After the final divination there was a brief break and Hazel was called to the family tables. Shyla immediately appeared on Hazel's shoulder. Her angry song made Minerva's frown deepen.
"They couldn't even wait. Why did Laramar need to make such a show of it!"
When she was like this Hazel didn't say much of anything and just allowed her to rant so that she got it all out. Shyla was not used to holding anything inside.
Adam Ambrose was shown as Hazel's link to the families and he wanted to strengthen and maintain their relationship so he was the one who spoke to Hazel.
"Miss McGonagall. It is so good to see you today and you did exceptionally well in the first event."
As he spoke an intense feeling of loathing came from behind him. Hazel resisted the urge to look but Shyla's head quickly spun in the direction. Someone audibly swallowed and Hazel spoke before anyone else could.
"Stay calm Shyla. There is no danger."
"I know but I will not have you disrespected by these people little one."
"What happened?" Hazel looked to Adam Ambrose to see genuine concern on his face.
"Um." She looked to Professor Sing, who was also confused. "there was just a sense of loathing directed towards me as you spoke and Shyla feels that it was disrespectful."
"And she is right." Willamina Wist stepped forward with a frown. She smiled to Shyla and bowed. "Please forgive us Ma'am Shyla. Nothing will happen to your ward while both of you are here." She stepped back, the frown back on her face, and nodded to Adam Ambrose.
He cleared his voice "Yes Ma'am Shyla please forgive us. Miss McGonagall will not be harmed here." He looked to Hazel with a smile. "We actually called you about what was given to you by Master Laramar."
Adam Ambrose' eyes when wife as Shyla made a melodious harrumph followed by an angry tune. He looked to Hazel for a translation.
"She is not a patient being and she already has a negative impression of the six families so she thinks you want to take the object from me and she says that Mr. Laramar will not allow that.
The truth was they did want to take the item, even without knowing what it was. They never thought of Laramar paying any attention to a little girl and what happens to her. He was about to reassure Shyla when Hazel brought the Fate eye out.
His eyes went wide and there were gasps and audible swallowing.
"Is that a fate eye?" Shyla melodiously harrumphed again. And Hazel knew that she would not be taking anymore items from anyone else. She handed the crystal to Adam Ambrose, with a bow, and walked back to her seat.
The second event was Seeing and she had been made the last competitor. When it was her turn she noticed that there was no one left for her to read and no one had attempted to read her.
"Now for our final competitor. Since Miss Hazel McGonagall did so well in the first event we will change the rules a bit and she will read another esteemed guest, Mr. Zachariah Zeal."
Immediately there were whispers within the crowd and Professor Sing was frowning. Minerva McGonagall spoke first.
"What's wrong?"
"Don't worry mother. This will not be too much of a problem. Mr. Zeal is a Zalender and he can randomly change his brain waves. That is no problem because I do not enter the brain I look at the projected thoughts of the brain. These thoughts are not affected by any changes to the brain before during or after but he may be able to read me with his brain waves continuously changing. Don't worry."
Her mother looked questioningly to Professor Sing and when she saw her in shock she looked to her daughter's back with less worry but still quite a bit of concern. Her husband squeezed her hand and she squeezed his back.
Hazel smiled and walked up to the competition table. She sat down and a tall, dark skinned man sat down across from her. She had walked to the table ready and when they were Immediately told to start she did and Mr. Zeal was stunned for several seconds.
In those seconds Hazel saw quite a bit of information. When people are confused they tend to leak much from their minds and a stunned and confused Mr. Zeal leaked more than she thought he would. For her focus she used a gift from Shyla. It was a star bird tail feather with its quill embedded in a purple gem and the entire piece was encased in amber. She held it in her hand, gently rubbing it. Mr. Zeal was once again stunned and more slipped out to Hazel. He quickly regained his control and began to try to read her.
At this point it was over because Hazel had already gotten more information than she needed so she mainly focused on keeping him out of her mind. This also proved to be an easy task since he could not totally calm his mind down again. At the end of the time period Hazel had asked very few questions and Mr. Zeal was very frustrated and disappointed in himself.
"This Marks the end of today's events. So far our rankings are as follows:
First place: Hazel McGonagall
Second place: Rosa Ambrose
Third place: Rebecca Linnseal
Fourth place: Sara…
Rebecca stopped listening to the announcement when she felt something odd. Shyla was at her side in an instant and Hazel was suddenly thrown back. Her mother cast a spell to catch her as her father targeted the aggressor. Professor Sing was at his side wand raised. Both had been trained outside of Tan Dimension so they both had defense against the dark arts training and Tan Dimension's battle training.
They had both recognized what hit Hazel as a curse and they through both curses and hexes at the aggressor. But it was Shyla that rose up into the air holding Mr. Zeal by an ankle. To everyone else Shyla was singing beautifully but ferociously. To Hazel she was having the biggest rant she had ever heard her friend make.
Hazel stood up unhurt because her defensive spells held. She was thrown back because the intent behind the strike was so strong. She had heard the incantation but did not know the language (was that dragonese again? Twice in one day) and now she was listening to Shyla rage. Shyla suddenly looked to her with concern.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes"
"Can I kill him?"
"No"
Shyla dropped him instantly. Professor Sing and Montague were on him in an instant. Minerva looked at Hazel.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes ma'am. Do you know what curse, hmm, or hex he used?"
"No, but your father will know."
The competition was in an uproar for a long time and they kept Hazel in a secret room with her mother. She occupied her time either meditating or studying, while she waited for her father.
Montague McGonagall was a traveler first and foremost but he was also a battle mage. Very few carried that title these days and it was well deserved. He was versed in all the arts of war and sabotage and many called on him to do interrogations and infiltrations.
When he finally made it back Hazel merely looked up and asked.
"What hex did he use."
"One from his dimension. You need to learn Dragonese young lady." Hazel raised the book before her.
"I'm working on it right now."
Her father smiled. "It was the soul shatterer. Someone wants you dead and your soul dispersed throughout the dimensions."
Minerva frowned as Hazel made note of the hex and its dimension of origin.
The next day came and up were the Dreamwalking and dreamscape development events.
House Leader Willamina stood and addressed the crowd
"We had a horrible incident here yesterday and I will personally make sure that it does not happen again. We apologize to anyone who was hurt in anyway due to that incident.
"Now. Today's events will include Dreamwalking and dreamscape development. The Dreamwalking event is a surprise event and it will consist of the competitor and six dream slips.
"Dream slips are powerful dreamwalkers. It is very difficult to enter their dreams without them knowing and once they know they wake up to hunt down the culprit. It is good to point that out. They are not deadly in dreams but they are deadly awake. Once they know you in their dreams they can hunt you down any where in the waking world.
"Do not worry we will protect all competitors and spectators alike.
"For this event the competitor will need to walk each dream slip's dream without waking them. The competitor can use any dreamwalking technique or aid to accomplish this. Due to their dangerous nature the competitor will be here on the main stage while the dream slips will be on the far stage to the east of the arena. The audience will be able to see the dream slips on the raised projection screens above.
"The dreamscape development event will allow our competitors to show us how they can develop their dreamscape. Now on the off chance that anyone has… does anyone already have a developed dreamscape? "
Willamina looked through the competitors and smiled when she saw Hazel nod and raise her hand. When no one else raised their hands she continued on.
"Well all of you, with the exception of Miss McGonagall will show us how you will develop your dreamscapes. Remember this will be your actual dreamscape and it may not sound important, because you can change so much about your dreamscape but, you need to remember that there are things that can not be undone once done.
"Now, as far as Miss McGonagall. She will take us all on a tour of her dreamscape."
There were a few gasps but Willamina was not surprised to see Hazel completely unbothered by the prospect of showing so many around her dreamscape. It was going to be an interesting event.
Willamina was already talking her family into recruiting the child. With Hazel as a member of the Wist family the Ambrose family would definitely need to sit down and be quiet. Their dictatorship would finally end.