Five minutes later the Aberration is dead, the Dwarves are dead, and Briareth and Folas, who chose to watch the HeadMaster ‘deal’ with them, are busy puking. Folas can’t even move, so his puke is ending up disgustingly close to his wound. I only looked at the bodies after the HeadMaster was done, and I feel rather nauseous myself. Adamar wisely chose to have no part in the whole thing, and instead began getting his leg treated by Master Gennixia and another teacher whom I don’t know.

The HeadMaster looks inordinately pleased with himself as he supervises the cleanup. I approach him to ask him a question, and without looking over his shoulder at me he says, “Mr. Mithrandir, whatever is the matter? Your face is as green as your shirt. Did you, perhaps, notice the bodies?”

I’m not quite sure how he knows the shade of my face, or my shirt for that matter. He hasn’t even looked at me, I think.

“Er, yes.” I say, answering his question.

“I should probably clean them up, shouldn’t I? Make sure the other students don’t run across them in the morning. It might put them off their breakfast, which would be a disaster. Breakfast is, after all, the most important meal of the day.”

“Yes. Yes you should,” I say. I’m not quite sure what to make of the breakfast bit, so I decide to just ignore it. The HeadMaster nods at my response, and raises his hands, which are glowing slightly. The bodies, which are now unrecognizable from their former forms, slowly rise into the air along with his hands. They halt, then start vibrating slightly. The HeadMaster flicks his fingers, a white flash emanates from his hands, and the corpses burst into brilliant white flames. In ten seconds, they are entirely gone. I blink, surprised at the abruptness of their disappearance. They were there, dripping blood and gore, and now they are gone, as if they never existed. I wonder if it is a bad thing that my mind immediately connects that sort of spell with getting rid of evidence. He did say a while back that he got this position through assasination.

“We should probably get your friends to the infirmary, and it looks like you could use a touch up too Mr. Mithrandir,” the HeadMaster says, like he does this sort of thing every evening.

I suddenly remember why I came to him in the first place. “Actually HeadMaster, first we need to rescue one of our friends, and a lot of animals.”

“Oh, yes, Valkallyn. Do you and Briareth want to do the honors? I can guide you to the room Lyra was using.”

“You knew where her hideout was?!” I say, shocked.

“Well of course. I know everything that happens in this school, I am the HeadMaster after all. I knew as soon as you and your friends did.”

“And you didn’t bother to help us?”

“The best lessons are self taught.”

“What would have happened if we had failed?” I ask

The HeadMaster stays silent, smiling mysteriously. I repeat my question to him.

“What would have happened if we had failed?”

“I had every confidence that you would succeed.”

“But what if we didn’t?” I press. “What if we all got captured by the Aberration?”

“You didn’t, did you? And you would have found some way to escape I’m sure. You didn’t need our help. Now no more questions, instead you should go ask Briareth if he wants to be Valkallyn’s hero.”

I turn around, still feeling slightly unsatisfied with his answers, then realize something. “You know that Briareth used to have a crush on Valkallyn?”

“I told you Faladel, I know everything that goes on in my school,” HeadMaster Morthose Haulding says, smiling slightly. “Now go on, shoo!” He flicks his hand in my direction, and I feel a slight gust of wind pushing me on my way.

“Wait, one more question!” I call to him. The slight wind stops and I think the HeadMaster sighs slightly. It could have just been his breeze though, I can’t be sure.

“What is it?” He asks.

“When Adamar was describing the animals he said that some were certainly not native to this habitat, he described giant snakes, jungle cats, and even dire wolves as a few examples. Surely students aren’t allowed to keep them as pets, so how did the Aberration retrieve them?”

“They come from inside the barriers. Remember how I told you when you first came here that the forest puts up different illusions?” I nod. “Well, I was lying because I didn’t want to have to explain the overly-long true answer.” I blink, shocked by his bluntness. Although, honestly, I really shouldn’t be any more. “The barriers aren’t really illusions, more like overlapping miniature realities. They have fully functioning ecosystems and thus wild animals for every scenario. Hunting the animals was probably one of the reasons the Dwarves managed to survive until they were able to find the breach. To the animals, it’s all real until they find a breach and stumble through into a world that they don’t know how to survive in. Normally they’d die soon after, or, if they are a danger to the students, they’d be disposed of. However, for some of those wolf-esque creatures Adamar told you about, this might not be the case. You see, I don’t discriminate against therapy dogs, no matter what size they come in.”

“What about therapy cats?” I ask curiously. The HeadMaster stares at me like I’m the insane one.

“Who in their right mind would want their cat as a therapist? Cats don’t do therapy. They can do royalty, or couch potato, or provider of cuteness, but not therapist. Now go over and ask Briareth if he wants to be a part of the rescue team for your friends, or do you want Valkallyn to be trapped with giant snakes and jungle cats for longer than necessary?”

I understand his point, and quickly begin to make my way through the chaos of the Masters fixing everything. Briareth does indeed want to be a part of the rescue team. After that, Master Edraele waylays me and hands me a glass of something to drink, which he says will get rid of my bruises and cuts overnight. It tastes horrible, but I’m mildly grateful for it. I don't want my face to be one big bruise tomorrow.

Soon the Valkallyn rescue group sets off. It consists of the HeadMaster, Briareth, Master Gennixia, and I. The others are either carting off Folas and Adamar to the infirmary, fixing the greenhouse and the wall, or guarding Lyra.

Briareth does the honors of opening the secret door, and is instantly trampled on by a bunch of rampaging wild animals, which is immediately followed by a stampede of fluffy, (and some not so fluffy) pets who are desperate to return to their owners, which is then finally followed by a horse and a confused looking, familiar girl, with lots of scratches but thankfully no serious wounds. She helps Briareth to his feet and asks him what in the blazes has happened.

While Briareth explains everything to Valkallyn, I turn to the HeadMaster with another question. “What’s going to happen to Lyra?” I ask him.

“Ms. Aumrauth?” The HeadMaster looks surprised at my question. “Why are you asking about her? I was under the impression that you two hated each other.”

“We did, do, but I’m still curious.”

“Well,” The HeadMaster considers for a bit. “I’m not rightly sure. It depends on what the courts say. There is enough evidence that she was experimenting with illegal magic, so she definitely won’t get off scot free, but she didn’t kill anyone, and she is technically still a minor, so they might be lenient. My personal guess is a big fine, jail time, and probably restrictions on her magic. She might be forbidden from ever using magic again if she gets a harsh sentencing.”

“How do you enforce that sort of punishment though? I thought magic was natural, and came from within, so how do you limit or block it?”

“There are ways Mr. Mithrandir, some less savory than others. You should ask Adamar if you want to know more, this isn’t really my specialty, but his family works in the magical gadgets business, and not all of the stuff they did was, ah, for artistry’s sake. He turned in a paper recently to Master Gennixia on the subject. It was a very good paper, and an interesting read too. Can’t say that about most student papers I’ve read.”

“I didn’t realize his family worked with magic.”

“You’ll have to ask him if you want any more details. I’m not supposed to know anything else.”

The HeadMaster has managed to catch me off guard again. He’s not supposed to know anything else? That suggests that Adamar’s background is classified, but the HeadMaster has been digging anyway. Which would mean that he has considerable resources, along with a determination to investigate where he shouldn’t. Why would someone like that become a HeadMaster at a prestigious school of magic instead of some sort of elite spy? Morthose Haulding definitely is different from what I was expecting when I first got here, but that’s probably the main reason the students here love him so much. A strange elite school like this, on the edge of a battlefield, deserves a strange, slightly psychotic HeadMaster.

We arrive back at the former battlefield soon enough. Some very official looking wizards are floating Lyra away, and Master Gennixia is floating Adamar and Folas upwards to some other Masters on the paths above.

The area itself is completely cleaned up. The wall that Lyra destroyed while aiming for Adamar is back in place, although there appear to be some leftover stones. I suspect Master Edraele has something to do with the ridiculously quick fix. The greenhouse is also fixed, and all the plants returned to their former area, ready for tomorrow's classes. Most of the Masters are packing up.

As I look around I realize that we will probably be leaving soon. The Dwarves, gone; the Aberration, defeated; there is no more reason for us to remain here. It’s not like I can just stay here forever with Adamar, Valkallyn, Folas, and Briareth. I couldn’t learn magic after all, and I have to go home. Briareth has to report in with a mission completed, and I have to reunite with my parents and continue my education on running a country during an ancient, seemingly endless war.

With this realization my fears return, which I’d somehow forgotten during our happy stay. We are going to be back on the road soon, going to be closer to home with each step. I’ve probably changed more than Lyra did after her boyfriend died, so what I said about her boyfriend not recognising her, also will apply to me. I’ve been in prison for twenty-two years, I’ve fought both physical and psychological battles since we last met, I have so many more scars, and they’ve thought I was dead for ages. I’ve changed, and grown in so many ways that I don’t think anyone could predict. I can’t see the changes, but I’m sure they are there. At this point, I’m not sure even a past me could recognise my current self, so why should I think that my parents would recognise me? Would they even want this new me back?

My lonely bubble of silence and self-analysis is broken by Master Kolvar saying “Now off to bed, Briareth, Faladel. You two need to get at least some rest tonight. Defeating an Aberration doesn’t give an excuse to skip classes tomorrow due to exhaustion. Don’t worry about the rest of the clean up.”

“Yes.” The HeadMaster adds. “Everything will be fine, so go get some sleep.” I feel like he is directly addressing my worries from earlier. Did he read my mind or something? That is possible, but unethical, and probably against school regulations. Then again, I was never technically a student here, so those rules wouldn’t hold for me would they? The HeadMaster just smiles at me in a way that could be serene or sinister. His words soothe my worries though, until I hear him mutter as I walk away, “I still need more test subjects for my inside-out spell. I wonder how soon I can get away with luring another group of Dwarves here...”

When we get to our dorm, Instead of going to bed immediately, I gather my things that have spread across the room in the two weeks I’ve been here. There aren't a lot of items that I own, and there wasn’t much time, but they seem to have spread far and wide. I come out from under my bed after chasing down a ridiculously well hidden sock and notice Briareth staring. He must have caught me coming out from under the bed after he was done changing. I feel the tips of my ears heat up.

“What are you doing, Faladel?” He asks.

“Chasing down a sock.” I reply.

“Why?” Briareth looks completely bewildered by my behavior. It’s obvious to me though.

“I need to pack, and so do you. The Dwarves are gone. We should get going soon. This wasn’t our original destination, Briareth. We need to get back to Heronmal and tell the people there that we are alive, and that you have succeeded.”

“Surely we could stay a little longer though.” Briareth looks surprised at my eagerness to leave. I’m not sure that I am eager though. I’m not really sure of anything right now.

“You’re right. We could stay longer Briareth. But I don’t belong here, and you don’t either, not really. This place is amazing, but you have a job to get back to, and so do I.” What will happen if it turns out I don’t belong there anymore though? What will I do then? I push that thought away. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. If I get to it.

“But-but...” Briareth looks sad at the thought of leaving our new friends.

“Briareth, we can’t stay here much longer. We don’t have any excuse. You have graduated, and I don’t even have magic. If we try to stay too much longer, the Glares will complain, and the HeadMaster will be forced to kick us out. This was a nice vacation, but all vacations have to end sometime.” Vacation? For me it was more like a dream. A dream of being normal, having a normal life, with normal friends, going to a good magic school, and solving mysteries. I suppose that last bit isn’t exactly normal, but it is in the books I’ve read. Or at least it isn’t uncommon. Then again books and reality can be very different, just like dreams and reality. And like with all dreams, I have to wake up sometime and face my real-world problems.

“I suppose you're right.” Briareth says, and I think he is agreeing with my internal monologue until he says, “I don’t want the HeadMaster to have to kick us out. When were you thinking of leaving?”

“Tomorrow afternoon.” I reply

“That’s not a lot of time.”

“No use staying where we aren’t welcome right?” I say, smiling at him, slightly glumly.

“True. Can we stay till after lunch? That will give me time to gather all my stuff.”

“Fine by me.” I say, climbing in bed. Briareth turns out the lights, and I fall asleep almost immediately after I crawl under my covers.