The Legend of the Eight: The Charmed (Book 4)

26: All Children Grow Up

TWENTY-SIX: ALL CHILDREN GROW UP
NOVEMBER 3
KATE DIAMOND

The World of Magic used to be good..

Everyone was safe here and anyone was welcome. The Doctor is trying to change that. He wants us to be afraid of him. In fear, there's power and with every day that the Doctor goes uncaught, he only grows more powerful.

Rather than taking notes during Mrs. Fortin's History of Magic class, Kate was journaling, hoping that the act of putting her thoughts on paper would help her make sense of things a little better.

Mrs. Fortin was teaching about the reign of King Stephan, Kate's great-great-great (give or take a few great's) grandfather. His rule was over two hundred years ago and during it, he was killed by a rogue Dark in an attempt to abolish the monarchy and promote separate magical factions. The Dark succeeded in assassinating the King but his plan for revolution failed.

"Maybe the Dark had a point."

Towards the back of the room, Kyle McGarvey had posed the question and Kate could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment. She hated having to talk about her family in class—no matter how distant the relatives were. Like all civilizations, positions in power had made the occasional mistake or two (and in the case of King Stephan, more than occasional) and sitting in a class listening to a whole list of them was less than settling.

"Interesting point," said Ms. Fortin, nodding respectfully. "Care to elaborate?"

Kyle shrugged. "What if by separating the magical factions, we could make the Three Realms better? I mean, if we Banished all the Banished people before they did anything bad, we could save a lot of people."

"But how would we know if they're bad or not?" asked Effie Salvatore, despite the fact she hadn't been called on.

"Simple," Kyle fired back and he sounded like he was chuckling. "Take a look at all the people who have been Banished. They all have one thing in common."

Seats ahead of hers, Kate heard Nicole scoff her disagreement.

"Do you have something to add, Miss Bradley?" Mrs. Fortin asked, catching on to Nicole's sass. Nicole immediately became the center of attention and she seemed hesitant to act on it but cleared her throat nonetheless.

"I guess I'm just surprised because what Kyle seems to be suggesting is that we Banish people based on their bloodline alone." Then she looked at Kyle. "That's what you're saying, isn't it? That we Banish anyone with Dark Magic?"

"Are you saying that we shouldn't?" Xavier stepped in, to no surprise of anyone as ignorant jackasses tended to side with their own. "They're Dark."

Kyle folded his arms over his chest and then shrugged. He had a smug look on his face like he was daring someone to challenge him. To tell him that he's wrong. But no one said a word.

"Maybe we should take a break here," Mrs. Fortin said and her eyes darted around the room at her students, nervously waiting for the next comment. "You all have very interesting points but I think we're getting off topic. Let's get back to the lecture, shall we?"

"SO I HAVE AN IDEA," said Drew Briggs at dinner that night, leaning into the table and lowering his voice. Word about the morning's history class got around, dividing the school between those who agreed with magical segregation and those who favored tolerance and inclusivity. The Dining Hall was quiet that night and since tensions were high and anything louder than a whisper could be heard tables over.