Meeting

DELLA

“Hey, pause game?” Kade asks. I nod, smiling as I walk up to him.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“Well, I thought I could walk with you to the headmaster’s office. If you want, that is,” he offers.

“Thank you, that sounds wonderful.” I smile up at him. Could he be any sweeter?

My knuckles keep brushing against the back of his warm hand as he leads me down the sparsely populated hallways. I know it’s stupid since I just had his tongue down my throat, but holding his hand seems like a bigger deal somehow.

Thankfully, his nerves are steadier than mine, and he reaches out to grip my hand in his. I glance up at him and see his smile, and I can’t help but return it. He really is so charming.

We slow to a stop in a large atrium with cathedral ceilings and towering stained-glass windows depicting unfamiliar scenes. The only stained-glass windows I remember seeing are of saints, Jesus and Mary, or other Christian iconography. But the windows in this room show images of the same blonde woman posed next to different objects, and one large window shows her holding a star in her hands. I have no idea who she might be, but she must be important to supes.

“Hey, do you want me to wait for you?” Kade offers, breaking me from my thoughts.

“You don’t have to. I’m not sure how long this will take,” I explain as we walk through a door labeled ~Administration~.

I don’t even really know why I’m here. I just assumed it was the formal welcome package I missed yesterday, but who knows? Maybe it’s about my demon type. I’d hate to make him wait on me for hours if there’s a chance it could take that long.

“It’s okay. I want to. I’ll wait here,” he says, pointing to a wooden bench along the back wall. Next to it is another door. This one is labeled ~Headmaster~.

“Thank you.” Knowing Kade will be nearby eases my nerves a little. “Wish me luck.” I sigh before straightening my spine and knocking.

“Come in,” a deep voice calls out.

I’m not sure what I expected the headmaster of a magical school’s office to look like, but this wasn’t it. The whole room is very boring. I think my mind was stuck on imagining Dumbledore, but instead I’m met with every other average school principal’s office.

White walls surround a wooden desk, and a few wooden chairs are set opposite the man in charge. The person in question is a stern-looking older black man who’s built like a linebacker. His hair is cut short with small bits of gray sprinkled among the black curls. His dark, calculating eyes make it clear he sees all and will judge you for it. His entire aura is a mass of bright blue. He’s very protective. I just don’t know what he’s protecting.

“Uh, hi. I’m Delaney Hearse. You asked to see me?” I manage to squeak out.

His stern persona instantly transforms as he greets me with a warm smile and arms spread out wide at his sides. His aura begins bursting with proud yellows and happy oranges. Wow.

“Delaney! Welcome. It’s been so long!” Sure, okay. I walk over to take a seat. “Well, I guess you probably don’t recognize me. My name is Azreal. I’m the one who placed you with the Hearse family.” He’s the asshole who did that?

“Oh,” I say noncommittally, trying to keep my voice neutral.

“But we’ll get back to that. I’d like to introduce you to Mrs. Zeve Hearst. Your mother.” He grins, gesturing to a woman I didn’t even see sitting in the corner watching me.

“I’m sorry, what?” I blurt out. I whip around to see my biological mother.

Wow! I look just like her. She has a giant mass of curly hair parted to one side, and it’s the exact shade of strawberry blonde as my natural color. She’s small and curvy like me, too. Her eyes are big like mine, but they’re a dark brown instead of golden. I must get that from my father.

She’s wrapped up in a deep red power suit that somehow manages to be both provocative and professional. Her aura is streaked with proud yellow mixed in with happy orange, but they’re overshadowed by an overwhelming streak of dark blue. She’s so sad. It’s so big and deep that I can tell she’s been carrying this sadness for a very long time.

“Hello, dear. You seem surprised.” She frowns before turning to scowl at the headmaster. “You said she had been notified that I was here.”

“Dr. Tenn was supposed to pass it along. Did he not tell you, my dear?” the headmaster asks.

“No. He told me I was to meet with you at eight,” I huff. That fucking doctor. What is his problem?

“Well, I am sorry. I asked you here so that your mother and I can explain everything. I believe your father is working at the moment, correct?” he asks my mother. No, I can’t do that. Just the thought of the woman in front of me being my mother has my heart pounding. She’s just going to have to be Zeve for now. That sounds terrible, but what else can I do?

“Yes, he’s off world at the moment,” Zeve confirms. “We were hoping you could meet him later. He’s so excited to see you again.” She smiles warmly over at me.

“Okay.” I nod dumbly.

“Are there any questions you have that we might be able to answer?” the headmaster asks gently.

A single question overwhelms my mind. “W-why didn’t you want me?” I turn to Zeve, my voice manages to come out emotionless, but there are so many feelings swirling inside me that I almost want to throw up.

“Oh, sweetheart. We did want you. We wanted you so badly, but we had to send you away to protect you. I didn’t even know the extent of how much danger you were in until after you were gone. Your father asked Azreal to hide you somewhere no one could find you. He thought sending you to a human family would be the best way to keep you hidden, to keep you safe,” she explains with tears streaming down her face and streaking her makeup. “If only we had known…” Zeve buries her face in her hands, sobbing.

Azreal continues where Zeve left off. “The Hearses had also just had a baby girl in the same hospital, but there were complications after her birth, and she died. After learning that, it was simple enough to use a little magic to confuse the staff and swap the birth records. The other baby was buried under the Hearst name, and you became a Hearse. We believed no one would learn the truth until after you came of age.”

“Why didn’t anyone come for me then?” I ask. That would have saved me so many scars and nightmares.

“Well, I did, but you weren’t there. The Hearses had no information on your whereabouts, and we had no way of locating you at the time. We were only able to find you now because you finally had a burst of magic large enough for us to detect,” he explains.

“Weren’t you keeping track of me while I was growing up?” I ask.

“No, we didn’t want to risk any chance of others discovering you. Most supes come of age at seventeen. We thought you’d have a normal human life until then,” he says. Well, that’d do it.

“I started feeding at ten,” I state.

“Oh my God,” Zeve whispers in horror, and Azreal mutters under his breath.

“And I was kicked out at fourteen,” I add, but keep the details to myself. I don’t want to expose all my horrors to a couple of strangers—particularly Azreal the baby swapper.

“I am so sorry I failed you, Delaney.” Azreal frowns.

“It’s whatever,” I say dismissively. Silence overtakes the office for a moment, but it’s broken by a knock at the door. Azreal glances at both of us and then at the door. He must see something because he calls out his permission to enter.

Dr. Tenn and Professor Raziel both walk in.

Raziel hikes his thumb back toward the atrium. “Why is my punisher outside?” he demands.

“I’m not sure,” Azreal admits with a frown.

“Oh, Kade is waiting for me. He wanted to make sure I got back to the dorms okay after this,” I explain.

“Oh. Good.” Raziel nods, and his aura flares with a tinge of proud yellow. That’s adorable.

Dr. Tenn has his usual frown in place as he looks me over before facing the headmaster. This asshole. A sickly green is flowing through his aura, but I can’t figure out what that means without looking it up, so I ignore him. I’m mad at him right now anyway.

“Della, it’s good to see you again. Any news?” Raziel asks.

“No, not yet. I’m still a mystery it seems.” I shrug.

“Oh, that’s actually why I called for you two,” Azreal jumps in. “Both of you asked me to look into Delaney’s reading and, knowing both of your connections to her family, I thought it sensible to enlighten you as well.”

We all wait in silence as the headmaster walks to the bookshelf behind him and grabs a thick black leather-bound book.

“Delaney, you are a Scion.”