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“With all due respect, Headmistress, he is not a barn cat. He’s one of us.”
Headmistress…
The word, rolling off Sam’s tongue once again with ease and precision, made Magdalene want to hold on to it. To embrace it.
Only the word, mind you. Not Sam… Not Sam at all.
Magdalene gave a curt nod to her own thoughts.
“Well, since you are showing me the courtesy of using my official title, it will be under my purview to decide what will happen with the Mouser in Chief of Three Dragons.”
Sam had just opened her mouth, undoubtedly to argue further, when the door was thrown open yet again, now with more force, and a gangly, disheveled teenager almost pushed past Sam to get at Magdalene. She might have succeeded, too, if Sam’s reaction had been less swift.
For the second time today, Sam put her body between Magdalene and some perceived danger.
She would have to think about it later…
“I don’t know who you think you are, but you can’t fire the teachers! Not without hearing the students out! We have the right to be heard and they have the right to a fair trial!”
Magdalene raised an eyebrow, deciding to take her cues for dealing with this situation from Sam, whose face showed nothing but consternation, while gently holding on to the girl. The clock ticked once, twice, three, four, five… Time was doing the work of quieting the spirits for her. Still, the intrusion had been rude.
“And who might you be?” She infused her words with a rather dismissive tone, but she allowed for it to hold a curious note. There was no need to discourage the child entirely, since it was clear that someone—perhaps Fenway herself—had not only sent the girl on a mission but also misinformed her.
“I’m Lily Easterly and I’m here to tell you that there are no better teachers in the whole world than Professor Threadneedle or Professor Dorsea or Doctor Fenway!”
“Lily…” Magdalene almost shook her head as Sam’s admonishment fell on deaf ears while the girl struggled in her grip.
She wanted to sigh. She was familiar with the issue Lily Easterly and several other girls represented at Dragons. Scholarship kids. Scholarships that were not enshrined in the school’s Charter and thus extremely vulnerable to the whims of every new headmistress or board. Yet someone had ruined this child’s chance to make a good impression on her. Whomever sent her must have lost their collective minds.
Magdalene suppressed yet another sigh. The girl was being used, a pawn, and Magdalene hated the very thought.
The Vacheron weighed heavily on her wrist, and the memories it brought with it—memories of being used this same way—compelled her to attempt to appease, at least for now. Hell if she knew what she’d do about any of this in the long run. Didn’t she want to take this place apart, brick by brick? Didn’t she want to burn it all down? Why this need to wipe away the hurt from both the brown and the gray eyes?
Focus!
“Well, Ms. Easterly, to your earlier questions, I am Headmistress Nox, and I can do pretty much whatever I want under the Charter that governs the Academy’s functioning. As of a minute ago, I failed to see why anyone at Three Dragons would require a trial to begin with.” She looked Lily right in the eye and then winked. Lily goggled and Magdalene continued. “Are they delinquents? Usually, some sort of criminal activity is required for judicial proceedings.”
Her joke landed well, predictably. Sam’s lips twitched despite the seriousness of the situation. Her calm demeanor had obviously taken the wind out of Lily’s sails, and she sagged in Sam’s arms in what looked like genuine relief.
Then the girl’s face turned bright red, clearly realizing that she needed to reply.
“No, ma’am. I’m sorry, I just heard that you fired everyone and that you will be discontinuing the scholarships and cutting all the funding, and turning Dragons into a religious school again and… But you have to know that everyone here, all the students, we can vouch that there are no better teachers—”
“Yes, you said, Ms. Easterly. ‘In the whole world,’ was it?” Well, the kid was smart, but this was getting slightly too sentimental. Magdalene narrowed her eyes.
She shouldn’t be speaking at all. Nor should she be giving anyone any reassurances. The situation of the scholarship girls was causing her extreme concern. Whether she decided to close the school, downsize it, or simply follow the instructions from the Trustees to terminate the program they were funded under, her options were limited.
Magdalene had read letters from the few parents who were up in arms about these students. Granted, the bigotry spelled out in them, the righteous indignation that had nothing to do with righteousness at all, grated on her. But she had a job to do.
The silence hung above them longer than was comfortable, but it still accomplished what it always did, making her quarry uncomfortable.
Lily was the first one to lose her cool.
“Ma’am?”
“Yes, Ms. Easterly?” Magdalene again schooled her voice to be devoid of all emotion or inflection.
“Did you really send absolutely everyone at school packing?” Lily hiccuped a sob, and Magdalene saw the rest of the fight drain out of the small, bony shoulders as they sagged further.
