The Cultivated Girl

Chapter 13 - A Challenging Morning Tea

The story so far...

Well, well, well - so Elizabeth isn't quite the stone hearted priestess she pretends to be. She certainly does harbour a battalion of secrets and it seems she really, truly is in love with Stefan. And  Max is a little cutie. I wonder how Simone is dealing with bumping into her mother? 

Read on to find out.

Simone was having the worst birthday of her life. No presents, not one, and she couldn't get what happened out of her mind. All she wanted to do yesterday was share the komodo dragons with her clutch, a little pre-birthday treat. Then she took a wrong turn and the day roller coastered.

She trudged off to the mecca with Nada and Alexia, deep in thought. She wondered what would have happened if she had turned left instead of right down the green-veined corridor. She wouldn't have known her mother was a scary witch, or that she had a brother and was trapped here for another nine months, sorry, moons, of finishing school hell.

Even worse, her whole clutch had seen her run. That reminded her about Joli's predicament. Her closest friend here was knocked up and Bloduewedd was still nowhere to be seen. Oh yes, and she now had to spend quality time with Lady Alva. Every morning.

She groaned. Could things get any worse? Happy 15th birthday to me. Now that it was summer, dining had become more formal. Simone couldn't understand this. As far as she was concerned, summer meant loaves of bread stuffed with hot chips eaten on the beach dressed in board shorts and a tank top. According to Alexia, more entertaining happened in summer and this meant getting to grips with morning teas and silverware.

Instead of the picnic blankets that had graced the emerald grass, the mecca was now dotted with petite round tables dressed in starched cloth the colour of clotted cream. Each had a Victorian umbrella perched on an ornate stand next to the table to protect them from the sun shining through the extinct volcano's funnel.

Simone moodily bounced strands of light off her silver spoon, trying to shoot them back through the lace umbrella's holes.

"This is so unfair. I can't believe Lady Alva just expects us to carry on as if nothing happened after Joli's," she looked around furtively and lowered her voice, "announcement!"

"What an inauspicious start to a new moon," said Nada.

Simone glared at her.

"Not you too." Then a nasty suspicion hit her. "What's going on? Why isn't Alexia sitting with us? And where is Due?" Simone's name for Bloduewedd, like the Snug and the Cathedral, had stuck. Due didn't seem to mind. She still whispered to Simone inside her mind from time to time, not that it made much sense but as yet, hadn't touched any of the others.

Nada looked at her from under lowered lashes. She was quite the little gossip and Simone knew that look. It meant she had something juicy to share.

"I found out her secret," said Nada.

"Who, Due?" said Simone, thinking that Nada had finally figured out Due wasn't thick but telepathic.

"No," said Nada, "Alexia."

If she was waiting for Simone to draw it out from her, it wasn't going to happen.

"I wasn't aware she had one. Is that what's going on with you two? Go on then, spit it out." Simone was irritable. She didn't feel like putting up with Nada's nasty gossip.

"She's a vampire."

Simone let out a hoot, earning disapproving looks from some of the tables around them. Young ladies didn't guffaw. The picture of elegant, petite Alexia, with her perfect posture and delicate silver pixie cut, tearing into someone's neck was just plain funny.