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Jacin

Winter's chest rose and fell slowly, her face more peaceful than Jacin had seen it in years. Straps wrapped around her torso, keeping her pressed tightly to the bed. Jacin hated them. He knew how they must be digging into her skin, and that they would definitely leave sore marks later, but they were necessary. She'd already woken up a few times, thrashing and wailing, fighting against monsters no-one else could see. The restraints didn't remove the monsters, but they did stop the thrashing. Jacin wasn't completely sure if that was a good thing, since now whenever Winter woke up, she couldn't defend herself against the nightmarish figments of her own imagination. Nightmarish figments that shouldn't even be happening anymore, certainly not even more than they used to. The main reason for Winter's insanity was she wasn't using her gift, right? Well, she'd used her gift. She'd used it on Aimery. She should be feeling better. The nurse had said that that Lunar gift was less of a power than a muscle, and it needed to be exercised in order to stay strong, else it will grow weak and useless. And if you attempt something beyond the strength of your muscle, then you will always end up hurting yourself. Which was exactly what happened to Winter.

The door swung open with a quiet swish of air. Jacin lifted his gaze from the sleeping girl in front of him to the newcomer and narrowed his eyes in an icy glare at the sight of a familiarly (and infuriatingly) perfect face.

"Mister Clay." Levana greeted with a tiny nod of her head, "I thought I'd find you here."
"What do you want?" he asked gruffly. He was in no mood to be polite to the headmistress now.

Levana raised an eyebrow, her blood-red lips curling into a slight smile. "Can't I be here to see my dear stepdaughter?"
"The last time you were in a room alone with her, you scarred her face." Jacin snapped back, "Whatever your reason for being here, I highly doubt it's out of worry for Winter's well-being."

"Clearly you don't know me as well as you think." She said, taking a step forward. Jacin hurriedly shot to his feet and positioned himself so he was standing between her and her stepmother. He knew it wouldn't do much good if Levana did want to hurt Winter, but it was the best he could manage.

"I made a promise to her father before he died." Levana said calmly, "I promised I would take care of her, that I would keep her a safe as was in my power to do."
Jacin snorted. "Fine job you did at that. I'm sure Evret is lying peacefully in his grave, safe in the knowledge that nothing could ever happen to his daughter under your watch. Yep, definitely."
Levana's onyx gaze hardened, and her pale hands clenched into fists at her sides, the closest Jacin has ever seen her to losing her composure. "I have kept my promise to my husband. Winter is safe. She has a life that most girls her age can only dream of: a fleet of servants tending to her every need, food produced by some of the wizarding world's finest chefs for every meal and luxurious dresses for all occasions made by the best designers and seamstresses."
"And nightmares hiding around every corner, a teacher who wants to rape her, and a downright murderous guardian." Jacin countered. "Oh yeah, you've done a great job at keeping Winter safe."

"I'm not the one who brought her into the Black Woods in the middle of the night on a full moon."

Jacin couldn't suppress a flinch at that and Levana's mouth quirked into a smirk, now that she had regained the power. "Honestly Mister Clay, I would think that you would know better. Thankfully Aimery was there in case she should run into any trouble. He is a very capable wizard, he can quite easily fend off a pack of werewolves by himself. Or at least, he could."
"Could?" Jacin echoed, trying his best to look confused, and to not think about the ecstatic cries of the wolves as they tore off chunks of the teacher's flesh.

Levana nodded. "Yes, on the very night you and Winter were out on your little adventure, it seems that Professor Park was killed by the werewolves roaming the forest that night. Isn't that strange? A wizard as powerful as he, overwhelmed by some mindless beasts?"
Jacin shrugged. The movement felt sharp and jaunty. "Guess he wasn't as powerful as he made out."
Levana raised an eyebrow. "You know, another one of your friends was out in the Black Woods last night." She remarked, "A young Mudblood. What was her name again? Ashes? Soot?"
"If you think I know why Cinder was out at night, then you're very much mistaken." Jacin said, though his heart was pounding in his ears. She couldn't have figured it out. Merlin's beard, the whole reason for orchestrating Aimery's death was so she wouldn't figure it out.

"She was out on detention with Aimery." Levana told him, "He caught her badmouthing him in the library and, upon learning of her deathly fear of the Black Woods and werewolves, had her venture in at the full moon to fetch some leaping toadstools. Students who were in the library at the time of her transgression reported that she practically begged Professor Park not to send her to the Black Woods, and especially not on the full moon."

"Then he should have listened to her and chosen something like cleaning out the trophy room."
"Aimery only sought to properly discipline a wayward student. Even so, strange, is it not? That she would go so out of her way in telling him of her fear of the Black Woods and werewolves?"
Jacin resisted the urge to rub his rapidly sweating palms on his pants. "Well, we did just have a werewolf attack and the centaurs are still a bit riled-"

Levana ignored him. "And that's not even the last of the curiosities of last night either. You know of the Star Tree of course. In the full moon, those lovely little lights in its leaves turn silver. It's quite pretty, really, only last night, they stayed their usual gold. Why do you think that is?"
"Why are you asking me?" Why did Jacin have to be the one to deal with this? Other than hiding his emotions, he was a rubbish actor! Why couldn't it be Iko getting interrogated? She actually liked this kind of thing.

"I should think that you already knew that, Mister Clay." Levana said with a cold smile. "I'm asking because I believe you know the answer."
"Well then you believed wrong." Jacin said firmly, why carefully trying to reach for his wand tucked into his pants pocket.

"Ah, ah, ah." Levana said mockingly, before pulling out her own wand and pointing it squarely at him. "We can't have you casting spells on your headmistress, can we?"

A bolt of red light shot out of the wand-tip, hitting Jacin square in the chest before he could even blink. He fell back, his spine slamming painfully against Winter's bed as he did so. His muscles were suddenly made of jelly as he crumpled to the ground. A fog was fast settling over his thoughts. He saw Levana, smirking down at him with those perfect red lips, before his eyelids grew too heavy to remain aloft, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

A/N: You thought you'd get a break after all that business with murdering Aimery didn't you? HA! Not a chance.

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