Disbelief:
Night had just fallen and the students at the School of the Stolen were completing the day's homework. James raised his hand and knocked lightly on the door. Immediately, it flew open and he was looking at Echo's pretty, brown face. "James!" She said loudly. "What's up? Need more Scrying lessons?" Echo smiled coyly. James scratched the back of his neck uncomfortable. "Um...no, actually, I wanted to know if Lucky was in." He said. Echo frowned. "I'll get her," she muttered. Moments later, Lucky walked out of the room. Echo slammed the door behind them. "You should not have done that." Lucky said. "What did I do?" James asked.
"Same thing you did the night of the dance."
"I don't know what I did the night of the dance."
"Boys. You shouldn't have run off for me. Echo really likes you and you're just hurting her."
"How? By saving you?" James was getting frustrated.
"No." Lucky said slowly, as though she was speaking to a toddler. "You should have made it seem that you were really annoyed to see me and really happy to see Echo. A little bit of flirting wouldn't have gone amiss."
"But I wanted to see you so we could go talk to Headmaster about the Shadows. I wasn't going to ask Echo. And anyway..." James trailed off.
"What?"
"I'm not sure if I like Echo as much as she likes me."
"So you don't like her?"
"It's confusing. I did. She's a great teacher, she's beautiful and she's nice. But..."
"There's someone else?" Lucky sighed. "You're hopeless, James. You've already hurt Echo and – hurt Echo enough, okay?"
"Hey," James said softly. He turned and tilted Lucky's chin up with his fingers, forcing her grey eyes to meet his green ones. "I don't know what I did to hurt Echo that night at the dance. All I know is that I sensed you were in trouble and I had to get to you. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. But I couldn't stand the thought of something hurting you." He release Lucky's chin and ran his hands through his hair with a sigh. "Can we just go see the Headmaster now?"
"Yeah." Lucky whispered, still feeling James' fingers on her skin.
They rapped on the Headmaster's door. "Enter." He said in a bored voice. Lucky and James entered tentatively.
"Ah. Miss Frine, Mr Calner, what can I do for you?" He asked. The Headmaster was drinking fine wine at his desk. His prominent belly was hidden beneath the table. His grey hair grew to his shoulders and his weak chin was clean-shaven.
"You'd better do the talking," James whispered.
"Well then, I'll get straight to the point." Lucky said, trying to keep the conversation light. "We have reason to believe that the Shadows are rising." She said. The Headmaster had been drinking his wine at the time and at Lucky's explanation, jolted forward and spat the wine out across his desk. James stared in horror at the flecks of wine and spit on his t-shirt.
"Nonsense! Utter nonsense! What is this?" The Headmaster roared. "I will not accept these lies. Get out!"
"But sir, it's true. We have proof." James pleaded.
The Headmaster snorted. "Mr Calner you are not the most reliable student and I am not inclined to believe you."
"However, you will be inclined to listen and to believe Lucky." James said through gritted teeth. "Show him, Lucky." Lucky stepped forward. She pressed a finger to the Headmaster's hand and closed her eyes. She was showing the Headmaster the same memories she had shown James, the night she had escaped the Shadows. The Headmaster gasped. "No, it can't be true. No. You are lying." He paused. "I thought better of you, Miss Frine." He said coldly.
