Andrea got up off the hospital bed, glaring towards Mr Nerva, "And where were you?"
He glanced at her a moment before ignoring her as he entered the room, "Had you kept on practicing, an ant like Rig's would never have been an obstacle for the likes of you."
"We've had this conversation 100 times before, Julian," Her mother seemed too tired to muster up any hostility on this occasion, "Why bother with a 101st?"
Mr Nerva shrugged as he started walking towards her mother, but his path was interfered with by Andrea's presence, "Where were you, Julian?"
He again ignored her, "Does the child know?"
He caught her attempt at a slap without once looking her way, "Ah, so the child knows."
"Only of magic," Her mother said, "The basics. Now let her go or I will kill you."
"I would not call animus magic 'the basics', but we start where we start, I guess."
He finally regarded her, her wrist still in his large and hard hands, "To answer your question, Ms. Bordeaux," he spoke politely, as if Andrea had not just attempted to slap him, "I was busy with my own problems…. Though calling them problems would perhaps be an overstatement."
Her mother snorted and rolled her eyes, "Of course. For what could possibly be considered as an obstacle for the great Julian Nerva."
He let go of Andrea's hand, "Not much, in truth. Why have you called me here, Antonina?"
Her mother and him shared a look before she turned to look at Andrea, "Andy Baby, if you co—"
"No!" she snapped, pointing her finger into Julian's chest, "This is his fault!"
His blank expression was broken by the curved eyebrow he raised, "How so?"
"Rigs told me about you, Julian! He said you're even more powerful than he is…. Well, was. You had him running scared both times he came looking for me. Worse yet, you knew about him, and didn't think to do anything to stop him."
Julian cocked his head to the side, "And how do you figure that?"
She balled her fists and was tempted to try and slap him again, "When we were walking back to my mother's practice. You referred to him as 'the strange man with the hood'."
He shrugged, "And?"
"I never told you that he had a hood. You'd have had to have seen him to know that, Julian."
Julian, for the first time since arriving, smiled. It was cold and never dared to reach his eyes.
"I had wondered if you'd pick up that little gaffe."
Andrea was angry at herself for feeling like she was about to cry again, but no matter what she did, the tears began to spill again, I can't seem to stop anything from happening, she thought, as she wiped her eyes.
"You could've dealt with it and didn't…. I need to know why…."
He looked at her curiously, almost confused at what she was doing, before he sighed and the emptiness in his expression returned, "Jeremy Rigs is well connected, and those connections proved themselves good enough to steal a couple hours of my time. Rigs is, was, a runt. A resourceful and cunning runt, but a runt all the same. I had assumed that your mother had him handled, she should have had him handled."
He glanced towards her mother, and she sighed as well, "Yes, yes, Julian. You were right, I was wrong. I should've kept on practicing. Is your ego stroked enough yet?"
He folded his arms and pondered something before shaking his head, "Not quite, but it's a start."
"You always were an asshole, Julian." Her mother said, "But for once, I'm going to need you to care for someone else. Just this once."
Julian and her mother shared a long look between the two of them once more, before Julian sighed and turned towards Andrea. She beat him to it, "Hell no!"
Mr. Nerva shrugged, "You heard the girl, Antonina. She put it quite crudely in fact. It's a hell no."
Her mother beckoned Andrea towards her, "Andy Baby, I'm going to need you to trust me, okay."
"But Momma! He let this happen! He is just as much to blame for this as Mr. Rig or Anansi or Eduoard!"
Julian raised an eyebrow, "Your mother is to blame just as much as me. When she was in her prime, her true prime, beings like this…. Mr. Rigs would have been an ant trying to fend off the killing intent of a boot. Even resorting to her personal animus would have been a tad much." He looked away from them, an expression of disgust, "Why, Antonina? Why would you let your skills ebb away when you were so powerful…?"
Her mother reached out for Andrea, who took her hand almost instantly, "Love Julian…. Something I hope, for your own sake as much as mine, you can feel some day."
She looked at Andrea with all the care in the world, and the sight of which had her threaten to sob again, "Andy Baby, I need you to listen to me. I am not strong enough to protect you, not now. I thought that if I could keep you away from all of this…. Well, it doesn't make a damn of a difference now, huh. I used the Court of Bordeaux already, at the cost of my own soul. A second time will cost me my life. And you're too gifted to be anywhere but with the likes of Mr. Nerva for protection. He will take you to Camelot."
It was a slow processing period as Andrea was trying to make sense of what her mother was saying, especially with her emotions clouding most of her judgment, "If I stay—"
"There'll be another Jeremiah Rigs." She said, "And I will not hesitate to use the Court of Bordeaux again, in a heartbeat! Because you're worth it, Andrea."
Her body was too empty of tears to spill anymore, but her heart hurt all the same, and she leaned forward to press her forehead against her mother's, "But what about you, Momma? I want to protect you just as much."
"Then go," she whispered, "Go and learn magic, fulfil the potential that I left behind, and come back to protect me."
That sealed it, and Andrea felt her mother kiss her forehead, "You're the greatest thing to ever happen to me, and I say that as someone who has lived a full life."
Andrea nodded her head, somehow her body had mustered enough tears to be crying again, and said, "I'll work to earn that, Momma…. I promise."
She felt herself get off the bed and turn to Mr. Nerva, who honestly looked…. Bored by the entire display. His face turned into one that was slightly amused after she thought about kicking him in the nuts and even went so far as to shake his head, "Don't. I don't want to have to tie you up and carry you out of here like mediocre luggage."
"I want to talk to you, Julian." Her mother said, before Andrea could think of a witty reply, "Give me that much. The version of me that you still respected, anyways."
He sighed and nodded his head, "As good as honoring the dead…. Fine, I'll hear out you out, Ms. Bordeaux."
Andrea did not move, but a second after approaching his mother; Mr. Nerva turned around and headed towards the door, "Come then, Andrea. We need to fetch some of your things before we leave."
She frowned and looked at her mother, who smiled weakly at her, "You're stubborn, got that from your momma."
Andrea ran up and hugged her mother one last time, "I love you."
"But only half as much as I love you, Andy Baby."
Letting go of her mother was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life, and she had to turn around to stop herself from looking upon the face that represented her entire world and stand by her side. Andrea followed her new guardian out the room to find him waiting by the elevators, arriving just as one opened, "That's lucky."
"Is it?" he muttered, before the two of them entered it. Andrea looked up Mr. Nerva, his expression blank again, his empty eyes focused down upon her, "You possess some cunning, good. You will most likely need it, to make up for your lack of experience and, honestly, unremarkable magical reserves."
Andrea grit her teeth, "I just said goodbye to my mother, for what could be for good. And the first thing you do is insult me?"
He shrugged, "I meant it as an assessment, my apologies. Because where we're going, Camelot, is not a place for those possessing both magical ineptitude and a lack of cunning. In fact, I'd say it requires the opposite, and a lack of neither."
Andrea raised her eyebrow as the elevator doors dinged, "Camelot? Isn't that where that one Alexander dude lost his girl to his best friend?"
"Amusing." Julian said, never once even threatening to smile, "No…. well yes, but it was Arthur, not Alexander, and no, it is not that type of Camelot. It is the name of the magical school in England."
Andrea stopped dead at the door of the hospital; "There is no way in hell I'm leaving my mother to go all the way to England, Julian. I am all she has since…. doesn't America have its own kind of schools?"
He turned away from her, and it was the first time she saw a trace of annoyance in his demeanor, and probably not going to be the last….
"I am the headmaster of Camelot. It will be a lot easier to get you in, and a lot easier to look after you." He leaned over to look her in the eyes, "You're welcome to try the school here, mind you, it would save me the trouble of living up to the promise I just made to your mother. When you die a painful and excruciating death, that is."
She knew from the look in his eyes that he was not joking, "It's that bad?"
It was also the first time she had ever heard him chuckle, the real him anyway, "Our schools do not allow just anyone to enter, Andrea. We have entrance exams."
"Oh. That doesn't sound so bad."
"Our entrance exams are magical tests, failure means certain death, a painful one." He told her bluntly. Never mind….
He turned and headed out the door, pointing towards a random car parked near the sidewalk and snapping his fingers. In the place of the Ford Ranger that had once taken up so much space, now sat a chariot with four pairs of horses in front, the beasts looked transparent and mist like, as if the souls of horses were before them, rather than the actual things themselves. Holding the reins at the front of the chariot was a man dressed in a rundown Victorian era suit, with white gloves filled with holes and dirty pointed black shoes upon his feet.
She had no doubt that his face was as crusty as the rest of him, except that he didn't have a face, on account of the fact that he lacked a head. On top of his head, or at least where his head should have been, sat a top hat, the only part of the attire that did not look like utter trash. The man raised it in greeting to her, and Andrea hesitantly waved back, "You couldn't have gotten us like…. A Porsche or Ferrari or some shit?"
"A Porsche or Ferrari cannot fly." Julian said matter-of-factly, opening the carriage door for her. She ascended the two short steps to enter a carriage that was a lot more spacious on the inside than the outside ever indicated.
The interior was like cutting into a velvet red cake, with maroon colored wallpaper encircling them, and a red shag carpet sat snuggly beneath her feet. On the two chairs in the middle of the room were velvet pincushions sat on them and an invisible man dressed in a beautiful suit holding up a tray with a tea seat sat up top it. He bowed respectfully at her as she entered. Julian followed in and closed the door behind him, taking a seat and waiting patiently as the butler went about pouring steaming hot water into his cup, "Sit." He offered, well…. It may have sounded like an order rather, but Andrea was too tired to be defiant.
"At Camelot, you will be enrolled as Andrea Saloum." She raised an eyebrow, "Salem? Like the witch trial? Why not Bordeaux?" He sighed and shrugged, "If you wish it to be so, then sure. And you cannot go as a Bordeaux because it would attract too much attention. I'd prefer it otherwise."
That made her smile, "So, my family is a big deal over there at Camelot, huh?"
"Not really," Julian said before continuing, "You're sixteen, so most of your peers in the first year will be around your age. There, you will receive a room for boarding and three meals a day, in addition to a stipend that will be deposited into your account every week from me. It will only be 150 pound-sterling's a week, so do not go around spending it all in one place."
Andrea's jaw nearly fell onto that ground, "Bruh! That's like…. 200 whole dollars!"
Julian rolled his eyes, "You have yet to set foot upon the grounds of Camelot, and already you are complaining."
She almost retorted with an insult, but thought better of it, I'm not about to lose out on 200 bucks over arguing….
"You will wake before 06:30am for breakfast, after which you will attend classes from 08:00am until 02:30pm in the afternoon,"
"You don't have to say afternoon after the pm, you know."
"After school, you will have a selection of after school activities to do, which will run from 02:45pm until 05:00pm, after which you will have leisure time until 06:30pm, which will be supper. After supper, you will have study time from 08:00 until 09:00pm. From then onwards it will be your opportunity for leisure time once more, before the lights go out at 10:30pm. Any questions?"
Andrea pointed at the butler, "Why is he invisible?"
Julian closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I meant…. he is invisible, because an actual man would not be able to serve me tea without spilling once airborne."
Andrea gasped, "Are we airborne now?"
"Yes," Julian looked bored again, "The chariot was a gift, an enchanted one. So, we cannot feel whatever that occurs on the outside of this chariot on the inside."
She frowned and folded her arms, "But I like feeling like I'm in the air when flying, otherwise what's the point?"
"Then how would he serve me tea, Andrea?" he frowned, but she met his irritation with a shrug, "In a bottle, maybe."
Julian stared at her as if she were the biggest idiot in the world before sighing once more, "I was under the impression that you were clever. So why are you so good at playing the fool?"
"And I was under the impression that you were some court clerk who did not know my mother. What are you to her, anyway?" she asked, a question she had been wondering for days now. Her mother wouldn't hand her over to just anyone. Julian stirred his tea before taking a sip, "I was once her lover, and I was very good at it—"
Andrea screamed and smacked the cup out of his hand.