it out and stuck it down the collar of my dress.
The hall lights shut off. Headmistress Burns held a lantern as we started down the stairs to her office. My cheeks burned at the thought of sitting in that room. No one went there unless they were being punished. I felt like a child now, nervous and afraid, wanting to confess everything I had ever done to displease her.
When we reached her office she set the lantern on the desk, then gestured for me to sit. The door slammed shut, making the light inside the glass flicker. I kept my eyes on her, my shoulders back, refusing to look away. “Can I help you with something, Headmistress?” I asked. “The trip has taken a lot out of me. I’m eager to get to bed.”
She let out a small laugh. “Yes, Princess,” she said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “I’m sure you are.” She sat down in front of me, her plump haunches squeezed onto the corner of the desk. Her leg swung back and forth, back and forth, a metronome keeping time.
My hands were slicked with sweat. I kept my eyes on hers. She could accuse me of whatever she wanted. It didn’t matter now. I thought only of Pip, Arden, and Ruby, and the key pressed against my breast—their only chance. “You must’ve thought you would outsmart us all,” she said coldly. “That we were liars, that we had deceived you. But now here you are, your father’s daughter, raving about the education you received.”
“Do you have a point?” I asked. “Did you call me in here just to chastise me?”
Headmistress leaned down, her face level with mine. “I called you in here because I want to know who helped you. Tell me who it was.”
“I didn’t have help,” I muttered. “I don’t—”
“You’re lying to my face.” She laughed. “You expect me to believe that you got over that wall by yourself?”
So she thought I had scaled it. That was impossible—it was nearly thirty feet high—and yet I didn’t correct her, saw my opening and went with it. “I had found rope in the Teacher’s closet. Yards of it. I cut my arm on the wire on top.” I showed her where the warehouse door had sliced my skin when I was trying to escape the Lieutenant. The scar was still pink.
She tilted her head as if considering it. “How did you know about the Graduates?” she asked.
“I’d always had suspicions,” I said coolly. The control was shifting, my voice calmer as each question was answered to her satisfaction. “But it doesn’t matter how I escaped. What matters is that I’m here. And I addressed the girls. I explained away my disappearance and spoke highly about your School. Tomorrow morning, I’d like to see my friends.”
“That cannot be arranged,” she said quickly. She stood and went to the window, her arms crossed over her chest. Outside, the compound was dark. A few lamps shone on the top of the wall, the barbed wire glinting in the light. “That would raise all sorts of questions. It would confuse the students.”
“Wouldn’t it be more confusing for them if I left for the City and never returned, if I didn’t even want to see my friends to know how they were doing in their trade school across the lake?”
Headmistress Burns faced me. She let out a deep breath, her thumb running over the thick veins on the back of her hand. I stared at the figurines lined up on her shelf—shiny, garish children that seemed menacing now, their features contorted in a strange, unnatural ecstasy. She didn’t speak for a long while.
“Do I have to remind you that one day I will be Queen?” I hardened my voice as I said it.
Her face changed then. She took a few steps forward, her nose scrunching as if she’d caught a whiff of something rotten. “Fine. You will see your friends tomorrow.” She turned to the door and opened it, indicating that I should leave.
I stood, smoothing my dress. “Thank you, Headmistress,” I said, trying to keep from smiling. I strode out the door and down the dark corridor, feeling my way as I had so many times before.
“But remember, Eve,” she called when I’d nearly reached the stairs. She was still standing in the doorway, the lantern casting shadows on her face. “You aren’t Queen yet.”
thirty-nine
BY THE FOLLOWING MORNING, THE STORM HAD CLEARED. I took the bridge one step at a