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But my feet keep moving thanks to my own curiosity and I’m going down the steps, ducking as I go.
“You’ll have to forgive the low ceilings, Mr. Crane,” she notes. “Humans were shorter back then.”
“I’m used to it,” I tell her, relieved to see that the area underneath the cathedral is just a short stone-lined passage lit by scones with two doors across from each other, Sister Leona Van Tassel etched on one with Sister Ana Van Tassel on the other.
She opens her door, flourished by a sinister creak, and we step inside. With a flourish of her hands all the candles in the room are lit, as is the fireplace in the corner.
“Take a seat,” she says, taking hers behind the teak desk.
I sit down on the old velvet chair across from her, my body a too tall for it, my long legs splayed awkwardly.
“Why do I feel like I’m about to be fired?” I say, hoping that lands as a joke.
But from the tepid smile on Leona’s face, I don’t think I stuck the landing.
“Not quite, Ichabod,” she says, folding her hands on the desk. “Or I guess it all depends on what you have to say to the accusations.”
My brows rise at the same time that my stomach sinks. “Accusations?”
“Yes,” she says sharply. “It has come to my attention that you are having sexual relations with one of your students. Katrina Van Tassel.”
I suppose it should be a relief that she didn’t say two of my students.
“Was that wrong?”
She blinks at me. “I beg your pardon?”
I splay my hands in defense. “I didn’t know that was frowned upon. I don’t remember seeing any rules regarding teacher and student relations here.”
“It’s a given, Mr. Crane,” she admonishes me.
“I see,” I say. “Well then, I’m sorry I didn’t know.”
She gives me a contemptuous look. “You honestly expect me to believe…oh it doesn’t matter. The point is, you must call off your relationship at once.”
“Or?”
“Or you’ll be fired.”
I narrow my eyes as I study her. At the moment she looks relatively normal, that strangely ageless yet not unattractive older woman, but every now and then her face will shift, like the more mad she gets, the more her magic starts to slip. She’s covering something up under there.
She’s covering up her real face.
I close my eyes for a moment, refusing to let my imagination run away on me as it is apt to do. The last thing I need is to start picturing what she might really look like.
“Can I ask you a question?” I say, opening my eyes and daring another glance at her.
“What?” she says with a tired sigh.
“How old are you?”
Her pointy chin jerks inward. “I’m not sure that’s an appropriate question,” she says, her tone haughty.
“I mean no offense by it, I’m just curious. You seem like you’re much older than you look.”
“Well, I appreciate the compliment,” she says, folding and refolding her hands and for a moment it looks like she has an extra knuckle. “But I’m old enough to run a school and run it well. And that means laying down the law when it comes to errant teachers such as yourself.”
“One hundred years?” I press on. “Two hundred years?”
She lets out a bark of a laugh. “Mr. Crane, I am not immortal.”
I lean forward in my seat, my elbows on my thighs as I stare her right in the eyes. “No. But you wish you were.”
Her back straightens. “Don’t we all?”
“No,” I say with a shake of my head. “I don’t. I told you I’ve been with a vampire. This particular one had to watch his love die while he could only live on, still pining for her hundreds of years later. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
Leona tilts her head to study me for a moment. I hate the way her eyes feel on my skin, like buzzing flies landing and then taking off before you can swat them.
“I don’t believe you,” she surmises. “You’re too curious to just submit and die. You want to know what happens to everything and everyone, don’t you? You want to watch what happens to the world. But I can tell you what happens to the world, Mr. Crane. This world burns. Eventually this world will burn and all that’s left will be ash…and us witches.”
I stare at her for a moment before I smack my knee. “I’d like to stick to my original answer.”
She gives me an acidic grin. “Very well, Mr. Crane. You’re lucky that such immortality will never be thrust upon you anyway. You’re slated to die, just like everyone else.”
The skin prickles at the back of my neck. I take a chance.
“Who is Goruun?”
Her body stiffens. “I’m sorry?”
“Goruun,” I repeat with a smile. “I’ve heard that name thrown around here. I’ve tried to do research at the library about it but I can’t find anything.” Which is a half-truth. I haven’t had time today to do any research but I figured it’s better to hear it from her anyway and see if it matches with what I find in the future.
