“What were you thinking?”
Minaro rounds on me in the privacy of her office, and despite the anger in her voice, the lines of her face and neck don’t tauten. She has an ageless quality that makes me think she’s had a lot of enhancements.
“Well?” she demands when I don’t answer, slamming the door behind us. Yet rather than sit at her desk, we remain standing in a kind of staring contest.
“Please don’t tell my parents,” I blurt, unable to contain myself. “Salma and I are in a fight, and William is gone, and I needed to go back to the last place where things made sense to me. Before everything fell apart.”
I didn’t expect for my lie to be so honest. The truth of the words strikes me hard, and I feel the ugly sob restarting its climb up my throat, but I swallow, pushing down the emotions.
“I am sorry to hear things are so hard right now.” Minaro walks to her chair and sits down, gesturing for me to take the seat across from her. Since I don’t really have a choice, I slide into the chair and brace myself for the oncoming lecture.
“You and William seemed very close. Did you have any inkling that he would be leaving us so soon?”
Once again, I get the sense she’s unusually interested in the vampire. “It was more of an out-of-the-blue-family-emergency type thing,” I hedge. I’m not sure the exact excuse William gave when he compelled her, and I don’t want to undermine his lie. I’m surprised he cared enough to make up a lie at all, but it’s possible Nate and Cisco insisted that he cover his tracks.
“As for Salma, I am sorry to see the two of you feuding,” the director goes on. “I know I can come off as severe and unapproachable, but I am also a proficient listener and counselor if you would like to talk.”
“It’s okay,” I say, sliding to the edge of the chair to signal that I’d like to go now. “I can handle it.”
“It does not seem as if you are handling it well,” she says. “Do you understand that your behavior this morning rises to the level of expulsion?”
“I’ll do anything you want for extra credit, but please don’t kick me out. Just tell me how I can fix this.”
“Are you asking for your sake or your mother’s?”
I knew I wasn’t imagining Minaro’s distaste. She really did look pointedly at Salma and me that first day, when she congratulated our class on defying the odds.
“Does it matter?” I ask.
“It should,” she says, angling her head, almost lizard-like. “I will confess I had no interest in admitting you, and yet you have turned out to be the most interesting of your lot.”
I have no idea how to take that. All I know is my first impression of Minaro was 100 percent right: She is weird as hell.
“Thank you, I think.”
“I know it may be hard to hear,” she says, “but in some ways, this is better… losing them today instead of tomorrow.”
It takes me a moment to process her meaning. Is she talking about Salma and William? “Why would I lose them tomorrow?” I ask.
“Because that is the way time works, dear,” she says matter-of-factly. “It makes things disappear.”
Her words make me think of the secret timeline on the LUB’s ceiling, and I suddenly wonder if she knows about that place. Is it possible shewantedsomeone to go down there and find William’s coffin and awaken him?
“Director Minaro,” I say, not sure how to phrase this. “Do you…know something? Like, about William?”
“As I told you a few days ago, I have not heard from Mr. Pride,” she says, sitting up straight. “Now, I feel compelled to look past this morning’s incident, considering you seem to be navigating a difficult moment. Yet if you pull another stunt like this one, Iwillexpel you, and the worldwilljudge your mother for it. Are you understanding me?”
“Yes,” I say, eager to get out of her office.
“No one at school must know about your adventure,” she warns as soon as I’m on my feet. “We are going to pretend you went to see the nurse and then stayed in your room all day because you were not feeling well. Tell your roommates I am ordering the three of you to keep this quiet. We do not want your classmates getting any ideas. Are we clear?”
“Yes,” I say again, then I take off as fast as I can to the third tower, whereI wait out the rest of the school day. I don’t see Salma and Tiffany until they return to our room after classes end.
“Where were you?”
Salma marches to my desk the instant she opens the door and sees me.
“I—”
