‘Miss Nocthare needs to—’ Kroff starts, but Nicks leans forward and shoves at his shoulder, pushing him out the way they came.
‘Shewill, but I’m not walking a first-year student anywhere without any fucking pants on. Now move.’
Kroff begrudgingly listens, and I stand in shock as my eyes dart between the two of them. Nicks turns my way. ‘Get changed and make it quick. I hope for your sake they’re wrong.’ He pulls the door shut.
I try to plead my case to Kroff and Nicks, but the latter once again silences me and tells me to save it for Headmaster Zain. They flank me as they walk me out of Malachite’s tower and through the Grand Hall.
The headmaster’s office is within the Agate tower and, from what I’ve learned, it always has been. Every single headmaster since ValAc became an academy has been from Agate. I walk between Kroff and Nicks as a mixture of unease and curiosity fight a silent battle in my head. I don’t know what to expect walking into this meeting, but I also can’t help feeling intrigued by the chance to see Headmaster Zain’s office.
Out of every room on campus, this is the one that I’m most interested in, because I can’t help wondering if inside there’s any information about Lukas. Surely, there are records kept somewhere, and if there are, my bet is that they’re stored in the unit I’m about to head into.
The early rising students walk past us on their way to get their breakfast, watching with suspicion. I keep my chin high and shoulders back because I’m not guilty of shit. They will get nothing from me other than the cold shoulder.Piss off and get your damn breakfast.
We stop in front of Agate’s entrance. Kroff waves a hand and a wisp of air snakes past my face, blowing a strand of hair that’s fallen from my ponytail across my forehead.
‘All right, you can go on in.’ He gestures for me to head through the gateway first.
I hesitate. It’s only for a few seconds, but it’s enough for Nicks to grab my bicep and yank me forward, causing me to stumble over my feet.
Anger bubbles up inside of me, making my skin hot. I’m getting bloody sick of everyone thinking they can shove me through gates like this. ‘Let go of me,’ I snap, retracting my arm from his grasp.
He releases me but narrows his eyes. ‘You have a real problem with authority, don’t you, Miss Nocthare?’
‘No.’ I squeeze my fists at my sides to stop myself from doing something stupid. ‘What I have a problem with is people waking me up at the asscrack of dawn to accuse me of something Ididn’tdo. And then thinking they can put their hands on me without my damn permission. Professor or not,don’ttouch me.’
Nicks grunts. ‘Having an attitude must run in the family.’
My eyes narrow. ‘Excuse me? I do—’
I don’t get to finish my sentence, because Nicks basically picks me up by my arms and carries me through the gate with him.
Unlike when I enter Malachite, there is no falling feeling. Instead, it feels like tiny blunt needles are poking into every single pore of my skin; stabbing one second and then gone the next. It doesn’t hurt, but it sure as hell doesn’t feelgood. It’s like Agate is trying to push me back out, like it knows I don’t belong inside.
In one quick move, Nicks has my feet planted on solid ground and has placed a good three feet between our bodies as if he’s prepared for me to lash out.
‘Before you get yourself into more trouble than you already are, I’d suggest you keep your mouth shut for the duration of this interrogation.’ His brown eyes that still hold some youth with only a few fine lines at the corners, are filled with a harsh warning. ‘Because that’s whatthisis, an interrogation. Me putting my hands on you to prevent you from saying something reckless – to a professor, no less – will be the least of your concerns when you get inthere.’ He points toward a pair of double doors, adorned with deep intricate carvings of the night sky. The stars, the moon, the sun; they’re all woven into the wood with meticulous, beautiful detail.
My teeth grind together so hard, I’m worried they’re all about to snap into a fine dust and choke me. I’m still in half a mind to yell at him for grabbing me like that. It wasn’t like I was going to refuse going through the gate; I don’t even think I could have if I tried.
‘Fine,’ I grit out, ‘but if you touch me like that again—’
‘I won’t,’ he interrupts, shooting a meaningful look my way seconds before I feel Kroff come through the other side of the gate and step in behind me. I move aside to make way for him.
I take a moment to look around the Agate common room, taking stock of how vastly different it is. Malachite’s common room encapsulates a sense of warmth with its brown and red furniture, the rugs that overlap each other littering the stone floor and the crackling fireplace that always seems to be lit. It serves as a gathering place for the students. Agate’s, on the other hand, is nothing like that.
The room seems to have been cut in half by the double doors standing proudly in front of me. The wall they’re built into is a slate grey stone, decorated with picture frames of ancient-looking people. There are no couches or seats for students to laze about in; no crackling fireplace or rugs to keep feet warm. There isn’t enough space for that kind of thing. The room looks more like an office foyer than accommodation for students. Long skinny oil lamps that brighten the bleak room with flickering yellow light are evenly placed around the room, as if they were meticulously spaced out. The only clue that it’s a common room is the door on the left that I assume leads to a staircase and bedrooms.
It’s cold and sterile. Nothing like I thought the inside of Agate would be from the warm, swirling colours inside of its gate.
Kroff gestures to the doors. ‘Go on, he’ll be waiting for you.’
I blanch, my eyebrows nearly hitting my damn hairline. They’re sending me in therealone? Talk about feeding me to the wolves. A phantom ache suddenly spears my palm, right where Headmaster Zain ran his blade across it. I dig my nails into the tingling skin, trying to send the sensation away. Nervousness finds purchase in the pit of my stomach as I slowly step forward and reach for the cold metal door handles.
‘We’ll be right behind you,’ Nicks adds.
EIGHTEEN
The second I step into Headmaster Zain’s office I realise why the foyer is so bleak and void of colour. It’s because anything that looks worthy of life has been stolen and placed in here.Thisis what I was expecting to see when I walked into the Agate tower.
