Chapter 45
The Aftermath
For a moment, no one made a sound. And then Lily took a step towards the blue bracelet lying on the floor. The bracelet's sapphire gems appeared dull and foggy in the light shining into the room from the hole above.
She reached down to pick it up. But before she could touch it, a hand covered in stone swiped the bracelet away.
"I'll be taking that," said Uncle Viceroy. Behind him, copies of himself shed their armor and then disappeared into particles of light. Their job was done and the danger had passed so they needn't stay anymore. "Sorry, Lily. But you're not getting this back."
Lily was sorry to lose the bracelet. Since the start of the school year, it had been a part of her everyday and it'll take a while to get used to its absence. But she figured that it was for the best. She doubted she could use it anymore now that it had an evil spirit trapped inside of it.
"Safira!"
Bluestone came running into the chamber. Flying close behind was the parrot, Warren. They rushed over to Safira and the three of them gave each other big hugs. At last, after two hundred years, Julius Bluestone's family was reunited. It was a happy moment, and one that everyone wished would last a bit longer.
Sadly, it could not.
"Ahem!"
Heads turned to Viceroy Kevin Lin who shed the last of his stone armor. He stuffed the sapphire bracelet into his pocket and then straightened his tie before marching up to the Bluestones. Everyone could tell from the grim look on his face that some unhappy business was about to go down.
Safira took a step forward, but her father gently pulled her back and shook his head.
"Uncle Viceroy . . ." Lily spoke up.
"I'm sorry, Lily," he said. "But this is something I have to do. No matter the reason, I cannot let Bluestone's actions slide."
"But-!"
"No matter the reason."
The edge in Uncle Viceroy's voice caused Lily to fall silent again. She and the others meekly stood by and watched as the two men walked up to meet each other. They were about three feet apart when they stopped.
"Julius Bluestone," Viceroy Kevin Lin spoke sharply, "by unleashing the dragon Fafnir's spirit, you are guilty of not only bringing danger to this school, but also to the whole world. Even if we write that off as an accident, you have no excuse for your other crimes. To get what you wanted, you attacked the students you were supposed to protect and dragged them into the world of magic; a world that, here on Earth, brings a lifetime of danger. They trusted you and you betrayed them.
"I am probably the last person on the planet who should be telling anyone how to be a teacher. But in this case, I'm probably the only one who can. Julius Bluestone, you have failed as a teacher and do not deserve to be called one."
Oliver could not keep quiet any longer and cried out in dismay. "That's going to far!"
But Bluestone cut in and said, "No, Oliver. He is right. Hurting students is not something a teacher should do. And I've hurt plenty."
He looked up to the sky through the hole in the ceiling.
"You know, I never really cared about being a teacher. I only created this school as a tool for my plans, something I always planned to throw away when it was no longer useful. And yet . . . to be told I do not deserve to be called a teacher, that actually hurt. A lot more than anything in two hundred years."
His voice quivered. And by his sides, his hands balled into fists and shook.
Viceroy spun at his heels and turned his back to the former school director. Without looking back, he said, "Enjoy your time with your family while you can. Whether I tell the Magic Council or not, they will find out about this. And when they do, even I don't know what will happen."
And then he walked away.
**********
A few days have passed since a mysterious, late night drum performance woke up the entire school and riled up all the students into screaming out of their windows. In the end, it was written off as a prank that all the teachers blamed on Lady Sapphire. Her name was the one being chanted along with the rhythm of the music after all. Some of the teachers believed that she needed to be found and punished, not knowing that it already happened.
Lily and the entire Sapphire Society got detention. Every day in the afternoon, weekends included, they reported to Uncle Viceroy's classroom, where they spent a whole hour and a half writing lines with pencil and paper. And it was always the same line over and over, and over: "I will not do anything dangerous ever again. I will not do anything dangerous ever again."
Safira joined them, wearing a Bluestone Academy uniform. She had been enrolled as a student and took classes with Lily and the twins. There was an awkward air between them at first, but they quickly got over it and became good friends. They even hung out together at the Sapphire Society hideout. It wasn't long until she became an official member of the club.
Seeing no harm in it, Uncle Viceroy allowed the Sapphire Society to continue. But they were only allowed to use the lair during the weekends. Still, thanks to Safira and Warren's tutoring, Lily quickly got the hang of using magic power without the bracelet and everyone else got even better at spell casting than before
Speaking of Warren, he stayed as a parrot, pretending to be Safira's pet. When asked why he would not transform into a human, he said this:
"Because it's convenient. No need to worry about bills, going to work or dealing with paperwork."
Safira got special permission to keep him at the dorms, as long as he didn't cause any trouble.
"Me? Cause trouble? Perish the thought!"
Safira's enrollment wasn't the only big change, however. There was another, less happy change.
One morning, on live video, Julius Bluestone announced his resignation as director of the school. He was still the owner, but complete control of it had been turned over to the Board of Directors. After that, he disappeared from the public eye. Neither Safira nor Warren would say what happened to their father.
Oliver seemed to know something, but he kept it to himself. Now and then, though, Lily spotted the teen detective throwing a resentful glare at her uncle while keeping a generous distance away. He always sat at the very back of the classroom during detention, the furthest away he could get from Uncle Viceroy.
And so, the war against the Schemer was over. But there was still one mystery that remained unsolved.
Before Bluestone left the school, Eddie and Viv were able to meet him in his office one last time to talk about their mother. But to their dismay, he told them, "I'm sorry, Edward, Vivian. But I really have nothing to do with your mother's disappearance. I don't know where she is, or what happened to her."
"Then why did give us her journal?" Eddie shouted. "You let us find that on purpose, didn't you?"
"Honestly, it was a coincidence," Bluestone said. "I only chose that journal because I felt it was the easiest to learn magic from. I didn't know until later that you were actually the children of the journal's original owner. It was quite a shock finding out. Or perhaps, it was Fate at work."
"But you must have some idea what happened!" Viv cried. "You were the one you taught her magic!"
"It's true that I tutored Mary Ann Duskbell in the magic arts," Bluestone said. "But she gave up her powers and all memories connected to magic. I erased them myself when she asked me to."
Eddie raised his eyebrows. "She gave up magic? Why?"
"I imagine it was because she thought it would be safer for her future children if she cut ties with the magical world."
"So she gave up magic for us?"
Bluestone gave Viv's question an affirming nod.
"Did you at least try to find her?" asked Eddie. "I heard you were good at fortune telling. Couldn't you use that to track her down?"
"You think I didn't?" asked Bluestone. "As soon as I heard she disappeared, I cast every sort of enchantment I could think of. Used every magic tool I had. None of them worked. They just led to dead ends."
Needless to say, the twins left the office feeling very depressed.
"I'm sorry, Eddie, Viv," Safira said one day in the hideout. "I tried asking Warren, but he just told me the same things Father told you."
"I see," said Viv. "Well thanks for trying."
She was unable to hide her disappointment.
Oliver rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I've been thinking," he said. "Director Bluestone said the magic spells he used to look for your mother hit dead ends. Is that correct?"
Eddie and Viv nodded.
"Those were his exact words," said Eddie.
"That means the spells must have at least led him somewhere. Maybe that place holds some kind of clue and he just missed it. Do you know where it is?"
The twins shook their heads.
"Bluestone never told us," said Viv.
"I was not told either," said Safira. "Maybe Warren knows?"
"Speaking of Warren, where is that parrot?" Lily asked, looking around. "I haven't seen him in a while. He's always stuck by you, Safira, so it's kind of weird not seeing him around."
Safira shrugged.
"Perhaps, he's with Mr. Lin?" she guessed. "There are still a lot of things left behind by the Bluestone family that needs to be taken care of, after all."
With Julius Bluestone gone, Lily's Uncle Viceroy was left in charge of all of the school's magical stuff. Well, it was more like he put himself in charge before anyone else could say anything.
"What's Mr. Lin been doing with all of Bluestone's stuff anyway?" asked Erin. She and George had a contest, using their minds to control dolls to battle each other. Her doll won after tearing George's doll's head off and raised it up in triumph.
Lily shrugged. "I don't know, but I have a feeling it involves A LOT of smashing."
"I have mixed feelings about that," Safira confessed. "Since whatever belonged to the Bluestone family is basically my mine too."
"I think it should be okay," said Tanja. She had three electronic tablets floating around her head like planets orbiting the sun. "Your old man did say he was going to throw it all away, anyway."
"You think we can get Mr. Lin to leave some of that old stuff alone?" Eddie wondered. "I know the director said he did everything he could to find Mom, but it's not like he used EVERY thing he had. There are some stuff in the school he didn't even know about. Maybe one of those can help us find out what happened her."
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask," said Lily. "Oh! There he is right now!"
Uncle Viceroy appeared at the doorway holding his smartphone, which jingle-jangled a looping tune.
"Good timing, Uncle. Can we ask you - ?"
"SorryLilynotimetoexplainthinkfast!"
After saying something superfast, Uncle Viceroy swiped his finger across the phone's screen and then dropped it onto his niece's lap. And then he ran out of the room, as if for his life.
"What was that all about?" Lily wondered. She was confused.
But then a lady's voice screamed out of the phone's speaker. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN LILY GOT TURNED INTO A MAGICAL SUPERHERO? HELLO? VICEROY? HELLOOOOO? ANSWER ME!"
Lily was absolutely horrified, and it showed on her face.
"What's wrong, Lily?" Eddie asked. "Do you know who's on the phone?"
"Eddie, you idiot! Shush!"
But it was too late.
"Huh? Lily? Lily's there? Lily, you're there, right? Tell me what's going on! What did Viceroy mean when he said you became a superhero?"
Lily had her hands clapped over her mouth.
Oliver whispered to the person next to him, which happened to be Melody, "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that lady on the phone's Lily's mom."
And he was right.
"LILIAN WONG, DON'T YOU DARE PRETEND YOU'RE NOT THERE. YOU ANSWER YOUR MOTHER THIS INSTANT!"
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