Chapter 12: Liar, Liar (Salem)

Infinity's question was stuck in my head for the rest of the trip. "What was the worst think you ever did to someone?" I had to use my pass. The worst thing I ever did to someone is what I was doing at that very moment. It was for her own safety that I had to make her forget who Lyell was. But she was just so stubborn and persistent and strong. My endowment shattered memories and scattered them. It usually didn't take me much effort, but she was so fucking good at fixing things. Every time I tried to rearrange the memory, she would piece it back together again. It took all my strength to permanently destroy the memory. She would never be able to remember Lyell unless someone pointed and specifically said "Hey, That man is Lyell Bone."

I felt awful for it, but I didn't want her to get hurt anymore. If someone was going to find Lyell, it would have to be Charlie. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want Charlie to be put in danger instead. I knew that his friends and family would protect them but the thought of the girl I found myself falling in love with being put in danger because of my family made me sick to my stomach. Besides, it wasn't time for Lyell to be found, at least not yet. There were more people that needed to return to the city first, and more secrets to be uncovered.

After I took Infinity home, life went back to normal. The whole incident was chalked up to us being stupid teenagers. Those who knew the truth kept their mouths shut, and those who didn't eventually stopped talking about it. I was confident that my family would stop trying to bother Infinity and that she could finish out her last school year without any problems. The week before school was to start back up, I decided to call her since I hadn't seen her since we made it back home. "Why are you using a phone?" She asked me when she answered. "Why do you even pay for a phone service?"

"Well, hello to you too." I rolled my eyes and sat up in my bed. "Sometimes I like to try and do things like a normal person. Is that a crime?"

"No." She laughed at me. I had missed her laugh. "So what did you call for?"

"I can't just call you? Maybe I missed you. It has been what, two weeks since I saw you last? Aren't normal friends this day and age supposed to talk every day? Oh wait, I forgot. You were a hermit before this. You don't know how to keep relationships and shit." I teased her. "But this is purely academy business. I wanted to know if you would be interested in changing departments. With Zelda gone, I figured you wouldn't be comfortable being trapped in the drama department. There's an opening in the music department this year. Do you want to take it?"

"Oh…" Her voice got really quiet. "I don't think we can afford to buy me new capes. Or an instrument."

"That's not a problem, Fin." I laughed. "I'll take care of it all for you. It's not a big deal. I just don't want you to feel trapped with Asa Pike."

"Wait, I thought Asa graduated." I could hear the dread in her voice. I forgot that she had been comatose and wasn't around to see Asa fail literally every last one of his final exams, forcing him to be held back for another year.

"Not exactly." I didn't have the heart to tell her that Manfred would be coming back too. I kept my mouth shut. Manfred at least had graduated on time like he was supposed to, but he was beginning his training to eventually take over the academy in place of my father.

"Then yes. I want to switch departments." Her voice ripped me out of my thoughts. We carried on a short conversation for little while after, where I informed her that she was to a prefect this year due to her grades being so high (and the strings I was able to pull) and I let her know what duties she was to perform. She and I also talked about our weeks a part a little bit before I could hear her grandmother yelling at her to get off of her phone before she took it. I was able to gather she was just annoyed because she couldn't eavesdrop on it like she did with Charlie and the landline.

I was able to clear all of the changes to Infinity's file with my father. I wasn't expecting them to put her in Mr. Pilgrim's piano classes though. I felt like it was a big cruel game to stick her next to her father knowing that he would never remember her and she was completely blocked from ever remembering him. I didn't try to fight it though. I was happy enough that they were willing to switch her into a new department (with a little bit of my influence) so she could have more classes with me. At least then I would be able to keep an eye on her and make sure she was safe.

When Monday rolled around, I decided I wanted to pick Charlie and Infinity up so they wouldn't have to ride the buses the first day. I got in my car, drove to Filbert Street and knocked on the door. Mrs. Bone answered and was surprised to see me. "Salem! I wasn't expecting to see you here this morning." She had just gotten out of bed and that much was obvious.

"Salem?" Maisie poked her head out from the kitchen and smiled a large smile. "Amy, don't be rude. There's enough breakfast for him too." She pulled me into the house and into the kitchen where Charlie and Infinity were having a loud disagreement over who deserved the last piece of bacon.

"Neither of you are getting it." Maisie scolded as she fixed me a plate and sat it down at the seat next to Charlie. I slid into my spot at the table and devoured the bacon without breaking eye contact with Infinity. She scowled at me.

"What are you doing here?"

"I brought you a present. And I'm bringing you both to school. You should be nicer to me." I handed the package I had brought with me across the table and Infinity took it. "Open it."

"I was making a very strong case on why I should get that last piece of bacon and then you waltzed in here and-" She took her knife and cut the tape on the box. She blushed and gave me a shy smile when she pulled out the brand new blue cape. "Oh! Thank you, Salem. You're too nice to me."

I felt my smile falter. I cared about her but I kept doing things that I knew if she knew, would make her hate me. I made her forget Lyell and now I was getting ready to dangle him in her face every single day knowing that she wouldn't remember him and he wouldn't remember her. I just didn't want her to get hurt, but I also didn't want to completely betray my family. No matter how much I disagreed with them and hated them sometimes, they were the only family that I had. Besides, the backlash would be horrible and there was no surefire way to reverse Lyell's hypnotism.

"Eat up, my dear." Maisie patted my shoulder and I was more than happy to oblige. Maisie was a fantastic cook and I wished that I could eat more of her food every day. I was stuck eating academy food most of the time. Occasionally Cook would make something special for me that didn't taste like cardboard, but because she really hated everyone else, I usually got stuck with the bland food too.

Our pleasant breakfast was cut short when I heard someone stomping down the stairs. Grizelda Bone made her angry presence known immediately in the kitchen, yelling at Charlie for his hair not being brushed and yelling at Infinity for wearing too much makeup even though from what I could tell, she wasn't wearing any. "Good morning, Grizelda." I said calmly, waiting to see if she would yell at me for something too. She just stared at me.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"He wanted to deliver Infinity a new cape and take both the children to school." Amy explained for me.

"Why is it blue? You're supposed to be in the drama department! It's unheard of to switch departments." She continued to bark at Infinity, who just rolled her eyes and looked over at me.

"My father made the arrangements. If you think you can run the academy better than him, be my guest." I glared at her and her mouth immediately snapped shut. Charlie suppressed a giggle. "She's a Yewbeam, isn't she?" I continued. "That's why you forced Charlie into the music department too, isn't it? Do you really want to leave her in a department that someone attacked her in?"

"Of course she does. Come on, let's go. I've suddenly lost my appetite." Infinity stood to her feet and took her plate to the sink. After a quick hug from both her mother and Maisie, she practically sprinted out the door.

Grizelda made me angry with her constant berating and nagging, putting so much pressure on both of her grandchildren. It was obvious that she didn't love them at all and I could relate to that with my own grandfather. I did get carried away, but I knew she wouldn't stand up to me. The Bloors had overpowered the Yewbeams for years. Even when our bloodlines met, we didn't treat them as equals. We were the ones with power, we were the ones with money. They had nothing but an old crumbling castle to their name and eventually all of their money dried up. We had a reliable income from collecting tuition from students.

I helped Charlie and Infinity load their luggage into the car and we drove towards the academy. Much to my dismay, I got stuck behind a purple bus and we ended up showing up with the rest of the students. Charlie ran ahead of us to go talk to Olivia while Infinity and I shrugged on our capes and began to follow him.

Charlie had only been in the school for three seconds before he broke the number one rule. No talking in the great hallway. Infinity, this is your first duty as a prefect. She sighed, looked at the patch on her cape that signified her as a prefect and stepped forward. "Charlie-"

She was cut off by Manfred, who immediately dug his bony hands into Charlie's shoulder. "Since our new prefect and head boy have proven to be useless already, I have no choice but to intervene." He hissed, glaring back at us.

The confusion and fear in Infinity's eyes hurt me badly. I didn't know how to tell her he wasn't leaving. I could tell she wanted to flee, but her feet remained rooted to the floor. "Why are you here?" The words tumbled out of her mouth and caught Manfred by surprise.

"That's no way to speak to your superiors." He snapped at her. She flicked her hand quickly, signaling Charlie to escape and go back into the coat room.

"You're hardly our superior." I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "He's a teaching assistant. This is his internship to take over the academy. He's taking classes online too." I put my hands on Infinity's shoulders and steered her past Manfred since her legs seemed to stop working and we disappeared into a sea of other blue capes. I heard him swear under his breath at us. As soon as Infinity's foot stepped over the threshold, she broke free from me and spun around.

"Why didn't you think to tell me that he wouldn't be leaving? The thought that Manfred would be long gone is the only reason I agreed to come back. You didn't think that I would want to know that the person who tried to kill me is still here?"

"Shh." I put my hand on her head and tried to quiet her down. "Nothing is going to happen to you. I moved you so you could stay close to me at all times. I'm going to protect you."

"I shouldn't need to be protected." She murmured under her breath before walking away from me. The guilt was back, and I suddenly didn't feel so confident anymore.