Dodging Calamities (Artemis University #7) - Erin R Flynn Page 0,95

time realizing he’d missed something.

No one was surprised I took the weekend off and simply chilled by myself, letting everyone else even handle Neldor. I snuck off with Mel and Izzy for a spa weekend.

Fine, with my guards and a bunch of protection at the resort, but still, a spa weekend, and it was great.

But I came back to the drama… And the FBI showing up to school again on Wednesday morning. This time for me, which had everyone freaking out.

Yeah, Mel and I had been expecting it. Twits.

“These gentlemen with the FBI would like to speak with you, Ms. Vale,” one of the administrators informed me, giving me a curious look. She wasn’t a fan of mine, but was always respectful and did as she should because she believed in Edelman.

I thanked her with a kind smile. “I need to contact my attorney, but then I’ll answer any questions you have for me, of course.”

The guy clearly in charge gave me an assessing look. “You’re not in trouble, Ms. Vale. There’s no need for your attorney.”

I smiled at him. “You’re the FBI. I’m young and female, not stupid, Special Agent in Charge. If you’re asking questions, I’m answering them with my attorney.”

He smirked at me. “Who said I’m a Special Agent in Charge? You like police movies or TV?”

“Your swagger walking in here says a lot, SAiC,” I purred, pulling out my phone and calling Geiger. “Good morning. The FBI is here and would like to speak to me. Would you like to video conference in for this?”

“I would prefer you reschedule for a time when I could be there,” he drawled.

“I don’t think that’s needed when I’m not in trouble, and we don’t want to keep these nice men waiting,” I countered. “Do you have the time now or is Claudia available?”

“Give me five minutes to push some things around and get set up. Get somewhere away from the vultures at least, please.”

“Yes, sir,” I chuckled. “Everyone’s heading to class, so let’s use the lounge at the dorm. I’m sure everyone will know why I’m late in a matter of moments. Would you like any coffee or something to eat?”

“You’re very calm at the prospect of talking to us,” the SAiC noted. “This is clearly not your first time.”

It wasn’t a question and certainly not something I was going to confirm for him. I boxed my breakfast, and more for good measure, while getting them sorted out. The warning had gone up well in advance that humans were on campus, as I knew all the hobgoblins were tucked away in the kitchen. Everyone was tense and on guard just in case, so it was good that at least they could work together on something simple.

I showed them the way and thanked Izzy when she brought my laptop without even having to ask so I could do a Zoom call. She wished me luck and headed out to class.

Once everything was set up and I confirmed Geiger was on and could hear me, I tucked into my breakfast and gave the four human men a look to go ahead.

“Clearly, you’ve done this before,” the SAiC pushed again, smirking when I didn’t take the bait. “You’ve had such a colorful past, after all.”

“I’m not sure ‘colorful’ is how I’d put that foster care placed me with a murderer who I had to run from because they ignored my pleas he was abusive and tried to repeatedly hurt me, rape me,” I replied, trying to keep the bite out my voice and failing, from the way they reacted. “But sure, yeah, my past is colorful. Is that the topic of today?”

He cleared his throat. “No, we’re here about your former teacher, John McGrath. He’s made some interesting claims and a lot of them center around you. Some are rather… Out there, but others are enough that I thought a conversation was in order. Mostly, I wanted to ask your opinion of him and check he didn’t do anything to you we should be reporting.”

I respected him a lot more when I heard in his thoughts that the majority of his visit was out of concern for me, and relaxed. “No. I didn’t like him, thought him a creeper and gross, but no, he never so much as touched me.”

He nodded, opening his notebook and jotting down a few things. “Did you report any of this to the administration?”

“That I found a man sexist and demeaning? No, I find lots of them