“I have plans for next year, but I’d like to hear ideas for giving our students a sporting chance in the more immediate future.”
Kines spoke up, much to Wayne’s surprise. “I ran a mage-knight club until Dean Halsey shut it down for being too ‘dangerous’ to our student’s safety.”
“Excellent, restart it. Anyone else?”
“The seminars many of us run over summer are intended to keep our students sharp,” Zoe said. “The attendance rate is abysmal. Even the students who attend hardly listen. They mostly come because of boredom or because one of the teachers personally requested it. Promoting them towards the end of the school year may help.”
“Think on the best ways to do that.” Turner glanced over the teachers expectantly. No one spoke up. “Think on that over the week. We are adjourned until next Monday unless anyone has any further business?” She looked around for a moment. “Very well. I will see all of you in a week.”
Turner vanished. A light scent of rotten eggs was left in her wake.
The smell quickly cleared away the rest of the staff from the meeting room. Only Zoe and Wayne stayed behind.
Zoe whisked her dagger out and cleared the air. “That’s horrible,” she said.
“Whatever it is, it isn’t going through between. Frankly, I don’t care to know.” He waved his hand across his face to help clear the remnants of the smell. “I’d offer to teach her to go between. I don’t think I’d like to spend that much time with her.”
“She’s better than Rebbecca, at least as far as keeping the school running.”
“I’ll try to keep my hopes from getting too high.”
Zoe narrowed her eyes, probably at his tone.
“But,” Wayne said before she could comment, “Eva.”
“I honestly don’t know more than I said.”
“She crushed a stainless steel spoon in one hand.”
“That’s,” Zoe bit her lip. “Don’t try to see her hands.”
“Excellent choice of words if you want to inspire me to catch a glimpse.”
“Wayne.”
There was a story there. Wayne could tell. Something Zoe was keeping from him.
He sighed. “You’re giving that girl far too much leeway.” Especially if it is something she wouldn’t talk to him about.
“Probably. For now I’ll handle this myself.”
“I hope you know what you are doing.”
— — —
Shelby was furious with her twin. Jordan and Max too, but they weren’t around to be vented to.
“We can’t just pretend she doesn’t exist.”
Irene looked at her like she was crazy. “I didn’t see you striking up a conversation.”
“You and Jordan are closer to her than I was–I am–but if you aren’t going to talk to her, I will.”
“And what am I supposed to say. ‘Oh, hello Eva, sorry about your eyes. By the way, it is really freaky how you get around without them.'”
“Yes. That would be perfect. Maybe she’d just say how she gets around and we could all get along again.”
“I don’t want to know. What if it is something horrible.” Her twin was shouting now. Not a thing she often did. Irene was supposed to be the calmer and more level-headed of the two.
Shelby sighed. She stood up from her desk and crossed to Irene’s bed. She took a seat beside her sister and wrapped an arm around her. “You’re lucky she doesn’t live next door right now.”
She had a feeling she knew what the problem was. Irene’s problem, at least. Shelby didn’t know why Jordan hadn’t tried to talk to Eva. Maybe, like Shelby herself, he thought she would talk about it on her own. Maybe Eva still would.
Max hadn’t said anything because the boy was awkward; he’d admitted as much after alchemy. A good thing in her book. He would have said the wrong thing.
Maybe that was Eva’s own problem.
“I know Halloween scared you. I know Eva’s mysterious dance partner scared you. Max’s story of her scared me too. But she saved Shalise, she’s not a bad person.”
“We haven’t seen Shalise since then.”
“You haven’t. You were hiding in your room for a week, remember? I spoke with her before she left. She seemed a bit… well, traumatized–”
Irene scoffed. “After hearing Max’s story about the phantom, I can’t imagine why.”
Shelby swatted her upside the head.
“You hid in the room for a week and you didn’t even see anything. How would you feel if you were attacked by zombies. I doubt that she even registered Eva’s dance partner saving her.”
“And how did Eva save her? Shalise had a chunk taken out of her arm by a zombie! There’s no cure for that.”
Shelby shook her head. Her twin could be so dense sometimes. “Doesn’t matter. Eva saved her. How isn’t for us to know, at least not right now. Maybe we could ask that too.
“Now tomorrow, we are going to apologize. All of us.”
“Apologize? For what?”
