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I shake my head at the two of them, turn on my heel, and walk back toward the elevator. I hear Gabe’s guttural cry behind me, but I don’t look back. I’m so angry, so disgusted, so hurt, that I don’t trust myself to look back at them.
I face the back of the elevator until the doors close behind me.
* * *
I am notin a good mood as I sit facing a mini firing squad of The Mr. Black, Dean Quinn, Dean Gravka, Doctor Prince, and Madame Serpa. I know at least two of them are on my side, and I would appreciate their support if I wasn’t in such a right fume.
Eleven days. Eleven days when I did nothing other than obsessively try to get back to them. Eleven days and they abandoned Charlie; broke every promise. Eleven fucking days.
Eleven days in which I missed all my midterms. Missed any possibility of making them up. Bevvy has a five-day re-sit policy. Under normal circumstances, that time-limit makes sense.
Getting trapped in the future is hardly a normal circumstance.
“These are very unusual circumstances,” Dean Quinn says.
Good to hearsomeoneacknowledge that.
“Continuing to make exceptions for Ms. Nowak sets a dangerous precedent,” Dean Gravka says.
I shift my eyes to him. He’s not my favorite person, and it’s really not a good idea to be on my shite-list right now.
“Teddy,” Lords says with a faint note of reproach. “We all understand you’ve had a very trying few days.”
I blink and stop trying to death-glare Dean Gravka into small black coals.
“You’re not wrong, sir,” I agree. “I got thrown through Time. I burned out the source of my magic. I met my future father-in-law. Not my best week, all-in-all.”
“But rules are rules,” Dean Gravka says.
Found his tezzies after I stopped glaring murder at him, did he? I can rectify that.
Lords clears his throat. “While I’m not part of the academic committee and am only here due to my involvement in the events leading up to Teddy’s disappearance, perhaps I might make a suggestion?”
All eyes turn to him.
“Let Teddy sit her exams but dock her grades due to lateness,” Lords says.
“Ten percent for every day late,” Dean Gravka grumbles.
I go into my exams already having failed? What a right tosser.
“Ms. Nowak’s already passed her midterm in my class through her work in our practicum,” Madame Serpa says quietly. “I’ve spoken to Professor DeWinter and he concurs. There’s no need for her to sit midterms in our classes.”
“You’re continuing to make exceptions for her,” Dean Gravka objects, his voice rising. “It’s unacceptable favoritism.”
“I’m giving her very hard work the grade it deserves,” Madame Serpa responds. “Just like any other student.”
Dean Quinn nods.
“Teddy’s work is extremely impressive,” Doctor Prince says. “Unfortunately, neither her Necromancy nor her Time-Walking are relevant to the subject I’m teaching, and I will require her to sit the exam. I’ll honor whatever penalty the school assigns her for the lateness of her submission, but I’ll also take the circumstances into consideration when giving Teddy her final grade.”
Cold but fair. I wouldn’t expect anything else from her. I nod my thanks.
“That leaves Infinite Universes and ...” Dean Quinn trails off when she looks down at an open folder in front of her. “Oh, you appear to have an A in that class already.”
Doctor Prince smiles faintly. “While Teddy’s Time-Walking isn’t relevant to the Early History of Magic, it’s extremely relevant to her Infinite Universes class.”
“It leaves Greenwitchery,” Dean Gravka says, with a heavy sense of satisfaction, and I know he’s got that professor in his pocket. “Which Ms. Nowak was already failing.”
