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Laura tilts her head and allows a rare smile to appear on her lips. “Have dinner with me.”
It’s not really an invitation. It’s an order, though a generous one. Jane’s reflex is to refuse, but there is another part of her that would very much enjoy some company and a nice dinner, and a break from the rigors of the school. It has not been an easy first week.
Laura extends her hand. “Give me the cane. Let the strict go for just a little while. You can pick it up later.”
Jane hesitates for a brief moment. “Storm is waiting for me.”
“I will deal with that.” Laura opens and closes her palm, asking for the cane again wordlessly. She is very forward, and perhaps even overbearing, but there is no malice in her. She seems simply to recognize someone who needs a break, and she is right.
Jane pauses momentarily then capitulates, both to Laura and her own need for respite.
* * *
Storm is waiting in Jane’s office as she was told, sitting on the couch and wondering where Jane keeps the cookies when the door opens. She startles, guilty, almost as if she had been stealing baked goods. But it is not Jane standing in the open doorway. It is Frau Lotte.
Her salt and pepper hair is swept into one of those convoluted styles which makes her already severe features look even more severe. Storm has started mentally referring to her as the Terminator because there’s something almost mechanistically determined about her. Something completely unyielding, and perhaps even dangerous.
“Go and gather your books, and bring them to my office,” she says. “You are going to do supervised study with me tonight.”
“I am?”
“You are.”
Storm understands they clearly don’t want her out of their sight, and she supposes she can’t blame them. But she’d also rather spend an evening in a snake pit or with a vengeful robot than with Frau Lotte.
“Can I at least get a shower first? Laura dragged me up the mountain.”
“Ms König,” Frau Lotte corrects Storm.
“Fine. Ms König dragged me up a mountain.”
“I expect you in my office in five minutes. Do not be late. You will receive one stroke of the paddle per minute you are.”
Storm feels her mood drop with that threat. There is no way she’s allowing this woman to touch her. People are starting to get the idea they can just hit her, and that is not something she wants to encourage.
She doesn’t have a long time to shower, but Storm takes one anyway, and grabs a book,The Scarlett Pimpernel, a big thick tome of stories dedicated entirely to revolution, impressive escapes, hijinks, and general capers. It is her favorite book, and more than a set of stories, it feels like a friend. She has a feeling she is going to need one this evening.
Ready, Storm enters the headmistress’s office with seconds to spare. She feels better after a shower, though she could do with dinner.
“Just in time,” Frau Lotte says. “Sit down over there and commence your studies, please.” She gestures to a little wooden desk/chair combo in the far corner of the room. It looks more like an anachronistic prop than a place anyone might work.
“Where is Jane? She told me to wait for her.”
“Miss Strictis enjoying her weekend,” Frau Lotte says.
“Nice for some,” Storm grumbles, as she slides into the hard wooden seat. It is not the most comfortable thing to do and makes her immediately resentful. She has been doing her best to follow everyone’s orders, it’s just that suddenly there seem to be so many more of them.
“Yes. It is. It is nice for those who have earned recreational time to get it. And it is equally proper that those who have earned nothing receive that too.”
There is a long pause after that acerbic statement. Storm knows she should just let it go, but she is very bad at letting things go. This woman has been giving her hell since she set foot at this school, and Storm is over it.
“What is your problem?”
“Excuse me?” Frau Lotte looks up, one brow raised in warning Storm refuses to take note of.
“What is your problem with me? Why did you even accept me if you hate me?”
“You were accepted as a favor to Miss Strict. She is an extraordinary asset to our school, and we gladly agreed to take you as well. I did not anticipate as much trouble as has eventuated, but a promise is a promise and I intend to honor it.”
