Chapter 7

February 6, 1993

Unable to sleep, Coralis and Victoria decided to go for a walk. It was cold outside, so they stayed inside the school building. The school had so many hallways and staircases, that they could easily walk for an hour without seeing the same wall painting twice. Moreover, less risk of getting into trouble if they weren’t caught outside past curfew.

As they approached a staircase, they heard some whimpers coming from behind a wall. They stopped walking and tried to figure where the sounds were coming from.

“You heard that, right?” said Coralis.

“Yeah, I’m not sure is the person if crying or in pain, or both… but where is it coming from? Sounds like it’s coming from behind that wall.”

The girls stood between an outside window to their left, and a wall to their right. They started to closely inspect the wall to their right, in case there was a secret lever or a hidden lock. Both of them were convinced that the whimpers were coming from right behind it. They patted the wall, passing their hands over the entire wall surface. Eventually, a hidden door opened. They paused. They didn’t know which one of them had a hand on the hidden lever, but they found the secret door, and it was all they cared about.

They glanced at each other, shrugged and walked through the door. As soon as they passed it, the door closed right behind them. They stood still, as they processed what was in front of them, they quickly realized that it was a bait. There was a window across the room, the moonlight passing through it cast large shadows on the wall next to the door. Two demons stepped out of the shadows.

“Corhaaliniakhys!” both of them said at the same time, staring at Coralis with a grin spreading on their face. They raised their left hand to wave at her, indicating her to follow them.

Coralis shook her head.

“I don’t know who you are or what you are trying to tell me. I am not going to follow you. I don’t give a shit about what my parents have done or ever said to you, I am not going to follow in their footsteps.”

Suddenly, she saw Victoria flying across the room, with one of the demons holding her by the throat.

“If you don’t come, she comes with us,” said the demon holding her.

Without hesitation, she pulled her wand out of her robe and threw a laser to try to cut the hand of the demon holding her friend. She missed, but it was enough to distract the demon and made him loosen his grip. Victoria ducked as soon as she could and tried to crawl to the wall they entered from.

Coralis got into a fighting position. Something stirred within her. She tried to shoot another laser out of her wand, but it bounced off her hand, and fell off the ground, burned out. She was very angry and upset. She didn’t want to follow them and she saw red when they tried to take her friend instead, so she lost control of her emotions. She could feel her aura fizzing at her fingertips with raw energy and she tried to use that as a weapon.

In the meantime, two teachers were walking down that hallway and heard a commotion from across the wall next to them. Unlike Coralis and Victoria, they knew where each secret lever was. They opened the hidden door and walked through it to check on what was going on. They saw Coralis injured, Victoria lying in a corner near the shadows, unable to move. One of the demons was on the ground and Coralis was in a position to fight the other one, despite her injuries.

As soon as they realized that two other mages had entered the room, the demons disappeared. Swope, one of the teachers who walked into the hidden room, saw enough to know that Coralis and Victoria had been fighting demons. Not just any demons: Swope was convinced that the two demons he saw were associated with Lord Meozo. Borin, the other teacher, was a mythology teacher. He was well versed in demonology and all types of mythological creatures. He saw some demon blood on the ground and collected a sample. He always had sampling paper and an empty container on him.

“Tell me, girls, what brought you here at this time?” said Swope as he was looking at Coralis’ injuries. She had deep gashes across her right shoulder and on her ribs. Her left shoulder looked broken and she had blood coming from her eyebrows. Victoria was slowly moving to a sitting position.

“We couldn’t sleep,” answered Coralis. “I couldn’t shake off the feeling that something or someone was watching me. We were walking down some hallways when we heard someone whimpering. It came from across that wall,” she raised her right hand toward the door they came from. “We couldn’t see a door, but when we inspected the wall, because the whimpers clearly came from across it, we found some kind of lever and a door opened.”

“But there was no one crying when we got in this room. I swear we could hear someone in pain from across the wall, but then two ugly guys came out of the shadows and one of them tried to take me because Blue didn’t want to follow them,” said Victoria.

Swope and Borin looked at each other. If Lord Meozo was back, his associates would go after the descendants of the loyal ones who got killed. Although it was well past curfew, they didn’t want to give the girls a detention: they were baited there and Coralis was their target. However, they would need to explain what happened to Principal Arthurio.

“Are we in trouble?” said Victoria. “Blue saved my life. I know we shouldn’t be here and be fighting, but these creatures almost took us.”

“No, you won’t be in trouble, we’ll make sure of it”, answered Borin. “Ms. Golmar, what you fought were demons. Honestly, considering that you are only 12-years-old, I am impressed that you have been able to stand your ground against them and remained in one piece. I’m sure that Swope agrees with me. I am a lot more concerned about how these two demons got here and managed to lure you in.”

“They called me a weird name. Sounded like my name, but it wasn’t, “said Coralis, thinking about the name they used when the demons saw her.

“Corhaaliniakhys, that’s how they called me.”

The teachers’ eyes went wide for an instant. This confirmed that the demons were specifically targeting Coralis, and tried to use Victoria as leverage to get her to come willingly with them.

“Never ever repeat that name to anyone,” warned Swope, “unless you absolutely need to and trust the other person. Actually, don’t even repeat it to any of the school administrators. The demons called you by your true birth name, the one your parents used to introduce you to their god. The true birth name of an elemental has power. If you would have been marked, they could have used it to summon you wherever they want, but you are too young for that and your powers are still developing, so all they could do was to try to lure you somewhere.”

“Speaking of summoning,” said Borin, “they injured Ms. Golmar and drew blood. If one of the demons managed to get some of her essence under their fingernails, they could also use it to summon her. She’s young, very young, but her aura is active, her essence is developing its energy signature, so in theory, she could be summoned.”

“True, hopefully they didn’t get enough of it to be able to do anything with it,” said Swope. “We need to speak to Principal Arthurio and the school administrators to reinforce the school wards before they try again to take students. For now, Ms. Golmar, let’s get you to the infirmary. Ms. Millous, Borin will take you back to your dorm.”

Borin noticed a burned wand not far from Coralis.

“Is that yours?” he asked her.

“Yes,” said Coralis. “I was trying to throw a stronger laser spell to cut his hands, but it was as if the spell got stuck in the wand and it burned it inside-out.”

“It happens. We aren’t witches,” said Borin. “For us, a wand acts mainly as a conduit and amplifier for our energy. If we load it with too much energy at once or try to cast a spell too strong for it, it can overpower the wand and burn it. Tomorrow is Sunday, I’m sure Martha will be able to take you to Glasgow so you can get yourself a new wand. You had a beginner one, make sure to buy a more advanced one this time.”

The next day, most of her injuries were healed. Her left shoulder was still broken and she was worried that the cuts on her ribs would scar, but the uneasy feeling of being watched was gone. Martha was granted permission to take Coralis to a wand shop in Glasgow. Usually, when a student needed a new wand, their parents would get it for them and send it to the school. However, Coralis didn’t have any living parents. As her guardian, the responsibility fell on Martha, but she couldn’t buy it for her. Coralis needed to be there, to make sure the wand would be compatible with her energy: Martha wasn’t of the same bloodline and had a completely different type of elemental energy.

Martha was a potion teacher. However, she was also very skilled at defensive magic. Concerned about the threat looming over Coralis’ head and that the school didn’t take it seriously, she decided that she was going to personally give Coralis additional defence classes, just in case she ran into more demons while in Montreal, away from school grounds. On the way back from the wand shop, Martha instructed her to come see her at her office at 20:00. From this point on, every Sunday night before curfew, she would give her some advanced lessons in defensive magic.

Just like the two previous summers, Coralis went back to Montreal for a few weeks when school ended, then traveled to the Fullemons mid-July. This time, she didn’t feel like someone was watching her at the airport.

The day before Coralis, Erik and Henry were to go back to school, Swope visited the Fullemons. He wanted to speak with Coralis. He knew that the Fullemons cared about her and he trusted them enough that his conversation with her didn’t need to be kept from them. In fact, he figured that it was probably better if Henry and Erik knew what was going on, as the three teenagers were close and often hung out together at school.

“Did Ms. Golmar tell you about what happened this past February?” Swope said to the family.

“Victoria said that she fought demons and saved her life”, said Erik.

“When the boys told us what happened,” said Kief, “right after they got home from school, we tried to contact the school to find out more about it. Barla and I were worried about Coralis’ safety once she was out of school grounds, but they wouldn’t tell us anything, because we aren’t her guardians or family.”

“I can assure you, even Martha is fighting the school administrators to get information,” said Swope. “The fact is, two demons have been able to breach the school ward and attempted to kidnap students. I know what I saw, so does Borin. I believe that Lord Meozo is back and is currently targeting Coralis because her parents were working for him. However, Principal Arthurio and the school administrators refused to take the threat seriously. They think that a student summoned the demons as a prank.”

“Do you think it could have been a prank?” asked Coralis. “I don’t feel like I’m being watched anymore.”

“This was no prank, and you know it” said Swope. “I remember very well the time when Lord Meozo was alive, this has his smell all over it. When Lord Meozo found out about you, he most likely saw your dad through you. He prepared a trap to get you under him, but that failed. He may have left you alone for the past few months, but I don’t trust it, I’m sure he will try again with a more refined plan.”

“Are you serious about Lord Meozo being back?” said Barla.

Erik and Henry were listening with interest. They remembered what Sean told them about his friend Julian.

“Do you know if Julian, the guy who was attacked 2 years ago during the EET, is also in danger?” said Erik.

“Yes, to both questions. I am serious about Lord Meozo, but Principal Arthurio doesn’t believe so. I am also certain that he is also going after M. Dewarp, but he is under a different school jurisdiction and I believe that he graduated this last spring, so I’m less concerned about him at the moment. In the eyes of the elemental community, Julian Dewarp is now considered an adult.”

“We tried to take Coralis under our custody for the entire summer, but human bureaucracy is very complicated,” said Barla. “I’m glad to hear that he didn’t go after her this summer, but what about next summer? If he is truly back, then this mess is only getting started and he needs to be taken down again before he becomes stronger.”

“I agree with you entirely,” said Swope, “and that’s also why I’m here. I cannot do anything to facilitate procedures regarding Ms. Golmar custody, but I can help ensure that she stands a chance against him. Ms. Golmar,” Swope turned his attention to her, “I know that Martha started to give you additional defense classes on Sunday evenings, and that she plans on continuing that when you get back to school. On Wednesday evenings, at 20:00, come see me at my office, and I will give you advanced combat lessons. I know that you usually have flyball practices on Wednesday evenings, which should start around mid-October, but I want you to come to my office when practice is over.”

“Why would you do that?” said Coralis. “If the principal doesn’t believe the threat is real, would that put you in trouble?”

“I am concerned about the safety of the students when they are on school grounds. If a cursed creature is specifically going after you and the school isn’t stepping up to improve the safety protocols that are currently in place, then the least I can do is to help you get stronger, so that if he sends more goons or comes after you himself, well you can hopefully resist long enough for people to have time to get you out of his claws. I’ll take the heat if it comes to me.”

During the school year, Coralis didn’t receive more letters and she wasn’t feeling watched. However, she did take Swope’s warning seriously and as instructed, every Wednesday and Sunday evenings, she met with Swope and Martha for combat and defence advanced lessons. Come the End-of-Year holidays, she was exhausted, both mentally and physically. While Martha insisted on teaching her how to defend herself against mind control, Swope taught her advanced combat spells. He knew that Coralis was already very skilled in hand combat, and it wasn’t likely that she would have any weapon on her when they came to her again, so he focused on elemental combat spells.

Mid-February, Martha had to take Coralis to Glasgow again to get a new wand. There was an inter-school flyball competition coming up soon and Coralis would need to travel to France with her team. Just in case something was to happen while there, and knowing the summer was also approaching fast, Martha convinced her to buy a second wand.