Chapter 18: Returning Animals

Salem

My weekend had been incredibly quiet. For whatever reason, I hadn't been able to access Infinity's thoughts. No matter how hard I tried, I struggled to reach her and I wondered if she had somehow grown powerful enough to block me out. I knew she was angry for what I had said about Asa, but she never gave me a chance to explain myself. I needed to find her and tell her that I wouldn't hurt someone, especially for something so pathetic. Yes, I was angry that he had kissed her and had taken something incredibly important from her, but not angry enough to kill him although Manfred thought that I would. Although I disliked him, I would help him. I would help anyone in trouble. But Infinity seemed to forget who I was and let her feelings cloud her judgement. Infinity was an open book. She never thought about how deceit could be used to help other people.

I needed to talk to her and explain myself, even if I knew she didn't want to listen to me. She was going to have to. When Monday morning came around, I scanned for the familiar head of blonde hair but I couldn't find her. I managed to spot Charlie instead, who was difficult to miss with his little albino sidekick with him. I approached him and went to ask him where Infinity was, but the visibly upset look on his face stopped me. I had never seen Charlie look so stressed out. "What's wrong, Charlie?" I asked instead. "Is everything alright?"

"Leave him alone." An angry voice snapped from behind me. I turned to see Infinity standing with her arms crossed. Her eyes were puffed up and red as if she had been crying and it looked like a lot of effort was needed to maintain her scowl. Her being angry at me wasn't the first thing on my mind, but I knew I would never find out what the problem was if I didn't address our misunderstanding first. "It's none of your business what is wrong. Come on, Charlie."

"Hey." I reached for her hand. She tried to pull away, but I was faster. "Come with me. We need to talk." I started to pull her out of the coatroom.

"I don't have time for this. Let go of me." She pounded her fist into my chest. It nearly knocked the wind out of me, but I ignored it and held on. The next punch flew towards my face. I knew it was coming and had plenty of time to dodge it and grab her.

"Swinging at the Head Boy, Miss Bone? I believe that calls for disciplinary action. I don't care what kind of problems you seem to be having with me today, but I told you that we have an issue that needs to be discussed and I expect you to listen." I snapped back at her. I received strange looks, but no one tried to intervene much to Infinity's chagrin.

"Then I'll go on my own. Don't fucking touch me." She said under her breath. She lowered her head and silently followed me out of the coat room. When we walked into the empty Prefect's Lounge, she spoke again. "Typical Bloor, abusing your authority to get what you want."

"Just shut up for a few seconds and listen to me." I rolled my eyes at her. "I wouldn't actually kill Asa. You know just as well as I do that I would help him get away from my family if needed. While I am usually passive and don't involve myself in their affairs, or even against their affairs, for that matter, I wouldn't let an innocent person die just because Manfred didn't find them useful anymore. All I need is for Manfred to believe that I have reason to want Asa dead just as he does."

"Then who ordered Asa to be tortured by Weedon, you liar?" She spat back at me. I was confused. I had just seen Asa not too long ago. He had avoided eye contact with me but his eye was healed and nothing seemed to be wrong with him. "I found him whipped and beaten outside of the academy. I had to heal him or he probably would have gotten a nasty infection or worse. He had open and oozing wounds all over his body."

"What are you talking about?" I stared at her dumbly. This was news to me. Neither Manfred nor I had ordered Weedon to do anything to Asa. He had been locked in a room and fed bland meals, but was never physically punished. "That has nothing to do with us. We didn't tell him to do that. Weedon doesn't answer to us anyway. He answers to my grandfather…" My thoughts trailed off. My grandfather had probably ordered his punishment. He hated Asa for whatever reason and anytime there was a misunderstanding or Asa messed something up, Great Grandfather was especially hard on him.

"Okay, I guess I have no choice but to believe you until I find out anything otherwise. But do you have anything to do with what happened to Maisie?" She asked. She looked so distressed and ready to pull her hair out.

"What happened to Maisie?" I frowned. I liked Maisie. She was always quick to welcome me into their home and feed me. I never got to experience what it was like to have a nice, normal grandmother.

She gauged my expression, trying to decide if I was innocent or not. When she finally decided she thought I was innocent, she began to tell me about the terrible fate that Maisie had met. I could hardly believe my ears when she described the cursed prawns that left Maisie an ice statue that was stuck in the bathtub until further notice. "I couldn't even use my powers." She looked down at her hands and frowned. "Whoever it did this is a more powerful witch than I am and they know it."

"I'm sorry about Maisie. I wonder if we can find a way to help her." I looked towards the door. "We won't be much help if you have detention though. Let's go to assembly." I tugged her towards the door and she followed quietly.

During first break, I wanted to meet up with Infinity immediately but she had work to do in the prefect's office. Many children had been caught talking in the Great Hall and she was quick to give them all detention herself, because the gossip had been about Charlie finding the animals that belonged to his friends, but none of the others. She wanted to be left alone and told me I would just be a distraction so she sent me outside to keep an eye on Charlie, which I had no problem doing.

As soon as I stepped outside, I could tell there was going to be a problem. There was a large group of children slowly approaching Charlie on the other side of the field. I picked up my pace and was able to get there just as Asa Pike shoved himself to the front of the group. "What do you have to say for yourself, Charlie Bone?" He snarled, grabbing him by his cape. What a way to thank Infinity for saving him. I went to speak up, but something was stopping me. I stood off from either group. Charlie had Tancred and Lysander standing right behind him.

"He has nothing to say to you, so get lost!" Tancred yelled, sending out a gust of air that threatened to knock back some of the large opposing group.

"You haven't even got a pet!" Asa hollered back. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Well I do." Lysander murmured. Although he wasn't loud, Lysander was the only endowed student that intimidated me. He had a way about him that demanded respect.

This did not deter the others. They continued to yell and chant, demanding to know where the animals were and that pissed Tancred off to the point that he sent down a downpour over their heads. This scared off the regular children that had been drawn to Joshua's side with magnetism and left Tancred, Lysander, Charlie, Asa, the twins, Dorcas and Joshua standing parallel to each other.

I felt a strange shift in the air. Without warning, Joshua screamed and launched himself at Charlie. I went to yank Joshua off of Charlie, but Asa grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. "You think this is funny? Infinity should have left you to suffer." I snarled at him, pushing him away. "Ungrateful beast." He didn't try to stop me again. He actually looked genuinely sorry and backed off. Trying to yank Joshua off of was a harder task than I thought. He was like a ton of bricks and I couldn't pry him off no matter how hard I tried. At one point, Asa had even come over to help me, but we still couldn't get him. The kid felt like a ton of bricks. The scuffle drew the attention of Gabriel, Billy and Fidelio Gunn as well. "Joshua, get off!" I yelled over the shouting but of course, it did nothing. I wasn't making any progress so I backed off, looking around for someone that could stop the fight. I was hoping to see Manfred but as I searched I heard Joshua let out of the most ridiculous yelp. When I turned, his nose was gushing blood. Charlie had punched him and left him writhing on the ground like the pathetic creature that he was. He looked up at me, scared he was going to get in trouble.

"Did your sister finally teach you how to fight, Charlie?" Tancred asked gleefully, clapping him on his back.

"One day I'll get you, Charlie Bone." Joshua sobbed as Dorcas helped him up off the ground. He looked so pathetic that even Fidelio began to laugh uncontrollably.

"HOW DARE YOU!" I hadn't noticed Miss Chrystal, the strings teacher for the music department, walk up. The anger in her voice surprised me and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Miss Chrystal was known to be one of the nicest staff members in the whole academy. I didn't think I had even seen her frown before this moment. "How dare you laugh at an injured boy! What is going on?!"

Immediately everyone began to shout and point fingers. "All of you, shut up!" I bellowed over the crowd. I hadn't expected it to silence everyone because of how out of control the situation was, but it worked.

"Salem?" She looked at me with wide eyes, as if she hadn't known I was standing there. "You are the head boy. Why didn't you stop the fight?"

"I tried to." I glared in Asa's direction and he dropped his gaze. "Honestly, I don't know the specifics but I promise you that Joshua started this fight."

"Liar." Dorcas screamed at me.

"Asa, what do you say happened?" Miss Chrystal looked over at Asa, who looked back at me with a panicked look and shook his head. He suddenly didn't want to incriminate Charlie but he didn't want to condemn Joshua to sure punishment either.

"It doesn't matter what he says." I spoke up. "Asa originally deterred me from stopping the fight whenever Joshua started it. Joshua should be punished."

The look of hate in Miss Chrystal's eyes made my blood turn cold. "You would do well to remember your place, Salem Bloor. You are only a student."

"You would do well to remember your place, Miss." I spoke back. "I am a Bloor. You are a nobody on my father's payroll that can easily be replaced." I grabbed Joshua's arm. "You're going to the infirmary, and then with the headmaster."

"Don't you touch him." She hissed at me.

"Unless you're his mother, I don't give a shit what you have to say to me." I narrowed my eyes at her. "Unless you want disciplinary actions taken against you as well."

The look of exasperation and frustration in her eyes made me wonder why she cared so much about what happened to Joshua. That was only the look an overprotective mother could have. …Was Miss Chrystal Joshua's mother? She seemed too young to have a son his age. Then again, The Bone family had Infinity quite young. I shook the thought and escorted Joshua into the academy. I would have to look into Miss Chrystal's files some other time.

All the infirmary could do for Joshua was an ice pack. We went immediately to the headmaster's office afterwards. I was shocked to see that my father was not alone. Infinity and Manfred were standing in there with him and they were discussing the animal problem quite loudly and heatedly. "I'm not involved with everything that my brother does. I didn't even know that their animals were back! I heard the rumors just like everyone else this morning."

"You're a bad liar." Manfred grabbed her shoulders. "Do you think I'm naïve?"

"Don't you lay a hand on me, Manfred Bloor." She growled back at him. She swatted his hand away and he wrapped his fingers around her wrist.

"Let her go." My father sighed. "She has done nothing wrong. You should know better than anyone that no one should be accountable for their sibling. You should also watch ever laying a hand on her again with all the trouble you caused last year, Manfred."

Manfred released her. "Your father is correct. You should be in prison." Infinity adjusted her cape. I could have swore I saw her smirk at him. "May I go?"

"You're free to go." My father said just as he noticed me standing in the doorway with Joshua. "What happened here?" He looked at the ice pack on Joshua's nose.

"Charlie Bone hit me!" He yelled out, causing Infinity to slow her walk.

"What?" Manfred looked just as shocked as Infinity was. "Why?"

"Yeah, Josh. Tell them why." I shoved him forward.

"Because he knows where the animals are! His friends have their animals back." He whined like the pathetic little brat that he was.

"What you were supposed to say was 'Because I jumped on him first and wouldn't stop after Salem told me to'." I corrected.

"My brother did that?" Infinity inspected Joshua's nose. I wondered if they had both learned to fight in the same place. "Sounds like you deserved it, you little urchin."

"How about some professionalism, Miss Bone? You are a student of high status here. I expect you to act accordingly." My father was not pleased that I had brought one of the Bloor Family lackeys in to be punished while I let Charlie Bone stay free but I also knew that he would not fight me on my decision. "Actually, both of you leave. Salem and I will handle this."

Both Manfred and Infinity tried to object but as father became increasingly annoyed they both realized that it would be in their best interest to make their leave. I hoped that Manfred was finished trying to harass Infinity because I couldn't be there to escort her away from him. I had to handle the current problem. Father asked me to explain what happened and I did so as unbiased as I possibly could. He punished Joshua accordingly and sent him on his way, but I stayed behind. I quickly told him about Miss Chrystal's behavior as an afterthought, but I was more curious about Asa's brutal punishment. "I want to talk to you about Asa Pike." I said softly.

"What did Asa do, other than originally trying to stop you from stopping the fight?" He asked.

"This has nothing to do with that. When Infinity left Friday night, she ran into Asa in beast form outside of the academy. He had been whipped and beaten before he was set loose by Weedon. She had to help him because he was in such bad shape. Who ordered that to happen?"

Father furrowed his brow and looked troubled. "No one did. I know that I didn't and I don't think Manfred would have gone that far, and even if he was angry enough, he would have taken punishment into his own hands. That leaves your grandfather. I would go talk to him about it if you want answers. I find it hard to believe that girl actually wanted to help him after all that he has been involved in."

"Infinity is a good person." I picked up the glass prism paperweight that sat on his desk and turned it around in my hands. "That's why I love her."

Father's eyes went wide with surprise. "I knew you were interested in her, but is it really that serious?" I nodded and he shook his head. "It would be beneficial for the two of you to have a relationship in any other circumstance because of the powerful blood you both have, but she is Lyell's daughter. You know this can't go anywhere. Not as long as she's as headstrong as she is."

"I have followed your rules but I will not withhold myself from happiness because of you." I was growing angry. I rarely ever opposed my father but I wouldn't stand for him telling me who I could and could not love. "Obviously you never married for the right reasons, but I want to marry for love and I think Infinity will be that person."

"And how do you think that's going to work, Salem? You can't have Infinity and all of this." He waved his hands in the air, motioning to the academy.

"I never wanted to be a part of this. The academy is going to Manfred. I'm going to go do my own thing."

My father let out a loud, thunderous laugh that confused me and surprised me. I actually jumped a little. "Infinity Bone is a genius. She'll go off to school and become a professor or a doctor or even a scientist. I actually have a stack of scholarships and acceptance letters for her right here." He picked up a file off of his desk that I assumed belonged to Infinity. "Your goals aren't practical. You want to run off to America and be in a band. When she gets married, it will be to someone as ambitious as her and someone who wasn't involved in the disappearance of her father."

"I wasn't involved." I growled back.

"For someone with a perfect memory, I don't you're remembering clearly. Grizelda got rid of the physical photographs, but who got rid of the mental ones?"

I froze. He was right. I was the reason Amy couldn't quite remember her husband's face as well as she once had, and same with Paton. A mix of time and my interference was part of the giant mental block that was slowly dissolving everyone's memory of Lyell Bone. Infinity had remembered him because I wasn't able to get to her. She was overseas when it happened. But when she finally had been able to remember, I had manipulated her memories and distorted them.

"Don't beat yourself up over it, son." He snapped me out of my thoughts. "Are you having Infinity come to the Grand Ball? If she's going to carry the Bloor name," He said that part in a mocking tone, "Then it would be good to introduce her now just in case you and Manfred decide that you want to do this together. I would also like to show off our brightest student."

"You want Infinity at the Grand Ball?"

"Why not? Her aunts and grandmother will be there."

I sat and thought for a minute. There could be a chance Infinity could overhear something about her father and she would be able to find it out without me telling her. My father obviously wasn't thinking this through, but I quickly agreed. "It's a little late though. It's this weekend and she doesn't have anything to wear…"

"It will be taken care of. We will inform her mother and I'll give her the money for it. Now leave me in peace, boy." He shooed me out like he would a cat or Percy.

I didn't get to see Infinity again until dinner. She seemed tired and annoyed, possibly from all of the rumors going around about Charlie and the missing animals. She passed off her serving duty to Prefect Fiona and sat and my end of the table. She looked exhausted and stressed out. "Did you know that your father made me take back all of those detentions I gave and I did all of that paperwork for nothing? All because of some stupid dinner he should have warned me about prior." She growled and slammed her head on the table after I had passed out all of the plates I was responsible for.

"Yeah, The Hundred Heads and Grand Ball. It's once every decade. It slipped my mind too. There hasn't been one since I was eight. I wanted you to go to the Grand Ball with me."

"What? Why?" She lifted her head and looked at me.

"I want everyone to meet the next Lady Bloor before the next Grand Ball comes along, of course."

Infinity turned bright red and looked away from me. "Knock it off. I'm too young to be thinking about that right now. I have exams and college applications to worry about." I could see that she was trying to hide a smile. "I don't have anything to wear though."

"Oh, that's all taken care of. Don't worry about it." I gave her a gentle smile but I was worried that she wouldn't like whatever was picked out for her. She didn't seem to dwell on it too much though. I could tell she was distracted. She continuously glanced down the table to where Charlie was sitting with his friends. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Something just doesn't feel right." She sighed. "I ate lunch with Charlie and his friends today while you were still talking with your father, and I felt a stab of pain in my chest. I saw Charlie wince too when it happened, like he felt it. We didn't talk about it."

"That happens to me and Manny sometimes." I said thoughtfully. "But we're twins. That kind of stuff is normal for twins. I guess it can happen with siblings who understand each other as well."

"I'm just worried something bad is going to happen and it's all going to be out of my hands." She rubbed her temples and looked down at her brother again.

I decided to change the subject. I knew she had been stressed lately. She didn't look as happy or as healthy as she normally did. I distracted her from her thoughts until dinner was over. She seemed to have lightened up considerably, but all of my work went away when my father stood at the front of the dining hall and clapped his hands together. She knew that he was going to publicly pick on Charlie like he always did when he made an announcement.

"Today, I want to discuss the very noticeable problem in this city. There surely cannot be a single student here who does not know of the problem that our city is facing." He cupped his hand behind his ear and addressed the drama table. "Eh? What was that?"

"No, sir!" The children at the purple cape yelled.

"And what about you?" He turned to the art table.

"No, sir." They replied.

He walked over to the music table and stopped directly in front of Charlie. "What about you?"

"Do you mean the animals?" Charlie spoke up.

"Idiot." Infinity hissed, hoping he would hear. "Always drawing attention to himself."

"Of course I mean the animals, you stupid boy!" Father roared.

"In that case, yes, sir." Charlie murmured. The rest of us repeated a dull "Yes, sir." Behind him.

"It is, of course, a catastrophe when beloved animals disappear. But it sometimes cannot be helped." Father began to pace the room again. His words unsettled me. It was almost as if he knew what caused the animals to disappear, but I couldn't read his thoughts. Lately, my powers had been fading. I didn't want to say anything to anyone, because the last time this had happened, it was because I was sick. My thoughts were disrupted when father swung back around and positioned himself right over Charlie. "But it is unforgivable when someone finds a pet or two belonging to their friends, but won't tell anyone where they were." He dug his fingers into Charlie's shoulders. "Where did you find those animals, Charlie Bone?"

"I…I just found them sir." Charlie stammered. "They were wandering around."

My father became furious at his answer. "STAND UP, BOY!"

Charlie shot up, and Infinity stood up at the same time he did, but I yanked her back down before anyone could notice. "I really don't know sir, they were just wandering around. We could give you your snake back if you would like-"

"I don't care about the snake. It's a feeble thing now." He waved his hand exasperatedly. "DON'T EVADE THE QUESTION."

"N-no sir." Charlie gulped. "Perhaps they will just wander back like the ones I found."

"I would hope so." Father said ominously. "Because I know where a certain boy can be kept until he tells the truth."

Infinity stood up again. "That is enough!" She snarled at my father, much to the surprise of everyone else in the room. "I will not sit here and let you threaten my brother like that. What did you say to me earlier, sir? To use professionalism?"

"Shut up, Infinity." I snapped harshly, but she ignored me. She did not stand down to my father when he approached her although he stood a full foot higher than she.

I expected him to yell at her or threaten her, but he didn't. They stood toe to toe, eyes burning into each other. Without looking away from her, he dismissed the room. She didn't budge, although the other students practically ran out. "You're on the losing side, Miss Bone. I like you and I respect you. You have all of the qualities I look for in someone worthy of my sons. Stop fighting this. You're going to get hurt."

"No." She shook her head before leaving the room with me in tow.

When the animals returned the next day, I wondered if it was Charlie or Infinity behind their return. Neither of them spoke that day. I did find out that Charlie had been given detention thanks to Matron, who had forgotten the dinner and ball was supposed to happen that weekend. She refused to revoke his detention, which pissed Infinity off because she had to revoke several the day before. I decided to look at it as a blessing in disguise. While Infinity couldn't attend the dinner, Charlie could easily sneak into the dining hall and learn all of the secrets that would more than likely be revealed.