I bent my head low. “You know the way back to the school?”
The wolf pawed at the ground.
“Ho ... Holly ...” Liesl said in a strangled voice. “Lo ... look ...”
I turned my head to see where she was pointing.
Out of the mist, a ghostly figure was coming, gliding across the ground straight toward us.
Its arms were outstretched, its mouth open, and a moan issuing forth from it.
“aaaaoooooooooommmmmm!”
That was all the encouragement I needed.
I squeezed my legs, urging the wolf forward, and she took off with a long-striding trot. She ran, leaving the cemetery and the ghostly moaning figure behind, and weaving through the trees as if pulled toward the school grounds.
I glanced back and saw the second wolf, with Liesl astride her, running fast on our heels.
It took about twenty-five minutes of trotting to get back to the school lawn.
We must’ve been really far away.
We were finally walking (trudging?) up the steps and through the front doors. The wolves followed us, staying close behind me.
In the main hallway of the school, we encountered the headmistress, Sarah the dorm supervisor, and Chance, all talking.
“There they are!” Sarah cried, rushing toward us.
“What happened? You look all scratched up and filthy!” asked the headmistress.
Chance opened his arms, and I fell into them. Then I grabbed Liesl and brought her into our hug.
The story came out one fragment at a time.
“Jessica, Naomi, and the other girls in our dorm ...”
“Tricked us and led us into the woods ...”
“Told us there was a bonfire party at eight in the evening ...”
“Led us into the woods for miles, and then abandoned us ...”
“We walked for hours through the wood ...”
“We found a cemetery with a wight trying to get us ...”
“The only reason we made it back home was because of Holly’s wolf familiars ...”
“Could have died of exposure ...”
“Getting freezing outside ...”
“We called for help, but nobody answered ...”
We both fell silent, breathing hard.
The headmistress spoke then. “Do you mean to tell me you walked all the way to the cemetery?”
We nodded our heads.
“But that’s over five miles away!” the head mistress exclaimed.
We just stared at her.
After a minute Chance spoke, “Headmistress, this has gone beyond the pale. Those girls need to be punished. Holly and Liesl need to be in a separate dorm room than them. Those girls’ prank could have left Holly and Liesl in serious danger.”
The headmistress nodded.
“There’s a vacant dorm room on the second year’s floor. Take that one. We’ll have your things moved.” She thought a minute. “Now go get cleaned up. Baths for both of you. Are you sure you don’t need the nurse? No? Very well, then. Sarah will escort you to your new dormitory. Bathe and get comfortable. And I promise you, those girls will be punished.”
We all nodded. Chance and Sarah led us back to the central room of the dorm, but then turned us down a different corridor and up an entirely new set of stairs.
“Okay, when you get there, I want you to take long baths, both of you. Wash yourselves thoroughly.”
“I’ll take my leave now, ladies. I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow, okay?” Chance said.
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay,” Liesl said begrudgingly.
“Thanks for everything, Chance,” Sarah said, smiling.
Chance left, shutting the door behind him quietly.
It was nearly two in the morning.
Well, thank goodness we don’t have classes tomorrow, I guess.
Sarah led us to the second year’s dorm hallway. She led us to the end, and used her keys to open the last door on the right.
“This is a small room, but there’s just the two of you,” she glanced down at the two arctic wolves following behind me. “There’s plenty of room for you two, and the wolves.” She pointed to the door next to the dorm room door. “The bathroom is right there. There’s several bathtubs. I’ll get your belongings transferred over right away.”
She looked at each of us seriously.
“I am really unhappy at what happened tonight, girls. I want you to know that. What those girls did was unforgivable. I will make sure they are punished.”
She nodded and left.
Liesl and I walked into the new dorm room.
“It’s even nicer than the other one,” I said.
Chapter Seventeen
Interrogations
The next morning, we woke up to a knock at the door. I opened my eyes and saw that our belongings had been stacked just inside our new dorm room sometime during the night.
Sarah poked her head into our room.
“You both awake?” she asked.
“Not hardly,” I yawned.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, especially after what happened last night,” said Sarah. “But the headmistress wants to talk to you.”
I sat up in bed.
“Now?” Liesl said, yawning.
“Well, it’s nearly breakfast time, and she wonders if you could come to her office to give your account of what happened directly after your meal,” Sarah said.
I nodded. “Yes, we can do that.” I thought for a minute. “Wait, Sarah. Will Jessica and Naomi and the others be there too?”
“At breakfast? No, they’ve been confined to their dorm room until the headmistress can do a proper investigation. They’re taking their meals and being questioned there as well.” Sarah closed the door.
“Huh, I’m still not awake,” Liesl fell back down on the pillow, yawning.
“We’ve only had a few hours of sleep. The headmistress must really want to hear what happened,” I said.
“The least they could do was let us sleep in,” said Liesl. “Can we even think clearly when we’re sleepy?”
I got up and decided to take a shower. “Maybe she wants to talk to us while we have everything fresh in our minds.”
“True.”
A half hour later, we walked down to the dining hall and met Chance for breakfast.
“Hey, how are you two doing?” said Chance. “You only got a few hours’ sleep. I’m amazed you’re up so early.”
“The headmistress wants to talk to us,” I yawned. “And I cannot stop yawning.”
“I’m getting some espresso,” said Liesl. Chance and I followed her.
We were all soon seated with the coffee and some steaming hot eggs.
“So you went to the cemetery last night?” Chance asked.
“Not on purpose,” I said. “Trust me, that place is not the ideal vacation spot.”
“It was spooky, to say the least,” Liesl said.
“I’ll bet,” said Chance. “Did you come across anything there?”
“Oh, you mean beyond the wight?” I asked.
“You saw a wight?!” asked Chance.
“Just briefly. She wanted us to stay, but we had to go.” I grinned.
Chance shook his head.
“I hope those girls get properly punished.” Liesl yawned and took a sip of her espresso.
“Oh, believe me, they will be,” said Chance. “The forest surrounding the school is extremely dangerous at night. This is by design, to discourage any interlopers.”
“Well, seriously, I wonder if maybe the school shouldn’t put out some kind of beacon, to help lost students find their way home,” Liesl said.
“They expressly don’t, though,” Chance explained. “If an interloper were to find their way into the forest, trying to get to the school, it would be nearly impossible. There are some pretty strong enchantments at work, and anyone entering the forest is almost guaranteed to get lost.”
That explained why we wound up going ar
ound in circles when it felt like we were walking in a straight line.
“Those low-down creeps,” I fumed. “I’ll bet they knew this when they lured us down there.”
“We’ve got to tell all this to the headmistress,” Liesl said.
“Eat up, then I’ll walk with you up to her office.” Chance wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Oh, and she already knows all the enchantments placed on the forest. What she needs to be told are exactly what your experiences were.”
We finished and went up to Professor Ó Baoghill’s office.
Chance knocked on the heavy wooden door.
“Enter,” came a voice from inside the office.
We filed in one at a time. Sarah Goodheart was already there, as well as a transcriptionist and a secretary.
“Please take a seat,” the headmistress said, gesturing to the chairs in front of her desk. “Now, before we begin, I want to ask: How are you feeling?”
“Sleepy,” I said.
Liesl nodded, yawning.
“And how are your wounds?” The headmistress asked.
I looked at Liesl. She was all scratched up, on her face and her arms. The wounds looked bright and pink against her pale skin.
I imagined I looked much the same, after our ordeal last night.
I reached up to touch my face and felt several scrapes that stung when my fingers brushed against them.
Liesl shrugged. “The scrapes and bruises hurt.”
I nodded, my face stinging. Ow.
The headmistress folded her hands. “I want to get to the bottom of this. If you will forgive the process, I wish to question each of you separately, so we can obtain accurate testimonies.”
Something was off.
“Professor, you already know what happened to us, don’t you?” I said. “We told you last night. Why are you questioning us again?”
“Miss Ó Cuilinn, I want to get much more detail,” the headmistress said. “I want to make sure of both your experiences. I want to compare what you testify happened with a few other accounts.”
I stood up, my chair scraping the floor. “What do you mean, ‘a few other accounts’? We were alone, there was no one else there.”
“Please calm down, Miss Ó Cuilinn. You are not on trial here. We realize you and Miss Becker are the victims of the prank in this instance.” The headmistress nodded.
I sat back down.
“Miss Ó Cuilinn, please go with Mr. Mac Craith to the next room. We will call you when we’re ready to question you,” the headmistress said.
I followed Chance to the next room, scowling. “It’s as if they don’t believe us, Chance.”
“I don’t think it’s that at all, Holly,” said Chance. “I think they just want a lot more details, and they want pure testimony, with nothing colored by what one of you may say in front of the other.”
“But ...”
“I know, I know. But it happens,” said Chance. “Oh, and also: They’re trying to decide what to do about this. The punishment could range from detention for the other girls, to expulsion from the school.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Expulsion?”
He nodded.
Wow.
We were called back to the office a short time later.
I sat down in the chair while Chance led Liesl away. I caught the look on Liesl’s face as it changed from worry to elation at the prospect of being alone with Chance in the other room.
I rolled my eyes, and looked up, and caught the keen eye of the headmistress watching me like a hawk.
“No, no, it’s just that,” I waved my hand, trying to think of the right words. I bent forward to the headmistress, and she bent forward a bit toward me. “Liesl has a crush on Chance.”
“Ah.” She sat back, smiling. “Well, let us get started, shall we?”
I nodded.
The headmistress folded her hands and looked at me. “Tell me everything.”
I took a deep breath and started at the very beginning: my arrival at the Academy and the mocking looks I noticed right away.
And the scene the first day in the dorm room.
And my suspicion when Jessica and Naomi acted friendly the short time later.
And their mention of the bonfire.
And the sight of the bonfire that Liesl and I had seen the weekend before.
And the repeated invitation.
“I think they were inviting us so they could play the prank on us, and when we didn’t join them the first time, they had a real bonfire, to show us that they were on the up-and-up. But,” I leaned forward, “I don’t think they were. I think it was all a ruse to get us to go down there.”
“What happened last night when you and Miss Becker walked down to the north lawn?” the headmistress asked.
“We saw no bonfire, and no group or people. We just saw Jessica and Naomi standing at the edge of the lawn, up by the woods,” I said.
“They were both there?” the headmistress asked sharply.
“Yes,” I replied. “Both Jessica and Naomi were there, standing idle, as if they were waiting for someone. For us. It was weird, because it was only them. No wood to burn, no other supplies. Just them.”
“Go on,” she said.
“Well, they said they had moved the location of the bonfire to a new ‘super cute’ clearing. Then they both walked off, without giving any other details, without waiting for us. They just walked off into the woods.”
“So, we tried to follow them. We walked a long time. Every now and then, we thought we heard their voices, but far off, so we couldn’t make out what they were saying. We walked for a long time. Several hours, I think. Then we came upon the cemetery.”
“It was spooky and misty, and we heard a moaning cry several times. Liesl was very afraid at first, then she seemed to become unafraid, but then her fear returned.” I thought for a minute. “I think her fear coincided with the moaning voice we heard, but I can’t be sure. Then we walked into the middle of the cemetery, kind of, I don’t know, exploring.
“I remember talking to Liesl about my Aunt Clare, how she died recently and what had happened with that. Liesl got scared again, so we walked back to the edge of the cemetery, then we left the cemetery, turning completely around and trying to hurry back the other way.”
“I could’ve sworn we were hiking away from the cemetery, but after a while, we walked into it again. I remember wondering if there were two cemeteries. Only I thought it was the same one, because it looked exactly the same. It was surreal. Then we decided to call out loud for help. We yelled really loudly, trying to call for anyone to help us. But no one answered. And it got really quiet.”
“Then I thought of calling forth my familiars. I remembered what Chance had said, that they were for protecting me, and other things. Companionship and stuff. So I called them with the spell we’d learned earlier in the week, in class. I did the spell and they came, and everything got better.”
“How so?” the headmistress asked.
“Well, the wolves appeared. They’re huge. I know I felt immediately better. Liesl seemed to, as well. By the way, headmistress, why did I get two familiars?”
“Oh, ah, well, that sometimes happens, Miss Ó Cuilinn,” she said.
“But why? Why does it happen? From what I gather, it is rare, and also, I have been getting the feeling that you all know more about me than I know myself.”
“Well, Miss Ó Cuilinn, we can address that later. First: can you finish telling us what happened last night?” the headmistress asked.
“Oh, yeah, last night. Well, I asked the wolves if they could carry us, and if they knew the way back to the school. They said yes to both questions, so Liesl and I climbed on top of them. Just then, the moaning started again and we saw a misty looking figure, looked like a ghost from a TV show, it was gliding toward us, sort of ... reaching out for us. Like I said before, I think it might have been a wight.
“Well, that was the last straw. We rode the wolves back through the forest, a
nd I think they went in a straight line, and, well, you saw they rest. We arrived, we went in, talked to you all, and then got assigned to a new dorm room.”
I took a deep breath and sat back. I had never talked so much in my life.
The headmistress seemed to be thinking. She sat with her fingers folded together. Then she consulted with her secretary and sent her off on some task, then turned back to me.
“Miss Ó Cuilinn. You are to be commended on your courage in the face of great danger. I want to express my admiration. For a first-year student to perform the spell to call your familiar so soon after learning it, well, that is impressive.
“Now, as to the forest and why you got lost so easily, there are spells and glyphs placed on the forest land to confound the wanderer. They are there to protect the school from intruders. But they are not perfect, and work to confound any person that walks in the wood at night. Apparently, Miss Penner and Miss Page, the girls who led you and Miss Becker into the woods, got lost themselves. We found them quite far away, just before dawn. Our guards were searching all night for them.”
I leaned forward. “We didn’t hear them cry out for help. Were they found near the cemetery?”
“No, they were not. Miles away, in fact. They were in a very sorry state and told us that it was you and Miss Becker who’d lured them into the forest under false pretenses. This is why I wanted to question everyone by themselves. It was most ... enlightening.
“Now, I do want to mention, that should you ever find yourself in the cemetery again, and there is only the one, by the way, that you leave at once. The creature you saw there was not a wight, as you thought, but a banshee. Far, far more dangerous. And wights are not to be trifled with, either.”
I sat, stunned.
A banshee?
“Miss Ó Cuilinn, I am finished with your interview. Would you like to join Miss Becker in your new dorm room for a recess?” The headmistress said, getting to her feet.
“Wait. Please.” I held my hand up.
She stopped and sat back down.
“I would like some answers. Please,” I said.
She waited, watching me expectantly.
I took a deep breath.
“Well, I’m kind of tired beating around the bush. Please tell me: Why are most of the students treating me badly? Without even having met me?” I asked.
Faerie Misborn Page 13
