Unseen - EXTRA CHAPTERS

THE APPLE OF MY EYE

THE APPLE OF MY EYE

A Bloody Hand

(OR, A TEACHER COMMITS A GREAT MISTAKE)

(OR, WHERE KAZ PLOTS UNTIL THE RIGHT MOMENT)

Laura leaned back on the bed as Kaz got up quickly, carefully buttoning up his shirt and glancing at the clock. Somebody had walked into the house and, though Jordan was to come back soon enough, she would be far too early. She wondered if it was jut her skipping classes, which wouldn't be acceptable (Laura had not had the chance to go to school and Kaz had to give up on it when he was Jordan's age, just nine; they made sure to let her know that school and learning was far more important than anything at that moment). However, she jumped up from the bed and reached for her dress when she heard sobbing echoing through the house.

With Kaz visiting the farm more often now. Since the whole Ice Court Heist (and the whole problems that came afterwards), he had taken at least a week off every month, where he took a carriage to the farm and there he stayed with Laura and Jordan – he had been doing that for almost a full year at that point.

"Jordan?" Laura called out.

Kaz, already dressed, leaned against his cane and quickly moved out of the bedroom.

"Ma," cried Jordan outside.

"What's happened?" Kaz asked.

"Dada," she continued crying.

Tying up as well as she could alone and quickly, Laura made her way out of the bedroom only to find Jordan standing on top of the stairs, one of her hands out into Kaz's ungloved hands and Kaz sitting on the top step, looking at the little hand. She gasped as she got closer.

Jordan's hand had thin, superficial cuts and angry-red bruised on her palm.

"Jordan, baby, what's happened?" Laura asked, getting on her knees beside Kaz to look closely at the hand.

"The teacher got angry at me because I corrected her and she hit me," she cried, showing off the hand. "She used the ruler."

"The wooden ruler?" Kaz asked, raising his eyebrows.

Jordan nodded.

Kaz and Laura exchanged a heavy look as they both realised that they needed to have some sort of decision about that. But before that, they needed to make sure their daughter was alright, even though clearly in pain.

"Did she hit you anywhere else?" Laura asked.

She reached forward, lifting Jordan's uniform's skirts to take a look at her legs, but they looked as pale as they usually did and without marks. She let go of the skirts and pulled up the sleeves to take a look at equally pale arms without any brands in it.

Jordan shook her head.

"My hand hurts," she said. It was her way of saying that only her hand was hurting.

"I don't think anything is broken," Kaz said. "I don't think she smashed it."

"She wouldn't be that out of her mind," Laura said bitterly. "Breaking a child's writing hand would be absolutely a death-wish with any parent."

"But slicing it isn't?" Kaz asked, frowning.

"Not with most parents, even Philip took rulers on his hand once," Laura said. "Mama said it was normal for children to go through that, but... she doesn't know who she's messing with. It might have been normal to Misses Hoult, but my daughter won't be raised thinking violence against her is normal."