The next morning felt just as lively as Lijah was, though that could've been because he was literally crackling with sparks. It was an annoying little quirk he had, but he could survive having it. Just like how he survived the strange looks and whispers about his skin.
Standing in the bathroom, he braided a part of his hair into a tight plait and pinned it back with a golden pin. Then he simply stared at his reflection. His mottled skin was something that his moms said to never be ashamed of, but he simply could not help but feel a tad bit uncomfortable with the sight of his skin. Like he did when he always felt uncomfortable with himself, he fixed his hair in a way so his bangs covered the darker portion of his skin. It was his natural skin color, but his vitiligo affected most of his body.
Satisfied with the change, he brushed his teeth and left the washroom to get dressed. Since he had tore his favorite cloak during his exam, he couldn't wear that one in particular, but he still had plenty of fancier robes. He rummaged in his closet for a moment before he picked out a deep purple cloak with gold fastenings. It didn't have a hood, but it did come with a gorgeous pointed hat with a bejeweled purple mesh veil attached to it to hide his face. It did look hot outside, so he could wear it until he was inside.
He nodded reassuringly to his reflection and fixed the hat onto his head before grabbing his grimoire and heading downstairs for breakfast. The smell of breakfast and soft chatter of his moms made him smile as he took a seat at the table. Eah was seated across from him while Yra was in the kitchen since Eah wasn't trusted to be in the kitchen.
"Good morning, sleepyhead. I see you're wearing your fancy robes. Love, you owe me twenty bucks! Lijah is wearing his fancy cloak and the hat!" Eah grinned as twenty bucks floated into the dining room from the kitchen and pocketed it before turning back to the amused teenager in front of her.
"Oh! Right, your gift." Eah sets a flat box on the table and gestures with excited hand motions for Lijah to take it. Pulling it closer, he opens the box to see a necklace. The pendant was a shard of neatly cut sapphire hung on a silver chain, but it was definitely not an average necklace.
"It's a mental shield. Even once you're inducted into the coven, people will want to take advantage of your intellect. So voila, a cute necklace that doubles as a shield to keep your mind from being probed." Lijah smiles and immediately clasps the necklace around his neck and sighs softly in contentment when he feels the familiar warmth of his mom's magic.
"I love it, thank you Mom." Lijah says, nodding slowly to show that he understood what the magical object's purpose was. It'd be very useful in the future, especially against the type of people Lijah was already used to because of the academy.
Eah nodded with a soft smile as Yra stepped into the dining room with three plates of pancakes topped with strawberries and chocolate floating behind her. "Breakfast looks delicious, Mama." Lijah complimented as one plat floated down in front of him. He waited for Yra to begin eating to also dig in.
After breakfast, Yra and Eah left to get dressed. When they came back down, Lijah found himself a bit giddy that his moms had decided to match color schemes with him. Lijah and Eah each grabbed one of Yra's arms as she transported them to the academy in a mere blink.
There were multiple parents in the dining hall of the academy, some were conversing with their graduating children while others conversed with each other. At the very front of the room, where the professors normally sat, Headmistress Ydia was conversing with the teachers.
While his mothers discussed the different decorations and how different the dining hall was compared to when they attended the academy, Lijah dismissed himself to sit with the rest of the graduating students at a designated table.
He recognized only a few of the students that were graduating alongside him, not particularly noteworthy in any way. Lijah had only seen them in passing or in some of his classes, and didn't interact with anyone enough to truly care about their success.
He sat down in an unoccupied chair and crossed his legs, glancing occasionally at his "peers" with a detached expression. Not exactly an inspiring bunch, Lijah thought disdainfully as he leaned away from a pair of boys who were scrunching their face in grotesque ways to make the other laugh.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only student with class here. Lijah sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, now suddenly grateful for the veil of his hat because it hid most of his micro expressions.
Lijah reached into his shirt and untucked his pendant from where it had been resting against his collarbones and held the sapphire gem in his hand. The weight was soothing to him, it reminded him of his mothers when they put their hands on his shoulders when he was younger. He had long grown out of the habit of being nervous to start conversations, a terrible phase that stunted his opportunities to make acquaintances.
He knew better now. Even if he wanted to be anywhere else than in a conversation, he will still smile politely and answer maturely even if he's thinking of all the negative things about his conversation partner. He will keep his thoughts where they belong and tuck them into the backroom in his brain, and will never open the door that contains every opinion he's every felt.
Lijah took a deep breath and held it before exhaling through his nose, and let go of his necklace to let it rest against the soft cotton covering his mottled chest. The atmosphere has changed, the adults have settled into the chairs provided in front of the podium, and more students have taken their seats off to the side.
His attention was pulled to the podium, where Headmistress Ydia waited with a patient smile on her obnoxiously red lips before speaking. "Welcome everyone to the graduation ceremony of the class of 1880, the staff and I are delighted to have such a full house." The Headmistress' smile became too bright, too cheery for her normal disposition.
A lie. Lijah could see the saccharine words thread around each other and invade the brains of everyone in the room. He nearly gagged, but wisely kept his expression schooled into neutrality. The rest of the speech went in one ear and out the other until students began to be called up individually to receive their awards and induction into the coven.
Lijah paid special attention to this part, watching raptly as students walked onto the stage and then back down the stairs with magic shimmering off their forms. He was going to be one of the first people up, so he had to make a perfect impression to gather all the attention onto him.
"—Dove, Lijah." Headmistress Ydia spoke clearly, and Lijah rose from his seat and walked up the stairs with a couple of steady steps. She read out what awards he was receiving: A Honor Roll, Perfect Attendance, Leadership Award… The awards were ones he already knew he'd receive.
"Lijah Dove, do you solemnly swear to only use your magic under the permission of your Family Head and to only use your magic for the benefit of Liquidum Aurum as a whole and not for your own individual benefit?" Headmistress Ydia asks, looking at Lijah pointedly.
He didn't think about it, he nodded. "I solemnly swear." The words like a trigger, he felt magic invade his soul past the hundreds of protective words he weaved into his very body and clothing. He felt the magic wriggle within him, fighting against his own.
It hurt. It felt like being stabbed with a burning knife.
Was he supposed to feel like he was being invaded in the worst way possible? Is that normal?
There was screaming. Why was there screaming? Why was there red splattered beneath him? Why did his throat feel like it was being scraped out from inside? Detachedly, Lijah raised a hand to his throat and pulled away with red staining his fingers. Blood? Why was there blood?
He felt a tug on his shoulder and his head tilted back too far for it to be normal.
There was a scream, multiple screams, and then everything else became a blur.
When he came to, the first thing he noticed was blood. A lot of blood. The walls and floors were painted sticky red. The second thing he noticed was that he was unable to move. He was chained to the floor with familiar metal cuffs.
He looked up. Standing in front of him with terrified tears in their eyes were his moms. "Mama—" Lijah croaked out, only to cough up more blood to join the crimson on the floor.
Eah sobs harder. Yra holds her and undoes the cuffs that were chaining Lijah down. "Lijah, listen to me. Look at what you've done. You're not safe anymore, you need to run." Yra says sternly as she momentarily lets go of her wife to grab Lijah by the shoulders.
What? Lijah shook his head frantically before looking at the mess around him. Bodies everywhere, some missing limbs or heads or completely splattered. Did he do this? He looked down at his robes. Covered in red.
"But—" He tried to protest, tears began blurring his vision. Crying? Was he really crying? He was. Huh. He didn't like it. Yra wiped his tears and kissed his forehead gently.
"No buts. I'm going to teleport you away. You will be somewhere completely new with your grimoire. Just know that your mom and I are doing this because we don't want you to be in danger. We love you, Lijah. May the Fates always be in your favor and let us meet again some day, okay?" Yra soothed Lijah's anxiety with her words, but it spiked again when she removed his hat and robes, then burned them to ashes.
He didn't get a chance to say goodbye before being blinked away to somewhere unfamiliar and unsettlingly silent, grimoire tucked under his arm and splattered head to toe in reddish-brown blood.
He simply stood there, stunned and completely alone. He didn't know if he was breathing, and didn't particularly care. He wasn't safe? Was he going to be killed for mass murder? Is that why he was sent away? Why couldn't Mama and Mom come with him?
He didn't move for a while, not even when night fell.
Unbeknownst to Lijah, an old chapter had now closed in his life. But another one was beginning to open.