Chapter 6 - Hecate's Curiosity
Hecate wasn't scared of the girl, she was intrigued. No student had shouted at her and not had any repercussions from it yet she did nothing when Sapphire had screamed at her.
Where are my books, ah ha, right then, these are useless, I need to know what her eyes mean.
None of her books where of any use, she wasn't surprised.
What do I know she grab some paper and a pen and start writing, this girl was a challenge, and she liked a challenge. Coloured eyes, refuse to transfer, refuses to turn up to flying and P.E. She literally can't do anything to do with incantations, I swear that's what Algernon said. Her potion brewing was far too good for her age.
She couldn't sleep luckily; she never needs more than 6 hours sleep anyway to function, she can go a night without. She headed to the library and flicked through some of the books. Still not able to find anything she decided to let the books speak to her. She walked around the library and read every title of every book she came across. Potions for beginners. Non-verbal spells for the advanced, Carnivorous plants. Something made her stop; there was an unfamiliar aura in the library she did a 360 of the room and saw no one. She carried on and came across a book she didn't know the library had and it was titled Different witching types, bingo, this was what she was looking for, there was a whole section on different types of witches she picked them all up and transferred herself to her room and sat at her desk and looked through them all.
Air the element herself was stood in the library and she knew why Hecate was there, strangely enough she didn't see Hecate as a threat, almost all witches and wizards were a threat to the element's soldiers, those soldiers were known as Element benders. Hecate didn't have the book that air had removed from the library that went into detail regarding Element bender's, what she did have however was a small paragraph in one of them that briefly explained element benders. The lives of these soldiers were paramount with only seven thirteen-year-olds left, there used to be over fifty thousand element benders. The remaining seven were watched over and protected as much as possible. One wrong move and it was game over.
It was 3am and Hecate decided to go for a walk, she had gotten to the hall and heard music, very faint but music none the less. She entered the hall using the door for a change and found Sapphire in there, which was strange as she had not long checked her room to make sure she was in there and she was asleep yet here she was, Hecate had never been so confused in all her life.
She watched the girl in a thick blue sport bra, black shorts and trainers' flounce about the place. A few seconds later what she saw amazed her. She watched the girl twirling, jumping and dancing around but her body was very relaxed her wrists and arms moving with purpose and her eyes were a teal colour. Out of nowhere a bull shark appeared it, was made entirely out of water; the girl couldn't have made it any more realistic if she tried. Hecate realised that the girl was moving the way she was to almost become a part of the element itself. She looked graceful and then it clicked Sapphires eyes, the refusal to turn up to flying, the books only mention Element benders within a small paragraph and nothing more, Sapphire was an element bender, she had never come across one in her life. It was mesmerising to watch, almost calming.
Sapphire had as always noticed when anything changed so she knew when the door had opened and that her teacher had walked through and stood in the corner, she bends all four elements how could she not know, she had been upset when she hadn't realised Miss Hardbroom's appearance in her room. She decided seen as she had already seen her water bending, she may as well show her the flying without letting on that she knew her teacher was there.
She jarred her shoulders back and forth, releasing the large, long grey wings from her back they were dragon like with spikes at the end like a Hungarian horntail. One beat of those wings and she was in the air. Honestly brooms are so over-rated. She looked down and saw a strange expression on Miss Hardbroom's face, it was understanding, realisation and respect. She landed in front of her.
Miss Hardbroom finally spoke after a short while, Sapphire had stood patiently, nervous for what was to be said.
"That explains why you never tried your potion. I will assume the potion would have altered your wings permanently?" she finally spoke. Sapphire only nodded.
"Explains a lot, Quite the Bull shark by the way" she told the girl with slight admiration to her voice.
"Don't be nice now, you might lose some of your reputation, it's scarier than your harsh demeanour" Sapphire responded with. Her teacher stood their trying to look shocked, yet she had failed to do so.
"Does anyone know?" Miss Hardbroom asked.
"No, it's not safe" this response confused Miss Hardbroom.
"I am not following" was all Miss Hardbroom could respond with for she really wasn't. She liked the girl for she was different, seemed to have hardly any fears. Hecate liked different, it meant something new a challenge and she just didn't understand why the girl was hiding who she was. She had a magic that hadn't be noted for eleven and half years.
Sensing the questions ready to burst from her teacher she responded with the truth "my kind where hunted down and slaughtered eleven and half years ago by your kind of witches, all seven settlements where destroyed by thirteen sadistic psychopaths that were at wormwood and the boys version of wormwood, they wanted to be the most powerful and that jealousy of others and the hate for those that were more drove my kind to near extinction with the use of black flame, Pippa my mother had heard of the plans and managed to find me, my parents corpses lay beside me and she took me in, I'm not officially adopted as I don't officially exist on paper which is for my safety".
"How old were you" Miss Hardbroom asked in a soft voice the same voice she used around Aiden.
"18 months old, one survivor from each settlement, all of us were born in the same week. I have no idea where the others are, they are out there, the psycho's had altered the information on the element benders up to four years prior to the attack to make it look like there was a reason for the attempted extinction, the remaining seven of us are still hunted".
Hecate had finally understood the girl's behaviour since she had been here.
"I take it this is why you have refused to make any friends since you have been here?" Sapphire nodded at Hecate's question.
"Why not try making a friend? you wouldn't need to explain anything, I have always found it helpful to avoid questions I don't want to answer".
"Try being a burden on everyone and let me know how it goes" she responded to Miss Hardbroom with a neutral expression, she turned around and with one beat of her wings she flew out the large open window and into the darkness. Miss Hardbroom had never met a student who felt as low as this one did. She had met students with many mental health issues including depression before. This girl's problems were deep rooted, and she wasn't sure she could help her. She made a mental note to mirror Pippa herself in a certain way so as not to make her worry about her daughter more. She had never in all her teaching years felt so sorry for a student, she could no longer treat the girl the way she had been, it would only make her mental state worse.