Angus paused with his hand on the door. “Educational institutions are for the inferior. You’ll be receiving private lessons from now on.”
I’d met some ostentatious asses in my time, but that statement was the biggest pile of bullshit I’d ever heard. I literally didn’t know what to say. Or how to act, for that matter. Agnus walked away, and I just stood there with my mouth hanging open wide enough to catch flies.
Sure, schools had their issues—some more than others—but being a teacher wasn’t easy. Especially in the public system. Kids were assholes, and they were underpaid. Plus, they didn’t exactly have the greatest funding.
According to one of my foster moms, secondhand textbooks and rundown classrooms didn’t make for a fantastic learning environment. No wonder some teachers gave up. Maybe if the education system put more effort in…
Wait…
Did I just agree with Angus?
“No,” I said to a bird sitting on the railing of the bridge. “I refuse to let these people influence me.”
My brow knit when his little head tipped and his chest puffed out. Was this bird disagreeing with me?
“Listen here, just because I was forced to come to this place”—I wagged my finger in his direction—“doesn’t mean I’m going to turn into some rich asshole.”
The bright blue feathers on his tail rose as he shook his body.
“Don’t give me that…” My mouth clamped shut.
Was I seriously arguing with a bird?
The bird let out a melodic whistle.
Yes, yes, I was.
“Stupid house, with its stupid people, driving me crazy,” I grumbled while stomping across the bridge toward the door.
I’d be damned if I was going to let this place change me. It was nothing more than a temporary stop on my train of life. The only permanent thing here was Charmaine—who was more than willing to leave with Angus. Now that perturbed me.
She was my mother before she was his wife. Yes, she may not have been the best mother out there. I took care of her more than she did me, but she couldn’t help that. Charmaine was haunted by the voices in her own mind, which was worse than being actually haunted.
At least someone could escape a ghost. There was nowhere Charmaine could go to hide from the taunts in her head.
Bet Angus didn’t understand that. I wasn’t even sure how long he’d known her. Had anyone bothered to do a background check on him? What if he was a serial killer? Who wanders into an asylum one day and decides to go wife shopping? It was high time I had a chat with Perry.
I pulled out my phone, prepared to dial his number, but stopped with my finger hovering over the screen. Would a call really solve anything? While Perry was a great worker, he was a stickler for the rules. Including the one about protecting minors from sensitive information.
Sighing, I slid my phone back in my pocket and continued down the hall. Guess I’d have to do my own investigation. The only question was, where to start?
Surely, someone like Angus had files or something somewhere. In my search yesterday, I’d come across a few rooms that could’ve been offices. They would probably be a good place to start. Well, except for one. No information was worth another trek down the suits of armor hallway.
Just thinking about that place made me shiver. Not as much as Devlin’s room. I’d known him for less than twenty-four hours and wasn’t at all surprised by his decorative choice. Only pure evil would sleep in a pit of snakes.
With my new quest in mind, I set out to find answers. Instead, I found confusion. All it took to get completely and utterly lost was three corner turns. My investigation quickly turned into the‘where the fuck am I’search again.
They really needed to start handing out maps. Maybe have a kiosk in each hallway with theyou are heresymbol. Hell, I’d take crayon arrows drawn on the wall.
I spent more time trying to find something familiar than I did anything else. It wasn’t all a complete loss, though. One hallway I wandered down was filled with big ornate gold-framed portraits. One of which had two familiar faces.
My parents.
I couldn’t stop staring at it. There were around a dozen other people in the picture, one of whom I recognized as a younger Angus, but that wasn’t what caught my attention.
Standing right beside my father was Charmaine. The clarity in her eyes stole my breath. She seemed so happy and confident. Nothing like the fragile person I grew up with.
My head tipped as I traced my finger over the smooth lines of her honey hair. How did she go from this to a someone who couldn’t remember her own daughter? What happened? I couldn’t help but wonder what my life would’ve been like if this woman raised me?
