Golden Girl: The Missing Piece (2)

22- Prepare for a Miserable Christmas

Eight people stood in front of the Headmistress's desk, all of them deadly silent. They'd arrived at Archibald's office within ten minutes of her summoning. Just so Garrett and Wes wouldn't be noticed, Ember led them all up the secret staircase that she frequently used when she was trying to be discreet. It also would have been unwise to showcase the bloodstains and wrinkled clothes that the three half bloods were sporting, even if their wounds had mostly healed by that point.

But the hallways were empty. Utterly abandoned.

"Professor Vane must have herded everyone into their dorms," Addy rationalized as they continued towards the Headmistress's office.

Ember winced, "I don't even wanna think about having to explain everything tomorrow."

The painting in front of the Headmistress's office seemed to be waiting for them. Gerald the Great was an intimidating figure, to be certain. He'd been asleep the last time Ember and Mika had snuck in. Now, he stared them down, the ragtag group of young people as they approached him.

Ember watched his eyes scan over the group, marking the very things she'd been trying to hide as they took a roundabout way up there. He lifted his chin and focused on her, as if he already knew she was the biggest problem amongst them.

"She's waiting for you," He said simply.

The painting fell away from the wall to reveal the doorway, but Ember was stopped by a hand on her arm. Wes was staring at the back side of the open portrait, frozen.

"How the Hades-"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ember cracked a smile, "oh, did I not tell you about that? Pictures move here. They talk, and for the most part they retain their personalities from life."

"How didn't you see them before now?" Garrett demanded, his eyes uncharacteristically widened in something close to panic. "I've been freaking out the whole walk up here!" His voice dropped into a whisper as he looked over a shoulder, "they're everywhere..."

The wizards among the bunch snorted at the tall boy's apparent unease. He'd just fought a fury while remaining perfectly calm, but a couple of paintings freaked him out. Garrett had been looking left and right as they walked up to the third story, Ember just hadn't thought to ask why.

Ember's brother was also looking back and forth between her face and the portraits around them, his face twisted in confusion, "But... that can't work! They're two dimensional!"

"That's very rude, you know," Gerald the Great scolded Wes, glaring at the son of Apollo sideways, "and you'd better hurry up, I did say that the Headmistress was waiting for you."

With his hand still grasping her arm, Ember was able to yank her brother through the doorway and up the stairs. Internally, she told herself to take Wes into her common room to meet her violin teacher, later. Because if someone as mild mannered as Gerald the Great freaked the two demigods out... a thread of excitement grew at imagining their interaction with Mr. Galamian.

Headmistress Archibald looked as serious as ever with her hands folded properly on her desk, her spine unnervingly straight.

Eventually, the woman turned towards Ember, "I owe you an apology, Miss McKinnon."

Ember flinched backwards. 

This was not what she'd been expecting. Ember had been debating what this conversation would be ever since Thelma arrived with Archibald's message. She considered that she might be scolded for causing a spectacle. Maybe the Headmistress hadn't believed that Ember kept her nose out of the issue as she'd been ordered to, and she was going to get expelled. But an apology? Unexpected might be too mild of a word to convey Ember's surprise.

"I'm sorry, Professor? What for?"

Archibald sighed, and her perfect posture slumped, just a little, "I've been unable to create a safe learning environment for you. You deserve a home here no less than any other student, so I'd like to apologize for that."

Wes leaned over to Garrett, his blue eyes somehow wider than when he'd seen Gerald outside the office, "This isn't how it sounded when I got kicked out of my third school..."

Archibald smiled at Wes, but it was somewhat bitter, "I'm sure you didn't deserve that, either, Mr. Barrows. Your lives have been unfair, and I wish nothing more than to make things easier for you. It might be a minor break of my vows, but I cannot keep you safe."

Ember shook her head, trying to ignore her braids sticking to the blood that slowly dried on her shirt, "It's not your fault, Professor."

Archibald looked to the other wizards, "I assume I can trust you all to not reveal the realities behind today's situation?"

Beau's expression was steely, earnest. "We'd never say anything."

Indigo, who'd remained silent on the walk to this office, stepped forward with more confidence than she usually displayed in group settings. "The reality behind today's situation, Professor, is that our friends are in danger just because of who their parents were. It's a feeling that some of us are familiar with."

She paused, glancing towards Beau, who ducked his head a little. But... she'd said 'some of us.' 

'Us'...

There was something deeper in Indigo's words, a too-familiar tone that had Ember thinking about what she knew of Indigo's family. They were kind, Ember remembered that much from staying with the Dashwoods before school began. But even then she had noticed that none of them, Indigo's brother included, spoke of personal topics often, or for very long. 

Indigo's dark eyes were on fire as she looked back towards the Headmistress, "None of us would risk it, even mentioning it in public. We wouldn't dare."

"We know what the consequences would be," Mika cut in solemnly.

The brutal, cutting gaze of the Headmistress swept over her students for several long minutes. None of them flinched. They didn't so much as blink, and it made Ember all the more grateful for the friends she had found here. This woman was objectively intimidating. Everyone in the school, perhaps in the country, was at least a little frightened of her. But none of Ember's friends even squirmed under her stare. Eventually, she relented.

"Professor Trenchroot has agreed to distribute a mild memory altering concoction in tomorrow's breakfast."

She said it casually, as if messing with the minds of the entire school wasn't anything major. But as much as Ember should be opposed to doing that, making people forget what happened today, she had been dreading tomorrow's questions and stares.

So she just nodded, "Thank you."

"I think it would be wise for you to return to Camp as soon as possible, Ember," Archibald said sadly.

Addy cut in, "But there's still almost two weeks left until the semester ends!"

"She'll be allowed to finish her exams before she leaves, Miss Feliz. But by the end of this next week, I'll send you directly to your camp by Floo."

The Headmistress brushed aside a loose strand of her icy blonde hair, then crossed her legs, "In my communications with Chiron, I've learned much about the culture that demigods live in. I have failed to keep you safe here, and if I'm not mistaken, I don't believe anywhere will be safe until you take the initiative to solve this mystery yourself."

"We've got a quest, don't we?" Garrett crossed his arms.

Ember could have hugged him for it, for the way he'd included himself. She knew that Garrett was as much her older brother as Wes was, that he'd do almost anything for her. He was willing to tread into the unknown if it meant she'd be safer.

"I'm afraid so," Archibald confirmed, sadness oozing from her every pore, "it isn't official, but I think you know what you have to do."

Ember closed her eyes, "Yeah, I do."

She looked towards Garrett and Wes, "We have to pay a visit to the Lord of the Dead."

It was going to be the worst Christmas vacation ever. And that was saying quite a lot, seeing as Ember had spent her last Christmas with the Hunters of Artemis chasing down a mythical boar and getting mind-hacked by an evil goddess.

But Hades? Yeah, it was probably safe to assume that he was worse.