Page 70 of The Seducer
“What did Magni do to make the torture stop?” Athena asked.
“One night, Johnson was torturing me again, and Magni kicked the door in and started beating him up.”
Athena wrinkled her forehead, messing up the beautiful design of her tattoos. “Isn’t Magni younger than you? How could he beat up a teacher when he was just a child?”
I played with the bedsheets, trying to explain. “Magni wasn’t a normal kid, Athena. First of all, he was huge for his age. Secondly, he had been taught by his father since he was four years old – Marcus Aurelius was a superior fighter himself, and from what I know, he pushed Magni and Khan beyond belief to make them both phenomenal fighters.”
“But you said that it was you who killed the teacher.”
“Yes. Magni pulled him off me and knocked him to the ground, but after that, I was the one who went berserk and kicked his head in.”
Athena grimaced.
“I know it sounds horrible, but if you knew the amount of abuse I took from that man, you wouldn’t feel sorry for him,” I defended myself and sighed. “Students suffered and even died because of him.”
“Oh, no, that’s horrible.” Athena reached out for me and I looked down at her hand on top of mine. “How could a man like that be allowed to work with children?”
I shrugged. “Beats me. But I’ll never forget what Magni did for me that day. He could have looked the other way like everyone else did. After all, he didn’t suffer the abuse himself, and like I said, he and I weren’t friends at the time.”
Athena stroked my hand, listening with her full attention.
“It wasn’t just that he burst through the door and pulled the monster off me, but he also took the blame for Johnson’s murder.”
“Why?” she whispered.
“Because if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be alive today. Even in the Northlands, beating a man to death is no joke.”
“But he was torturing you – couldn’t you have claimed your right to defend yourself?”
“Maybe, but it would’ve been my word against a dead man’s, and chances are that the other mentors would have wanted to set an example to make sure no other students got the same idea.”
Drying away a tear, Athena whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m horrified that this happened to you. You and Magni were only children back then. I can’t even imagine. For a man like that to be allowed close to children, it’s so wrong!”
“The only good thing that came out of it was a heightened awareness on abuse in schools. Magni told everything to his father and Marcus took the opportunity to announce his son’s heroism in public, and underline his revulsion for all pedophiles. After that, new laws to protect students were put in place.” My lips pursed upward. “The law was even named after Magni, which he didn’t like at all.”
Athena’s voice cracked a little. “You said your mentor was a pedophile; does that mean he molested you?”
I looked away, hating this part of the story the most. “There were other boys who were raped by him. I was lucky that Magni saved me from that part. Throughout the years, the man would touch me in ways that made me feel dirty. His main thing was sadism though. He was very creative when it came to finding ways of humiliating his victims. A true mastermind at inflicting physical and mental pain.” I scratched my neck and heaved my chest in a deep sigh. “I shouldn’t have told you all this.”
“No, I’m happy you did,” Athena swallowed hard and dried another of her tears away.
“I just wanted you to see that some people are evil and unworthy of living. Maybe now you understand why I’m defensive of Magni.”
Athena took my words in but didn’t respond.
“You can’t tell anyone though,” I pointed out. “My name was kept out of it back then, and I don’t want anyone to know about it,ever!”
Athena angled her head. “But it wasn’t your fault that he abused you.”
“I know, but it’s not something I like to think about, or talk about for that matter.”
“What about you and Magni? Do you at least talk about it with him?”
I pulled at my earlobe and gave a long deep exhale. “Magni isn’t much of a talker and to be honest, we’ve never spoken about that night.”
“Why not?”
“I told you, it’s not how we roll.”
