to get to me. I also needed to go somewhere where I could learn to control my gift.”

Tears started to glisten in my eyes as I was reminded of my mother and sister. I looked over and caught Lauren’s eyes, although I quickly looked away when I thought that I wouldn’t be able to maintain eye contact and not cry.

“Do you know who your birth mother is?” Ms. Damian asked quietly.

I looked over at her and nodded. “Yea, but whether you’ll believe me or not I can’t be sure,” I answered quietly, looking down at the ground.

“Well you won’t know until you tell us now will you?” Lauren said with a hint of curiosity.

I sighed slightly and brought my gaze to the ground. “Christine Sophie,” I said strongly so they would both hear whom I had said and so that they had more of a chance of believing me.

“Christine Sophie?” Jennifer echoed. “The only deceased Christine Sophie I can think of was…” Jennifer’s eyes got wide as realization hit her. She was going to say ruler, or something to that extent. She saw now why I had said they wouldn’t believe me. I sighed as I saw disbelief travel across both of their faces.

“You don’t believe me, I didn’t think you would. But doesn’t it make sense? Vincent Demeter wants me because I’m supposed to take over. He thinks that if he can get me then I’ll rule however he wants me to, although I won’t, I’m sure he doesn’t realize that. From the talk I hear about him and his views and what I’ve learned about my mother, especially how she ruled I want to rule more like my mother, and I don’t really want anything at all to do with my father.”

Some of the disbelief that had been on Laurens’ face disappeared, but Ms. Damian knowing nothing about Mr. Demeter, still had the same amount of disbelief showing on her face. I wished that they had believed me, it would have made things so much easier, but I couldn’t figure out any way to prove to them that I was in fact Christine’s Daughter.

“How can I prove to you that I am? Prove that I really am Christine Sophie’s daughter?” I asked quietly and slightly annoyed.

Lauren looked over at Jennifer, making it apparent that she didn’t have an answer to my questions. “I may have a way,” Jennifer replied quietly, after a moment of silence.

I looked at her hopefully. “What? What do you think I could do to prove I’m not lying?”

“There’s a spell I know of, it will make it so you cannot lie no matter what is being asked of you, but it will last for at least four hours. So for four hours you’d be able to tell nothing but the truth. Are you willing to try it?” Jennifer asked looking from Lauren to me.

I nodded. “Yes, of course. I want you to know I’m telling the truth, to know I’m not lying to you. I also want you to trust me, but that probably won’t happen from just this experience, so I’ll deal with you just believing me for now.”

“Whenever you two want me to I will cast the spell,” Jennifer told Lauren and me.

“I’m ready,” I said nodding my head.

“I don’t like this one bit,” Lauren said sighing, “but go ahead, quickly, before I change my mind. This seems like it could really, really backfire on us.”

“Alright. Melanie, you need to sit still, do not move no matter what happens,” Jennifer rattled off quickly. I looked at her oddly but nodded. “Ready?”

“Ready,” I echoed.

I sat perfectly still as Jennifer muttered some long spell under her breath. She had shut her eyes and was concentrating on the spell alone and nothing else. A bomb could have exploded and she would not have realized it at that moment. When she had finished she opened her eyes and looked directly at me.

“It’s done. We should test it to make sure it worked,” Jennifer said confidently.

“Ms. Harris, what is your real name and why did you come to this school?”

“My name is Melanie Zamros. There are many reasons I wanted to come here, a few being that I wanted to learn how to control my gift and I wanted to get away from and hide from Vincent Demeter. He is my birth father, but I want nothing at all to do with him and his views.”

Jennifer and Lauren exchanged a long look and then they both nodded. I never would have guessed they had been talking telepathically nor did I have any idea that Ms. Damian knew that Liana and I talked telepathically in her class. I looked between Jennifer and Lauren, looking for signs that they believed me.

“Melanie Zamros who is your birth mother?” the headmistress asked quickly.

“Christine Sophie,” I answered quietly.

My teacher and headmistress exchanged glances and then looked back at me. I met and kept each of their gazes in turn.

“So you really are the one they’ve been looking for, sorry we doubted you,” Lauren said blankly.

“What do you mean the one they’ve been looking for? Who are they?” I said completely confused.

Lauren sighed slightly. “They being those who were ranked just under your mother. They know she had a child but they had no way of knowing whom it was, and no one can take over until you have either accepted or rejected the quote unquote throne. There are ways to make an unknown heir known, but no way to know whom exactly that heir is. They probably have recently done some kind of spell to speed up the process of finding you.”

“Who came up with that? That’s really stupid, we can’t bring the world out of chaos because we don’t know where or who the heir is. I can’t believe it,” I said astounded. “That will be the first thing I change,” I added under my breath angrily.

“No one even remembers when it started, it’s been that way as long as anyone can remember, and something like this has never happened before, so it was never questioned. I guess there’s a first time for everything,” Jennifer said sighing.

“Why didn’t they just change it then? When all of this started?” I asked with pure curiosity.

“No one of any importance has the power to change it. The only person who could have would have been your mother or another one of our past rulers,” Jennifer said blankly.

“So no one can do anything while our world falls to pieces? It makes absolutely no sense. I can’t believe it,” I said in disbelief.

“That’s about the gist of it,” Jennifer said quietly, lost in thought.

“Melanie would you like to stay here until the spell wears off? You’re more than welcome to if you’d like,” Lauren asked concern etched on her face and evident in her voice.

“Nah, I’m good, I think I’ll tough it out among everyone else, I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?” I said confidently.

“Suite yourself, but be careful,” Lauren said, concern still present on her face and in her voice a hard as she tried to hide it.

“I will, don’t worry, I said nodding and smiling at her.

“Would both of you come back tomorrow morning, same time?” Lauren asked, making it more of a command than a question.

We both chimed in with a yes and I started to stand up, getting ready to leave, but stopped abruptly as a thought struck me.

“Headmistress? Ms. Harris?”

“Yes Melanie?” They both replied.

“Could you not tell anyone about this, at least not yet? I don’t think I want anyone to know. None of the teachers, none of the students, no one.”

The two women exchanged glances and then Lauren answered. “For now we will keep it a secret amongst the three of us, but we can’t say for how long.”

I nodded. “Fair enough,” I said understandingly. “I’ll see you both tomorrow then.” And with that out of the way I turned around and headed for the door, leaving without another word being said. The truth spell was still in tact; hopefully no one would ask me a question whose answer was something that I really did not want them to know.