Some of them Witches

Chapter 10

She said her name was "Jane Darcy", as she tossed her long syrupy brown hair over her shoulder. She wore a charcoal gray suit over her lush figure that complimented her fair coloring and accentuated the distractingly pale gray eyes in her otherwise plain face.

"You've got a pretty solid self-defense case," said Ms. Darcy. "How about that thing with your school? They expelled you?"

"Just from their gifted program, not the school itself."

"Hmm..." her quick fingers flipped through the pages in the file. "Well, two fire incidents in one day don't look great for your case. It doesn't say much for your education. Are you planning to keep it up? Go to college?"

Marianne had always done well in school, in the hopes that it would result in a promising career that would one day take her away from this life of dependence. "I want to volunteer for the military as soon as I graduate."

"Jumping in headfirst? Good girl, that could work. What if I set you up with a tutor? Tell the judge you're studying hard so you can enlist as soon as possible."

"I don't have any money," Marianne admitted flatly. The only reason Ms. Darcy was there was the court had appointed her.

"Don't worry. I know someone perfect for the job who owes me a favor."

Upon arriving, Virginia's presence seemed to draw every eye with the stately air of the bust of Nefertiti. The other girls regarded her with a different mixture of hostility and disgust than what they typically reserved for Marianne, giving the stranger a wide berth.

She should probably have gone over from her corner of the yard and said hello but found herself instead studying the woman's finely tailored clothes, her modest designer accessories, and her overall bearing as she walked, shoulders back but eyes downcast.

Despite them having never met, Virginia made a beeline right for her, speaking as she crossed that final small distance to her. "Jane says you're smart." She had a surprisingly soft voice, a contradiction to her direct words.

Guess there's no need for introductions. It wasn't a question, so Marianne decided against an answer.

"I think you're in trouble." She looked down her pointed nose into Marianne's eyes and what felt like beyond. It made her blood heat having to look up at people generally but this well-manicured young woman, in particular, made it boil. "You would know. I get the feeling you wouldn't be here if this wasn't in your best interest somehow."

Seeing as she had been charged with arson and aggravated assault, Marianne could see how this attitude might be construed as counterproductive, but the steel in the other woman's eyes seemed to have made its way into her very veins.

"It seems St. Jane's taste in hopeless crusades hasn't changed."

St. Jane? "You're saying you're not one of her clients?"

"We went to school together."

"Ah, so you're here to help me out of the goodness of your heart."

"I'm not here to help you at all if you're a lost cause. Did they make you take the pills?"

"No." Marianne thanked her lucky stars the court had only ordered house arrest at her current hellhole of a group home and not magic dampening drugs. Ms. Darcy, or St. Jane, as Virginia called her, had deeply impressed her on even getting her out of juvie while she awaited trial.

"Good. Is there somewhere more private we can go?"

"I'm not allowed to receive visitors indoors."