Huntsman - Morgan Brice Page 0,26

walked up the broad front steps.

“Psychic, medium, clairvoyant—all the abilities most people don’t believe are real. Some people can channel spirits, others get glimpses of the future.” Jeffries looked around as if seeing things with a fresh eye.

“The group from Lily Dale started with a few cabins that first winter. The shifters and other paranormals in Fox Hollow helped them get settled. Of course, the Spiritualists wanted to continue their research and their efforts to learn more about the unseen world. They made sure to get off on a good footing with the shifters, witches, and others, and assure that they didn’t mean any harm.”

“So everyone…gets along?” Liam asked.

Jeffries shrugged. “Better than in most places. I guess we all remember that we weren’t welcome where we were ‘supposed’ to fit in, so we’re maybe a little more grateful for our own little misfit community.”

Liam took that in and thought about it for a moment. “Let’s go back to the psychic thing. That’s what you do? See things you couldn’t know any other way?”

“It’s a skill I didn’t understand for a long time,” Jeffries replied, leading Liam up a mahogany staircase and down a hallway to his office, which must have once been one of the dormitory rooms. From what Liam saw of the common areas, the Institute had an atmosphere of restrained elegance. The disgraced spiritualists might have fled hardship, but they had not gone into the wilderness without resources.

Liam found that oddly comforting, having just made a similar journey. He hoped it worked out for him as well as it had for them.

“Please, sit down. I have your papers here,” Jeffries said, motioning Liam to a chair in front of his desk as he reached for a folder.

“This should be everything,” he said, setting out the folder and a pen.

Liam scanned the forms, forcing himself to pay attention and read them closely. He tapped the pen nervously as he read.

Should I tell him about the Huntsman now? What if it makes him change his mind? But if I don’t tell him and it brings harm to the town, I’ll have lost everything anyhow, and caused others to be hurt.

I have to say something.

Just as Liam took a breath to speak, the door to the office slammed open, and Eric Roberts strode in without bothering to knock.

“How dare you! You hired your favorite without even bothering to interview the other candidates.” The man’s features were twisted with rage.

Jeffries rose and walked around the desk to put himself between Liam and the newcomer.

“You’re out of line, Roberts,” Jeffries snapped in a cold tone Liam had never heard his mentor use before. “Get out of my office.”

“I put in a candidate for consideration. You had no right—”

“You submitted a candidate that lacked the necessary education or credentials,” Jeffries replied, biting off every word. “He had no experience, no references, nothing to even indicate an interest in the position. All you wanted was a job for your nephew. Things don’t work like this here, even if you are the year’s Scholar.”

Roberts vibrated with anger. “You have no right!”

“I have every right. The hiring went through proper channels. The candidate had all of the necessary requirements as well as additional skills. It’s over. The job has been filled. Leave before you embarrass yourself further,” Jeffries ordered.

“Or what?” Roberts demanded.

Jeffries took another step toward the intruder. “Or I will see what secrets I can find by rummaging through your brain. I had my doubts about your suitability to be Scholar-in-Residence, which were ignored by the selection committee. I let it drop to keep the peace. You do not want me for an enemy. Now get out—and if you make trouble about this, I will ferret out whatever it is you do not want revealed.”

Roberts paled, although his jaw remained clenched in fury. He cast a disparaging look at Liam, then turned on his heel and strode out, slamming the door behind him.

Liam gripped the arms of the chair, ready to spring into action to defend Jeffries or himself.

“Relax,” Jeffries said, managing a smile, although Liam could see the strain in his features. “I’ll handle Roberts. He’s only here for a year—more of a novelty than a real part of the faculty. He wrote a couple of books and thinks he knows everything.”

“Can you do that? What you told him you would do?” Liam asked, in a voice barely above a whisper.

Jeffries shrugged. “If I truly needed to. Hardly worth the effort for someone like him.”