Where the Drowned Girls Go(Wayward Children #7)(32)

That was interesting. Everything about this day had been interesting. Sometimes going undercover among the enemy was the best way to make a bad situation into a slightly better one. Cora approached Miss Lennox, Regan beside her and a pleasantly bland smile on her face.

“I found Miss Lewis in the woods,” said Cora. “I think she got lost, because there wasn’t anyone with her, but she didn’t hide or try to run away when I said hello, which means she can’t have been doing anything wrong on purpose. Can we help her find her way back to her dorm?”

Miss Lennox looked briefly confused. “I … Miss Lewis, where is your class? Who has responsibility for you right now?”

“I came so close to graduation, and the other Compulsion students don’t want to have me around, because they’re afraid I might hold them back.” Regan’s cheeks burned red with embarrassment. The color deepened as the other students turned to look at her, their eyes bright with the many unexpected excitements of the day.

“I see,” said Miss Lennox. “That’s—” She stopped, appearing to struggle with whatever she was going to say next.

Cora narrowed her eyes. That was interesting. She’d never seen a matron at a true loss for words before. But Miss Lennox didn’t look like a matron anymore, did she? She had when the day started, all bland disapproval and interchangeable strictness, but that had been before she had a name. Giving a person a name changed them.

He made a mistake, she thought, and it was a thrill and a delight and so big that she almost missed it when Miss Lennox started talking again.

“Well, that’s simply not fair, and not reasonable in the slightest,” she said. “Whoever is supposed to be responsible for you should be ashamed of themselves. I know you’re not a part of my dorm, but you’re welcome to do your studies with us until this can be settled.”

Regan’s eyes widened. “Do you mean that, ma’am?”

Miss Lennox didn’t even look annoyed at being questioned. “Of course I do,” she said. “We have a responsibility to make sure you’re given a proper education, and part of a proper education is seeing to your social needs and emotional health. I—” She stopped, making a small, startled sound and raising one hand to her forehead, closing her eyes in what was clearly pain.

“Are you all right, ma’am?” asked Sumi, dropping her twig.

“Of course I am.” Miss Lennox lowered her hand, the pained expression fading. “My health is not your concern.”

Interesting. Following her instincts—which had always served her well, or at least always been enough to get her out of trouble, even if they were the reason she got into trouble a lot of the time—Sumi smiled blandly and said, “Of course not, Miss Lennox. I understand my place. I simply didn’t want to disrupt the nature walk with a medical emergency.”

Miss Lennox blinked, expression a mixture of confusion and bewilderment, like nothing made sense anymore. It was fascinating. None of them had ever seen a matron look like that before.

“Right,” said Miss Lennox. Even her voice was different, dazed and slightly distant. Behind her, the girl without a name looked actively stricken. “Nature walk. Regan, please join us. We’re going to look for native flora and record it in our sighting books.”

“I would love to,” said Regan.

Miss Lennox began walking. The others followed, Regan among them, while Cora hung back, waiting for her chance. When the nameless girl began to walk, Cora reached out and grabbed her elbow, pulling her to a halt. The nameless girl gave her a startled look.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“We need to talk,” said Cora, keeping her voice low to avoid attracting attention. “Will you walk with me?”

“Why should I?” The nameless girl shook free, taking a step to the side to put herself out of reach. “I said I’d help you with this stupid plan of yours, but I’m not taking any risks I don’t have to. I’m getting out of here, not getting locked up for painting a target on myself.”

“I think I know why you still don’t have a name.”

The nameless girl stopped breathing.

“The matrons don’t have names. The matrons never have names. I’ve seen them go to ridiculous lengths to keep from using anything that might even be shaped like a name—but Miss Lennox has a name now, and it’s changing her. Can’t you see how it’s changing her? Names have power. Names define things.”

“Why are you being so mean to me?” There were tears in the nameless girl’s eyes. “I said I’d help you get out of here. I said I’d go with you. I know I was mean to you before, but this is … this is worse than anything I did.”

“No.” Cora shook her head. “I’m not being mean, I’m telling you to look, and see. She didn’t have a name and she was happy to be just another matron, all rules and regulations and making sure we toed the line. Now she does have a name, and suddenly she knows we’re people. I think the headmaster, whoever he is, takes their names away to make sure they do what he wants them to do. I think your name would have come back to you already, if you hadn’t been here. If you hadn’t been in a place where stolen things are forced to stay stolen.”

The nameless girl still looked confused and hurt. None of this was reaching her; it was slamming up against the shields she used to protect herself from an uncaring world. Cora supposed she couldn’t blame her, but it was all so inconvenient. Things had been easier in the Trenches, when she’d been the only hero around, when everyone had listened to her without thinking twice about whether that was the right thing to do.