Page 34 of The Blairville Legacies

“What is it?” I asked cautiously.

She rubbed her forehead. Then she walked back to the sink and resumed her work as if nothing had happened.

“I want you to stay away from the Copelands as much as you can,” she replied to me hesitantly. “Your best bet is to switch courses.”

Dumbfounded, I looked at her.

What was wrong with her?

“Why? One of them is your doctor...”

When I didn’t get an immediate answer, I looked over at her.

Her whole body had tensed, and she was looking intently out the window as if she was thinking carefully about what to say next.

It had become so quiet in the house that you could have heard a feather fall to the floor.

“Mum...” I said, which snapped my mother out of her stupor.

“The professor and the doctor are related.”

“Okay, and why should I stay away from them?”

Mum seemed to realize that I had become suspicious. But what else could I be when she had been acting so strangely since we arrived, leaving me with so many unanswered questions?

“I remember the Copelands from my time here. They were always doing very risky things. You know...illegal things.”

Mum avoided my gaze.

“Illegal things?”

Her words had surprised me. Then why was she letting a doctor from that family treat her? Was she serious about this? How reputable were these people?

“You know... drugs, wild parties, and street racing.”

Still, she was unable to look at me.

“Street racing?” I asked, amused. I couldn’t suppress a laugh.

Mum threw the wipe at me but narrowly missed.

“That’s not funny, young lady! Things like that can turn out dangerously,” she said with a played strict tone as if she was speaking from experience.

I just didn’t believe that a university professor found time for parties or hard drugs these days, let alone any street racing.

Mum got serious again.

“Just be careful and don’t get involved in anything there that you wouldn’t normally do, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I returned, playfully annoyed.

I would heed her advice. But these people couldn’t be that bad, could they? Because even if they had done a lot of forbidden things, according to Mum, they had becomesomething. Doctor, professor? That rather screamed of a rich family with a lot of reputation in the city, which they surely owed to their status as a founding family, among other things.

I put the letter back with the other brochures and notes. No more Vanderwood crap for today!

“Did your lady friend ever get back to you?” Mum asked pointedly, painfully reminding me of all I had to leave behind.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

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