To see him… off? I remember the leprechaun saying Grim would be “dispursed.” I can’t let that happen. My mind races as I try to think of a way to help him. “There has to be another way!”
Riven waves at the door. “Grim broke the agreement. I put myself on the line so he could be here…” Riven clamps his mouth shut. He wants to say more but doesn’t.
“And I fucked up,” Grim finishes for him.
Riven looks at him. “You fucked up.”
I see the fire blazing and I think of something. Someone. Cackus. Dragon. Harlow said something about Cackus being a dragon. If anyone or anything could save Grim, it’s a dragon. I stare into the flames. “Cackus,” I say. The outline of a huge, reptilian eye looks out from behind the wall of fire. The entire pupil barely fits around the frame of the six-foot mantel.
“Please do something! This isn’t fair. It’s not right. Grim was protecting me.”
A voice, deep and raspy, shakes the chairs in front of the fireplace. “What would you have me do, Everly Stillwater?” As his voice fades, so does the rattling.
Blood drains from my face. The strong, pleading voice I had fades. “Save him,” I whisper.
Riven fixes his unyielding stare on the fire.
But the strong voice in the fire speaks to me, “If I do this, you will owe me a favor.”
I can feel the count trying to scramble, trying to hold my tongue, his body agitated, and a low groan reverberates in my mind as my affirmation slips out. “Deal.”
The eye inside the fire blinks and disappears.
“Katarzyna!” Riven calls out.
The door opens. Still, there’s no one there, at least that I can see. “Yes, sir?”
“Bring in Mr. Cody and Mrs. Pavilion.”
The door widens, and a short, stout man walks in with a tall, pale lady. The man is the first one to speak. “Is this the boy who burned my son?”
The woman also says her peace. “A fire elemental? If I’d known such a creature was attending this school, I would never have exposed Sirocco to it.”
Grim looks at them both with narrowed eyes but says nothing. I’m not sure who Sirocco is but I figure she’s probably Tor’s girlfriend.
“A fire elemental who was protecting me against your… awful children!” I say, then immediately regret speaking.
Both parents slide their reproachful eyes at me. I’m taken aback by their hateful glares. In the forest, everyone treats each life as sacred. But these two lift their lips in disgust by what they see. It’s the first time people have thrown hate my way for no other reason than my breed.
“Such insolence!” the man says.
“Who is this disrespectful girl?” the woman asks as she looks at Riven. “Headmaster, I insist you expel her for her impertinence!”
“You can’t expel me because I don’t,” I start but Riven interrupts me.
“Enough.” Riven doesn’t raise his voice, but the command brings everyone’s focus back to him. He looks at both parents. “Grim’s fate has been decided—that is the only information you need to know.”
The woman looks at me. “But,” she starts.
“But nothing,” Riven interrupts. “The girl doesn’t concern you.”
The woman clamps her mouth shut and faces Grim. “I hope your punishment is fitting, headmaster.”
I face the blazing fire as I realize Riven hasn’t backed down. Do something, I pray to the dragon, inwardly.
“Cackus will see to his punishment.” Riven waves a hand. “Everly, step aside.”
I step away from the fire only because I trust Cackus. We made a deal. He said I’d owe him. He’ll do the right thing. Right?
The fireplace bellows flame, and the largest, scaled, clawed hand slips through the mantel, reaches past the chairs, and clasps Grim around the waist, firmly in its grasp. The elemental shrieks and bursts into flame, his whole body a fireball.
Then he’s pulled through the fireplace and disappears. I feel my jaw drop open. I can’t think, can’t feel, can’t say anything.
Everyone is silent for a long time until Riven aims his one word to both parents. “Satisfied?”
The two are white as sheets. The woman nods, turns and walks out. The smaller, portly man stumbles behind her and I’m left alone with Riven.
And I’m shocked. Angry. Disgusted.
“How could you?” I face him.
The man who asked so much from me sits in his high-backed leather chair, looking worn. “He’ll be fine.”
“Fine?” I yell at him. “Did you see what I just saw? He was sucked into the fire! How can you say he’ll be fine?!”
He frowns. Then he steps up and walks around his desk until he’s standing in my personal space. I have to crank my neck up to look him in the eyes.
“Grim is an elemental. Fire isn’t going to hurt him,” he says and shrugs. “Grim’s more valuable to Cackus with free will.”
Okay, he’s a fire elemental so Riven’s explanation makes sense. I think.
“But… that looked painful.”
The ends of Riven’s lips curl. “You think fire is going to hurt a fire elemental?”
Shushhh, Everly. The count whispers. The boy will be fine.
I hurry out of the office, Riven calling behind me, but he doesn’t follow. I just… I can’t believe what I just witnessed. Grim disappeared into the fire. He screamed. It looked painful. So do I trust what Riven said? Do I trust Jean-Claude?
Riddle growls and looks beyond the corner of an oncoming hallway. He leaps off my shoulder, wings flapping as he flies through the hall.
“Riddle!” I can’t lose him because who knows what he’s going to do or who he’s going to attack. And then I’ll find myself back in Riven’s office with some angry parent.
Riddle flies down the stairs, further down into a dark hall. I follow and take the steps carefully.
