Reaching Answers (Artemis University #8) - Erin R Flynn Page 0,96

some point because when I caught my reflection in the mirror, I looked nothing like normal. Interesting. Very interesting.

Darby spoke to a woman behind the desk and showed his ID before signing a clipboard. She handed him a few things and then answered the phone, handling whatever had just happened with efficiency I wish I had.

“You have to wear this,” he explained as he handed over a guest badge.

I shrugged, clipping it to my jacket. He did the same, but folded up the paper she’d also given him and stuffed it in his pocket.

“This is where I went to high school,” he finally explained as we stepped out of the office. “As an alum, I can tour the campus without a guide. It’s one of the best boarding schools our world has.”

“I thought you said we were going to hell?” I muttered under my breath, taking everything in with interest.

“I was accurate,” he drawled, smirking at me when I glanced at him. “You act like they have to be mutually exclusive. They’re the same, believe me.”

I thought about it a moment and nodded. “I do.” I’d gone to a shitty public school for a year and it was hell. I was an abused foster kid and everyone had known that, bullying me as if it was my fault. No one cared and I was already an adult’s punching bag, so the kids all thought that gave them a free pass. Plus, with red hair that was too red to be real—but truly was—I was tormented constantly.

“I spent a lot of time here,” he told me as we stopped at a set of double doors… That had the sign “Infirmary” above it.

“What?” I gasped, glancing from him to the sign.

He wouldn’t look at me though, swallowing loudly. “At least twice a week. For getting the best grades. Not having money. Someone’s girlfriend talking to me, but that was always because they wanted me to do their homework. They normally threatened me with their boyfriends who would beat me up anyways.”

“And the teachers did nothing?” I seethed.

He shrugged. “It wasn’t simply jumping in on bullying, but going up against the important parents who would start shit, and they didn’t have someone like Edelman to back them. I honestly never blamed them. Some kept me after class when they knew it was a prime time for me to get bullied. They did what they could without making themselves a target too.”

“I guess, but it seems like crap to me too,” I grumbled, shrugging when I felt his eyes on me. “You take the job, you promise to protect the kids. I sort of understand Craftsman’s conflict that White says all teachers at that level go through and misuse what they teach. He taught me the stuff that I used to hurt others with. But these teachers promised to protect you and didn’t to save their own asses because shit was complicated. Boo-hoo.”

“I love how you see the world, agra,” he praised as he squeezed my hand. “Let’s go have lunch.”

I nodded, curious at a chance to learn more about Darby and his past more than whatever he wanted to teach me that allowed him to count this as a field trip. I was fairly certain I wouldn’t like that if Professor Puth agreed there was something I would learn about shifter culture.

Sure enough, we were in the cafeteria no more than five minutes and I hated the place. I agreed with Darby’s assessment of hell for sure. Everyone was segregated by their species and it was also clear who were scholarship students or lowest on the totem pole.

“Well who do we have here?” a guy a few years younger than me asked as he joined us at the trays with his buddies. “You are one hot piece of…” He frowned. “What are you sweetheart?”

I snorted. “Way out of your league. That’s the answer you’re looking for.” I went to turn away and the idiot had the balls to grab my arm to stop me. “Take your hand off of me or I’ll break it.”

“Do you have any idea who I am? No one talks to me like that,” he seethed.

I glanced at Darby. “This is what you wanted me to see? That it starts this young? This little douche is already wielding his parents’ power or money like this and it’s accepted?”

“No, that wasn’t the goal,” he sighed, rubbing his eyes and pushing up his glasses. “But you attract assholes in record time,