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3A NEW BEGINNING
At 2.59.59 pm, there is a knock at Jane’s door. Storm is not one minute late, nor is she more than one second early. She is right on the line. Jane is privately pleased, as one second before trouble indicates that Storm is beginning to lose her taste for rebellion — for the moment at least.
“Come in!”
Storm enters, reluctant and faintly sullen. She has the look of a young lady who knows she is in trouble and does not like it.
Jane is sitting behind the desk in a tall back chair that emphasizes her posture.
“Come and sit down. We need to talk.”
Storm looks surprised and relieved. There is a certain obvious reluctant tenderness when she sits, however. The ruler has left its mark. It will have many more friends soon enough.She looks worried, as well she might, for things have come to a head. Jane does not leave matters uncertain for long, preferring instead to communicate quite directly.
“I’ve spoken with your host family, your parents, and the scholarship entity…”
“You’ve been busy,” Storm interrupts with just a hint of snark.
“I have,” Jane says, making a mental note to correct her charge in the matter of interrupting her disciplinarian. “We have collectively decided you would be better off in a more formalized environment with higher levels of supervision.”
Storm shrugs, even as the color drains from her face. “What does that mean? I’m getting sent back to New Zealand?”
“No. It means you will finish out your schooling at the Birchbane Institute. It is an exclusive finishing school located in the mountains of the Valais canton, beneath the Matterhorn, and is quite absent of the distractions you amuse yourself with here. It is a proper finishing school, and as luck would have it, it is the same institution where I am taking up position as head disciplinarian. I will accompany you to the school personally to ensure there are no more misadventures on the trains.”
* * *
Storm cannot believe what she is hearing. Jane says it all as if it is so commonplace and so reasonable. She may as well be telling Storm that she is being sent to prison. Storm’s mind flashes back to the night before in the forest, looking out at the wide world and feeling the impulse to flee. She should have run when she had the chance.
“I’ll need to get my stuff,” she says, looking for an opportunity for escape. She has a train pass for anywhere in the country, and a bank account with some allowance in it. That should be enough to skip past practically any border.
Jane has anticipated this move. “Your host mother volunteered to pack your things. They will be sent on ahead.”
“But what about Kravik?”
“Who?”
“The dog. Who is going to walk him?
“Your future is more important than the host family’s dog,” Jane says.
“Strong disagree.”
“You may disagree as much as you like. You are going, young lady. It will be very improving for you.”
Storm stares at the woman, stunned. “Nobody thought to ask me what I wanted?”
“You lost the ability to make decisions when you made the decision to take psychedelics on a train, miss more than half your classes, and completely invalidate the terms of your current scholarship. You are being given a second chance that few others would be lucky enough to get. You should be grateful.”
Storm is not grateful. She summons all her willpower, all the force of personality she has to bear, emphasizing her words by stabbing her pointer finger into the top of the desk with a gesture more appropriate to someone twice her age requesting to see the manager.
“Undo this,” she demands stridently. “Undo it now.”
Jane watches her calmly. “I’m afraid that’s not possible, and even if it was possible, I would refuse. You are in need of discipline, young lady. I am going to make sure that you get it.”
Storm throws herself back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest with a slight wince as the movement reignites the ruler marks on her bottom.
“Alright, then I can promise you one thing. I will be kicked out of that fancy fucking school inside the week.”
“I don’t think you will.”
