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“Your face! Did he do that to you?” she shouted, pointing at Blaire.

Blaire opened her duffel bag and dug out her compact, holding it up to inspect her face, and groaned.

Sure enough, her makeup had run, and the bruising from the other night was making an appearance. She forgot to touch up her makeup after her crying session in her rush to get out of the house before Caleb returned.

She sighed as she applied powder over the offending eyesore. “Charlotte… it’s fine.”

“No, it’s not! Blaire! It’s not okay that he hits you!” Charlotte’s voice was shrill enough to get the professor’s attention. She paced down the alley toward them.

“I’m not saying it’s alright that he hits me. I’m saying what happened is already done. I can’t change what happened, but it’s fine because I’m leaving. It won’t happen again.” She finished applying her makeup and put the compact back in her purse as the professor reached them.

“Girls, is something wrong? I would advise discretion if you want to go undetected, seeing as you are still within a stone’s throw of your employer.” She gestured toward the alley door they stood next to. With Charlotte screaming, Ricky could come out any moment, and it would all be over.

Charlotte covered her mouth and gasped. “I’m so sorry, Blaire. I wasn’t thinking.”

Blaire shook her head and held up her hand. “It’s fine. I know you were just worried about me. Things got out of hand the other night, and the aftermath was worse than usual, but I’ll be okay… now.”

That was the understatement of the century. Her body was covered in bruises beneath her clothing from struggling as Caleb forced her into his bed before knocking her out. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

“Okay, well… I should go.”

“Yes, we should get moving so we can finalize the paperwork and get you into your dorm. We’re losing precious daylight hours. Furthermore, I still need to settle things with your boss once you’re settled at the academy.”

Without another word, the professor turned and walked away to the car where a man built like a house waited by the trunk. The professor motioned toward Blaire, and he walked her direction.

“I’m going to miss you so damn much…” Charlotte threw her arms around Blaire’s neck and squeezed tight.

Blaire wrapped her arms around her petite friend and buried her face in her curls. “It’s not forever. I’m just going to be across the plaza. I can still visit you, I’m sure. Maybe you can come to visit me at some point.”

Charlotte pulled back, wiping her eyes and sniffling. “Yeah, sure. Of course. I’m sorry. I’m just so happy for you, but also worried.”

“I know. It’ll be alright, I promise. I’ll call you as soon as I can and tell you all about it.”

A tingling excitement shot through her like something was pulling her to the academy, but an underlying sense of foreboding hung over her like a storm cloud. The heady mixture led her to act on autopilot.

But as the saying went, what goes up must come down. She wondered how far down the fall would be.

She gave Charlotte one last hug and reached to grab the handles of her suitcases, but she paused as she looked up at the man who’d finally reached them.

To look up at the towering man’s face, Blaire had to tilt her head back, as he easily stood seven feet tall. Charlotte gawked up at him. Blaire tried to imagine how comically large he looked to her friend, considering Charlotte stood a half foot shorter than she did. He must be a stuntman or wrestler, she mused. He raised an eyebrow at her.

Blaire realized she was blatantly staring at him. “I… Oh wow, I’m sorry. You’re just… so big. I’ve never seen someone as big as you. Not that it’s a bad thing, but just… wow, yeah. Sorry.”

His loud booming laughter startled her. “Oh, little one, you are quite amusing. It shall be interesting to see how you grow within the academy,” he said with a thick Russian accent, before bending to grab her luggage from her, and moving back down the alley to load it into the trunk.

She had never been called “little one” before and found it peculiar.

The professor cleared her throat loudly, motioning to the open back door, and Blaire apologized once more before giving Charlotte one last hug and rushing down the alleyway. She climbed into the car, and the professor slid in behind her.

“It should not be long, little one. Relax. Stop apologizing,” the giant of a man called from the front seat before putting up the partition, starting the engine, and beginning the drive toward her future.

5

TRUTH

Blaire watched out the window at the winding road that led up to Blackthorn Academy flanked by live oaks dripping with Spanish moss. She picked at the hem of her blouse to distract herself from the thoughts running rampant with all the potential ways this could go wrong, working herself up into a ball of anxiety. Things like this didn’t happen to people like her.

“Nervous?” the professor asked, breaking through her dark thoughts.