"I... What?" I stared at the man, confused. "I don't know what you're talking about. What spells? I don't know anything about--" Between my guilt at how I treated those women and the way Willmont was attacking me, I felt way off balance.
"Cut the bullshit," Willmont snapped and pounded his fist on the table. His dark eyes grew darker as he glared at me. I didn't miss the way Al leaned away from me, though I didn't blame him. This man might be much older than me, but he exuded an air of powerful menace that had me wishing I were back with the crazy women instead of here. "You're not immune to magic, like the Daughters of Respite. The spelled succubus pheromones affected you. So the only explanation why the spells to read your thoughts, track your location, and sense your emotions failed is because you counteracted them somehow. I want to know how."
"I don't know!" I told him. My heart started to pound as I watched him lift a stick off his desk and aim it at me. I'd seen enough Harry Potter films to recognize a wand. The tip started to glow, and I developed diarrhea of the mouth. "I really don't know! I don't know what spells were cast. I don't know any magic. I wouldn't have the first clue on how to protect myself or counteract them. I didn't even know spells were cast on me!"
I was proud of the fact that I didn't go running or try to hide. Sure, I was terrified, but I was also a little relieved, if I'm completely honest. If this guy wiped my mind, I wouldn't have to worry about how much I hurt Shayna and Elly. Hell, with my mind gone, I wouldn't even have to worry about myself.
But I was never one to roll over and just give up. Besides, not counting my recent behavior, I rather liked who I was and didn't want to lose that.
As those thoughts ran through my mind, I realized that I still had a mind to have thoughts. I saw Willmont's lips moving as he muttered something, and after a moment, the light went out on the wand. His shrewd eyes regarded me for a long moment as we sat in silence.
"What do you have around your neck?" He asked me in a tone that was more of a command than a question.
"My neck?" I asked, then remembered the pendant. I also remembered the conversation this morning and fished it out from under my shirt. The simple chain was short enough that I couldn't pull it off, and it didn't have a clasp to remove it."This? My mom gave this to me as a kid. She said it offered protection. I didn't think it was real, but I kept it on anyway."
Willmont set the wand down, then stood and walked around his large desk. When I stood as he approached, he waved me to remain seated. His weathered brown hand reached out for where I still held the medallion but halted a few inches away. He stood there for only a few seconds, muttering, before returning to his seat.
"It's very real," he informed me, his voice now sounded tired and worn. "I don't know where your mom got such a powerful artifact, and I don't know what it's fully capable of. Wear it always. Also, keep it hidden. Many would take it from you. I can't fully say they'd be wrong. But the truth is, some artifacts can't be stolen. They have to be given. I sense an affinity for love and affection in that. Perhaps that's a requirement."
"What can it do?" Al asked, speaking up for the first time since the focus moved to me. He shrank back into his chair when Willmont looked his way, but when the older Knight spoke, his rough voice held no rebuke.
"It offers some protections, I think." He leaned forward and regarded me over steepled fingers again. "It's not perfect, but from what I can tell, it's potent. I sense it protects your mind, but it doesn't protect your body. It would take some experimentation to discover, and I don't have the time nor the energy for that. I also suspect that it would be rather unpleasant for you."
"Thank you," I said, tucking the chain back under my shirt. Suddenly, it felt like I could breathe again, though I don't remember holding my breath.
Willmont heaved a hefty sigh, then typed something on his computer. A hologram of Al's and my faces popped up between us. Next to Al's image, a long string of text scrolled by. Mine barely showed anything.
"I still don't know how to score either of you," Willmont said, indicating the two images. "Knowing that you were being tested skewed the results. Not having all the information doesn't help." This time he pointed to my picture. "I believe you didn't intend to ruin everything, or else we'd be having a very different conversation, mental protection or not. Last night was already a big enough headache due to the number of new initiates. We usually have four or five, and it takes a small team to parse the data and provide me the results. We had nearly fifty last night. When there are
discrepancies
like you two, I have to determine how to handle it personally."
"Very sorry to cause you this problem," Al spoke up in a quiet voice. I nodded my agreement. I hadn't wanted to be a Knight, but it was still my best option for my future. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to be the best way to start out. Compound this with whatever creature I came into contact with last Wednesday, and my future looked dimmer and dimmer.
"Normally, we don't reveal all of this to you," Consul Willmont went on as though Al hadn't spoken. "I'm doing so to help you understand what you've done. This isn't the first time someone knew it was a test. Like I said before, we usually demote the Knight that revealed it, then analyze how the initiate handles the information. Do they spread the info, trying to garner favor? Do they hoard it and mock everyone else? Both of those shows poor decision-making on the new recruit. Initiate Mckay; you shared it with someone you viewed as an ally. Your thoughts showed that you weren't trying to be better than the others but wanted to help your friend. That's laudable."
It took me a moment to realize that Al's last name was Mckay, but I smiled at my friend when I did. Regardless of how this ended with me, I was glad he wouldn't end up in as much trouble.
"Some of your thoughts through the rest of the night weren't as favorable," the Knight continued. "Multiple times, you showed jealousy or didn't appreciate what Initiate Brody had to say." He paused and scrolled through the text associated with Al's hologram. "Here, you mentally cussed him out for pulling you from the dining hall. And here, you disagreed with his decision to avoid the pharmacy but kept quiet instead of speaking up. And finally here, near the end of the night--"
"Do we really need to go into that?" Al cut in, his cheeks turning even redder than his freckles made them.
"This is usually done with more privacy, but with these circumstances, I'm bending the rules," Willmont informed him in a tone that said, 'Do not interrupt me again.' "I'm sure Brody had some thoughts about you as well, but I don't have a record of them. Now then, as I was saying. At the end of the night, you showed jealousy not at the fact that he had two women and you only had one, but at how thick his cock was, compared to yours. You balanced that out with pride in how long yours is."
"I'm sorry, man," Al whispered to me, shaking his head, his expression mortified.
"Don't be," I whispered back, then lied. "I had the same thoughts, but in reverse." The truth is, I never noticed what he was packing. I turned back to the older Knight, wondering if that level of detail was truly necessary. I saw those shrewd brown eyes regarding us, then he nodded and typed something in. Was he trying to drive a wedge between us?
"I think the best way to continue from here is to go through the rest of the evening and let you know how you performed." Willmont scrolled to the top of the texts for both images, then focused on Al's. "This way, you'll understand where you both stand. After discussing things outside the first dance hall, you both entered and took stock of your surroundings. Brody, I appreciated what you said about the mental state of beautiful women. However, it was a bit reductive and stereotyped them. It also doesn't hold true for the women here."
I thought back over the conversation and remembered telling Al how beautiful women tended to be crazy, cheaters, or too self-serving. Of course, considering how fast the women fall in love, I'd have to say they were indeed crazy. I chose to keep my mouth shut, though.
"Neither one of you drank, though our files on both of you indicate that you're not averse to drinking alcohol. Even if one of you is underage." Willmont pulled two folders out from his desk, and I saw our names printed on the front. I suspected they had all of our information documented in them. I felt uncomfortable with how much info they had. I remembered the questions the lawyers asked me, coupled with the interrogation afterward. If they had all that, why perform this other test?
Because it allowed them to get our thoughts,
I realized, answering my own question. Last night's test let them see how we thought in a controlled environment.
"Mckay, your decision to move on was good, but so was Brody's caution. You two make a good team. Of course, it's a good thing that Guardian Mckay--your father--didn't give you any more advice. He already told you too much." Willmont's voice smoothed out as he spoke, though it never lost its rough edge. "Once in the hallway, you evaluated again and made a decision based on your stomach."
Willmont scrolled down, looking between the two images for a moment before he spoke again. "Your food choices don't make much of a difference, but you chose to waste food. Care to explain, Initiate Brody? You were the one to abandon that room. The women were attractive, and the food was delicious."
I looked at Al as I remembered the situation. Taking a moment to think back, I told him, "Both were good, but... I prefer to get to know a woman better, and she was a bit too forward for my tastes. If she were willing to kiss me like that before even getting my name, I wasn't interested. Who else had she been with?"
