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Ford gives me a measured look. She sets down the pen in her hand, whatever note she was taking on the legal pad in front of her now forgotten about. “Okay. Okay. All right. Calm down. We’ll get this sorted—”
“Good. Then tell Jeremy that I’ll be going with him on the plane when he lands here this afternoon.”
“That’s not possible, Miss Voss.”
“You just said—”
“I know what I said, but Jeremy is on vacation. A replacement pilot is flying in, but he isn’t insured to carry passengers. He can’t take you. Jeremy won’t be coming back here until next Wednesday.”
“Next Wednesday isn’t going to work. I need to get out of here today. Youcan’tkeep me here,” I repeat.
“I’m not keeping you here,” she says calmly. “Youarefree to go. I’ve asked the charter company to organize another plane, but their schedules are planned a week out, and they won’t change it on a dime just for us. I’ve already tried—”
“Then try harder.”
She laughs softly, shaking her head, her exasperation clear. “Believe me, if I thought calling them again would make a difference, then I would. You’re more than welcome to call them yourself directly if you wish.” She points to the phone on her desk. “The number’s right there.”
She doesn’t think that I’ll call her bluff? She has got meallwrong. I stalk around her desk and snatch up the phone’s receiver, plucking the Post-It note marked ‘CNP Private Air Tours,’ from the front of a binder resting on top of a stack of paperwork.
I make the call. I half expect that it won’t connect, that Ford’s playing some kind of trick on me, but it does. Someone picks up on the fourth ring. I explain that I need to be picked up from the Academy, but the agent on the other end of the line isn’t helpful at all.
“I understand your predicament, Miss, but there’s nothing I can do. My hands are tied. We’re running on a skeleton staff right now and we just don’t have the pilots. And since your principal informed us the school didn’t require transportation for their students to travel back and forth to the city for a while, we took the opportunity to service a number of our aircraft. Even if we did have an insured pilot who could make the trip, three of our planes are currently in pieces on the shop floor—”
I hang up. Principal Ford’s apologetic smile makes me want to trash her fucking office.
“Wednesday isn’t that far away, Sorrell. Just five days. Might I suggest that you use that time to really think about the choice that you’re making. What Sebastian did was reprehensible, and trust me, he will suffer the consequences of his actions. But if there’s any chance that you might change your mind—”
“There isn’t.”
She closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. “If there is a chance that you might, then I urge you to consider all of your options. Toussaint isn’t a prison. It’s a highly regarded educational institution, and you could learn a lot here if you just…”
I turn on Principal Ford. “I’ll call a taxi.”
She splays her hands, nodding to the phone again. “Feel free to try. You saw the road for yourself, though. It’s impassable. There isn’t a taxi company on this earth that would risk their cars by coming up here. Not for all the money in the world. Uber. Lyft.” She shakes her head. “The terrain’s too dangerous. And even if it wasn’t, you can’t call any of those rider share services without cell reception.”
“I can use the WIFI to order one,” I spit. But before she can say anything to counter that, I remember the announcement she made earlier over the P.A. system. The Academy’s internet will be down for the next week as well. Holy fucking shit, the universe is conspiring against me right now. I swear, I’m about to go nuclear.
“Just take a deep breath, Sorrell. I know this isn’t ideal, but—”
The tail end of Principal Ford’s sentence is cut off by her office door as I slam it closed behind me.
13
SORRELL
I usedto be afraid of the dark. When I was little, I’d cry myself to sleep every night, petrified of the monsters that lurked in the shadows, waiting to sneak out of their hiding places to come and hurt me when I lowered my guard.
I was seven when I learned that the worst monsters, the ones capable of hurting you the most, didn’t bother to hide themselves in the dark. They were the people who promised to care for you and provide for you in one breath, while in another raising a fist to you. They were the ones who’d touch you in places you begged not to be touched. The ones who’d fill your head full of lies, make you believe that they were good, only to hurt you in ways you could never have even imagined.
I didn’t fear the dark after I learned that lesson.
I sit in the dark now, relishing the velvety quality of the silence that comes with it. My room is a tomb. Beyond the door that separates me from the rest of Toussaint, all of the other bedrooms stand empty; the girls on my floor have all gone down to the common room to play pool, and talk, and watch movies. Ford, in all her benevolent glory, decided to unlock the common room doors for us after all. Noelani knocked around eight, begging me to come down and join them if I felt well enough. I didn’t answer.
My head feels fine now. Ish. It only hurts when I touch the gash left there, courtesy of Sebastian, whom Noelani informed me through the door has been confined to his room pending a review of today’s ‘incident’ by the school’s administrative board.
Lani probably thought I’d feel more comfortable if I knew Sebastian wasn’t going to be down there, but his presence matters little to me. I couldn’t give a shit about him. I was serious when I told him that I’d tear out his throat before. I’ll do far worse if he tries to hurt me again. I know how to deal with assholes like him.
It's close to ten when another knock comes at my door.
