Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57623 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 288(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 192(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57623 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 288(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 192(@300wpm)
“Plus a handling fee,” Hazel says. “So. Ten.”
Storm does not appreciate this lesson in capitalism, but she buys one cigarette from Hazel. Not to smoke. Just to have. Just so she feels like Laura didn’t win today.
Going back to her room, she stashes the cigarette and matches beneath the mattress, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction. She’s still her own person. She still makes her own decisions. And they’re still really fucking bad.
Storm is not the only one with a head full of trouble. In very short order, her classmates join her, drawn by their own curiosity and guilt.
“Hey.” Penners strides in, trailed by Melissa. “What happened? Are we in the clear?”
“Ohhhh,” Storm sucks a breath in through her teeth. “Yeah. Okay. You’re going to both want to take some leave.”
“Why?” Penners asks the question with a taut kind of panic, drawing herself up into a statuesque position somewhat reminiscent of a meerkat.
“Why!?” Melissa repeats the question, but in a gasping tone as she tucks up and behind Penners as if that is going to do her any good.
“Yeah, J… Miss Strict got the truth out of me. So you guys can expect to be called to her office sooner or later. Do you have leave? I would seriously take it.”
“But what about when we get back? Won’t we still be in trouble then?” Melissa says, chewing her nails.
“Maybe. Or maybe things will have moved on since then? This place seems like it’s on the verge of falling apart.”
“It is not!” Penners is instantly offended. “This is an institution with a storied history going back over a hundred years. My mother went here, and her mother before her. It’s not going to fall apart before we get back from leave!”
“That depends on how long you take leave, and how fast it falls apart.”
Storm is feeling philosophical, mostly due to the fact she’s already braved Jane and experienced the consequences of her actions. Now she’s doing Penners and Melissa a solid by letting them know what’s coming for them.
“I say we just go to Miss Strict and explain ourselves,” Penners says. “She might be understanding if we make a confession.”
Storm disagrees with that assessment immediately. “She’s definitely going to cane you both for lying to her. To be very honest, I think I made it worse for you, if anything.”
Melissa starts to cry softly, which makes Storm feel really rather bad.
“Do what I’m saying. Go on leave. You’re allowed leave.”
“It’s Monday, Storm,” Penners says. “Maybe if it were the weekend we could go.”
“Then make yourselves scarce. There’s no more classes for today. So just stay out of the way until tomorrow. Skip dinner, and then skip breakfast. I’ll bring you some food. I know! You can hide up in the attic. It’ll be fun!”
“I have no desire to hide out of the way like some kind of…”
“So then go turn yourselves in,” Storm shrugs. “I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Maybe it won’t be that bad. It’s my first time,” Melissa sniffs.
“Yeah. My first time she only…” Storm thinks back. “Oh, yeah. She caned me.”
“She caned you!?”
“Yeah. It was pretty bad. I think she likes to make a strong first impression.”
“She caned me too,” Penners confirms.
“No!” Melissa wails. “I can’t… that cannot happen to me. I won’t have it. I won’t!”
Meanwhile, Jane has bigger problems. Frau Lotte has called her into her office with news of yet another new arrival at the school. What started as a quiet day is turning into a true disciplinary ordeal.
“It would appear that Kiera has called her boyfriend. Ronald Forsyth is out in the foyer waiting to collect her.” Frau Lotte gives Jane a significant look.
There is an unspoken moment in which the torch of responsibility for Kiera’s fate is once more passed to her.
Jane’s concern peaks at the notion of Kiera being taken anywhere by the man responsible for her current state.
“I will deal with him,” Jane says, steeling herself for what she imagines might well be a difficult interaction.
Sure enough, a man who is probably in his mid-twenties is standing in the foyer of the chateau. He does not immediately look like a reprobate. He has the body of a rower and is wearing a heather brown tidy tweed three-piece suit with a white shirt and deep brown tie. He has an air that Jane immediately recognizes from handling Kiera. Smug, untouchable, above all laws. His hair is blond and brushed to one side, his eyes blue and deceptively simple. He looks the very picture of gentlemanly good manners and responsibility, but Jane knows better. He is clearly a spoiled, selfish, carnally motivated boy, and he is not the first of his kind she has dealt with.
“I’m here to pick up Miss Marlin,” he says upon seeing Jane.
“Kiera is not going anywhere,” Jane replies crisply.