Good afternoon my loyal subjects! I am sooo sorry for my absence…. I was grounded… yes I know, stupid. But today, since it's Thanksgiving break, thank God, I have the whole week off and I'll be posting up until Thursday, (I'll be going to Arizona) so this post will be extra-long and the next one will be up today or tomorrow. Sorry again! Thanks to everyone that reviewed, y'all are awesome! Oh, I still don't own Hex Hall….. Or Archer *sigh*
CHAPTER 4
Everyone became dead silent, Sophie had stiffened but I could hear her heavy breathing. She was nervous, as she should be.
I sighed, and shifted in my chair. I looked up at the stage and saw a small box of light, here we go, I thought. The box of light grew and grew until it was the size of a movie screen, when an image began to appear. At first it was a little bleary, but after a couple seconds an image began to appear.
It was black and white painting with a group of serious faced men wearing large hats, kind of like top hats, how so Abraham Lincoln. I knew not to laugh though, even though my incredible wit does seem to amuse myself from time to time. But this was serious; I could almost see myself years ago, after seeing this and puking my guts out, I have to say, not my best moment.
"In 1692," Mrs. Casnoff began, "two witches in Salem, Massachusetts, came to their powers and created a panic that left eighteen innocent humans dead. A group of warlocks from nearby Boston wrote to the warlocks and witches in London and created the Council. It was hoped that with the structure and resources, the council could better control magical activity and prevent other tragedies like this one from occurring."
The image faded and changed into a portrait of a red haired woman in a very unfashionable green dress, I scrunched up my nose in disgust. "This is Jessica Prentiss," Mrs. Casnoff continued, "She was an enormously powerful white witch from New Orleans. In 1876, after her younger sister, Margret, perished while having her powers stripped by the Council, Miss Prentiss proposed the idea of a safe house of sorts, a place where witches whose powers were potentially harmful could live in peace."
The portrait faded and an old photograph of the school in 1903 appeared. "It took almost thirty years, but her dream was realized in 1903. In 1923, the Council granted shapeshifters and fae the right to come to Hecate as well."
"This isn't so bad, just a history lecture," Sophie whispered to me. I shook my head.
"Just wait."
"in 1967," Mrs. Casnoff continued, "the Council realized it needed a place to train and mold young Prodigium who were using their powers without the proper level of discretion. A school where they would learn more about the history of Prodigium, and of the dreadful consequences of exposing their abilities to humans. And so Hecate hall was born."
"Juvie for monsters," Sophie muttered under her breathe.
I laughed, trying to contain it, but seriously, this chick was almost as funny as I was. I straightened in my chair when Mrs. Casnoff glanced our way.
"Miss Mercer," Soph jumped in her seat and I smirked. "Can you tell me who Hecate is?"
"Um, yeah. She's the Greek goddess of witchcraft." Mrs. Casnoff nodded.
"Indeed. But she is also the goddess of the crossroads. And that is where all of you children now find yourselves. And now and demonstration."
"Here we go." I murmured. Another small speck appeared on stage. But instead of creating an image, a man appeared. He looked pretty realistic, except for the fact that he was glowing like Casper the ghost. The man looked about seventy, old, and wearing overalls and a plaid shirt; a scythe dangled from his right hand. He stood motionless for a moment, then like a live action movie, he began swinging the scythe, like he was cutting grass.
"This is Charles Walton," Mrs. Casnoff's boomed across the dining hall. "He was a white warlock from a village in England called Lower Quinton. He kept to himself and earned one pitiful shilling an hour as a hedge cutter for a local farmer. In addition to that, he performed simple spells for the people of Lower Quinton: potions for gout, the occasional love spell… simple harmless things. But then, in 1945, the village had a bad harvest."
More figures started appearing behind the man. There were four of them, two of the fours backs were to us and the other two were facing us. They all looked pretty normal, but the Eye taught me to always look behind the appearances, I mean after all looks could be deceiving. Just not two feet away sat a demon who looked pretty harmless. But she wasn't, with the flick of her finger she could wipe out the whole room, the whole school.
The two people facing us where holding pitchforks, while the others facing away, even from behind looked scared. "The people of Lower Quinton decided that Charles must be to blame for their crops failing, and… well, you can see the rest."
The people with the pitch forks darted forward, grabbing the old man by the elbow and whirled him around. The old man looked terrified, my heart squeezed in my chest. I knew that look, yes the warlock had the powers, but he didn't really do anything. It was the Eye that where the monsters. We killed. Happily.
They threw the old man to the ground and drove the pitchfork him his neck. I leaned forward on my elbows and glanced at the scene in disgust. They said that the old man was a monster, but what an inhuman way to end someone's life. The scene finally faded away.
Mrs. Casnoff spoke up, "After stabbing him, the villagers went to carve symbols on Mr. Walton's body, which they hoped would ward off his 'evil' magic. After five decades of trying to help his fellow villagers, this is how Charles Walton was repaid by humans."
Then suddenly the room was full of images and sounds. A family of vampires stood behind Mrs. Casnoff and were staked right there by a group of men in black suites. Oh crap, I thought. Then from our left I heard gunfire, Soph ducked like someone was shooting at her. A werewolf collapsed off to our left. And to my surprise the shot was fired by an old lady, well looks like even Betty Crocker had some hidden skeletons.
I closed my eyes, but could still hear the noises. I guess this is what Mrs. Casnoff wanted me to see, because this was new. But I honestly didn't want to be puking again and give Soph some blackmail back at me for the 'Bad Dog' thing.
When the screaming started, I could hear Sophie's heavy breathing and was surprised at what I did next. I covered her hand with mind; she jumped in surprise but didn't move away.
I was staring at the witches; but my gaze had moved from them to the warlocks, who were dangling along with the witches. Sophie curled her fingers around mine, and I stopped myself from jumping in surprise.
Finally after what seemed like eternity, the images disappeared and the dining hall lights came back on.
Mrs. Casnoff stood in the front of the room, "This is why all of you are here. This is what you all risked when you recklessly used your powers in the presence of humans. And for what?" she turned and glanced around the room, "To gain acceptance? To show off?" and I swear her eyes landed on Sophie for a second before she returned her gaze back on the horrified crowd of students. "We've been prosecuted unto death by humans who will happily use our powers if it suits them. And what you just saw—" she swept her hand around the room. "is just what normal humans have done. This is nothing compared to what is done by those who've made it their life's work to eliminate our kind." A picture of bland looking men and woman in suites that looked to bored and polished to be 'monster slayers.'
I slouched back in my seat. "There's a group that calls themselves the Alliance. The Alliance is made up of agents from several different government agencies from several different governments. Luckily, they stay so bogged down with paperwork that they're rarely an actual threat."
The picture had faded and was replaced with a trio of woman with the brightest red hair I've ever seen. And Elodie's hair is pretty red, so that's saying something. "And of course, the Brannicks, an ancient family from Ireland who have been fighting 'monsters,' as they call us, since the time of Saint Patrick. These are the current keepers of the flame, Aislinn Brannick, and her two daughters, Finley and Isolde. They tend to be a little more dangerous, as their ancestor was Maeve Brannick, an incredibility powerful white witch who renounced her race to join with the church. They're therefore imbued with more power than your regular human."
She waved her hand again and the woman disappeared. Then a black image formed above her head, an image I was all too familiar with, considering I had a tattoo of it right above my heart. An eye. And I totally knew where this was going, and here comes my favorite part, I thought solemnly. "II'Occhio di Dio. The Eye of God," she said, and I sank lower in my seat. Everybody drew in a breath.
"What's that?" Soph asked me.
I turned with a sarcastic smile trying to make up for the embarrassing hand holding, "You can't do a blocking spell, and you've never heard of II'Occhio di Dio? Man what kind of witch are you?"
Mrs. Casnoff started talking before Soph could say something nasty in return, I'm sure. "ll'Occhio di Dio is the greatest threat to any Prodigium. They are a group based in Rome, and their express purpose is wiping our kind off the face of the earth. They see themselves as holy knights, while we are the evil that must be purged. Last year this group alone was responsible for the deaths of more than one thousand Prodigium."
I almost snorted, actually it was more the Brannick's doing, they were always scoping out nests of vampires to take out, the Eye only targeted threats, or so I was told.
"In the past we've more than held our own against these three groups, but that's when they were separate and at odds. Now we've received word that they may be forging a sort of peace. If this happens . . ." She sighed. "Well, let's just say we can't let that happen."
The Eye faded and Mrs. Casnoff clapped her hands together, "Now. Enough of that. You all have a very big morning tomorrow, so you are dismissed. Lights out in half an hour." I wrinkled my nose in disgust, Mrs. Casnoff sounded too cheerful to me, personally, I though this all was a load of bull.
I looked around and saw that everybody was as shell shocked as the next. I sighed and got up, "Well that was new."
…
I was halfway up the stairs when I heard Soph call my name… well last name. "Cross!" I paused and turned toward her, I admit my curiosity got the best of me.
"Mercer." I replied, and for once, when talking to Sophie, I didn't have a smirk on my face. Soph rolled her eyes.
"Look, what did you mean by 'that was new'? I thought you'd seen all that before." I came down a couple of steps so that I could be semi eye to eye, no pun intended. But it wasn't my fault that she was four foot.
I shrugged, "I have. Three years ago, when I was fourteen. My first year here. But it was different then."
"Different how?" I resisted the urge to sigh, why did she even care? She was lucky she didn't have to witness that twice. I almost shuttered, man three years ago was not my best moment.
I shrugged out of my blazer and rolled my shoulders, man these uniforms were ugly. "They still did the Charles Walton thing; that seems to be a favorite. And there was a werewolf getting shot, and maybe one or two faeries on fire. But there weren't as many images. And they weren't all at once like that."
I looked up and down at her, I admit I was a little impressed she didn't run away screaming at the first image. "No hanged witches and warlocks either. I have to say, I'm a little impressed."
She crossed her arms and scowled, I could tell she didn't like that I was looking at her and I smirked. "Impressed by what?" she asked irritated.
"When I saw that show three years ago, I had to run into that little bathroom over there"—I pointed to a small door across the foyer-"and puke my guts out. What we saw tonight was a lot worse, and you don't even look pale. You're tougher than I thought."
She gave me a funky looking expression, I think she was trying to act 'cool', "I just don't believe all that."
I raised an eyebrow, "Don't believe all what?"
"All that about humans wanting to kill us in lots of nasty ways."
I almost asked if she had lost her damn mind, but then I got what she was asking, or well arguing about. Her mom was one of them, a human supposedly. "I think history pretty well supports that hypothesis, Mercer. Hell, humans have wiped out thousands of their own kind trying to get to us."
"Yeah, but that was in the past," she argued. "Back when they also thought drilling a hole in your head, or draining your blood would cure you of a disease. Humans are a lot more enlightened now."
"That a fact?" I was smirking again, and I hoping it would irritate her even more.
"Look," she said. "My mom is human, okay? And she loves Prodigium. She'd never do a thing to hurt one. She even got a-"
"Her daughter's one."
"What?"
I gave out a heavy sigh and tossed my ugly jacket over one shoulder. I glanced down at her and found that she was checking me out. I smiled a little.
"Your mom may be an awesome person, but do you honestly believe she'd feel all warm and fuzzy about witches if she weren't raising one?"
I knew I had got her because she didn't answer back, I wish I could say I got some satisfaction from it, but I didn't.
"You're right," I said, tone softening a little, I admit, I felt a little bad. "Humans aren't what they used to be. But all those images were real, Mercer. Humans are always going to be scared of us. They're always going to be envious of our powers, and suspicious of our motives."
"Not all of them," She said, her voice sounded weak, and I knew she was doubting everything she thought of humans before. I felt bad, she didn't know any better, I mean she's been growing up with them not knowing what she was, what she could do.
I shrugged again. "Maybe not. But you've been living with one foot in each world, and you can't do that anymore. You're at Hecate now."
"Yeah, but-"
"Arch!"
Elodie was standing on the landing above us. I almost sighed in frustration, yay the evil girlfriend is back.
"Be right there, El," i called up to her, starting the perfect loving boyfriend act, that I absolutely hate about as much as Elodie.
"'Arch'?" Soph asked, trying to do the raising one eyebrow thing and epically failing. She just looked Super surprised. My lips twitched, into a smile.
"See ya, Mercer," I replied.
As I was turning to leave Soph blurted out, "Do you think they might have a reason sometimes?"
I turned back to her. "Who?" I asked, even though I knew who she was talking about.
She glanced around, but the hall was empty.
"Those people. The Alliance and those Irish girls. The Eye," She whispered. "I mean, what we saw was awful, but aren't there dangerous Prodigium too?"
For a moment we held each other's gaze. I started studying her, not knowing what she was asking, I mean sure there are, but that's what all those 'monster hunters' where for. To get rid of us….. or well them, Prodigium.
I smiled a little when her checks redden, I loved that I had effect on her. i walked down the two steps between us until I was one the same stairs as her.
"I wouldn't say that kind of thing around here if I were you, Mercer,"
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Sorry it took so long for this! Hope you liked! Review please! Next one will be up tomorrow.
