House of Darken (Secret Keepers #1)(44)

Mr. Perkins moved to the board then and wrote “1875” at the top, underlining it multiple times. “This is the year the first Darkens immigrated to America. Tatina and Gregori Darken were the clan leaders. They brought across their people. They were extremely private, even back then, so information on those early days is scarce, but many believe they were part of a pilgrimage from Norway. They brought with them riches, and knowledge beyond anything anyone had seen in this area, and Astoria was extremely blessed to be chosen as their original settlement site. Our tiny fishing village found itself under the care and protection of these early settlers.

“You have a fan,” I side-whispered to Jero. His lips twitched into a half-smile, but he didn’t comment.

One of the girls at the front raised her hand. “Why did they choose Astoria?” she asked.

There was a slight pause, as if the teacher was surprised by this question, but his answer came readily enough: “It was a great area for northern trade.”

“Wrong,” Jero muttered. I knew he hadn’t been talking to me, but I was still desperate to ask him to explain. Of all the places in the world, why had they chosen Astoria?

“What about the other houses?” another student asked. “How do they work with Darken?”

Mr. Perkins grinned so broadly that his ruddy cheeks were practically around his eyebrows. “I’m so glad you asked this. We will of course go more into the Houses of Royale, Imperial, and Leights at another time, but in general reference to Darken, they arrived almost twelve months to the day after the original founders. The history books tell us that they were allies, families who had ties back in Norway. This was the reason for their settlement here also.”

“Wrong again,” Jero said, his voice still no louder than a whisper. “And we’re certainly not all allies.”

I leaned in closer to him, keeping my eyes locked on the teacher so he wouldn’t catch on to our conversation. “Imperials are your only enemies, right? What about Leights? How can they be neutral?”

Jero shrugged. “They choose sides as they see fit. Royale are our only true allies.”

If my math was correct, and since I was a senior one would hope it was, the Darkens were still the strongest house. They had a solid ally. Two of them together versus two lone wolves.

I was of course telling myself this to make this new world I’d fallen into seem less dangerous for me. Because I was on the stronger side.

Yeah, right. As if life was nice and simple like that. Good. Bad. Right. Wrong. Strong. Weak. Nothing was ever that black and white.

The teacher was back at the board now. He had drawn three columns; above each he wrote, Starslight Prep, Darken Exports, and Daelight Crescent.

When he turned around, he clapped his hands together. “For the rest of the week we’ll look at this house’s initial contributions to Astoria. Firstly, they started a world-leading education institute, making sure our young folks received the very best learning they could. A vast majority of government leaders, business people, scientists, and revolutionaries in modern America did their schooling right here. We have ties to the top colleges – as most of you know.”

I found my hand in the air before I could stop it. Mr. Perkins called on me.

“Have there been students in this school from these four houses since 1875?” I asked, deliberately not looking at Jero.

“Yes, more or less,” he replied, “there have always been representatives from the four houses in Starslight. They’re very proud of this school. There’s no other place they would send their children.”

I knew Jero was staring at me, but I didn’t look his way. I had no idea why I asked that question. It slipped out, but I just had this weird feeling that the Darkens I knew were fairly new to this world. Like Star only coming across yesterday. From wherever.

I hadn’t been sure if “supernaturals” being here was a new thing or not. Apparently not new in general, just for the few I’d met only.

The rest of the lesson was spent on the many ways Darkens now ruled this world. Their exports business seemed to have interests in multiple industries, and I was amazed at how many of their products I had heard of.

When the bell rang, students jumped to their feet as conversations sprang up around us. “We’ll continue on with House of Darken tomorrow,” Mr. Perkins yelled over the departing students.

Jero followed me from the room, his giant frame towering over me. An added benefit of him as security detail was that students tended to get out of our way as we walked along. It made getting to class so much easier.

“What’s next for you?” he asked when we were standing near one of the moving sidewalks.

I glanced at my schedule and let out a groan. “Gym. Seriously?”

“Not a fan?” he asked, watching me closely.

I shrugged. “Honestly, I suck at physical activities. I’m great at knitting, reading, sewing. Cooking, even. I make a mean apple crumble and double-choc brownie. I also jigsaw puzzle like a pro. And I’m great at shopping … for shoes and clothes. But never … I repeat never have I chosen to exercise.”

“No sports? Jogging? What about … gymnastics?”

I snort-laughed. “Almost broke my cheek on the balance beam. After that my parents finally started accepting me as an indoors kid. Puzzles and books showed up in my room the next day.”