I checked my reflection in the mirror, making sure I looked put-together for the meeting. My irritation had somehow disheveled my hair, but a bit of water and combing put it back into place. Once I’d straightened my tie and tucked in my shirt, I headed out the door, already rehearsing what I was going to say.
I was going to have to leave out some of the profanity, though.
When I reached the headmaster’s door, I took a deep breath and knocked, then stepped back to wait. I could hear him on the phone in his office, but I couldn’t make anything out. Unlike our vampire cousins, a ghoul’s hearing was no sharper than a human’s.
Finally, the door opened, and the headmaster peered out over his rimless glasses. “Dr. Price,” he said in a wary tone. “I’m assuming you received my email?”
“Yes,” I said steadily. “I’m here to discuss it in person.”
“You could’ve made an appointment,” he muttered, but he stood aside to let me in.
“It’s urgent,” I replied.
He returned to his desk and sat down, his hands folded in front of him, twiddling his thumbs like I was boring him with my presence. “What do you wish to discuss?” he asked, motioning to the chair in front of the desk.
I didn’t sit. I was too fired up, which wasn’t something I experienced often.
“You can’t deny my request,” I said, staring him down. “I work directly for the Agency. I have authority as a physician acting in the best interests of one of my patients.”
The headmaster’s keen eyes hardened. “Now is not the time to try to play that card,” he replied sternly.
“You’re not my boss,” I said before I could stop myself. “I answer to the Agency and the Agency alone. Youwilllift the clearance on Bells’ records. That isn’t a request.”
He watched me for a moment, somehow looking down his nose even though I was towering over him, appraising me. When he grunted a laugh, it caught me off-guard. “I’ll have you know I wasn’t the one who refused the request,” he said steadily. “The refusal came from Mateo himself.”
I froze as I processed that. Mateo was one of the Agency’s higher-ups. He was human, but he was important enough that hardly anyone had met him, including me. If Mateo was guarding Bells’ records, this was really serious.
“I see,” I replied stiffly. “I’ll be in touch with him, then.”
The headmaster gave me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. For the first time, I noticed that despite his age, there wasn’t a single smile line on the witch’s face. “You do that,” he said in a pleasant but fake tone. “If he approves your request, so will I. But we both know that won’t happen, don’t we?”
“We’ll see,” I growled, going for the door.
“One more thing.”
I turned back warily to face the headmaster again. “Yes?”
“If you keep up with that attitude, we’ll have to bring someone far morezento take your place,” the headmaster said thoughtfully. “Can’t have your erratic energy rubbing off on your patients. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal,” I said through gritted teeth.
I left his office before I could say something I regretted. What the hell had come over me? I was as calm as they came, especially for a ghoul. Through years of meditation, I’d managed to achieve a state where I could sustain myself on animals instead of human flesh. Maintaining a placid demeanor in front of the headmaster should’ve been a piece of cake. I just had to remember to breathe.
I promised myself I would clear my mind before I went to Mateo. I couldn’t act out like that in front of him.
Not if I wanted to help Bells.
Chapter 17
Bells
It had beenabout a week since what I’d simply come to term The Incident, since the administration was insistent on treating it like nothing of importance had really happened, despite the fact that one of their faculty had ended up chained in a closet.
I had finally started to catch up in my classes, but being attacked had changed all that. I could barely pay attention in the lectures, and while I could tell from the stern looks of my professors that they’d noticed, none of them said anything.
The other students had gone back to treating me like I was an unknown, but the moment the word “husk” had started making its rounds in the hallway, the headmaster had immediately silenced it.
There were more guards around the school now, but other than that, not much had changed. Considering that one or more of them might easily be working with the cult, it was hard to find that extra measure much of a comfort.
