Page 62 of Shadows of Nightshade
However, I wouldn’t look on the internet. Even though my fingers itched to search ‘sneaky professor punishes a bad girl’ to gain an accurate picture of my fate, I suspected it might not be a good idea.
I’d only recently come to terms with the knowledge that I’d been living in a sheltered world. I was hesitant to explore the world out from behind the safe filter I’d been hiding behind.
What if there was a reason? What was so horrible about the internet that made everyone think it was better to hide the truth?
My stomach twisted at the thought of bothering Damen over such a trivial matter. He was an important person. But… I was scared.
He’d said I could text him anytime. Did he mean it?
Me
I have a question.
I wasn’t expecting a quick reply—if he even bothered to send one at all—but my phone vibrated only seconds later.
Damen
Hi, baby girl. ♥ What’s your question?
My face flushed—I’d officially received my first emoji. Did this mean I could use one too?
Not yet. This situation was dire.
Me
How do professors punish bad students? It’s kind of scary and I’m all alone.
As my question was sent, a weight lifted from my shoulders, and I fell back into my seat, relieved. Knowing that someone out there would be honest with me and would steer me right was a different sort of feeling. Now, I could just—
Damen
Where the fuck are you?
I frowned at my phone. What a rude response. Sure, I didn’t know him very well yet, but I hadn’t thought he seemed like a person who cursed. What was his problem?
TheGhostbusterstheme then blared from my vibrating phone, ruining my train of thought. Damen was calling. But why?
We’d just established that I was already in trouble. This could make it worse.
But if he was going out of his way to call me, I couldn’t ignore him.
“Hey,” I answered, trying to sound pleasant through mynervous tension. Bryce could arrive at any moment. “I can’t really talk, I don’t want him to spank me—”
“Bianca.” Damen sounded out of breath. “Where are you?”
What a strange question; I was at school. Besides, he should know. He was adept at nosing through people’s private information. “Where I’m supposed to be,” I responded. “Where are you?”
“Bianca!”
I didn’t know what he wanted from me. “I’m in Professor Hamway’s office. I—”
“Wait for me.” He sounded so serious, and, following that, breathed a line of indiscernible words under his breath. But I couldn’t tell what he said. Then he was speaking to me again. “I’m sending my shikigami ahead, just don’t panic when you see it. I’ll be there in a minute.”
And then he hung up without offering any usable advice.
I stared at my phone. That’d been a complete waste of time.
I had no time to lament my unprepared dilemma because, at that moment, Bryce strolled into the room. He touched the cuff of his sleeve, and without even looking in my direction, he claimed Professor Hamway’s seat.
