Forbidden Feast

Ch. 7: Follow your heart

"This sucks," Jace grumbled, and Mathew ignored him. It was Mathew's new prerogative to avoid anything to do with Jace. Mathew stopped staring at him. Stopped being the first one to talk to him. Now, he had to focus on thinking about him less. It had been a few days since they kissed and neither one of them was bringing it up.

Matthew had asked why Jace kissed him and Jace just brushed him off, saying something about needing to hide. It was frustratingly casual to Mathew, who had only kissed one other person in his life. Jace must have plenty of experience. He was probably kissing people all the time. It was infuriating to be the only one affected.

They were in the records room. Jace stood watch at the door while Mathew flipped through the file cabinets, searching for Beatrix. The woman in the room was perhaps the easiest person Mathew ever enchanted. Mesmerizing a human requires a bit of reality. He could never mesmerize a human to do something they would never do.

Mathew simply asked Gladis to take a nap. She was out in a second, snoring quietly at her desk. Mathew put her cardigan over her shoulders and was happy she could get some rest.

Mathew found Beatrix's file. It was her resume that looked made up. She taught biology and what looked to be an experimental herbology class. Inside her notes, it seemed the headmaster didn't see her as a team player, refusing to aid the school farther than her shift.... However, Mathew noticed she was a supervisor for the Black Hawthorne historical society. Elijah mentioned that club.

Mathew went to the club records, but the historical society ended almost twenty years ago. Mathew mentioned it to Jace.

"Maybe the kids kept it running," Jace suggested.

"Without supervision."

Gladys grumbled in her sleep and flipped her head around, making Jace stand taller at attention. "Alright, I'm done playing Hardy Boys. Let's go. We have homework to do."

"Okay," Mathew said and closed the cabinets, leaving everything just as he left it and followed Jace out, almost taking his hand out of instinct, but Mathew curled his fingers into a fist and shoved his hands into his pockets to keep them to himself.

As Mathew walked down the sidewalk, he crossed paths with the headmaster, who was walking up from the administrative building. He put on the brightest, shiniest smile he could muster. "Oh, headmaster Wilkie," Mathew said and Jace whirled a surprised look at him, but he got out of the way, leaving Mathew's room to stand in front. "I was looking for you. Um, Gladys didn't seem like she was in her office, but I wanted to know when the historical society meets. Maybe you know."

"Oh, we don't have a historical society," the headmaster said with a small, surprised smile.

"We don't, but Elijah mentioned it. He was telling me about some folklore surrounding the school and I don't know. I think if I was part of the club, I might stay close to him now that he's gone." It was a cheap trick to use Elijah's death as an excuse, but Elijah was the one who said Mathew needed a bite and all Mathew wanted to do was sink his teeth into this mystery.

"We haven't had the historical society in quite some time," the headmaster explained. "I'm not sure why Elijah told you he was a part of it."

"Oh, okay. Sorry to bother you," Mathew said. He didn't have to pretend to be disheartened because he was. Putting on a sad smile, Mathew got out of the way for the headmaster to keep going with Jace following, staying inside Mathew's shadow.

Mathew waited for the headmaster to disappear inside before he spoke. He glanced around and jumped at Jace's closeness. Mathew's shoulder brushed the front of his shirt. Jace was so close. Pushing down his frustrations, Mathew said, "I don't know who to ask about it if the club didn't really exist."