Cursed Blood | Chaelisa

Chapter 35.

"Chaeyoung," Mom said. "The Headmistress saved our lives, honey."

I was too stunned. I should have suspected why I could become the exception in the Ultara Academy and be treated as equal to her daughter. Her Mom has the kind of friend that is willing to help whenever troubles arise, just like mine.

"Oh, mom! You knew it all along!" Joy said. "Why didn't you tell us that you knew?"

"The same reason why you didn't tell me, kiddo," The Headmistress said in a motherly tone again. "I'm just so proud that you didn't abandon your friends, and I didn't mean just you, but all of you." She looked at the rest of us.

"What a relief," Joy breathed. "I thought you wouldn't let Chaeyoung be with us."

"Oh, Joy, dear," the Headmistress breathed, "Why would I do that? I just wanted to let you know if problems are too hard for you to handle, you shouldn't hide them from us. Besides, I also wanted to ask Jennie for a tiny favor."

"Me?" Jennie said with a puzzled face. I almost forgot she was even here.

"Yes, you- Jennie Kim," the Headmistress clarified. And I swear that what I heard next was: 'Don't expect that I don't know what you did, young lady'. Jennie blinked. I guess she probably heard the same thing I did. Ever since Jennie walked into the Ultara gate, she had made a mysterious epidemic of students losing consciousness. The Headmistress was just turning a blind eye on that.

"Well... um... what can I do for you... ma'am?" Jennie stuttered alarmingly, looking embarrassed.

"For the last century, the school has been very peaceful, but now we want to have the best protection necessary for some emergency case in the future. We need you to activate the Kim Shield. It's the most advanced security systems of our school."

"But I don't know how to activate it," Jennie said with a helpless shrug.

"Believe it or not," the Headmistress replied. "It only requires the touch of a Kim descendent."

The architect who built the school had a weird sense of humor. She had designed the Kim Shield, which was a secret system that no one could operate besides the Kim generations or at least that's what the Headmistress told us. And the Kim family was another school founder besides the Park and the Ultara. Which means Jennie wasn't just any stranger dropping off from the space. And now Jennie had become the Chosen One. It's quite funny when your famous foe turns out to be someone who could save your life.

The Headmistress led us out of the office. At first, I thought we were going to the Ancient Hall, but then we just stopped in front of the founders' holographic forms that stood under beams of glowing lights. We looked at all the faces of the Ultara founders- each of them bore the expression of serenity and wisdom.

I noticed below one of the statues emblazoned: Josephine Kim.

My eyes widened, remembering the name I had come across at the Hobbit house. I turned to look at Lisa who was also staring at the stone head of the woman. Our Headmistress walked up to slide the head backward. Suddenly, we saw the school's symbol carved on the marble stand underneath the head. The Headmistress turned around and smiled brightly.

"Voila!" she said, looking at us and then beckoned Jennie to come forward. "Please, come to put your hand here," she pointed to the round shaped Ultara crest.

Jennie stepped forward and did as she was instructed. And once she placed her hand on the symbol, the thing started to glow with a blinding light.

"Ow!" Jennie winced and pulled her hand back as if she got burned.

"It reads your fingerprint and tests your DNA," the Headmistress told her. After that, the siren blared, the ground under our feet shook a little, and the electricity seemed to flicker off and on. But before anyone could scream, "earthquake", everything went back to normal again.