But we go behind the altar and there I see a door in the ground and steps leading to a well-lit basement.
Fear shudders through me for a moment as I remember a fragment of the dream I had.Being in the basement, being with Leona, and suddenly it’s as if my gut is screaming at me to not follow her, that it’s a trap.
We’re all just flies in a web.
But my feet keep moving thanks to my own curiosity and I’m going down the steps, ducking as I go.
“You’ll have to forgive the low ceilings, Mr.Crane,” she notes.“Humans were shorter back then.”
“I’m used to it,” I tell her, relieved to see that the area underneath the cathedral is just a short stone-lined passage lit by sconces with two doors across from each other,Sister Leona Van Tasseletched on one withSister Ana Van Tasselon the other.
She opens her door, with a sinister creak, and we step inside.With a flourish of her hands all the candles in the room are lit, as is the fireplace in the corner.
“Take a seat,” she says, taking hers behind the teak desk.
I sit down on the old velvet chair across from her, my body a bit too tall for it, my long legs splayed awkwardly.
“Why do I feel like I’m about to be fired?”I say, hoping that lands as a joke.
But from the tepid smile on Leona’s face, I don’t think I stuck the landing.
“Not quite, Ichabod,” she says, folding her hands on the desk.“Or I guess it all depends on what you have to say to the accusations.”
My brows rise at the same time that my stomach sinks.“Accusations?”
“Yes,” she says sharply.“It has come to our attention that you are having sexual relations with one of your students.Katrina Van Tassel.”
I suppose it should be a relief that she didn’t saytwoof my students.
“Was that wrong?”
She blinks at me.“I beg your pardon?”
I splay my hands in defense.“I didn’t know that was frowned upon.I don’t remember seeing any rules regarding teacher and student relations here.”
“It’s a given, Mr.Crane,” she admonishes me.
“I see,” I say.“Well then, I’m sorry I didn’t know.”
She gives me a contemptuous look.“You honestly expect me to believe…Oh, it doesn’t matter.The point is, you must call off your relationship at once.”
“Or?”
“Or you’ll be fired.”
I narrow my eyes as I study her.At the moment she looks relatively normal, that strangely ageless yet not unattractive older woman, but every now and then her face will shift, like the more angry she gets, the more her magic starts to slip.She’s covering something up under there.
She’s covering up her real face.
I close my eyes for a moment, refusing to let my imagination run away on me as it is apt to do.The last thing I need is to start picturing what she might really look like.
“Can I ask you a question?”I say, opening my eyes and daring another glance at her.
“What?”she says with a tired sigh.
“How old are you?”
Her pointy chin jerks inward.“I’m not sure that’s an appropriate question,” she says, her tone haughty.
