Page 12 of Wicked Vile King
I open my mouth to protest, but she cuts me off.
"I will not tell you again, Ms. Cadelle," she warns.
Inside my head, I'm screaming, but I walk the short distance to the chair and sit. Headmistress gives me a tight-lipped smile that makes her painted red lips thin to straight, wan lines.
"Now, with that settled," she says, opening a manila file in front of her, "we already have the paperwork submitted by your father, so not to worry about that. You have been assigned a student guide, who will show you to your classes starting tomorrow." She reaches into a drawer at her side and drops a monstrous book in front of me, the cover faded from black and speckled with dust. "Take a copy of the student handbook. In it, you will find everything you need to know about the Academy and then some. After you leave my office, if you have a question, I expect you to consult the handbook before you come to either me or my staff. Understood?"
I nod, though I want to grab the book and lob it at her face, but I can't. I have to be smart if I want to get out of here.
"Review it as soon as you are settled in your dormitory," Headmistress says. "You will have a one-time pass for today only, but if you violate the rules tomorrow, ignorance will not be an excuse. Our institution lives and breathes on structure, order, and discipline. We expect nothing less than full obedience from our students. Am I understood?"
I nod.
She frowns, her lips again disappearing into her teeth. "I need to hear you say it."
"Yes."
"Yes, what?"
"Yes,ma'am," I murmur.
"Good because starting today at midnight, Ms. Cadelle, you will be treated the same as any other student at my school. That means you will be subject to the same sanctions and punishments as your fellow classmates. Take the book. We still have much to cover."
I pick up the book from her desk and place it on my lap. She slides a map across her desk in its place and spins it so that it faces me.
"Our academy has six levels, including the basement," she explains. "You will find information about every level on this map. Everywhere in black is strictly forbidden, but do not think that venturing to those places will result in expulsion. In my twenty-seven years as Headmistress at Chryseum, I have never once expelled anyone. We seek to reform young minds, not teach them that behaving badly will get them what they want. Do you understand?"
This is getting better by the second.
I nod before she shoots me a look, and I add a terse, "Yes, ma'am."
"Here is your dormitory." She reaches across the desk and circles a turret-shaped area on the far east side of the Academy.
"Here is the dining hall." She circles that on the map too.
"Review the rest yourself. Although it's covered in the handbook, since this is your first day, let me be clear. The dining hall is open from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily to accommodate all class schedules. Those times are strictly enforced. If you miss a meal, you may find vending machines here," she circles another area on the map, "but I suggest you learn the dining hall times and do it fast. If you miss three mealtimes in a row without an excuse from our in-house medical team, we will be forced to perform a wellness check. If you refuse the wellness check or we determine that you are intentionally withholding, you will be put in isolation until compliance is established. I strongly recommend, Ms. Cadelle, that you avoid the isolation unit for the duration of your time with us. Do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," I say, though inside, I'm about to explode, anger fizzing inside of my belly.
I don't belong here. I'm not a bad kid. I've never so much as gotten detention my entire life, yet Papa sent me here to this place to rot.
I didn't want to kill myself. I wanted his love. And I got his ire instead.
I rub the inside of my wrists, feeling the scars beneath the fabric of my sweater. I follow the lines up and down, back and forth, over and over again.
"You will reside with us until graduation, at which time, your father, with the help of our in-house psychiatrists, will determine if you have been rehabilitated and should be allowed to proceed into either the workforce or to our sister institution in Massachusetts. Do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," I answer again, though I'm still trying to figure out what she means bysister institution.
"Good." Headmistress clasps her hands together. "Now, if you should feel unwell at any time, you may visit the nurse's station here." She circles another area on the map. "Again, however, I recommend you do not attempt to fool them by claiming false illness. We have been doing this a long time, and you would not be the first or even the hundredth to try to fake a cold."
She stares down the line of her nose at me.
"With that being said, as long as you comply with our program, attend your group and individual therapy sessions, and follow the rules, you will do fine with us at the Academy. Students who comply can attend school excursions with their classmates, at which time they can wear their own clothes and are given limited freedom. If you do not comply, do you know what'll happen?"
"I'll be punished," I say and Headmistress nods.
"Yes, we are a reformatory academy, Ms. Cadelle, and we take our role in rehabilitating young lives very seriously. We will do whatever is necessary. Your conduct will be monitored by staff members. You will follow a strict schedule, and dormitories will be auto-locked every night from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. daily. If you follow the rules, I believe you'll find Chryseum to be much like your previous college preparatory academy. However, if you do not, your compliance will be established. Now, before you get any ideas," she leans back in her chair, the leather creaking with her movement, "know that the Academy is surrounded by forestry lands a hundred miles in every direction. If you somehow manage to garner your freedom, then I think you'll find yourself starving and likely dead in the woods within a week. Do you understand?"
