She folds her arms, still focused on the wound on my head, and I’m glad I did up Crane’s collar high enough so that it covers the bruises on my neck.“You really should see the nurse.She’s an excellent healer.”
“I will.But I can’t go like this,” I say, gesturing to Crane’s oversized clothes.I hold out my arms in emphasis and his scent wafts up toward my nose, warm spices and fire, and my stomach does summersaults.I’m amazed that after all we’ve done and been through, just his smell is enough to make my knees weak.
Crane says he’s under my spell but I think I’m the one under his.
“I don’t have a large selection,” she says with a reluctant sigh, heading toward her wardrobe and throwing open the doors.“Teacher’s budget, you know.”
I take a look around the room while she does this, noticing more than the incense wafting from her desk: the smell of tobacco.
“Oh,” she says, catching me staring at a burning cigarette in a mortar.“I hope you don’t mind.I know smoking is frowned upon, but it’s a habit I picked up on my travels.It’s from Egypt.Not that I’ve been there, but I know people who have.I cleared it with Sister Leona, in case you’re worried.”
I shake my head.“I’m not worried.I’ve never met a woman who smokes.”
“Some of us do,” she says, going through her clothes again.“In private.”She pauses.“I also have some opium, if you’re interested.”
My brows shoot up at the mention of Crane’s weakness, ignoring the fact that my teacher is offering me drugs.“You have opium?How did you get it here?Did you manage to leave the institute?”
“Of course,” she says, coming over to me holding out a plain navy blue skirt and bodice I’ve seen her wear a few times before.“I don’t have a corset that will hold your, well, ample attributes, but I think you should still fit this.I’m sorry it’s not as nice as what you’re used to.”
“No, it’s perfect,” I say absently, taking the items from her, my mind still tripping over what she just said.
“Hmm, you need shoes and stockings,” she says as she eyes my feet.“My boots might be too small for you but they should do for now.Oh and you’ll need a chemise as well.As for drawers…”
“I’ll go without,” I say quickly, and she doesn’t bat an eye at how scandalous that sounds.Instead she goes to her armoire and opens the drawers.“Ms.Peek,” I begin.
“Please, call me Narae,” she says.“We should be on a first-name basis if you are wearing my clothes.”
“Of course, Narae.You said you left the school.When?How?”
“This summer,” she says, bringing out a chemise from the drawer.“I was gone until the end of August.Took the riverboat down to Manhattan, and then the train to Boston.”
“And they let you leave?”I ask, holding the chemise along with the skirt and bodice.
She gives me a funny look.“Of course.Many teachers stay but I like to travel.I don’t remember a thing about the school while I’m gone, just that I teach here and that’s it.”
“But when you’re gone you still know you’re a witch…”
“I do,” she says with a slow nod.“But it doesn’t feel as important when I’m out there.It’s as if all my magic stays here at the school.I’m barely a witch at all when I leave.”A worrying expression comes over her as she gives her head a shake.“But I did have a note from your aunt with me.It said to bring back as much opium as possible.She’d given me money too.I’d forgotten, but it was there in my pocketbook.”
“Leona wanted you to bring back opium?”I ask, thinking I’d heard her wrong.
“Yes.”
“What for?”
She shrugs.“I didn’t ask.Or if I did, I don’t remember.Why don’t you go into the bathroom and put those on?I can help you with your boots after.”
In a daze I walk into the bathroom and put on the chemise, skirt, and bodice.It’s a little tight but thankfully it fits because I’m not using a bustle at my rear.The bodice only does up at the front because it has a ribbon closure instead of hook and eye.
When I emerge I feel out of sorts but passable, and I sit down in her chair as she brings out stockings and boots.
“I can do that myself,” I tell her as she starts to roll the stocking up over my foot, and despite what happened in the bath earlier, I’m glad I’m freshly clean.
“You are used to a housemaid,” she says.“And I was a housemaid before I became a teacher.It’s not a problem for me.”
Ms.Peek—Narae—finishes up with the stockings, securing them below the knee with matching navy ribbons, and then the cream-colored boots that are too tight and pinch my toes together, doing them up with a button hook, and I can’t help but think about Famke and the way she always assisted me.My mother never did.It feels good, even if for a moment, and I wonder if I’ll eventually make any girlfriends in the dorms where we might help each other with things like this.
I’ll miss Famke.I know I’ll have to find a way to go back into Sleepy Hollow to visit her.There’s still so much we need to discuss.
