Snow Princess

Chapter 21: Gabe's Condition

The moment I stepped out the door of Mrs. Clabourg’s room I pressed my ear to the door. I wanted to know what was going on. I couldn’t just be left in the dark. The other teachers went to their rooms moments ago. I was the last one to leave, and I was sure that I was going to be able to hear.

“I can’t believe you, Roman. Are you that foolish? If the secret or anything else gets out, who knows what she will think,” I heard Mrs. Clabourg say quietly but angrily.

“Would that be such a bad thing?” I heard Gabe ask.

“I just feel that we shouldn’t let this get out to her for a while. I don’t want her panicking because she arrived not too long ago. Maybe in a month or so, but not right now...Right now we need her to be comfortable and safe.”

“But if she is supposed to be comfortable, then wouldn’t taking away her privileges make her uncomfortable?” Roman asked this time.

“No, I think it will just give us time so she doesn’t suspect anything,” Mrs. Clabourg said.

“Are you sure? Because I hate to bring this up, but I didn’t hear her footsteps at all after she left the door,” Gabe told them.

I froze. Did that mean he had super hearing abilities? How could he know if I left right away or not? My mind started to panic while my ear was trying to process what little I could make out.

“Is that true?” Mrs. Clabourg continued. I wasn’t sure who it was addressed to initially.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Gabe. I heard her footsteps loud and clear,” Roman acknowledged.

I could almost feel sweat poor down my forehead. Thank God for Roman. I didn’t know what to do if they decided to check out if I was gone or not. If Gabe could hear my footsteps, then I was pretty sure he would be able to hear me run upstairs after he'd said something about it.

“I don’t know, maybe my hearing is a little off.”

“Yeah, possibly,” Roman muttered. I didn’t even know how I was able to hear that. It was really far away, but I still could hear it. Was I that focused on their words?

“Let’s discuss this later, you two get some rest, I have to do some paper work,” Mrs. Clabourg said.

That was my cue. I walked silently but swiftly, making it to the stairs. I looked back to see if the boys were out yet, but they weren’t. That was a good sign. I went straight to my room afterward.

I sat on my bed and thought. What was going on with my life? Nothing about it was normal anymore. I mean, wolves appearing out of nowhere for unexplainable reasons? Roman's and Gabe’s behavior… I didn’t even have the answer to that one. What were they talking about in there? Whatever it was, it sounded like they were saying something about telling me something? It just didn’t seem quite right somehow.

I looked over to the side of my bed and saw my homework scattered. I groaned out of frustration. I even forgot that I would have to go and see Eros for whatever he had planned for me. There was so much to do and so little time, yet I wanted, needed, and craved answers. They were there, but I needed to pull them out of a different dimension or something.

I grabbed the packets first seeing that they were easier. I looked at the first page and froze. The natural birth of babies was printed at the top. I cringed in horror. Why did we have to learn this stuff again, and did the boys have to learn this stuff too? Mrs. Clabourg’s class was like a health class basically, wasn’t it? But I tried to avoid health as much as possible because it was horrifying to me. I set the packet aside. Maybe it was best to save that for last.