Legacy 205: Mystery at Magic School

Part 6

Xxx

In the professor's lounge of Magic School, Leo was staring at a list of professors in front of him. All of them had a foolproof alibi for the night of the murder, as there had been a secret soiree in the astrology classroom that most of them attended. As much as he resented the thought, it seemed to support the theory that the murder had been committed by one of the students. Aside from the murder, there was another thing that was troubling Leo. He had not heard back from Noah and now his connection to the Heavens had been completely cut off. Whatever was going on up there, it wasn't good. He looked up to see Dawn and Callum walking toward him.

"Leo, we need to talk." Callum said. "The staff is getting restless. They're worried for the students and themselves. Perhaps it is time to call in outside help."

"And what about our loved ones at home?" Dawn asked. "They'll wonder what's going on. I need to call my girlfriend."

"The moment we open the portals, we risk letting the murderer escape." Leo replied. "I understand your concerns, but I have a plan in motion. I also sent word to your families that there is a situation that required you all to stay at the school, but that they shouldn't worry."

"Does this plan have anything to do with our new transfer student?" Dawn asked.

"There's a new transfer student?" Callum asked.

"Her name is Payton Cooper." Dawn replied. "She was just enrolled in my class today. I trust that you know what you're doing, Leo, but I don't like being lied to."

"You're right, I'm sorry." Leo admitted. "She's not just a student. I asked her here to help solve this mystery and I figured it was best to remain discrete to not alert the murderer."

"I understand." Dawn said. "I just hope this is over before things get worse."

"You're putting all your trust in one teenaged girl?" Callum asked.

"Don't we teach our students they can achieve what they set their mind to?" Leo replied. "The students here are the future of magic."

"They're also still kids." Dawn noted. "We're the ones meant to guide and protect them."

"You're right." Leo admitted. "But if one of the student is responsible, we missed something. We failed. I don't like putting students at risk, but perhaps they can see what we didn't."

The two professors nodded, though they did not seem convinced. Leo stood up and went to get a cup of coffee, hoping that he was doing the right thing by trusting in Payton.

Xxx

After her premonition about Liam being in danger, Payton stormed after him toward the bathroom. The moment she opened the door, she saw he was taking off his shirt as the shower was running. She looked around and saw a rippling appear in the mirror. As if through silvery water, two gloved hands appeared and moved toward Liam in an attempt to grab him as he had his head caught in his shirt.

"Look out!" Payton called out.

Payton ran toward Liam and tackled him before the murderer could grab him, inadvertently causing her to lose her invisibility as they hit the floor. She turned around to see the hands retreating into the mirror, after which she saw yellow eyes surrounded by flames angrily staring at her. The eyes faded and the mirror returned to normal. Underneath her, Liam struggled and pulled the shirt off his face, staring at her with confusion.

"What are you doing?" Liam asked.

"Saving your life, hopefully." Payton replied.

"From what?" Liam asked with a frown. "Getting burned by scalding shower water?"

"No, obviously not." Payton replied. "It's hard to explain."

"Well, you should probably start with why you're jumping on guys in the shower." Liam noted.

Payton blushed as she realized she was sitting on top of Liam, her hands resting on his bare chest. She quickly crawled up and tried to look away, though she could not help but peek as he put his shirt back on. Liam turned off the shower and crossed his arms, waiting for an explanation. Payton hesitated as she looked at the mirror.

"Not here." Payton said. "We need to talk in private."

"I used to think the showers were pretty private." Liam remarked.

"Funny, but I honestly was trying to save you." Payton said. "Please, you have to believe me."

"I do." Liam admitted. "You have trustworthy eyes. There is a place we can talk, follow me."

Payton smiled and followed Liam out of the bathrooms. She quickly looked over her shoulder at the mirror, but there was nothing to see. She remembered the mirror in Miss Donovan's room and realized that Noah had guessed correctly that the murderer was using them as portals. That at least answered part of the how, but not the why. What did Miss Donovan and Liam have in common that would make them both targets?

Payton followed Liam down the hall and through the common room, where she noticed that both Lexie and Harry were gone. They were just there a few moments ago, so where could they have gone so quickly? Liam led her to a room which looked like study hall with several desks and bookcases. Payton quickly scanned the room, but there were no mirrors. Liam leaned against one of the desks as Payton sat across from him.

"I've been thinking a lot about you." Liam said.

"Really?" Payton asked.

"I mean, how strange it is that a new student suddenly transfers to the school the day after a murder took place?" Liam continued.

"Oh, do you think I'm a suspect?" Payton asked a little disappointed.

"No, like I said, you have trustworthy eyes." Liam replied. "You seem like a kind and understanding person."

"Thanks." Payton replied as she felt her face turn red. "So is that the reason you've been staring at me all day?"

"I… uh, I guess that's part of it." Liam admitted nervously. "I also think that you're very pretty, so sorry for the staring."

"Thanks." Payton replied quickly. "We need to talk about what just happened. You're right, the fact that I'm here is not a coincidence."

"So you're here to find out who did it." Liam reasoned. "And you suspect someone in our class is responsible, don't you?"

"According to the headmaster, the only students with enough magical power are in this class." Payton said. "I don't want to believe it, but we have to make sure."

"So what happened in the bathroom?" Liam asked.

"I… I had a premonition." Payton said. "I saw you being targeted by the murderer."

"A premonition?" Liam replied. "That's a rare power, who are you exactly?"

"My name really is Payton." Payton admitted after a moment of consideration. "But my last name is Halliwell. Leo is my uncle and he asked me to go undercover."

"I see." Liam asked. "So who or what was going to attack me?"

"All I saw were hands coming through the mirror and yellow flaming eyes." Payton replied. "Do you know why anyone would target you?"

"Not really." Liam said. "I don't hang out with a lot of students, I mostly keep to myself."

"Why is that?" Payton asked.

"I don't connect to people easily." Liam replied. "I'm used to being alone, I guess. Something happened a long time ago that made people nervous around me."

"I'm sorry." Payton said. "I know a little about being insure. I used to be very shy."

"You don't seem that shy." Liam noted. "What changed?"

"I guess I just started believing in myself more. My friends and family helped with that." Payton said. "So do you want to talk about it? You don't have to, you know."

"No, I feel like I can trust you." Liam replied. "I'm the first wizard-witch born on Atlantis, which somehow gave me incredibly rare magic. I could manipulate the powers of other people, copy them, strengthen them and even take them away. I just couldn't control it, which is very dangerous on an island filled with magic."

"What happened?" Payton asked.

"At one point, I started taking too much magic, I couldn't stop it." Liam continued. "Some people lost their magic entirely and all that magic started to grow inside of me. I nearly destroyed the island until my parents managed to extract the magic and bound part of my powers."

"That must have been horrible." Payton said. "I'm so sorry that happened to you."

"The worst part was how people looked at me." Liam replied. "Not only had I stolen magic, I had nearly destroyed wizard civilization a second time."

Payton sat down next to Liam, taking his hand in hers. Normally something like that would have made her nervous, but now all she wanted to do was be there for him. She felt sorry for everything he had gone through, as it sounded very lonely. Liam looked at her with his bright blue eyes and they stared at each other for a moment.

"We need to get back to the murder." Payton said eventually.

"I know." Liam replied. "So do you think they came after me because of my magic?"

"It's possible." Payton said. "You might be one of the most powerful beings here, but then why would they target Miss Donovan first? Does anything connects you to her?"

"Not that I can think of." Liam replied. "Let's instead look at what we know about the murderer. We know they're using mirrors. Did you see anyone using a mirror?"

"Oh my god." Payton said as something came to mind. "Kinsley. When I saw in her room, she was talking to a mirror, but I just thought she was talking to herself."

"What was she doing?" Liam asked.

"She was just talking to the mirror while igniting and levitating a bunch of candles." Payton replied.

"Weird, Kinsley can levitate stuff for sure, but she can't light candles with her mind." Liam said.

"Wait, I saw flaming eyes in the mirror." Payton noted. "What if the person she is working with gave her those powers? Who in the school can control fire?"

"Nobody, I think." Liam replied. "Maddison can create energy sparks, which sometimes causes a fire, but I don't think she is skilled enough to light candles."

"It could be someone from the outside." Payton said. "Or something. We need to find Kinsley before anyone else gets hurt."

Payton and Liam left the study hall and returned to the common room, where a cloaked figure was waiting for them. The figure raised its hands and both Payton and Liam were levitated off the floor and slammed into the ceiling. The figure stepped closer and Payton saw an athame in its gloved hands.

"We know it's you, Kinsley." Payton said. "It's not too late to stop this."

The figure removed the cloaked, revealing herself to indeed be Kinsley. She looked terrified and the athame in her hand was trembling.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Kinsley replied. "I have no choice. I need to do this."

"Why?" Payton asked. "Who are you working with? What are they making you do?"

"You shouldn't have interfered." Kinsley replied harshly.

Kinsley lowered her hands and Payton and Liam levitated down. Looking at her, Payton knew she was planning to slam them into the ceiling again to knock them out. However, before she could make her move, Kinsley was telekinetically thrown across the room, causing Payton and Liam to drop to the floor. Lexie and Harry came running into the common room.

"What is going on?" Lexie asked.

"Are you guys okay?" Harry asked. "We heard an argument."

"Kinsley is the murderer." Payton said. "But she's not working alone."

"You idiots!" Kinsley called out as she got up. "I was trying to keep you safe. Now she'll come after you all! Liam would have been enough."

"Who is she?" Payton asked. "We can help you."

"No, you can't!" Kinsley snapped at her.

Kinsley screamed as she extended her hands and unleashed streams of fire, which Lexie countered with her telekinetic power, stopping the streams midair. However, she quickly became overpowered and started losing ground. Liam placed a hand on her shoulder and augmented her power, strengthening her telekinetic wall.

"Harry, distract her." Liam said.

"How?" Harry asked.

"You can create holograms!" Lexie snapped at him. "Be creative."

Harry nodded nervously and started waving his fingers, causing screens of light to appear around Kinsley that showed flashing scenes from comic books and movies. As Kinsley got distracted by the holograms, Payton turned invisible in an attempt to get closer to her.

"Enough!" Kinsley snapped.

Kinsley dropped the streams of fire and threw up her hands, causing Liam, Lexie and Harry to fly up and hit the ceiling. The holograms surrounding Kinsley disappeared and she scanned the room for Payton, whom had already snuck behind her. The moment she grabbed Kinsley, Payton was pulled into a premonition. She saw Kinsley crying in front of the mirror when flames appeared in it, followed by a blonde woman with glowing yellow eyes. She extended her hand and Kinsley touched the reflection. She saw Kinsley mouthing her name. When the premonition ended, Kinsley turned around and pushed Payton against the wall, causing her to become visible again.

"Who is Kali?" Payton asked.

"What?" Kinsley replied in shock. "How did you…? No, it doesn't matter. She's my friend."

"She's not a friend, Kinsley." Payton said. "She's using you. Don't let her."

Kinsley's face twisted in anger, though before she could attack, Maddison and Zev entered the common room. Upon seeing what was happening, Maddison fired multi-colored energy sparks at Kinsley, causing her cloak to erupt in flames. Kinsley dropped the others to the floor as she quickly freed herself from the burning cloak. Once she had succeeded, she found herself backed into a corner by her classmates.

"We want to help you, Kinsley." Payton said. "Please."

Kinsley hesitated for a moment, but then flaming eyes formed in the mirror behind her, followed by the appearance of the blonde woman in a white dress. She reached through the mirror and pulled Kinsley into it, after which their reflections disappeared.

"Could someone explain what the hell is going on?" Maddison remarked with a frown.

Xxx

Inside of the Heavenly Vault, Noah looked at the various weapons and artifacts surrounding him, looking for the best possible weapon. As he looked at the Apple of Discord, he realized there were forces here that he could not control, so he needed to be careful. Meanwhile, the Elders collectively gathered in front of the doors to strengthen them with a force field, while the remaining Whitelighters huddled together in fear. Most of them had never been in combat before, as their role had always been to guide. As far as Noah was concerned, the time for pacifism was over.

"I found the shillelagh." Gretchen said as she and Kyle appeared next to him.

"Good, take the Whitelighters and go." Noah replied. "Bring them somewhere safe."

"Where is safe?" Gretchen asked. "The Heavens are our home."

"Magic School." Noah said. "Leo will look after you."

"What are you going to do?" Kyle asked.

"I'm going to find a way to end this." Noah said determined.

"I'll stay with you." Kyle replied.

"No, the Whitelighters need you." Noah said. "If the Trinity wins, they'll need someone to look after them."

"You should remind yourself you are not in charge here, Noah." Odin sneered as he stepped in between them. "You are not an Elder anymore. In fact, the only reason you are still even a Whitelighter is because Sandra and Kevin pleaded your case."

"I am doing what I can to help." Noah argued. "More than you ever did."

"Enough!" Qetesh said as she entered the conversation. "Noah, you're not a member of the council anymore, but you are right. The Whitelighters need to flee to safety. Gretchen and Kyle, you will look after them."

"What about him?" Odin scoffed as he looked at Noah.

'We need all the help we can get." Qetesh noted. "If he wants to stay, let him. Now we must tend to the force field."

Odin reluctantly nodded and followed Qetesh to the doors, where they took the place of two Elders so they could rest. Gretchen tapped the shillelagh on the marble floor and summoned a rainbow, through which the Whitelighters started to flee. Kyle and Gretchen were the last ones to leave and the rainbow faded away behind them. As he continued searching for a weapon, Noah suddenly felt a shiver along his spine as a voice whispered to him. He turned to the hidden doorway he had sensed before and knew what was behind it this time. The moment he touched the door, it opened.

"Come and face me." The voice demanded.

Noah nodded and stepped through the door, heading down the spiraling stairway into darkness.

Xxx