chapter 14
They weren’t the only parents. As Alex accompanied them to a place where they could talk in private, he noticed other adults throughout the school. It had been bound to happen. The parents were descending on LaLaurie and the Kingdom of Cots, and they wanted answers.
As he walked up the stairs Alex turned to them and said, “I’d show you my room, but—”
“No, no, apparently it burned up,” said his mother. “We were talking to your Mr. Sangster about it.”
Silence after that until Alex found a chemistry lab upstairs and shut the door. Like all such spaces it looked like a junior mad scientist’s lab, Bunsen burners and microscopes under leatherette coverlets. The room was lined with glass windows, half of which were open even in the fall, ready to vent noxious fumes. Outside, he could see the tree-lined parking lot and many rented vehicles. He dragged a couple of chairs from behind the first row of black countertops.
The three of them stared at the chairs.
“Oh, Alex,” Mom said, and then she hugged him again. She held him out, surveying him. “My God, you look gaunt.”
“He always looks gaunt,” said Dad.
“Sorry, I guess,” said Alex. He ran his fingers through his hair. Where to start? There wasn’t time for this now. “Look, I—I wish I could spend more time, but there’s an emergency.”
“I should say so,” Mom said. “Alex, what are you thinking? Your school is destroyed, you’re at an entirely new place, and you can’t see fit to fill us in?”
“I know, that’s really . . . terrible, but I mean, right now I need to follow up on something.” What was he going to say? He looked at his father, and a million things raced through his mind. Your father knows. The greatest enemy knows. Your mother is proud of you. Was any of that true? Now it felt like a dream. But at this moment, right this instant, there were two students who had just been lost to the Scholomance, and he had no idea how much his father actually knew, no idea what his mother knew, and no time. “There’s a rehearsal I’m supposed to be in,” he said, remembering that he had agreed to take Sid’s place for the ball.
“We brought you some clothes, some new glasses, some school supplies. That nice Mr. Sangster had someone take them to your dormitory,” Mom said. “But we have to make some decisions. Your sister was very worried about you.”
“What did—” Alex tried to look down the chessboard and choose his words like moves. What did she tell you wouldn’t do. “I mean, I want to— Where are you staying? We could have breakfast.”
Alex touched her sleeve. Instantly he felt the warmth of her, the safety of her presence. His mother and father had raised him to look after himself and his sisters. It was a house, he had thought, of adventure and honesty. But that was before he had learned of all the secrets his father harbored. And so far his father hadn’t really said a word.
“I gotta hurry,” Alex said, walking toward the door. “I’ll bet there’s some kind of reception for you guys; there has to be.”
“We have to decide, Alex,” Mom said.
“I don’t know what that means, but I’m sure we can decide over breakfast.” He reached for the door and pulled it open.
There was a whisper, words he didn’t understand, and the door was pulled from his hands and slammed shut. A crackle of energy shot through the room, fizzing his hair as the lights flickered. Alex froze as every window slapped closed at once. He slowly turned as the wind from the closing windows lifted the coverlets and sent papers shuffling.
His parents stood side by side. His mom’s long hair was floating slightly off her coat.
His father was the one who spoke this time.
“We have to decide if you’re going to stay with the Polidorium.”