Vallen: The Marking (Vallen series #1)

Chapter 29

What did I do? Was he going to thank me for my part in the fire? Or maybe he knew that Eldon was my student mentor and he was going to ask me about him. No one likes a haggler, especially if you are trying to prove yourself. I just hope he didn't hear me talking about him to Aviana and Byron.

About a thousand scenarios ran through my mind as we walked through the deserted castle, everyone was enjoying the feast in the cafeteria, we did not encounter a single soul.

The woman walked pretty fast, causing me to always be at least one meter away from her. Her small heels clicked against the wooden floor rapidly, alerting anyone who might have slipped away from the feast that we were coming.

She stopped in front of a large purple door. It was in a complete outer corner of the castle. I had never even ventured off this far. I always thought there would only be storage space over here. The woman knocked twice on the door, smiled reassuringly at me, and entered the room across the purple door. It looked like that was her bedroom, there were pictures of what looked like her family and knitting everywhere.

"Enter." Professor Woodville said. I opened the door and was greeted by a warm room, far warmer than the rest of the castle. The fireplace was blazing with flames, ignoring my immediate response of moving away from the fire, I entered the room.

Everything here was minimal. He had a bunch of bookshelves that held school books, file cabinets and a desk with three chairs. The only form of decorations were the hundreds of paintings on the wall, all of very serious looking men and women. They were Professor Woodville's ancestors, the people who ran the school successfully before him. There was also a huge stained glass window behind the desk, that looked like it was older than the castle itself.

"Have a seat, Ms Lovell." He said to me. He was standing next to one of the file cabinets, not even looking up to greet me. He spoke on a nice enough tone, but Aviana's statement kept going through my head. "My sister told me before how he could go from sweet to an asshole in two seconds." I had no idea what I was here for, what I had to prepare myself for.

I sat down in the wooden chair and waited for him to be ready. It took him a few minutes. When he did finally sit down I saw that he had a file with my name on it in his hands. I was immediately starting to worry. I had a file already? This must mean I am here for something bad.

"Did you know that a person needs to hear something three times before the brain remembers it?" He asked me, finally meeting my eyes. I still couldn't tell if he was angry or not.

"I didn't know that." I answered.

"It's why I implemented the three-strike system." He responded, his chest basically puffing out in pride. "All of the teachers come together once a month to discuss any irregularities with the students."

Irregularities? I hadn't broken a single rule. Well maybe I shouldn't have gone into the underground room with Alaric, but no one had caught me doing that. Besides, if they did both Alaric and myself would have already been in trouble.

"Strike one, you have human parents." Not my fault. "Strike two, you haven't found your gift yet." Which is a good thing. "Strike three, you run headfirst into a fire and help save the school."

"I wasn't aware that any of those were bad things." I finally answered. Professor Woodville looked me over, trying to see if he successfully got under my skin. Maybe he wanted to get me angry and make an example out of punishing me. Possibly expelling me while he's at it.

"They are not." My heart was pounding in my chest. "But if I hear your name pop up three times I am obliged to talk to you." He turned the page in the file. I saw a photo of my family, taken on our last holiday together. We spend almost two weeks at the beach, only leaving it to sleep or eat. Madelena almost got a sunstroke, but neither of us wanted to leave the water. 

I had to look away, I could feel the homesickness returning in all its glory like there was a giant hole in my stomach that yearned for my mother's hugs and my fathers cooking. But most of all for my younger sister, who I barely got to talk to over the phone.

The silence continued. I still had no idea why I was here. Everything he listed to why he wanted to talk to me were good things, or something I couldn't change even if I wanted to.

"Professor Lourdes told me your tattoo expanded." He finally said. "May I see it?"

I hesitantly rolled up the sleeve of my vest and laid my arm on the table. The tension was almost unbearable. I felt like I was on the verge of bursting out in nervous giggles. He traced the tattoo with his finger, probably trying to see if it would come off or not. He looked at it... weirdly. Not the surprised or confused look Professor Lourdes had, but more concerned.

"Eira," He said. "Do you know your gift?"

"No." I answered immediately. I thought back to the extra bravery thing but it didn't feel right. Like there was something inside of me heavily protesting the mere thought of that being my gift.

"Do you know that the punishment for hiding your own gift is expulsion?" He said, glancing up at me.

"I don't know my gift," I repeated. "There are plenty of other people in my class that don't know either."

"But they did not get their tattoos expanded." He immediately fired back. It almost looked like he regretted that, because he added on a much softer tone: "You could have found it on accident. It doesn't matter what it is, you must report it."

"I don't know what it is," I said again. Of course I would report what my gift is! Why wouldn't I? I could finally join Alaric in Gift Enhancement and I wouldn't have to be so worried about being giftless anymore. He sighed and closed my file.

"You are dismissed."