Chapter 32: Alliance

~ TRIGGER WARNING: BRIEF MENTION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT ~

I couldn't shake the feeling that something very bad was going to happen soon. I felt sick to my stomach as I sat alone in my private room. I stared up at the bare, hanging light bulb that bathed the room in a pale yellow light. I was grateful for the privacy, but this room was every bit as uncomfortable and dull as the regular dorms. I was also responsible for cleaning my own bathroom, which I had to wake up early to do once a week with the basket of cleaning supplies left under my sink by the staff.

As I sat on my bed, I thought about my conversation with Salem. He was right, Manfred was too invested in dark magic now. It would be too late for me to help him. While he was kinder to me than he was everyone else (save for his occasional violent outburst), I knew it was an act. He was taking advantage of me and I was playing right into it. I had a soft spot for him, but only because he was Salem's twin. Although they were nothing alike and Manfred was becoming someone that Salem didn't recognize anymore, he still loved him. I didn't want to give up on him, but if Salem was ready to give up on him, what was the point?

A knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts. It was after lights out, and I was free to turn my lights off whenever I wanted, so it couldn't be Matron. I walked across the rickety floor and pushed the door open. And like I always did when I opened my door, I wondered who the hell installed it and why they did it backwards. Manfred was standing in the doorway holding a candelabrum.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, not daring to speak above a whisper. Being alone with him always made me nervous after what had happened my first year.

"Let me in before Matron sees." He whispered back. I didn't want to let him in, but I didn't want to disobey him either. "Please." He begged.

I stepped to the side and he walked in, pulling the door closed behind him. He sat the candelabrum down on my dresser and looked around my room.

"If you didn't want Matron to see you, then why did you have a whole candelabrum?" I said incredulously. I silently called out for Salem, hoping he would hear me.

"It's dark. And I know her rounds." He shrugged. "I want to talk to you about something."

"Make it quick." I looked over at the alarm clock on my nightstand. "I have an exam in the morning."

"I need your help." He closed the distance between us and I felt as if my heart would beat out of my chest. This was the "something bad" I was feeling. Something terrible was going to happen to me. I continued to silently beg Salem for aid, but I didn't know if he could hear me. "It's no secret that I have been messing around with dark magic. Look at me. I know my looks are fading. And I know you suspect that Mrs. Tilpin is back. After watching how badly Mrs. Tilpin has deteriorated, I don't want to be like that. I don't want to look like my grandfather."

"Then stop." I didn't know what he wanted from me. "If you stop now, it won't get worse."

"My energy has already been tainted. I can't stop. It's…like a drug. I need help." He grabbed my hands tightly and I couldn't pull away. "I need you to help me."

"How do you expect me to help you?"

"The way you helped Asa. I noticed that Salem is getting his powers back too. I can feel when he's listening to my thoughts, and I know he was listening to them earlier today. I have no doubt that you are responsible."

"Look, I don't think I have it in me to help you the way I helped Asa. That took all of my power. And the way I helped Salem… that didn't take anything out of me but I'm not willing to do for you what I did for him." I felt my face turn bright red. "And you being more powerful is the last thing I need." I was finally starting to understand my powers. If I let them be fueled with emotion, it wouldn't draw out of me physically. When I kissed Salem and pulled the cancer from his body, it made me feel tired but I had still been able to function. Even the first time I had helped Asa hadn't taken anything out of me, I had still been feeling anger towards Salem. I had brought Manfred back from the brink of death and was still alright, only because I had felt excitement that my father had regained some of his memory. The final time I had used my power to help Asa, that had been different. I had been trying too hard to use my powers and hadn't been feeling many emotions. It had been a neutral night for me despite the excitement. The last time Manfred and I got into an altercation, I had been too panicked and wasn't confident in myself, on top of discovering a new use for my endowment.

"You figured out how to use your powers without it costing your own physical energy?" He had not been expecting that breakthrough. I realized I had made a mistake in telling him. "How?"

"I don't think that it's any of your business." I tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let go. His hands were getting warmer and I knew that if I didn't quell his temper, I would get burned.

"Emotion." He was piecing everything together in his mind. The glint in his eye told me that I would be in trouble. He shoved me back against the wall hard. "I don't need permission if you can't control your emotions…" His nice guy act was gone. I could see the true, evil intentions in his eyes.

"If you don't leave, I'll scream." I warned. "I've already told Salem you're here."

"I guess you better hope he was listening." He kept my arms pinned down by my head. He forced me to look at him, his gaze paralyzing my body. I couldn't move no matter how hard I tried. I wanted to head-butt him, kick him or something but he had me overpowered. The control he had gained over his endowment was impressive, especially after he seemed to lose it for a while. I felt his lips on mine and there wasn't anything I could do. Even if the emotion wasn't a positive one, it would give him the boost he needed.

He had expected fear, but all I could feel was anger. Anger for all of the people who had taken advantage of me because they assumed that I was weaker than them. "You think you can just take what you want." I said when he pulled away. I could see the magic already working, his hair getting thicker, his face filling out and the scars fading away. "There will be consequences to this."

"You're going to keep your mouth shut." He shoved my dead weight onto my bed. I couldn't feel anything. He held out his hands and large dancing flames erupted from them. "You see this? I may not be able to hurt you, but I can hurt Charlie and I can hurt Salem."

"Someday, everything is going to come crashing down on you, Manfred. You'll get your karma."

"I highly doubt that, Miss Bone. I'm only going to get more powerful." The malicious grin that spread across his face told me that he wasn't done with me.

We were interrupted by a loud commotion in the hallway. "What makes you think you can be out after lights out?! ON THE GIRLS FLOOR NO LESS. I'll make sure you get detention for this!" It was Matron screaming. Salem was coming, but it didn't matter. Most of the damage had already been done.

Salem yanked the door open and ran in. "What's going on?" He demanded. He looked over at me as I lay in a motionless heap on my bed. He ran to my side and scanned the room for Manfred, who hadn't moved. He was just standing there with a triumphant smile on his perfectly healed face. He must have read Manfred's thoughts because he swung at him. Manfred didn't flinch, he just grabbed his fist and squeezed hard. I could smell the burning skin as Salem let out a pained yell and sunk to the floor, holding the wrist of his burnt hand. The commotion drew others out of their dorms to look in the hallway, causing Matron to never make it to my room. She was too busy screaming at the other girls to get back to bed. Manfred let out another triumphant laugh and slipped out of the room.

Whenever he left, I started to regain use of my limbs. I threw myself onto the floor and over to where Salem was still in shock over the trauma of his burned hand. "I can make it better." I said softly, trying not to move him too much.

"It's not too bad. Don't try to push yourself on my account. The skin will heal on its own." Salem murmured. "I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough."

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you earlier." I sighed. "You were right. He's beyond saving."

After my eventful night, I was barely able to stay awake long enough to finish my history exam. There were vicious and cruel rumors about what had happened the night before, with Salem being on the Girls' floor and something about a boy in my room. I told Riley the whole story as we sat together in the blue cafeteria during lunch. "Salem flew out of the room like a bat out of hell. I figured somethin' of the sort was happenin'." Riley shook his head solemnly. "You have bad luck with men. I remember when the same thing happened with Asa Pike."

"At least Asa thought he had some kind of feelings for me. Manfred did it straight for the selfish reason of attaining power. Have you seen him at all today? He looks completely different. Though it won't be long before he comes back, trying to get me to return what dark magic took away yet again." I put my hand over my lips. The thought of having to go through that again made me feel sick. I put my head down on the table and closed my eyes. "I can't believe that I thought I could help him."

"You're a good person, Infinity. Never feel bad about that." He put a reassuring hand on my back. "I'm happy it didn't end worse for you. I can't believe he was able to paralyze you like that."

"I didn't know he could do anything like that either." I sighed into the table. Riley was right, it could have ended way worse for me, then he would have been even more powerful. I had to erase that thought from my brain. It made me feel even more nauseous. I had hoped that Manfred was above rape, but the way he looked at me after he had flung me onto the bed told me different. He didn't seem to care about the consequences of gaining power.

I went through the day ignoring the stupid assumptions that people made. I was too tired to fight back about it. I didn't care what people thought of me anymore. They would never understand what went on in the world of the endowed students, so why should I bother explaining? The period before dinner, Dagbert Endless came to me with a note. "The talents master wishes to see you." It read. I didn't want to go, but disobeying was never an option for me. I had to at least show up. I decided that I didn't want to go alone and went out to search for Lysander. He was level-headed enough. He had been there for me when I had gone through a similar thing with Asa.

I forgave Asa, of course. He had proven himself to actually care about me, even if he didn't understand his feelings. There was still a lot that Asa was confused about. I didn't doubt that he cared about me and my family, but I did doubt that he had figured his sexuality out so quickly. I hoped that wherever he was, he was working on himself and striving to be happy.

I didn't have those wishes for Manfred, however. For Manfred, his motive was power and possibly jealousy. He would keep taking and taking from me as long as I allowed him. I wasn't going to allow him anymore. I was going to fight back with all of my strength, even if it drained me completely.

I found Lysander in the sculpture room of the art department, just as I figured I would. He was working on an interesting sculpture of a parrot. It was very life-like and Lysander's careful attention to detail never failed to leave me breathless. "Hi, Sander." I said, hoping to not startle him.

"Oh, hi!" He smiled at me. I was sure that he had heard the rumors going around, but he knew me well enough to not believe them. "What's wrong, Infinity?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something. And I need you to come somewhere with me. I don't want to be alone."

"Of course," Lysander had never turned me away when I came to him for help. Out of all of Charlie's friends, he was the one that I was closest with. I explained to him the events of the night before and he was horrified to hear them. I told him that Manfred had sent for me to meet him in his office and that I didn't want to go alone. "I'll go with you, yeah. I can't guarantee that he'll be happy about it, but I would rather be yelled at and berated than to leave you alone with him. Especially after all he has done to you."

We walked to Manfred's office together. His door was open and I could see him sitting at his desk. He was writing something but I didn't try to see what. "You asked for me, sir?" I tried to hold back the rage I was feeling. Just seeing him and his perfectly healed body made me want to mangle him.

"I only asked for you." He looked up at us, noticing Lysander was there.

"I don't care." I glared back at him, suddenly not caring about him or his personal respect. He had shown no regard for mine, so why should I for his? He smirked at me and stood up. His movements were fluid and smooth. I stepped back, worried that he would try something again. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to thank you. It was very generous of you to help me." He was up to something, but I couldn't figure out what. "And you can't deny it, there was something there. You didn't feel it?"

"No, I couldn't feel anything." I said through gritted teeth. "I was paralyzed. Now, if you're finished mocking me, I would like to go get dinner."

"Calm." Lysander put his hand on my shoulder. I immediately felt better. The sounds of calm and gentle drum beats filled my ears and my body relaxed itself. Manfred's cocky grin turned into a malicious scowl as he watched Lysander keep me calm.

"Is there anything else?" I asked again.

"No. Get out of my sight!" He barked at us. We were both all too happy to leave his depressing office.

I still felt calm as I walked beside Lysander, but the drums had subsided. "He was trying to get you worked up. Your endowment is heavily tied with your emotion. If you force it, it takes a lot of your energy, doesn't it? But this way, through your feelings, it's much more powerful and you won't pass out from exhaustion anymore. But the downfall is that if you can't control your emotions, you can be easily taken advantage of like Manfred did to you last night." He explained to me. "Sometimes you have to take a moment and clear your head. I think meditation would be beneficial to you. Mine and Tanc's endowments work the same way. I've learned to control it. Tanc is…trying." He chuckled at the thought of his hotheaded friend trying to keep his cool. "Everyone else's just comes naturally. Billy's is just like learning another language, Asa and Emma use theirs based on instinct. Charlie, Gabe, Olivia, and all of the others can just do theirs at no cost to their physical being."

"Manfred tried to hypnotize Charlie and passed out. Is his emotional too?"

"Mental endowments like his, Salem's and the twins, that's a whole different ball game. I still don't understand how those work." Lysander shrugged his shoulders. "Sometimes if they push themselves too hard, it hurts them, but most of the time it seems to just be second nature for them. But we're the unlucky ones. If we lose control we can easily be taken advantage of, or we could really hurt someone. Sometimes you just have to breathe. I don't want to pressure you or frighten you, but your endowment can really hurt us. Look at what Manfred was able to do because you allowed yourself to be manipulated like that. His body completely restored itself, and it may have even boosted his endowment. You're special, you know. White witches are very rare and your strength is not a bad thing, especially because of all you were able to do for Salem, but Manfred cannot get to you like that again."

"You're right." I sighed. When we got our dinner trays, we split up and went to our designated tables. I took an empty seat between Riley and Charlie. Salem sat across from me with Fidelio and Gabriel. His hand was still wrapped in a bandage.

"Where have you been?" Riley asked. I usually wasn't this late to dinner.

"Manfred's office." I nervously picked at my food.

Salem slammed his bad hand down on the table and glared at me. "Why the fuck would you go?" The anger in his voice had surprised me. He was usually calm and collected. The dining hall got quiet and the staff faced their attention to Salem. Profanity was not tolerated. "Are you stupid, Infinity? Or do you like the way he treats you?"

"It was a direct order, Salem. I can't disobey him. He's part of the staff." I said quietly. I didn't like that all of the attention that we were getting.

"Oh, he's part of the staff. You hear that, Dr. Bloor?" Salem confronted Dr. Bloor directly and I didn't like the way this was going. He was yelling now and all eyes were on him "A member of your staff snuck into a student's room last night, took advantage of that student, and when I tried to get him away from her, my hand was burnt but he walked away scott free. Is that how you allow a member of your staff to act? But it's okay, right? He's your son and he can do whatever the fuck he wants."

Dr. Bloor's face turned at least three different shades of red. "Your accusations are out of line, Salem. And your insubordination will not be tolerated. Watch your tongue."

"Accusations? Is it still an accusation if you know that it's the truth?" He laughed. "You won't tolerate my insubordination but you'll tolerate all of the things that Manfred has done to Infinity since she got here? If you respect her so much, why do you keep letting these things happen to her? Is it because you haven't been able to control your children? Are you afraid of him? Because Infinity sure is. What if she would have been raped? What if something worse would have happened?"

"Will you just stop?" I couldn't take it anymore. "Do you think this is what I want? To be called out like that in front of the whole school?" I need you here, Salem. I need you here to keep me safe and you can't do that if he kicks you out. Or worse. I begged him silently, but I didn't think he was listening.

"Both of you, my study. NOW." When he yelled, I was sure that I felt the walls shake. I was terrified to go to his study, but I certainly didn't want Salem to go alone.

"Please be careful." I heard Riley murmur as the two of us walked towards the exit.

"Burns." He turned and addressed Riley. I wasn't sure if he was going to get yelled at as well. "Go find the Talents Master."

Riley leapt to his feet like the obedient man that he was and practically ran out of the room. Riley was worried for me, but now I was more worried for him. Dr. Bloor was harmless. He loomed behind us as we walked towards his study. We didn't dare say a word. What do you think he's going to do to us? Salem questioned me.

I don't know, you're the mind reader. I think he's pissed at Manfred too. He isn't trying to be subtle anymore and I think all of this is getting way over Dr. Bloor's head.

"Knock it off." Dr. Bloor shouted from behind us.

He's not really thinking whole thoughts… Just jumbled up swearing and yelling. He's always like this. I can never really pick apart what's going on in his brain because most of the time he's just so angry and stressed that it doesn't make sense to me.

He knows we're communicating. We should stop.

If I didn't know any better, I would say that you took the "Bloor Lap Dog" place when Asa left.

I ignored him and continued to stare straight ahead. I wasn't one of their puppets, but I did understand that they had authority over me and I needed to act accordingly. Salem was having a hard time adjusting to no longer having any kind of authoritative power. "You need to quit acting like this." I said out loud. "It's getting old."

"I need to quit acting like this?" Salem snorted. "No, Infinity. Your shit is getting old."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I was getting angry but I didn't want to show it. "You're so out of touch with reality that you don't understand what's going on. You're a student in this school, Salem. That's all you are. And when you go to school, you need to follow rules and listen to your superiors. You have to do the same thing in real life. You got pissed off because Manfred was just able to skate on by when he hurt me, but you think that you can just say and do whatever you want and that there won't be any consequences." I was trying to pick my words carefully to avoid setting him off worse. "You embarrassed me."

"I embarrassed you? So you just wanted to sweep all of this under the rug and let Manfred get away with it because I embarrassed you?" He clenched his fists.

"Have you been blind to what your family has been doing all of these years? People who act like you and get in the way, they end up dead."

"You sound like my mother. You act just like her sometimes. You just sit there and let things happen and even though you're not okay with them, you don't want the confrontation." He put his hands in his pockets. "But if this is what you want, then fine. But I would rather die trying to make things right."

For some reason, this set me off. I found myself tearing up and getting even angrier. "Why do you think that your actions only affect you? You act just like my father. At least Charlie has the courtesy to be more careful than that, but you two, you don't see the damage that you cause other people. Why do you think I keep getting hurt? Because they want to get to my dad. I got hurt the first time because they thought I could help Charlie remember him."

"Yes, the first time." Salem agreed with me. "But what about the last two times?" He said as we reached the study. Dr. Bloor listened to us argue but refused to say anything. He seemed interested. "That was for greed and power. You can't blame your father for all of your problems. He wants to help people, and sometimes there are conflicts and others get hurt in the crossfire, but for this to stop once and for all, something needs to be done."

"I'm sick of being attacked. I'm done."

"Yeah, well it's not going to stop for you, Infinity. Not as long as you are what you are. I don't know how many times people have to explain to you that White Witches aren't common and are much more powerful than average witches. Though I never thought I would meet such a selfish one. I'm done with you. If you won't let me help you, then I'm not sticking around here while you try to work against me. I'm nineteen years old and legally an adult. I'm withdrawing out of the academy and I'm leaving this town." Salem looked at his father. "You win. Your secrets die with me." He stormed out of the study and never once looked back. I hadn't expected it to end this way, with him completely leaving and never coming back.

I was in shock. I couldn't speak or move and I could barely breathe. I wanted to say something to change his mind, to make him turn back but nothing was coming out. I couldn't blame him for wanting to leave his life behind, not knowing what he knew. Dr. Bloor was just as speechless as I was, but I couldn't say he was surprised. "Where do you think he'll go?" I asked, swallowing back my tears. I didn't want Salem to leave, but this was how it had to be.

"America. For his music. He'll be fine." Dr. Bloor put his hand on my shoulder in an awkward attempt to comfort me. He wasn't a kind man, but he was trying. "You'll be fine, also." He motioned for me to sit down in a chair in front of his desk and I took it. My knees had started to shake and I hadn't noticed until I took the weight off of them. He sat down behind his desk and we waited for Manfred. He eventually showed up looking incredibly pissed off.

"What do you want?" He glared at his father. "I'm busy. Dagbert has the mo-" His gaze fell on me and he stopped talking. "What is she doing in here?"

"Sit down, Manfred." Dr. Bloor rubbed his temples and I wondered how much stress having to deal with him sons caused him daily. He had a few more wrinkles on his face that hadn't been there when I met him. "Do you understand that the endowed are the minority?"

"Of course." He glanced at his father suspiciously.

"You also understand that the mayor isn't a fan of us and only tolerates us because our school is widely renowned and brings in a lot of money, correct?"

"Obviously."

Dr. Bloor slammed his fist down on the table, causing both Manfred and I to flinch. "Then why the fuck are you so hell bent on drawing negative attention to the academy?" He screamed. I could have sworn that I could see a vein throbbing in his forehead. "Do you honestly think that parents are going to send their precious prodigies hundreds of miles away when they hear rumors of a student trying to murder another student on the property in the middle of a school day? Do you think that they want their daughters going to a school where a female student was sexually assaulted by a staff member?"

"She wasn't sexually assaulted. Is that what she told you? Is that what Salem told you?" Manfred rolled his eyes.

"I know what happened. And it was sexual assault. You're really close to not inheriting this academy if you can't fucking handle it." His tone was dire, but both Manfred and I knew that he wasn't the one in control. It was Ezekiel and he would give Manfred whatever he wanted because they had the same greedy and evil agenda. "Infinity has been trying to cover for you because she fears for her safety. She isn't our target. She's powerful, but she is also docile. It would be stupid of you to continue provoking her. She has saved your life although you have tried to take hers. She was the one who figured out where and who Lyell was, but wanted to keep our secret. She just sacrificed her relationship with Salem because she doesn't want to oppose you. I have told you repeatedly to leave her alone. Stop pushing her."

Manfred looked down at his hands and over at me. "You just…make me lose my temper." He said quietly. "This whole time, I thought that you were only doing those things for me because Salem wanted you to. Why would you sacrifice your relationship with him over this?"

"Because I just want peace." I could feel my tears threatening to spill out of my eyes. "Why can't you just be happy with what you have? Why do you have to fight for more? Why do you want my family dead?"

"I think we should tell her." Manfred looked at his father. "She won't say anything. She'll do anything for her family to keep them safe. She can help us with our plan. She isn't like Charlie."

"Salem is gone. If she knows and betrays us, then it's game over." Dr. Bloor raised an eyebrow.

"If I guarantee the safety of your family, will you help us?" He looked at me. I didn't know what to say or how to react. What if he double-crossed me? What if he hurt my family anyway? I had so many conflicting thoughts in my head that I didn't know what to do.

Let me give you your memories back, you fucking coward. Salem's voice hit my brain hard and I winced from the pain. I've already told you what they're going to tell you anyway. My head started to hurt so badly that I couldn't keep my eyes open. I covered my face and put my head down, trying to alleviate the pain. I had memories swirling around in my head from whenever Salem and I had been staying with Bart and his family. Salem told me a secret, one that he had taken away from me for some reason.

"Are you alright?" Dr. Bloor's voice was warbled and I could barely understand him through the many thoughts swirling through my brain.

"The mother-of-pearl box." I said out loud, trying to piece things together. "It has a will in it. And the will leaves the academy to Billy. My father was the only person who knew where it was. That's why you want him dead, so he can't remember."

Dr. Bloor and Manfred looked horrified. "You knew?!" Manfred shrieked.

"I did at one point… Salem told me, but he took the memory away. He just gave it back to me for some reason." I felt my face burn red. "He called me a coward."

"You're smart, not a coward." Manfred reassured me. "We need somewhere to keep Billy, just in case your father does remember and comes back. If you help us get Billy out of the way and find the box before he does, nothing has to happen."

"Get Billy out of the way? He's only a child!" I was horrified. I didn't want them to hurt Billy even if it did guarantee that my father and mother would be okay.

"We won't hurt him. That painting in your basement at home, that's where the Enchanter lives. We want Billy to see the painting so that Harken can pull him in and hold onto him for us for a while, at least until the box is dealt with."

Count Harken Badlock, the enchanter that had bewitched my mother and myself, was still alive. We had our suspicions, but this confirmed it. Manfred had told me the other night that Mrs. Tilpin was still alive, so it made sense that they were still communicating with the evil shadow that hid behind the Red King's Portrait. "If I do this for you, I want you to guarantee more than just my family's safety. I want to guarantee mine." I felt disgusting and dirty inside, but if this is what it took to make sure nothing would happen to my father, it was a chance that I was willing to take. "I don't want Manfred to use my endowment for his own personal benefit. I don't want him to force me to do anything. And I don't want to get hurt again. Just because I can heal myself, that doesn't mean that I can't feel pain."

"I think we have a deal." Manfred smiled slyly and held his hand out for me to shake. I hesitantly took it and hoped that I was making the right choice.