I didn't ask Edgar how he, Brady and Vitaly could have stayed at the Academy without being murdered on the spot by Mister Winter, but I knew my old Professor and, hopefully, the rest of the class, were at school at the moment.

It's hard to describe Daniel Winter's face as he was eating lunch and he saw six people coming out of the Stars Room and interrupting the meal. Especially if you consider the people were four dirty students, an old and sandy haired version of Silver McQueen and Vitaly Malinov in his late 30s. He spat the ginger beer he was drinking.

"You..." he said.

"We know everything," Jeff declared. "And we made it. The Reapers have been defeated forever."

"But you..." Mister Winter said again, to none in particular.

"Oh, and by the way, thank you for trusting me," Jeff continued, "if you kept on telling me lies and smothering my powers, we'd all be dead."

"You know everything, don't you?" the old man finally managed to ask.

"Yes, we do," I lied. I still didn't know a few things about myself.

"Now the Senate is going to give the Reapers a trial," Vitaly explained. "We are going to be interviewed by magazines and we'll tell the whole story. Everyone has the right to know. I will turn myself in."

"Finally something I agree with," the Professor said, his eyes shining.

"No," I protested. "You can't do it! You have been conspiring against them the whole time. You loved him. You were innocent."

"It's not up to you to decide if I was innocent," Vitaly said simply. Mister Winter smirked.

"I don't know why I was sucking up to your praise during class," Edgar told the Professor quietly. "Frankly speaking, Mister Winter, you're a bad person."

We all froze.

"Did he get to you?" Mister Winter asked disgustedly, pointing at me.

I noticed with great embarrassment that, still weak and sore from all my bruises, I'd been leaning on Edgar, my head almost on his shoulder. I blushed and got away from him.

"I saved his life and he saved mine," I explained hurriedly. "We're — what was the word? Trusted companions?"

"This day keeps getting better and better!" Mister Winter rolled his eyes sarcastically.

Then Alice spoke. She and Jake were there, with Lucretia, Bill and Ohda. It was the first time I noticed Sean was still missing

"I didn't understand half of the story, but if I understood correctly, you saved the Aether realm. What's so wrong about that?"

"Everything," the Professor replied sadly.

Jake didn't greet us. He didn't say anything. I wondered if he would have been able to forgive us, once we told him the truth.

So, I told everyone the whole story. With so many opinions, it was hard to say what our classmates thought about it but everyone agreed on one thing — Mr Winter had had no right to keep everything a secret.

That afternoon we went to the Senate to tell them what happened.

The president of the party, Thomas Johnston, was basically one of Raegan's enemies. He wanted to arrest us because we had broken too many laws, but he let us know that since we had been able to save the world, he would drop his charges on us. The military representative, Juliette Anderson, couldn't wait to get her hands on the remaining Reapers. She expressed her hope to be able to get the most infamous one after Set, the one called Jinn.

The commercial representative, Emile Müller, was disappointed to find out we didn't know who was the person who was spying on us yet. We had forgotten about it, but Emile couldn't wait to help us find out. The representative for the people's rights, Mark Smith, pointed out that Vitaly was the issue they had to take care of for now. He said that since he had only created the Void for the Reapers, had spent his whole life trying to stop them, had saved us in multiple occasions and he could be considered as under traumatic stress disorder when he joined the Reapers as a minor after he had been tortured and kidnapped, they would probably judge him as innocent in the trial.

I was happy for Vitaly. I was convinced that they felt guilty already and that they would never forgive themselves as long as they lived. For someone as thoughtful and sensitive as them, this was already enough.

The last to speak was Selina Cooper, the liberal one. She said that now that the threat was over, Enchanters all over Great Britain had to change their lifestyle and contact the human parties to understand if we could move more freely.

She'd let us know that the human Parliament did not get a memory change.

I didn't know newspapers could magically change their headlines, but when we got out of the building, people were all over the place and they were freaking out. The newspapers said 'Three young Enchanters saved the world', 'Vitaly Malinov: the real story', 'We found out who were the Reapers who have been terrorising England', 'Samuel Winter — an anonymous killer' and even 'Breaking news — Silver McQueen is alive'.

There were more Enchanters than I had ever seen in my whole life, crowding the only above-ground square that we had in the Aether Realm. Everyone was asking Brady to take pictures with them.

Somebody even took a picture of us. I wondered how envious Jake would have been when he found out.

As we were walking home, Jeff smiled.

"It turned out alright, in the end," he said. "You know, except for my leg and my father. But we did it, didn't we? It feels unreal. I just wish the Awakened released Sean."

I reached into the pocket of my military jacket. "You see," I replied. "This is why I've been keeping it with me the whole time."

I took out the shard of the glass of the Enemy Mirror I'd kept. With a shiver, I recalled the sensation of being out of my mind with fear and exhaustion and punching the glass until it broke. Jeff was right — some things would always haunt us.

"It gives me the shivers," Jeff said.

"True, but they will exchange it for Sean. I just know it."

"They asked you to bring them the Mirror. Won't they think it a defiant act if you bring them... this?" Edgar asked.

"It's still technically the Mirror," Raegan huffed. "And they have no right to keep Sean."

A few days after the events, Vitaly let us know he and Brady were planning to buy a little farm near Brighton where they could reside. The Senate talked to the humans, and it was said Enchanters could live above ground too, if they stayed out of the cities and proved they wouldn't endanger the community.

Jeff, Raegan, Edgar and I still stayed at the Academy, for it was also Jeff's house and he was the only one who had a place to stay. Besides, though our quest had taken almost two months, school wasn't over yet.

One evening, I heard someone knocking on my door.

It was Edgar. "I know we're not roommates anymore," he said. "And I've been trying, really trying to go along with Jake, but he's acting weird today. He insists he has to see you, and he's not making much sense."

I'd noticed Jake did not return from the quest with his mind in one piece. He was not on the verge of losing it, but let's just say not everyone reacts the same to a journey to another realm, a fairytale world, even.

When Edgar was done speaking, Jake, who was following close behind, pushed him against the wall.

"Make way, and take that stick from up your bum while you're at it," Jake told him rudely. "I need to see Ryan now."

He closed the door behind him. I wanted to tell him not to treat Edgar that way, but the truth was we all felt a little guilty for the way Jake had turned out to be.

"Calm down," I said, though I knew he would have found it offensive.

"I don't want to be told to calm down! I'm not really crazy! I'm faking it!"

I found it very disrespectful towards the ones of us who were on the verge of a breakdown, myself included.

"And why would you do that?" I asked.

"Because it's better than the alternative! Watching everyone hail you as a hero. They don't even consider my feelings. I can do so many things! If only they knew. If only they knew I've been spying on you for the whole time, and you didn't even notice."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," I replied, taken aback.

But I did understand. When I saw things from the spy's perspective, I didn't understand who he was. But it seemed obvious at that moment. It had always been him.

"Use your useless little brain," he mocked me. "I have been spying on you since forever. How do you think I could follow after you? Josephine Aleksi did not know about KI — I did. Why do you think I helped you connect the dots without telling Mister Winter anything? Why did Alice know you were looking for information about Vitaly? I thought you would have found out sooner or later but, oh my God, you're slow."

"So, you were the one who was powerful enough to read Mister Winter's library secret compartment," I said. "Makes no sense. I had no idea you were this talented."

"I'm much more powerful than you think," he snarled.

I braced myself for a spell, adjusting my fingers in the Mudra for hurting people.

I expected him to do the same. He didn't.

Instead he said, "You'd give the piece of the Mirror over to them, but you don't know what I know. It still works. Come on, look inside it."

I didn't want him to taunt me, but at the same time my nerves told me the quest wasn't exactly over yet. We never found out where Jinn was hiding. Perhaps he was waiting to attack. Slowly, I took the Mirror and looked inside it.

Jake attacked me, taking me by surprise. My whole body felt as if it was taking fire, and I started screaming.

I don't remember much of what happened after that.

I woke up in the classroom, laid on the couch and with a bandage on my shoulder. That was the place where Jake had wounded me.

Jake was tied to a chair in the middle of the room. Our classmates and the Professor were looking at us.

"We found you barely alive," Raegan said. "The wound was way deeper than it looked, you were losing too much blood. And we wanted to call the Law Enforcement Squad on Jake, but first we wanted to hear him tell us why he betrayed us."

I knew they were being extra careful because of Alice. But she didn't look worried.

"I knew he was acting weird as of lately," she confessed. "And I mean weird in a negative way. But I thought that maybe it was just an impression I had."

I was happy that their bizarre relationship was over. I felt guilty as soon as I thought that — it wasn't any of my business. But she deserved better than him. Because she was smarter and braver than he could ever hope to be.

Jake decided to tell us his side of the story.

"Everything started when Ryan started studying here. Before, I used to be the young man with the most promising future at the Academy."

"When the Professor asked us what we did the summer before school started, you told us your family made you clean houses," Bill pointed out.

"Either way, I was never worried about you, Bill," Jake added. "I knew you don't like power, that you'd like more than anything to have friends and sneak out to rock shows. Sean was a wimp. And Jeff... Well, he was Jeff. You all know what that meant at the time.

Okay, I admit it. If the Reapers came back before Ryan joined us, I don't know if I would have been the one to defeat them. But I know something: when he arrived, he was new, special and powerful. He made me furious with his idiotic questions and his sappy stories about the care home while I was trying to hide from him that I was already working, cleaning floors.

And then, he managed to make Jeff look special as well, which was almost impossible. And they broke basically every rule the Professor ever set but they were never really punished.

And then, they became friends with the Scottish nutcase, and together with Edgar Wollstonecraft, the oddest kid I've ever met, they snuck in the Stars Room and they acted as if they were living an adventure.

But I proved I could do things behind other people's backs too: I contacted them. There were a lot of private places where we could meet. And I told the Reapers about you and where to find you right from the start. I was special to them. I was essential to their plan. Set promised me I could be the new Ductor."

"He was lying to you," I hissed. "You are not nearly as powerful as Vitaly is and you can't create the Void. You could have never been their Ductor."

He smiled a little, in a condescending way.

"I knew that. I know when someone is lying to me. I'm the best at it. I followed you to KI because I thought I could betray everyone and keep the Mirror to myself. You still ignore half of the powers the object has. But when everyone made clear they didn't want me there, I went back and decided to wait a while before I could work on a new plan."

"But you repented," I said. "I, sometimes, catch glimpses of the past, the present and the future in my dreams... you didn't want to tell Jinn where we were."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I just wanted to buy myself some time. Why wouldn't I tell Jinn where Raegan, Jeff or you were? Especially you. I hate you more than I hate everyone else."

"Repent now, you still have time," Ohda said. "Change your life and we won't tell anyone about you. I swear. None of us will speak a word."

We all nodded in confirmation.

"The only thing I regret," Jake said. "Is giving them Sean. But you see, my loyalty and my skills had to be tested, somehow."

"What do you mean you gave them Sean?" I asked. But I was starting to understand. After all, the Awakened had told us they left him in the temple, and he wasn't there.

"That day it was Vitaly Malinov who took Sean," Bill told me patiently. "I recognized him from your description."

"No, it was a group of people, the Awakened, but I only met them later because of Josephine Aleksi," Jake confirmed. "Vitaly Malinov went here to help Sean, but he arrived too late. I know it, for he was part of the Reapers at the time. But then, when I saw that they left Sean at the temple, I took him and brought him to the Reapers as part of the first test they gave me."

Jake appeared deeply troubled for the first time. "I didn't know they were going to kill him."

None of us knew Sean really well, except maybe for Jeff and Bill, but there were different reactions. I heard a few sobs but I didn't turn around to see who was crying.

"It's over," Alice said. "It's over between us, do you understand? I'd never date a monster and a murderer."

"It makes me sad," Jake admitted. "But I want power more than I want love. And the Reapers aren't all men, there were a few girls in their midst that caught my eye..."

Bill looked at Professor Winter. Through his horror, my classmate looked steady and unwavering. "Professor," he said. "Can I call the Law Enforcement Squad? My mother works there. She'll understand, and she'll come as soon as possible. She will also run tests on him to see if he's telling the truth."

The Professor nodded. I felt a lump in my throat. It would have been so much better, I thought, if Jake was lying. But somehow, I doubted it.

"You had a wonderful idea!" Ohda told Bill, her eyes wide, while the Professor was writing a speed letter and tying Jake's hands behind his back. Jake looked too exhausted to put up a fight, but he was laughing like a villain straight out of a graphic novel.

"You know," Bill said awkwardly. "I'm not just the worst student in class. I have other perks."

Ohda laughed at that, and I noticed Alice was looking at the two of them wistfully. My heart broke for her, but at the same time she would be better off without Jake. Besides, I wondered whether the one who'd been hurt the most was Lucretia, who always had a soft spot for Jake and wasn't speaking a word.

After the Law Enforcement Squad came, and I realised I didn't want to sit through Jake's interrogation, I asked my friends and I to come to my room.

"I have to tell you something," I said. "When we were alone, Jake taunted me to look into the piece of the Enemy Mirror."

"And you did," Jeff added. He looked pale and tired. I realised it wasn't a question.

"And I did. I thought I'd see Jake, but I didn't. I saw someone weak, young in age, but old in experience and tiredness, walking back and forth in an abandoned building. There's no right way to say it — it was your father, Jeff."

"You mean that... ?"

"Your father is alive."

I know how he must have felt. He was trying not to show how relieved he was.

"Let's tell Vitaly," he suggested.

We wrote Vitaly a speed letter, and he arrived in the evening.

"If Set is still around, he'll want to fight us," Raegan said hopefully.

"I'd refer to this new person as Samuel," Vitaly replied prickly.

"Well, the Mirror shows you your enemies," Raegan countered. "He is still our enemy."

"Samuel has never looked in the mirror, himself," Vitaly appeared troubled. "But I've heard him mumble through his nightmares. There was a face that haunted him. I have reason to believe that, since the power that was making his curse grow stronger, was tied to the Mirror, Samuel must have seen this person in a vision and become more reckless in his search for the object to further prove his doubts. Samuel hated not knowing most of all."

"Maybe his enemy has this in common with him, like the heroes and villains of old stories," Raegan said. "Only one person comes to mind who hates not knowing most of all..." she gave Edgar a long side-eye.

We all ignored her as usual, but Jeff snickered.

"That's not funny," Vitaly said coldly. "Don't you understand? If we knew who could go against him and have a chance to succeed, it would be knowledge not to take for granted."

"Why did you make us go against him at all then?" I asked angrily.

"He's never fought against us, so it makes sense this person is not here with us," Vitaly admitted. "But it doesn't hurt to try. The four of you were the heroes of the quest, after all."

"Did you recognize the abandoned warehouse in the vision?" Jeff asked me.

I nodded. "I've seen it before. It's the abandoned MagicPound."

"So, tomorrow, we will show up there," Jeff said. "We have no time to lose."

I realised we had lost too much. I didn't want to lose Raegan or Jeff. I realised, with sudden clarity, I didn't want to lose Edgar either.

"No, we cannot always risk all of our lives," I said. "Tomorrow, I will go."