“Yes.” I straightened but he didn’t release me. “I’m okay. That was weird.”
“You look pale.” He assessed me, his brows still knitted. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes.” I nodded. The world finally steadied around me, and the haze in my head lifted. I glanced at the other students in the hallway. High school still wasn’t for me. “Let’s go.”
His gaze shifted to where mine had gone.
“Ignore them.” He swung an arm over my shoulders, the books still clutched against his chest. “Where are we headed?”
“English.” We started walking.
“That doesn’t sound like fun.”
“Not at all,” I said.
“I am meeting you at your door tomorrow morning before classes.” He stared at each person who looked our way, causing them to avert their gaze.
I nodded, thankful he was there.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Ender
Morningclassesbreezedby,and I was eager to get to lunch to see Selene. Telling her that I would never stop seeking her out hadn’t been a lie. I knew where she was, but I was giving her space so she and her sister could process the new information together.
My mind drifted to the hallway before first class and the way Selene hated how the other students kept glancing at her. I’d make sure I was there for her tomorrow from the start.
I made it to the entrance of the cafeteria, but before I could, my name was called.
“Ender.” Priscilla strode toward me. “Headmaster John is waiting in his office for us.”
“Now?” I glanced in the cafeteria, spotting Selene with David sitting next to her.
“Yes, now. Come.” Priscilla stopped right in front of me and waved.
I hesitated, staring at the empty seat on Selene’s other side. I took a deep breath and followed the order. Priscilla didn’t question my silence as we made our way to Headmaster John’s office.
“Good afternoon, Ender.” John nodded as we entered, Priscilla sitting across from him. “Please shut the door and have a seat.”
The door shut with a heavy clank, and I sat in the chair next to Priscilla and leaned forward, giving Aura chin scratches before settling back. The little fox was adorable.
“Miss Hart and I have consulted with the Mage Council and have decided that she is going to stay at Fives Academy for the spring semester.” The headmaster shifted forward, leaning on his desk. “She is going to work on finding the defector.”
My gaze shot from him to Priscilla. “It’s confirmed that someone inside the academy let the dark mage in?”
“Not confirmed, but there’s a reasonable suspicion that someone is helping a dark mage clan and there may be multiple clans involved,” Priscilla answered.
“Not just a single dark mage, but an entire clan? Two clans?” My eyebrows almost went through the roof.
“The dark mage who attacked was ancient.” Headmaster John opened a folder and turned it toward me, scans of translated scripts neatly organized inside the three-holed prongs. “We found a burned scroll with a blank ink circle inside her cloak. The marking is of a clan that has existed for quite some time. What we are unsure of is if she belonged to that clan and why she attacked alone. Our belief is that she was from a different clan since she didn’t bear the mark on her palm.”
I read the first page. It contained a copy of a script in what appeared to be Latin. The next page showed an ink-black circle with a short, handwritten line underneath.
“Immortale Daemonium Tenebris,” I read aloud, transcribing the little Latin I knew. “Immortal demons in darkness.”
“That is the clan mark.” The headmaster nodded at the page. “During their initiation into the clan, it is said that the mark is permanently burned into their skin, a sign of their enchantment linking them to each other.”
I stared quizzically at the dark symbol. “Can they see what the other dark mages see?” That would put us at a huge disadvantage.
