Chapter 35: Destroyed
By the time I had finished my Training with Mrs. Kettle, the sun had set and darkness engulfed the town. I felt uneasy as Mrs. Kettle and I looked up at the pitch black, starless sky. Something wasn't right. Several buildings down, I could hear the sound of stone statues groaning to life. "I don't think you should try to walk home tonight." Mrs. Kettle said thoughtfully. "Why don't you stay here and I'll call your grandmother?"
I nodded in agreement. Piminy Street was not safe at night and Maisie would agree. After Mrs. Kettle finished talking with Maisie on the phone, she showed me her apartment above the shop. Luckily the stone troll had not figured out how to climbs stairs and ruin her home.
Her apartment was mostly plain. She had simple, sturdy furniture and bare walls. I could tell that she didn't spend much time up here, but she did have a spare room. She set out fresh sheets and blankets for me and some clothes I could change in. They were a bit big, but I didn't mind. I would only be sleeping in them after all.
After getting my room ready, I went out to the kitchen where Mrs. Kettle was beginning to put together dinner. I slipped in to help her just like I would with Maisie and I listened as Mrs. Kettle told me about her life. She told me that she had inherited the shop from her grandfather and while he had never branched out beyond kettles, Katya herself had been interested in making beautiful weapons and practicing sword play. She told me about her ancestor Feromel, who her forge had originally belonged to. He was both a magician and a blacksmith who put a bit of magic in all of his weapons.
As we ate dinner over her small kitchen table, I told her everything about myself, from the passing of my father to the awful task that Manfred had put me up to. Although I had just met her, I felt that I could trust Mrs. Kettle with anything. She was a good listener. She was also very kind, selfless and brave. She was someone I could look up to with my parents and Uncle Paton gone. Maisie didn't understand the plight of being endowed, and while Katya seemed quite ordinary, she had a deep understanding and appreciation of the magic arts. "I can understand why you were willing to help them trap Billy. I couldn't imagine being put through the things that you have been put through. I understand why you fear the hypnotist. But they're lying to you. No one is safe in Badlock and they won't stop trying to hunt down your father."
"I know. I already decided not to do it, but I'm fearful of the repercussions. Sometimes I think that Manfred just wants me dead and I don't understand why."
"Because he is a twisted and evil man. You think that you can save him and he thinks that he can control you. I don't think he ever truly wanted you dead, dear. I think he wanted you to be submissive and afraid. But after we're finished with your training, you'll never have to be afraid of him again. You'll be able to fight back." She drummed her fingers on the table and thought for a moment. "Why don't you stay here for a while? We can keep up on your training and you can help me put my shop back together. You'll be far away from that dreadful painting and you can help me keep the stonemason and the Shellhorn boy at bay. If I must be honest, I am quite afraid of what will happen to me if I'm left here alone. It won't take them long to figure out that they haven't killed me."
"I think Eric just wanted the troll back." I said simply. "But I think it would do me good to get out of that house for a while. I don't like being near that painting." I thought about it. "Yes, if Maisie allows it, I will come stay here."
"Splendid." Katya gave me a soft smile. "Why don't you go get some rest? I think you've earned it. I'll clean up and call your grandmother again. We can gather your things tomorrow."
I nodded in compliance. I wasn't sure how keen Grandma Bone would be on the idea, but she generally had more of an eye on Charlie than she did me. She left Maisie the job of keeping up with me. She knew I was pressed hard under Dr. Bloor's thumb and I wouldn't stray far. "She's a well-disciplined girl." I once overheard her say to Aunt Lucretia. Aunt Lucretia had agreed.
I walked back to the bedroom that Katya had prepared for me. The room was small and bare, but I didn't mind. I didn't have much. I only wished that she had a piano that I could practice on. I settled into the twin bed and pulled the covers over myself. I don't know if you can hear me, but I love you. Goodnight, Salem. I thought before my eyes closed.
Goodnight, Infinity. His deep, but soothing voice filled my head and brought tears to my eyes.
I awoke the next morning to the sound of a whistling kettle. I rolled over and looked at the alarm clock on the bedside stand. It was eight in the morning. My body was sore from the training that Katya and I had done the day before. I still had a long way to go, but it was worth it if it meant that I had a means to defend myself without relying on Salem or anyone else around me.
I slowly got out of bed and pulled on the clothes that I had worn yesterday. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and navigated to the bathroom across the hall. After I felt freshened up enough, I walked into the kitchen where Katya had prepared a basic breakfast. It wasn't anything like the grand breakfasts that Maisie made back home, but it looked rich in protein. I sat down at the spot that was made for me and looked around for Katya. She came around the corner from her bedroom with a smile on her face. "I spoke with your grandma last night. It took a little convincing to get her on board, but she thinks it's what your father would want. We can go get your things whenever you would like."
I looked over at the clock on the wall. "What about after lunch?" I asked. "Grandma Bone should be gone by then. I would rather not run into her."
"That seems like a good enough plan. We can take my truck."
After we finished breakfast, we did a little bit of training. She was trying to teach me form and I was having a hard time with it. I understood why it was important but it was hard to keep my stance wide without thinking about it. "Bend your knees, Infinity. You need to keep your balance, and you have to be fast. You're a small girl. Strength isn't on your side."
"Katya, what are the odds that I'm going to be fighting someone else with a sword?" I asked. She wasn't impressed.
"With all of these magicians coming back, the chance is high. If you're going to do this, you need to commit. Keep your smart comments to yourself." The seriousness of her voice shut me up. She came at me with the staff and I stepped back, looking over my shoulder as I did so. While I was distracted, she lightly jabbed me with her staff. "Don't take your eyes off of your opponent!"
"But how am I supposed to see where I'm going?"
"In a fight, bumping into something is the least of your worries. You'll learn to take in your surroundings. Your stance is wrong. Fix it."
After an exhausting two hours of training, we went right back to trying to clean up the shop until it was time for me to go get my things from my house. Most of her kettles were not salvageable. She would just melt them down again and reshape them. Even if we got everything cleaned up, it would take a long time to remake all of her kettles. Her shop would have to remain closed for a long time.
"Come, dear. It's time to go get your things." Katya looked up at the clock. I nodded and we walked out onto the street to get into her truck. Katya drove an old green pick-up with faded paint. We climbed into the seats and drove our way to Filbert Street. It didn't take us long.
"You can wait here if you'd like. I'm sure Maisie already packed up my things. She gets bored easily when there's nothing else to do, and I don't really have much outside of my things for the academy. I didn't bring much with me when I initially moved here. I didn't think that I would never be able to go back to America." I climbed out of the truck and Katya stayed behind.
Uncle Paton's camper van was still gone. He must have been on the trail of something good. I wondered what all he had discovered on his adventures, but I knew he would tell me eventually.
I climbed up the stairs and opened the door. "Charlie, whatever are you doing?" I heard Maisie yell from the kitchen. I could hear noises coming from the cellar. The door was wide open.
"I'm looking for Rembrandt!" Charlie yelled back. Rembrandt went missing? He never strayed far from Billy.
"Rembrandt? Billy didn't take him with him, then?" Maisie asked.
I was confused. Where had Billy gone? I felt a sickening pit in my stomach. I ran passed the kitchen and down to the cellar.
"Infinity? Is that you?" Maisie called out.
"Where's Billy?" I looked around the cellar and my eyes stopped on Charlie, who was crouching in front of the painting.
"Maisie thinks he's at Bloor's, but I know for a fact that he's in Badlock. When I woke up this morning, he was already gone. Runner Bean was down here, but Billy wasn't. Someone locked Billy down here and I think it was Grandma Bone." Charlie had a sad expression painted over his face. "Today was a disaster."
We walked up the stairs together and shut the door behind us. "What happened?" I asked as I climbed the stairs to get to my bedroom. Charlie followed behind me.
"Aside from Billy being sucked into Badlock? Benjamin and I ran into Eric again today."
"You and Benjamin are speaking again?" I was happy for Charlie, but I knew it was only a matter of time before Benjamin got pissed at Charlie for something again.
"Yes. And we were walking to Ingledew's when we saw Eric. He had a big stone hound with him. And the hound was trying to break down the door to a house. Runner Bean scared him off, but there was still damage done. The house belonged to a retired lawyer. His name was Hector Bittermouse. And he thinks the magicians of Piminy Street are after him for some reason. People are coming back to settle old scores. Hector Bittermouse has a brother named Barnaby and Barnaby was friends with dad. I think that's why they're being targeted."
This was a lot for me to take in. "Piminy Street is becoming very dangerous." I noted.
"Maisie told me that you're going to be living with Mrs. Kettle for now. Do you really think that's safe?"
"Charles Bone, are you really going to condemn me for doing something unsafe?" I raised an eyebrow at my little brother. I got a small smirk from him in response.
Charlie helped me carry all of my things down to Katya's truck. After a big hug from Maisie, she asked me to come back and see her whenever I could. I promised I would and I made my way back to my temporary home on Piminy Street. If there was something I could do to keep the magicians at bay, I would do it. I just hoped that I was strong enough. I spent the rest of my night trying to learn a new protection spell that would stay active whenever I was back at the academy. It took me awhile, but I was able to place a talisman on Katya's door that would keep Eric and his stone abominations at bay. I hoped that it would work. I was good with force-fields, healing, and weapons, but my spell-casting skills were weak.
Upon returning to school on Monday, I was immediately cornered by Manfred when I was making my rounds after the other students were in class. I was forced to threaten detention to many students that day after the word of Billy's disappearance got out. "Billy is in Badlock. You did well." He put his hand on my back and I pulled away.
"I didn't do anything. I wasn't even home." I growled at him. I just wanted him to go away, and I certainly didn't want him to touch me.
"But you didn't warn Charlie and try to stop it. You're every bit as guilty." A sly grin spread across his now clear face. He reached out to grab my wrist but I pulled it away.
"Don't touch me." I snarled. He narrowed his eyes and went to grab me again, but I smacked his hand away. I expected him to get angry, but he didn't. "Manfred, I'm serious. Stop it. Why do you always have to be like this? Why does every single one of our conversations have to escalate into a fight?"
"I don't know." He said numbly. I hadn't been expecting that answer. "I'm sorry." If I hadn't been looking at his lips when he spoke, I would have missed it.
"Excuse me, you're what?"
"I'm sorry." He ran a hand through his long black hair. He looked nervous. "For everything. I'm sorry I ever attacked you. I don't even know why I did it. I get so fucking mad at you sometimes. I get angry that you're a Bone. I get angry that you loved Salem. I get angry because I can't change who I am. I want to be what you think I am, Infinity. But I can't be. Any time I try to approach you in a civil way, I lose control. I hurt you, I take things from you. I almost killed you, but you saved my life. I know you say and do those things because you want peace, but sometimes it makes me think you're one of the only people who actually cares about me. And how do I repay you? The way I repay everyone who thinks that I have a chance to actually be something good. I ruin their dreams, slam their fingers in the door, burn the skin off of their hands, put them in a coma." I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. I just stood in silent awe at his emotional outburst. His eyes were wet, but no tears fell. "I hate who I am, but I can't get away from it. The need to be powerful trumps my want for love every single fucking time. I'll just keep taking and taking, knowing that it won't fill the void in my life, but I can't stop. Everything I have is built on wickedness and lies but I'm too selfish to let it go."
"I don't know what to tell you." I was wary of his confessions. Part of me hoped he was sincere, but deep down I knew that he was trying to play me again. "Look, I know you're just trying to mess with me. Stop making me play your stupid mind games. I really can't handle it right now." Students began to leave their classrooms, but Manfred didn't budge. He didn't break eye contact with me, but he wasn't trying to hypnotize me. We stood at the end of the Hall of Portraits where we continued to be jostled by other students, but neither of us bothered to move. "Do you think that I'll fall for your 'Manfred is really a nice guy deep down' routine?"
"No, I don't." He smirked. He wasn't getting angry with me. I was so confused that I just wanted to run away from him. "You're too smart for that. It was worth a shot, though."
"Then what is your plan?" I threw my arms out in exasperated frustration. I wanted to scream at him, shove him into a wall. I wanted to get away but my curiosity rooted me in place. Instead, he laughed cruelly. "You're an insane, vile person. Do you know that?" I yelled at him. "I hate you more than I've ever hated anyone."
"No you don't. Or else you would have stormed off by now." He narrowed his eyes at me and I began to feel even more uncomfortable. I could feel beads of sweat producing on my forehead. "Salem got jealous any time he saw us together. There's obviously something here. I don't know why you keep running from it." Students began to file out of the classrooms so they could go outside for their break, but Manfred wasn't done speaking with me. He didn't budge even when we were surrounded.
"Because you're a psychopath? I have a natural instinct to try and help people. But I really believe that you're beyond saving, Manfred. I don't even want to try anymore. I don't feel drawn to you like I did before. When Salem gave up on you, I did too. I'll keep your secret safe, but I just want you to leave me alone." I turned to disappear in the crowd, but a loud crash from the end of the corridor of portraits turned me back around. The hall parted almost instinctively to let Manfred get to the source of the noise with ease. It took great effort for me to keep up with his strides.
"You better hope that this has nothing to do with that brother of yours." He growled at me.
"I'm sure it does…" I sighed. When we reached the end of the hallway, I wasn't at all surprised to see a group of children surrounding Charlie. There was a painting on the floor and Joshua Tilpin was trapped under it.
"What's going on?" Manfred demanded. He tried to pull the large portrait of Donatella Di Vinci off of Joshua but it was too heavy. I wasn't going to be able to lift it, so I scanned the crowd for someone strong enough to do so. My gaze fell on Bragger Braine, a large second year.
"Bragger, go help him. Now." I demanded. "Charlie, what happened?"
"I shoved Joshua and the painting fell." Charlie looked down at the floor. He hated when I was the one who had to intervene with his problems.
Manfred and Bragger managed to hang the painting back up with minimal difficulty, but now I noticed something that I prayed Manfred wouldn't see. Donatella now had a reasonable sized hole in her forehead. Manfred stepped back to where I was standing to make sure that the painting was hung straight. It didn't take him long to notice the ripped canvas.
His face turned from white, to red, back to white again in the span of a few seconds. His wrath towards Charlie was going to be great and I feared for him. When I saw that he was ready to yell, I laced my fingers through his. A warm light glowed between our fingers as I sent him an aura of calming. I felt disgusting inside, but I didn't know what he was going to do to Charlie. Manfred looked over at me and rubbed his temple with his free hand. "Just… Go to the Headmaster's office." He said calmly. "Now. Get out of my sight before I lose my temper."
Charlie shot me a confused look before slinking off in the direction of the West Wing. I quickly let go of Manfred's hand and tried to escape with the rest of the crowd. Oh my god, why did I do that? Why the FUCK did I do that? I thought to myself. I quickly turned the corner and pressed myself against the wall.
Never in my life had I dealt with boys before coming to the academy. Now I felt like I was in some kind of disgusting teen drama and I wanted to run away from it all. I learned my lesson, please just come home. I can't do this alone anymore. I silently begged Salem. You're gone and now Manfred is acting weird and I don't feel safe at all.
I was met with silence.
"Fuck you too, Salem." I said out loud. A couple of passing students gave me surprised looks, but kept going. I couldn't catch my breath and the room was spinning. The faces of the people around me just blurred together. I stumbled through the hallway desperate to get as far away as I could from everyone. I didn't want to go to class, I didn't want to see anyone. I went back to my isolated room, shut the door and locked myself inside. There would be repercussions to this, I was sure, but I just didn't care.
I cried. I cried until my head hurt and my throat felt raw. I threw things and punched things and screamed into my pillow at the top of my lungs. I didn't want any of this anymore. I unleashed my anger until there wasn't anything to unleash anymore, and then I laid down into my bed. I just wanted everything to end. I wanted everyone to stop fighting, I wanted my parents and Paton to come home. I closed my eyes and fell into an exhausted sleep.