Chapter Text
Simon
It’s been weeks since the classes started and still, there is no word from Baz. I don’t understand how he has not come back to Watford yet.
What is more important than finishing school for him? Is he already preparing for the war? Has his father taken him away so they can strike eventually? But if that’s what happened, why did Miss Possibelf say that his father was not happy when she talked to him? What was the word she used?
He sounded like a man at the end of his rope.
If he intentionally had taken Baz, he would have acted differently.
Baz could have run away I guess, he could have left his parents' house and gone plotting with others, but that doesn’t sound like him and besides, his minions are in school. If he had run away, he would have gone with his best mates.
He could have run away with a lover, maybe? A girlfriend who he never said anything about?
No. He wouldn’t have. That doesn’t sound like him at all. It doesn’t make any sense and I also feel a bit uncomfortable just thinking about it.
The only thing I can think about now is that he’s either hurt or in danger. That he didn’t leave school, but he’s unable to come back.
That thought it’s not comforting.
I know he’s my enemy. I know that at the end I’ll have to kill him … but.
It sounds wrong to think that he’s hurt now. That he’s not even here so I can do something about it. But what could I do about it? Kill him and end his suffering? I don’t think so.
I could help him instead, I guess. Use my magic to heal him.
I shake my head as I stand from my bed. I can’t handle thinking about him all the time now. Penelope would say that it’s not different from the usual, but I feel there is something wrong.
Usually, I would obsess a bit over what Baz is doing, worried that he is plotting something bad.
But now that I don’t know where he is and if he’s fine, I feel worried about him. And that’s … confusing to say the least. Especially now that his mother appeared and had given me a message.
Now I feel bad for him. I never met my parents, but Baz met his mother, even if for a short time, and she came back and he wasn’t here. Maybe that was the only chance he got to see her again.
Besides, that makes me a bit more worried. Where is he? Where could he be that his mother didn’t find him?
The concern makes me agitated and makes my magic feel inconsistent. Even more than usual. I feel like I could go off any second now. It makes me want to use my sword to tear something apart.
I stare at Baz’s bed and wish him to be back. I wish that he could open the door right now and enter our room. I almost wish to hear him sneering and calling me ‘the worst chosen one’. And now that I think about it, I kinda miss it. I miss having him here.
It doesn’t feel right to be here for our last year without him.
More confusing things to think about. Or in my case to ignore it for now.
Penelope stares at me when I sit by her side in the dining hall. Agatha is not here again. Since she broke up with me she has been sitting at another table.
I was upset at first, but now I think it’s better. There are so many things to think about that I don’t want to start thinking about what she said to me too. I can put that in a corner of my mind for later.
“Have you slept at all?” Penny asks me.
I shrug. “I tried.”
“Something happened?” She asks carefully. I guess she’s afraid that I’ll start talking about Baz again.
I want to. I want to share all my thoughts with her and I want to tell her about his mother’s visit, but Penny won’t hear anything else about Baz again and I don’t want to tell her about the visit because it’s not my thing to tell.
“No,” I lie. “I just couldn’t stop thinking.” She raises her eyebrow. “I’m still afraid The Mage will take me away.”
Not exactly a lie, I do keep looking around to see if he’ll appear to take me away, but these last days this was the least of my worries.
“Don’t worry, Si.” She puts her hand on top of mine. “The Mage won’t try to take you again. Besides I heard he’s away again.”
I frown. “He is? I thought I had seen him yesterday.”
She nods. “I heard Miss Possibelf saying that he was away for another mission. He left last night.”
Good. I mean, I wish I could have gone with him to help him. I don’t want him to take me away for good, but usually, he takes me for these quick missions, and I wish he would trust me to take me, these last months he hasn’t trusted me at all with those things.
But on the other side, I don’t want to be away from Watford now, what if Baz comes back?
Penny starts talking about the test we’ll have next week, but I’m not listening again, because I’m thinking about where I will look for Baz today.
I have looked everywhere here, and even though it appears that Baz it’s not in Watford I have a feeling about it. Something that tells me to not stop looking. But again, if he was here, why hasn’t he come back yet?
Is he trying to leave me insane?
In classes, the teachers don’t even call his name anymore. They just accepted that he’s not coming back.
When the classes are over, Penelope tries to make me go with her to the library, but I tell her I’ll go to my room to sleep a bit, I look so tired that she believes in me.
I do go back to my room, only to leave my books though and to try something.
I don’t know where I can go to look for Baz, but I have an idea. An idea I’ve been wanting to try.
On top of Baz’s desk, there are a few books he left here. There are also a few papers with his handwriting. I already looked through this stuff, so I know they are lists he made with things he had to do for school. It doesn’t matter, I just need something that was his.
My magic has always been different from the others. Sometimes it works in a way that it shouldn’t. Sometimes, if I’m mad, stressed or something like that, I can put magic into my words making other people do as I said.
I don’t have control over my magic, but I want to try to use it now.
So, I pick one of Baz’s books, the one I have seen him read lots of times and I say “Take me to your owner”. It doesn’t work, of course, so I try again. “Go back to your owner.” Another failure.
I try lots of times, variations of the same sentence, but none of them works. When I’m already tired of trying I let my body fall on my bed and I say out loud. “I just want to find Baz .”
I’m not expecting it to work, but somehow it does and I feel a pull inside me. Almost like I felt when The Crucible pulled me towards Baz in the first year.
I want to see where it’ll take me, so I stand and follow what I’m feeling.
I end up in the Whispering Woods, what’s odd because I have looked for Baz here. But I keep walking, feeling where my magic is taking me.
I don’t know how long after, it could have been minutes or maybe even hours, I feel the magic wear off. I look around where I am but there’s nothing here, just a mound of stones and trees. Lots of trees.
For a second I think about going back, but something feels off. Why would my spell, if I can call it a spell, bring me here?
Maybe there is something hidden with magic in here. Something that could make me find Baz. This is more than I’ve got in weeks, so I’m not turning back now.
“ Reveal yourself ,” I say again with magic. It surprises me that it works.
It takes a couple of seconds, but it does work and the mound of stones changes, and now I see it’s a cave. Probably coated with spells to look like ordinary stones.
I’m excited to see what it’s inside, so I run towards the entry and I draw my sword in precaution.
The cave’s quiet and dark, too dark. I barely can see my own feet. “ Lights on. ” The cave magically illuminates itself and I hear something. It’s low and seems distant, but I’m almost sure it’s a groan and not of the good kind.
I keep walking inside the cave until I see iron bars protecting something. Or in this case, keeping someone locked.
I see a shape on the floor, inside the cell. It’s darker here so I don’t know if it’s a person or maybe a dark creature or a monster.
“ Lights on, ” I say again.
And then I see Baz laying on the floor. For a second I don’t know what to do. I just stare at him.
He is sleeping or unconscious I wouldn’t know. He’s groaning in agony and he is much paler than the last time I saw him. I see that he’s sweating, but at the same time, he’s trembling on the floor.
What the fuck happened?
“Baz,” I say his name a bit louder than I intended and I run towards him. I try to touch the bars but they repel me somehow. “Fuck.” I mutter. “Baz, wake up,” I call him again. “Look at me, wake up.”
Maybe I should be glad to see my enemy defeated, hurt on the floor. But that’s not how I feel. Not at all.
I want to help Baz, I want to make sure he is fine and safe. And I want to bring him back to our room, where I can keep an eye on him.
“Simon…” He mutters, still unconscious. I freeze for a second because Baz doesn’t call me by my first name. No, it’s always Snow for him.
“Baz? Can you hear me?” He moves his head, but his eyes are still closed.
He seems to be in so much pain, so much agony that it hurts to look at him. I didn’t know I care so much about him, but it’s obvious that I do.
I can’t just stay here looking and not doing anything. So I stand up and look at the cell’s door. I don’t have my wand with me, the worst chosen one, I hear Baz saying in my head, so I just say with magic “ Open sesame ” and the door flies open.
I don’t think it would have worked if it was someone else casting this spell, but I put so much magic in my words that the door couldn't keep closed.
When I see that the door is really open, I run inside and kneel on Baz’s side. I don’t know what to do, I’m not good at taking care of other people, but Baz needs me right now.
“Baz?” I call again. “Everything will be alright,” I say and without thinking I just reach for his face, to take his hair out of his eyes.
But my fingers touch his skin and I feel him burning, which I thought was impossible. Vampires cannot stay warm. Baz is always cold. Always.
I have known him since we were eleven and not even once he was slightly warm. No, he’s just ice-cold. So, this could mean that he’s sick. But again, that shouldn’t be possible. Baz is a vampire and vampires are always healthy, they don’t get sick like everyone else.
This could make me question the truth I thought I knew about him being a vampire, but it doesn’t because I know he is. Even if he never admitted it to me I gathered enough proof over the years. Besides, I think I can see his fangs now.
So, that makes me think that there is something incredibly wrong. Something magical maybe, that is causing this.
“Baz,” I stroke my fingers on his cheek. “Wake up, we need to get out of here.”
“Simon…” He mutters again and I see he’s trying to open his eyes, but he doesn’t have enough strength.
“That’s it, open your eyes and look at me.” He tries again and mutters my name one more time. “What happened, Baz? Who did this to you?”
He opens his mouth and says something, but I can’t hear it.
“Can you tell me again, Baz?” I ask softly. I don’t think I ever spoke with him with this tone.
I let my head fall closer to his mouth so I can hear what he was trying to say and this time I can understand. “The Mage.”
I think I understood it wrong because it can’t be. I know The Mage hates the old families and especially the Pitch family, but he wouldn’t hurt Baz because of that. Unless Baz did something … I shake my head. No, even if Baz had done something wrong, The Mage would take him to the coven to answer for his crimes and not lock him away from everyone.
And I know that Baz also hates The Mage, it is one of our main discussion subjects. But why would he lie about this now? I usually would say that this is a plot. That he’s plotting to make The Mage look bad. But he’s not even conscious, he’s hurt. He doesn’t have enough on him to plot something.
So, it might be that he understood it wrong. Maybe he thought he saw The Mage because he was ready to blame him anyway.
I’m more comfortable thinking it’s this. Because thinking that The Mage, my mentor, can do something like this … It's just wrong. It can’t be.
“Baz, are you saying that The Mage did this to you?” I ask. I should worry about other things now, probably he is confused. But what if it’s true?
Baz keeps mumbling incoherent words. He looks like he’s having a nightmare. I need to take him out of here now, I can figure out the rest later.
“Simon.” I freeze at the sound of my name. “I should know that you would find this place eventually. Your will is bigger than anyone’s else.”
I don’t want to look to my right and see that it’s true. But I recognize his voice, so I turn my head and find The Mage standing there. Looking at us.
“Sir? What are you …?” I can’t even finish the question because it’s obvious. “You locked Baz in here,” I say.
“I did, yes.” He’s not smiling, but there is something on his face that tells me that he’s amused. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but I needed to do this without any interference.”
“Do what? Why is Baz here?”
“Oh, you know the old families are still refusing to cooperate. I had to show them the consequences of their acts.” I feel that he’s telling me only a part of the truth.
“But why take Baz? He’s only a student.” Even if Baz is involved with the old families’ plans, it’s not like he’s their leader. Besides, he is a student, I don’t even know if he’s eighteen (for the way I followed every step he took these last 7 years, you could think that I would know about his birthday, but I don’t).
“He’s the most important piece of this game.” The Mage tells me. “And he’s a vampire.” I freeze for a second.
“What?”
“You’ve been telling me this for years now, Simon.” He says with a smile. “I believed you, of course, I did. I just needed to act at the right moment. And to have proof. I have seen his fangs.” He gives me another smile, and this one makes my stomach turn. “Now we have everything to give to the coven.”
“Why? What are you planning to do? What will happen to Baz once you turn him to the coven?” I have been telling everyone Baz is a vampire for years now. But I never meant to hurt him with that information. I just wanted to make sure he wouldn't hurt anyone. And I wanted to go to another room, to have a different roommate.
“Well, he’ll be stricken from the books, for once. His wand will be snapped and he won’t be allowed to do magic anymore.” Baz loves magic, he’d rather be dead than not be able to do magic. “And his fangs will be extracted, so the coven will know that he won’t hurt anyone.” I feel sick.
“But he never hurt anyone.” I don’t think he did it anyway. The only dead thing I found was rats in the catacombs.
“Better be safe than sorry.” The Mage says with a shrug.
“But that’s not fair, Sir. What if he is not a vampire? What if you’re making a mistake?” I know Baz is a vampire, but I need to think, I need to convince The Mage to not do what he’s planning to do.
“Come on, Simon. You know he is.”
“But then why is he like this?” I point at him on the floor. “Vampires don’t get sick and he’s burning with fever.”
The Mage smiles. “Well, that’s just another thing that proves that he’s a vampire.” He says. “First, I gave him blood on his first days here. But then I started an experiment, and now he hasn’t been drinking his daily dose of blood. I started to take it off slowly to see how he would react. And then I gave him a drink with a little plant that I heard has effects on vampires, which I proved.” He points at Baz too.
“That’s… That’s wrong, you are torturing him.” I say. “You cannot do this. He’s in pain, he’s suffering.”
He rolls his eyes. “Simon, he’s a dark creature. Have I not taught you anything these last seven years?”
“But he’s not doing anything wrong,” I say. I don’t know when I got the urge of defending Baz, especially The Mage. But everything is wrong here. Baz is defenceless and The Mage is getting advantage of that. “And why now? You had seven years to do this, so why now? What are you not telling me?”
I think I see him hesitating for the first time. But it only lasted a few seconds. “I’m not hiding anything, Simon. I told you everything.”
I look down at Baz, who’s still trembling in agony. A part of me says that I should trust in my mentor because I always did. It says that Baz is my enemy and we never were on the same side.
But when I look at him my heart clenches because he’s not doing anything wrong. If anything I did worse than him over the years. He could have drained me dead any time he wanted, he could have drained the whole school. Still, the worst he did was pick fights with me.
He doesn’t deserve anything of what The Mage plans to do with him. He doesn’t deserve to live without his magic, living hiding in shame. I can’t do this to him. I can’t let anyone hurt him.
Merlin, all this time that I’ve been going insane wondering where Baz was, afraid of what he was doing, but I never wanted him to be like this instead. To be in danger. And in the hands of someone I always trusted.
I don’t know what to do. I just know I need to take Baz out of here. I need to take him somewhere safe where he can heal. Where we can go back to our routine. Where I can tell him about his mother’s visit and I can help him to find his mother's killer.
I freeze.
I look up while something crosses my mind. I don’t want to be right, but it would make sense. “You know, sir, Penelope told me something a while ago,” He doesn’t seem interested. “About how things were back in the past when the veil opened.” That makes him look at me and I think he freezes for a second. “She told me that it was common that when an assassination was left unpunished, the assassin, afraid of the victim coming back and telling someone what happened, would kidnap the person they thought it was more probable to get the visit.”
“What does that have to do with everything in here, Simon?” He sounds nervous.
“I didn’t pay much attention to that when she said it. But it is curious that you took Baz away right when the veil opened. It’s even more curious that his mother appeared to me yesterday and asked me to give him a message that said that her killer still walked free.”
He doesn’t say anything for a whole minute, maybe even more. But then he scoffs and says. “What do you want with that?”
I look at Baz again, he’s struggling to open his eyes, maybe he knows how important is what The Mage has to say.
I want him to listen, so I try something. I push a bit of my magic into him. And hope that it works and that he just stays quiet for now, only for him to hear the truth.
“I want you to tell me the truth .” Now that my magic is not all inside me it’s easy to do these commands.
The Mage doesn’t even notice the compulsion of the made-up spell and starts telling me. “You are right. I did hide him because I didn’t want his mother to come for him.”
“You killed her?” I ask, still afraid of the answer.
“I didn’t intend to. But yes. I called the vampires that killed her.” He paces around the floor. “I didn’t mean to kill her, I just wanted to show everyone that Watford wasn’t safe.”
I look down for a second and find Baz looking at me. He doesn’t seem to have the strength to do anything else. But he’s awake and he’s listening. I squeeze his hand, the one I’m holding with strength and he blinks at me. I see a tear falling from his eye.
I want to wipe it away. I want to hold him and tell him everything will be okay.
“Baz was bitten that day.” I get to that conclusion. “You want to punish him for being a vampire, but that only happened because of you.” I look back at The Mage and I think I’m seeing him, the real him, for the first time. “You want to punish him for something that is your fault.”
“Simon, it’s not like…”
“Stop. Stop trying to convince me that you’re not doing something terrible.” I say. “I won’t let you do any of what you planned. I’m gonna tell the coven what you did and they will lock you away.”
He laughs. And at this moment I’m sure that this is not the man I thought I knew. He’s not the person I thought he was. “And how will you do this? You might have power, but you lack control.” He pulls out his wand. “I’m sorry to do this, but I’ll have to wipe your recent memories. I need you by my side.” Memory spells are seriously dangerous. Not even the most skilled mages mess with this kind of spell.
“I’m sorry too, sir,” I say. “ Stay put. ” He stops. “I might not have control with a wand, but I’m learning a thing or two.” It's true. It’s harder to focus my power through my wand, but speaking the spells it’s a bit easier, especially now that I’m giving Baz a bit of my magic. It’s like he’s taking that bit that always leaves me on an edge.
I stand and try to lift Baz, but he’s unconscious again. So, I carry him in my arms. He’s a bit heavy and he’s taller than me, but my magic it’s helping me for once, so I can barely feel his weight.
“That’s how it’s going to be,” I say. “ You’ll do as I say : You’ll stay here and will tell the coven that you were responsible for Natasha Pitch’s death. And that you kept Baz here so he wouldn't find out.” With Baz in my arms, I let my magic go back to him a bit, so it’s easier to use my magic again without blowing up the whole cave. “Go inside the cell and lock it.” He does, still following my first command. “Now throw your wand here.” He does.
I worry for a second that he might tell the coven about Baz being a vampire, and maybe I shouldn’t care about protecting his secret, but I don’t want the coven to do what the Mage wanted to do with him.
So again, I put magic in my voice. “Also, you won’t ever tell anyone about Baz being a vampire .”
“How are you doing this?” He asks in awe.
“Sometimes, my magic helps,” I say.
“I’m disappointed, Simon.” The worst of all it’s that I know he means it. He thinks I would follow him no matter what. That I would agree with him forever. “I never thought you’d turn your back to me to protect a Pitch.” He says with disdain.
“I’m not turning my back to you, Sir, I’m just finally seeing who you are.” I turn away before he could say something else.
I won’t think about him now. I can’t. So, I just walk back to the school.
Luckily, it’s tea time, so almost everyone it’s in the dining hall. And there are only a few people scattered through the lawn. I wish I could cast a spell to make Baz and me invisible because I don’t want anyone to see us yet. But I can’t remember the right spell and I don’t want to turn us invisible forever by saying the wrong thing.
So, I just wish that people ignore us, and hope it works.
It seems to work, and I don’t know if it’s because of my magic doing something or because they don’t care about what it’s happening, either way, I’m glad that no one turns to look at us twice.
That is until I reach the Mummers House. “Simon.” I turn and breathe relief when I see it’s Penny. “What the hell?” She asks when she sees Baz.
“I’ll explain later, now I need you to call your mum, Penny. Call her and ask her to come right now. It’s urgent.” I don’t want to trust anyone else from the coven, who knows what they can do? Penny’s mum it’s the better option, she’s honest and she’ll know what to do.
“Okay, I’ll call her and I’ll meet you back at your room.” I nod and turn back to enter Mummers house.
No one is at the stairs or in the hall, so we reach our room without any problem.
I lay Baz on his bed and when I let him go, I feel my magic filling me again. I don’t think I could manage my magic as I was doing before.
“Baz.” I kneel by his side and try to wake him. “Wake up, you need to eat, you need to drink.” He hums and I think he’s awake and listening although his eyes are not open. “What is worse, hunger or thirst?” He hums again and seems to force his eyes to open. “I can’t understand you, tell me what you need so I can help you.”
He murmurs this time, but I understand “Blood.” He says.
I think for a second about what I can do, there is no animal in here, it would take time to go down to the catacombs and Baz needs blood now. So I press my wrist against his mouth.
“Drink then.” He opens his eyes for a second and when he realises what I’m doing he pulls his head back and tries to push my arm away. “That’s okay, Baz, just drink it. It’s easier.”
I don’t know if I’m thinking properly, but probably not. It is very dangerous to offer your blood to a thirsty vampire. But somehow, after the discoveries of the day, I realise that I’m not afraid of Baz. I know he won’t hurt me.
“No,” He murmurs, trying to keep his eyes open.
“There is nothing else in here for you to drink, so just drink my blood.” He shakes his head. Fuck, does he hate me so much that the idea of drinking my blood is that terrible? I know we are enemies. Were enemies, I guess. I don’t know. Anyhow, he shouldn’t be so proud. “Just drink my fucking blood, pretend is someone else if the idea of drinking my blood is that terrible.” I can’t hide away the anger in my voice.
His eyes widen for a bit, only a bit, and that seems to exhaust him because he closes his eyes after. He opens his mouth and murmurs again. I don’t understand the whole thing, but I catch the “Hurt you.” In the end.
It takes me a second to decipher what he wants to say. “You don’t want to hurt me?” He nods. “Oh.” Baz doesn’t want to hurt me. It’s weird, because I always thought he wanted to hurt me, that he wanted to kill me, and even though I just thought that he wouldn't hurt me, it feels different to hear him say it. “But you need to drink Baz, and I trust you.” With that, he opens his eyes again.
“I can’t.” He says. He seems in pain thinking of hurting me. That’s new.
“Then what? You need to drink, do you want me to go to the catacombs?”
“Spell.” He says.
“A spell? A spell to what?”
“Hunt.” He’s still with his eyes open, which I consider a victory. “It helps.” I still don’t understand what he’s saying. What kind of spell is he talking about?
But I don’t need a specific kind of spell to make it work. So, I stand up and open our window. Then I kneel by Baz’s side and hold his hand, he seems suspicious but I say. “Trust me.” And he nods.
I let my magic flow to him. It makes him breathe a bit better, and I see a bit more of life in his eyes. I don’t know if my magic is helping him now because I intend to help him, but I’m glad it’s doing something good for him.
“ Birds. ” Seconds later five birds fly into our room. They all fall dead on the floor. It’s a bit creepy.
I drop Baz’s hand and he closes his eyes again. Again he looks in pain.
I try to be fast and take a cup from the top of my desk. Then I collect the birds and take them all to our bathroom. This won’t be pleasant, but I guess I’ve done worse things.
I gather all the blood from the birds and put it inside the cup. Then I throw the birds through the window to the merwolfs.
After that, I go to Baz and hand him the cup. He seems a bit ashamed but takes the cup either way. I try to help him to sit, but he doesn’t have the strength to keep himself steady, so without thinking about it, I sit behind him, so he can rest his back against my chest.
He trembles a bit, I don’t know if he’s still cold, or if it’s because of the contact with me. I try to ignore it and help him lead the cup to his mouth.
He drinks the whole cup in seconds. It leaves me worried, because how long has the Mage left him thirsty? How much more does he need right now?
“Thank you.” He says when he’s finished. His voice is clear now. At least more than before.
“You need more, don’t you?” I feel him nodding. “How long …”
“I don’t know.” He cuts me when he realises what I’m asking. “It was always dark there.” He sounds so vulnerable that I want to wrap my arms around him and hug him tightly. I don’t realise that I’m already doing that until I feel Baz leaning against my chest.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m gonna get more blood for you and food, you must be starving.” He nods. “Mrs. Bunce, Penelope’s mother is coming, she will deal with the Mage and will know how to make you feel better, how to take this poison out of you.” I feel that he’s still too warm. Still burning in fever.
“She … don’t tell…” He seems to be exhausted once again, so I let my magic go back to him, and he takes a deep breath.
“I won’t tell her about you, don’t worry.”
“How are you doing this?” He asks and I think he’s talking about my magic.
“I don’t know, but it helps, doesn’t it?” He nods.
“It does.” He leans against me and he lays his head at the crook of my neck. He must be wrecked to let himself be this vulnerable around me. If he was a bit better I know he would’ve sent me flying to the other side of the room. “I’m so tired.” He says.
“That’s okay. Rest a bit. I’ll get what you need.” He nods again and I see his eyes are closed again.
“Thank you, Simon.” He mutters before dozing off.
He looks a bit more at peace now. His trembles stopped and he seems to be sleeping better. I should lay him down and let him rest, but I don't want to. Feeling him here, in my arms, helps me to see that he’s safe now and that I can stop freaking out.
I wish I could have found him before, but he’s here now and I’ll help him to be fine again.
I hate to see the way he is now. How hurt he is. It makes me so angry that if I was not sharing my magic with Baz I would be fuming now. Ready to go off.
I breathe deeper trying to calm myself. I have to help him now, to make sure he’ll be fine.
It’s still a mystery why I care so much about him. I could think that it was just the result of seeing him being hurt, but now somehow I feel that I always feared this. I always feared that Baz would get hurt.
And I know I should hurt him, I should kill him, but have I wanted that? Or I just thought I had to do that because the Mage said it?
My trail of thoughts is interrupted when the door opens and Pen steps inside. She freezes when she sees me with Baz, probably shocked about how he was laying against me and how I was holding him.
I know she probably didn't expect to see that. I didn’t expect to want to hold him like that either.
“Uh…” She says. “What is happening?”
I blush a bit. “Hey, Pen. Let me just…” I try to leave Baz’s bed without waking him. It’s handy, but I’m able to do it. “So, I know this looks weird…”
“Actually it’s not that weird, it makes a lot of sense.” She says.
“What?”
“Well, it makes sense that your obsession over Baz wasn’t just something enemy related, I should have guessed your feelings were different from what you thought.” I don’t know what face I’m making, but it's enough to make Penny stop talking. “Oh, sure, you don’t know about your feelings yet.”
“What feelings?” She dismisses me with her hand.
“We can talk about it later, now I want to know about what is happening. Why did you ask me to call my mum?”
It takes me a few seconds to answer her because I’m thinking about what she said. And it would make sense if I had some kind of feelings for Baz. That would explain a lot of what's going through my head. But I can unfold that later.
I shake my head and focus on Penny. “So, I have been trying to find Baz since the classes started.” She raises her eyebrow but doesn’t interrupt me. “And today I had an idea, you know how sometimes I use my magic in my voice and create spells without intention?” She nods. “I was trying to use my magic to lead me to him, and eventually it worked and it led me to a cave in the whispering woods. I went inside and I found Baz locked in a cell.”
Pen looks shocked. “Why?”
“I’m getting there,” I say. “Anyway, the cell was locked with magic, but I was able to crack it open and when I got inside and saw him … Pen he was bad, trembling and groaning in pain and when I touched his face he was burning in fever.”
“But he is a vampire, he can’t get sick.” I nod.
“I know, I’m getting there,” I repeat. “Anyway, he told me that the Mage was who locked him, at first I didn’t believe it, but then the Mage appeared. He said he locked Baz to punish the old families somehow, and he wanted to give him to the coven to expose him as a vampire. He wouldn’t be able to use magic and even his fangs would be removed.” Penny seems disgusted with that. “And he told me that he was doing an experiment with Baz, he left him without blood for days and then made him drink something mixed with a plant that affects vampires, that’s why he’s burning in fever.”
“Simon, that's sick. It’s terrible, how can he do something like that?”
“I know, Pen. Believe me, I know.” I sit in my bed and she sits with me. “After that, I remembered when you told me about the visits in the old days when someone kidnapped another person to avoid them getting a visit.”
“Yeah, usually when a crime was involved.” I nod, and because Pen it’s too smart she connects the dots instantly. “The Mage was hiding Baz?”
“Yeah. I received a visit from Baz’s mother yesterday. She said that her killer walked free, so I put two and two together and asked the Mage. He confirmed it.” I say. “He said he didn't want to kill her, but he was the one who sent the vampires that killed her and turned Baz that day.”
“Merlin and Morgana.” She says.
“Yeah,” I say. “I didn’t want to just call the whole coven because I don’t know who we can trust, so I know your mother will do the right thing.”
Pen nods. “She will. And she’s on her way.”
“Great.” I sigh and look at Baz. “We can’t tell anyone that he’s a vampire, Pen. Not even to your mum.” I say. “If the coven finds out they’ll want to do the same as the Mage wanted.” She nods.
“I’d like to say that my mother wouldn’t do that, but she could let it slip from her. It’s better if we keep this to ourselves.”
“Do you know any spell we can use to make him better? I don’t think that just one ‘Get well soon’ will help. We need to take the plant out of his system.”
“I can try a few things. But overall I think the best it’s to give him food and blood and wait for the poison to leave his system.” I nod and she stands.
I keep looking while Penny casts a few spells over Baz.
Was she right? Do I have feelings for Baz? If this was any other day, probably I’d deny it. But after what happened today, I don’t know.
I admit that it was - it is - terrible to see him hurt and I do want to protect him, to help him the best I can. It makes me sick to think what could have happened if I hadn’t found him today. But that means I have feelings for him?
Maybe not.
But that would explain why all I want now is to wrap my arms around him again and make him feel safe. It would explain the urge I’m feeling to just touch his face, and brush his hair. Why I’m so worried. Why even though he looks pale, tired and sick, I still think he’s beautiful. More than anyone I know.
Fuck.
I do have feelings for him.
“That’s all I can do for now,” Pen says, snapping me from my thoughts. “Now we have to let him rest.” I’m thinking about telling her about my new discovery, but her phone rings. “Oh, it’s my mum, she’s here.” She frowns. “That was fast. But come on, let's meet her on the lawn.” I look at Baz on his bed, I don’t want to leave him here alone. “We won’t take long.” She says. “He won’t wake up.”
“Okay,” I nod. “Let’s go there.”
I cover Baz with his blanket and close the window, and then I leave the room with Pen.
We meet her mum in front of the Mummers House. “Penelope and Simon, of course. What is the urgency?”
Pen looks at me. “I found out that the Mage did something terrible,” I say, not wanting to stall. “He was locking Baz in a cave in the Whispering Woods, wanting to use him to hurt the old families and to make sure he wouldn't be visited by his mother.” Mrs. Bunce frowns. “Natasha Pitch appeared to me yesterday, looking for her son, she gave me a message to pass to him, that her killer was free. The Mage admitted to me that he was the one that called the vampires that attacked Watford and killed Natasha.”
“Simon, that is a serious accusation.” I nod.
“I know. But I have proof. I locked the Mage in the cave, I can take you there and he’ll tell you what you need to know. And Baz is in our room now, resting, after spending more than 8 weeks locked in a dark cell with almost no food.” She looks like she believes in me, but she’s shocked.
“Lead me to the cave then.”
I take Mrs. Bunce and Penelope to the cave, without the spells the Mage cast around it, it’s easy to find.
“He’s in there.” I point. “He’ll tell you what happened and I trust you’ll do what is right.”
“You won’t come with me?” She asks.
I step back. “No … I don’t … I don’t want to see him. And I have to go back to my room, Baz can wake up and he’ll need someone.” I can’t be sure, but I think there is a bit of pity in her eyes.
“Okay, I’ll speak to the Mage and think about what we’ll do.” I nod and turn back.
I go back to school, but before going back to Mummers house I go to the dining hall to take something for Baz to eat. I spot his friends and I wonder if I should tell them about Baz. I probably should, and eventually will, but now I want him only to myself.
No, that sounded wrong … Oh fuck, it’s not like I don’t want it anyway.
After taking a plate with a few things for him to eat and a glass of water, I go back to our room and I think for a second if I should already catch some animal to take the blood out. But I don’t know when Baz will wake up so I won’t just let the blood sit there. So, I decide to do that later.
As expected, Baz is still sleeping. So I leave the plate on my desk and go to take a shower.
Once I’m done, I go back to the room and sit on my bed. It’s funny that even though I want him to rest, I also want him to wake up so we can talk. I want to talk to him.
I keep looking at him sleeping for a few minutes, but I think it might be a bit creepy, so I stop and stand from my bed to do another thing.
I try to do homework and when that doesn’t work, I decided to clean my desk. I’m still stealing glances at Baz, but I’m able to kill some time, so I count it as a win.
Sometime after, I don’t know how much, I hear a knock on my door and then Mrs. Bunce walks in. Quickly I steal another glance at Baz, worried that somehow she could see that he was a vampire. But he’s just sleeping.
“How is he?” She asks, already looking at him.
“Tired and a bit hungry. I don’t think the Mage was feeding him properly.” True, but not the whole truth.
“We should call Dr. Wellbelove…” I cut her.
“No,” I shout and then I clear my throat. “I mean, no. Baz said that he didn’t need medical help. He was just feeling tired and needed to rest, besides Pen has already cast healing spells on him. I think now we should wait for him to wake up to see what he wants and maybe talk to his family too.”
She nods. “Okay, then we’ll wait.” Mrs. Bunce turns to me. “I’ve spoken with Davy,” I frown. “Sorry, with the Mage, he confessed everything.” She still looks shocked. “I’ve locked him in there and I’m waiting for the rest of the coven to answer, but they should be here soon enough.”
“What will happen to him?”
“I don’t know yet, but he’ll probably be arrested and face a trial.” She says. “I have to wait for the others to decide that.” I nod. “I need to go back there, but when I hear something I’ll let you know.”
“Okay.”
“And you keep me updated about Basil. I’ll try to contact his family.” I nod again.
When she leaves I go to my bed and lay down. And only then do I allow myself to think about what the Mage did.
The Mage was the one who found me when I was just eleven years old, he put me as his heir so I could study in Watford. I never saw him as a father figure, but he was my mentor, the only one who took care of me.
I thought he always did what was right and I trusted that he would always do the right thing. But now I don’t know. How many things did he ask me to do that were wrong? How many times did I believe that he was being the good guy?
Even hating Baz was something I only did because the Mage said I had to. Okay, Baz being an asshole also helped, but seeing him as an enemy as someone I had to kill only happened because the Mage said so.
Thinking about all of that just makes my head hurt, maybe that’s why I end up dozing off to sleep.
Something wakes me up sometime after. I don’t know what time it is, but it’s not dark yet, so I must have just napped for a few minutes.
I look to my side then, to Baz’s bed and see him whimpering and muttering something. I realise that it was the noises that he was making that woke me.
I stand up and kneel beside him, I don’t know exactly what to do. We both have nightmares, always had, but this seems different, maybe something that is happening because of the poison. I brush his hair away from his face and feel that he’s burning again.
“Baz?” I don’t want to wake him, but I can’t let him stay like this. He’s trembling again, pulling his covers with strength. “Hey, wake up, it’s all alright.” I keep brushing his hair. “This is just a bad dream,” I say.
“Simon.” He mutters my name but doesn’t wake up.
Fuck. This won’t work.
I think for a second and decide that maybe it’s better if I share my magic with him again. I try not to think too much while I pull his covers up so I can lay by his side and hold him tight. He trembles again when I pull him to me, but soon relaxes against my chest.
Right after that, I let my magic flow to him once again and he stops whimpering. In fact, he sighs before falling asleep.
“Simon.” He mutters my name again.
“That’s okay. I’m here with you.”
It doesn’t take much to make me fall asleep too.