50

SUNDAY

The headmistress’s office was bright and airy as I stepped inside. The light breeze that flowed through the space took me off guard. Where was it coming from? There were no windows, and the door was already closed behind me. Where I’d expected a stone floor, I found mossy earth and walls covered in flowering vines. The scent of jasmine and rain was all at once soothing and strange. This was like something out of a fairy tale. A stark contrast to the Gothic design of the rest of the university, which was better suited to a classic horror novel.

The headmistress walked around the flat-topped boulder that served as her desk and took a seat behind it. She gestured to the two small mounds of moss-covered ground in front of me. “Please, take a seat.”

“On the ground?” I asked, confusion swirling through me as I assessed the space and searched for a chair.

“Do you have a problem with my office, Mademoiselle Fallon?”