As soon as Fidelia finished speaking, Josephine took hold of Esadora's body with her magic, twisting her limbs stiffly as she forced her to the floor. Then the physical attacks came.

It began with a kick in the side from Sacha, a weak one at that, which Esadora commented on; then Sacha proceeded to step on her stomach. Esadora coughed in pain, trying to move her hands to cover her stomach, but Josephine was still controlling her, so she had to lay there and take their kicks and punches, unable to protect herself. There was a moment where they all halted their movements, and Esadora tried to see why, thinking that they were done with her, then a powerful kick came to her head.

She hissed and held her head, barely acknowledging that she could move again. She could somewhat hear the girls laughing, and a hot rage ignited inside of her, which only served to increase the pain in her head.

“I hope you’ve learned your lesson, Esadora, because I would hate to have to do this kind of thing again. So don’t you dare act like you’re above us ever again. Filthy human.”

Esadora heard the swish of their cloaks and clack of their shoes as they walked away, and gritted her teeth. She felt so pathetic, lying on the ground, bruised and beaten. And the worst part about it was that she couldn’t have done anything to stop them, even if Josephine hadn’t been controlling her. Physically, she’d stood no chance against them.

She felt a big lump of emotion in her throat and swallowed it down, forcibly exhaling. She inaudibly groaned as tears swelled in her eyes once again. This time, instead of forcing them down, she let the wet substance flow down her cheeks as she stood up. Her resignation to the tears didn’t stop her from furiously wiping at them as she continued down the halls. They didn’t stop coming, of course, but she was too bitter to care.

Esadora wandered her way to a bathroom only a few minutes before lunch ended, hurrying in to see how badly the Classy Quartet had hurt her, and to see how she could cover up the fact that she’d been crying before class started.

As she stood in front of the mirror, she noticed how disheveled she appeared—messy hair sticking up at the top of her head, a bruise on her left arm, pale skin, and a worn out look in her eyes. Disappointment swelled within her at how defeated she looked, how defeated she felt, but before she could address either of those feelings, she glanced at her eyes again. They were… yellow?!

She blinked several times, trying to see, no, trying to convince herself that her mind was tricking her. But the glow of her eyes was real. They were a rich amber with flecks of lighter yellow around the edges—beautiful. But why were they like that in the first place?

It was then that she was hit with the memory of the vampire’s harsh golden eyes as he dipped his head down to her neck. She let out a small whimper, pulling her hair with both hands. His eyes—her eyes… vampire eyes.

Vampires were known for having golden or yellow eyes, one of their only distinguishing features beside canines, super strength and speed, no magic, and… they had a strong sense of smell when it came to smelling witch blood.

Esadora heaved as a disgusted feeling made her stomach clench. She ran over to a toilet and retched inside of it, gripping the edges of the toilet so hard that she felt like she would break it. When she was finished throwing up the little she had in her stomach, she just stayed on the floor, panting, as she wondered why all of this was happening. Why had the vampire bitten her, why had the bite taken her magic away, and why was it turning her into a vampire!? Each thought brought more pain to her heart before a tear made its way down her face. Then another. And another. And many more, until she was practically bawling again. She brought her knees up to her chest and silently weeped.

Her tears had almost stopped by the time someone entered the bathroom. She stood up, putting up the hood of her cloak, and stalked past the person as they entered. As she walked, head low, through the halls now filled with students, she wondered what she should do. She couldn't very well got back to class now - with her swollen, yellow eyes - and she couldn't leave the school either. Then they'd call security.

The nurse’s office, then.

She had to find out if what she was experiencing was normal for others who’d been bitten, and if it wasn’t… well, she wouldn’t think about that right now. And so, she made her way to the nurse’s office.

It was empty when she first arrived, a delicate smell of blood wafting around the room. She tried not to focus on it, tried not to focus on anything, and sat down on the bed, closing her eyes to calm herself.

She was lying down, on the verge of sleep, when she heard the door open with a clack. She jumped out of bed, eyes darting around the room, but she couldn’t see anyone. The door of the nurse’s office was barely in view from where she was standing, so anyone could be standing there, and she wouldn’t know who it was unless they approached, or she did.

Esadora rolled her eyes at the strange fear she felt. What did it matter if someone was standing there? This was a nurse’s office - people could come and go as they pleased.

But she couldn’t deny the anticipation that grew as she edged toward the door. Why hadn’t the person shown themselves yet?

Then she stepped past the corner of the wall that had blocked the door from her view, and came face-to-face with Ximena.

They both jumped away from each other at the same time, Esadora nearly tripping as she struggled to right herself. When she had, she was on the offensive, striding up to Ximena and pointing a finger in her face. “What are you doing here?”

Ximena stuck her hands up, dark eyes wide as she pressed herself to the wall. “W-Well, I was… um - I didn’t expect you to be here!”

“Well, that makes two of us. What are you doing here?”

“What? Am I not allowed to go to the nurse’s office now? You know, you’re not the boss of me, or anyone! It’s a free world-” She massaged the bridge of her nose, effectively cutting herself off. “No. No. I didn’t come here to say this.” She took in a large breath before continuing. “You see, I… actually, I didn’t want you to be here,” she said in a much lower voice.

Esadora squinted at her. “What?”

“I… I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

Ximena slowly lowered her arms, averting her eyes. “It’s my fault.”

“Stop being so vague - I am not a mind reader. What’s your fault?” Esadora said, crossing her arms. God, she hated it when people weren’t upfront with her.

“It’s my fault - I said…” she trailed off, taking in a deep breath. Esadora furrowed her eyebrows as unease spread through her. What had Ximena done?

“I told those girls about… what happened.”

What girls? What did you tell them? And why are you being so evasive with me? Esadora thought, pursing her lips. She found it difficult to keep from yelling her frustrations at Ximena, but she made herself think harder. What in the world could Ximena be talking about? And on top of that, she was sorry? Had she committed some kind of crime?

And then it occurred to her that no one was supposed to know that she’d lost her magic except her mom, the nurse, probably certain members of the school board and staff, Ezra, and almost certainly Ximena (courtesy of Ezra). So how had the Classy Quartet known?

She couldn’t keep the disbelief and plain rage out of her voice as she yelled, “You did what? Why?”

Ximena flinched, and Esadora noticed that she was clasping and unclasping her hands, face flushed. “I just - I was mad at you and I-I didn’t think! I’m sorry!”

“Oh, you better be! I swear to God, I’m gonna-” She stopped, eyes widening. What? What would she do? With her weak, human self, she couldn’t do anything to her. Sure, she could throw a surprise punch at her, but after that, Ximena could easily overwhelm her.

“Esadora..?”

She stepped back, shaking her head. “Can you just… go?”

Ximena looked like she wanted to say something else, opening and closing her mouth as if in conflict. Eventually, she said, “Uh - okay. I… um, I hope you feel better.”

As Ximena left, door quietly clicking shut behind her, Esadora whispered, “Yeah. Me too.”

When the nurse finally arrived, the school day was over, and Esadora was pissed.

“Um… what are you doing here?” the nurse asked.

Esadora shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I wanted to get a checkup!”

The nurse flinched, but quickly recovered, ginger eyes narrowing. “Did you not notice the sign on the door?”

“What sign?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the one that says Closed!”

Esadora looked away as her cheeks began to burn. “Sorry.”

The nurse rolled her eyes, which Esadora found to be very unprofessional, and sort of made her look like a student. “It’s okay, just leave. Now.”

Esadora stared at her for a good minute or so, taken aback. Then she glared at her. “No, I won’t leave. I've been here half the day waiting for you! I am not leaving!” Truth be told, most of that time she'd been sleeping, but the nurse didn't need to know that.

“The door says Closed for a reason.”

Esadora put her hands on her hips. “And I know that now. But this is really important.”

“Explain it to me then. Because if it’s so important, I don’t understand why you didn’t go to the hospital when you saw I wasn’t here.”

That threw her for a loop. Why hadn’t she gone to the hospital?

Apparently, Esadora was quiet for too long, because the nurse sighed and shook her head. “Exactly. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a few things to put away.”

“Then will you listen to me?”

“Then I’m going home, and I suggest you do the same.”

It was at this point that Esadora realized that this wasn’t the same nurse who’d treated her before, if that person had even been a nurse. She frowned, eyebrows furrowing. Now what was she supposed to do? She took a glance at the nurse, who seemed to be organizing something on her desk and sending wary looks at her. Esadora sighed and stalked out, knowing she wasn’t wanted here.

Thinking of how Ezra must’ve been worried, she pulled out a device she hadn’t used in a while - a runic phone. It functioned on magic that you would have to put in yourself, which Esadora had done before. But she hadn’t used it in such a long time; who knew if it would work now? Praying to whatever God existed above, she pressed the power button.

And it vibrated.

Her eyes widened, and she stared at it intently, waiting for the screen to turn on.

It didn’t.

Not for the whole minute that she stared at it. It just stayed the same frustrating black, taunting her. Her eye twitched, and before she could stop herself, she smacked it with her right hand, other hand keeping a firm hold on it lest she hit it hard enough to fly across the hall. It was a good, forceful smack that made the screen stutter from black to white at least a dozen times before the logo of a company appeared.

She let out a sigh of relief and propped her hip against the wall, waiting patiently for the phone to completely turn on. When it did, she went to her messages and immediately found that her and Ezra’s conversation had recent unread messages. She tapped on it.

Ezra
Where are you? I don’t see you at our usual spot.

Ezra
Where are you???
I’m really worried
Are you okay?

Esadora barely had time to type in a letter before the most annoying ringing blared from her phone. She struggled not to drop her phone and looked at it to see that Ezra was calling her. Letting out a sigh, she pressed the answer button.

“Esadora?”

“Hey,” she said, staring at the floor.

“Where have you been? I’ve been calling since school ended.”

Guilt made her stomach clench. “Sorry. I was at the nurse’s office.”

“What? Why? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just had some questions about my... condition.”

“Oh.” He paused for a second. "But you weren't at lunch. How long have you been there?"

“Uh… three hours, maybe.”

“Three hours? Seriously? Esa-”

She heard an irritating and familiar voice in the background. “Can we go, Ezra? If we don’t leave soon, we won’t be able to make it to our reservations.”

Ximena. Of course.

“Esadora, is it-”

“It’s fine, Ezra. Have fun on your date.” She hung up.

Just a second later, he tried to call back, but she shut down her phone and stuck it into her cloak, swiftly turning and stalking down the hall.

What a shitty day.

At home, Esadora was restless. She had no idea what to do, even though there were so many things she could. She’d tried going on the Internet, but there were too many reminders of her lack of magic for her to bear, so now she just sat on her bed, dwelling. On a normal day, she would’ve practiced a traditional spell or made up a new one. She might’ve even studied the core subjects. But it wasn’t a normal day. It would never be a normal day again.

Because her magic was gone, and she was turning into a vampire.

These two facts prevented her from focusing on anything she might've enjoyed, gnawing at her as if she could do something to change them. As if they were her fault.

But maybe it was her fault.

Maybe it was karma for looking down on everyone else. Maybe she was getting her just deserts. Maybe this wouldn't have been happening if she hadn't been such an asshole to some people.

Maybe you should just shut up, Esadora said to her mind.

Her mind didn't get to decide whether to shut up or not as the front door slammed open downstairs, and Esadora jumped to her feet. She heard a few voices, including her mother's, and hurried down the steps. What she saw when she came down stopped her.

Her mom stood with two tall men wearing blue button up shirts and black blazers over them, dark navy pants as well.

Her mom noticed her and smiled, stepping closer to her. “Ah, Esadora. These men from the Chamber's Investigation Department would like to speak with you.”