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Cecelia cut me off once more. “I do not believe you. With good reason. You and I both saw what happened on that screen.”
It seemed like there was no rebuttal I could supply her with that would make this stop. Maybe my parents had possessed Blood Magic, and simply never used it. I could barely remember my mother, and nothing remained of my father.
“But I haven’t always been able to do this. The first time it happened, I was fourteen. Magda and I were escaping the orphanage where we grew up after the bombings. Please, you have to believe me. I have always done what you asked. You used to trust me.” I leaned forward and reached for her hands on the other side of the desk.
Cecelia moved with lightning speed, yanking her hands back. In the process, she knocked over the ceramic bowl. It tumbled to the ground with a clang, and shattered right next to my foot. Still-hot ashes scattered over my slippered feet, soiling part of the fabric.
I hissed, leaping up and away from the ash.
“Carmen.” The sound of my old teacher’s voice brought me out of my startled state.
My head whipped up at the sound of her voice.
Her brown eyes trailed up and down my body, taking in every detail of my disheveled state. “You need to leave.”
A painful pain hit me right in the center of my chest. “No, please.” My eyes burned.
Cecelia had just opened her mouth when a knock sounded at the door.
Both of us froze.
“Yes?” Maestra Cecelia called out as she straightened her robe and ran a hand over her hair to tame the wild ringlets.
The door cracked open. Fernando was standing on the other side and two large men were positioned behind him. They were both dressed in simple olive-green uniforms. One was about half a head taller than the other, but they shared matching broad shoulders and thick arms.
“Maestra, these men wanted to speak with you.” Fernando didn’t even look at me when he spoke, and my stomach tied itself in a knot. My head was pounding. I was never going to drink again.
Cecelia nodded and gestured for them to enter. “Buenas noches. Please, come in. ¿Con qué les puedo ayudar?” she asked politely. It was hard to detect the terseness in her voice. But I knew her well. Well enough to glimpse the way her fist tightened.
One of them swallowed thickly as they passed into the small office and I noticed his dimpled chin. The other—the tall one—said, “Buenas noches. We’ve come to retrieve Renata Valarde Bordón and take her to the capital.”
Maestra Cecelia beamed, and the man with a dimpled chin who didn’t speak looked down at the ground. His eyebrows drew together as his eyes landed on the broken dish.
With a graceful sweep of her arm, she gestured to me and said. “Of course. We were just talking about that.” She crossed to the spot where I was sitting, and wrapped a cold arm around my shoulders. “We are so very excited for her, despite the… unusual circumstances.”
I wondered if she knew how ridiculous the words sounded. What was happening was in no way normal. The two men continued to stare at us for a moment longer before the tall one spoke again.
“Are you prepared to leave, Señorita Valarde?” he asked.
Maestra Cecelia stiffened. I was sweating with her arm around me.
I took over, flashing them a tight smile. “Not quite. I need to retrieve a few things from my room.” My eyes were burning.
Both of the men frowned. “We need to leave now.”
I blinked. “But—”
“Oh, don’t worry. We can send you anything you are missing.” Maestra Cecelia removed her arm from my shoulder and held both hands up. Her head bowed slightly, as if she were being nothing but loving and gracious.
Her eyes hadn’t changed, however. They were still as hard as steel.
My hands were shaking as I slowly turned my eyes back to the two tall men. Their expressions were hard to read with hooded eyes and mouths pressed into firm lines. It made me want to cry.
The tears which had refused to flow while begging Maestra Cecelia to let me stay were threatening to spill over my cheeks.
I took one tentative step toward them as the taller one said, “Really, we need to be going.”
My cold fingers intertwined in front of me. “Before we leave, can you tell me exactly where we are heading?”
