"She's just so misunderstood," Daphne whined.
"Then make that the angle of your project," Thomas says, clearly not having time for any of her nonsense. "Mona, you'll be looking into sirens."
"Sirens?" Daphne demands. "Why didn't I get that one?" She huffs and crosses her arms.
"I don't know, I didn't pick yours," Thomas assures her. "Maybe Miss Feathertop thinks you're the one who can do them justice," he suggests.
"More like she wants to see me fail so gave me that one."
"Are you trying to get out of the assignment, Miss Chambers?"
His switch to Daphne's surname makes me look up. Sure enough, Miss Feathertop is standing over us with a smug grin on her face. I don't know if she heard Daphne, but if I had to put money on it, I'd say she had.
"No, of course not. It'll be the best project on gorgons you've ever read, Mr Smith."
I let out a small laugh. No doubt she's right and it will be.
"Great. If you still have concerns, see me after class, Miss Black."
"Thank you, Mr Smith." A tiny thrill swept through me. It almost felt like we were doing something wrong for having this conversation in front of a teacher. I kind of like it.
The two of them walk away, leaving Daphne and me behind.
"You owe me big time for not telling me about the library," she tells me.
"We'll go straight from here," I promise, knowing she won't let it drop if we don't.
Chapter Fifteen
"This is so cool." Daphne gasps as she looks around the room. "There are so many books here."
"That tends to be the case with libraries," I mutter.
"I know, but all the old books. Can I touch them?"
"We're not even supposed to be here at all, so I don't see the harm in doing that." I shrug and she takes that as all the invitation she needs to go look at the far bookshelf.
I have no idea where Thomas is, so head over to his table and sit back in the same chair I used last time I was here. I'm not sure why it matters that it's the same chair, but to me it does. I pull out my phone and start flicking through news articles from today. Nothing jumps out as serious. Another vampire has joined parliament, but that's nothing new. Supernaturals have helped run the country since they came out in the open all those years ago.
The sound of stone grating draws my attention to the door, knowing it's going to be Thomas who comes through it.
The moment I see his dark head of hair, I relax slightly.
"Sorry, Miss Feathertop can get a bit talkative when she wants to be," he says. "Have you been here long?"
I shake my head. "Just long enough to lose Daphne in the books, but the record on that is about ten seconds."
He smiles. "So long as she's happy."
"Indeed."
We lapse into a slightly tense silence, no doubt both remembering the last conversation we had in this room.
"Have you thought about it more?"
"We're not doing it," I say. "I'm not asking anyone to do black magic for me."
"Black magic?" Daphne pops her head around one of the stacks and I groan. I should know not to say things like that where she can hear them, or she'll pounce.