The Headmistress's Permission

Silas took the headmistress's hand in his. [Blood pact successful!]. She didn't even flinch as the needle pierced her palm. She sat back down and smoothed out her clothes.

"You were saying?" she said.

"I can absorb essences, which allows me to gain beast abilities," Silas said.

"And why can you do that? You're really making me pry this out of you. Just tell me the full story," she said exasperated.

"I was born without a mana core, so I wasn't able to produce mana or learn spells, but before she was arrested, my mom made a machine that fixed that somewhat. I still can't produce mana, but I can siphon it from other sources."

"An added effect of the machine is I can absorb essences and gain abilities that way," Silas said.

"I see. This machine, does it give you any other unique abilities?" the headmistress asked.

"It does, but I won't go into that right now. The list is long and I haven't read the whole thing," Silas responded.

"I will require that list eventually. Write it down and put it in my mail. Who is your mother that she was able to create this device, with capabilities no one has ever heard of?" she said.

"Evelyn Winterbourne," Silas said, watching her face for a reaction.

She was good, but not good enough. Silas noticed an almost imperceptible raising of her eyebrows. "Interesting. Never heard of her," she said.

"You're lying," Silas said.

"How dare you accuse someone of my status and position of deception!" the headmistress said.

"You're lying and now you're trying to cover it up," Silas said, determined.

They stared each other down for a full minute, neither one giving an inch. The headmistress cracked first. She had no skin in the game. She didn't have the resolve that Silas had.

"Fine. I am lying," she said.

"I want to know why," Silas said.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss anything I may or may not know about your mother," she said, putting her hands up.

"Is my mother the one making all this new magitech for the universities?" Silas said.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I think that answers my question," Silas said, sitting back.

"Now that we're done discussing your mother, we need to discuss you restoring Mr. Devereux to his original state," the headmistress said.

"The man has tried to kill me on three separate occasions, the last of which he technically succeeded."

"The only reason I'm here in front of you is because my friend, Lyra, can rewind time now, which she used to bring me back to life," Silas said, seriously.

"He also openly admitted to me that he killed other students by throwing them into the lake. Do you really think someone like that should be walking around campus?" Silas leaned back and crossed his arms.

"If all that is true, no. No I don't. There's nothing I can do to him though. His family has government connections. His father sits on the grand council. However, if something were to happen to him when I wasn't looking…" she said.

"I guess that's the most I can ask for," Silas said.

"While we're on the subject, do you have any proof of these allegations?" she asked.

"I have the ability to share memories with people through eye contact," Silas said. "I can show you what he's done."

"Interesting. Another one of your mysterious abilities. I very much desire to determine the veracity of your claims. Show them to me," she said.

"Just make deep continuous eye contact with me," Silas said.

They established a soul link and Silas shared the memories with her. After it was over, she leaned back and wiped a single tear out of her eye. She looked at it, then rubbed it on a handkerchief she pulled out of her pocket.

"Yes, I do think that is enough. I would encourage someone to end his reign of terror as soon as possible, by any means except death or petrification," Headmistress Vaunsguard said.

"I'm sure someone will," Silas said, getting up out of his chair. "This conversation went far better than I expected it to."

"The feeling is mutual," she said.

With that, Silas walked out of the room.

* * *

Silas stood in the dueling grounds with his friends, staring at a stone statue with a frightened look on its face.

"Lyra, would you be so kind as to lend me some basilisk secretions?" Silas asked, putting his hand out.

Lyra placed a bottle into his hand. Silas undid the cap and poured some on the head of the statue and made sure to cover the entire surface of the statue with the liquid.

"You know, I have a feeling my stomach secretions would do the trick now too, but I'd rather not get caught throwing up on Damien, despite how much fun that would be," Silas mused.

"I'd pay to see that," Nadia said.

The surface of the statue started to flake and crack, revealing skin and clothing underneath. When the process was about halfway done, Silas placed his hand on Damien's chest, and activated his essence extraction skill.

Damien's eye popped wide open and his back arched. He gasped for air. The color drained from his skin and a milky white light pulled out of his chest, through Sila's hand and arm. After several seconds, it was over.

Silas pulled his hand back, and Damien started to fall forwards. Rowan and Nadia grabbed him and held him up. When he finally seemed to be regaining consciousness, Silas leaned forward until their faces were inches from each other.

"You're going to feel terrible for a while. If my theory is correct, you won't be able to cast spells either. We're going to do this every so often, until they ship you off."

"Let this be a warning. If you mess with me or my friends ever again, I'll do a whole lot more than just take your magic away. That counts for your brother and your friends too," Silas said, straightening back up and pulling his face away from Damien's.

Silas nodded, and Rowan and Nadia let Damien go.

"Now get out of here." Jace said, gently kicking Damien in the butt. They watched as he slowly walked in the direction of the dorms.

"That's more like it!" Nadia said. "We finally taught that jerk a lesson."

"Let's hope he learns it," Silas said.

"Do you think he will?" Lyra asked.

"Nope," Silas said.