It felt like high school all over again. I'd been absolutely overjoyed when I graduated and was finally able to escape the hellhole that the place was. I'd only been able to attend that one public school because of its location, but the place was absolutely disgusting. The kids were annoying, the campus downscale, and it sat right on the edge of the dark side of town. Therefore, the place sucked. Everyone hated everyone. No one was left alone. Literally every person beat up on someone and they were beat up too.

   I knew I had gotten off better than others. I was one of the top boxers on the women's team, and with my best friend holding complete power of the school newspaper, we weren't as targeted as others. But I would have thought I'd gotten used to the stares, whispers, and other looks by now. Apparently not. I felt every eye that rested on me as I sat down in the cafeteria. My temper ruffled and I gritted my teeth. 

   The table I had chosen was empty. I knew better than to try and sit with anyone. The meeting for today had ended a few hours ago and I'd taken a nap until dinnertime. My head still ached a bit. That spell, normally, wouldn't have been too bad. Considering I had moved over thirty people that weighed over a hundred pounds each... The headache was well deserved. Chewing even hurt. Though I didn't regret it a bit. Seeing everyone's faces . . . definitely worth it.

   I had to admit, I was a little smug about that trick. I wasn't one to hide. Not at all. 

   Some time passed. I'd gotten halfway through my meal. Alexie had warned me about the reactions of the other kids, but I still felt bitter. Did they all suddenly decide they hated me? Jeez, they needed to grow up. Out of all of the kids I'd met, I understood why Karen had moved. She'd disliked me from the start. But Katelyn? I could see her across the room, sitting at another table.

   A shadow fell over my seat. I gritted my teeth. I was not going to put up with the same crap as I did high school. I opened my mouth to snap at them to beat it, but Harley sat down instead. He snagged his fork and grinned. "'Sup, homie?" I stared as he bit into his enchilada. Right behind him in sitting down was Allie, Liam, Winston, and Blue. I eyed them suspiciously.

   "What are you guys doing here?"

   "Eating, duh." Blue looked at me skeptically.

   "No duh, Sherlock," I fired at him. "Why here?"

   "What did you expect?" Allie smiled and plucked up her napkin, wiping her lip. "We're still friends. Besides, it's not like we're going to ditch you because Alexie Albers is your master."

   "Katelyn and Karen did." I jerked my head in their direction. 

   "Not a surprise." Winston grimaced. "Malorie Jones and Alexie Albers have always butted heads. No one knows the full story, but what we do know is that both Jones and Albers were both a part of the Cleansing. After that, they've both hated each other."

   "The Cleansing?"

   Allie blinked. "You don't know what that is? You're joking, right?"

   My face soured. "I'm not. Trust me."

   "It's, like, one of the most important historical events ever," said Blue, puzzled. 

   "It's a long story, okay? Just what is it?"

   Allie shook her head and exchanged a look with Harley. "Well, to put it shortly, Dusks got out of hand with using dark magic. The Council gave a ruling to order the slow and eventual stop of dark magic. None of the Dusks complied, so the Council created a force to stop them themselves. Malorie Jones was one person that was on it." Allie rubbed her ear slightly, looking uncomfortable. "It's said that during one of the fights with the largest population of Dusks, we were losing, and then Alexie Albers just showed up. Within minutes the fight was over. He followed the Council's group and when they failed, he picked up the slack. Eventually the use of dark magic was done. No one has used it in ten years."

   "What she's forgetting," added Winston, "is that the one uprising a decade ago was the first in three hundred years. No one had used full dark magic until then. And not since."

   The ink around my arm seemed to burn. I rubbed it slightly, my mouth dry. They had no idea. They had no idea that dark magic wasn't dead. And living proof was sitting next to them. I subconsciously tugged down the sleeve to keep my arm hidden. "So basically they stopped dark magic. Okay. But that would explain why Malorie and Alexie hate each other. Rivals."

   "There's two sides of the story," said Harley. "Some say Malorie was the one that did all the work and Alexie is trying to steal the limelight. The others say that it's the other way around. Alexie saved them but Malorie is jealous. No one is sure what really happened."

   They were all looking at me. I snorted. "You seriously think that I have any idea? I didn't even know that happened."

   "You're his apprentice," said Blue earnestly. "You probably know more than any of us."

   "Dude, I had no idea he was even well-known before I came here. He doesn't say anything."

   "Yeah, what's it like?" Allie asked curiously. "Training under the White Mage and all."

   I finished my bite and shook my head. "Not as glamorous as you might think."

   "You're ahead of all of us and have been training for half of the time," pressed Winston. "Come on, Roxie, how can it be all that bad?"

   "Oh." I laughed dryly and sat back, ticking off my fingers. "First, he's ruthless as heck. Never lets up if he wants something done. Second, he does not care. I mean, he'll throw me across the room without even blinking. And he never talks! He could be planning my death or what he wants for dinner and I'd have no idea. Maybe both, even."

   There were some laughs. "I guess it's working," said Harley with a snicker. "You look as if you've held a staff all your life."

   "I've only had it for two weeks."

   Allie yelped as she spilled water into her lap. Winston handed over his napkin. She stared. "You're lying."

   "I'm not!" I waved my hand and handed over my napkin too. She frantically patted down her thighs. "Seriously, he never let me get close to one until two weeks ago. Frickin' crazy, he is. Some definitely crazy crap right here."

   "So you must have practiced before officially having a master. Right?" Blue inferred.

   I snorted. "Heck no. I was convinced I was a regular human until five months ago."

   They groaned. Harley kicked my leg. "Okay, that's enough. Quit lying. It's getting annoying."

   "I'm not lying!" I protested, aghast. "I'm legit! I had no idea about any of this stuff for all nineteen years of my life!"

   "We're not stupid, Roxie," chided Winston. He shook his head. "And you had us going for a solid minute there."

   "Apparently you are that stupid!"

   "You can't expect us to believe that," said Allie in agreement. "It's completely out-of-wack."

   I huffed. "Fine, you're not stupid."

   "I knew it!" Winston clapped his hands. "So what's the real story?"

   "I said you're not stupid, not that you're smart. You guys are dumbasses."

   "So why is this meeting supposed to take the whole day?" I slid into my seat beside Alexie. It was the next morning. My headache had finally lessened up. Alexie was sitting in the same seat as before and watching the room, per usual. 

   "Today comes the political discussion. There's only two or three items on the agenda, but everyone loves to argue. We'll be here for some time."

   "Sounds about right. So why are the apprentices here?"

   He shook his head. "Torture."

   I snorted at his serious tone. Dornar had already called for attention. "We all know this is our favorite part of the meeting, so let's make it quick, alright?" There were some chuckles. He lifted his glasses up to read off of his paper. "Let's put the biggest issue first. The nearby elf colony has declared war on the fae village, for the third time this month. The Council has designated this issue to the local government, and they've designated it to us."

   "That's ridiculous," muttered someone. "Making us do the dirty work."

   "What are we supposed to do?" Beatrice, Allie's master, asked. "We don't have any power. The elves will just throw us out as traitors and the fae will turn our own magic against us. We can't exactly do anything."

   "Why not suggest a meeting?" It was Malorie Jones. I glanced over. "We can act as mediators. See the demands of each side. More importantly, we can make sure they don't attack one another in the negotiations."

   "This isn't any of our business. We're neutrals, for the lord's sake. They're Brights. We shouldn't interfere."

   While the topic of it was interesting, the bickering was boring. I leaned my chin on my hand. Alexie murmured quietly, "Just so you are aware, there won't be a break for lunch." I grinned. "One of my friends warned me. I've got it covered." He pulled back to look at me suspiciously. My grin was my only response.

   He shook his head as the bickering continued. After a little while, I put my hand under the table. Crimson seeped into my palm and pooled. With a little molding, I'd created a ball. I bounced it on the table. Once Alexie had taught me the spell to make my magic create a rubber-like texture, it was endless entertainment. The ball was so energetic that I almost missed it a few times.

   An hour passed and they were still arguing over what to do with the fae and elves. I had no idea what they were so I kept my trap shut. Still, I wanted to bash the head of the guy that was obviously arguing just for the fun of it. At least, it was boring until someone directed a comment at Alexie.

   "What do you suggest?"

   Alexie gazed at her. The woman paled. I recognized the look of when he was thinking on his words. Finally, he spoke, and the room hushed. "Bring the second-in-command of each to a meeting. Don't let them stay in one room. Go back and forth and create a treaty. However they must be kept separate."

   Malorie looked at him sharply. "The seconds? Why on Earth not the leaders?"

   Alexie took his time again. I smothered a snicker as her face grew more frustrated the longer he waited to think. I was half-sure he was doing it intentionally. "The seconds will be more willing to compromise. The leaders have a reputation to uphold. It is less so for the second-in-command."

   Malorie opened her mouth, closed it, and exhaled through her nose. A different mage hesitantly cleared his throat. "And why in separate rooms?"

   Another pause. "They will not be able to rile the other. All tension will be gone. Therefore easier to reach a conclusion."

   Malorie squinted at him. Beside her, Karen actually scowled once Malorie nodded once and sat down. The latter looked less than pleased, but she wasn't arguing with him. Alexie shifted his look to Linda. She hastily wrote his answer down. Dornar, with a relieved look, marked on his paper. "Now that that's taken care of, let's get to the second matter. The vampire coven near the local village has raised their population, violating their agreement, and they need a larger supply of blood. They want more blood drives in the human town."

   "Absolutely not!" Someone instantly cried. "They violated their own agreement, don't give them a damn thing!"

   "We're neutrals, not Dusks," chided another. I groaned and buried my head in my arms. This was getting ridiculous. This time, Alexie stayed way out of it. He wasn't kidding. These people just enjoyed arguing. No wonder he hates this meeting...

   Time passed. I got hungry enough to reach into my safe and pull out a peeled orange. Alexie looked over and shook his head, amused, and I offered him a slice with a sly look. He eventually took it. The boy nearby looked at us oddly as we snacked on the orange, not even listening to meeting at this point.

   Some time later, Dornar caught my attention. I'd been half-asleep when I heard, "...the human city, Memphis, Tennessee. The meeting for that area was moved because of an emergency and the Council has asked that we are the ones to address the issue. There was a magick occurrence a few months ago. Our attempts to squash the rumors aren't working."

   I lifted my head from the table. There was no way he was talking about . . . no way. One of the wizards frowned. "What happened?" She was chewing on the end of a pencil.

   "A group of magicks weren't very decent at keeping things under wraps," answered Dornar. "There are reports of a wolf shifter, a fire fae, and a mage or two. The human police were actually called to the scene and found blood samples. I'm told that an undercover wizard was able to destroy the evidence, but it was close."

   Yup. That's what they're talking about. I shifted my eyes to Alexie. His posture hadn't changed. No one knew, apparently, that that day was where Dani Darhk was caught. And that I'd been there. 

   "Was it a fight?"

   Dornar grimaced. "No one's sure. The police were responding to a call from a phone that belonged to a worker at a nearby bar. They found the phone, smashed, and identified the owner, but they haven't released who. It's most likely a human who panicked, but the phone has obviously bite marks and it's singed by fire. The humans are completely bewildered."

   "My phone," I muttered. "Damn." It sounded like it's gone through a hell of a beating...

   "That's the most dangerous part," said Malorie sharply. "A human might have witnessed it. We need to ID them, and fast."

   "No one can find them," said Dornar. "The Council sent a private investigator to the scene and found nothing. It was cleaned up by a magick."

   I shifted uncomfortably. My gaze turned back to Alexie. He hadn't moved. One witch asked Dornar, "So what about the human? What'll happen if they find him?"

   Alexie finally moved. He opened his eyes and sat up. Dornar's words caught in his throat as Alexie said quietly, "The occurrence was caused by Calida the fire fae, Marrok the wolf shifter, and myself."

   There was complete silence. I stared at him, aghast. What was he doing? Dornar blinked. "A fae chief and an alpha wolf? That's quite a claim, Alexie. Why do you say this?"

   "Because the damage to the city was caused by Dani Darhk."

   Someone yelped. The reaction was instant. There were shouts of alarm and Malorie shot to her feet. "Was she using dark magic?"

   Alexie fixed his eyes on her. "We apprehended her and delivered her to the Council."

   Malorie looked annoyed at the lack of an answer, but asked instead, "What about the human?"

   "Dani killed her."

   Her eyes widened at the same time I choked. Alexie kept his face calm as I wheezed and waved off weird looks. Trying to even my breathing, I shot a look around the room. Karen was staring at me. Malorie looked suspicous. No one else seemed to care.

   "...Killed her," said Malorie. "Why?"

   Alexie seemed to sense something he didn't like. No one else was able to tell, but I saw his hackles go up a bit. "Dani had attempted to create a link between the two of them. We stopped her before she succeeded. Dani killed the young girl in the attempt to escape. We weren't able to stop her." 

   "And who was this girl?"

   "Merely one with deep witch roots."

   Malorie frowned. "Dani wouldn't have risked it unless she sensed something in the girl. She must've have been a hell of a witch." Alexie's words about the same thing from that night returned and I kept my face schooled. That was twice now... All Alexie had said was that I held my mother's blood. He had also told me that my mother's magic had been too much for her to handle. My eyebrows drew together. Why had Dani targeted me?

   "Regardless, it doesn't matter. The girl died." 

   "You seem rather okay with it, Albers."

   His look was ice. I exhaled slightly. Why was he lying? He'd been truthful up until this point. I understood that dark magic was taboo, and now I knew that it was outlawed, but why hide what had happened? The ink on my arm seemed to burn. I wasn't the instigator -- I was the victim. So why hide it? 

   "And where is Darhk now?" Asked a different mage.

   Alexie looked towards Dornar. "She was exiled to the Ghost Realm." Dornar blinked at him.

   There were some mutters. "She's as good as dead." "What if she escapes?" Those were the two different sides I was hearing. Yet my gaze turned back to Alexie, confused. Why was he lying? What was the point? My eyes squinted. Well, yet another thing for me to find out.