Page 85 of Group Studies

I bit my lips shut and studied the potions. They didn’t look charged, though the potions only really glowed at first. The magic settled and slowly decayed until the liquid either went bad or needed another charge.

“I’m sorry, that’s all we were able to recover,” Officer Keres continued. “I’m surprised, honestly. We found very little spell work in your apartment. No records of your birth or any of Damon’s relations.”

I tried to pull on my absent braid, and ended up just rubbing my chest, unsure what he wanted from me.

“Do you know why Damon had you?” He asked. “Or how he got you?”

I rocked in my seat, only recently considering there was more to my past than Damon.

“Do you know who your parents were?”

I shrugged and wished I had Alice's hoodie. “Damon.”

Officer Keres looked at me sadly. “No, Aphrodite. Who gave birth to you? You’re not related to Damon by blood.” Officer Keres eyebrows furrowed. “Your DNA-”

“The science of who we are,” Doctor Roy cut in. “Everyone has a unique blueprint making them who they are.”

I nodded to show I understood.

Doctor Roy scowled at Officer Keres. “Tread carefully, Officer Keres.”

Officer Keres frowned. “Bits of your blueprints are more unique than the average mage.”

He waited for me to say something, but everything I knew about DNA I literally just learned. “So science says I’m different? Didn’t we already know that?”

Director Flemmings chuckled. I let out a frustrated breath, unsure what I was missing here.

“It doesn’t match a single human or mage in our database.” Officer Keres leaned toward me with narrowed eyes.

I shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t understand.”

“It means there’s no way we can help you locate your birth family,” Doctor Roy cut in before Officer Keres spoke again.

I swallowed. My birth family. My heart ached to know there’d been more than Damon. But the pain in both Beryl and Professor Garnet’s eyes when they talked about their family super imposed itself over my thoughts. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. I wanted my past to stay behind me, I was forging my own future.

“Aphrodite, you had to come from somewhere,” Officer Keres continued, waving in my face to get my attention. “Damon either bought you or kidnapped you. Can you remember anything which might help us? A toy? A birthmark? A sound or a smell even? Did you always have crystal rims?”

I tried to pull on my missing braid. “Ah, I’ve always had power. I don’t remember a traumatic gaining of magic, at least. My eyes have always looked like this.”

I tried to remember back as far as I could.

Flashes of sitting on Damon’s lap while he taught me to read were followed by the intense smell of his aftershave. As a toddler, I’d dumped it all over myself, I don’t remember why, but I’d laughed and laughed. A memory from even before that rose to the surface. The sound of Damon’s rough chuckles accompanied my wailing toddler lungs. I’d taken a tumble trying to get up on our couch alone for the first time. I’d only been in diapers. Our life together.

I thought I’d been so happy. Tears dripped onto the back of my hand. I cupped my cheeks, rubbing the salty liquid away.

Director Flemmings cleared her throat. “Maybe that’s enough for today.”

Officer Keres reached out to me, but pulled back, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. “This must be an emotional moment for you. If you think of anything, tell Ashe or Doctor Roy.” He studied me for a moment. “I’ll have Ashe take you back to your room. You’re excused from Illusions and Puzzles but still expected in the rest of your classes today.”

I scrubbed the tears off my face, trying to rub away my memories.

A numbness settled on my shoulders. I existed to follow directions and did so, signing where they told me as I placed my items back in the box. Ashe picked it up and I followed him, the world blurring as I struggled.

My room was so quiet as I arranged the potions on my workstation. Damon’s leather bound tombs found a home on the table in front of the couch where I didn’t touch them again. I reorganized my bookbag, stacking up the duplicate books I now needed to return to the library.

Alice. I still hadn’t made any headway on replacing her hoodie.

I didn’t realize I’d stopped moving and started crying until Ashe pulled me into his t-shirt covered chest. The anger and mistrust I directed at him vanished. I wrapped my arms around his toned waist and let myself bawl against his shirt. Stress, sorrow, and confusion poured out of me.

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