Flunked (Fairy Tale Reform School, #1)(5)

He’s barely squeezed his way past us to get to the kitchen when we hear the knock at the door. Anna and I lock eyes, and my stomach drops. My brothers and Trixie look at me. I pretend to fluff pillows on the couch. Dust appears in the air from where I hit a pillow.

“Felix, please get the door.” Father squeezes past us all again to greet our visitor.

I try to stay calm. There is no way I was trailed. But the door creaks open and my worst fears are confirmed: there are Pete and Olaf. Pete walks in without being invited. Olaf is so huge he has to duck his bald head under the rafters. I’m not even sure he’s going to fit in the room. We all move back so they can squeeze in. I try to appear cool and aloof.

Father reaches for Pete’s hand and shakes it. “Good to see you, Peter. Olaf.”

“Hi, Hal,” Pete says solemnly. Olaf grunts. “Sorry to bother you this late in the evening. Are those work boots I ordered almost finished?”

He’s here about a boot order! I relax and almost chuckle. I’m so paranoid.

“Yes, should be done by tomorrow.” Father bows. I feel my cheeks flush. Father believes commoners must bow to law enforcement because they work for royals. We are at the bottom of the barrel. Father has always believed a person’s class in life is their class. You can’t change it. You shouldn’t want to change it. All you can do is respect it.

I totally disagree.

“I wish I could say that’s the only reason I’m here,” Pete says and looks right at me. “Good evening, Gillian. How was your day?”

“Nice, Pete,” I say. “Have you gotten taller?”

He grimaces.

Father glares at me. The only sound is our cuckoo clock. “What has she done?”

“Of course you’d take his side,” I mutter under my breath. Father may not warm to me the way he does to a hot cinnamon bun, but I still hate letting him down.

“Have you given me reason to think otherwise, Gillian?” he asks. Father is a tall man, as tall as Olaf, but unlike Olaf, he looks tired. Working fourteen-hour days in that shoe shop and then coming home to six kids will do that to a person, I suppose. “First it was that pocket watch you took from the King’s page, then it was the book from Belle’s library—”

“Borrowed,” I correct him. “Belle said that was a library, so I borrowed a book. I was going to bring it back.”

Maybe.

Father rubs his forehead. “I don’t know what to do with you anymore.” He looks at Pete for backup. “All I do for this child and it’s never enough.”

“If it were enough, Mother wouldn’t have trouble putting dinner on the table every night,” I jump in, unable to contain my anger. “Too bad we can’t eat shoe leather.”

“That’s enough!” Father’s voice starts to rise.

Pete spots Anna and points to her hair. “Gee, that is a pretty hair thingamajiggy. Looks expensive. Possibly of dragon origin, wouldn’t you say, Olaf?”

“It was a gift,” Anna says stiffly. “Gilly found it on the ground.”

“Found it,” Pete repeats. “I guess that’s the only way anyone in this boot could afford a piece of jewelry like that.” Olaf and Pete chuckle, and it takes all my willpower not to deck them both. My parents say nothing. “Gillian is a lucky girl.”

“I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you’re getting at,” I snap. “It was just lying on the ground by the Pegasus stables.”

“You mean like this satchel?” Pete pulls the green satchel of rolls from behind his back and Hamish lets out a sob. Our dinner. “We found this on your back steps. It looks a lot like the one that went missing this morning at Gnome-olia Bakery. I guess that’s a coincidence.” Olaf pushes past Trixie to muscle his way to me. “Come clean, Gillian.” Pete’s beady eyes darken. “You stole that hair clip from a royal at Combing the Sea. Neil, the shop owner, places you there five minutes before the royal realized it was missing.”

Fiddlesticks. I’m busted, but my best bet is to stick to my story. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe the girl has the same clip as the one I found.”

“Gilly?” I hear Anna’s soft voice and I turn to see her disappointed face. “You didn’t find this, did you?” I can’t lie to Anna. So I don’t say anything. “Here.” Anna takes the clip from her hair with trembling hands and hands it to Pete. “This doesn’t belong to me.”

“Sorry, kid.” He scratches his beard, which hangs all the way down to his knees, and looks at me greedily. “This is your third offense. You know what that means.”

I feel the color drain from my face. “Second offense! Those golden eggs came rolling down the hill toward me at the Fairy Festival, I swear.”

Pete gives Olaf the handcuffs to put on me. Han and Hamish start to wail.

“I’m taking you in,” Pete says. “Headmistress Flora already got your order approved.” He hands my parents an eggplant-colored scroll I’ve seen only twice before. Both times were when thieves got hauled off to FTRS. I’ve never seen either kid again.

Mother shakily unspools the scroll to read it and Father takes it from her hands. I look over their shoulders to read it myself.


URGENT MESSAGE