by VJ Erickson
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Taylor slept well that night and did not wake up early for a change. It wasn't until her alarm went off to get ready for class that she awoke, and even then she could feel herself dragging.
She hadn't really had any time to discuss what had happened with the glamour incident since they had spent their whole evening doing damage control, but she was distracted this morning by a crisis of a different sort. She had forgotten the library assignment.
"You didn't finish yours?" asked Hannah, over breakfast.
"When was I going to finish it? I was a little busy covering the building in technicolor flora, remember?" said Taylor.
"Well, I finished mine. I guess I just figured you had done yours too."
"Well I haven't. I guess I need to go upstairs and try to do something real quick."
"We don't have time for that, Taylor. You're just going to have to glamour it. Actually... you should lay off the glamours for now. Let me handle it for you."
"Isn't that cheating?" asked Taylor.
Hannah shrugged.
"You seemed very concerned about playing by the rules the other day," continued Taylor.
"I'm more concerned about keeping you under the radar. I don't need you calling attention to yourself any more than you already have, and Professor Dean Dean doesn't seem like the type to let you go unnoticed if you come unprepared."
"And he won't notice, you don't think?"
"Nah. He's not a vampire. I checked."
"And the TA? He's not one either?"
"Nope. Checked him too. I always check. Remember," Hannah said while pointing to her eyes. "Always check for black. It's will always give them away."
"Right."
"Here you go," said Hannah, handing her a piece of paper that she retrieved from her notebook.
Taylor looked at it to see a double-spaced single-page paper with her name on it followed by an essay about the library.
"So, you just... wrote that all in your head just now?"
"What? Of course not," replied Hannah. "Glamours don't have to be that complicated. A person's mind is very good at making things up and filling in the blanks. I just have to suggest a fabulous A-worthy paper, and the viewer of said paper does all the work. I'm sure the TA will be able to fill in the details just fine!"
"That seems... grossly unfair."
"Yeah, well, we're not going to make this a habit."
Taylor was too nervous about glamours to even think about using them herself at the moment, but she was glad that Hannah stepped in to take care of it for her in this case.
When they arrived at class, though, she began to feel a bit more nervous about the whole idea. Perhaps honesty really was the best policy? Perhaps the Dean would make an exception if she asked? She remembered his icy demeanor, however, and decided against it.
Her discomfort increased as she turned to see Eric and Joseph entering the room. She quickly turned back to face the front of the class, hoping that they would not come to sit up front with them. Thankfully, Joseph had the good sense to steer Eric away, and they instead sat far to the back.
For the moment, Taylor was relieved, or at least she was until Professor Dean entered the room, with Alex following closely behind carrying what appeared to be the professor's briefcase.
He came to the front of the class and grabbed the briefcase abruptly from Alex and slammed it onto the podium. Alex took a seat off to the corner.
The professor scanned the room silently for several minutes as Taylor slumped into her seat, trying to look inconspicuous. She could feel the guilt of her cheating rushing to her face, and she was quite sure she was beet red. She looked down so that he wouldn't notice.
He did not appear to be interested in her, however.
"Is Mr. Evans here?" he asked.
Joseph spoke up from the back of the classroom.
"Um, which one, sir?"
"I remember you from the first class, young man. My brain is not quite as addled by age as you seem to think. I can see that you're here. Where is your brother?" the dean asked, tapping his finger loudly on the podium as he spoke.
"Um, here, sir?" said Eric, standing slowly.
"Are you asking me if you're here? Because I can only speak to your physical presence if that is the case. Whether or not you are mentally present, I couldn't possibly say."
"I'm here, sir," said Eric, trying to sound more resolute.
"Thrilling," said the dean. "I trust your brother gave you the syllabus?"
"Um, yes, sir?" replied Eric.
"Do you phrase everything in the form of a question? How exhausting."
"I, uh... that is..."
"That is quite enough, Mr. Evans. My question to you was as rhetorical as I'm sure your persistent questions are to me. Please have a seat."
Eric wasted no time in doing so.
"Now that we have that out of the way, Alexander here will go around and collect your assignments."
The moment of truth, thought Taylor, though she tried not to worry so much about it as she pulled out her glamoured "assignment". No one had any reason to think it was anything but ordinary boring homework, she reassured herself as she handed it as nonchalantly as she could to Alex.
He glanced at it for a moment before moving on to collect Hannah's paper and didn't even look at Taylor, much to her relief. Still, she couldn't get over her feeling of nervousness as the dean went on with his lecture, and she barely paid any attention to his droning on about the history of the college.
Thankfully, the lecture concluded quickly enough, as the dean seemed to have no interest in using the fully-allotted time and did not bother to take any questions. Taylor was relieved to be packing up to get out of there when the dean stepped back up to the podium and spoke into the microphone.
"I need Taylor Bain and Eric Evans to stay after for a moment, please," he said.
Taylor froze and gave Hannah a questioning look.
"Don't worry," said Hannah. "I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe some, um... extra credit?"
Hannah looked worried, however, and this did nothing to calm Taylor down.
"Do you think he...?" Taylor began to ask.
"Of course not," said Hannah. "I'm sure it's nothing. Do you want me to stay with you?"
"No, I guess not. I'm sure it's nothing like you said, and I'm a big girl. I can't have you always at my side."
"I don't mind, I assure you. But I'll save my overprotectiveness for real threats, not academic ones! How about I meet you at the food court across the street? We can grab some lunch. And that way I'll still be close by."
"Sure," said Taylor.
The class slowly filtered out, and Alex followed behind. It was just Eric and Taylor remaining with Professor Dean, all still in their seats.
"Eric, wait there for a moment, please. Taylor, you first," said the dean.
Taylor approached him nervously.
"What is this?" he said in a low voice while showing Taylor's paper to her.
"That's my assignment, uh... sir."
"Cut the 'sir' crap. You and I both know this is just a blank sheet of paper. How did you learn how to do this?"
Taylor felt her stomach tense up and her face turn red.
"I, uh... don't know what you mean," she said.
"You're going to stop playing games with me right now. I don't have the patience for it. I don't normally have to put up with this nonsense, but you... I can't read you at all. Why is that? And don't pretend you don't know. You just turned in a glamour for your homework."
"I, uh... look, I didn't do it, and that's the truth. I mean, I didn't do my homework, obviously, but I didn't do the glamour either."
"So you just happen to be friends with forsaken who do your dirty work for you?" he asked, regarding her suspiciously.
"For... saken? Look, I don't know what you're talking about. I swear.
The dean frowned, looking deep in thought.
"You know, I can always tell when someone is lying. I can alwa
ys see the truth in everything. Except you. You're not human, are you?"
"What? Of course I am!"
"We'll see," he said and tore her paper in half. "You will turn in a real homework assignment on Friday."
"Yes, sir."
"And don't lie to me, Taylor Bain. I may not be able to see through it the same way I can with others, but that doesn't mean I believe you."
"Uh... okay," was all she could think to say.
She now wished desperately that she had asked Hannah to stay.
"You can go," he said, waving her away with his hands.
"Eric," said the dean, talking again at a normal volume. "You're up."
Taylor wasted no time in exiting the building and quickly made her way across the street. She needed to find Hannah.