Epilogue
Icouldn’t hear my footsteps as I walked down the corridor.
Thick rugs covered plush carpeting so that it felt like walking on a cloud.
A choir of girls’ voices rang out from somewhere within the school, accompanied by musical instruments.
The banisters shone white and gold, paintings were housed in gilded golden frames, and vases of fresh roses stood on pillars set in intervals throughout the hallway.
A crystal chandelier overhead sparkled, reflecting the sun’s beams to scatter rainbows of light along the corridor.
How was it that a place like this was the training grounds for future spies?
Up ahead, the pixie with large, glittering wings was backing out of Nora’s office. “Thank you for putting her on the waitlist,” she said.
I shrank into the shadows and watched as Tinkerbell turned, a bundle of pink blankets in her arms. The baby inside must be very tiny; I could barely see a tiny fist waving around inside. I waited until Tinkerbell and her daughter faded from sight then approached Nora’s open door and rapped lightly.
Nora smiled the instant she saw me. “Glad you found your way through the maze of our school,” she said. “I meant to meet you at the gates, but I had a new student placed on our waitlist.”
“A baby?”
She nodded. “Most girls are placed on our waitlists before they are three years old and then most study until they are fourteen to pass our entrance exams.”
I shook my head. “It’s just not the life I’m used to. So what makes this school so special?”
Nora came out into the corridor with me.
“Let me show you.” She walked along the carpeted hallways with me.
“All our pupils become conversational in a minimum of three languages, play instruments and sing, are taught all the traditional dances, and are educated in history, mathematics, basic human biology, and writing. We also have units on public speaking, etiquette and diplomacy, and gardening. In essence, anything and everything you need to know for high society or securing an advantageous marriage, we teach, then we host dances at the end of each season to introduce the girls to prospective suitors.”
“That’s a lot,” I said, peering into classrooms as we passed.
Girls diagrammed sentences in one, in another they studied in groups, heads bowed together, and a third classroom looked like it had been turned into a stage, where the girls were rehearsing for a play.
All were dressed in silky, pastel-colored dresses, wore white gloves, and spoke in hushed, gentle voices.
Nora expected me to train girls like these? They wouldn’t last five minutes in the criminal underground. Two girls came down the hall toward us, talking and laughing quietly together, and I immediately recognized the one on the right as Princess Tess of Haven Harbor.
“Good afternoon, Mistress Davenport,” they said, bobbing polite curtsies to Nora.
Nora inclined her head. “Ladies, this is Jillian, my sister.”
“I didn’t know you had a sister, Mistress Davenport,” Tess said, then stuck out her hand, a friendly smile on her face. “I’m very pleased to meet you and I hope you enjoy your visit here. Your sister is a wonderful teacher.”
Tess’s companion, who looked a few years older, shyly tucked her hair behind her ear.
This was the same girl who had been crying at the graveyard on the Day of Mourning.
There was a faint bruise around her face, which had faded to almost non-existent.
When I held out my hand, she flinched away before recovering and timidly shaking my hand before pulling back.
She must not like being touched either. My heart immediately panged in sympathy for her. This was a girl who had seen just how cruel life could be.
Tess plucked at her friend’s sleeve. “Come on, Marina. We have an hour before our art lesson. Let’s go to the pond to eat lunch. No one will bother you there.”
I watched the girls leave.
“If you want me to train some of your girls, I want Marina,” I told Nora.
Nora traced a finger along her jawline. “Marina just barely enrolled. She’s one of our scholarship students and is very skittish. I would think you need someone who is more confident. There are plenty of other girls—”
“No, I don’t want confidence. I want someone who has a reason to learn to fight. I can promise you she has plenty of reasons.”
Nora smiled. “Very well. If you want Marina, we can extend an invitation. But I’ll warn you that, so far, Marina doesn’t do anything without Tess.” She smiled. “Tess seems to have a knack for attracting lost puppies. She has a big heart.”
I thought of how much loyalty she’d won from Peter Pan. “I can tell.”
“Would you like to recruit Tess as well?” Nora asked.
“No,” I said instantly. “She has far too much compassion for what we’ll be doing.”
Nora smiled knowingly. “I’m glad to have your expertise here to help train our Shadows.”
“Shadows?”
She nodded. “I got the name idea from Tess, actually,” Nora said.
“When her brother brought her to school, he called her his little shadow. It felt like a fitting name for the girls we train. We already have ten, and Marina will be the eleventh if she accepts. I wouldn’t suggest more than twelve girls altogether, and you’ll get them at nights when the others have gone to bed.
Our underground facilities are very spacious, with obstacle courses, fighting arenas, and every weapon you could imagine. ”
I nodded. “That sounds perfect. I very much look forward to training your Shadows.”