Page 37 of Five to Love Him
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The Q&A focused more heavily on Ezra and shifting, which left me oddly relieved. I didn’t want my classmates to know more about the hive than I did, a new feeling I’d not seen coming. But I decided there was nothing wrong with it, especially when the third hiveling quietly joined the class and put a sandwich and a selection of brownies as well as a few coffees on the table in front of us.
I thought Instructor Arick might have a fit, but other than his non-human head looking at the sight for a very long time, he remained quiet, faking ignorance.
When Ezra talked about how weird pants were and how much more sensible skirts would be, I glanced over at the hive to my left who had been busy writing, underlining, and highlighting.
The pages were extremely neat and color coded, and there was a margin with extra notes that didn’t exist in anything Tate had written.
I leaned in close so I could whisper to the hive. “What’s all this?”
“Extra information. We thought it might be useful to know key details.”
Key details included ways of dealing with human taxes where applicable, for example, when one lived “above ground” and only had employment “in the underground.” Apparently, there was an option to appear self-employed while working in the supernatural world on a regular salary, and it was covered much like most supernatural health care was covered if one was okay with visiting doctors who were “in the know.” And on and on.
“You’re good at this,” I whispered. “I thought you worked at a bar, but you know tax law.”
The one behind me leaned in closer so he could whisper back to me. “We are a CPA. We simply…the Dazzle was very convenient.”
I responded to the hiveling still busy annotating my notebook.
“You don’t have to explain wanting a change of pace to me. Remember, I’m the paralegal who never worked as one, and now, I’m apparently—”
The door opened with a whoosh, revealing Headprincipal Farrow. He wore a fancy suit like he always did, and it made me sweat just looking at it.
When he strode into the room, two people came behind him, both wearing kitchen work clothes, both not human. One had eyes all over, and the other hooves for feet. They had a two-tier cake with them on a rolling table, a fancy thing decorated like one of the event cakes I’d seen on social media.
“Class! Rejoice!”
“This is the vampire?” asked the hive behind me while all of them came closer, put an arm around me, and took my hand.
Farrow smiled at them as if he’d heard, which he probably had.
“Ah! I’m not sure this cake is big enough or beautiful enough for this double occasion.” The hooved kitchen person grumbled, saying something unintelligible under their breath that had Farrow slightly creasing his brow before going on. “At any rate. Everyone, one of your very own, our dearest Leopold, will henceforth be my secretary. It’s been a recent development, much like his mating to a hive, and no less joyous.”
“We are not sure we agree,” the hive said, making me chuckle.
Principal Farrow frowned again, this time at me. “Let us celebrate together. With cake and champagne for those who wish to indulge. Consider the remainder of today’s class canceled!”
The kitchen staff brought up glasses and bottles from under the rolling table. Farrow clapped, and the rest of the class joined in, including Tate and Ezra, who was back to being uncomfortable and overly protective of the Tupperware and the brownies inside.
Instructor Arick came over to me and held out his hand.
“Congratulations. Principal Farrow and I talked it over. You’ll still attend my class until you have everything you need to graduate, but this is a good thing for you, Mr. Hill.”
I shook, my hand almost vanishing in his much bigger one.
“Thanks. I guess I thought this would be me graduating.”
“I’m glad it’s not,” Tate said. “Where would I be without my St. Auguste wingman?”
Behind him, Ezra huffed and mouthed sorry to one of the hivelings.
“We can help with this,” the hiveling to my left said, pointing at the notebook he—they had been casually flipping through.
Instructor Arick opened his mouth, but before he could, I said, “Then I wouldn’t be doing the work to graduate, would I?”
Arick’s mouth closed, and the one on his non-human head opened. “I’m sure you can help Mr. Hill study and guide him to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a part of our world.”
