Page 86 of Dance With Death

“We’ll ask a psychiatrist to check you out too, and if they agree this is psychological, then you can leave hospital for home. You also need more scans. If this is brain damage?—”

“Paul!” interrupts her mother. “Don’t use those words.”

“I don't have brain damage!” Holly protests.

Leif’s hands tremble as he shoves them in his jacket pocket. No. Not of a physical kind. Why were we so confident that Viktor or her captors left Holly’s mind untouched?

Her symptoms could be dissociation; Holly suffered a traumatic attack.

“Holly can not leave,” announces Violet. “I will not allow such to happen.”

“Excuse me?” Paul asks. “You’ll find that you’ve no say in this matter.”

“Holly stays,” she continues.

I take Violet’s hand and link fingers. “That’s Holly’s and her parents’ decision.”

“I’m eighteen,” says Holly. “I agree to or refuse medical treatment, not you.”

“And you agreed to come home,” says her mother.

“Home. Not to a different hospital.”

“You can’t!” protests Violet. “We have to watch you.”

“And that’s exactly the issue,” snaps her father and gestures at the witch and her failed calming spell. “All these supernatural types hanging around my daughter. One of them might attack her next.”

“I’ll come back to the academy, Violet,” says Holly. “In a few?—”

“Not happening.” Paul crosses his arms. “And that is my decision, since I pay tuition fees for the bloody place.”

“With respect, sir,” I say, “Holly should stay under supervision until we catch the people responsible.”

“You have! One’s dead and the other’s in custody.”

The storm gathering inside Violet spreads towards me, and I grip her hand tighter, mentally pleading with her to stay calm. We’ll fix this.

“Dorian believes others are involved,” I say. “That’s why his people are watching Holly.”

“His people. We should never have allowed Holly to attend that academy,” says Paul. “Jenny? Didn’t I say something would happen at the time? I thought a vampire might bite her or?—”

“A vampire bite her?” Violet interrupts. “Holly informed me that she wouldn’t involve herself in blood play due to her aversion to the sight of blood.”

“Blood what?” shrieks Jenny. “What perversity occurs at the place?”

“My daughter is not safe,” Paul says. “These people didn’t even tell us our daughter was missing.”

Violet’s expression doesn’t change: not one flicker of emotion. “I’m extremely disappointed in Mrs. Lorcan's behavior. I’m as shocked as you are, as is my father. I’m sure he told you this when you spoke. And I’m glad we’re in agreement. Holly can remain under supervision until?—”

“Holly is not safe here.” I flinch as his voice rises, cutting Violet dead, and the man steps too far into Violet’s acceptable personal space. “Especially not around you and your… kind.”

“I protect Holly,” says Violet icily.

“Is that why someone half-killed her?” he snaps back.

The storm continues to gather, and I put my other hand around Violet’s. Please. We’ll figure this out.

“Don’t leave until you’ve spoken to Mr. Blackwood,” says the witch in the corner. “He’s returning today.”

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