The Young and Gifted

60. healthy, educated and mature

Mason went to Kaura's room first but found it empty. He hated it when they fought. Before he could think further about where she could have gone, another set of footsteps crossed into her room.

"Good morning, Mason," Caroline greeted with a smile. "How was your summer break?"

"Great," he answered and moved to walk out the room but Caroline stepped into his path.

"How was Kaura?" You could tell she was worried about the witch.

"She was fine," he said even though she knew she wasn't. Because no matter what was going on with her, it would be a betrayal to tell Caroline about it. "We had fun."

"And you?" She asked. "I know that the earthquake killed you for good and Kaura...somehow resurrected you. You know that if you ever need to talk about it, my door is always open."

"I'm good." Mason gave her a thumbs up.

Caroline nodded and stepped aside. Before he could fully leave, she warned, "Please take care of her. She's been through so much and I know she doesn't show it but Penelope's death really affected her too. I trust you, okay?"

Mason nodded and continued to walk out. He then realized that she was touring the new kids and he flitted through the halls until he found the little crowd in the courtyard outside.

His face instantly lighted up when he spotted her holding hands with his little brother. Mason approached, kissing Kaura's cheek. "Hey, baby."

Kaura turned to him. "Sorry about last night. I was drunk and—"

"It's fine. When you're ready to talk about it, let me know," he told her and held his hand out for his brother. "Hey little man, how was the flight?"

"Amazing! I got to fly, up, up, into the skies," Pedro giggled, taking his brother's hand.

"Awesome, are you hungry?" He asked.

"Ice cream!" Pedro shrieked and began jumping.

Mason laughed, shaking his head. "You can't have ice cream this early in the morning." He turned to Kaura and winked at her. "See you later?"

She squeezed his arm and waved at Pedro. "Bye." Kaura watched the two go and turned back to the students. 

She missed it but Jade was watching the whole interaction with closed eyes. And with Mason's focus solely on the two people he cared for, he overlooked her. Because this was Jade Jade. The Jade that had told him she slept with his best friend, the Jade that was so angry that she drove their car into an accident. Jade. And she was not happy with Mason's relationship.

*

Caroline was at her desk, frantically trying to organize her work. She had plenty of going through emails and letters from guardians after the sudden earthquake that injured and killed the students. Some even sued. She usually hated abusing her power but she compelled everyone of them to forget anyone ever died to save money.

She picked up a letter from Freya. She had heard of what happened and she knew that SBS was down one teacher. So she recommended a couple of ones of her own. Caroline had to make sure they were eligible so during summer she left the girls to go meet them in New Orleans. They seemed qualified and she confirmed all the paperwork, later informing Ric of the whole ordeal. These new teachers were now the official teachers, replacing Emma and Clarke. He had simply disappeared. Deep down, Caroline was worried but what they had was just a fling after all. 

As for Ric, once school had returned, he had cleaned up his act and returned to his job. For some reason, he spent most of the break re-mourning the death of his wife and Caroline assumed that something had triggered all those awful memories.

*

Ric tapped the mic and brought the attention of the room to him. "Good morning and welcome back, students. I hope you've all had a very fulfilling break after the casualties that occurred last year to result in the second semester ending so abruptly. We have taken precautions to avoid situations like that and we are deeply sorry for the loss of those who were close to the victims. As you all know, Emma Tig also died. She was an amazing addition to our board and I wouldn't have had anyone else. Clarke was also fired due to private reasons but this year is going to be different. Not only have we implicated new curriculum's, we're welcoming two New Orleans witches to SBS. Everyone, please welcome Davina Claire and Vincent Griffith."

The room clapped as the middle aged woman stepped on the podium. She looked slightly the same as her young teenage years but with her features sharper and bolder. Davina beamed at the crowd. 

Kaura leaned forward, whispering to Mason, "Two witch teachers? Why and what about the vampires?"

Mason opened his mouth to speak but Davina cleared her throat. "Thank you. If you haven't heard by now, I am not only a witch but also a vampire. I will be teaching individuals who struggles with their urges and frenzy because I once did too," she explained. "When I was younger, I used to be a harvest girl, a vessel for a great ancient magic and it was required for my mortal sacrifice to complete the spell. I was...very difficult to my ancestors and when I finally subcummed to their wishes by completing the spell, I was punished. I spent years in isolation, years in mental torture until I was given a second chance. But with magic, there's always a price, you know this by now. My mortality just happened to be the price. I returned to the living just this summer and it was very difficult to adapt to such a brute lifestyle. But I overcame that and I am blessed to be given such an opportunity to teach others like you how to cope with the feeling of entering a world with different eyes, different ears, different teeth. You're all probably wondering what my species is. I'm a Heretic but I'm not the first. There are a couple around the world that you have yet to meet. Other than that, I think I've touched basis on what I needed to say so I'll pass the mic over to Vincent."

He stepped up and looked at the crowd thoughtfully. "You all look like very healthy, educated and mature individuals, I am proud to be welcomed to this community. I am also a witch from New Orleans and I have been recruited to teach you the ways. I won't go into the details because not all of you are witches but I'm going to state it plainly. I'm stronger than all of you combined. As Davina mentioned, New Orleans magic is ancestral and sacrificial and only those who were born there will be able to access the mass of power we wield. Now, don't worry, this won't interfere with studies and I'm quite excited to teach and learn...vanilla magic," he mused and Dorian tapped his back.

"Well, that should be all. I would also like to point out that we've accepted four new students but I won't force them to come up unless they want to," he said. Dorian waited a beat, giving them time to decide. When none of the new students move, he nodded. "Alright. Be friendly to new faces and go have some breakfast."

~

"Kinda living in the moment, here."

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