The cafeteria was a huge mess with a large hole through one of the walls and trays with cold food scattered all over the place, due to the interruption during lunch. No one had really begun cleaning the cafeteria yet, but it certainly wasn’t the only part of the school that had been left a mess.

My friends and I had cleared off one of the tables so we had a placed where we could all sit and talk. And after everything that had just happened, we had a lot to talk about.

It had been six hours since the invaders had been defeated. Half an hour after that, the students and faculty who’d been taken out by Gregor’s sleeping spell all began waking up again. They’d all been shocked to see the wreckage around them and discover what they’d missed.

The one thing that had spread around the school even faster than the details of the invasion was news of Amylia’s hybrid status, though most people still didn’t know about her relationship to Gregor or me. I had no idea if that would change, or what I would do if it did.

“I still can’t believe Amylia is a Were,” Kimberly said with a shake of her head. “I mean, she’s been teaching here for like a century and no one knew…”

“I knew,” I pointed out with a faint smile. I’d already told my friends absolutely everything about both my relationship to Amylia and to Gregor. It had been nice to finally get that out in the open, at least with my friends.

“I can’t believe she’s your grandma,” Todd pointed out with a shake of his head. “I know you told me you found a new relative, but I never would have guessed it was a teacher here…”

“She’s our grandma too,” Darek commented with an amused look, gesturing to Traci, Kaylie, Jake, and Trey. “Of course, there’s about a half dozen greats in there…”

“It’s pretty fucking weird,” Jake commented, giving Kaylie’s hand a gentle squeeze. “But kind of cool too. I mean, how many people can actually talk to their own ancestors like that?”

“Anyone descended from a sorcerer,” Sylvie pointed out with a grin. She gestured to Todd and added, “Our great grandpa’s brother is a sorcerer so he’s still around. I mean, he doesn’t even look like he’s thirty yet.”

While we talked, I watched how Traci and Eve kept looking at each other. I had to hold back a smirk as it was obvious that they were both interested in each other, though neither seemed ready to admit it.

“What’s it like turning into a satyr?” Eve asked her curiously. Then she grinned almost evilly, and have you ever been able to use that THING?”

“Only once,” Traci admitted with a bright blush, glancing to me which made me blush as well.

Traci and Eve continued talking to each other, almost seeming to forget that anyone else was here. However, they weren’t my only friends who seemed to have become interested in each other.

Trey sat there with a worried look on his face before finally asking me, “Is Monica going to be all right?” He paused and added, “She looked pretty broken up.”

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly, feeling bad for her. “I mean, her brother just died in her arms after saving her life…”

Jake snorted. “Her brother was a total asshole, but I do feel sorry for her.”

Then I noticed Amylia coming into the cafeteria, using a cane as she slowly made her way towards us. Gayle had saved her life with that magic sword…Excalibur…the real Excalibur from sword and legend. Afterwards, the school nurse Mrs. Reveine had used some healing spells on Amylia as well. However, Amylia still wasn’t fully recovered and it would take a few more days of natural rest and healing to finish that.

“How are you all holding up?” Amylia asked us all with a gentle smile.

“We’re doing all right,” I answered while the others nodded.

“I’m grateful for the tour and all,” Traci said awkwardly, “But when do you think we’ll be able to go home? I mean, my parents are probably freaking out that I disappeared again.”

Amylia sighed and told her, “I’m sorry for bringing you all here without warning…especially into such a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, it was the only way I could think to save Erin at the time…”

“I don’t mind that,” Darek said with a shrug. “But we do have to go back home.”

“It won’t be much longer,” Amylia explained with a sigh. “We’re just getting things organized enough to make it possible. Arita…Professor Roangard needs to arrange for you all to be able to pass through the gates. Normally, certain protections on the system only allow Touched to use them so we need to take care of that before we can take you through.”

“But how long?” Darek asked calmly.

“Probably another hour or two,” Amylia told him with a sigh. “Then we’ll get you all as close to your homes as we can.”

“We appreciate it,” Trey told her with a smile.

Sylvie gave Amylia a speculative look before asking the question that we were all thinking. “So, what’s going to happen with the assholes who attacked us?”

Amylia hesitated for a moment before answering, “I’m not supposed to tell the students this yet, but I think you all deserve to know.” She scowled and said, “As you know, the Touched have no organized government. We have no police force or prisons. Our only real option is to deal with this ourselves.”

“You’re gonna kill them,” Sylvie said with a look of anger.

“No,” Amylia quickly responded. “We are teachers, not executioners. And this is a school, not a prison, so we certainly can’t hold them here indefinitely. But we can’t just let them go either, not when they may attempt something like this again.” Her expression turned to one of cold anger as she stated, “We are going to make sure that not only do they never try something like this again, but we’re going to make an example so that no one else does either.”

“Shit,” Eve exclaimed, leaning forward with a look of intense interest. The rest of us shared her curiosity as well as we all watched Amylia curiously. “What are you going to do?”

“Some parents and sponsors came as soon as they heard what happened,” Amylia answered carefully, giving a faint smile that was not a nice one. “Gayle’s sponsor suggested the solution that we agreed on. We’re going to place a curse on them based off Gayle’s sorcerers mark, then let them go.”

“You’re going to give them sex changes?” I asked in surprise, wondering how that was going to stop them from doing something like this again. Instead, I imagine it would just piss them off even more.

“No,” Amylia responded. “We’re giving them allergies to magic, but instead of changing sex when it activates, it will trigger severe nausea and even pain, leaving them helpless to do any harm. If they become exposed to too much magic, it can even kill them. None of them will even be able to do so much as use their talents again without activating the effect. It will also activate if they ever get within ten miles of the Academy.” She had a dark expression on her face as she added, “None of them will ever be able to use magic again, and even attempting to break the curse will trigger it enough to kill them first.”

“Holy shit,” Eve exclaimed. “That’s nasty.”

“Yeah,” Sylvie agreed with an evil grin. “But I like it.”

Kimberly gave a visible wince. “Ouch.”

“It will take a few days to finish designing and casting the curse,” Amylia admitted. “Gayle’s sponsor is working with Professor Roangard on that.”

“But what about Gregor?” I asked quietly, knowing there was no way he was going to get off that easily.

“Gregor’s situation is different,” Amylia answered, chuckling faintly. I felt a faint chill up my spine as I saw that look of satisfaction on her face. “Gregor is nearly healed from all his injuries already, but that doesn’t matter. You see, he still hasn’t changed back to his human form…and it looks like he never will.”

“WHAT?” I gasped in surprise.

“Gregor isn’t a Were,” Amylia explained with a grim satisfaction. “He doesn’t have the ability to transform back and forth. When he used a blood link to copy Conrad’s Were form to himself, got the troll form…but not the Were nature to transform. It appears that what Gregor intended to be a temporary transformation has instead become permanent. He’ll be stuck as a troll for the rest of his life.”

“Holy shit,” Sylvie exclaimed.

“Fucking bastard deserves it” Jake added with a smug look. “He’ll never be able to show his face in public again.”

“Yeah,” Traci agreed with a smirk of her own. “And once you put that curse on him…”

“We won’t be putting that curse on Gregor,” Amylia responded. “There will be no need. You see…we’ve already tested Gregor and found that as a Troll, he can no longer draw enough magic to cast a single spell. “At most, he may be able to use his talent…but nothing more.”

“I’m still surprised that you’d even think of letting him go,” I pointed out. “I mean, after what he did…”

“Oh, we aren’t letting Gregor go,” Amylia told me. “He led this invasion, so we all agree that he deserves a special punishment. Professor Roangard knows of a small island that would be just large enough to permanently imprison a single troll. Gregor will spend the rest of his days there.”

“Damn,” Trey gasped. “I can’t say he doesn’t deserve it, but doesn’t that sound like cruel and unusual punishment?”

“The Touched don’t have a government or law enforcement,” Amylia reminded him. “It’s up to us to deal with our own problems. We try to encourage self-reliance at the Academy because of that.”

Kimberly nodded faintly and then abruptly asked Amylia, “Are you really Erin’s grandma?”

“Yes,” Amylia answered, actually sounding proud. “These are all my grandchildren…a few generations removed.” She gestured to the group of mythics that she’d summoned with her spell. “After going so long without family, it is strange but pleasant to suddenly have so many. I look forward to getting to know you and my other descendants better.”

“I can’t imagine what that would be like,” Todd commented with a shake of his head.

Amylia just smiled and then looked straight at me. “I am very proud of how you handled yourself.” Then she looked at her other descendants and added, “I’m proud of how all of you did.”

“Not like I did much,” Trey muttered in annoyance. Then he joked, “Just promise me that next time, we fight the bad guys around the water.”

A minute later, Amylia left us to go return to her responsibilities of helping restore the Academy to order, and to expedite the return of her descendants to their homes. It was strange though, that even being injured and exhausted, she somehow seemed to have an extra spring in her step.

“So,” Eve abruptly announced, looking straight at Traci. “We have a really nice little lake out behind the school with a nice view. You want to see it before you have to go?”

Traci blushed a little and then grinned, “Yeah…I think I’d like that.”

“I think I’m going to go look for Monica,” Trey said hesitantly. “She looked really rough and I feel for her…”

“I’ll show you where her dorm room is,” Kimberly volunteered.

Traci and Eve wandered off together as did Kimberly and Trey. Jake and Kaylie watched and then grinned at each other.

“We’re going to explore a little,” Kaylie said with a grin, grabbing Jakes arm and giggling. “We’ll probably never get to come here again so I won’t want to waste an opportunity to see the sights…”

“I’ll come too,” Darek said. “Since Erin says we’re on an island, I want to go see the beach…”

“I’ll play tour guide if you’d like,” Sylvie said with a shrug. “It’s not like I’ve got anything else to do until they get the school fixed up. Besides, you can tell me all about how you guys escaped from Gregor. I’m pretty sure Erin left out some details…”

Once Todd and I were alone, I gave him a kiss and then told him, “You were so brave out there…”

“So were you,” he protested. “And you did a lot more than I could…”

“Maybe,” I responded with a grin. “But you kicked Tyler’s ass to save me… I think you deserve a BIG reward…” Then I gave him another kiss and mused, “I always wondered what I’d look like in my enhanced form, using my mom’s talent…” I grinned at that and then whispered into his ear, “Want to come to my room and find out?”

“Do you really need to ask?” Todd asked with a grin as the two of us got up and started for the dorms. “I’ll tell you, this has really been one hell of a day…”