The long winding hallway to the headmaster’s office was filled with portraits of previous students with the highest accolades. There were warriors, inventors, politicians and several other experts in their fields. Noah could feel the cold gaze of his mother’s portrait on his back.

Barely any students passed by this part of the building. Only the muffled footsteps on the red carpet could be heard. It was silent, well as silent as it could be with a demon laughing in his head.

“Can you quiet down?” Noah muttered under his breath.

Professor Angharad turned towards him with a raised eyebrow before he narrowed his eyes in distaste, “Are you communicating with the demon, Mr. von Vinter?”

“Of course not, professor,” Noah answered calmly. He wasn’t stupid enough to tell such information to someone who just tried to murder him a couple of minutes ago. After all, talking with the demon meant their bond was stronger than expected. “I was just thinking how loudly you’re breathing. It might be good if you learned how to breathe through your nose instead of your mouth, sir.” Noah smiled innocently.

Since he was already in trouble, he might as well dig a deeper hole for his grave and make sure no one ever finds his body.

Angharad rolled his eyes but kept walking. “Come along.”

“Yes, sir.”

Much to Noah’s amusement, the professor stopped breathing through his mouth. He didn’t expect for his words to be taken seriously.

“What a tongue you have on you,” the demon said, voice full of mirth. “You may speak to me through your mind, little one, lest people think you’re insane.”

“Oh dear, thanks so much for the help,” Noah thought drily. “I wouldn’t have figured that out myself if you hadn’t pointed it out.”

“You’re welcome,” was the equally dry reply. “Tell me, are you royalty?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Curiousity, and you called the other humans peasants.”

“I’m not,” Noah replied tersely. However, considering the business empire his mother built, he might as well be one himself. They were considered wealthier than several royal families combined. Once he’s married to Carmela, he’d be part of the royal family too.

“A peasant calling other peasants, peasants. How amusing.”

Before Noah could retort back, he was jolted forward by Angharad. “Stop spacing out, we’re here.”

A large mahogany door carved with lilies loomed over Noah. Professor Angharad swiped a silver ring across the two golden koi fishes decorating the door handles. With a soft click, the door opened and a spacious elevator with a bronze mirror as walls greeted them.

Noah shuffled inside and waited as the doors closed and they were pulled up to the highest floor of the tower. With a soft ding, the door opened before Noah could even mentally brace himself. He stepped foot into the headmasters’ office for the first time.

The room was a large space with tall dark green walls trimmed with golden accents. Various red carpets were placed haphazardly on the dark wooden floor. In the middle of the room was a plush sofa and a recliner facing each other. In between them was a low coffee table matching the dark wooden floors and on the surface of that table, was a bouquet of glass flowers, crystals and books piled on top of each other.

Then there was a desk filled with neatly stacked papers and an old gentleman sitting behind it writing with a feathered quill.

Headmaster Adams looked like a strict man, a bear with salt and pepper hair and the magic power of a hundred men. He was a general in the royal army of Ruxuria before he retired from army life at the age of 40 and became a professor at Nymphaea. It didn’t take long before he was eventually promoted to become the headmaster of the prestigious academy.

He was known as a bit of an odd man who loved collecting equally odd things that may or may not explode if touched. His bookshelf and walls were decorated with relics from his travels leading the royal army of Ruxuria against the people of Denebola, who were well known for playing around with various types of magic and curses.

Noah eyed the mummified hand warily.

“Fascinating,” the demon whispered.

“Mr. von Vinter,” the deep voice of Headmaster Adams said. “Welcome to my office. I believe this is your first time here?” The man gestured at the plush brown seats in front of his desk, the golden cufflinks on his dark shirt glinted in the light.

“Yes sir,” Noah said warily and took a seat on the sofa.

Despite his circumstances, Noah was a good student. Some would even say he was one of the best. There was never a reason for him to be called to the headmaster’s office. He had hoped, that the first time he would be called to meet the headmaster face to face, was because he would be the valedictorian of his year. Of course, that was a dream he would never achieve. He knew exactly who the top student was in Nymphaea and it wasn’t him.

“You know why you’re here, correct?” Headmaster Adams said.

“I would assume it’s because I summoned a demon,” Noah replied politely. A gentlemanly mask slipped on his face easily.

He could see Angharad roll his eyes on the recliner across from him. “What a fake smile,” he muttered.

“Perfect, then you’re aware we are required to kill you on sight. Tell me, does the demon talk to you?”

“No, sir.”

“You are a filthy little liar, Noah von Vinter,” the demon whispered with a chuckle.

“He’s lying,” Angharad said. “The demon was powerful enough to produce blue fire. Blue! That demon is one of the–”

“Professor, that's enough,” Headmaster Adams said. “We must not make assumptions.”

“Assumptions? What assumptions? It’s as clear as day!”

“Mr. von Vinter is still a student of Nymphaea, we must talk to his parents before we do anything drastic.”

Headmaster Adams retrieved a crystal ball as large as Noah’s head from his desk cabinet. After pushing aside some papers, he placed it in the middle of the table. A silver coin with a delicately etched seven pointed star on it was pushed into the crystal ball. The coin floated in the middle before it spun around rapidly and released dark blue smoke. It lit up and the crystal ball showed a woman behind a desk.

“Yes, what is it?” The sound of the clear voice left a bitter taste in Noah’s mouth.

In the crystal ball, a woman was shown looking at several papers in front of her. She had dark blond hair, tan skin, amber eyes and an elegant air that screamed no nonsense. Her resemblance to Noah was uncanny.

He was often called a male version of his mother, pleasing to the eyes and grating to the soul. They were both prideful and stubborn individuals said to have poisonous tongues. It was a comparison Noah hated the most. He could only blame his past self for getting such comparisons. Back when he was young, he looked up to his mother and captured her mannerisms in his naivety. He wanted to be like her when he grew up. The way he sat, the way he walked and the way he tilted his head were all a mimicry of her, one of the most powerful women on the planet who built a business empire from nothing.

Noelle von Vinter’s hands did not stop writing as she waited for them to answer her question.

“Lady von Vinter,” Headmaster Adams said in greeting.

“I see Noah finally got himself in trouble,” she said distractedly while flipping through the papers in front of her. “What happened?”

Noah looked to the side and bit his tongue with the back of his teeth.

“Your son summoned a demon as his spirit guide,” the headmaster said, straight to the point. He knew the baroness did not appreciate small talk.

The writing stopped. The click of her quill was audible as she put a cap over it and placed it down on the table. Noelle von Vinter gave the crystal ball her full attention. “Care to repeat that?”

“He summoned a demon. You know what that means, right?”

“Yes, I know.” Noelle took a deep breath and stared Noah dead in the eyes.

Cold sweat ran down the back of his neck at her gaze. He gulped.

The crystal ball shook as his mother’s voice filled the room with anger. “Noah von Vinter, are you out of your mind?! Do you want to die this badly? You come home right this instant and face punishment!”

“Mother I–”

“Don’t “Mother” me! Do you know how this will look upon our family?! My son is colluding with demons!”

“I’m not colluding with demons, mother!”

“Don’t talk back to me!”

Noah looked down meekly.

A cough interrupted their argument and the headmaster smiled placatingly, “I’m afraid we can’t let Mr. von Vinter out of the academy to return home. It is the law to kill demon summoners on sight.”