Chapter 3
1031 Words
Chapter Three
The siren project sits in front of me, finally complete. Mostly thanks to Caspian. Having a half-siren as his step-sister has given him a good understanding of the various lore surrounding them and he did his best to fill it all in. Though I worried about the bitterness in his voice as he talked about them. It can't have been fun for his parents to have split up and his Mum to move on so quickly.
I push away the thoughts of the woman who caused all this. I know she didn't cast the spell on me herself, but she may as well have. It's all some elaborate plan to get back at Mum for something that happened while they were here at Grimalkin. I'm not even sure why that's still something she's focusing on.
My knee bounces up and down, the nerves getting the better of me.
"Mona, you'll be fine," Daphne whispers.
I grimace. With Miss Feathertop taking the class, I'm not so sure about that. I don't like her being in such close proximity to Thomas all the time. If she could tell that Caspian and I had traces of black magic on us, then surely she outright knows that Thomas did the same thing. That puts him in a dangerous situation.
My eyes drift over to him. He's chatting to one of the other girls in the class as he accepts her report.
"There's nothing to worry about there. I see how he looks at you," Daphne assures me.
I turn away from where Thomas is and flash her a reassuring smile. "Oh, I know. He won't even kiss me, I'm not worried about him doing anything with anyone else."
"He takes his job seriously."
"I think it's more about his education," I respond. Something I can't even be angry about. We're all here because we want to take our learning seriously.
"I wouldn't risk mine for you either," she quips.
It's a lie. She's risked it several times. As has Thomas, for that matter. Though he won't cross the romance line, he's crossed many of the others, including nearly doing black magic for me.
I try not to think about that too much. I'm still not sure how we managed to get where we have.
My eyes lock on Miss Feathertop, who is at the front of the room not really doing anything. Including teaching. She doesn't seem all that interested in us doing anything right now, which is weird. She's normally the banging-the-board-and-demanding-attention type.
"Is this all a bit strange to you?" I ask Daphne.
She laughs lightly. "Handing in reports we've been working on for weeks? Definitely not weird." She taps her fingers against her own. To her other side, Bradley touches her hand to get her attention. Daphne turns to her boyfriend and the two of them strike up a conversation, leaving me to my own devices again.
"Do you have your report, Miss Black?"
I meet Thomas' gaze and see the twinkle of mischief there.
"What happens if I don't?" I ask, placing my hand on top of the report. He knows I'm done, I told him last night.
"Perhaps some kind of punishment can be arranged. I heard Miss Chambers had a detention a while back, maybe we can give you one too." He's smirking, unable to take his words seriously.
Luckily for him, he knows I'm aware of how he truly feels. "I didn't think Grimalkin had detention?" I ask sweetly. Though the idea of spending an hour with just Thomas for company sounds more appealing than I should let it.
"You're a special case, Miss Black. I'm sure it can be arranged."
I giggle, unable to help myself. One of the girls next to me shoots us an odd look, signalling that it's time for the two of us to stop before anyone gets suspicious.
"Is this your report?" he asks, setting his hand down, a note firmly tucked beneath his fingers.
I frown. Why hasn't he just text me? That's what he normally does when he needs something. I pick up my report, letting his hand slip away. That way I can palm the note without anyone noticing. I hope. I stick it in my pocket and hand the report to Thomas.
"It is."
He nods. "Thank you, Miss Black." The longing to say more and linger longer is clear in his eyes, but we both know that's not possible. We both know he can't be shown giving me favouritism. "Miss Chambers, is your report ready?" he asks Daphne.
"Of course," she chirps, handing him a bound file that's twice the size of mine. I shake my head. It doesn’t even surprise me that Daphne has gone above and beyond, it's just her style.
"Thank you." He moves on to Bradley without giving me a backward glance. I know I shouldn't let it bother me, but it's hard. Especially when I know there's going to be a few more years like this. We can be together in private, but in public, we can barely know each other.
I sigh and pull out his note. Miss Feathertop is looking in the opposite direction and doesn't seem to care what the rest of us are up to. I don't know what's going on with her at the moment, but this certainly isn't the Feathertop we've come to know since our arrival at Grimalkin.
Except that she's not the over-strict teacher she started out anyway. She's involved in black magic, and our paths have crossed more than I want to think about. I can't dismiss that. Miss Feathertop is dangerous, which is possibly why Thomas is slipping me notes instead of telling me what he wants.
I scan the words, my eyes widening.
Meet me after class. I've found something about black magic that you need to see. Don't text about this. The note will self-destruct once you've read it. Can't wait to see you - T.
Sure to his words, the paper catches fire, screwing itself up into a ball and becoming unreadable. Huh, neat trick. Once I'm kitten conjuring free, I need to ask him how he did that. It could be invaluable for us to communicate.
But what's he found? It must be big if he wants to talk to me right away and doesn't just come to my room later.
- Writer
