Cobweb Head

t w e n t y - s i x

I knew I wasn't a star student, but having it explained to me why only managed to mortally wound my already worn out ego.

"I understand you've been skipping classes," Grimm sat at her desk. "You're failing in maths and you have barely given any thought into activities outside of your lessons. Have you even looked into the psychologists we have here?"

I shook my head.

What was going on right now? She wasn't confronting me about the Frights or what I did at the party or Leo's involvement. She sighed when I didn't say anything.

"Windsor's is here to help students that are out of line or are struggling in other aspects," her expression hardened, "but we can't help you if you're not willing to help yourself."

Fuck – this was so much more worse than what I'd expected. Talking about my feelings with Grimm? I shuddered at the thought.

Shifting uncomfortably in my seat, I cleared my throat. "I've – I've just been a little distracted. I'm completely fine."

She ran her long nails against the desk and sent me an unconvinced look. She reminded me of Oliver in that moment. "William, I know you struggled at your previous school as well. The incident with your school gym isn't the only thing that sent you here."

I tried to look anywhere other than her face, tapping my foot along the ground as my skin itched with unease. "All I've been is a little preoccupied. Adjusting to this new place, entirely new country," chew on that, Grimm, "it's all been a little bit slow."

"You've been adjusting for five months, William." Five months? Time flies. "What have you been so distracted with?"

Now this was starting to lean towards the Frights. Dangerously close.

I pulled in a breath through my teeth. "It's personal."

"If it's going to affect your—"

"I'm actually, uh, dating someone at the moment." The words were sour and strange in my mouth. What the hell was I doing? "And it's become a little more," I cleared my throat, "serious recently."

I'd come to realise I was a horrible, terrible, shockingly bad liar.

Grimm leaned back in her seat, drawing her hands away from the desk. The light coming in through the windows cast dim shadows across her face, her narrowed eyes, making it seem as though she were suspicious. I sat frozen in my seat as if my bones had turned to stone.

"It's completely fine to be romantically involved, but if it's affecting your classes and grades then maybe this person isn't good for you."

What was she, my therapist?

"Especially since they're made up."

I looked up at her suddenly, my breath catching in my throat and a sudden twist of panic starting in my chest like fire on dry grass. Grimm drew forward, and the shadows vanished from her face, as if she was appearing as Dracula from a cheesy black-and-white horror film.

"I'm aware that you know about the Frights, William." The corner of her mouth twitched. "I'm also aware that, somehow, you sent the swarms into the student party the other night."

I buried my nails into the palms of my hands and forced back a scruffy chunk of hair that'd fallen over my eyes. My mouth went dry. "Mae – Mae told you?"

"That poor girl, shaken to her core," the headmaster traced airy patterns through the air with her fingers before directing her stony stare back at me. "Tell me, William, what are you?"

"I'm – I'm human? I'm not some alien squid thing if that's what you want to know." The tightness in my chest twisted even after the poor attempt at relieving it with the comment, gulping down the much ruder one I had had in store.

Again, I was a dickhead when I got nervous.

Was I sweating? Gross.

"I want to know if you're with the nightmare walkers," this time her lip curled, and I suddenly felt very small.

I'm afraid he'll be corrupted by the Frights like she was.

I clamped my teeth hard over my lip and the tang of metal entered my mouth. A dull throb knocked against my skull. A fear, Grimm's fear, so strong I tasted blood. When I looked back up at her, she seemed to recoil back into her seat. I realised suddenly that my nose was bleeding, a thick stream of blood painting my lips.

And then I spoke, but my voice seemed foreign.

"You're asking me these questions? Why not ask your son – he was the one who stole your dream syrup," I pushed up from my chair and placed my hands against the other side of the desk, the whole while wondering what I was doing and if I could stop. "You'd never let him know about the Frights, but what if he already does? What if he's already just as crazy as your sister?"

I didn't think I could be that much of an ass.

I forced myself back and I fell back into the chair, blinking. I felt out of breath as I drank up the air. I didn't think I had the courage to look up.

A few painfully long moments passed.

"You're a spy." Grimm whispered from where she sat, and when I looked up, the shadows had recollected across her face like thick layers of dust.

Chills settled against my skin like silk cloth. Tears had formed in her eyes. I made Grimm cry? I hardly remembered what I said.

"What? No. I'm not a spy," a felt sick, "I hardly even know what nightmare walkers are! Please, I'll tell you what I am. I'll tell you everything."

I ran a hasty sleeve across my face. Harsh red spots had dripped down onto my sweater, and I drew my arm back to reveal bloodied stains across my sleeve, blood drying against my cheek and chin and nose. It was a mess.

Grimm shook her head. "I knew she had contacts all over the place, but a—a student? A child?"

I was pretty sure I was about to puke inside my mouth, I'd started to feel so queasy. She rose up from her seat with an indignant tut of her chin and blinked away the sheen of water that'd formed over her eyes, slowly moving around the desk. I shrank down in the seat as she moved behind me.

I heard her open the office door behind me, and hushed voices soon filled the quiet. I stood up and moved over to the window, facing away from Rosebud Tower with my back pressed against the glass. I saw two figures at the door – students I recognised. They both had silver rings.

My mind was racing.

Grimm turned around to face me, and the shaken woman I'd seen before vanished, replaced by a bone-white expression and impossibly straight posture. A dark curtain of hair touched her cheek as she looked away.

"Take him – we'll begin the nightmare extracting process tomorrow."