RESTARTED

I replay the incident with Zalan Astaroth in our Alchemy class for the remainder of the day as unease roils within me.

“…take Mr. Astaroth to the infirmary. I restarted whatever it is he’s got inside there.”

What did Professor Finlay mean by that? What has Zalan got inside his chest? Does this have something to do with his magikal array? Or the Snuff etched into the back of his left hand?

I nearly stumble down a flight of old stone steps and have to claw at the handrail for dear life. 

Wait! The professor said, ‘restarted.’ Does that mean there’s something wrong with Zalan’s heart? I mean, what would the professor need to restart other than a heart? Just what exactly happened to him before he came to Bealnora?

I don’t even realize I’ve taken a meandering path toward the infirmary until I find myself in an all too familiar corridor. Which is where I find our Bealnora Hippogryphs captain, Kolby Fenwick, his cousin Felix Bristow, and my classmate Rián McAvoy. But also someone far less expected—Roland Smoot. They’re all hovering around the massive infirmary door like a bunch of chickens waiting for feed.

“It can’t honestly be true what they’re all saying?” Reginald’s older brother, Roland, suddenly scoffs as he turns to leave. And runs directly into me. 

I bristle at his tone. The Smoots are as awful as they come. Not a shred of responsibility for anything taken between the lot of them. 

My lip curls. “You mean, did your little brother kill him?” 

Captain Fenwick and his cousin stiffen at my bluntness. 

Roland charges forward, shoving me up against the wall beside the door. “Now you wait a damned minute, my brother—!” 

“Your brother is bloody lucky Professor Finlay got there when he did, or Reginald would be headed to Black Spire for murder,” I snap back, getting up in his face.

“Wait, you said would be,” Vice Captain Bristow questions, pushing into the middle of our altercation. 

I tip my head in his direction. “Yeah, the professor was able to revive him.”

“Just what kind of fool magik was he using?” Smoot sneers as he shoves me aside and storms into the infirmary.

“I don’t think it’s anything illegal or nefarious,” I offer as I hurry to catch up. “At least Professor Finlay didn’t make it seem like it was. I think Zalan just has…a bad heart or something. I guess he needs a magikal aid to keep it running properly.”

The infirmary is oddly devoid of patients and staff for once. Well, aside from Zalan, who’s lying there unconscious with a cast immobilizing his left forearm. 

I push forward. “Anyways, your fool of a brother slapped a Dispel bracelet on him and stopped whatever Zalan’s got in there dead. The professor had one hells of a time restarting it.”

“So you say,” Smoot huffs dismissively.

I whirl toward him angrily as heat ripples across my skin. My magik surging dangerously close to ignition.

“I was right there, Roland! His lips were literally turning blue, for fucks sake!” I snarl. 

“Well, at least now I know why it feels like a herd of hippogryphs stampeded across my chest,” Zalan comments sardonically.

“Astaroth!” Kolby Fenwick all but jumps right into his cousin, looking like a boy who’s been caught peeping. 

“How—how is your…” He throws a quick glance at us before looking back at Zalan. “Heart…?”

My dormmate’s brow rises as his gaze drifts over us. “Oh…so you all know the truth now?”

“We don’t really, but…we’d like to.” I shift my gaze to the other Hippogryphs, and they nod.

Zalan sighs as he pushes himself a little higher in the infirmary bed. He sounds absolutely exhausted, and he looks like a taxidermied corpse.

My dormmate levels a dead-eyed stare at us. “What do you know about Maiden-stalker drakes?”

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Chapter 20 – Restarted: Part One, ExSpelled © 2026 by Kat Vancill

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