[Author's POV]
A FEW DAYS LATER
"At this very point, I want him expelled and blacklisted!" Fingers pointed at me. "He's a menace!"
Mr Redgrave's impatience was also a decrease in his thought process, apparently. After he'd learnt that I stormed into East High uninvited, and had beaten the shit out of his son— he summoned a council meeting for me.
For a parent who was a hunter in the bureau, he wasn't exactly making sensible judgments. He'd laced with titles I didn't own. He'd called me an infiltrator, a national threat to teenagers—a vicious bully. And whether or not he knew the full story, it didn't actually matter anymore.
"Mr Redgrave, I understand what you're driving at." Mr Ross's voice was gentle. The principal of this school seemed to have been handling the most recent events with calmness. "But I'll have you know that our student, Ren Mora, is nothing like what you described. I know this for sure because he's been under my monitoring for almost three years now."
That was the first time I'd ever seen Mr Ross defend me so openly. Which was possibly just a sheer coincidence.
"What the heck are you talking about?!" Redgrave hit his fists angrily on the table. "My son is in the hospital at the moment, half alive. And why is that? A guy named Ren Mora threw him out the window and mangled him until he was almost dead." He ran through the words with laced urgency. "I pulled the surveillance camera tape from his school. Do you need me to show that to you before you take action?!
"All I'm saying is that, there's an explanation for all these—" Mr Ross glanced at me and then back at Mr Redgrave's angry stained red eyes. "Which I think we should talk about in private, Mr Redgrave."
Of course, counselling had happened before the council meeting and was called. And that was two days ago when Mr Ross had summoned me to his office to explain myself.
He was the last person I'd wanted to sit my problems with, but being a tyrant that he was, he managed to pass a threat alongside my unwillingness to speak.
"If I don't know the details, I can't guarantee your graduation." He'd said with all seriousness in his eyes.
And then I'd told him everything that linked to Rowan's death. How Julian and his crew had roasted him to a crisp. How he was still roaming like a free bird without charges even after Rowan had died.
If anything, Mr Ross aided a fair hearing. Most times, he misconceived situations like that time he did with Tyler and the cheat note, but at the end of the day, he was only on the side of the person who managed to fool him better.
"If this is about that boy who died, then you can as well forget about it." Mr Redgrave insisted. "My son is innocent. The hospital stated that the burn marks on his body were from an electric discharge. And according to the officers, he was possibly frolicking near a power source before he was knocked unconscious."
I stayed quiet. Not because I wanted to, but because Mr Ross had promised that he'd handle it all on his own. He was the reason why we'd never even involved my aunt in the first place.
"As you said, Mr Redgrave, that was just the officer's report." For a second, there was a glimmer in the principal's eyes. Then quieter, "And don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to attest against that information. But I believe we live in a world where we can both come to an understanding."
Redgrave gulped. Which was the most nervous detail I'd ever seen of a hunter. I didn't exactly know what Mr Ross had applied at that moment, but it was quite obvious. The school principal had a mind-reading and telepathic ability. He could check the details of your memory and still leave a message, informing you that your brain had been hacked.
But one exception was that he rarely used it. Mr Ross hugely believed in the knowledge that most problems could be solved without the use of abilities. He was a normie at heart, which was why he'd attempted to banish the use of abilities in the school premises— to create a functional environment for everyone, regardless of their rank.
Although that too, was one of his failed missions.
"You may leave now, Ren." He turned to me with a reassuring smile, looking away from Mr Redgrave. "I'll update you later on."
I didn't argue. Not when the intensity of the room was very evident in the atmosphere. Unlike Aria, I was pretty great at reading the room. I stood and walked towards the door, half-praying that whatever the principal was planning would be a success.
The moment I opened the door, I saw him. Zael. He looked like he was about to come in but got interrupted when I opened first. The moment he saw me, his smile widened. The kind of widening that settled something uneasy in my chest.
Then out of his character, he stepped aside, waiting for me to pass through. I didn't exactly try to solve the puzzle behind his niceness. I just walked. And just when I thought the moment was going to pass quietly.
"Impressive, really." He said. What followed was the door creaking shut. "I'm talking about what you did with Julian. It was impressive."
"Um, thanks?"
"You know, I was thinking about it for a while. And I realise now that I owe you an apology." He walked towards me. "In fact, the whole school owes you an apology."
"What for?" I asked.
"All this time." He raised that part with a bit of exaggeration. "Everyone hated you, Ren. You seemed so... fitting for a pawn." Then he placed a hand on my shoulder. "I mean, even I thought you were a disgrace and wanted to kick you out by all means."
I looked at him questioningly, trying to determine whether or not he meant the remorse. "So, are you gonna apologise?"
"Apologise?" He said it like a strange, new word. "Oh, right. I did mention that I owe you an apology. But the thing is," he smiled at me. "I don't apologise to anyone, unfortunately. You can call me an asshole, for all I care."
He turned around and sauntered off into the meeting room, with the attitude of someone who was suddenly finding everything funny. I couldn't completely blame the guy anyway. Maybe the rumours were true after all— that he broke up with Seraphine.
That was the only logical explanation for the insanity he'd just performed.
He's overthinking.
At least, everyone had a separate share of problems. But it was never equal. Mine compounded over each other. And then, there was Seraphine also. She'd seen me the other day when the domain replacement happened. She'd probably guessed I had abilities and was going to rat me out for it.
I needed to talk to her.
I traced her to the rooftop, where apparently, she always liked being. Usually, low and middle tiers were not allowed at the rooftop— and if tagging myself as low tier counted— I wasn't supposed to be there either.
"Hey."
She turned away from the scenic view she was staring at and traced the voice back to me. There was a cigarette in her mouth, still not lit. But what scared me was her eyes. Purple and divine, like a glowing scroll of history.
"Can we talk?" I asked after a few seconds of exchanged silence. "It's important."
"Let me guess." She started, her voice calm. "You want to negotiate with me to keep your silly secret."
Silly?!
"I think there's a misunderstanding," I said, ignoring her remark. "What you saw that day in the library was not my doing. I just got into a rough game with a friend, and he used his ability on me—"
"I'm not stupid, you know?" Her eyes lowered at me. The kind of expression that a lie couldn't break through. "If you were playing a game with your friend, why did you walk all the way up here just to let me know that?"
Dang it.
"Alright, fine. You got me." I admitted. "But I need you to keep it a secret between us. If this gets out to the Bureau, I could be in trouble. I could become their next lab rat."
Seraphine's expression sank at lab rat, as if she was reminded of a bitter memory she'd been trying so hard to forget. Then her gaze refocused on me.
"I have no business with your secrets anyway. Or anyone else's." She said something so harsh in a calm voice. "You want my lips sealed, you already got it anyway."
"Thanks then." I gave her a thumbs up.
Unsure of what else to say, I just headed towards the exit door. The deal was sealed, apparently, even before I'd planned it. After all, everyone knew Seraphine was a mummified human. Her eyes held more secrets than her mouth told.
And for a girl, that was just weird.
"But I'll be careful if I were you." She said just when I was mid-step towards the door. "The last system user I knew, committed suicide."
I turned towards her, eyes widened. A slight shock wave rippled through from my chest to my knees.
"What do you mean," I asked, choosing one question out of a billion. "The last system user?"