“Dad?” Lizzie opened her eyes. “Are we in trouble for yesterday?”
Alaric laughed a little. “I do have to punish my students for starting a brawl, yes.”
“Not for the brawl.” Lizzie sighed and set her hands on her knees. “Are we in trouble for almost winning?”
“What? No. Of course not. I’m sorry I missed it, but I heard you guys did amazing without magic.”
Lizzie felt the anger seep in and she looked away. “Too bad you weren’t there to see.”
“Something … important came up.” Alaric felt a pang of guilt that he couldn’t explain why he left in such a hurry or what he was doing. 
“Was it Hope related?” Lizzie jumped to the accusation. “Did she set her dorm on fire again?”
“You know Hope didn’t set that fire -”
Lizzie scrunched up her face in outrage. “You don’t know that she didn’t!”
“We are not getting into this again,” Alaric said calmly. “Just breathe …”
Lizzie inhaled deeply with him, imaging all the anger leaving her body as she breathed out, just like Emma had taught her.