James Axler – The Mars Arena

Dean had been dreading that question, but he was prepared. “I don’t know, sir.”

“Did Miss Lemon invite you up?”

Suddenly Dean felt hot again, his mind preoccupied with the idea that maybe Phaedra was in the habit of asking other boys up to her room and he didn’t know about it. That had to be why Brody asked. The possibility made him angry for reasons he wasn’t certain of. Maybe her explanation of the earring was to clear herself and not him at all. Confusion followed closely on the heels of his anger.

“No, sir, she didn’t,” Dean answered truthfully.

“She didn’t know you were coming?”

“No, sir.” Now Dean wanted to know if Phaedra had asked other boys up to her room on different occasions. Maybe she’d even started the rumor of her sleeping naked herself, just to entice unsuspecting boys to her room so she could push them out windows. “Have I been the only one caught in her room, Mr. Brody?”

The headmaster scowled, not at Dean, but at the thought. “You mean there have been others?”

Dean’s stomach rolled over. He was only making matters worse. Surely he would have heard about any others. Everyone had heard of him today. “No, sir.”

“Do you know of any other boys who’ve visited Miss Lemon’s room after lights-out?” Brody demanded.

“No, sir.”

“Would you lie about that, Mr. Cawdor?”

Dean considered the question, thinking about the classes in philosophical reasoning he’d had. It hadn’t been much, but it had given him a grasp of certain concepts. “Excuse me, sir, but if you have to ask that question, my answer’s not going to be worth shit.”

“I remind you about your use of bad language, Mr. Cawdor.”

“Sorry, sir.”

“I want to understand what took you up on that roof-top,” Brody said. “This is a serious infraction of the rules of this school.”

“Yes, sir.”

Brody sighed. “Dean, I am in a hard way here. If your father was someone local, I could call upon him, seek his advice in this matter. At least have some avenue to pursue concerning your punishment. I would not want to see you ostracized from the student body and be rendered a virtual prisoner on these premises. Tell me, young Cawdor, in your own words, why it was that you scaled that building and transgressed into Miss Lemon’s bedroom. Give me something upon which I might build a case for your defense, seeing as how you remain unable to defend your actions yourself.”

Dean tried, but the words just wouldn’t come out. Just saying he went there because he wondered if Phaedra slept naked sounded totally stupe.

“Evidently Miss Lemon feels some allegiance for you,” Brody stated. “Otherwise, she’d have been the first clamoring for your head on the proverbial pike. Instead, she marches herself into my office this morning in an effort to clear you. Her explanation of this missing earring is manifestly balderdash. I’m quite certain she realized I believed not a word of it, yet why would she defend you?”

Chapter Fifteen

Krysty fell into step beside Doc. “You and I have talked about my powers before.”

“At length upon occasion,” Doc replied. “As I recall, I have evidenced more real curiosity about your abilities than you yourself. You have always appeared predisposed to accept them on faith.”

“That’s true.” She gazed ahead, spotting Ryan walking point, J.B. strung out behind him a hundred yards at right flank. Watching him, so far away from her if something happened, made a chill run down her spine.

“I assume you have not brought up the subject simply for the prospect of idle conversation.”

“Everything I tell you, Doc, you can’t tell Ryan.”

“That man is savagely keen, dear lady. Mayhap he’ll learn just as much from what I omit as he would from what I told him.”

“That’s the way it has to be,” Krysty said. “To protect him. And mebbe Dean, as well.”

“You’re sure?” Doc’s face showed he was troubled, as well as intrigued.

Krysty reached out and took Doc’s hand briefly, squeezing it to reassure him as much as herself. Then she told him about the vision she’d had down in the chasm.