Dad wasn’t around the next morning. I woke up early and took a marathon shower. Trust me: if you’d spent the last nine months sharing a bathroom with all manner of supernatural creatures, you’d be pretty psyched about a private shower too. Sometime the evening before, all of my bags had been unpacked, and my clothes were neatly folded in the painted dresser. Remembering how nicely everyone at Thorne had been dressed yesterday, I briefly considered digging out the one dress I’d brought. In the end, I settled on another pair of jeans and a cranberry-colored T-shirt, although I did wear a nice pair of sandals instead of my ratty tennis shoes.
I stopped by Jenna’s room before heading downstairs, but she wasn’t there. Cal’s door was closed, and I thought about knocking on it before reminding myself that it was kind of early, and he was probably asleep. For just a second, the image of a sleepy, shirtless Cal opening his bedroom door popped into my head, and my face flushed as red as my T-shirt.
I was still kind of flustered when I practically ran into Lara Casnoff in the main hallway. She was wearing another dark suit and was somehow holding on to a sheaf of papers, a cell phone, and a steaming mug of coffee that smelled so good my mouth started watering. “Oh, Sophie, you’re awake,” she said with a bright smile. “Here”—she handed me the coffee—“I was just bringing this up to you.”
“Oh, wow, that’s really nice of you,” I replied, mentally adding Lara to my list of People Who Are Awesome. At Hex Hall, we were practically blasted out of bed in the morning by an alarm that was somewhere between a foghorn and the baying of hell hounds. People bringing you coffee in bed was a way nicer way to wake up.
“Also, your father wanted me to tell you that he’s been called away on business today, but he should be back later this evening.”
“Oh. Um…okay, thanks.”
“He hated to miss your first day,” she said, frowning slightly.
I couldn’t hold back a sarcastic laugh. “Well, Dad’s missed a lot of my first days, so I’m pretty used to it.”
I think Lara was going to rush in to defend Dad, but before she could, I asked, “So in which of the nine thousand kitchens could I maybe find some cereal? I skipped dinner last night.”
Immediately, Lara was all business again. “Oh, of course. Breakfast is being served in the east dining room.”
She gave me directions that included three right turns, another flight of stairs, and a “conservatory,” whatever that was. When I stared at her blankly, she waved her hand and said, “I’ll just show you myself.”
“Thanks,” I said, trailing behind her. “Maybe by the end of the summer I’ll actually get the layout of this place down.”
Lara laughed. “I’ve been coming to Thorne Abbey for decades, and I still get turned around.”
“Wow,” I said as we proceeded down a long hallway lined with pictures. I did a double take as I passed them. There were portraits of werewolves in eighteenth-century costumes, their silvery fur poking out from underneath knee breeches, and one image showed a family of witches from what looked like the 1600s—lots of lacy ruffs around their necks—all of them levitating underneath a tree, silvery sparks of magic dancing around them.
Then what Lara had said sunk in. “Decades? So you’ve known my dad since you were kids?”
She nodded. “Indeed. Your grandmother gifted Thorne Abbey to the Council before…before she passed away. Anastasia and I spent many summers here with our father.” She paused and gave me a fleeting smile. “Something we have in common, Sophie. My father was also head of the Council.”
“Wait, what?”
“Alexei Casnoff. You’ve never heard of him?”
All I could do was shake my head, so Lara continued. “Casnoffs ruled the Council for nearly two hundred years. However, my father made the decision very early on to pass his title to your father, due to his powers.”
I took that in. “But the title is hereditary. So if your dad hadn’t done that, you would have been the head?”
She gave an elegant shrug, like it was a subject that didn’t even warrant discussion. “Anastasia, actually. She’s the eldest. But we both agreed with Father’s decision, and Anastasia felt she could be of the most use at Hecate anyway.” She smiled at me and squeezed my arm a little. “Neither of us have ever regretted it. James has done an excellent job as the head, and I’m sure you’ll do just as well.”
I tried to smile back at her, but I think it came across more as a grimace.
“So…if you and Mrs. Casnoff are sisters, and your dad was a Casnoff, why is she a Mrs.?” I asked. “Makes it sound like she married into the family.”
“Anastasia was married,” Lara said, gesturing for me to walk down another corridor. “But we’ve always kept the name Casnoff. Her husband even took it.”
I want to know more about that, but by then we’d reached the dining room. I followed Lara inside.
I wondered if there were any rooms in all of Thorne Abbey that wouldn’t leave me gawking in wonder at the doorway. The east dining room was probably three times the size of the dining hall at Hecate. Like every other room I’d seen at Thorne, there didn’t seem to be a square inch of wall that wasn’t covered in paintings or gilt. Even the chairs were upholstered in gold brocade.
A long table that could have seated whole armies dominated the room, so I guessed this is where most meals at Thorne were served. But Cal was the only person there now. He glanced up as we came in and gave a tiny nod. “Morning.”
Lara practically beamed at him. “Mr. Callahan! So nice to see you this morning. How are you enjoying Thorne Abbey?”
Cal took a long sip of orange juice before replying. “It’s great.”
I don’t think it was possible for Cal to sound less enthusiastic, but either Lara didn’t pick up on it, or she didn’t care, because she sounded awfully perky as she said, “Well, I’m sure the two of you are welcoming the chance to spend some time together.”
Cal and I both stared at her. I tried to will her to stop talking, but apparently that power wasn’t in my repertoire. Lara flashed us a conspiratorial grin. “Nothing makes me happier than seeing an arrangement that’s a real love match.”
All the awkwardness that had vanished between me and Cal yesterday seemed to swoop back into the room with an audible whoosh.
I dared a quick look in his direction, but Cal, as usual, was doing his whole Stoic Man thing. His expression didn’t even waver. But then I noticed his hand tightening around his glass.
“Cal and I aren’t…we don’t…there’s not any, um, love,” I finally said. “We’re friends.”
Lara frowned, confused. “Oh. I’m sorry.” She turned to Cal, eyebrows raised. “I just assumed that was the reason you turned down the position with the Council.”
Cal shook his head, and I think he was about to say something, but I beat him to it. “What position with the Council?”
“It was nothing,” he said.
Lara gave a delicate snort before saying to me, “After his term at Hecate ended, Mr. Callahan was offered a position as the Council’s chief bodyguard. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you initially accept the assignment?” she asked Cal.
It was the closest I’d ever seen Cal to angry. Of course, on him, that meant that his brow furrowed a little. “I did, but—” he started to say.
“But then you heard Sophie was coming to Hecate, and you decided to stay,” Lara finished, and her lips twisted in the triumphant smile I’d seen on Mrs. Casnoff’s face dozens of times. I stood there, frozen in place, as she turned back to me and said, “Mr. Callahan gave up a chance to travel the world with the Council so that he could be little more than a janitor on Graymalkin Island. For you.”