Spellbinders Secret

Breaking Down

"Callum! Who was the first ruler of Celestia, the monarch who united the kingdoms?" barks Professor Finch, Callum's history teacher. Callum jumps and shakes his head.

"I don't know sir," he says automatically. Gee, that seemed to be his answer for most things these past 3 days. His history teacher looks like he's going to tear his hair out in frustration.

"Callum! You must know. It's only the most famous Celestian in history. I'll give you a hint, they came from Lunaria," he hints through gritted teeth. Callum shrugs his shoulders and slumps back in his seat.

"I don't know," he mutters.

"It was Selena de Argent, the most powerful Moon Fairy, and therefor the most powerful Spellbinder, who ever lived. She battled the darkness of the Cursed and united the Kingdoms under one rule. She formed the Celestian Council. Can you at least tell me what that is?" Professor Finch snaps.

"Nope."

"It's a council made up of all the rulers from all of the kingdoms in Celestia! They govern the entire realm together. For magics' sake boy, your parents are on the council, and one day you will be on the council. If you would just liste-"

"Well maybe I didn't ask to be on the council. Maybe I don't even want to be on the council. Now if you don't mind, I think this lesson's boring and useless, so I'll go elsewhere," Callum bellowed, his face contorted into an angry mask. I move towards him and try to calm him down, but he just glares and yells at me too.

"Why do you care? Can't you just leave me alone? I can protect myself!"

I pull away and let him stomp out the door. Professor Finch is stunned, so much in fact, that he can barely move. I turn to him and mouth; 'give me a minute', before I follow Callum all the way back to his room. I walk up to the door, take a deep breath to clear my head, and knock politely.

"Get lost!" Callum shouts from the other side.

"Unfortunately, my good sense of direction doesn't allow for that to happen," I say blandly. No reply. Sighing, I wrench the door open and find him on the floor, leaning against his bed. I walk over and sit down next to him.

"I thought I told you to go away," he growls.

"No, you told me to get lost. That's different."

"Well I'm telling you now; go away."

"I don't know if you've realised this, but I kinda can't," I inform him. He shakes his head, muttering something under his breath. "Ok, I'm not usually one to talk about feelings, but seriously, what the hell was that?" I continue, trying to understand the situation a bit better. He shakes his head.

"No, you wouldn't get it. You're... normal," he declares. I stare at him. I'm far from normal! Is what I want to scream at him, but he doesn't know that. No one does, no one except Kat anyway.

"Try me," I challenge. He glances at me, trying to find excuses so he won't have to, but can't.

"Fine. Back there, when he said that one day I'd be on the council, I- I flipped out because, to be honest, I don't want to be on the council. I don't want to be a perfect little ruler like everyone expects me to be. That was his job. He was supposed to be King, and I was just supposed to be his happy little brother," Callum rants, before breaking down into sobs. I stare at him. He seemed so... tough. I just wouldn't peg him for a guy who had mental breakdowns. And yet, here we are.

To be honest, I have no idea what to do. Tentatively, I take his hand in mine and squeeze it reassuringly. He acts rude on the outside, but on the inside, he's sad, lonely, lost and scared. He doesn't know how to rule a kingdom, and he's so afraid of messing up that he just doesn't bother trying. Callum looks at me, his eyes red from crying.