I couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
On my first day back at the Academy, classes were nothing special. Anthropology with Mrs. Po, Anatomy of Souls with Mr. Lesage, History with Mrs. Morgan, and I didn’t even pay attention to the rest. My last class was Psychology with Headmaster Colin himself, and at the end, he took me aside.
“How are you feeling, Yolanda?”
“I’m good. Thank you for covering the expenses with the Karmic Asylum. I actually wanted to talk to you about paying you back.”
He waved me off. “Nonsense. You and your cousin have done so much for Grim Reaper Academy and so much more for the supernatural world. It all came out of Academy funds, and it wasn’t that much. Please don’t concern yourself with this. It was the least I could do. The least this institution could do to pay you back for your service.”
By my service, he was clearly referring to getting rid of Valentine Morningstar for them. I shrugged. If this was the case, I wasn’t going to insist on paying for the nightmarish months I’d spent locked up in that small, sterile room where I wasn’t even allowed to mark off the days.
“Alright,” I said.
He nodded, but it didn’t look like the conversation was over. He had something else to tell me, something more important than paying for a treatment that had dulled my senses to the point where I couldn’t teleport anymore, nor dream jump. A treatment that had stripped me of my only powers as a human who’d been cheating death for two centuries and thus had joined the ranks of the supernaturals.
“You missed the field trip to Heaven, I’m afraid.”
“Oh.”
That was the last thing on my mind, really. In year two, students were supposed to visit Heaven and Hell with Professor Maat. In case we were ever going to be called to reap there, we had to be familiar with the geography. Yes, angels and demons died, too. They weren’t immortal, and they could be killed. Not only that, but it was entirely possible for them to take their own lives.
“That is, you missed the field trip with your cabal. The VDC, the NDC, and the MDC have already visited Heaven. The RDC is the only one left, and the field trip is tomorrow. I was thinking that you might want to join them, so you wouldn’t miss this opportunity.”
I swallowed heavily. On the inside, my anxiety was acting up. On the outside, I remained calm.
“It’s important, Yolanda,” he insisted. He could see that I didn’t want to go. “If you graduate and become a Grim Reaper…”
“I know,” I said quickly. “If I graduate. That’s a big if, isn’t it? I haven’t checked my worth score yet because I’m scared to. I missed practice, and I didn’t take my finals.” I smiled sheepishly. “To be honest with you, I’m not even sure what I’m doing here.”
“I talked to the professors, and they’ve agreed to allow you to take your finals at the end of this semester. I have no doubt that you will pass them with high grades.”
He stepped closer to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. He squeezed reassuringly. When he was like this, Headmaster Colin looked like an old grandpa who always had some words of encouragement prepared. When things got tough, he was there to tell you nothing was impossible if you believed in yourself.
“Yolanda, you can do this. What happened last semester was not your fault.”
Oh, it was entirely my fault. I was stupid.
“Grim Reaper Academy will not lose you because of an unfortunate incident.”
The incident was my attempt to commit suicide. Yeah. That was the right word for it. Incident. I just smiled tensely and waited for him to finish.
“Stick to the class schedule, do your best, work on your worth score, and study for your finals. That’s all. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by anything else. Nothing is more important than this.”
I sighed deeply. Everything was more important than this.
“You’re right,” I said. “Sure, I will go on the field trip to Heaven with the Righteous Death Cabal.”
He beamed at me. “Welcome back, Yolanda.”
“Thank you, sir.”
In my dorm-room, I told Corri about the disaster that was probably going to be the field trip to Heaven the next day. Going with Domina, Scarlett, and Huriel was the worst idea of the century. Domina hated me because of Davien, Scarlett hated me because she was Domina’s best friend, and that was what best friends did, hated together, and Huriel was probably still upset about the little prank I’d pulled on him and his buddies at the Yule Ball. Well, they deserved it, and if Davien and Seth had been able to get over it, maybe it was time for him to do the same. On the bright side, at least Ivor would be there. We weren’t friends, but he was an okay guy when he wasn’t being a jerk, so maybe I could stick with him.
“Don’t you worry, Mistress. I got your back!”
I shook my head. “No, Corri. I have to start taking care of myself. Besides, I have another mission for you.”
She perked up, curious. Life at the Academy tended to bore the pixie out of her mind. Her very nature made her want to be of service. Constantly. And waiting around in class as the professors droned on and on about things we both already knew, was not exactly being of service.
“Find Mila and bring her here. I need to talk to her.
“On it!”
Excited, she flew in circles for a bit, then disappeared in a puff of pixie dust.
I sneezed.
Well, at least Corri would be reunited with her first mistress, and I was almost sad I wasn’t going to be there to see it.
* * *
I didn’t go down to dinner. I had plenty of food in the fridge, since the girls working in the kitchen were so happy I was back that they went above and beyond to stock it with my favorite food. They knew I often had breakfast and dinner in my dorm-room. I wasn’t exactly a social butterfly, which was weird for someone who was probably the most popular girl at the Academy. I would’ve thought they’d forgotten about me, but no. Now that they knew I’d spent half a year at the Karmic Asylum, they seemed to be even more fascinated with me. Except this time, their fascination was mixed with something akin to fear. Having been hospitalized meant there was something wrong with me, and the fact that I’d been released and I seemed to be fine didn’t do much to clear my reputation. In their eyes, – and here I was talking about both students and professors, – I was a peril to the supernatural society. I was a freak. I’d killed the most powerful Grim Reaper alive when I was only a child, I was over two centuries old even though I was human, I was a dream jumper, and now I’d also been released from an asylum for the most dangerous supernaturals. From an asylum that never released their patients. And despite all that, Grim Reaper Academy still wanted me. Headmaster Colin still wanted me, and the Supernatural Council hadn’t yet intervened, although it was generally known that they were suspicious of me.
There was something about me, they all probably thought. But what? And what did it mean to them?