Immaculate

Sunday Evening

Mr Blackbourne's POV

She hadn't spoken since she had said goodbye to Sean at the hospital fifteen minutes ago and now we were nearly back home. She was curled up in her seat next to me, her feet under her, her chin resting on her hand as she stared out of the window.

I knew a lot was going on her head. Her admission to the school was being dealt with by Victor, who would go in and erase all her information and all of her father's. It had taken me by surprise that Marie had spoken with her father and I hated being taken by surprise. We had reassured Sang that it would be taken care off, and it would. She had once again surpassed my expectations of her in the way she had dealt with her father. Whether it was enough to keep him off her back? Of that I was doubtful and she had voiced it herself as we had left. There was so much we could do if it wasn't for her ghost bird status and it annoyed me immensely. She could move for emancipation, the Academy could step in and take away any threat from her father or the state. Or, and it would be no hardship, either myself or Sean could marry her. But with the fact she didn't exist it made things so much harder. I no longer cared about how valuable it made her for the team. I would be willing to give that up, to make her legally recognised, if it just kept her safe. However, I knew that we stood a greater chance of losing her, if we took it to the Academy than if we just tried to hang on.

I was certain that her father wasn't going to let it rest, some of it was his feelings for her, but a big part of it was he wanted control over her. He knew that he was standing on the edge of a precipice that Sang, and us, could push him over. He was panicking and desperate. And a desperate person was a dangerous person.

I glanced over at her as I swung the car into the garage, but she still hadn't moved and when I switched off the engine, she still made no move. I wanted to strangle him. He was just adding more stress to an already stressed girl, and not just any girl, my girl.

"Miss Sorenson," I spoke her name quietly and saw her jump slightly as she came back from wherever her thoughts had taken her. She looked around at me, the shadows under her eyes made my heart hurt and my blood boil.

"I didn't get any of my homework or revising done," she whispered with a half smile that did nothing to cover her tiredness. Sean had murmured to me before he left that there were sleeping tablets in the medicine cabinet for her, but to let her make the choice.

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," I murmured. "Kota will have you covered for homework and as for revising, you're gaining A's in your normal work."

"How does schooling work in the Academy?" she asked and turned to face me.

"Well, despite what Volto implied, children are not the top priority of the Academy. The Academy is more about a person's qualities and character rather than their age. So, while there are children in the Academy, and some teenagers, there are not that many. There is no "School" as such," I revealed and saw her nod as if she had expected as much. "For example, Sean, he wanted to be a doctor, he is far above average intelligence and entered the Medical University of South Carolina here in Charleston. He was five years younger than anyone else in his year. His residency is with Dr Roberts, but he did his main academic learning there. You know the others are intelligent too. When we offered them to be part of our team and they accepted, they went through a boot camp, a sort of introduction to how the Academy works, because of who they were and their interests and how our team operates, their boot camp was slightly military style in training, they were physically trained. But their education was done at their speed and at their level, and what they were interested in and most of it was done in classrooms at the hospital."

"So that's why they get so bored and tell me they've already learnt what we're going through," she said more to herself than me.

"Yes," I agreed with her anyway. "The classes they are taking at Ashley they have already taken."