“Eden, the police are not coming,”Principal Saint seemed to read my mind and answer my very thoughts. His voicewas more constrained and I could see that he was frustrated with me. “Thepolice will never be involved. We have our own way of dealing with issues suchas these. Now trust me, those men were not dead. They probably appeared thatway to you, maybe even felt that way; but as I said before, Talbott was able torevive them and they are currently being held for questioning.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?Those men are dangerous. They tried to hurt us, they tried to kill us!” I wasfully ready to face the consequences for homicide; but I was also more thanready to plead self-defense. As awful as I felt for taking another man’s life,I did realize that it was necessary. The fact that these men were not even inpolice custody made my actions meaningless.
“Trust me, those men are incustody. However, it is a different type of legal system than you may be usedto. I’m afraid they will face a judge and jury very soon. A trial has been setfor them and they will face their accusers soon enough,” a look of sadnesspassed across Principal Saint’s face and I was not sure if it was meant for meor for the men who would stand trial.
“So I will get to testify againstthem?” I asked, unsure if I was even ready to face them again.
“No, absolutely not. That is out ofthe question,” Principal Saint reacted quickly. I was instantly confused, butbefore I could ask any more questions, he continued, “What I mean to say isthat Kiran Kendrick and Talbott Angelo will act as both witness andprosecution. Their testimonies will be more than enough to seal your attacker’sfate. Trust me,” Principal Saint wore the same look of sadness he had a fewmoments ago and I was positive this time it was meant for the attackers.
“But why can’t I speak on my ownbehalf?” I felt obstinate; those men tried to kill my friends.
“Haven’t you been through enough?Besides the trial will take place in Romania.”
“Romania?” I blurted out, muchlouder than I had intended. “What does Romania have to do with what happenedhere… in Nebraska? Isn’t there something about jurisdiction or internationallaw or something?” I was now completely confused. Surely a Romanian courtsystem could care less about what happened to a bunch of teenagers in themiddle of America.
“They will not be tried by aRomanian court system,” Principal Saint once again answered the questions in myhead and I was sure now that he was reading my thoughts. “We have our ownjudicial system and they will answer to us. Like I said, their fate, I’m sure,will be much worse than any human justice system is prepared to give them,trust me,” Principal Saint looked down at his shoes and shook his head slightlyas if ashamed.
“Ok, I have no idea what you aretalking about,” I looked at Aunt Syl, hoping she would shed some light on thisbewildering conversation. “You are really starting to freak me out.”
“It’s alright Eden. You need tostart trusting me,” he approached the bed and pulled my desk chair closer sothat he could sit near me. My aunt stood up and crossed the room to look out mywindow. My throat began to close in nervous anticipation. “Sylvia would youmake us some tea? This might be harder than I imagined.” Aunt Syl left theroom silently and obeyed.
“How do you know what’s beenhappening to me? How do you know what I’m thinking? What do you mean by ourjustice system?” my questions tumbled out quickly and all at once. PrincipalSaint obviously knew much more about what was happening to me than I did.
“What is happening to you iscompletely normal,” when I rolled my eyes he continued, “Well it’s completelyexpected anyway. It’s completely expected for someone in your position,” heclarified. “You see Eden; you are special, very special.”
“If by special you mean crazyand this is some sort of weird intervention then just let me know where you aresending me and get on with it!” I couldn’t hold back my tears this time; theycame in waves of choking sobs. All of my fears and anxiety finally manifestedthemselves in a very real manner. The strange things that had been happening tome and the inexplicable things I was responsible for were not normal, but morethan that, they were scary.
“You are not crazy,” PrincipalSaint replied a little disdainfully, but even more impatiently. “You did theonly thing that anyone would expect you to do and that was to protect yourselfand your friends. From what I’ve heard it was a very dangerous situation; youare lucky to be alive,” he said this with finality, as though this should beenough. “And I will say it again, you are not crazy. You drained those men oftheir magic; it was not a pretty task, but a necessary one,” he paused to lethis words sink in. “I’m sure the magnitude of force you used on those men feltlike murder, it probably felt worse to them, but Talbott was able to revivethem. They are in custody now and soon we will find out what their exactpurpose was. Then we will know why they attacked you children…. although I amsure I already have a reason in mind.”
“Drained them of their magic? Whatare you talking about?” I asked, highly irritated. I thought I was the crazyone? My emotions were at a level I had never experienced before and I felt asif I were on the verge of a breakdown; maybe I’d been on the verge for a whileand this was finally the breaking point I’d been waiting for.
“Yes Eden, magic. I am sure you areaware that you are different from other humans, that you possess a set ofskills that appear…. super-human. We have all been a witness to your erraticand unexplainable behavior; and after last night you can no longer deny it toyourself. I had hoped that somehow through your experiences you would becomeaware of what your powers are capable of and see that others around you possessthe same set of skills. However, I see now how stubborn and self-absorbed youcan be and can wait no longer. If something were to happen like this again, youneed to be aware of what you are capable of,” he was a stern man, and I didn’tknow whether to feel offended, shocked, or like a fool. This had to be sometype of joke.
“This is not a joke,” he saidlouder, and with more conviction. “Open your eyes, Eden,” he shook his head andI knew he was frustrated with me.
“Amory, please, she’s just achild,” my aunt entered the room again carrying a tray of hot tea. She handedme a steaming cup and I took it from her gratefully. “This is new to her, she’snever been around anything your people can do until now; of course she’s goingto deny it, to her it doesn’t make sense,” she walked over to hand PrincipalSaint his cup of tea, but turned back to address me soothingly, “It didn’t makesense to me either the first time I saw what your people could do,” Aunt Sylsat back down with me on the bed and put an arm across my shoulders. I knewthat I should feel comforted by her gesture, but my mind was still reeling.
“What are you talking about?” Iasked, my head spinning.
“Eden, I am not your real aunt,”Aunt Syl began. And Principal Saint gave a small chuckle. “You were given to meat a very young age after your parents had disappeared, I never knew them; Ihave always told you that, and that has always been true. But you see, we’redifferent, you are extremely special and I am only human,” she smiled at me andsomething stirred deep inside my soul, something that told me I should listencloser.
“You keep saying that I’m special,that I’m different, that I’m not crazy, but what does that mean?” I demanded;it was my turn to become impatient.
“Like I said earlier, you possess aset of skills that make you more than human, that make you different,”Principal Saint rejoined the conversation.
“If you’re talking about how I amable to burn down school buildings, or create tidal waves, or make thingsexplode, then yes, I suppose I do possess a certain set of skills; but the lastthing I wanted was for any of that to happen,” I folded my arms across my chestand shook my head. I was relieved in a sense that someone would finally be ableto tell me what had been happening to me; but even more, I was angry that theyfelt the need to wait this long.