Chapter 7

Daniela

“You fucking bitch!”

I rolled my eyes, “I’m just saying if all these legends are true then Teen Wolf would be classified as non-fiction.”

“Absolutely not! Do not compare my boyfriend to those dumbass mother fuckers.”

I put my hands up in surrender, “I’m not saying he’s like them in terms of personality, just in terms of qualities.”

“What does that even mean?!”

“It means I wanna know if he has glowy eyes and a hairy man form, oh and on a scale of 1 to 10 how horny would you say he is?”

Holland’s face turned bright red with fury or embarrassment was anyone’s guess. “First off, that is none of your fucking buisiness, and second off no.”

“To which part? All of it? Because I’m a hundred percent sure I saw the glowy eyes.”

“It’s not the same, it’s because of the magic flowing through his body. All of our eyes can glow, but it’s really just magic built up on the surface of the body, not some internal glow, or night vision thing.”

“You have clearly never seen Teen Wolf.”

“Because it’s garbage. All that TV stuff liquefies brains, that’s why all you kids are so insufferable.”

“Okay Grandpa,” I rolled my eyes.

He huffed, “at least I’m not insufferable.”

“Fuck you,” I growled.

Holland refused to acknowledge me, his eyes locked on the road ahead of him. He was taking us to the headquarters of the illusive “Citadel” which sounded made up to me. Apparently, Serena’s brother was in charge of deciding my fate, which pissed me the fuck off. Holland could not stop reminding me that my life was in the hands of some people I didn’t even know, some organization I didn’t even know existed until three days ago when I woke up imprisoned, cursed to spend time with a witch who hated me and a girl who was trying to control me. 

Silas had yet to wrong me and Val, well he seemed so neutral it was almost scary. I had yet to see him get angry at me no matter how much I poked and prodded. The most emotion he’d shown was when he blew up at me that first day I woke up. Clearly him and Serena had some history. 

The few days I’ve been with them I can tell Val cares about her, not that he doesn’t care about the others, but it’s different. He always made sure she had enough food, took her medicine, and attended to her needs even when she didn’t ask. Not to mention, there was a comfortability, a fatherly warmth, but the two didn't resemble each other at all and for all the talk about Serena’s brother no one said anything about Val being her dad. 

Whatever, I wasn’t going to think about it too hard, when I really didn’t care all that much, especially in the face of my possible execution. Fuck that. I don’t care what Serena’s oh so mighty brother has to say. I’m going to live. I don’t need anyone’s permission.

“So how do they decide whether or not my life should continue? Do I even get to plead my case?”

“No,” Holland replied shortly. 

“So he’s going to take one look at me and decide if I’m worthy to continue living, based on his holy observations.”

“Holland sighed. It’s not ‘holy observation’ , it's a completely logical process.”

I glared at him, but his eyes still wouldn’t leave the road. “Enlighten me oh wise one.”

“I suspect they will assess your magic, determine its nature and if it can be contained, should you lose control. If Anthony deems you to be a threat, I assume you’ll be executed.”

“What am I? Some terminator, for you to decide my worth to you? I’m a human being, not a fucking tool.”

Holland sighed, but didn’t respond. That was enough of an answer for me. “You’re all monsters. You keep saying I’m a monster but at least I wouldn’t kill you simply because I don’t agree with you. I may think you are the biggest asshole on the planet, but I would never kill you.”

“I don’t make the rules. I just follow them.”

“Well maybe you should exercise some of the free will you’ve been so graciously blessed with.”

Holland wrenched his eyes off the road, piercing me with a haunted look. “I don’t have the power to do that. Even if I did, the prize isn’t worth the cost. The rules exist for a reason, to keep us safe, to keep everyone I love safe and I’m not sacrificing that for you.”

I didn’t have a response. The fear and slight shake in Holland’s voice made goosebumps run across my body. What the hell is going on? “I thought you were supposed to be the good guys.”

“There are no good guys.” My stomach began twisting itself into knots as he spoke. “Sure Citadel protects the world from chaos, or whatever it is they claim, and I mean we do good. We help people, but it’s not a completely moral organization.”

“Fuck, why did this have to happen to me?”

“I wonder the same thing. I would be just as happy as you if you could just go back to your human life, but that’s not our reality anymore. You have magic wether you like it or not, so you can either accept your new reality and make the best of it or you can keep pouting and be miserable for all I care, just stay the fuck away from my team.”

My anger boiled again. “I don’t want to be with your stupid team anyways.”

“Then we finally agree on something.”

The car slipped into bitter silence as it droned down the lifeless dirt road, and the ride remained just as lifeless until Holland pulled the car to a stop at the end of the road. On every side of us there was nothing but vast forests with jutting rock structures, not a single thing in sight. 

“I think you might’ve taken a wrong turn.”

Holland glared at me before opening his door and walking forward towards the vast forest that lay ahead of the parked car. I went to follow suit, unclipping my seatbelt, when Holland held up a hand, stilling my advance. I was inclined to not listen to his commands because he was not in charge of me, but he spoke up. “We’re about to get back in the car in a second, just hold on.”

I slumped back into my seat, crossing my arms and observing Holland. His head was bowed, his eyes closed and he seemed to be mumbling something under his breath. God these people really are psychotic. That’s when something started to change, gray spots began to appear in my vision and I shook my head trying to clear the haze, but the shapes kept growing. The seemingly incoherent blobs bled together and formed sharp details and lines. A stone structure formed right before my eyes. A huge building which replaced the vast forests. Its design was simple, rectangular shapes stacked on top of each other to create something like a fortress.

My jaw dropped as Holland returned to the car and drove us through a steel gate and into a parking lot at the back of the building. “You’re drooling.”

I snapped my mouth shut and glared at Holland, but he was already pushing his door open. I quickly opened mine and rushed around the front of the car to meet him. “Still think magic isn’t real.”

That wasn’t necessarily true. I didn’t completely disbelieve in magic, but I wasn’t convinced it was real either. I had seen some weird stuff during my time in Holland’s house, or I guess the team’s house, or whatever they were called. All that stuff though, I could easily explain it away, a floating milk cartoon here and a glowing set of eyes there, it could easily be some sort of trick. The one thing that had me thinking magic might just be real was my memories. I remembered killing those people, that inhuman strength, the wings, that wasn’t normal, but was it magic? I couldn’t say. 

And Serena, whatever she was doing, maybe I was making a bigger deal out of something that wasn’t there, but I sure as hell felt it, I felt that calm, so maybe magic was real. If nothing else, I think the huge stone building that appeared out of thin air proved it was definitely a distinct possibility.

“I never totally dismissed the possibility.”

“Whatever, you called us psychos.”

I shrugged, “you guys kind of are, and I don’t think it’s just the magic.”

Holland shot daggers at me before turning on his heels and heading towards the building. I begrudgingly followed him to a set of stone stairs which lead to a door straight out of the medieval times. It was tall and made of dark stained wood, and the handle was a dark metal ring. Holland tugged on the door and motioned me inside. 

When I passed the threshold I had to try hard to not let my jaw hit the floor again. The door opened to a huge room with towering ceilings and luxurious glass chandeliers. The floor was painted with intricate circular designs painted with black and a rich emerald. The walls were painted in a charcoal gray, which might have been drab if it wasn’t for the cascading waves of sunlight pouring in from a grand window that covered the whole ceiling. The place exuded elegance, and seemed to stern for the whimsical, magical headquarters of the “ghost police” as Silas called it.

As breathtaking as it was, it was stuffy and quiet. The area was filled with just a few bodies, almost all of them wearing pristine suits and speaking in hushed tones with the people beside them. In the center of the room was a muted green desk with a shriveled woman sitting behind it. 

She was ancient, her facial features sunken into a sea of wrinkles. She had seemingly shrunk to the size of a dwarf in her old age and her nonexistent hair was definitely pulled into a semblance of a french twist. She looked at me with disgust as we made our way to the desk. 

“Silvia, we should have an appointment upstairs with the doctor.”

She gazed at Holland with milky white eyes that looked like they saw everything despite their color, then she turned her haunting eyes to a clipboard on the desk. She didn’t say a single word, just nodded and motioned Holland to the grand staircase adorned with gold at the back of the room.

Holland followed the path of her hand and began climbing the stairs. I trailed behind him, following him up the stairs and through hallways until we reached the desired destination. The door we stopped at was painted a rich maroon and had golden handles, and the window which opened up in the middle revealed a severely contrasting room on the other side. 

The room was a stark white and it smelled sterile, like a doctor’s office. I guess Holland did say I had an appointment with “the doctor”. We walked up to the reception desk which sat just on the other side of the door. The man sitting at the desk had shaggy orange hair and his cheeks were adorned with a light dusting of freckles. He beamed at us when we reached him. “Holland, it’s good to see you, and I see you brought a newcomer.”

“Maybe not for long,” Holland mumbled, but clearly the guy heard him because he looked my way, frowning slightly. 

“Well you never know,” he shrugged. “Why don’t I get you all checked in. I’ll just need you to fill out this form.” He handed me a clipboard filled with a thin packet of papers. “You can have a seat anywhere you’d like.”

The man’s bright smile and bubbly demeanor were comforting, but it didn’t help settle my anger. I still had no idea what was going on, and he wasn’t helping either. Everything was so cryptic and it was getting old. “Mind telling me what we’re here for? I doubt it’s a routine check up.”

Holland sighed exasperatedly, “Like I said, I think it’s a magic assessment.”

“Great, and how does that work?”

The receptionist piped up, “don’t worry it’s a routine procedure. It’s fast and painless. The doctor will just send his magic out and it will encase your body in order to catalogue magic potential, type, and a plethora of other useful information.”

“Oh joy,” I said sarcastically. Holland responded with a glare, but the receptionist only gave a lighthearted laugh.

“I guess you’re really new to this.”

“Yeah, so new she called all of us psychos when we suggested magic existed.”

The receptionist laughed harder, much to Holland’s chagrin. “In your case Holland, I wouldn’t say she’s far off.”

A smile spread across my face. I think I liked this guy.

“Shut up Oz,” but he just kept on laughing.

“Don’t worry,” he turned his kind gaze on me. “You’ll get used to it,” he shrugged like my life hadn’t been turned upside down. “Besides, Val’s team is one of the best.” I found that hard to believe considering how much of an ass Holland is and Serena’s fucked up magic, the other two I have yet to find a substantial problem with, but I’m sure time will reveal it.

I turned my attention back to the forms, jotting down all the basics - my name, medical history, and a depression screening - then all the unusual information - some weird questions about magic depletion and even more about diseases I had never heard of like ‘faery pox’. Once I had completed all the necessary paperwork I returned it to the desk. 

“Thank you. The doctor should be with you shortly.” A weird statement considering the place looked like a ghost town. I was convinced a tumbleweed would come careening through the waiting area any second now.

I reclaimed my seat next to Holland who couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge my presence and we sat there, in silence. I didn’t even have my phone. It had been gone since the whole, cult, dying, magic resurrection thing. I asked for a new one, but Holland just grumbled about the “stupid phones” and everyone else mostly ignored me. Although Val said he’d figure it out. He has yet to do that and considering I’ve been embarking on a day-long journey with my least favorite person it would’ve been nice to have one. 

Luckily, I really didn’t have to wait too long. There was maybe a minute or two of strained silence before a tanned asian man in a lab coat came strutting out of the hallway which I assumed led to examination rooms and whatever else they needed. 

“Daniela Agnelli, I assume.”

“That’s me,” I hopped up, eager to escape Holland, but he popped up too. I glared at him, but he seemed unphased. 

“Go ahead and follow me and we’ll get this procedure over with and you can go about your day.”

I followed the doctor back into the hallway which, just as I expected, held numbered doors with whiteboards, some of which were adorned with patient names. I guess the place wasn’t as abandoned as it seemed, and there were some patients here. 

We continued down the hallway until we reached a door that had already been propped open, waiting for our arrival. “Head on in and we’ll go ahead and get started.”

I made my way into the room and sat on the table, which crinkled with the sterile paper they always laid on top. “I’m Doctor Lee and I’ll be administering your magic examination. If you feel comfortable, I’ll go ahead and begin. You’ll feel my magic wash over you, don’t resist it. Just relax.”