“So, Miss Dane, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about last night?” David asked, his tone soothing.
I nodded. “Fire away. Although you should know that I might not be too helpful. I was focused on a single task for a lot of it.”
He nodded. “I heard what you did. That boy owes you his life.” My gut twisted at his omission of the girl. “Still, we like to interview everybody about their personal experience. You never know who might have witnessed the one key piece that brings a case together.”
He began questioning me. Most of his inquiries were expected. Who infiltrated the school? Had I seen them actually get onto the grounds? Had anybody from the academy been acting suspicious at the party?
I answered everything to the best of my abilities, although none of my answers felt fully sufficient. Why hadn’t I paid more attention? It was like I’d forgotten all of my training when it counted most.
After David finished his questions, he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples. “Thank you, Miss Dane. You are dismissed. When you leave, would you please tell my assistant to send for,” he looked at the sheet in front of him, “Evanora Proctor.”
I nodded. “She’s my best friend, so I can send her myself, if you’d like?”
“Oh, that’s right. Proctor was with you in Portland.” David sounded as if just thinking about Portland exhausted him.
“She was. She’s still sensitive about it,” I said protectively. “I’ll send her in.”
I walked across the room and placed my hand on the doorknob. I was about to let myself out when something I hadn’t considered in a while, but had obsessed over constantly after it happened filtered into my conscious.
“David? Do you remember when last year’s Culling class came to the PIA for a field trip?”
His lips quirked up. “How could I forget? Your group is a small butverycurious bunch.”
I laughed. That was a kind way of saying that a few members in our class had asked him a billion questions.
“You’re right about that. I was wondering, can I ask you a question about that day? If you can’t answer I understand, but I’m curious.”
“Of course.” David placed his elbows on the desk and leaned forward.
“Do you remember the witch I ran into in the hallway outside the cafeteria? The one being brought in by agents for questioning?”
David’s face went blank, and his eyebrows knitted together. “I don’t believe I remember.”
“The one who yelled at me not to trust anyone.”
I hadn’t wanted to say the last part, since she’d been referring to the PIA, but I supposed there was no sense in keeping that from the spymaster. He’d probably been in on the case in some way or another.
David’s confusion cleared, and something else flashed across his face. Anxiety? “Oh, yes. I remember the witch you’re talking about. Why do you bring her up?”
“I was actually wondering what happened to her. Sometimes she shows up in my dreams.”
I didn’t add that when I dreamt about her, I often awoke to my totem flashing like crazy on my nightstand. The connection between the dream and my totem made me question if the witch was a demon sympathizer or something of that nature.
David squirmed a little in his seat. “I’m sorry to say that witch died after being brought to the PIA. She refused nourishment while under questioning. As you might recall, she was already quite ill when she arrived.”
“Oh. Yes, I remember.” A pang of remorse for the woman cut through my heart. “I’m sorry to hear that she passed. So sad.”
“Yes. It was quite sad, but nothing could be done to save her.”
My hand landed on the doorknob again, and I twisted it. “Thanks for answering my question. I’ll see you around, David.”
Chapter Fourteen
For the next five days, all the students could talk about was the fae infiltration and how the PIA had questioned everyone at the party: the professors, staff, and even Headmistress Wake.
The Culling students were the most skittish about everything that had happened, which made sense. It was only early September, and the poor newbies hadn’t even undergone their Samhain Trial yet. The scariest thing they’d seen was probably Professor de Spina’s demon conjurings.
To be fair, those still made me shudder, and I’d seen somerealshit.
