Afterward, we got cleaned up before anyone discovered us in the potions room.
Our group exchanged gifts in the dining hall, and honestly, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better day. All of my friends spoiled each other and my daughter. It was like having the family she never got to experience since my own parents disowned me once I got pregnant with her all those years ago. Lucas’s parents weren’t any better. They sent her a card with twenty bucks in it, every year until her eighteenth birthday, and that was it.
But that life was over. She had a new family.
“I loved the gift,” he said while lifting my hand to his lips.
A part of me thought Rylan wouldn’t like the photo of us in the wooden frame with stars around the edge. I’d made it for him with magic instead of my hands, but it looked pretty to me.
After opening the gift, he swallowed and asked if I’d help him get more gifts from his room, to which I agreed.
Spoiler alert, we didn’t make it to his room. He pulled me into the nearest empty classroom and fucked my brains out.
“Do we actually need to stop by your room?” I asked as we exited, a big fat smile etched onto my face.
“Yeah, but I needed—” His face froze, and he looked far off. My head turned to see what stopped him but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
“Rylan?” I waved my hand in front of his face, but he was very lost in thought or something. That glazing in his eyes that I noticed happened at least once a day. I hadn’t brought it up, but maybe he should see a doctor about it.
“Explosion in the dining hall,” he mumbled and then blinked.
“What?!”
I didn’t wait for an answer before I ran. I heard the words explosion and dining hall and that was enough for me. Piper was in the dining hall. So were Remy and Imogene, Edith, and so many others.
Just as my foot crossed into the room, a strong hand grabbed my arm, and I fell back. “Star, don’t go in there. Trust me, please. Let me save them,” Rylan pleaded and moved me away from the door.
“Piper is in there!” I yelled.
He’d be crazy to think I wouldn’t risk my life to get her. It took a grunt and a solid elbow to his gut, but I got free so I could run to my baby. If she was in trouble, I would be there.
“Remy! The bubble! NOW!” Rylan shouted from behind and I saw Remy hit something on her smart watch.
“Piper!” I called for my daughter and just as I watched her face pinch up with Edith tucked against her chest, the whole room vibrated.
A boom came from the window. I didn’t think, I moved and crashed into Piper.
As we fell to the ground, I covered her as best as I could from the glass shards while a pink bubble covered the room. Daring a look, I realized most of the shards and stone rubble were stopped by whatever the bubble’s material was, but some made it through.
I heard a few screams as people were hit. Unfortunately, I was one of the unlucky ones. “Ah!” I heard the rip of my sweater, and the stinging of my flesh being split down my back.
Piper cried beneath me, asking if I was okay, when the rumbling around us stopped. Stones hung mid-air and I heard the voice of Headmaster Sprucian.
“We have the situation under control. If you are able to move, please evacuate the dining hall in a calm manner. If you are injured, do not move. Please wait for a staff member to assist you. They are entering the hall now.”
“Mom.” Both Piper and Edith called for me, but I couldn’t open my eyes. The pain in my back… it was too much.
“Temperance! Shit, put her out!” Rylan yelled and someone was screaming nearby. Or was that me? I wasn’t sure.
Then I fell asleep.
***
My eye lids tried opening but it was a slow process. Scared as to what I’d find when I fully woke up, I started wiggling my fingers and toes just to make sure I could.
I could.
“Mom,” Piper said my name, pushing me to finish waking up and face her.
