“Technology certainly has come a long way,” he said, stalling for time. There was no escaping this one. Wotan had him cornered, and with a deep chuckle at the headmaster’s floundering, he handed him one final image. Payne’s skin turned almost as white as the shining aura with butterfly wings.

“Certainly not the sort of thing I’d be expecting to see from a mere human teenager,” said Wotan with a satisfied smirk, “Would you mind telling me exactly who – or what – this is?”

Payne stared him down. “No, I’m afraid I wouldn’t.”

Wotan raised an eyebrow but didn’t reply. He’d have expected defiance anyway. He gathered up the auragraphs, gave a polite bow and edged back towards the door.

“I’m sure you’ll understand that my Inquisitors will have to investigate this incident,” he said, “I’m sure it would be beneficial for both of us to remove any unsightly elements from this establishment before they corrupt your young students,”

After the door clicked shut behind flowing robes, Payne pulled himself out of his chair and took the cell phone out of his pocket. The day he’d been both dreading and anticipating had arrived at last.

***

The Sapphire-Ruby music class was held in a bright, spacious room chosen for its acoustic advantages rather than lecturing efficiency. The thirteen students were spread out in small groups, each gathered at a set of desks adorned with old keyboards dusted off and retro-engineered by Mr Smith and his staff. Working with headphones, they would explore their musical abilities before discussing their work with each other and their teacher.

Phantasia found the whole process difficult. Music just wasn’t her thing, even though she’d always enjoyed listening to the soothing concerts held by troops of Wind faeries when they passed through the Water Palace. She could string a few notes together, and she could mimic any tune laid out in front of her, but composing her own songs left her in a rut. Joel, on the other hand, was a natural, so working in a group with him and Kaori meant she spent most of her time helping him develop instead. Pressing a few random keys, she wondered what Princess Titania or the other Wind faeries would make of the human symphonic instrument. Lyra, sitting across the room with Byron, Doyle and Vincent, was said to be able to ‘see’ music, but Phantasia doubted it was on the same scale as the elementals of wind. They could see entire symphonies of twisting patterns and colourful shapes, using their illusionary powers to express them to those less gifted.

Ms Shimomura paused the class to play a simple melody on flute, which she explained would held soothe their nerves. Kaori, and the rest of the students, assumed their teacher was just a talented musician, but Phantasia could feel something else behind each perfect note, as if they were enchanted with Ms Shimomura’s own feelings.

The classroom doors slammed open, silencing Ms Shimomura’s melody and shattering the calm air that had descended upon the room. In a gust of silk and blonde hair, Astrid swept into the room, flanked by her ever-present lackeys.

“Be quiet, woman,” she snapped at the teacher just as Ms Shimomura was about to protest, “We are here on official business, sent by my father, the Bishop, himself,”

Astrid waltzed across the classroom, peering at each group of students with a smug grin on her face. At their desk, Joel was shaking and Kaori held his hand tight. Phantasia glanced up from her keyboard, feeling Astrid’s aura pricking her skin as she approached them. Astrid looked around the desk, sneered at Kaori and settled her sights on Phantasia.

“Albino, you’re coming with us,”

Chapter 14
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