Phrontistery Of Monster Kind - Six Feet Deep

Chapter 15

I plucked the petals, placing them into a bowl. "Ms Crowe probably could have taught you how to do this," I said to Rosemary as I separated the larger petals from the smaller ones. The teen was instructed to tear the smaller ones until they resembled floral graffiti. I had a stack of letters from my hate mail, the ones I bothered to open, using a jar full of water and essential oil in it as a paperweight.

"I've never spoken to her and since you offered-"

"You never had her for art?"

"My sister and I transferred here this year, so it wasn't mandatory to take the subject. Plus, they run Wilderness class at the same time."

"Closest thing we have to scouts here?"

The girl nodded.

Rosemary kept talking about her life and time in scouts. Everyone in a fifty-foot radius could tell that both she and her sister loved it, as they were constantly in their scout uniforms. For Rosemary, that included her sash and patches.

She mentioned transferring from a school in the forests of Scotland, a place her parents wanted them to attend. As she didn't explain the reason, I didn't pry.

"Do you like it here?"

She nodded. The one flower she had slipped into the crevice between her hair and horns fell into the bowl of torn petals. Rosemary huffed and quickly slipped it back into position. She didn't recommence her work until she was convinced it was secure.

"I love it here. My friends are great, the classes are fun, and I get to meet a lot of different monsters."

"Not many from your last school? You can start shredding the paper. There's a shredder in the left cabinet on the shelves." She found the old shredder connected to a hand crank. "Sorry, it's not electronic."

"Simon broke it in the wreck." The girl was wrong. I never had an electric one, though Simon broke the one I was borrowing from the last teacher. "It's cool, it's arm day, anyway." I chuckled at that. "Need to work out if I am going to beat Bryce next year at the athletics carnival."

"I hope to see it."

"You are staying? You aren't a sub?"

What would have made her ask that? I peered up from the flower bud in my hands to see her overlooking the angry letters.

"I'm here as long as the school wants me... and even if they don't."

"Why? I'd leave a school if I wasn't wanted." She had.

"It's hard to explain, but as you have found a home here, so have I. This place is hard to let go of. Why do you think so many of the staff went here?"

"Because it's one of the oldest monster schools?"

"It is the oldest, and no. It's because no matter who you are, you can make a friend here."

"Like you and Mors?"

"That's different, we just work together-"

"No, because you both seem to actually enjoy talking to each other. All the students noticed."

"You need to be more focused on your studies." I finished plucking my last bud. "How about we go and dry these out? Have you ever been to the staffroom?" she shook her head. "Well, now, you are going to."

I led her up to level five the long way. She trotted behind me with most of the torn flowers. It was mid-day, most of the staff had classes or other staff duties so they wouldn't be lurking around.

The room was scarious minus Mors was sitting in one armchair, a cup of coffee in his hand and the owl scoured through the fridge for snacks. Mors rustled his newest edition of The Deathly, a newspaper that headlined major deaths. I didn't recognise the person on the front page, but she was a skeleton, skull cracking, barely held together by duct tape.