Dad laughed for the first time since we’d left Portland, Maine. “I suppose it is. In my day, we coined it ‘Gothic- cheery,’ but your description is more precise.” He shot Mom a smile she didn’t return.
Dad parked in front of the double doors, which looked like they belonged on an old Spanish cathedral. I shot out of the car and straightened my dress and the long leather jacket that gave me the perfect spy-in-training air. Spellcasters would eventually provide me with a job after graduation and I wanted to look the part. Plus, what if I met my spouse here, like Mom and Dad had found each other? First impressions were important, I didn’t want to mess this one up.
I took a big breath of piney air, soaking in the fresh scents of summer.
“Where do we go?” I asked once I felt grounded.
“Someone will be here in just a second.” Mom waved her hand.
“How do you know? Did you call ahead?”
“They always send someone, pea,” Dad said, his tone more gentle than Mom’s.
As if on cue, the doors burst open, and a tall, thin woman about my mom’s age strode outside. Her chocolate brown hair was pulled back in a heavy bun that coiled at her nape. She was smiling, a tight, thin affair that didn’t reach her appraising eyes.
“Pris Wake!” I blinked as the corners of Mom’s mouth quirked upward for the first time in hours. “This is a surprise. Usually, they send a junior spymaster, not the headmistress.”
Wake. I knew that name. I had studied her lineage after receiving an acceptance letter bearing her signature. She was a descendant of a famed spy from World War II—Nancy Wake, also known as the White Mouse, one of the Gestapo’s top five most-wanted Allied spies.
A thrill ran through me. This woman could teach me a thing or two about changing the world for the better.
“It’s not every day our most esteemed donors drop off their only daughter.” Headmistress Wake’s eyes drifted from Mom to me and looked me up and down. “Odette Dane, I presume?”
My hand shot out. “Yes. It’s nice to meet you, Headmistress Wake. I’ve heard a lot about you and your escapades.”
She cocked a pencil-thin eyebrow.
“The ones that are public,” I amended, not wanting her to assume my parents had shared secrets about her spy days. That would have broken protocol, and my parentssodid not do that. They never even talked abouttheirspy days, or why they had quit. Probably because they didn’t believe I could live up to their reputations.
I planned on proving them wrong.
“I suppose there are a few of those,” the headmistress said and turned back to my parents. “Will you be staying a while? As benefactors, I’d love to lunch with you in my chambers.”
“We’re not leaving Odette until we have to, right after the orientation dinner.”
Mom had been so dour on the ride upstate, but now her tone was light as she gazed wistfully at the academy grounds. It seemed that, although she hadn’t wanted me to come here, returning to her alma mater was lifting her spirits.
“Wonderful.” Headmistress Wake glanced at her watch. “My daughter should arrive at any minute.”
Once again, the front doors to the school flung open. A statuesque, attractive girl appeared and made her way over to us. Her pin-straight, blonde hair was so thick and heavy that it barely moved against her shoulders as she walked.
It’s like they time these things.
The girl stopped to stand next to the headmistress.
“Odette Dane, this is my daughter Diana Wake. You’re both first years—or as we call your class at Spellcasters, initiates. If you’re amenable to parting with your parents, she’ll show you to your rooms.”
“Hi! And totally!” I beamed at the girl who returned my exuberance with a tight smile similar to her mother’s. “Should I grab my bags?”
The headmistress shook her head. “Just what you’ll want right away. The rest will arrive shortly.”
I snapped up my backpack and waved at my parents. Mom’s face fell, the bit of joy that had made an appearance since arriving on the school grounds, gone in a second.
“See you at the orientation dinner,” I said, and turned around quickly so I didn’t have to dwell on Mom’s anxiety.
She’ll be fine. She’s just nervous about her baby girl leaving home and playing with the big boys. Once I start killing it in classes, she won’t worry so much.
With those reassurances in mind, I followed Diana into the hallowed halls of Spellcasters Spy Academy.
