By moonlight's shadow

Chapter 15

The three girls reached the Assembly in record timing and found the Headmaster just walking up the podium along with a woman in a red cape who was standing there from the beginning.

“Is she the one that you were talking about?” asked Snow to Sonata who nodded slightly.

“We need to develop a mode of communication without other people being able to hear us,” said Snow and Akira nodded furiously at her.

“Your reactions are going to give away everything that we are trying to keep under wraps,” said Sonata, glaring at Akira who immediately changed into her poker face which was absolutely hilarious but Snow tried to maintain her composure while Raphael looked at her in the eyes from above the podium and something unspoken passed in between them. What that they both did not know. But his eyes had definitely widened for a moment looking at the massive hair transformation of Snow. There was a hint of appreciation in his glance before he looked away. Something inside Snow felt warm, not the hot kind of war but the one that slowly seeps in your bones and keeps you heated in a happy kind of way from inside.

The Headmaster looked at everyone who were standing in neat rows and lines starting from the younger ones to the older ones and then started speaking.

“Good evening students. We have gathered here today to come together in order to welcome someone to our Academy. For long we have been taught and we have heard from our elders that magic is something absolutely evil and should not be used by anyone at all except those who have been cursed with it. But that is a myth, a fable which has been taught us in order to keep us from achieving our potential. Many of you students may not know this but you all might have a sorceress in your bloodline somewhere quite distant. We have kept the sorceresses amongst us outside, we have shunned them, allowed human beings to hunt them like vermin and exterminate innocents and guilty alike in every bloodbath in history of time. But it is the time to change. I know what all of you are thinking, why now? And why am I even saying this but know this that this is being done for a good reason. You have to accept the fact that you have magic in your bloodlines, might not be all but selected bloodlines probably who can wield magic just like the sorceresses. Your powers have been dormant since the times of grandparents, which is almost three generations back. It will take a lot of effort on your part to bring that power and magic back to your life but before that there are a series of tests that you need to pass. This is being done only for three senior years of the school who are powerful enough and the younger batches will not try to do anything of the sort which might make me take stern steps. It is a project initiated on experimental basis and it shall be looked upon by Senora Maseratti. Please give up a huge round of applause for the Senora,” said the Headmaster as he started clapping.

All the students clapped following his suit and Snow looked carefully at the woman in hood who was now stepping forward towards the microphone.

She did not remove her hood and neither did she look up at any of them. Since the Headmaster had called her Senora and the surname was Spanish as well Snow considered that she might hailing from a family with Spanish ancestry. And she was not wrong in her perception, just she missed out a few bits which she would come to know later on that day.

“They say that any technology sufficiently advanced looks like magic, and you see, there is the clue to the art of magic... it's also a science, a technology. It can be used for the betterment of mankind, to promote our evolution, or to bring devastation upon us all. Those who practice the dark arts use it for power and control, for abuse and for the pleasure they feel in causing pain and death. It is for the most parts a linguistic method, hence the "spells" in literature, the sense that it is done with words... because for the most part, it is. It is often combined with fear and sometimes drugs. It works because of the way the brain is wired with words and images. I told technology because you might be more familiar with the terms of science and technology rather than alchemy. Yes, it is true. Alchemy is absolutely possible but turning lead to gold is something which is possible theoretically but not in real life.

Magic can be used to make a person forget experiences, to not see what is right in front of them and to control behaviour. With words you can be paralysed or have your body controlled... yet it is possible to fight your way out of it, to resist the "spell" and I'm living proof of that. I'm the one who was never supposed to survive. For the ones that fight the spells, who emerge with memories that were supposed to be erased, there will be the drugs to induce insanity and the watchers to ensure you are living as you ought to, that even if you have memories you are too intimidated to tell them. Magic is a science and an art, it uses the entire brain... so be both too, be a scientist and an artist, use positive phrasing, be kind with your words... then the ones who aren't will stand out, or else they'll have to hide and be reduced in the ways they harm our world. And please remember, there are the good magicians too, the ones who will share their abilities and teach you how it works. So please, dear vampires, wake up, because we're trying with every ounce of strength we have to save you.

We good magicians work with and for the positive universal force, we are helped by love and made well by love. The dark arts magicians are helped by the negative force and they are poisoned by love, feeding off pain. Your Headmaster has not shared something with you that is something you should know about me and about your Academy. The magic that binds the Academy together and wards off anything and everything along with the glamour has been placed by my family since its inception. All of you are young and just like every other creature since you are growing up you face a lot of emotions and some of them are negative while some are positive. However these emotions, excess energy is what keeps the magic in its place, it keeps the wards up. It is inexplicably linked to the core of every single child present here.

My name is Isabella Katherine Margaret Maseratti. You might call me Mistress Maseratti. That shall be all.”

With this the hooded woman finished her speech and the hall broke into applause once more. Every single one of them were charged up and emotions were running quite high inside the place and Snow could suddenly feel it. She could feel something pulsing differently in every single vampire inside that hall. The heart beats were extremely high and she wanted to tear their throats off. This was getting out of control very fast. She needed to leave this place as soon as possible.

The hall was now buzzing with the excess outburst of emotions and all of the students were scattered to her good fortune. Snow took up speed and sped towards the exit door but she did not get a chance to leave the place. Her path was blocked by the Evil Twins along with their Mojo-Jojo and all other vampires who were nothing else but the drones of the team.

“What is the hurry Princess? You seem to be quite touched with all this story of magic and bullshit, are you not? So why don’t you tell us about your family so we can decide as well that whether you are good enough to join the Elite club or not?” mocked Serena as Sebastian looked at Snow with appreciation in his eyes and he was not liking the way that his sister was instigating Snow to react.

Snow looked at her with so much anger in her eyes that if it was possible she would have obliterated her from existence but that was something which was not physically or humanely possible so Snow smiled at Serena. And her smile was sweet like saccharine, dripping with sarcasm.

“Awww….too bad Serena darling. I think I shall ask my Grandmother to finally grant your father that private audience for which he has been begging since the last century. Might as well put a good word for you and who knows you may finally come to know something about my family? And come on Serena, you know that I am never going to be a part of your Elite,” replied Snow as she felt the sorceress walking towards them.

“You, you bloody b***h, who do you think you are that you can mock me and my family? How dare you do that to me before all this people? Are you so insecure that you have to always reply with this kind of poison?” screamed Serena, her fangs bared and her beautiful face contorted with anger. Sebastian tried to tell her something but she was so blind with anger at that moment that she could not see or think anything else.

Snow knew that she was not supposed to do anything which would be detrimental to any of her co-students but keeping a check on her anger was becoming extremely difficult for her.

“The next time you block my way and do something of the sort you would not be having your fangs any more. I shall rip them out and coat them with silvery and mercury and send them as a present to your father. Never, Serena, never ever do this again,” whispered Snow as she caught hold of Serena’s neck with lightning speed and threw her towards the opposite wall before Serena could even react. Sebastian gave a scathing look at Snow and then sped towards Serena who was lying on the floor like a limp rag doll.

Snow did not wait anymore to see the drama unfolding and ran outside in the night. The sorceress named Isabella Maseratti stood at a distance and watched the entire drama unfolding. She had not believed Raphael when he had said that the prophecy was true and it had already started unfolding in a way which no one would believe if he told them so but it was coming true and since he was a part of the prophecy he could not do much about it. Isabella could see that he was right in saying so. The creature was definitely named Snow but she was nothing close like snow flake. She could not believe her own eyes when she had felt the extent of power that the younger girl was holding inside her core and there was something else as well which Raphael did not know but that was true as well.

“So it seems that you have acquainted yourself with the drama that keeps on going on inside the Academy?” asked Raphael as he came and stood beside her.

“And why are you so aloof from this entire situation? Should you not be coming down and stopping them from fighting each other?” asked Isabella and Raphael smiled in response.

“Come, I shall show you your living quarters,” he said.