I walked toward one of the statues and glanced at the weatherworn face. It was hard to determine if it was a man or woman at this point. I glanced at the ground, looking for a name plate or sign. As I edged around the statue, I bumped into Vanya.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I wanted to know who this was the statue of.”
“Well, that’s not very exciting, is it?”
I shrugged. “He was important enough to have a statue made of him. That’s kind of exciting to me.”
Vanya rolled her eyes. “I’ve had three statues made of me, and I’m not that exciting.”
I smiled at her. “Three, huh?”
“Well, one of them is just a bust, so I guess two and a half? They don’t do me justice; I’ll say that.”
I shook my head at her. “I'm sure they don't.”
She pulled on my arm and dragged me away from the statue. “Have you heard what they’re all talking about?”
“Who?”
“All the girls.”
“No.” The other girls didn’t talk to me.
“Rhett Logan,” she said, looking up at the sky as if I were the silliest person in the world.
“Logan?” I patted my pockets, looking for the list of my classes, but I had left it with my stack of books. “Isn't he the?—”
“Yes, the chemistry professor,” she said. She jerked her head to the side. “He’s over there, sitting on one of the benches.”
Beneath the only tree in the courtyard sat a man in a tweed suit, his robe splayed open on the bench beside him. One ankle rested on his knee, and a book lay open in his lap. As I stared at him, I became aware of the giggles and the murmurs carrying around the courtyard. Our science professor was strikingly handsome and surprisingly young. His chin was smoothly shaven, and tight curls sat on top of his head. Thin spectacles rested on his nose, and he carried the air of a scholar. He had an expertly shaped jawline, and even though he was sitting, he looked tall, all angles. He appeared not to notice the yammering of the girls in the courtyard, despite the small space.
Vanya clasped her hands together. “Oh, this will be fun.”
“He’s a professor,” I said, pinching my brows at her.
“And I’m a princess. I wonder how old he really is,” she said, looking at him again.
“You can’t be serious. What if he’s already married?”
Vanya shook her head. “Do you remember what I said about my family and devotion?”
A small scoff escaped my lips as the chemistry professor uncrossed his legs and stood, closing the book but keeping one finger to hold his place.
“All right,” he announced to the courtyard, “it’s that time.” His robes billowed out behind him as he walked toward the doors leading back inside. The girls shuffled quickly after him.
The day passed in a blur, my mind too full of information to process everything that we had seen and heard and learned. Butas we filed outside once more, the day now overcast and windy, my heart rate soared.
It was time for our first official lesson in the lair.
CHAPTER 10
We spilled out onto the sloping grounds, my gaze drawn to the top of Gray Mountain, its rounded peak draped with the forest. Legends were written about Gray Mountain, the dragons who had once lived in its caves, and the jewels people had found stockpiled there hundreds of years ago.
Up ahead, another of the houses was already heading toward the enormous structure that looked like a castle in its own right: imposing stone walls, few windows, and a single entrance several stories tall. The famous lair of Cardan Lott.
A small sound escaped my mouth, a sound of wonder, and I didn’t realize that I’d stopped in my tracks until Scarlett walked up and bumped my shoulder, pushing me forward. I got back in line and tried to keep my jaw closed as we approached the lair.
