THE BOARDROOM MEETING

"Alright then. Before we were rudely interrupted by a certain someone, we were still discussing how the demons managed to enter the school," Principle Kelly reminded everyone with a serious look on her face.

A teacher to my right took out a tablet and keyed in some information. The large screen in the room lit up and two pictures of some second years were displayed. They both looked like nothing special, but that's exactly why they were targeted. Everyone turned their attention to the screen.

"These are the two kids who were guilty of the kidnapping, or at least the faces that were used. The janitor had found two bodies buried in the the school's forest while doing a general sweep of the area that were later tested and came out as the two boys you see here before you,"

"Basically, they were murdered in cold blood by the demon soldiers," the teacher finished as he shook his head in sadness.

I can't believe those demons would go this far to achieve their goals. Yes, I know it's a war and all that. But seriously, even killing kids?! There have to be limits! But to be fair to them, they did attack the camp ealier on.

The teacher then punched in some codes, and the image changed to two older men, one a demon and another a dark elf. Both had battle armor on, so they must have been the real culprits.

"Nasty bunch, these ones. Especially the demon," the teacher continued.

"Is there a possibly that there are more around this school?" one of the generals, a lady beside General Zard, asked.

"No actually. Before that, why are we allowing this kid to be with us in this meeting? He's not even the vice president!" Mrs Ivory complained. Seems like she still hadn't gotten over that.

"Mrs Ivory please. In case you had no idea, the kid that sitting before us is actually the roommate of one of the kidnapped, together with the class leader of the other. He has every right to be here, cause some of it also affects him," The principal explained.

But Mrs Ivory didn't back down. "Hear that! Then he's the problem! Kick him out of the school!"

"Come now Ivory. That's no reason to kick the boy out of the school. He wasn't even here when it happened," one of the generals stood up for me. I'll have to know who he is later on.

"Then it must be the South class teacher! I knew this former convict would never change! If I didn't know any better, I'd say maybe he helped the demons escape with the kids! He's got the motive, and he was probably the one who even called them here!" she said accusingly as she pointed at Flintheart.

Flintheart's face scrunched up in anger and it looked like he was ready to say something, but the principal beat him to it.

"Mrs Ivory. I'm going to politely ask you to leave my presence immediately," she said calmly, but I could hear the anger in her voice.

"What?! But you know it might be the truth! And why me of all people?! You're just gonna allow this travesty to go on?! He's the culp–"

"LEAVE!" the principal shouted, pointing to the door.

I think that is the first time I've ever seen her so mad. Everyone else in the room was just as shocked. The calm and collected principal for the first time had reached her limits. It was no secret that the principal hated the North teacher. But this is the first time she actually had an outburst to her.

"I–I see. I–I'll take my leave then," Mrs Ivory said as she stared down embarrased and left the room.

"Kelly, that wasn't necessary. Especially in front of a student," another of the generals advised.

"I'm sorry general Clinton. But I can't allow that woman to continue badmouthing one of my students or teachers without evidence backing her up. Well anyways, to answer you question Lym, we already did a thorough check up to all the kids and staff located in the school. I even took part in the activity to ensure there were no more enemies so rest assured,"

"Excuse me Mrs Kelly, can I ask my class teacher a question?" I finally spoke up.

"What kind of question–"

"I think I have some idea of what he wants to ask, if you will allow it Mrs principal. You are wondering how they managed to escape me with my power aren't you, Max. Guess it's my turn to give an explanation to you guys how it went down," Flintheart said as he stood up.

"I'll explain it from when I met the kids, so bear with me. We were back at the teachers quarters with my friend here Mr Will when one of the alarms for the transportation gates sounded. We obviously though nothing of it at first, cause of the use of the transportation gates during the Friday activities, but realized that it was a bit too strange for them to be used right away again,"

"We tried making our way to the gates, but the corridors kept swaying our sense of direction. That's when I asked Mr Will to use his ability to create a path for us. When we finally arrived at the scene, I was shocked to see most of my students beaten up and on the floor with the dark elf trying to make his escape with both kids,"

"I took note of the situation, and had to prioritize the safety of the kids, that's why I activated one of my abilities skills 'time zone' which I can only do once. If only I had closed of the portal before she came, then maybe..."

"There's no need to blame yourself Mr Flintheart. You had to save the kids first. How were you supposed to know they had back up?" General Zard consoled Flintheart. He nodded and continued his story.

"When my power was active, I managed to bring all the kids next to Mr Will who was just preparing a defence spell and caught the two kidnappers before the time limit."

"Question, do we still have the kidnappers with us now?" I asked.

"I'm afraid not, Max. While I tried questioning them of their motives, a demon general appeared from the portal and ended their lives before I could even blink,"

My eyes widened in surprise. Looks like everyone here was already informed of this fact cause they didn't look the least bit surprised but my friends had no idea about this.

"But you could handle her, right?"

"If I were alone, then maybe. But I had just sent out Mr Will to come back with a group of healers to help the kids cause I had thought the threat had passed but was surprised to see the general there too."

"She tried ending my life before I even knew she was there, but by some luck I dodged her attack which killed my hostages. I knew I had to protect the kids first, and she knew that as well so she had me pegged in one position. I thought I could handle her since she could only use ranged magic, but that's what she wanted me to think."

"While she kept my attention occupied on her, she used some type of shadow ability and took the two kids from under my nose. I realized too late when they were already sucked in and appeared in her hands,"

"I don't know where she got the information about me, but she looked too confident that I couldn't use my spell. I obviously tried to stopping her, but she was right next to the portal and she hadn't come alone."

"A demon appeared the second she stepped into the portal and destroyed it before I could even think of following her," Flintheart finished.

"I'm sorry about that Flintheart. If I hadn't deserted you to go look for the med team, the kids might have still been here with us," Mr Will apologized.

"Don't worry yourself so much about that. You made the right call to go look for the healers cause we had no idea how bad the kids were injured. And still, demons attacked you on your way back so you couldn't have helped even if you wanted to," Flintheart explained to his friend.

I was still reeling in my thoughts though. So, my two friends were kidnapped by the demons. But for what purpose? I know I can't blame Flintheart for their kidnappers now. The enemy was well informed about him yet he had no idea about her. And something is still bothering me. How were the two imposters able to get into the school?

"And with that, I think we are all caught up with the situation. Now its just a matter of how to solve it," Mrs Kelly started. "I think this is all in our minds, so I'm just going to go ahead and say it. We have an imposter among us,"

The room went deadly silent. Everyone turned to each other with accusatory eyes, cause for them to access the the portal, it had to have been someone from the top.

"And not just any imposter mind you. Someone who is well informed about us and our powers." the principal continued.

"That someone has to be in this room. Cause no one else is allowed access to the portal except everyone around here," one of the teachers spoke up.

"I hate to point fingers, but, how sure are we that Flintheart isn't the culprit. No offence, but we only have your story as proof that you tried helping out cause the cameras were off. I mean, you did sent out Mr Will to go call the healers, and then all of a sudden our only source of information happened to just conveniently die on your watch and the exact targeted kids to just be taken right under your nose. I find that very suspicious." another teacher said.

Flintheart nodded his head, " I know this may look bad on me, but you are also forgetting that the power that killed the imposters has no relation to mine. And also, if I were part of the demons, I would have sent out the child of the demon king with the demon general. But to my knowledge, only those two impostors knew about her, and since she was down after fighting, the demon general could not identify her from all the kids since she had specific targets,"

Everyone agreed with him. But that still begged the question, who was the imposter?

The Principal sighed, "We can't keep on blaming each other without reason. And I've got an inkling feeling that I'm missing something. But I want everyone to be more careful about exposing their power,"

Then her eyes shined with power and I could suddenly feel a huge pressure in the room. "And if you are the imposter, be warned. Your death will not be an easy one!"

The pressure lessened just as fast as it came. I could finally speak up now. "What are you guys planning to do about my friends?"

The all looked at me confused. What? Had they forgotten I was here or something?

"For now Max, we'll have to wait for the king's answer of this once he gets the message," Mrs Kelly told me.

"He is still not informed?! Both Alex and Arnold could be dead right now and you're saying the king still has no idea about this?!"

"Calm down, boy. Even if we wanted to do something, we couldn't. We have no idea where the portal took them, but if the demons risked all this just to get those kids, then I'm sure they need them alive for their purposes," General Zard said.

"Then what can we do now?"

"Be patient. That's all we can do. After all, we still have that mission, don't we? Don't worry kid. I'm sure the king will come up with a brilliant idea for this,"

"H–have their parents been informed of this?" I wondered. I'm sure Alex's parents wouldn't care less about him, but this news must be devastating to Arnold's parents.

The principal couldn't look me in the eyes. "I'm sorry Max. Our camp is still a secret to the normal world. We couldn't tell them even if we wanted to. But I'll do everything in my power to get their sons back, before they even knew they were gone."

"If that's all we have for today, I suggest we all call this meeting to an end,"

Everyone agreed. I can't believe I'll have to wait for the kings order to go save my friends. But the problem is where they are in the first place.

"Come on Max. Let's get out of here and get you some clothes," Flintheart said as pulled me out of my seat.

"Clothes? What do you mean–oh,"

In my anger, I hadn't even considered wearing clothes except the hospital gown. My face turned red in embarrassment when I saw most of the people in the room snickering at me even if they tried hiding it.

"Is my ah...butt–"

"Yes Max, yes it is,"