Page 38 of Five to Love Him
“Yes.” “He is a part of our world.” “Leo, we’ll get you cake.”
“Can you get me a slice too?” Tate asked.
Ezra stood. “No, let me.”
Tate turned. “Oh, thanks, Ez. Hey, Instructor Arick, about graduating. Me and Leo can do that together, right? I’d only be hanging out in his secretary office if we don’t.” He looked at me. “You’re getting your own office, right?”
“Uhm…”
Headprincipal Farrow rubbed his hands on his way over like a well-dressed villain.
“What an excellent question. Yes. After consulting—after giving it some thought, you will get the office across from mine. It has a door that can be closed but should be open most of the time so that the student body knows you are there, that you are watching their every move from the shadows.”
“I don’t think I’ll be doing that.”
The hive behind me stood and put a hand on my shoulder. “If Leo is meant to be here early and then go to class, he won’t be getting enough rest. Singulars need rest. We should do his work in the mornings.”
The one that had gone off came back with two slices of cake, putting one in front of the note taker to my left and the other in front of me. The one for me had a marzipan sculpted book and glasses on top of it. Principal Farrow’s idea of a secretary, not that there was anything wrong with glasses.
“Hmm. I don’t think that will be necessary, hive,” the principal said. “It’s fine for Leopold to start late, naturally. It would be terrible if my new secretary fainted from exhaustion. Can you imagine, Instructor Arick? The students would think I did it by eating him.”
“We would know.”
The hive sounded ominous. It was the first time I’d heard their voice like that, actually…threatening. It made me shiver, not in an entirely unpleasant way.
Farrow pursed his lips while several other students looked on and Ezra offered Tate a slice of cake. He’d brought only one, but two dessert forks. Huh. They were also sharing food. Someone really needed to send Tate the update about how he was dating the ocean beast at least half the class had ogled throughout the Q&A.
Farrow straightened. “It was a jest, hive. I don’t eat staff. Or students.” He put the back of his hand to his forehead. “Ah, but the woe of having you even consider the option. It’s why I need a secretary such as you, Leopold, to humanize me.”
“Admin tasks. I’ll be doing admin tasks.”
Headmaster-principal Farrow gave me a small nod. “Of course. We should get started with that, don’t you think? May I show you to your office, Leopold?”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to work at St. Auguste. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to work, period, but I was curious about the office. I’d never been given one, and it couldn’t hurt to have a look at it.
“Yes, please.”
eighteen
We liked that Leo’s friends were attached to him. Friends were good. We also liked that he’d accepted we were three with him, not two or even just one.
While the class had been going on, after we were done copying the entry from Tate’s binder, we flipped through Leo’s booklet and all the class notes he had taken. We liked Leo’s handwriting, neat and curly, bigger than our own.
That, too, we liked, that his handwriting was grand. It was like the other hive had said back at the Moonlight Diner, one being small wanting to appear as if they were not by making some things about themself bigger. Then again, Leo wasn’t a hive, and we couldn’t think of him as one. That would be as wrong of us as if he considered us as several singulars.
We thought about all of this as we were walking with him and the vampire principal, carrying Leo’s things and his cake while also holding his hand.
“Hive, I don’t suppose you’ve seen much of St. Auguste?” the principal asked.
“No. We live in the underground and work there, though we are hoping to start working above ground soon.”
Back at the Dazzle, while slicing oranges for garnish, our hand almost slipped. As it was, we sliced off a piece of skin, not so much so that it would bleed, but enough that it unsettled us. We knew we’d have to get over this, would have to learn to be above ground. For our gleaming one.
“What a wonderful opportunity! Leopold can show you around. He got the tour and everything, though there is more detailed information about the school in the folder in your office, Leopold. I’m afraid you’ll have to study up on what our youngsters need to know about St. Auguste, mostly so you have leverage when lecturing them.
“And speaking about lecturings—”
We were in a hallway that looked older, more traditional, just like a school from old British movies into which the vampire principal would have fit quite well. He opened a door on the left that had a fancy metal sign on it: Leopold Hill, Headmaster’s Secretary.
