Everly Academy

by V. B. Marlowe

  The girls spent the rest of the time listening to Molly read Alice and Wonderland to them even though they’d heard the story countless times before. Every now and then Allison would gasp and look at Molly, and then she’d be lost in her thoughts again. Something was definitely there. Something that could change everything, and Molly was going to get to the bottom of it.

  That evening Molly decided to take a copy of Beauty in the Beast to read in the garden, which happened to be far, far away from the pool. Although she knew the tale inside and out, she needed to read it again with a different set of eyes. This time she needed to look for clues and anything that would help break the curses. She was about halfway into the story when a shadow loomed over her. She looked up to see Owen grinning down on her. He took a seat beside her. “Glad to see you’re doing better.”

  Molly’s wound was still bandaged, but it no longer hurt. “Yeah. I didn’t get a chance to thank you before. But you totally saved my life this morning. Thank you.”

  Owen smiled, and it was the warmest smile she had seen in a long time. She’d known he was handsome since the first time she’d seen him, but now that she was up close, she could really take in his magnificent features. His brown hair came down in a swoop over his right eyebrow. He had large clear green eyes, a chiseled jawline, and smooth pink lips. Best of all, nothing about him reminded her of Clay.

  “I’m sorry that happened to you. This place is beautiful, but it does have its dangers. What are you reading?”

  “Beauty and the Beast. Do you read?”

  He nodded which pleased Molly. There was something attractive about a man who liked to read. “Not really into fairy tales, but I really dig mysteries and thrillers.”

  Molly smiled. “Me too. Once I get done going through these fairy tales, you have to recommend a good mystery to me. I’ve got plenty of time for reading.” They both laughed nervously. Molly’s comment was funny and tragic at the same time.

  The awkward moment was interrupted by Isleen. “Hey, Owen,” she said sweetly. She was smiling in a way Molly had never seen her smile before.

  “Oh, hey, Izzy.”

  Molly noted how she didn’t bother to correct his use of her undesired nickname. “Uh, my shower’s been acting funny lately. I was wondering if you could come and take a look at it.” She held her hands behind her back and bounced up and down on her toes nervously like a schoolgirl with a crush, and Molly was sure that was exactly what was going on. She was also sure that there was nothing wrong with Izzy’s shower.

  “All right, Iz, I’ll come in and take a look at it.” He turned back to Molly.

  “When?” Isleen asked impatiently.

  “In a few minutes. In the meanwhile, you stay off the roof, all right? There’s a few shingles loose up there.”

  Isleen blushed and headed back toward the house.

  “I think somebody has a crush on someone,” Molly said in a singsong voice.

  Owen shook his head. “That girl is something else. I try to keep my distance as much as possible, but it’s hard when she pops up wherever I am.”

  Molly wanted to keep the conversation off Isleen. She also wanted to keep Owen from leaving for as long as possible. “So, what exactly do you do around here besides save damsels in distress?”

  Owen smiled and looked into Molly’s eyes for a few moments. It took everything in her for her not to melt. “Let’s see. My father and I get up at the butt crack of dawn to start maintenance. We make sure the outside grounds are clean. We do landscaping and clean the pool.”

  “You and your father do the landscaping? Those bushes out front are amazing.”

  “Thanks. I have to give my dad most of the credit for that. I hope to be as good as he is one day. We also take care of any problems on the inside that Bea can’t fix with her magic. Take Izzy’s shower for instance . . . whether it’s really broken or not, she could simply ask Bea to take care of it, but she’d rather die before she asked her for something. That girl and her pride.”

  “What is it between the two of them? Bea clearly loves the girls, but when it comes to Isleen, you can tell that she doesn’t like her. I get that she’s a handful, but still.”

  Owen looked over in the direction of the pool, where Marina was splashing away. “I don’t know the specifics. I just know it has something to do with their past. Something with Izzy’s mom.”

  “Oh,” Molly said.

  “Owen, are you coming?” Isleen called from the back door of the house.

  He groaned. “She probably went and broke the shower herself. Let me go give it a look.” He turned to leave but then paused. “I have to say, it’s nice having someone here who isn’t either a teenager or a senior citizen.”

  Molly chuckled. He clearly didn’t want to leave her, and she certainly didn’t want him to. She watched him approach an impatient Isleen, who was now glaring at Molly like she was the enemy.

  Molly sighed and went back to her book. As much as she tried to get into the enchanting story, she just couldn’t. Her mind kept wandering to thoughts of Owen.

  Bea was gone that night and the following morning, so Molly hadn’t had a chance to talk to her. When Molly had gone to Bea’s office, she had found Ms. Halifax there. When she asked Molly what she wanted, Molly decided talking to her would be worthless.

  After breakfast she and the girls met in the great study again. Everyone seemed to be in better spirits.

  “Let’s do something different today,” Dru suggested. “Ms. Dillinger, why don’t you tell us about yourself and what life is really like out there?”

  Molly thought it would be a great way to get closer to the girls. After all, she knew plenty about them, so it was only fair.

  “Do you guys get to see anything from the outside?” Molly asked. All the time she’d been there she hadn’t seen a television or computer, except for the laptop on Bea’s desk. Still, aside from Tress and Isleen, the girls all wore modern, stylish clothing, so they must have been doing something to stay current.

  “We get subscriptions to all the magazines,” Gretchen explained, “so we can stay up to date on all the hottest clothes and makeup. The Glam Squad will make us whatever we want to wear.”

  Molly frowned. “The Glam Squad.”

  Gretchen nodded. “Uh-huh. We have a hairstylist, makeup artist, and seamstress here twenty-four, seven.”

  Molly thought that sounded like every girl’s dream.

  “Yeah,” Marina added. “And every now and then Ms. Bea will conjure up a television and let us watch something like the Olympics or the presidential inauguration but never anything fun like music videos or reality shows. She says that stuff will rot our brains.”

  Molly wondered if that was something else she should talk to Bea about. It was bad enough the girls were already bound to the estate, but what harm would it cause them to watch some TV?

  Molly wasn’t sure where to begin so she spoke about everything that came to mind. She told them about the hottest celebrities and actors. She told them about the most popular movies of the decade and the last good movie she’d seen. She told them all about the drama-filled reality shows which were her guilty pleasure. Molly thought they wouldn’t be so interested after two hundred years of being out of the loop, but they hung onto her every word for an hour and a half, scooting closer and closer to her. Someone had even requested the kitchen staff to bring in a pot of tea and some chocolate cake.

  Gretchen tugged at one of her curls. “We have a cinema.”

  “Really?” Molly asked.

  Gretchen nodded. “Yes. Every Sunday afternoon. There’s popcorn and candy and everything.”

  “That sounds awesome,” Molly said. “What kind of movies can you see?”

  Isleen shook her head. “Don’t get too excited. Ms. Halifax picks the movies.”

  Oriana shrugged. “The movies she picks aren’t so bad.”

  “What movies have you guys watched?” Molly asked.

  Oriana counted off her fingers. �
�Lately we’ve seen The Breakfast Club, Clueless, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Heathers.”

  Molly was surprised by the choices. “I actually love all those movies.”

  Isleen scoffed. “You would. I will give it to the old bat. She never repeats a movie. Next week we’re watching Titanic.”

  “You’ll love it.” Molly was relieved that the girls were getting some sort of entertainment and a connection to the outside world.

  Holding her plate in her lap, Lily dug into her slice. “Now that you’ve told us about all that, tell us about you. What was your life like before you came here?”

  What was your life like before you came here? It was such a strange question, but a fair one. Her life had completely changed the moment she met Bea.

  Tress bounced up and down. “Yes! Tell us everything! Did you have a boyfriend? Of course, you did. Start with him.”

  Molly took a deep breath. Clay was the last thing she wanted to talk about. “Well. He’s not my boyfriend anymore, and he was actually my fiancé for a few months.”

  “Awww,” the girls said.

  Marina grabbed her hand. “But where’s your ring? Men still give women rings, don’t they?” She looked disappointed.

  “Yes, they do, and I had a ring but I sold it.”

  “Why’d you do that?” Isleen asked. “Was it ugly?”

  “No. I actually loved the ring. He let me pick it out myself, but unfortunately, we broke up so the ring didn’t mean anything anymore. I discovered that he had been seeing my best friend behind my back.”

  The girls gasped again. Jolie clutched the pearls she wore with her yellow sweater. “No way.”

  Oriana shook her head. “How awful. A double betrayal. I can’t even imagine how that must feel.”

  “I hope you never know,” Molly replied. Until Clay and Jessica, Molly had never known that a broken heart could physically hurt. Just thinking about the two of them tightened her chest, making it difficult to breathe.

  “How did you find out?” Gretchen asked.

  “I walked in on them. I had a key to his place, and one day I wanted to surprise him by cooking for him. The plan was to have dinner ready and on the table for him by the time he got home. He had been out of town for a few days, at least that’s what he had told me. Really that was just a lie so he could spend time with Jessica.” Molly scoffed and stared through the window off to her right, remembering that day like it was yesterday. “I felt like such an idiot. I watched YouTube videos on how to make his favorite dish—lobster mac and cheese. He claimed no one made it the way he liked aside from his mother, but I wanted to show him that I could. So, I went to the grocery store and picked up the best ingredients. I slide into his apartment clutching my grocery bags and find the two of them snuggled on the couch watching a movie—from my Netflix account.”

  “Wow.” Gretchen said. “You sound like a great girlfriend. He was a bastard. Her too.”

  “Yeah,” the other girls agreed.

  “So, what did you do to them?” Scarlett asked.

  “I dumped him, and Jessica and I are no longer friends. I haven’t spoken to either of them since.”

  Scarlett frowned. “No, what did you do to them?” she repeated. “How did you get revenge? How did you get them back for betraying you?”

  Molly thought about all the times she wanted to slash their tires or key horrible words into their cars, but she had refrained. “Oh, I didn’t do anything like that. Don’t get me wrong, the thought crossed my mind all day long, but anything I wanted to do was illegal, and the two of them weren’t worth jeopardizing my life for, especially when I was looking for a teaching job.”

  Gretchen shook her head. “I would have baked both of them in my oven.”

  Isleen nodded. “I’ve had people placed into boiling baths for much less than that. If I were you, I would have punished them so badly they would have wanted to die.”

  “Well,” Molly began, but Marina cut her off.

  “Too bad men aren’t what they used to be. My charming prince would never do that.”

  Molly felt guilty that she might have given them the wrong impression. “No, girls. All guys aren’t like that. Some are jerks, and some are absolutely wonderful.”

  “Yeah,” Isleen agreed. She had a dreamy, faraway look in her eye. “I know Owen would never even fathom doing something like that.”

  There was a moment of silence before the girls burst into laughter. Isleen turned to them angrily. “What’s so funny?”

  Lily shook her head. “Would you forget about Owen already? The poor guy isn’t interested. He looks like he’s going to be ill every time he sees you.”

  Isleen shrugged. “He’s just shy, that’s all. I make him nervous.”

  Scarlett laughed the hardest. “He’s been here for five years. He should be used to you by now.”

  Isleen stood, holding her huge lavender dress off the ground. “What do any of you know? You don’t have men, and Tress, what are you laughing at? You have a crush on a boy who would trade a cow for beans.”

  Tress’s laughter cut off immediately. “Not just beans, magic beans, and those beans changed his life. And at least he likes me back.”

  “Okay, okay, okay.” Molly had to intervene before a fight broke out. Unfortunately, she knew that if there was anything that could come between girls, it was a boy. She looked at the clock over the unlit fire place. She couldn’t believe that hours had passed already. This was the longest session they’d had. Aside from Marina leaving once to hydrate, everyone had stayed and participated. “I think that’s enough for today, girls.”

  “Will you talk to Ms. Bea, though?” Dru asked.

  “Yes, I will. As soon as I can.”

  The girls left talking amongst themselves, Allison sandwiched between Marina and Lily and walking as though she were in a trance.

  Molly made a mental list of the things she needed to ask Bea about and then went to find her. She was happy to discover that she’d come back. Bea and Ms. Halifax sat in Bea’s office speaking in hushed tones. She wanted to know what they were talking about so secretively, but she figured they would never tell her the truth if she’d asked. “Excuse me. Bea, may I have a word with you please?”

  Bea nodded. “Of course, you can.”

  Molly looked at Ms. Halifax pointedly. The woman pressed her lips together before gathering her things to leave.

  As she brushed past Molly, Molly took a seat in the chair in front of Bea’s desk. “Where’ve you been?” Molly knew it was quite forward of her to ask and she hadn’t expected an honest answer, but it was worth a try. She really wanted to know where Bea had gone.

  “From time to time I must leave the academy to handle outside business. I need to know what’s going on with the Moonhaven Coven and the other cursed children. I’ve been trying to bring them all here, but they have been impossible to find. I haven’t been able to locate one since Scarlett, and that was over half a year ago.”

  “Or,” Molly added, “you’re looking for another unsuspecting person to lure here under the false pretenses of some amazing job opportunity.”

  Bea stared at Molly for a moment before her lips curved into a smile. “Do you have something to say, Ms. Dillinger? I find it best to just be direct about things.”

  “Fine. I find it silly that you call this place an academy when that’s not what it is at all. It’s a prison. These girls don’t really want to be here, and you know it. They want to go out and try to break their curses on their own, but you won’t let them. They told me about Snow White and Cinderella.”

  Bea sat back in her seat. “You’ve been talking to Isleen apparently.”

  “She was one of the more vocal ones, but all the girls have an issue.”

  Bea closed her eyes. “That’s because that girl’s negativity is spreading to the others like a fungus. As much as I try to keep that from happening, it’s nearly impossible when we live in such close quarters.”

  “What is it with you an
d Isleen? Why are you so bitter toward her?”

  Bea swiveled slightly in her chair, staring at Isleen’s portrait on her wall. In the painting she wore a lavender ball gown, and the tiara sparkled on her head like flakes of snow. “In my experiences, I have discovered that there are two types of princesses—ones that have outstanding and noble personalities. The kind people can look up to and strive to be like. Those princesses are fair and gracious. Then there’s the other kind. The ones who are selfish, spoiled brats who couldn’t care less about the people of their kingdoms. They only care about themselves and living their lavish lives and exerting their powers over others. Guess which category Isleen falls under.”

  Okay, so she just didn’t like her, Molly figured, which was easy to understand since Isleen wasn’t necessarily likeable. “Why do the girls have to be bound to this place? They have a good point. The ones who have elixirs were on the outside. Scarlett found an elixir before she chose to come here. Don’t you think being on the outside would increase their chances of survival?”

  “No. Yes, those girls have earned elixirs, but at what cost? Scarlett barely survived the witch attack. I can make you a list of cursed children who have been killed either by other cursed children or by the witches intervening indirectly. They far outnumber the two who have been saved. I just can’t take that kind of risk with my girls.”

  “I thought the witches couldn’t kill them.”

  “They can’t, but that doesn’t stop them from setting up dangerous scenarios that might end in death. They set traps, temptations, or put dangerous people in their paths. These children are on their own with no one to look out for them. That makes them easy prey. I won’t have that happening to the girls here. Leaving the academy is not an option. There are too many dangers beyond these walls that I cannot control.”

  Molly felt all hope of getting through to Bea slipping away. “Not even for a little bit? A few hours here and there?”