Page 5 of Tethered to the World
She expected aggression, not the way he gazed at her so deferentially. If anything, it freaked her out even more. She could handle hatred and disgust—but it creeped her out when others looked at her like she could perform miracles.
“Do you know why I hired you?”
The abrupt change of topic stopped her rambling thoughts.
She didn’t have a clue. For the first week she remained vigilant, waiting for a trap to spring. After a month, she finally unpacked her bag. After two months, she actually didn’t shy away from him when he entered a room. It was three months later, and she still had no clue what he saw in her.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but silently shook her head.
The ferret rubbed his head along her jaw as if to soothe her, and she absently reached up, running her fingers along his tail. He chattered softly in her ear, then patted her hand.
“You’re a fighter. You have so much potential. Whatever you’re running from, I want to help. Unfortunately, I’m afraid your past will catch up with you unless you take precautions to protect yourself.”
Annora crossed her arms, as if his statement would conjure her uncle and his minions, and she frowned at him. “Why do you care?”
People don’t care unless they get something out of the deal.
She’d learned that lesson the hard way.
“I know you don’t trust me, but I can help you. I might not be able to keep you safe, but I can send you somewhere that can.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “And what do you want in return?”
Rufus shook his head sadly. “I promised to keep you safe when you accepted this job, and I failed. Instead, you saved me.”
She couldn’t help but snorted. “For some reason, I have a feeling that’s not exactly true.”
A sly smile crossed his face. “Maybe, but you stopped to help when most people would’ve run. I owe you.”
Annora didn’t sense he was lying, but she doubted he was telling the truth either. But he did get one thing right…her past was going to catch up with her—sooner rather than later.
“So where do you want to send me?”
Rufus smiled like he’d gotten exactly what he wanted. She considered being suspicious that he set up the whole thing, but she could still see his blood staining the floor and pushed away her doubts.
“Let me make a few calls.”
* * *
Annora tightened her grip on her backpack as she boggled at the huge campus before her. This was her chance for freedom, her escape from the hell of her past. Rufus had pulled some strings, then gotten her a train ticket. Within just a day, she was standing on the campus of a remote school in Montana.
She argued with Rufus that she didn’t have any school records or money, the few classes she managed to take online over the years were under a pseudonym her uncle had no doubt discovered by now, but it didn’t seem to matter. She’d been accepted as a student under the Redemption Scholarship and granted the full protection of the school.
Which meant no one could touch her.
Which meant she no longer had to run.
The Redemption Scholarship was very selective, and only the most gifted students were chosen. Not only did the nominees have to pass the entrance exams, but the student had to be more than human. Apparently, the rarer the species, the higher one’s ranking. It also meant a free ride.
Unfortunately, it also meant she was indentured to the school for the next ten years.
They basically owned her.
She knew there was danger involved in turning herself over to them, but her survival instincts were riding her hard.
She wanted to live.
Annora didn’t care if she had to work her ass off for the next decade, it was worth it if it got her away from her uncle. She shuddered at the thought of him, and quickly buried the brutal memories.
