Seven Black Diamonds (Seven Black Diamonds #1)(26)
twelve
LILY
Lily felt out of sorts as she walked through the administration building and down that over-wide, shadowed hallway. The stone murmured under her feet; the heavy bass voice of it felt like a monastic chant that soothed her nerves. Sometimes Lily felt bad for people who couldn’t connect to one of the elements, but then again, they weren’t breaking laws simply by existing.
After several minutes, she found Hector inside a surprisingly modern office. “The campus gates should have been closed after we entered. She could’ve been—”
“Hector,” Lily cut him off.
The headmistress had a pinched look as she turned to face Lily. “We take security very seriously here at St. Columba’s, Miss Abernathy. The gates are in place for a reason. They keep threats out, but you should know that wandering into Belfoure alone is not something we recommend.”
“I understand,” Lily said, tactfully avoiding any admissions.
Hector shot her a look that made quite clear that he knew what she was doing.
“Well then,” the headmistress said. She cleared her throat delicately and told Hector, “Miss Abernathy seems to be safe after all.”
“Maybe the school ought to consider guards,” Hector suggested, his gaze fastened on Lily as he spoke. “I could help you set up a patrol route, Mistress Cuthbert.”
Lily rolled her eyes even though Hector wasn’t joking. Her father had guards inside the gate, as well as a security room to keep eyes on the whole estate at all times. Daidí took extra precautions because of his career choice. Nonetheless, she was fairly certain that such measures were a bit more draconian than those that St. Columba’s employed, despite the affluence of their students.
“We are not a prison.” Mistress Cuthbert pursed her lips again, and Lily thought she might like the woman a little bit after all. “As I was telling your driver, Miss Abernathy, students are free to explore the grounds within reason. It’s simply the area outside the gate—the town of Belfoure, in particular—that is off-limits.”
Lily nodded. None of this was actually surprising. It wasn’t pleasing, but it wasn’t unexpected at all. Daidí held security second only to love of family in his pantheon of values.
“If you exit the rear of the hall, the grounds extend quite far,” Mistress Cuthbert was saying. “You really have no need to go into town proper unless you need something from one of the shops, and there are sanctioned outings for that.”
Her voice sounded almost sympathetic, and Lily suspected that she was far from the first student at St. Columba’s who had an overzealously protective parent. In this, at least, Lily might be normal.
Abernathy Commandment #14: Blending in helps you seem less memorable should you need an alibi at some point.
The headmistress turned away to answer another student who had the look of a girl who was not used to any conflicts in her life. Lily felt a stab of sympathy, both for the girl’s obvious emotions and for her inability to hide them.
“Don’t leave the grounds again, Lilywhite,” Hector ordered in a voice not to be refused.
“I don’t intend to leave again,” she told him, offering both an admission and a promise.
He nodded, having been trained to know that when she offered blunt promises, she could be trusted wholly. “I’ll wait here with your things.”
“I’m safe, Hector,” she assured him, and then she went to find peace in the gardens.
She didn’t need both the waves and the soil to keep healthy. Either one would suffice. It was easier if she had both, but one was enough to sustain her. Daidí had undoubtedly already researched the matter. If they hadn’t already had what she needed, he would’ve paid to add it.
The hall appeared empty so she slipped off her shoes again. The stone sang to her as she walked, speaking of a faraway quarry where men had carved the rock from the earth. The story was not told in words, not in the way that most people understood words. Stone spoke in thick slow images, like heavy syrup trailing across her mind. The news most stone could share was far from recent. Their words fell into her consciousness with a welcome surety though. Stone mightn’t know the newest things, but what they did know was true.
On the other hand, sea was fickle, and sometimes the act of sorting through the sheer immensity of the words from the water was an exhausting task. Air, for her at least, was barely an affinity. It was there, but it came with difficulty thus far. Fire hadn’t been an affinity that she’d felt as comfortable with. Mostly, she counted on the earth for knowledge. Earth had been her first, and of the earth options, the words of stone and soil were easiest for her to hear.
As soon as Lily left the hall, the hum of the roots seeped through the cobblestone path under her feet, beckoning her. She resisted stepping into the soil. It was one thing to walk barefoot on the old stone of the building; it was an entirely different matter to let the plants greet her, especially when her mind was so unsettled. Plants with so much human contact were chaotic in their words, more so than she could manage today.
“Soon,” she promised.
The grounds behind the administration building were beautiful. Trees flourished as if they had never known dry seasons. Shrubs dotted healthy lawns, and flower beds offered bursts of reds, golds, and violet. Beyond them, however, was something far more exciting. A walled garden waited there, and the door was open. It looked seldom used, which was exactly what she needed. She wanted to step off the stone path and onto the living earth. She wanted to lose herself in it, fill the ache inside her with the surety of nature.