Page 59 of Faerie Gift

“Please don’t,” I tried to tell the woman. To get her to reconsider. Then again, she had just caught me red-handed. “No harm done. You can just let me walk away.”

She hustled me along with an expression of smug delight, keeping her gaze fixed ahead and not giving me another moment of her attention. Her grip tightened on my arm. A single painful squeeze to let me know she was going easy on me and couldn’t wait for the headmaster to skin me alive when he heard what I’d done.

Great. Perfect.

My gaze dropped down to the gun at her side, or at least the spot where I remembered seeing a gun hours ago. There was nothing there now.

The two of us emerged into the headmaster’s chambers, the chaperone moving like a rushing bull, and we turned to the left, not toward the office but to a second door I hadn’t noticed before. She slammed her fist down on the wood in rapid succession.

“Leaves! Leaves, wake up.”

A muffled voice echoed through the walls, the words too indistinct for me to make them out. It didn’t take long for the door to fling open and reveal a sleepy and very confused Fae headmaster. His gaze fell on me first, hitting me like a brick as his brows drew together.

“Miss Alderidge?” he addressed me. “Professor Arlena? What is the meaning of this? It’s two o’clock in the morning.”

Professor Arlena practically threw me into his arms. I stumbled over my own shoes and Leaves caught me before we both went back into the doorjamb. His hands closed around my shoulders in a cool touch before he hastily released me.

“I caught this girl tying to break into our quarters,” Arlena stated. She stopped and looked down her nose at me. “Not just trying. Shesucceededsomehow, and when I found her, she was standing in front of somewhere she never should have been.” Her eyes narrowed in a challenge.

Pain shot through my head like a hammer to the brain. I gritted my teeth against it, trying to numb the waves of panic and nausea following.

Leaves shook his head and I could tell the pistons weren’t all firing yet. “I’m not exactly sure what you mean, Professor. You found her where? Tavi, what are you doing out of bed?” he asked me.

Obviously, the chaperone thought Leaves was being too lenient, even as he desperately tried to shake off sleep and follow the conversation.

“Leaves, I am trying to tell you about how this student of yours sneaked around in the hallways and somehow managed to break into our quarters to steal something.” Fury colored every syllable. “Youknowwhat.”

Wait…how did she know I was there to steal something? I might have simply been curious. So I was right and it was behind that door after all.

And Leaves knew about it.

It took Headmaster Leaves a few more moments to put the picture together; all the while blood rushed to my face and my cheeks burned. When hefinallyunderstood what the chaperone was trying to tell him, he turned to me with an almighty rage that would have been beautiful to behold if I weren’t on the receiving end of it.

“I am flabbergasted,” he said slowly, each syllable enunciated to chilling perfection. “You’re one of my brightest students, Tavi. How could you do such a thing? How do you even know—”

“I demand you remove her from the school at once,” Professor Arlena interrupted. “This kind of behavior cannot be tolerated. There is nothing to say she won’t try to break in again, and perhaps even succeed. We have enough to worry about without having to also deal with a snoop.”

“The safeguards in place—” Leaves tried to say before she interrupted him yet again.

“The safeguards don’t meananythingif your most gifted students are the ones trying to break in.” She shook with fury.

Wow, the woman had an answer for everything, and a snake tongue to boot. The bottom dropped out from under me and it felt like I had a rhinoceros sitting on my chest.

Leaves turned to face me full on, with his arms crossed over his chest. “Miss Alderidge, I’ve been meaning to speak with you anyway. I think it’s high time you came clean. You have not been entirely honest and forthcoming with information on your family. I had someone look into it. We found an address for your uncle, William Alderidge.”

I might have died on the spot. “You found my Uncle Will?” I whispered.

This is it, my mind whispered.This is the end.

Because I’d tried to be the hero. Because I’d used my powers—

My entire being perked up.My powers. Did I have enough magic left inside of me to claw my way out of this hellhole I’d created? It was worth a shot. After all, it had worked on Nora. Sure, she was sleep-deprived and susceptible to suggestion, but still… I certainly had to try.

Heaven help me, I was about to manipulate my headmaster’s mind. Just like I’d manipulated Nora’s memory of my transfiguration.

Using this kind of magic on a figure of authority wasn’t just against the rules of the power. It was against the law. I’d read it in the school manifesto. Any outward and aggressive displays of magic against professors was strictly forbidden.

If I was ever caught, I could be thrown in faerie jail.

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