“I see. Damaging school property is certainly grounds for detention.” Turner made what looked like a check mark on her notebook. “Next–”
“You are aware, Mr. Lurcher, that Miss Eva’s hands were severely disfigured during the recent events?”
Wayne glanced over and narrowed his eyes at Zoe. She hadn’t warned him at all, yet she knew Spencer was coming back looking like she did.
“Disfigured how?” Turner asked.
“Her hands and arms were mutilated during her abduction. The Elysium Sisters were unable to heal her when they rescued her.”
“That’s not all,” Carr spoke up. “I didn’t notice at first… Eva walked into my class as if everything were normal and took her usual seat. She didn’t pull out a notebook to take notes, but then she never does.” The history professor sighed. “Nobody does. It wasn’t until she raised her hand to ask a question that I got a good look at her face without her hair over part of it. She had a thin band wrapped around her eyes.
“Or, around her face. I don’t think there were eyes behind the band.”
“No eyes?” Yuria looked aghast and brought a hand up to her mouth. “Eva’s blind? What happened?”
A mumbling of shock and questioning went among the teaching staff.
Wayne had been wondering that as well. He hadn’t been so inattentive as to miss the band around her eyes when she walked in. He expected her to sit back and not touch anything. Instead, Spencer went about the classroom as normal; even going so far as to collect lab materials and start working.
Zoe looked distinctly uncomfortable. She shuffled in her seat and a small twitch developed at her eyebrow.
“I’m unsure how she is compensating,” Zoe said. “She said the necromancers were experimenting on her. It could be related to that.”
Turner drummed fingers on the wooden meeting table. “Black magic?”
“Possibly.”
Yuria gasped.
“If it was forced on her,” Turner said, “and is how she is getting around a lack of eyes then I do not see a problem. At least as long as it isn’t a danger to other students. Keep a watch on her though, I’d like to know exactly what it is.”
“I’ll see to talking to her about it,” Zoe said.
“Good. Now then, I expect everyone to treat this girl as normal with respect to her vision. Offer assistance if she needs it or asks, otherwise don’t make a big deal out of it.”
There were nods among the teachers. A few of them, notably Twillie, seemed more skeptical.
Wayne counted himself among the skeptical.
There was so much delicacy in alchemy that required eyes. Needing to see the color of a brew to tell if she should add more of an ingredient or even seeing the result to tell if she completed a potion correctly.
If she could compensate, fine. If not, Spencer would be a danger to the entire class as much as herself.
Wayne would be watching. So long as she swapped her long gloves out for proper lab gloves. If she made a mistake, he’d see her removed permanently.
Turner tapped her finger on the counter. The room slowly quieted. “Sister Cross has informed me that their chapter will be staying in Brakket for the time being. Supposedly for our protection against one of the necromancers they were unable to apprehend. However,” she paused to glance over the staff, “I believe they have ulterior motives of recruitment. One of their nuns was making a ‘pitch’ to a sixth year girl.”
Another murmur ran throughout the staff. The tone seemed to be generally negative. A frown creased across Zoe’s face.
Wayne didn’t much care one way or the other. Kids would need to find jobs after school. If they wanted to spend the rest of their lives hunting down necromancers and the undead, it didn’t hurt him at all. The Elysium Sisters were far more reputable than working as a cashier in some magic shop. Or worse, getting a nonmagical job.
The negative tone seemed to please Turner, in any case. Wayne did not miss the corner of her mouth flicking upwards.
“While I have the utmost respect for their work keeping Brakket safe, I personally find recruiting out students to be distasteful. So long as the necromancers have been routed, I would very much like the sisters out.
“If any of you have ideas for ending their stay here peacefully, I am very much open to them. Other comments or concerns about the sisters are also welcome.”
She looked around the room. No one said anything.
“Well, we will bring this up in future meetings, I am sure. The last thing,” Turner said as she made another check mark in her notebook, “isn’t immediately relevant, but I would find it prudent if we began talking about it. There are two years, or two and a half years until the end fate of our academy is decided.”
Most of the teachers slouched down. Zoe perked up. She had high confidence in her candidates this year as well as last year.
Wayne wondered how she managed that with one student at home, her return tentative at best, and another student disabled.
“I only received this position a short time ago. Personally, I’d be disappointed if my tenure here was so short-lived. I’m sure many of you would like to see Brakket remain open as well. Perhaps even thrive and flourish.”
Turning the state of Brakket around would sure look good on any future job prospects, Wayne thought with a barely suppressed scoff. Turner was young. Not Zoe or Yuria young, but not far off. Spending a decade turning a dump into a castle would be time well spent.
“I have plans for next year, but I’d like to hear ideas for giving our students a sporting chance in the more immediate future.”
Kines spoke up, much to Wayne’s surprise. “I ran a mage-knight club until Dean Halsey shut it down for being too ‘dangerous’ to our student’s safety.”
“Excellent, restart it. Anyone else?”
“The seminars many of us run over summer are intended to keep our students sharp,” Zoe said. “The attendance rate is abysmal. Even the students who attend hardly listen. They mostly come because of boredom or because one of the teachers personally requested it. Promoting them towards the end of the school year may help.”
“Think on the best ways to do that.” Turner glanced over the teachers expectantly. No one spoke up. “Think on that over the week. We are adjourned until next Monday unless anyone has any further business?” She looked around for a moment. “Very well. I will see all of you in a week.”
Turner vanished. A light scent of rotten eggs was left in her wake.
The smell quickly cleared away the rest of the staff from the meeting room. Only Zoe and Wayne stayed behind.
Zoe whisked her dagger out and cleared the air. “That’s horrible,” she said.
“Whatever it is, it isn’t going through between. Frankly, I don’t care to know.” He waved his hand across his face to help clear the remnants of the smell. “I’d offer to teach her to go between. I don’t think I’d like to spend that much time with her.”
“She’s better than Rebbecca, at least as far as keeping the school running.”
“I’ll try to keep my hopes from getting too high.”
Zoe narrowed her eyes, probably at his tone.
“But,” Wayne said before she could comment, “Eva.”
“I honestly don’t know more than I said.”
“She crushed a stainless steel spoon in one hand.”
“That’s,” Zoe bit her lip. “Don’t try to see her hands.”
“Excellent choice of words if you want to inspire me to catch a glimpse.”
“Wayne.”
There was a story there. Wayne could tell. Something Zoe was keeping from him.
He sighed. “You’re giving that girl far too much leeway.” Especially if it is something she wouldn’t talk to him about.
“Probably. For now I’ll handle this myself.”
“I hope you know what you are doing.”