Fallen (13 page)

Looking across the table at
her
,
now, I had a new found respect for her. She was no longer the guard
;
she
had become
an inmate
, one
wh
o had risen above her lot. That,
I could relate to.

I made the decision right then to stop complaining about school.

“So…
what classes am I taking?” I
asked
,
slid
ing
the paperwork on the table in front of Ezra
toward
me.

She
smiled, satisfied
that
I was
showing a
little interest.

“
One’s I think you’ll enjoy
.” S
he took a sip of coffee and
proceeded to
fill me in. “English
Interpretive Literature
,
European History,
Biochemistry
,
Calculus
, and Fencing
.”

“Fencing?” I asked. “That’s a class?”

Ezra nodded. “This is a school for advanced students.
I didn’t think public school
would be challenging enough to
hold
your interest.”

I groaned
and returned to
my dinner
.

“Actually, I saw your transcripts, Maggie. You
are
a very good student.”

I swallowed a mouthful of mashed potatoes
and
shrugged.
“Yeah…well…
studying
always
comes
easy.
It’s
hiding the fact
that
I deliver
messages to
the dead
,
that
’s
difficult
.”

The moment
the
words
left my mouth
everyone at the table shift
ed
in their seat
uncomfortably
. I glanced around
and found
they were
avoiding eye contact with me.

“What?” I demanded.

I had the distinct feeling a discussion about me had taken place
.

Ezra cleared her throat
and laid
her for
k
down
in order to free her hands.
She
wrap
ped
them
around the coffee mug in front of her, though I noticed she didn’t bother to take a drink
.
“Maggie, do
you plan
to
offer your services to the students?”

Ah, that was their concern.
I
hadn’t actually given it any thought
.
In fact, over the past few weeks, just thinking about school made my brain short-circuit,
forcing me to
switch topics immediately.
It would certainly make for interesting gossip. It co
uld possibly get me kicked out –
an appealing thought until I
remembered
that
I’d made a commitment to Ezra.
No,
this time
I was going to
be a good little girl, despite my incredibly strong reservations, and
I was
just
going to
attend classes like everyone else.

“
Don’t worry, I’m not planning on it
,” I responded
and
everyone
visibly relaxed.

“That’d be good,” said Rufus
as he
pick
ed
up his fork and scoop
ed
up a
mountain
of
meat and carrots
, “
’
c
ause we wantchya to be happy here.” He swallowed the
forkful
in one gulp.

Felix
rolled his eyes at Rufus before
he tentatively
add
ed
, “And delivering messages…well
,
it might cause some…friction.”

“Well
…
we wouldn’t want that
,
” I
replied teasing
ly
, though no one else
saw the humor
.

“Who knows, Maggie, you may end up liking school,” said Ezra
,
as she
smil
ed
from
behind her coffee mug before taking
a
sip.

I snickered. “Don’t count on it.”

A private exchange of glances between Felix and Ezra took place before anyone spoke again.

“What?”
I asked
again
.

This time,
Ezra could barely contain her
enthusiasm
;
suddenly smil
ing wide and exclaiming
,
“
Now that you’re done with dinner, I suppose we can let you in on
the real reason
why Felix chose to eat earlier. He was putting the finish
ing
touches on a
present
we bought for your
first day of school
!
”

I was stunned. “
Really
?”

They nodded in unison. “It’s in your bedroom,” Felix
said
;
as he
giggl
ed
and
his shoulders roll
ed
upward
,
displaying
his giddiness.

I stood and nearly ran from the kitchen, up the stairs, and through the door to my room.

Inside was a queen-sized bed, its
posts so high they nearly scrap
ed the ceiling. It was draped in a thick, down comforter and so many pillows only half the bed showed. It was
more fitting in a castle bedchamber than in my tiny, old bedroom. It was beautiful.

I choked back a sob
just as t
hey came up behind me,
each,
grinning
from ear to ear
.

Spinning to meet them, I
stuttered
, “I
-I
don’t know…I
-I
can’t believe…”

“We
couldn’t have you sleeping on that
old
mattress the night before your exams
,” said Ezra.

“
Thank you so much!” I leaned in and hug
ged
them all at once.

“Rufus put the wooden parts together and I decorated the bed,” Felix
proudly
explained.

“You did a great job
…
b
oth of you.”

They seemed to be pleased with that acknowledgment.

“Get some good rest,” Ezra said
.
She closed my bedroom door
as they
all
turned to
head
downstairs
, leaving me
in
the privacy of my
newly
transformed room
.
“School starts tomorrow.”

Oddly
, even those words couldn’t
stifle
my contentment
,
and that night I fell asleep more easily than I ever had before.

I woke up the next morning
a bit less enthusiastic,
with not a single nerve of excitement going off.
It didn’t matter
that
I
was about to meet
new people I’d be forced to spend time with for the next ten months
.
Slowly, and with a great deal of effort,
I
left the comfort of my bed
and
gave
very little thought to what
I
would
wear
.
I
opt
ed
for
blue jeans, a
black
t
-
s
hirt, and
a grey
ivy cap
.
I was so disappointed
because
I would be stuck in
side
classrooms all day as opposed to the sunlit
,
bustling Jackson Square
,
that I chewed and swallowed the egg white
,
veggie omelet Felix gave me without
even
noticing how it tasted. At least he was pleased when I left.

The
academy
was
less than five miles from the house so it took very little time to get there. When I pulled
into
the parking lot, there were several things I noticed
immediately
. It was
a far cry from the public schools I’d
attended
. There were n
o security gates, bars on the windows, or
trash piled up in the corners.
In fact, it looked more like a mansion than a place of learning. It was
a lone,
three-story
,
brick and ivy
,
U-shaped building with an enormous park in the center of the U. Trees and benches dotted the park where I could
envision
students hanging out
and
studying hard, as I’m
sure
would be the case.