In Too Deep

Chapter 16

I awoke alone. I looked around the room wondering where Bastien had gone, for a moment I considered that maybe it was a dream. My duvet that I was tangled up in smelt like him, which was the only proof I had of last night being real. I looked up as I heard my bedroom door opening.

“Ah good you’re awake.” Bastien said as he walked in carrying a tray of food. “I was just getting you some breakfast.” He added with a smile. I couldn’t help but sigh with relief, I thought he had just up and left.

Bastien walked to my bed, sat down and handed me the tray of food. On it was eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, a bowl of fruit, a glass of orange juice, a cup of coffee, a cup of tea and a glass of water. I looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

“I uh didn’t know what you would want, so I brought you pretty much everything I could find. Sorry it’s not much, as most students are away there wasn’t much food on offer so I cooked this myself.” I gaped at him, completely shocked. He had cooked me all this himself? He took my silence the wrong way.

“I’m sorry, you don’t like it. I will go and get you something else.” Bastien said with a sad voice. I put my hand on his when he tried to take the tray away.

“No, no it’s fine. I’m just shocked that’s all. It all looks delicious; I just can’t believe you went to all this trouble.” Bastien smiled brightly at me and I couldn’t help but laugh. Where had this all come from? He isn’t usually like this.

Last night he seemed like he was holding back information. He had laid next to me on my bed listening to me talk, with his signature smirk on his face. And here he is smiling like a child on Christmas day because I like the food he brought me?

“I’m glad you like it.” He said.

I smiled at him and dug in, it was delicious! I was quite surprised actually. Vampires don’t really have much of a reason to cook. After I had finished eating breakfast Bastien said he had some things that he had to do and left. That was fine by me, I had my own things to do today, which would be quite difficult if Bastien were to stick around. I’d have a hard job explaining my snooping around.

The campus was near enough deserted today. I had to be careful though, if just one person caught me heading in to a restricted area, I was going to get in to a lot of trouble, and a lot of questions would be asked. I’m not entirely sure what is going on here, but I cannot trust anyone other than Lucas and Violet from this place. And possibly Bastien, but I am not planning on filling him in on any of the details just yet. Considering I don’t exactly know what I would tell him. I am yet to have any concrete answers to what I have found so far.

Making sure I disguised my sent so not even a vampire would know that I had been there, I headed to Mr Jackson’s office. I hesitated outside to check if anyone was inside. I sensed and heard no one, to my surprise the door was unlocked, I guess no one thought anyone would be stupid enough to break in to the head masters office, or there was nothing to be found in here. I hoped that wasn’t going to be the case.

I headed in, shutting the door behind me. His office looked expensive. It had a leather sofa, nice chairs; and grand bookcases which were filled to the top with leather bound books.

I began looking through the draws in his desk, all I found were the usual papers that you would expect to find in a head master’s office. There has got to be something here. I searched frantically, through draws, in books, everywhere that I could think of. I found absolutely nothing suspicious or out of the ordinary.

I turned to the computer sitting on the grand desk, sat down in the luxurious leather seat and turned it on. It was obviously password protected but that has never stopped me before. I cast a spell on the keyboard to reveal his password, and after just a moment I had access to his computer and I could begin searching through his files. The first lot of files I searched through I found nothing suspicious so I dug deeper.

I recovered all of the files that he thought he had deleted, I didn’t go through them here though, too risky. I copied them all on to a hard drive as well as any other files I thought might hold some useful information.

I then went on to his emails and downloaded all sent and received emails. Looking through his computer again I found out that he actually had two email addresses. What does someone need two email addresses for? I hacked that email account as well and saved all information from that one also. After I had every bit of information I could possibly get from his computer, I used magic to erase any trace of me hacking it.

I put everything in the room back where it was when I came in, I was about to leave when I heard voices heading down the hallway. I opened a cupboard door and hid in there, not the greatest hiding place but there were not a lot of options in here. I used my magic to give the door the same effect as one way glass, I could see through it, but anyone on the other side could not see me. This way, I can eavesdrop on any conversations.

I used my magic to silence the sound of my heartbeat, if I didn’t then any vampire would know I was there instantly, and my cover would be blown. As soon as I closed the cupboard door the door to the office opened. Mr Jackson walked in along with Smithy.

They sat down either side of the mahogany desk and looked at each other in silence for a moment, neither wanting to be the first to speak. What is going on here?

“So, you wished to see me?” Smithy asked finally, breaking the silence.

“Yes, I felt that we parted on bad terms the last time we spoke.” Mr Jackson answered.

“Yes well that discussion was necessary. Have you amended the problem?” Smithy asked.

“We are working on a solution to make it work for everyone. I do understand your concerns. You should know that was not my intention. The students were getting uneasy having someone around that would know all of their thoughts. This is an Academy where super naturals are supposed to feel safe.” Mr Jackson replied.

“Yes but do not forget this is also a place where super naturals are supposed to be allowed to make progress and adapt their powers. You, as the headmaster need to make sure you best provide for your students, you cannot do anything that would limit their powers. I understand that your other students may have not been happy about the situation, but instead of jumping to the solution that you did, you should have waited until you thought of something better for everyone involved. What you did didn’t just limit a student’s power, but cut it out entirely.” Smithy said seriously.

“I know that now. Can I ask you something Smithy?” Mr Jackson asked. Smithy just nodded cautiously. “You seem to know Freya well. She seems intensely secretive to us. She has shown signs of having powers that she will not admit to. We just wish to be informed of anything we should know.” Mr Jackson said.

“You said us.” Was all Smithy replied with, well picked up on I thought.

“Excuse me?” He asked.

“You said ’she seems intensely secretive to us.’” Smithy repeated. Mr Jackson hesitated for a slight moment, realising his mistake.

“I just meant my staff, that’s all.” He said. “I have noticed that you and Freya are very close. How do you know her?” Mr Jackson added to change the subject.

“That is none of your business. I have known her for years. You, your staff and your students are not at risk from her.” Smithy stated.

“What kind of supernatural is she? I know she isn’t just a mind reader. What else is she hiding?” He asked Smithy, leaning forwards slightly in his chair.

“If I did know anything that you don’t about Freya then I would not betray her trust and tell you.” Smithy answered bluntly.

“So you know, and yet you will not share your knowledge. It will be your fault and yours alone if she hurts anybody.” Mr Jackson was raising his voice.

“I have told you that she is not a danger.” Smithy said rising to his feet.

“She has already hurt some of my pupils!” Mr Jackson argued.

“Freya agreed not to cause any more trouble.” Smithy reminded him.

“Tell me what you know.” Mr Jackson demanded.

“There is nothing to know.” Smithy said angrily.

“So you don’t know about her eyes?” Mr Jackson said with a raised eyebrow.

My eyes? How did he know about that? I had been careful so no one would see them here. The only person who knows is Bastien. But he wouldn’t tell him. Would he? If he had then that would be my proof that I couldn’t trust him.

“There is nothing to know about her eyes.” Smithy said. The two men stared at each other.

“I’ll take that as a no then.” Mr Jackson said with a smirk.

“So what is it that you think you know about her eyes?” Smithy challenged. Mr Jackson thought it over for a minute.

“I’ll just let you wonder about that. If she hasn’t told you then I would recommend that you reconsider how much you trust her.” Mr Jackson said, trying to place doubts in Smithy’s mind.

“Is this the only reason you called me in here for? To talk about Freya? All you need to know is that I trust her and that she is no risk to your staff or your pupils. Now if that is all, I really should be going, I have work to do.” Smithy said.

“Very well.” Mr Jackson raised from his chair and headed towards the door.

Before Smithy turned to exit the room he looked at the door that I was hiding behind and looked right in to my eyes. My own eyes widened in surprise. How did he know I was here?

Before I could figure this out he looked down at my feet. I looked down but didn’t see anything important, there was just an antique looking rug. Which was pretty strange for the inside of a cupboard. I looked back up to Smithy, sending an image in to his mind so he could see what I could.

‘Look under it.’ He sent his thoughts directly to me so Mr Jackson wouldn’t be alerted to my hiding place, and with that he turned and followed Mr Jackson out of the room.

When they were both gone I crouched down and pulled the rug back which revealed a hidden door. It had a padlock on which was spelled, but it was easy enough for me to break both the spell and the lock.

The compartment that the door hid wasn’t very deep and only held a dust covered book. I took it out and brushed it off, coughing as I breathed in what must’ve been years’ worth of dust. It was an ancient book with a title in another language. I turned the fragile pages and realised the book was in Latin and was filled with ancient spells and myths.

What was this doing here? And how did Smithy know about it? I checked for any other compartments in the hole in the floor but there were none. I kept hold of the book and closed the door and re-padlocked it. I covered the door with the rug again so it looked the same as it did before.

I checked the office and corridors for people and realised that all was clear. I managed to get back to my room without anyone seeing me and no one knowing that I was there in the first place. Except for Smithy. I wonder how he knew I was in there? That wasn’t important at the moment though. I had a lot of files to go through and a book, which wasn’t going to be easy, a lot of the writing was faded from age. This was going to take a while.