by K. M. Shea
I felt myself automatically returning his smile, but I was really happy to hear that. XP wasn’t Windows 8, but at least it wasn’t Windows Vista or Windows 98.
Maybe Aysel wasn’t so bad?
….what was I saying? He was worse than bad!
So Aysel’s little talk upset me more than I should have let it. I let class out early and tutored Asahi for a full hour, alone. (Madeline was there, snoozing in the back corner, but otherwise the classroom was empty. Hah! Take that Aysel.) I wandered back to Union Station and actually was so distracted about my lack of control when it came to talking with Aysel that I actually forgot about Frey and Dave and left on the first express train that came.
I texted Fran on my way home, ate dinner with my family, finished my homework, talked to Emily and Samantha for a while, and went to bed.
I woke up sometime around three a.m. and snuggled deeper into my blankets before flipping over.
It was then that I noticed the shadowy figure leaning against my dresser. I opened my mouth to utter an ear-piercing shriek, but the figure leaped across my room and slapped a hand over my mouth.
“Don’t scream! It’s just me,” a male voice whispered.
I squinted in the darkness as the blue hues from my digital clock lit up silver hair. “Frey?” I mumbled against his hand.
Frey nodded and backed up as I reached across to my bed stand to flick on a lamp.
“Oh, my gosh, Frey! What possibly made you think visiting my room in the middle of the night was a good idea?” I hissed when my cheerful lamp lit up the room.
Don’t be fooled by the books ladies. It is NOT romantic to wake up and find someone staring at you while you sleep in the pitch-black darkness of your house! It did NOT feel like a dream. I wasn’t even tempted to sleepily mutter to him when he was just a black shape in my room. I was more prepared to scream “stalker” and look for my can of mace. It felt creepy. Not only had Frey somehow managed to get in my house without anyone knowing, he was also in my room—which was pretty messy—watching me snore and drool! (Plus, my drawer full of unmentionables was open and spilling across the floor, and I had pretty much abandoned my clothes last night in the middle of my room.)
Creeptastic, that was the only way to describe it. My fellow females, NEVER think that some guy popping up in your room, uninvited, in the middle of the night is anything but disturbing.
“You left the MBRC without Dave and me, and this couldn’t wait until tomorrow,” Frey protested, quietly returning to his post by my dresser.
“I have a cell phone, Frey! That’s why humans invented them: so we can be contacted in emergencies!” I snarled, pulling my blankets closer in a defensive gesture.
There was no way I was going to let Frey see me in my pajamas.
“Sorry,” Frey muttered, looking a little put out.
I was tempted to throw my pillow at him. How dare he sulk when he was the one who was creeping through my house! “What is it?” I growled, my voice hoarse with sleep.
“I heard Aysel visited you. I wanted to make sure you were okay,” Frey said.
I muffled a yawn and nodded. “I’m fine. He didn’t really rip into me or anything. He got huffy and left. Although he is sort of scary,” I admitted.
“Be careful with him, Morgan. Aysel is very powerful. He’s being groomed for a position of leadership,” Frey warned me.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Frey shook his head and wouldn’t respond.
Perfect. He got me up in the middle of the night to sprinkle me with cryptic warnings like a centaur. Just perfect.
“I was wondering…do you know of any magical creatures besides Dave and me at school?” Frey asked.
I stared. “No. Definitely not. Why?”
“Just wondering,” Frey shrugged. “Sometimes I can smell brushes of magic on you.”
“Frey, I work in the MBRC,” I reminded him.
Frey shook his head. “No, not that kind of magic. It’s…darker. More like oil, but it only leaves the barest traces.”
More cryptic warnings. How touching.
“Was there anything else, Frey?” I asked, flopping down into the comfort of my mattress.
“Nope. I’ll see you tomorrow in school,” Frey said, standing straight before padding across my room to push aside the curtains of one of my windows.
“No more night visits, Frey,” I warned him, sitting upright.
“Yeah, yeah,” Frey said, rolling his eyes before opening the window, letting the freakin’ cold night air into my bedroom. “You’ll need to close the window behind me,” he warned before hopping out of the second-story window. He landed on the roof of the porch that’s directly below my room before disappearing, probably dropping off the side.
I grumbled and scooted out of my bed to close the window, scowling at Frey’s moonlit back that retreated across my backyard. “I think it’s time to invest in window locks,” I muttered.
Viewing it in the light of Frey’s little nighttime visit, I wasn’t all that surprised to see him in my tutoring classroom the following day. What did surprise me was that he had brought a cheerful, chipper Dave along, and somehow the duo had gotten to the MBRC and my classroom before me and without alerting me they were even coming to the MBRC today.
“Hey, Morgan,” Frey said, lazily waving at me.
“Miss Morgan, I must say I am looking forward to listening to your lecture,” Dave said, his pot belly jiggling with delight.
“What are you guys doing here?” I asked, watching Dave deflate.
“Dave isn’t doing so hot in his classes, and one of his professors heard about your sessions through another vamp. He recommended Dave attend your lessons on Thursdays since he has no regular classes scheduled. Naturally, as his handler, I had to come with,” Frey said with a benevolent bow of his head.
“I see,” I said, gazing at my sea of pupils. This week had so rapidly expanded my class size that I couldn’t even recognize everyone on a daily basis. There were at least three other vampires besides Madeline and Esmeralda attending, maybe more.
As I wondered why my class was growing so large even though I wasn’t really a teacher, I walked up to the desktop computer and turned it on while digging my jump drive out.
I paused when I noticed a white envelope taped to the computer that had my name written on it. I peeled it off and peaked inside. There was a check written out to me from a Vincent Moonspell. Must be Asahi’s and Aysel’s father.
“Helllooo,” I purred before putting the check into my backpack. Apparently when scoffed at, Aysel reacts speedily.
I glanced at the computer screen, waiting for the familiar Windows XP greeting while I shrugged my jacket off. Instead the words “Windows ME” flashed.
“No!” I gasped. “He didn’t!”
“Hello, Morgan! Aysel got us a different computer. The techies told us Windows ME was a rare operating system, even though it’s older than Windows XP, so we decided to go with it,” Asahi said, popping up next to me with his brilliant grin.
Even Asahi’s sunshine smile couldn’t clear away my horror. “No, this can’t be! I’ve never even heard of Windows ME! Aysel must have done it on purpose!” I hissed under my breath.
“Windows ME isn’t as good as Windows XP?” Asahi asked, catching on to my revulsion.
“Yeah,” I agreed, regarding the computer with absolute dislike. “Windows XP is perfect. It’s amazing. It might be old, but at least it works!” I moaned.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Asahi said in his kicked puppy voice.
I grimaced and forced a smile on my lips before turning to the dejected elf. “Don’t worry about it, Asahi,” I said through gritted teeth. “It’s fine. Why don’t you go take a seat, and we’ll start class, okay?”
Asahi nodded and retreated to his desk, leaving me to stew in my bitterness.
That stupid High Elf! I knew yesterday’s words couldn’t have gone unpunished! Stupid, mean Aysel!
Fieldtrip Fri
day was a little stressful, mostly because I felt like I was babysitting a class of five year olds. I arrived with Frey and Dave—I probably don’t want to know how and why they got permission for Dave to skip classes so he could come with us—late and a little rushed.
A quick snoop around the room confirmed that my main students were there. (Frank was still wearing his flea collar, I was grateful to see.) I tracked down Asahi to get more information about the Cuckoo Ward.
“Asahi! Do we have permission to visit the ward today?” I asked, noting Madeline skipping towards me, her frilly skirt flopping in the air.
“Of course. My father called them Wednesday evening to let them know we would be dropping by,” Asahi said with his dazzling smile.
“Hi, Morgan!” Madeline sang, giving me a side hug.
“Hey. So do either of you know how to get to the Cuckoo Ward?” I asked, wondering if I would have to backtrack downstairs to ask Corona for help.
“I know the way. I’ve been there loads of times,” Frey said with his wolfish confidence as he walked into the conversation.
“Really?” I asked, my voice mildly flavored with disbelief as I rolled my eyes up to glance at him.
“Yep. It’ll be tricky because we have to leave Union Station, but I can see we’ve got a couple of strong glamour users in the group. We shouldn’t have a problem. We can always tell people they’re extras for a movie,” Frey said, waving at the sphinx, who flicked her tail as she walked past us.
“…You’re kidding,” I said, nearly dropping the stack of Cuckoo Ward pamphlets I held in my hands.
“Oh no. I’ve used that excuse before. Works every time,” Frey assured me.
“So, when you say we have to leave Union Station, do you mean we go above ground?” I inquired.
“Yeah. There’s a Panda Express just up Clinton Street. The entrance to the Cuckoo Ward is there,” Frey said, scratching the base of his neck.
I couldn’t have heard him right. “A Panda Express?” I asked.
“Uh-huh. If we move fast enough, maybe I can grab something to take into the ward. I’m starving,” Frey said.
Madeline looked mournful, and Asahi beamed. “Shall I begin to organize everyone into glamour groups?” he suggested.
“Yes, please. Thanks, Asahi,” I smiled, still wondering if Frey was pulling my leg. I mean really, a Panda Express? Come on! At the very least it should be a nightclub!
So…he wasn’t lying.
When we finally found the Panda Express, which was no mean feat thanks to my less-than-stellar students, I stood outside gaping at it like a stupid tourist.
I think I was pretty justified in being surprised. To start off, on the way over, the sphinx was almost run over by a car; Dave got his umbrella broken by one of the Pastels; and Madeline swooned when the frumpy elf that hung out with the drab fairies tripped and fell, skinning his knee.
But none of that could compare with the shock of finding out that the entrance to a fairly high-security hospital ward that was funded and founded by magical beings was located in the supply closet of a Panda Express.
“Morgan, are you coming?” Asahi asked, pausing at the door of the restaurant. “Everyone is almost through the entrance.”
The line for the magical beings to get into the supply closet had stretched out of the restaurant and onto the street. Apparently, while I gaped at the building, the line had dwindled.
“Yeah, sure,” I said, following Asahi inside. I was tempted to duck in the back kitchen and see who—or what—worked there, but Frey hustled me away, toting a carry-out carton.
“What did you get?” I asked, letting him herd me away from the food and through an employees-only door.
“Sweet and Sour Chicken.”
“Are you sharing?”
“Not in your life. Here we go. Just step right into the closet. Thank you, Asahi,” Frey respectfully said as Asahi opened a dank closet that was filled with mops.
“Come on in,” Madeline invited, already inside. “Everyone else is through.”
“Right,” Frey said, practically shoving me into the closet before he and Asahi joined us.
Asahi closed the door, closeting us in complete darkness.
“Um, so what now?” I asked, shifting away from a mop bucket that was poking my shin.
“One sec,” Frey impatiently growled. “Ouch!” he hissed, smacking into a wall.
“You’re a werewolf. I thought you were supposed to have good night vision,” I mildly said.
“Shut up!” Frey snapped before the closet was dimly illuminated by a faint green light. Frey crouched over the dim light source. I heard him press several buttons before something clicked.
An engine turned on, and the closet swiveled before dropping down like a too-fast-for-my-comfort elevator.
About twenty seconds later, the closet halted, and the engine turned off. Asahi fumbled with the door knob before successfully opening it. Madeline tumbled out, and I wasn’t far behind her.
We staggered into a completely white hallway. It reminded me of something from a boy band music video. Everything was white, plastic, and seemed to stretch on for miles.
By the time I straightened up and pulled my sweater down, Frey was digging into his chicken, and Asahi was closing the closet door.
“That way,” Frey said, pointing down the hallway with his chopsticks before leading the way.
“I see our classmates. They must be waiting for us,” Asahi said, nodding at the crowd ahead of us.
My students were stopped at a large desk where a faun wearing white scrubs sat with a clipboard. Behind her desk was a set of frosted glass doors.
“Excuse me. We’re the group Vincent Moonspell called about,” Asahi said, magically popping in the front of my motley crew.
“Is there a Morgan L. Fae with you?” the faun asked, tapping a pen on her desk.
“Yes, that’s me,” I said, squeezing between the two Pastels to join Asahi in the front.
“Great. Divide your class into groups of five or less. Each group will need an informational pamphlet. It will explain the patients’ illnesses,” the faun said, opening a drawer of her desk to grab a huge stack of pamphlets.
“I thought this was a hospital. Why does it feel more like a sterilized zoo?” I hissed to Asahi. (I mean really, informational pamphlets?!)
Asahi shook his head. “They provide the patients with the utmost care, but the facility also focuses on teaching MBRC members, so they’re used to tours. Seeing this will help persuade younger generations that humans are not to be tortured,” Asahi smiled. “Besides, this is the low-level security wing—the only one available for viewing. All the others are shut down tight.”
“I see,” I said as the faun stood and walked to the doors.
“Some of the patients will be wandering around the facility. Don’t be alarmed when you see them. We like to provide them with as much freedom as possible. When dealing with the humans, please speak simply and don’t expect a lucid reply. If any of you do anything to a patient there will be extremely unpleasant consequences,” the faun said, placing hands on her hips while her goat ears twitched. After giving my students the evil eye, she turned around and opened the door—with magic I suspect.
When the lock clicked open, she twisted and nodded at me. I took this as a cue to organize my group.
“Okay guys, you heard her. Groups of five or less. Grab a pamphlet before you go in. We’ll meet back here, in this hallway, in an hour and a half,” I said, glancing at my watch.
The moment everyone started negotiating groups, Madeline clamped down on me like a boa constrictor. “I’m in your group,” she announced.
“Yes, okay, let go of my neck—ack!” I hacked, tearing the blonde vampire off me.
“Can I join you?” Asahi asked with his bright smile.
“Of course,” I said.
“And Dave and I make five. We’re set,” Frey said, jerking his thumb in Dave’s direction.
The middle-ag
ed vampire was still clutching his broken umbrella, looking quite morose.
“Sure, invite yourself in,” I said, hauling my eyes to stare up at the ceiling. “We’ve got to wait, though. I want to make sure everyone has a group.”
“You’re such a good teacher, Morgan,” Madeline beamed.
“A very kind individual,” Asahi agreed.
Frey looked nauseated at their praise, but Dave’s morale began to improve.
“Thanks, guys,” I said, watching Esmeralda’s group of the large giant/ogre boy, Perseus (speaking of which, why was he with us?), flea-less Frank, and the sphinx hustle through the doors.
Slowly, groups trickled through the doors under the faun’s supervision until only my group remained.
“Great, let’s go,” I said, grabbing two pamphlets. I kept one for myself and handed the other to Asahi as we approached the doors. “Thank you, by the way,” I said to the nurse faun as she opened one of the frosted doors.
“You’re welcome. I hope it is an educational experience for your class,” she said before closing the doors behind us.
The doors opened up into a large, white chamber that was excessively well lit. The ceiling was quite high, and everything was coated in the same white plastic as the hallway.
The room was peppered with pieces of furniture, mostly couches and desks with the occasional TV set, and the patients’ rooms broke off from the chamber like a complex honey comb.
“Okay, this is very much like a zoo,” I scowled as I eyed the first set of rooms on our left and unfolded my pamphlet.
Most of the doors to the patients’ rooms were locked, if the red lights directly above them were anything to go on. (Although a few of them were green.) However, their rooms were built like a habitat for a zoo animal.
According to the pamphlet, each patient had three parts to their “quarters.” They got a large sitting room that was decorated to reflect their tastes and choices of entertainment. BUT, the front wall of the sitting room was thick glass, which allowed for observation.
Their sitting rooms split off into a private bedroom and bathroom, which were not available for viewing. I guess they gave the patients some semblance of privacy. If they wanted to, they could stay in the backrooms all day long and never been seen by anyone except for their attendants…but the whole thing still smelled fishy to me.