The basement was cold and damp, and the one window which let in a small amount of daylight was broken, something my parents steadfastly refused to fix. So I fixed it myself with magic, something my mother chided me for when she came to see me two weeks after I'd been banished downstairs. "You had no right to use your magic in that fashion," she said coldly. "I should have that window removed to teach you a lesson."
"Go right ahead," I said. "I'll just fix it again."
My mother folded her arms and sighed. "I'm sending you back to school tomorrow," she said. "I've been warned your truancy will get your father and I in trouble, and though you do not deserve the chance to finish your education, I do not wish to pay any fees. And your father is angry enough with you as it is. I am warning you, though. You will not speak of what has passed at school. If you do, you'll come home to nothing but blankets and a hard floor to sleep on. Do I make myself clear?"202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2QOLs2mTU
"Crystal," I said through gritted teeth, angry she'd even think I'd speak about the debacle that had happened in Manchester. "You know as well as I that that shit is best left in the past where it belongs."202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmAikUyRTf
"See that it stays that way," my mother warned me.202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzB6DgFM1x2
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I was beyond relieved to be allowed to go back to school. It was the one bright spot in my day, where I could be around people who didn't judge me for who I was, who accepted me the way I was, and who treated me with something more closely resembling respect. I didn't have any close friends, and I didn't belong to any of the cliques or clubs, but I was on friendly terms with most of the students in my year level, and the teachers always gave me courteous answers whenever I had a problem with the work they assigned our classes.
My parents had always fought to have me removed, believing I didn't deserve even this small amount of freedom, and they made sure I was surrounded by as many shackles as they could manage, including driving me to and from school every day, mainly to keep an eye on me and ensure I had no time to take part in the many after-school clubs and activities that were on offer. This was the one point I'd never been able to budge them on, and so my relief was tainted somewhat by bitterness as I got ready, dreading the moment my mother came downstairs to bang on my door and demand I haul my carcass upstairs for breakfast.202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp0FJqzYSbE
This morning, however, after she'd banged on my door and made her requisite demand, she told me I'd be taking myself to and from school from now on. "I haven't the time to keep an eye on you," she told me, her voice like ice as I pottered around getting breakfast ready. "Your father and I have to work to negoitate a new treaty with the Browntree pack, which means we'll be busy day and night. You will keep your mouth shut about this, and about the disaster brought about by your actions two weeks ago."
"My lips are sealed," I told her, and I meant it.
So it was with a lighter heart that I set out for school. It was only a five minute walk, and I felt my heart lift as I came within sight of the wrought-iron gates. Students were milling around, calling out to each other, and when Cassie, one of my acquaintances, spotted me, she raised an eyebrow. "The hell have you been?" she demanded, coming over. "We thought the earth had opened up and swallowed you whole."202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYXSspHIdki
"Near enough," I admitted. "I got really sick and had to stay home for a while before it passed."
Cassie raised a disbelieving eyebrow. She was half-vampire, and anyone with even one drop of vampiric blood in them could always tell when someone was telling porkies. But Cassie had the good sense not to challenge my veracity. "Hope it's not contagious," she said instead, and I had to smile.
"I'm over it," I promised her. "Now, catch me up. What'd I miss?"
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I wasn't sure if my mother's edict on returning home immediately still held, and since I didn't want to cop another tongue-lashing on my many supposed faults, I elected the safe route and high-tailed it home. But when I got home, Faith appeared as if out of nowhere, her eyes like fire as she glared at me. "You're lucky," she snapped. "Mother wants to tan your hide and wear it as a second skin for what you did. I think you should get tossed to the street, but Mother doesn't want you running loose and spreading lies."
I sighed. One of these days, I was going to deck my ever-so-adorable sister, and take the greatest pleasure in doing so. "You can rest assured I said not a word about things I wasn't supposed to say a word about," I told her. Nor had I. It didn't help that two members of the Winter Snows packed shared some of my classes, including Fred's younger sister Georgia, but they'd exchanged pleasantries with me upon my return to school, and Amber, Georgia's cousin, was even my partner for an upcoming assignment. But since neither of them was interested in revisiting the debacle at Manchester, I figured it was a good thing they were willing to bury the hatchet and let sleeping wolves lie.202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3SPlA2kjEb
Faith sniffed. "Lucky for you," she said. "Now get downstairs and out of my sight! Mother has a new husband arranged for me, and you will not ruin it like you ruined my marriage to Fred!"202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCPMsraFS2
"Ruining your second marriage is the last thing on my mind," I told her, and slipped past her to make my way downstairs. I had a bit of makework to catch me up on the work I'd missed during my two-week absence, and my mother had grudgingly allowed a desk and chair to be moved to the basement. But I was warned to only use my new excerise books and pens for schoolwork only; my mother had told me she'd be looking my work over extensively, and if she caught even the slightest whiff of spell-crafting, she'd have the lot burned, and me moved up to the kitchen should she keep an eye on me. 202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHBZEK4POi
I didn't fancy having her hover over me, so I'd promised to refrain from any magic-making. It stung, but it would sting even more to have my small moments of solitude ruined further by my mother's tyrannical whims. 202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JoU9ouwIv
Besides, I'd be graduating at the end of the following school year, which meant I'd be able to leave the hell-hole the packhouse had begun. Nothing my parents could do or say would stop me; I'd never sworn allegiance to my father as alpha, and I was looking forward to the day when I could walk out of the house and never look back.202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQwe9O1XeV
And in my mind, that day could not come soon enough.
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