Page 86 of Potions and Proposals
“This?” The older boy tossed the small pin into the air and caught it. “Why? You haven’t earned it. You haven’t slain a dragon! I bet your grandad lied and found the pin somewhere.” He threw the pin out the back door and into a puddle on the steps.
The other kids laughed, leaving the crying boy behind. Benedict clenched his jaw at such cruel behaviour. Family pins and signet rings were a way for magical folk to identify themselves to each other, and a symbol of how their ancestors had survived.
Lucinda left his side and crouched down by the young boy.
“Did you drop this?” she asked, picking up the pin from the puddle from the back steps. Her kindness dissolved his anger.
“Yeah. It fell off my cloak,” he lied, wiping his nose with the back of his sleeve and smudging his ghostly make up.
Benedict wanted to go after the kids, drag them in front of their parents and ask them what the hell they were doing, filling their kids with such prejudice. They had the privilege of living in a sanctuary; he didn’t know how they could dare to raise the next generation with the same prejudice they’d suffered.No one is born hateful– it’s bred into them.It was one of the sad truths shared by magical folk and magless alike.
“You must be Thomas. Your mum volunteers at the library on Sundays, right?” Lucinda said gently.
Thomas nodded, a small smile replacing his sad expression. “She’s always reading me stories.”
“You’ve only been in town a year; give yourself some time to settle in. Friends will come in time. Sometimes others can be jealous,” Lucinda assured him.
His smile wobbled. “Mum said that about the last town, but they said we were lying about our lineage and kicked us out.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you. But I promise Foxford will be your home now, and I think in time you’ll come to loveit. If you have any trouble, please don’t hesitate to come to Hawthorne House, or tell your mum.”
“I don’t want to upset her,” Thomas said quietly.
Benedict knelt down to his level. “You shouldn’t believe what they tell you. This pin is all the proof you need. Same way my Matherson ring tells me who I am, and so long as we know, we don’t have to prove a thing to anyone.”
“But I only have my grandfather’s stories and this pin. Even Mum doesn’t like to talk about it,” he said, wiping his nose with his sleeve.
“I think Lucinda can help with that. In the town library there are many books about how dragon slayers saved an ancient kingdom!” Benedict said. Lucinda looked at him with gratitude.
“He’s right. If you want to come with your mum to the library on Sunday, I have plenty of books to show you.” Lucinda attached the pin, in the shape of a dragon’s tail wrapped around a sword, to Thomas’s cloak.
Thomas nodded.
“And she’s going to be the High Priestess,” Benedict told him. “So ifshesays she believes in your family, you can trust her.”
“Okay,” Thomas whispered, adjusting the pin so it sat straight.
“In the future, please don’t take what they say to heart,” Lucinda said, taking a tissue from her bag and wiping his tears.
“I just wanted to be their friend,” he mumbled sadly.
Benedict took his hand to bring him back inside. “If they can’t see how lucky they are to have you as a friend, then that’s their loss.”
“My mum is over by the punch bowl! Can I go?” Thomas asked, letting go of Benedict.
“Of course, and please come by the library,” Lucinda said, reminding him to stop by.
Thomas ran to his mum. Benedict watched him cling to her waist, remembering the first time he’d been sent home crying because some kids had found out that his great-great-uncle liked to torture animals using curses. What had been lost in the history books was that his uncle only tortured the beasts the Order had sent to sniff out those of magical descent. He wished Gwendoline had embraced him and told him it was going to be okay; instead, she’d told him not to waste his tears on people who were beneath them.
When Lucinda took his hand again, he realised that was probably the last time he’d cried in front of her.
“I wish I could do more,” she said. “I hate to think of anyone being treated that way just because of their name, their family. Being treated that way will surely only drive him to the dark.”
“Not necessarily. It’s up to that kid to choose the light or dark. How he deals with it will be his test.”
“Have you always been this wise?”
Benedict kissed the side of her head, wanting to put her at ease. When she took Wilhelmina’s position, the whole village would become her children. He only hoped she would let him help her lessen the burden.
