The demon's head looked like a brain with horns.
He had small, yellow, pupil-less eyes and one of the most impressive sets of sharpened teeth Gwen had seen in her lengthy beast-keeping career. He wore a decorated dark-grey academic gown and pointed black shoes. He appreared perpetually angry, an impression not helped by the fact that his tail looked like it was on fire.
It's probably not really on fire, Gwen told herself. Come on, Gwen, stop being an overprotective mother. The girls will be perfectly safe here. This is the Demon Realm, after all. There is no reason to jump to conclusions just because of someone's appearance. There is probably a caring, tender heart underneath this intimidating exterior.
"Nice to meet you, Principal Faust", she told the demon. He made no reply.
"The pleasure is ours, Mrs Clawthorne", the man on his side supplied. He had been introduced to them as Vice Principal Bump. He was slightly shorter than his boss and appreared much more personable. The imp-like palisman on his staff, bored of sitting in that position, climbed on its companion's head and arranged itself quite comfortably around the vice principal's forehead.
"Don't mind Frewin", the vice principal said, slightly embarrassed. "He gets restless if he has to sit still for too long. Unless he's curled over my head. Then it's fine."
Eda giggled.
"As I was saying, the pleasure of meeting you is ours", Bump continued. "The girls are welcome to attend Hexisde, but first we need to do a placement exam to determine their academic level. It's quite simple: they will only be asked to perform a couple of spells to check if it is necessary to start them from the baby class."
Eda made a face. "The baby class?"
"Yes, dear", he told her kindly. "But don't worry about that. Just do your best and we'll put you in classes appropriate for your level. Now, I think it makes sense to start with the oldest. So… Eda, was it? Please wait here in this room. We will call you when it's your turn; in the meantime, do feel free to amuse yourself. And Lilith, please follow us to the next room where we will take a few minutes to complete your test."
He pointed to a door in one of the walls, which Gwendolyn assumed led to an adjacent room.
"Then I'll wait here with Eda", she said.
"I'm sorry, ma'am", the vice principal said apologetically. "Parents are not allowed to be in proximity during placement exams. We've had too many incidents of parents discreetly helping their kids, so we had to make a policy about it. I do apologize. There is a very nice cafeteria in the garden where you can wait. It serves complimentary cake to parents during placement exams", he added in a conciliatory manner.
Gwen frowned. "But –"
"Mom, come on. We'll be fine", Eda said. "Don't be such an overprotective goose."
"Edalyn!" Lilith chided. "Mother, forgive her. What she meant was that you may rest assured of our safety and well-being in your absence. I undertake responsibility for Edalyn and myself."
Gwen sighed. "Very well. Be good", she added, mostly to her youngest. She had no doubt regarding the girls' ability to pass the test. She was only worried about how Eda would adapt to a new and unfamiliar environment, especially one that was so much more restrictive than what she was used to. Her youngest daughter could be… unpredictable.
At least she has Lilith to look after her, Gwen thought. She could always rely on her oldest to smooth things over, make sure everything would run as it should. It was something that Gwen was very grateful for.
XXX
„An outstanding performance, Lilith", Bump told the girl as they exited the exam room. "You will have no problem with standard classes, and you may have your pick of any specialization you like. Within the next few days, you should chose a track and then we can…"
He stopped abruptly, looking around him in disbelief. His two companions also stopped in their tracks. Lilith covered her mouth with her hands. Faust made no sound. He made no sound in the same way rain clouds make no sound until they release their thunder.
On the other side of the room, the youngest Clawthorne girl sat quietly on a chair, the picture of innocence and good behavior.
Bump stared at Eda. Eda stared back at Bump.
"What in the Titan's name happened here?" Bump asked, bewildered.
Lilith brought her palm to her forehead. "Edalyn, what did you do?"
The younger girl looked at them both as if she thought they were being silly. "I amused myself", she replied, matter-of-factly.
Bump took a deep breath. "You turned all the principal's pens into miniature apples", he started.
"Apples are way tastier", Eda said cheerfully. "And you can make apple blood with them."
"… There are abomination leftovers on the shelves."
"His name was Jerry", Eda said. "He played with me for a while. But then he got bored, so I let him go."
"You slathered what appears to be a makeshift potion all over the plant pots..."
"It helps the plants grow faster. Cool, huh?"
"You covered the walls in flowers."
"Aren't they pretty?"
"A bunch of flies showed up."
"Yeah, they seem to like the flowers."
"You turned the principal's cacti into flytraps…"
"To trap the flies", Eda explained reasonably.
Bump opened his mouth. No words came to him, so he closed it again.
When did she even have time to do half of this stuff?
"Edalyn, you can't just make unauthorized changes to people's rooms", a mortified Lilith said. She did not seem at all surprised by her sister's proficiency at magic.
"But he told me to amuse myself –"
"That's not what he meant! Sir, I apologize for my sister's behavior. It is, uh… " Lilith hesitated before adding "… atypical."
Bump highly doubted that. All things considered, maybe he should be grateful that the girl had not brought down the building.
He could not help feeling impressed. Eda Clawthorne was already showing promise for a fine career in the abomination, plant, or potion tracks – and that was just based on what she'd accomplished in ten minutes of casual fun. She'd do great at Hexside… if they managed to keep her from actually bringing down the building.
He would just have to somehow convince his boss to overlook the havoc in his office. That should be fun.
"Please give her a chance", Lilith continued. Etiquette dictated that she should be primarily addressing Principal Faust, but her pleading seemed to be more targeted at Bump. "She has considerable magical talent, and she means well. She will grow out of this childish phase given appropriate guidance."
"But of course we will give her a chance", Principal Faust said sweetly.
Bump shuddered.
Principal Faust was not sweet. "Sweet" was the last adjective that could be used to describe him. If he was employing a sweet tone of voice, it was because he was so royally pissed that he was internally devising some particularly elaborate piece of horror.
"Oh", Lilith said, somewhat surprised at her own powers of persuasion. "Um… good. Thank you."
Eda looked at Faust sharply. Bump could tell that she had not been fooled at all.
"In fact, she seems like such a uniquely gifted child that we will adapt the test a little", the principal continued. "Bring it up to her level, make it more of a challenge. We wouldn't want her to be bored now, would we?"
Now Lilith was starting to look concerned. Even Eda had raised an eyebrow, clearly recognizing the challenge and thinking about how to respond. Bump wondered if she'd back off. He wouldn't blame her. It would be perfectly logical. She could return to her mother. She could ask her parents to mediate for her at a later date. They could let a cooling-off period pass before trying to convince the principal to see reason. They might try a different school.
All perfectly safe, sensible, not-potentially-suicidal options.
But then, Eda smirked. "Let's do this."
