Page 6 of The First Year Continued
Roxy’s wolf whined and gave the lady a bark. The woman lowered her nose and shook her head. “I said now.”
“Time to shift back,” I said and watched Roxy to the point where her four legs became two and she stood upright again.
We both dressed. I hefted that heavy bag back on my shoulder.
“You know, there’s these cool metal cabinets called lockers here,” she snarked.
“Oh, really?” I asked. “That would be great, but mine’s in the one building where I have no classes. Does me no good.”
“Mine is in the main building. You can use it if you want. That shit looks heavy.”
“I think I’ll take you up on that. But let’s get to the office and see if we’re still students here first.”
She sighed and pulled a black hairband from her wrist. “Let’s go.”
The secretary had us sit down and wait for the headmistress. Who was not there at the moment…or in the next half hour.
“Is there any reason for us to wait like this? We’re missing class,” Sol finally said.
“No talking,” she snapped.
We all exchanged a look then slumped back in our chairs. Clearly, we were in trouble and not going to be let off the hook simply because the headmistress was too busy to see us right away. The chairs we were seated in offered a view of the gate and the gravel drive, not that we could expect a lot of traffic out there. Delivery trucks came in another gate, and parents never came here.
But, to my surprise, the gates opened and a long, black car drove through the opening and approached the buildings. Interesting. Possibly menacing for those of us who were waitingfor the other shoe to drop. I elbowed Sol, and all of us watched the car stop and the headmistress hurry down the steps to meet the suit-clad man who emerged from the back seat. He clearly had a driver, but not one who got out to open his door. Seemed odd.
The secretary noticed our attention then and got up to close the blinds. What the heck was going on?
Almost another hour passed while classes changed, and everyone went to lunch before the door to the hallway opened to admit the headmistress and the man in the suit as well as another man who clutched a tablet and wore a shirt and tie but no jacket.
Maybe the man was PA, but if he’d also been in the car—which he logically would have had to be—we hadn’t gotten to see him get out. Maybe he’d been the driver?
None of these were the questions we really needed answers to, but the others were far more alarming.
“Thank you for the excellent meal,” the man was saying. “Not what I expected from academy cafeteria fare.”
“As if we’d feed you that swill,” she joked, opening the door to her office. They headed inside, closed the door behind them, and again we were left to wait.
But not for long.
Chapter Four
Roxy
Four chairs sat in a row in the middle of the headmistress’ office. Not in front of the desk or along the wall but right there, as if ready for the interrogation to begin. My anxiety had been sky-high in the outer room, but looking at those chairs, I wanted to turn and run as far and fast as possible.
But sanity and logic prevailed. As far as possible was to the walls surrounding this school, which were patrolled by security who would be alerted the moment I made a break for it. And how fair would that be to these males who were treating me so well to leave them to face not only whatever had been intended for us originally but worse because of my behavior?
After last night? I owed them so much. Poor Odin whose blood I had drunk like a… I couldn’t even think the word, didn’t want it in my mind. Instead, I moved to stand in front of one of the chairs, feeling as if I’d be facing a firing squad any minute.
Headmistress sat behind her desk, suit guy stood by the window, looking all slimy and formal, and the other guy had taken a seat in the corner. The room was larger than I’d realized, or maybe it was just my impression that the real estate around our chair qualified as acreage.
This might be a panic attack. I’d heard of them but never had one. Not even in battle when the vampires attacked me. Now would be the very worst time to start. The guys lined up next to me, and we all stood in front of the chairs, waiting. So much waiting!
“Sit down. You all look foolish.” The headmistress gave a small shake of her head. “We give them every chance, and you see how they behave.”
Suit guy pushed away from the window as we took our seats. “They don’t seem—”
“It’s all my fault.” The words burst from my lips before I knew they were going to happen. Every head swiveled toward me, and I swallowed hard. The guys’ expressions all saidshut up, but it was too late to stop myself, and I wouldn’t take it back anyway. For one thing, it was my fault. All of it. They’d been stumbling along doing their best in this horrible place until I came along and messed it all up.
