"No he's not" came Richard's disappointing reply. Bumble idolized Jeffery Bruce. The man was the ideal role model, and the best leading figure that the blood sorcerers ever had in a long time. Since Jeffery took on the position of leader, other clans showed the blood sorcerers a little respect.
Jeffery has taken the clan to greater heights, and made sure they never declined from any development they've achieved. Jeffery Bruce was his motivation and he had worked so hard to get strong so that he might be recognized by the man. But due to his inability to use spells, he wasn't really considered for any reasonable position in the clan.
He didn't give up though, he still continued his training, and kept getting better hoping that one day Jeffery would recognize his talent, and have use for him. The only time he ever got to see or talk to Jeffery Bruce was during PTA meetings, which he rarely attended. And even when he did, he didn't stay for long.
All his life work and training was to get closer to Jeffery, and hopefully he would do so during Daniel's graduation. It was already obvious that Daniel would be valedictorian, and there was no way Jeffery Bruce wouldn't be in attendance on that day.
"Where are they then?" Bumble asked mostly out of curiosity. He did well to hide his desperation and obsession. He didn't want the students thinking he was picking favorites simply because someone happened to be related to his idol. He had seen them suddenly disappear from the footage caught on camera, but he didn't really expect that it would be Jeffery Bruce who had intervened. He thought they had all vanished because they were trying to save themselves, but it wasn't the case. If Jeffery Bruce was with Daniel, then it probably meant that he had stepped in to save his son.
"We don't really know" Came another disappointing reply from Richard.
Bumble had become furious inside. It was almost as if fate had something against him meeting with Jeffery. He shook off his anger and focused on disciplining the law breakers instead.
"I believe they were four of you, where is the fourth culprit?" Bumble asked.
Anna and Richard exchanged glances, neither of them was a snitch, and neither was prepared to give up any information. Holding anything back would definitely warrant more punishment for them, but they were willing to take the risk.
They both remained silent, hoping that their silence would magically make the man forget about Angus.
"Have you suddenly gone daft or some...?" Bumble stuttered, almost falling backwards by the sudden intrusion into his office.
"Daniel Bruce?!" The frightened principal yelled out the instant he regained himself.
'what a fool' Anna and Richard chorused loudly in Daniel's mind.
Daniel had appeared just outside of the school after his confrontation with his father, and had snuck in just like the rest had done. He stumbled upon Angus in the crowd while looking for them. And after a brief conversation, Angus had told him of their whereabouts. He only raced halfway into the school, and after noticing how empty the place was, he decided to relieve himself of the stress and teleport into the principal's office.
"Mr Bumble" Daniel hastily replied the startled man, ignoring the commentary made by the two standing beside him. He was also startled by the man's presence in the place. But clearly not as frightened as Bumble was.
From the look of things he could tell that the man had caught Richard and Anna trying to sneak into the office, But that wasn't what disturbed him now. He had just teleported into this place, and Mr Bumble had seen him do so. He didn't know why his partners weren't freaked out about this, but he was. He wasn't preparing to risk his life over some silly people's reaction.
He immediately reached to grab the man's head and wipe his memory. But the instant he laid hands on the principal's head, he found himself on the floor. His outstretched hand twisted, before a painful blow reached his head.
"What is wrong with you kids?" Mr Bumble questioned abstractly. It was a good thing that they were consious about keeping their abilities a secret, but he didn't like the way they attacked his head first.
Daniel rose from the floor slowly, now understanding why his friends had remained calm after his appearance. They had tried warning him that their principal was a Baxist, but he had already made his move and was on the floor before they could finish their sentence.
He never suspected for once that Mr Bumble was a Baxist, and from his clan for that matter. The man looked completely normal and acted like a regular human being. He could tell Bumble was a powerful Baxist from his mad reflexes, and reaction speed. The man had taken him completely unaware, and if it had actually been a real opponent, then he would be long dead by now. He could tell Bumble had subdued the duo beside him through the same way, and that was probably why they looked so calm and innocent.
"I'm sorry Mr Bumble" Daniel apologized with a slight bow of his head, before retreating to join Anna and Richard at the corner they stood.
Bumble didn't reply, he was completely lost in thought. He wanted to utilize this opportunity to finally meet Jeffery, but he didn't want to make it so obvious. He had already sounded eager when he questioned the first two students about Jeffery's presence in the school. He wanted to tell them to invite their parents for breaching not only the school rules, but the sorcery laws also.
Having a meeting with their parents would definitely solve most of their problems, and was probably the only answer to this problem. He couldn't detain them, they were final year students and probably wouldn't adhere to any detention work assigned to them. The only punishment that could match up to their offense was to deny them their graduation rights. But that would mean that Daniel wouldn't be valedictorian, and Jeffery wouldn't have a reason to attend. Summoning their parents was a win win situation. He would get to see Jeffery now, and also during graduation as well. He couldn't be prouder of his ingenious plan.
"I want your parents or guardian here by tomorrow morning! You may leave" Bumble made clear before quickly dismissing them. He made it clear and short so there wouldn't be any suspecting eye that would be cast on him. His obsession for Jeffery had gotten him this far, and there was no going back. If he gets to meet his role model, then he didn't care if people called him a freak or anything. Jeffery Bruce was all that mattered.
Richard and Anna couldn't be more relieved, not only had Daniel's sudden intrusion saved them from snitching on Angus, they were also not expelled. Their parents would definitely scold them and shout. But that was only momentarily, unlike expulsion which would completely render all their years in highschool useless.
"Where's your father?" Richard asked breaking the awkward silence between three of them.
"I don't really know, probably doing what he loves more than his family" Daniel replied with hands thrown into the air. He knew Richard didn't mean any harm with his question, but for some reason the question had touched him deeply.
He never really cared about his father, they had always been in enemity since he was a kid. And he didn't have much regards for his mother either. She had been a coward all his life and it pained him. He was just beginning to realize that he had never actually experienced what a good family feels like, he had never experienced true motherly or fatherly love.
His father only wanted to use him for power, and if his mother had loved him enough, then she would have stood up and fought for him. But she feared her husband more than she loved her children.
She had given up her life to save Alexander, but it wasn't enough for him. If she had actually stood up for her children since the beginning, and stopped her husband from having his way all the time, then they would have been absolutely no need for her to give her life up. For him, she had simply corrected a fraction of the problems that she had created. He didn't give her much accolade as a heroine, or the perfect mother as much as Alexander did.
Daniel fought back the imploding emotions in him and kept a straight face. There was no need getting emotional about his family any longer. There was absolutely no hope of bringing them back together again, and he just had to live with that fact.
The only people he could call family were his brother and his friends. His friends weren't his real family, but they had already done much more for him tham his real family had in his life. He didn't know what he would have done without them. They were the absolute best of the best, and he was more than grateful that they shared a bond that he hoped would never be broken.