Void Domain, Book 03 полностью

Martina held up her hands in an attempt to quiet the rowdy students. “You do not need to be in your assigned room, merely within the building. There are plenty of recreational and academic activities to pursue without leaving. If you have suggestions or complaints, please drop off a note with Catherine, my secretary. If you wish to speak in person, make an appointment with her. We’re willing to meet halfway on this, but for now the curfew stands.”

“Moving on,” Martina said before any additional interruptions could delay her speech. “Our school’s illustrious benefactor has seen fit to give me the ability to hire a number of full-time security personnel. While I hope nothing the likes of the previous year occurs again, I felt it prudent to go above and beyond for the safety of our students. I am still going through applications, but we should have a preliminary set of guards for the school by early October.

“Provided we have a sufficient security force, the aforementioned curfew will be relaxed for select locations on special events, such as Halloween.

“There are a handful of other, minor notices that I’ll spare you the details of. A notice will be posted on all information bulletin boards around Brakket campus by the end of the week containing a full list.

“With that said, welcome back to Brakket Magical Academy.”

The bell rang just as Martina stepped away from the podium. Perfect, she thought. It was a close one, but everything seemed to have gone well. Especially with the important part of her speech. She wasn’t worried much about the curfew issue; the students would forget or simply not care soon enough.

Her eyes caught the glowering gaze of Zoe Baxter as she turned from the stage. Unlike the other professors who all hurried off to their classes before the students could get there, Zoe got to her feet and marched straight up to Martina.

For a moment, Martina braced herself for a punch.

The punch never came.

“Could I speak with you for a moment? Privately.” Zoe’s jaw stayed clamped shut as she spoke and her lips pursed together even as the words somehow came out of the stern teacher’s mouth. It was a wonder Martina understood the woman at all.

Yet, understand she did. Martina sighed and said, “don’t you have a class to teach right now?”

“It is my seniors,” Zoe said. “They know how I run the class already and there are instructions on the board just in case I needed to speak with you, which I do.”

“Very well. My office then?”

Zoe reached out and gripped Martina’s arm. Before the dean could react, she flicked the dagger that somehow got into her hand.

The stage fell away to reveal white nothingness accompanied by a cooling of the air. It only lasted an instant before Martina’s office built itself up around the two.

Martina smacked the theory professor’s hand away from her arm. “I’ll thank you to never teleport me again. I am perfectly capable of moving under my own power.”

“What were you thinking?” Zoe asked as Martina made her way around her desk.

The dean unbuttoned the last few buttons of her shirt and draped it over the back of her chair before taking a seat.

Zoe continued, seemingly oblivious to Martina’s movements. “You essentially told everyone that Eva is a demon.”

Martina rested her elbows on her desk and steepled her fingers together. “I believe I used the words ‘individual’ and ‘creature’ but I–”

“Don’t give me that,” Zoe spat. “Not a single student doesn’t know who you were referring to. Even if none of the students can recognize a demon, someone will figure it out. Eva already mentioned concerns about that exact issue to me. I downplayed my own fear for her sake.

“But someone will figure it out and then it will spread to everyone else and then what? Even if all the demons that I have met are not mass murdering psychopaths, that doesn’t mean everyone else will feel the same. Especially not parents. The word ‘demon’ carries some of the worst connotations for a magical creature in the entire English language. There is no possible–”

Martina held up a hand. She had other work to get done and letting the enraged professor continue wasn’t making any paperwork go away. Besides, she was doing the poor woman a favor. Zoe was turning a tad blue in the face from the lack of air she was getting through her diatribe.

“Professor Baxter–Zoe. I do not know what delusions you are operating under, but I am in no way advocating the ostracization of one of our students. Especially not young Miss Eva.”

“Oh no,” Zoe huffed, “you’re not advocating anything. You merely set up Eva so that all the students will be curious. They’ll dig until they find the answer. Then she’ll be ostracized on her own with no help from you.

“You could have simply said that she is a human that had limbs replaced as an experiment.”

“And lie to the rest of our students? I’m ashamed you’d think me so low.”

“It’s closer to the truth than the drivel you spouted.”