“Do you want me to stay?” he said, running the back of his hand over my cheek.
“No, just… give me a minute,” I try to smile, nodding firmly. I’m going to cry, and I don’t want him to watch me. Lucca’s taken the responsibility of this completely on himself, and I won’t make it worse.
Standing under the hot water, I can feel my back itch and throb. The huge bruise on my back from being shot there by Schmidt is still aggravating my scar. Getting thrown on the rock path just made it worse. I remember so vividly when the monster shoved the knife in my back. I remember the shock, and then the pain.
“I’m alive, I’m still alive,” I whisper. “They didn’t get me. I’m still here.” Sitting under the shower spray until it runs cold, I repeat my mantra, over and over until my teeth start chattering from the frigid water.
“What happens next?”
“We go see Dean Christie,” Lucca says. He looks like he really wants to keep carrying me around. However, after the shower, I dressed in the sweats and hoodie Mariya brought me, put my wet hair up into a bun, and pulled myself together. We would walk into the Dean’s office and I would look that piece of shit right in the eye and tell her what he and his sick little buddies planned to do to me.
The main building was quiet, it was late and everyone was gone, aside from the guards who came to my rescue. Lucca and I seated ourselves in the waiting area. Dean Christie is taking a call and has put the person on speaker.
“How can you prove the little bitch wasn’t wanting it?” A man with a coarse, ugly voice shouted.
I couldn’t see the Dean, but her crisp, cold voice was quite clear. “Because your son and his friends were filming the attack on cellphones - illegal here, as you know, but hardly the main offense - and he bragged about it on the video. He was quite descriptive.”
Lucca squeezed my hand, “Are you all right?”
Nodding, I tried to catch the rest of the conversation.
“She must have provoked him,” the man hissed, “Mateo is a strong, responsible young man.”
“We beg to differ,” she said. “Regardless, after he and his friends receive their punishment, you are welcome to bring him home.”
“Punishment?” Now, his nasty voice switched from spiteful to alarmed.
“Yes, Signore Costa. Of course, there will be repercussions for his actions. He will be allowed to call you tomorrow and you can determine how to proceed from there.” There is a long, unintelligible string of cursing in Italian, and she pleasantly cuts him off. “Have a good evening.”
After a moment of silence, she calls out. “Ivan, is Miss Aslanova waiting?”
The guard pokes his head into her office. “Yes Dean, accompanied by Mr. Toscano. Shall I keep him out here?”
“As a witness, he should be questioned as well,” she said placidly. “Bring them in.”
Dean Christie is lounging behind her magnificent desk, but she’s wearing coveralls of some kind and looking distinctly un-academic. There’s a grease stain on one shoulder.
“I do hope you didn’t hear that unpleasantness,” she said, gesturing to the chairs in front of the desk. I’m sure she intended on having us hear the conversation with Mateo’s father, so I shrug.
“Miss Aslanova, I would like to begin by commending you for your courage in the face of such an ugly situation.” She picks up a remote and turns on a monitor on the wall. “While we do not believe every inch of the campus should be under surveillance, the outlying running path is covered quite well with our security cameras, as well as the guards’ scrutiny. It could be considered a point of weakness to a potential exterior threat.”
“I see,” I said, watching the monitor. The footage is grainy, but it clearly shows Mateo and his band of assholes getting into place, waiting for me.
Lucca’s holding my hand, rubbing his thumb over my wrist. He must feel my pulse speeding up because he says, “We don’t have to see this.”
“It’s okay,” I interrupted, “I want to.”
He frowns at me, concerned, sitting back in his chair, and putting his arm over my shoulders.
The moment I see myself in the footage, I start to shake, but force myself to keep watching. My expression is furious, not terrified, the way I felt, and I attacked Mateo and Schmidt with a swiftness and force that was pretty strong.
“I’m so proud of you,” Lucca whispers.
Within seconds, he’s in the camera frame, tearing Mateo off me and pounding his face into unrecognizable mush. Ivan, the friendly guard arrives just after him, pulling his gun on the other three as they try to run away.
“They were so stupid that they held onto those highly illegal phones,” the Dean said in disgust, “they could have just thrown them over the cliff and destroyed the evidence.” Clicking the monitor off, she turns back to us with a professional smile. “I would like to get your statements, of course, though really, this case is quite clear.”
“What happens now?” Lucca said coldly. “Eye for an eye, isn’t that the justice standard here at the Ares Academy?”
Like the last time I’d seen her, Dean Christie’s smile slips from Fun Aunt to something chilling, almost feral. “If those little bastards had managed to hurt Miss Aslanova, I would have cut their dicks off. As it is, they will regret their actions for the rest of their lives.”
After giving our statements, I offered my hand to Ivan. “Thank you for what you did for me. I am so truly grateful.” Lucca told me that Ivan had directed him to where I was on the running trail. He might not have found me in time without his help.
Ivan slowly takes my hand, shaking it gingerly. “You are most welcome.”
Lucca says the oddest thing to him. “Does she have the table saw in her office?”
The guard’s eyes darted back to the building. “In the basement. In fact, I should return.”
“What was that about?” I said, appreciating the warmth of Lucca’s arm around my waist.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow,” he said, kissing the side of my head. “You’ve been through enough tonight.”
As we walk up the stairs of the student housing building, I see Dr. Giardo making his way to the main building, a large medical bag slung over one drooping shoulder.
Lucca…
“How’s she doing?”
Konstantin is standing behind me, looking at the view.
“She’s asleep,” I said, ashing my cigarette out the window.
“Considerate of you to leave the window open,” Konstantin drawls. “Do you have another one of those?” Chuckling softly, I hand him the almost empty pack. Lighting up, he eyed me. “I thought you were quitting.”
“I am,” I said, watching the two lights burning in the main building. One is from Dean Christie’s office, the other is a light glowing on the basement level. “I just keep them for…” I suck in another deep breath of stale tobacco smoke, “special occasions.”
It’s really too cold to have the window open, the ever-present wind on the island gleefully whipping into the room. We’re both wearing heavy sweaters, though, and we stay seated on the window bench, smoking.
There’s a terrified scream that morphs into agony and then sobbing. Then, another. And another and then one more.
Flicking my butt out the window, I stand up and stretch, and so does Konstantin.
“Goodnight,” I grin. It must not look right because Kon, who knows me better than anyone, flinches just a bit when he looks at me.
Chapter Twenty-One
In which we learn how cruel life can be to a ten-year-old.
Tatiana…
The Academy does two things well, train future sociopaths and spread gossip, so by the time we walked into breakfast the next morning, half the dining hall falls silent, staring at us.