Chapter Six: Assault

I found it strange that as a sixteen year old girl I had to share a bedroom with my twelve year old cousin. Charlie's bedroom had been completely rearranged. Against opposite walls sat two twin beds. Charlie's bed was the one with blue and gray striped comforter and mine was light blue with a white design on it. It was pretty cute and I wondered who had picked it out. My clothes were hung up in the only closet and I assumed that Charlie's were neatly folded in the drawers. We had one desk and computer, which wasn't a big deal to me because I had brought my laptop and I could see it sitting neatly on the end table by my bed. The walls were painted a light gray and decorated with medals and trophies from what looked like soccer. On the floor sat a solid blue rug.

"Hopefully this arrangement isn't forever." I sighed and flopped down on my bed. "It's not fair to you to have to share a room with a family member you hardly know."

"Maybe if we're lucky, Grandma Bone will move out and you can have her room." Charlie sat down in front of his computer. "How did your first week go?" He asked as he logged on and began to browse the internet. "I didn't get to talk to you very much."

"Eh. It was okay, I guess. I didn't make very many friends." I opened the book I was expected to read for English, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I had already read it, but if I was expected to write an essay on it or answer questions, I would need a refresher. "I mostly butted heads with Manfred the whole time. He doesn't like me very much. I just completely stopped talking to Asa because he's just as bad as Manfred. Zelda isn't too bad, actually. She and I get along pretty well. And I never really see Salem except for my English class because he's a year below me. I wish I could switch to the music department so I could hang out with him more often, but I think the Bloors put me in drama for a reason." I turned to look at Charlie. "The place is dreadful and I never want to go back."

"That's how most of us feel. The Bloor family makes everything awful for those who refuse to help them with what they do. You should definitely be careful around Zelda, though. While she's being nice to you now, I'm sure if Manfred decided he didn't want you two to talk, she would listen to him in a heartbeat." He finished what he had gotten on the computer to do and turned it off. He stared at his reflection in the blank screen. "As for Salem, he seems really nice but I don't think he really gets close to anyone, though he seems to have taken a liking to you. Do you think he was telling the truth? About my dad, I mean?"

"You've known him longer than I have, Charlie. I just met him this week."

"I only met him a few months ago when I started at the academy in November. I don't quite know how to feel about him. I don't understand how someone can just not pick a side, but I am more comfortable knowing that he doesn't do any of their dirty work." He let out a loud sigh and walked over to his own bed. "I feel so useless. I wish I remembered what my dad looked like. How can someone just completely forget their own father's face?"

"It's not your fault." I closed my book and walked over to his bed to sit down next to him. "You were two when all of this happened and your grandmother made sure that all the photographic evidence of your father was either destroyed or hidden away."

"But I'm almost positive they're hiding him right in front of my face. I just know it. I should be able to recognize him when I see him. Aren't you supposed to have some kind of bond with your parents?"

I chuckled. "I don't know. I didn't feel a bond at all with my mother and I lived with her for sixteen years. I feel more of one with Aunt Amy than with her." I looked down at my hands. "What if I can use my powers to help you remember your dad?"

"Can you really do that?" His eyes went wide.

"I really don't know." I frowned. "I've never willingly tried to use them before. I know I can heal the injured. I should be able to do other witchy things too, right?"

"So what do you even do? Does it just happen or do you have to recite a spell?"

"Uh, the last time I did it, it was a reflex of my body thinking I was in danger. Maybe now that I know I can do things like that, I can control it." I tried to focus and feel the powers that I supposedly had run through my body. I don't know if I tricked myself into feeling it or if this was real, but I felt like I could do something. I even said a little spell in my head to give myself confidence. The Bloors have been nothing but a bother, So I'll help Charlie remember his father! I put my hand on his forehead and my palm began to glow. I began to get excited and squealed a little. I pulled my hand away. "Did it work? Do you remember him?"

"No." Charlie sighed. "But the headache I was starting to get went away. Thanks for trying, Infinity. But I don't think you can do anything beyond healing and protection."

"I'm sorry." I stood up and headed back over to my bed. "At least we know that I can control my magic though." I plopped down on the mattress and stared up at the ceiling. "Maybe if I continue to work really hard I'll be able to help you someday. I don't think Salem is lying."

"I really hope not."

We both decided to silently work on our homework the rest of the night so that we could spend Saturday and Sunday free of school work and actually enjoy our time away from the academy. We worked well into the night and communicated very little. We both had a lot of reading to catch up on. Both of us finished at roughly the same time and decided to go to bed. Before I turned off my bedside lamp, Charlie called my name. I sat up and looked at him over the desk. "Tomorrow a bunch of us are getting together at our favorite hangout spot. Do you want to come with me?"

I smiled at my cousin. "Sure, Charlie. Thank you for inviting me."

"No problem." He snapped off his light and rolled over. "Good night, Infinity."

I woke up the next morning to the sun assaulting my eyes through the blue gingham curtains and the smell of pancakes wafting up from downstairs. I looked at my alarm clock through squinted eyes. It was 10 am and I felt surprisingly well rested for the first time since my father died. I sat up and stretched my arms out, looking around the room. Charlie was still asleep so I quietly gathered my clothes and made my way to the bathroom down the hall.

I took a quick shower, turning the water on has hot as my body could stand because I didn't have that luxury at the academy. I tipped my head back under the stream of running water and wetted my hair before shampooing it roughly. I was interrupted by a loud bang on the door. "The steam is coming out from under the door!" It was Grizelda. "Save some hot water for the other people in this house, you wasteful brat!"

"Leave her be, Grizelda." I heard Paton's booming voice come from down the hall. "You never had to attend that academy. You don't know how many things they have to go without while they're there."

I smiled at Paton's concern. He had attended the academy as well. I had a feeling that there was something special about him when I had first arrived here a week ago. It made sense that he was most likely endowed. I figured it had something to do with lights because everywhere he went, the other occupants of the household dove for light switches. "Thank you!" I called out.

"Any time, dear girl!" He called back. Grizelda stomped back to her room and slammed the door, allowing me to finish my shower in peace. I stepped out onto the soft rug that sat in front of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist and another around my head. I quickly brushed my teeth and scrubbed my face a second time when I finished. I pulled on my outfit for the day, which consisted of black fleece leggings, a black skirt and a purple sweater. When I was satisfied, I quickly applied my makeup, blow dried my hair and threw my night clothes in my hamper back in the bedroom. By the time I had finished with everything, Charlie was already up and dressed.

"Good morning." He said cheerfully. "Grandma yells at me every time I take a hot shower, too. Just ignore her."

"She's not a very pleasant lady, is she?" I pulled out my cellphone that I had not turned on for the entire week since they were banned at the academy. Maisie had kept it in my bedside table drawer, safe. I was happy to see that my service had not been terminated and that my mother was still paying the bill even after our falling out. I had no messages from her though. It was as if she didn't even care to see how my week had gone. I dialed her number quickly and put my phone up to my ear.

"The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected…" The automated message said in my ear. I hung up and sat the phone down gently on the dresser and ran down the stairs into the kitchen where Aunt Amy and Maisie were sitting at the table enjoying their morning tea.

"Good morning." Aunt Amy smiled at me. "You look nice."

I ignored her compliment. "Have you heard from my mother since she left me here?" I asked quickly, beginning to panic. "I just tried to call her and the number was disconnected, but my phone is still on."

"Oh, sweetheart." Grandma Maisie stood up to prepare a cup of tea for me and Aunt Amy patted the seat next to her.

"It's okay, Infinity." She cooed gently. "Just breathe. I don't want you to get too upset, although there is something I want to talk to you about…"

Before Aunt Amy could tell me what she wanted to talk to me about, my heart began to race even faster. I knew what she was going to say. "You haven't heard from her either." I looked down at the papers that she had sitting in front of her, and realized that my name was on a few of them. I scanned them quickly before Aunt Amy could put her hand over them. They were papers granting guardianship to Amy Bone. "What is that?" I tried to move her hand away to finish reading, but she wouldn't budge. She looked up at Maisie for help.

"Don't blame yourself." Maisie said loudly, slamming the kettle down on her stove. "Lillian has always been irresponsible her whole life. She threw a fit because she wanted a daughter, and once she was given a perfectly healthy baby girl, she realized that everything wasn't all roses, and then when I offered to take you-"

"Mom." Aunt Amy spoke up with a warning tone.

"What?" I stared at Grandma Maisie, hoping she would elaborate on what she meant.

She sighed. "Before you moved away, Lillian was having a lot of trouble adjusting to having a child, especially with Ailwyn gone all the time. I told her that if it was too much, I would take you. Your mom thought about it, but Ailwyn refused."

"So, she never wanted me." I said slowly, taking a sip of the tea that Maisie placed in front of me.

"We want you, Infinity." Maisie stroked my hair. "That's all that matters. You're ours now, and we'll never let you go. There is no changing people like your mother. I raised her the best I could, but she never connected with people or their feelings. She was spoiled rotten and just awful to me and your aunt. Part of me thinks it's because I had her when I was way too young." She placed a plate of pancakes in front of me. They were my favorite. Chocolate chip pancakes with ice cream, bananas and whipped cream. I decided to forget about my mother and dig into breakfast, not speaking to anyone until it was gone.

"Are you okay?" Aunt Amy asked gently. I nodded. I had decided that I would rather be here with a family that really loved me than with a woman who ignored me and got rid of me so easily. I pushed my mother into the back of my mind and kept her there.

I was grateful when a few hours passed and Charlie told me that we were going to head to hang out with his friends. We stopped at the house across the street where we picked up a boy around the same age as Charlie who had a dog with him. The dog was bundled in a sweater the same exact color of the boy's jacket.

The dog immediately got excited seeing someone that he did not know and kept bugging me to pet him as we all stood on the porch of the house across the street. I slipped off my glove and scratched his ears. "Hi, cutie."

"Who is this?" The boy asked, eyeing me suspiciously. He was much more scrawny than Charlie with hair the color of damp hay that matched the dog's fur.

"Oh, this is my cousin Infinity. She's living with us now." Charlie introduced me. "This is my best friend Benjamin Brown and his dog Runner Bean."

"It's nice to meet you, Benjamin." I smiled at him and continued to pet his dog. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, big guy."

The dog barked with glee and we all headed down the road back towards Cathedral Close. Charlie and Benjamin talked about their week at two different schools. From their conversation, it was apparent that Benjamin was a quiet and lonely boy that kept to himself much like I did. I felt bad for him. His only friend was sent away to a boarding school and he could only see him on the weekends, and now he had to share him with even more people.

We turned down a street that wasn't labeled with a normal street sign, but with a sign shaped like a frog. I found this strange but kept following anyway until we stopped in front of a building called "The Pets' Café". We entered and I was quickly surprised by an incredible amount of animals running around all over the place. It made me jump when someone's bird landed right on my shoulder and stayed there. It was a beautiful parrot. "Hi there." I said, gently to the parrot, looking around for its owner. "Who do you belong to, mister?"

"Oh, that's Lysander's parrot." Charlie said happily. "This is the Pets' Café. You have to have a pet to get in and Gabriel always brings extra gerbils for us so we always have access."

"I'm not a fan of rodents." I said quietly. "I don't have to hold them, do I?"

"Not if you don't want to." I heard Gabriel Silk's voice come from the large table across the room, he sounded rather offended and I felt guilty. It was full. There sat Lysander Sage, Tancred Torsson, Emma Tolly, a boy with a head of curly hair and a cat clinging to his shoulder, and the girl with the pink and blonde hair from the Drama Coatroom that was staring at me the day Zelda and I went to her locker. At least, her hair used to be pink and blonde. Today it was bright blue.

"Is Homer bothering you, Infinity?" Lysander asked coolly, referring to the parrot.

"Oh not at all. I quite like him, actually." I smiled and Lysander patted the chair between him and blue haired girl. I sat down and so did Ben and Charlie. The girl was still looking at me and being very obvious about it. She didn't care that I noticed.

"Why is she here?" She said loudly. "She's friends with Zelda, Manfred and Asa you know. I see them with her all the time."

"I'm actually not friends with Manfred and Asa. I can't really stand either of them." I said defensively. "They just won't leave me alone."

"What about Zelda? You're not denying that one. That's Manfred's girlfriend."

"Olivia." Lysander said sharply, cutting her off. "This is Infinity. She's Charlie's cousin and one of the endowed. Zelda is her student mentor since they're both young seniors. She isn't working with the Bloors." He looked at me and then rubbed the cheek of the bird on my shoulder. "It's nice to see you again."

"Are you sure you can trust her?" Olivia went on. "No offence to you, but you can never be too careful. You never know who the Bloors are paying off."

"The Bloors couldn't afford to pay me off." I murmured, picking up a small bird cracker and feeding it to the bird on my shoulder. "I love birds so much." I decided to ignore Olivia's outburst and talk to Homer. He wasn't judging me.

"Birds are my favorite too." Emma smiled at me shyly from the other end of the table. "Olivia, please be nice to her. I really think she's a good person. She saved me from Manfred once before she even knew who I was. It's possible for her to be friends with Zelda and not be working with Manfred. If Charlie trusts her, so do I."

Everyone around the table agreed and Olivia finally accepted me. "It's nice to meet you." The boy with the curly hair spoke up. "My name is Fidelio Gunn. I'm in the music department. I'm not endowed, but if you need anything ever, I'm always here to help."

"It's nice to meet you as well." I allowed Homer to walk along my arm and fly back onto Lysander's shoulder where he let out a happy whistle. This whistle caused Runner Bean to bark and all the rodents on the table to scurry around in a panic. "Oh no." I gasped as a fat gerbil almost fell off the table. I reached my hand out to catch him and place him back on the table as quickly as possible.

"Good catch, little miss." A voice from behind me cheerfully sang. I turned around to see a very short and fuzzy man with a large smile plastered on his face. He was accompanied by three beautiful colored cats that varied in colors of copper, orange and yellow. "Mr. Orvil Onimous at your service! And these three beauties are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. They were just dying to meet you."

"Oh?" I turned my attention to the cats and the copper one jumped up onto my lap and meowed in my face. "Hello to you too, Sagittarius." I said before I could stop myself. I had never seen these cats before in my life, yet I just knew that this specific cat was Sagittarius. "How did I know that?" I looked back up at Orvil Onimous.

"These aren't just any cats, are they children?" He addressed the group behind me. They all seemed to know Mr. Onimous and were very fond of him. I assumed he was the owner of the café. "These are very special cats. They used to be leopards, you know." He winked at me, but I knew he wasn't kidding. "They accompanied the Red King, and now they very much care about his other children. They can sense your power, so they are drawn to you. You are endowed, aren't you?"

"See, Olivia?" I heard Gabriel say. "The Flames like her, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Ah, were you speculating this young lady? What is your name, child?"

"Infinity Jones." I responded.

"Infinity is my older cousin." Charlie added. "She attends the academy with me and lives with us on the weekends. She's endowed. She can heal people and protect them."

"A white witch!" Mr. Onimous clapped gleefully. "What a wonderful thing to be! Do you hear that, Flames? Only the kindest witches can do such a wonderful thing. You needn't speculate her at all, young Olivia. Go ahead and lift that burden from your heart." He shook my hand quickly before heading back towards the kitchen after telling us goodbye.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the café and I was given an opportunity to learn a little bit about everyone. I felt warm inside getting to know this group of children, even though most of them were younger than me. Only Lysander, Tancred and Gabriel were my age or close to it.

That night, when Charlie and I walked back to our own home with Benjamin and Runner Bean, I thanked him. "I never had an opportunity to make friends whenever I lived overseas." I admitted, smiling softly. "This really meant a lot to me."

"You're my family, Infinity." Charlie smiled at me and rubbed the back of his neck. "My friends are your friends. We all need to stick together."

Monday morning, I stumbled into the academy side by side with Zelda. I was tired. I had barely slept the night before because I knew I would have to face Manfred's wrath for what I had said to him on Friday. When we made it to the coat room, I scanned the room for him but both he and Asa were missing. I let out a sigh of relief and switched out my books for the ones I would need for my first few classes. When I pulled out my biology book, an assignment that I was supposed to turn in last week fluttered out onto the floor. Why was my theater assignment tucked into my biology book? "Shit. I forgot to turn this in." I picked it up and tucked it into a folder. "Hey Zelda, I have to run to Mrs. Marlowe's office really quick. I'll catch you later."

"Okay." She smiled at me. "If you happen to see Manfred anywhere, let him know that I was looking for him. I finished our history project and I need him to look over it."

I nodded and ducked under someone who was wearing a very large wide-brimmed hat. Whoever he was, he looked ridiculous and had awful taste in hats. I hurried down the hall and towards the drama staff offices. I would just slip the assignment under the door and hurry to assembly before anyone realized I was gone. I turned the corner and I smacked hard into something. "Shit!" I looked up and saw Manfred standing before me with his arms crossed. He looked angry. "Yeah, I know. I'm not supposed to be out here. I just need to slide something under Mrs. Marlowe's door and I'll go to the auditorium with everyone else for assembly." Salem, I don't know if you can hear me, but something is wrong. I hid my fear as I spoke to Manfred, but I knew something terrible was coming to me.

"I know what you're trying to do." He growled, his face only inches from mine. I looked down at the floor trying my hardest to avoid eye contact. I felt someone from behind grab my arms and bind them behind my back in one quick fluid motion. I tried to run but whoever had bound my hands was holding my body so I couldn't run. Manfred held my head steady. "You're not going to just swoop in here and ruin all of our hard work. You think you can just use some stupid little spell to pick Charlie's brain for memories of his father?"

"What are you talking about?" I struggled and managed to get a peek at the arms holding me still. They were pale and freckled. It was Asa. I also got a good look at my restraints. They weren't just any simple run of the mill rope. I had a zip tie holding my wrists together. I stomped my foot down on his as hard as I could and he howled before letting me go. I tried to run but I wasn't doing very well. Have you ever tried to run with your arms restrained behind your back? You use your arms to help gain momentum and retain balance. Before either Manfred or Asa could register what happened, I bent over and rammed by wrists into my backside as hard as I possibly could, breaking the restraints. I had watched someone in Louisiana do the very same thing when I was younger. They often used zip ties rather than handcuffs in the smaller towns like the one my family had been staying in.

I was able to pick up speed way easier with my hands free but Manfred's long legs were an advantage for him. He grabbed me and threw me hard against the nearest wall, knocking the breath out of my lungs and leaving me dazed. I don't know why I wasn't able to protect myself against is assault. I tried over and over again to produce a protective force field, but nothing was happening. I was too flustered and stressed out. I couldn't focus. I knew I couldn't beat him but I wouldn't go down without a fight. When he flipped me over, I pretended to be unconscious so he would let his guard down. When he did just that, I reared my fist back and punched him as hard as I possibly could in the right eye. He slapped me hard across the face and held me down by my throat. "I guess you'll get to be with your father after all." He hissed, staring into my eyes. Everything went black.