Chapter 7

An hour later, we were descending the stairs to an entrance hall full of family and friends. Charles was passing drinks around as people passed through the hall and headed into the dining room. I waved to Mum and pointed at the dining room indicating that we were just going to head on in.

Marcus and Phoebe were already in there, as well as Linda Crosby and Hamish Osborne. We introduced the boys to Hamish and they had already met the others. Mum and Dad came in, followed by Jack and Liza, Father H, James, Uncle Chris, Miriam Shephard who was Chris' lab manager, Phoebe's maker, and a friend of Dad's since the crusades. Nathaniel Wilson came in with his mother Agatha and his wife Sophie. When everyone was seated Dad stood and introduced everyone. Most of us knew each other but I think Dad just wanted the chance to say "And finally we have my newest grandsons Tavish and Lennox Sampson who are celebrating their birthday with us this evening."

That brought a round of cheers and applause. When it died down Jack stood to say "And I'd like to announce my engagement to Miss Elizabeth Sampson, and welcome my sons to the family."

That was followed by an even louder round of cheering and applause.

Once the excitement died down, we got down to the business of eating. That was some business I could sink my teeth into. Charles is an incredible cook and he outdid himself tonight. He had talked to Liza and made all Tav and Len's favorite dishes. Baked Chicken Kiev, broccoli in cheese sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet pea salad, apple dumplings with ice cream, red and white wines, iced sheep's blood.

We all enjoyed the meal, and the company of friends and family as we told stories about each other designed to embarrass and delight everyone.

Charles and the staff cleared the last dishes and then he came back in with a huge triple layer chocolate cake with 8 candles. The boys were totally surprised as everyone started singing "Happy Birthday"

After the cake, and of course more ice cream, Dad looked at Hamish and asked "Do we want to do this here? Or in the study?"

"Either will be fine Matthew. We can spread papers around the table to be seen by all if we stay here, or we can be more relaxed in the study. Do you have seating for everyone in there?"

"To be honest, no. Let's stay here."

That decided, Charles cleared away the cake and dishes and after he had passed around various cups of wine, tea, coffee, and blood, Dad cleared his throat and began.

"Aside from the enjoyment of each other's company, we've asked you all here tonight to discuss a rather large enterprise that Diana and I have decided to endorse, and help get off the ground."

"Before I start, I should make one thing clear. Several of you are new to our family and might be afraid to speak your minds. If you are at this table tonight, your ideas and opinions are equal to any other's. Do not hesitate to speak your mind. That thought that you are having might be the one that solves a major issue or shines the light on a major flaw. Again, and I can not emphasize this enough, everyone" and his gaze swept over me, Beck, Tav, Len, Jack, Liza, and ended on James, "everyone has a right, no, a responsibility, to share their thoughts."

"As most of you know, our oldest are in town to take admission tests for two of the finest public schools in England. That said, we've decided these schools don't really fit the unique needs of our children, and we mean to find a solution to that problem. Diana?"

"Schools like Eton, Winchester, Harrow, Wellington, and several others prepare young minds for higher education at places such as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton,"

"Yale"

"Haha, yes Chris, even Yale. The education and personal growth these schools provide is a huge advantage to their students. The problem we have found is, they are lacking in many areas unique to the lives of young creatures. None of these provide an advanced magical library so young witches can advance in their arts. None of these schools have the counseling needed to help a young daemon learn to deal with the unique way their minds work or how they view the world. Few, if any, of these schools can accommodate the educational needs of a 500 year old vampire whose education was nothing more than a year of reading and sums as a child in Elizabethan London. And certainly none of these schools are prepared to deal with 8 year old bright born who look like teenagers and bring magical companions to class."

"Matthew and I are forming a trust that will own the old lodge and the 120 acres around it as the campus. Hamish has generously offered most of his fortune to fund scholarships for students who might never have a chance to enter a public school otherwise. We'll be starting renovations on the buildings in a few weeks and intend to have housing for 150 students by the start of a fall term, if we can make that happen. If we need to, we are prepared to provide for as many as 600 students the first year, if we find that level of interest."

For the first time, Hamish spoke up "What we've asked you all here for tonight, is to spread the word. Between those at this table, we believe we can get word of this project to more than 75% of the creatures in the known world. That said, we expect an interest level of about 20%. With that, and the ages we're aiming at for a first term, we expect from 100 to 300 students. Male and female, witch, vampire, daemon, bright born, and human. Another point, if I have any say in it, finances will never prevent a creature from attending. Humans we can discuss on a case by case basis, but creatures will be allowed to attend regardless of their means."

"Vampires and bright born will have unique age guidelines. The others, we'll take students in stages 3, 4, and 5. For those of you not familiar, that means we'll be taking students starting at age 12, give or take a few months. Years 7 through 13. That might be clearer for your American friends. I've already contacted all the major public schools, and they all have creatures on staff who will allow us to do admission testing using their systems already in place."

"Chris? Is our work on mapping the creature genome far enough along for us to use it to seek out young undiscovered daemons without the humans noticing?"

"I think it is Matthew. Most infants have their blood drawn at birth. As I understand it, you already have creatures in most systems to hide results that would garner unwanted attention. We can use those resources to track and contact daemons as they grow so they know what they are."

"Linda? Father H? Can you contact the families who have creature students in the public schools already and see if many would want to transfer?"

"Certainly Matthew"

"Actually Matthew, I've already had a conversation with Claire and she says Xan is excited about the idea. Sophie says Lady Louise finishes at St Mary's this year but James very much wants to be involved. Edward and Her Majesty are hesitant to risk exposure."

"Thank you Linda, I'll talk to Lilibet before we fly back to France."

"What about staffing? Teachers? Mentors?"

"A good point Chris. Actually, we were hoping you would know some grad students working at Yale that might be interested. I remember Richard was involved in the study early on, is he still there?"

"Yes, he'd be a good one to involve for Biology."

"I'd like to be on staff, if you'd have me"

That surprised many of us. Tav and Len turned to stare at their mother.

"I would be honored to have my daughter in law teaching my children biology. For those of you who might not know, Liza has a Doctorate in Marine Biology."

"I can probably find history and English professors, if I pull in some favors from friends at Oxford and Yale. If I'm going to be doing anything on staff, I think it should be in magical studies, but honestly, with three sets of twins and the work reforming the Congregation. I don't know if I have the time."

"You can do as you wish Diana, but I tend to agree, your plate is full already."

"I can certainly offer my time as a staff physician, or teaching science of some sort, if I'm needed. Anything to help, Matthew."

"Thank you Marcus. I had hoped you'd be our Physician but I didn't want you to feel pressured."

"And I can teach art history or art appreciation. My contacts at Sotheby's could get me access for some very interesting field trips. And thanks to my maker, I can handle any group of young creatures."

"Ha, daughter, you could handle a hundred sailors on their first shore leave after three years at sea. You are a formidable young vampire and I'm proud of you. That said, I could teach sciences if I'm really needed, although Chris would feel the loss at the lab. I can certainly spread the word around the world."

"I don't like tests, Sire."

"You don't need to use that title here James, but tell me, how do you mean?"

"Well Sire...er, Matthew, tests rule out us that ain't got an education."

"He's got a point Dad. Beck and I had tutors. Obviously Tav and Len did too, or Liza did great if they're sitting tests tomorrow, but not every bright born had a family with money. I bet there's lots of vampires that couldn't even read the tests at Eton, let alone pass them."

"He's right Matthew. Many of my children grow up in poverty in London. When I made Amen, er, James, sorry, I made sure he could read and write and do basic sums but that's all he needed in the 1500's. I doubt he can do work above Stage 2."

"I wouldn't know much if you and Mum hadn't always made me work with Annie in the Black-friars, Dad. Even so, I know Pip knows a lot more than me. We need separate classes to help the vampires catch up."

"James, can you handle a project for me?"

"Madame? Er, Diana?"

"I want a list of every vampire you know that needs help with the basics. Not just here in London. I want you to talk to any vampires you know, anywhere in the world. I want you and I to put together a plan so they will all be able to study and at least pass GCSE, or do A levels if they want. I'm sure many vampires that were turned as teenagers were never given a choice, it's time they had options."

"Me? I'm not the one to lead it Ma'am. You need someone smart."

"There is a difference between smart and educated James, and Diana's right, you are the man for this. You can relate to them better than any of us. I want you to travel to New Orleans, speak with Ransom. Go to Paris, Miriam knows the community there. I'll get Baldwin involved with New York. Take Leonard with you. You can use a De Clermont plane."

James looked stunned but looked up at Dad and nodded.

"Good. And so we're clear, this is not just a family project. It will likely involve mostly our family at the beginning, but this is open to all creatures. And if we don't emphasize that, it will seem like another thing to set De Clermots apart from the rest of the world of creatures."

"Diana and I should get the Congregation involved. We have our meeting next Monday, I'll present it. That will help separate it from the family."

"Sophie and I are flying back to Sydney tomorrow. We can make some contacts and spread the word there."

"Thank you Nathaniel. I'd like you and your people to come to Woodstock to sort out the IT needs. I'll leave the timing and such to you."

"And since this whole idea was inspired by them, we should discuss the bright born. We celebrated the 8th birthday of Tavish and Lennox earlier this evening. If you look at them and didn't know this, you'd see two 13 year old boys ready to start year 7 in school, start dating, and begin their own lives."

"Liza, please feel free to add to this, as I am talking from our experiences with our 6 children. We've learned that bright born mature both mentally and physically at roughly a double pace from birth to age 2 with growth slowing to a 1.5 to 1 rate until age 8. Growth further slows at this point to something similar to other warm-bloods until the age of 16. Understand that I'm speaking actual ages here. At that point, we have a 16 year old boy that looks to the world like a 22 year old young man."

"A clearer way to see it is this. Our girls turned 5 last week. If you look at them or speak to them, they seem like typical 9 year old girls. The boys turned 7 in January yet they are similar to an average 11 year old. Philip and Becca will be 9 in November and, as you see, they could be turning 14."

"I'm a good example of their future. I celebrated my 20th birthday in February. My mother is 189 years old, and without her disguising spell, she looks 25. My grandmother and great-grandmother died in accidents, so we really don't know our expected life span."

"The Congregation's ban on inter-creature marriage was only recently overturned, so for centuries, bright born and their parents have had to hide to protect their very lives. As far as we know, our three sets of twins, Liza's boys, are the only bright born in the world."

"What about Janet Gowdie?"

"Janet is the daughter of a bright born and a witch. Like any hereditary trait, the more you mix it, the more it fades. This can get into a deep intellectual conversation on genetics and I'd rather avoid that. I'm sure Chris will be glad to go into it with anyone that's interested, but back to the eight bright born we know of."

"One more thought on that first, Chris, I've asked Liza for some blood. I'd like you to get hers and the boys' and compare it to our children. Please rush this? I'm interested in the differences due to her interesting situation."

"Sure Matt."

"Back to bright born, we have to consider, and prepare, for some discrimination from the students lesser informed on this new race. I want our school to be totally accepting of students regardless of their family background, skin color, sex, sexual orientation, physical traits, magical abilities, supernatural tendencies, and any other descriptive words you can imagine to separate one being from another."

"Matthew, you've strayed off point."

"Yes, well, what I said is still topical, but back to the point of bright born and their educational needs. We'll use these four young people as our guideline for now. They're ready for year 7 because their families could provide tutors. We need to consider and make appropriate plans for others. Do we provide teaching from age 1? Do we refuse those who haven't had the tutoring?"

"Dad, you're worrying about a detail that doesn't matter yet. I think we worry about the bright born we know of, and as others come to light, we remain flexible and care for them as individuals. Like Marcus told me, treat the disease but care for the patient."

"Well put Pip. And I think that's what we should do."

"Do you really think we can have everything in place for next term? It sounds like an awful lot to organize in..." I had to think "four months? April's almost over. And fall term starts most places the first week in September."

"Honestly Pip it depends on several things. How many students are interested, a construction timeline. Then there is staffing and such. I think we can get a good start, why?"

"Well, two things. First," looking at Beck, Tav and Len and getting nods "Well, there is no point us taking admissions for schools we won't be going to."

"We plan on using those tests for all students, remember?"

"That actually goes into my second point Dad. If we're starting a new, unique school for unique students, why follow some pattern that's based on a system that is out of touch with the 21st century?"

"How do you mean?"

"Well, putting everyone in a classroom and teaching by rote isn't efficient. We've learned so much more with individual tutors than those in a typical classroom setting. I know we can't have one on one education for so many students, but a combination of online studies, lectures, labs, and study groups might be the answer. We'd need fewer instructors, fewer large classrooms, and we can tailor each student's program to their unique needs. Rather than grouping us in years or forms, make houses like most schools have, that form the socialization that we want. That way, James won't feel out of place in classrooms because you might have a 12 year old that wants to study the same subject as an 18 year old. The bright born won't seem out of place in any group because age isn't a factor."

"Mixing the ages," I went on "will let the younger students learn social skills from the older in all settings. Those that can, will progress at their own pace rather than be held back by the pace of the average student, and those with problems can get tutoring from their housemates as well as staff. COVID has shown that students can, and will, learn online. Why not take advantage of this, since we're starting from scratch anyway?"

"You've got something there Philip. An environment more like university might solve some issues. Are you saying you don't want to go to Winchester?"

"No Mum, I don't think I do. And I can't speak for them, but I don't think any of us do. Regardless of this being ready for fall term, there's no point in starting at a school I'll be leaving once everything's in place for a new one, right?"

"And if we're not ready for fall term?"

"We can bring tutors here and the four of us will study with them. We could bring Stevie and Chris too. Let them get used to the system. I don't think Annie and Mary are old enough, but they're not far from it."

"Here Pip? I don't know if your mother wants to turn our home into a classroom."

"Then the gatehouse at the old lodge. We could be the first in house students at the new school. Even if everything's not in place we could get started."

"Alright Philip, I suppose I'll agree to this. Are you other three in agreement? Tavish and Lennox, you should check with your parents first."

"I'm fine with whatever the boys want. Jack?"

"I can't tell them what to do, I just met them."

"And I was telling you what to do the day I met you Jack. You're their Dad, your opinions guide them." Mum said.

Looking at Tav and Len, "Well then I'm with Liza, unless you want to do something dangerous, I think you can decide for yourselves."

"I'm in!" they shouted in unison.

"It seems we have our first four pupils."

"Five Matthew. I'll gather the vampires as you asked, but come fall, I want to go to school."

"Good for you James. Five then. And unless anyone objects, I think the first five students should get the honor of naming our school. Oh, and since you objected to Harrow's hats, you five can also come up with uniforms"

No one spoke. I just looked at Beck and grinned. Naming a school, how cool is that?

"And on that note, some of you have flights to catch so unless there is something else? Details can be worked out via email. Anyone wanting to serve in any manner, please email me with details."

There was nothing else so we all stood. Everyone was chatting in small groups, sharing various smaller ideas and issues. In groups of 2 and 3 our guests left. Agatha, Nathaniel and Sophie had an 11 pm flight to Sydney so they left almost immediately. Chris and Miriam were staying with Marcus and Phoebe a few days so after chatting with Mum and Dad a bit, they left for Pickering Place. Beck, Tavish, Lennox and I all headed to my room.