Changeling (Sorcery and Society Book 1)(61)

Headmistress Lockwood lifted a dark brow. “But you still feel tired?”

I nodded.

“I am sure our dear Miss Reed is just concerned about passing her exams.” Miss Morton tsked, her spectacles slipping down her nose. “Being a first-year student herself, she has to be nervous about being prepared.”

“Well, your devotion to your studies is admirable, but not at the expense of your health,” Miss Lockwood told me. “Report to the infirmary and have Nurse Waxwing tend to your bruises and ask her for a valerian tisane. It’s a tonic that will help with a more restful sleep. Tell no one of what happened today. I will not have you frightening the other girls with wild tales.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but she cut me off, adding. “And tell your familiar to keep a closer eye on you.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You are dismissed,” Headmistress Lockwood said. “Miss Morton and I will attend to the body disposal.”

“Why do I get the feeling that’s not the first time those words have been uttered on this campus?” I sighed as I trudged toward the school building.

After the shock wore off, my body and my magic seemed just to give out, leaving me bruised and listless. I limped to my room, grabbed the Mother Book from its cabinet, collapsed on my bed and slept, paying no heed to the dirt and grass still speckling my skirts.

Ivy and Alicia were not amused by my non-appearance at luncheon, dinner, or breakfast. Ivy undid the wards on my door with embarrassing ease and stormed through, with Alicia at her side.

I lifted my head from the pillow and squinted up at them.

“Where have you been?” Ivy demanded, hands on her hips.

“Stomach ailment,” I said, before dropping my head back to the soft linens, wincing as the sore muscles in my neck twinged.

“A stomach ailment that left grassy bits and mud on your skirts?” Alicia asked.

“A very rare stomach ailment,” I mumbled.

“Have you seen Nurse Waxwing?” Ivy asked, opening the curtains. Phillip twittered and darted over to the wash basin on my dresser, as if directing her to bring me a cold compress, too.

“Yes,” I groaned, shielding my eyes from the sunlight. Alicia climbed up on my vanity and used her blade to scry a message for the kitchens, asking for tea and toast for three.

“You look just awful,” Ivy said.

“I feel awful,” I muttered.

“Well, that works out, then,” Alicia chirped.

“Is this an elaborate ruse to shirk your semester exams?” Ivy asked. “Because we agreed that if we were going to use elaborate ruses, they would be complicated enough to get all three of us out of our exams.”

“Trust me when I say no,” I said, rolling to a sitting position. I gasped at the pain in my ribs. Sleeping in a four layers of day dress was not something I would recommend to anyone with nerve endings. Both girls looked at me, expectantly.

I couldn’t keep this inside. I was holding on to too many secrets as it was. I couldn’t keep this from them, too. And if more people rose like Tom, I wanted my friends to be able to protect themselves. I would make them little reticule-sized birch stakes if it would help.

“Tom the gardener, he tried to hurt me,” I said carefully.

“Are you all right?” Ivy demanded, rushing to me and checking me over for injuries. “I don’t see any bruising, but that can take hours to develop. Have you told Headmistress Lockwood? Should we write your family?”

“Ivy, Ivy, it’s under control, I promise. Headmistress Lockwood is handling it now.”

“This just doesn’t sound like Tom,” Ivy mused. “It’s not that I doubt what you’re saying, Cassandra, but Tom’s always so gentle and quiet. Was he drunk? Under a spell? Maybe someone like Callista put him up to it?”

“It doesn’t matter. Tom deserves to be fired!” Alicia exclaimed, a sparking angry glower showing behind her green eyes for the first time since I’d known her. “And the authorities should be contacted now. He belongs in a prison. And if Headmistress Lockwood won’t take care of it, I’m sure my family knows someone who would. Gavin—”

“Don’t write to Gavin!” I exclaimed. “Look, the both of you, calm down. Especially you.” I pointed to Alicia, who pouted. “I’m fine. I wasn’t seriously hurt. And Tom will not be going to prison because Tom is dead.”

Ivy’s mouth dropped open. “You killed him? With your magic?”

“No.”

“Did you use your athame?” Alicia asked. “That’s very dark, Cassandra. You can’t work with it again or you risk a terrible curse—”

“I didn’t stab him with my blade,” I told her, deciding to omit the detail about stabbing Tom with a tree branch, for everyone’s peace of mind. “And I didn’t kill Tom because he was already dead.”

Alicia and Ivy stared at me.

“Did you hit your head, Cassie?” Ivy asked carefully.

“No, I didn’t hit my head,” I groaned, covering my face with my hands. The dragonfly scraped gently at my cheeks, humming with warmth. “Tom was dead. Walking around, but dead. Committed to choking the life out of me, but dead. I thought he was drunk at first, or sick, but he was dead. And he just kept coming for me and I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared.”