His legs started trembling again, but I ignored him and pivoted toward the sullen boy beside him. “What about you, Mr. Foster? Is there something in particular about Mr. Tanner that makes you want to bully him?”
Sean Foster jerked his chin at Reggie’s shivering body and sneered. “Yeah. Look at him. He’s a wuss. My stepdad would beat me with the belt if I walked around like him all day, scared of my own shadow. You don’t stand up for yourself, then you deserve to get beat down, that’s what he says.”
The larger boy pushed out his chest, and his chin lifted defiantly.
The headmistress made an excited noise in her throat and clasped her hands together. “Wonderful. Now we’re really getting to the heart of the issue.” When she addressed Sean, her voice was husky and encouraging. “Mr. Foster, why don’t you show us how you stand up for yourself?”
Sean blinked up at her. “Headmistress?”
She nodded. “That’s right. I’d like you to hit Mr. Tanner.”
The room filled with silence. Electricity raced along my nerves as I waited for the boys to react, but neither one of them moved. Not even Sean, who’d just been granted a get-out-of-jail-free card to take a swing at Reggie.
She sighed. “Please, don’t be shy. Did you know that, inside every little boy, there’s a beast just waiting to be released from its cage? Even the smart boys have one. Even the sad ones. Even the scared ones.”
Letitia strolled forward and began to circle the two boys. Their bodies tensed, but neither of them dared to turn to follow her path as she walked behind them, her left hand extended so that her fingers could graze their backs.
The room temperature shot up. Conscious of the sweat staining my shirt, I tugged at my collar and lifted my arms away from my sides when she wasn’t looking.
“Once upon a time, all men were beasts and magnificent in their unabridged, natural beauty. Sadly, as societal structures evolved, we began imposing rules and laws on our people, forcing the beast into hiding.” Her voice was like honey and warm milk, seductive in its smoothness. “They only hibernated, though, never disappeared. A good thing, if you ask me.”
She prowled in front of the two boys, who both held so still, I wondered if they remembered to breathe. “We need our inner beasts, sometimes. During wars, for example. Or if we’re being attacked at knifepoint. The problem is, when we keep our beasts locked up for too long, they slowly starve to death, the same way our bodies would. We need to nourish them whenever possible, lest our beasts wither away and die.”
As she weaved her seductive story in that perfect voice, I stood rooted to the office floor, transfixed. I’d learned about sirens in our Greek mythology studies, and it wouldn’t have surprised me one bit to learn that the headmaster’s wife was a descendent of those seductive beauties.
“If the beast languishes from lack of nourishment, boys will become meek and frail, which is an abomination against God and nature. Men were crafted to be strong.” The headmistress trailed her fingers along Reggie’s shoulder, making my gut twist with jealousy.
“Powerful.” She sidled up to Sean next, allowing her fingers to linger a bit longer.
Jealousy raised its ugly head, and my fingers twitched as I pictured grabbing a steak knife from the cafeteria during dinnertime and stabbing the boy at that same spot.
The rage eased when she drifted back to my side to finish the story. “From the dawn of mankind, women’s power has resided in their ability to procreate and perpetuate the human species by bearing children, so it makes sense that they would be the gentler of the two sexes. Whereas men’s power resides in their ability to serve as providers for their mate and children. Protectors too. To become a true man, you must be able to overcome the people around you and take what you desire. And to accomplish that goal, you must make sure to feed your beast.”
Her words were like arrows, piercing my skin and shooting straight into my soul. The truth in them resonated on the deepest, most primal level, in a way that nothing had ever come close to resonating before. I’d experienced so much guilt and shame over the years, from giving in to my inner beast. Now this beautiful, cunning, vibrant woman was telling me that there was nothing wrong with me. That the actions others regarded with disgust were actually signs of strength.
I was tempted to kiss her feet. I might have, if we’d been alone and she hadn’t raised a pale, delicate hand toward Sean.
“Do you understand now? If you don’t learn to be strong, you will always suffer.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sean’s hands curled into fists, and Headmistress Letitia smiled her pleasure. “That’s it,” she breathed. “Release your beast. You know you want to.”
Sean’s chest lifted and lowered, which was his sole warning before he whirled to Reggie and struck. His fist sank into the other boy’s gut, hard enough to make Reggie wheeze and wince, but not to knock him off his feet or inflict any real damage.
Headmistress Letitia’s tiny frown conveyed her opinion.
Not nearly enough beast.
Skin buzzing, I raced over to the desk, pulled open the drawer, and with shaky hands, withdrew the strap stored there. After a loving stroke of the silky leather tassels, I hurried to Sean and offered him the headmistress’s favorite weapon.
Sean stared at the tawse cradled in my hand but made no move to accept it.
I sidled closer, crowding the younger boy. “You can either take this and use it on Mr. Tanner, or I’ll use it on you. The choice is yours.”
My warning did the trick. Wide-eyed, Sean flinched but reached for
