chapter 16
It was time for the second Pumpkin Show, but a pall lay over this one as parents filed into the library—guests impatiently waiting for their real purpose, a conference with the administration that would follow the performance.
Alex left his parents to mingle and found Minhi, Vienna, and Paul standing around some empty seats near the front. Minhi was thumbing through the program. “Sid’s last,” she said excitedly. That was a prime spot. There were only ten students competing tonight: some songs, some monologues, a dancer, and Sid’s story. It was a new one; they had no idea what about. The yodeler hadn’t made it, but Alex noticed her chatting with Sid near the big chair. Well, go, Sid.
Alex looked at Vienna. “Are you okay?” He meant about Steven.
She bit her lip. “I’m trying not to think about it.”
The various parents looked somewhat agitated, not surprising considering most of them were here to decide whether to let their sons stay. Inviting them all to a school event probably had made sense in a decorum sort of way, but there was palpable anxiety in the air.
Sangster was looking through some papers at a table next to the bookshelves and Alex caught his eye. “You talk to any of the parents?” Alex asked, coming over.
“A few. They’re not sure we’re doing this transition right.”
“It’s been less than a week,” Alex said. “What do they want?”
“Alex, it’s impossible to overstate how traumatizing an event like that can be for people. Lots of parents want to pull their kids out,” Sangster said. “How about yours?”
Alex shrugged. “They’re letting me stay. Look, we have to talk about what happened at the hospital. There’s a dead doctor. And the Scholomance was there; Elle was with them.” Suddenly Alex had a thought and looked around. “Are the Merrills’ parents here?”
Sangster shook his head. He seemed to consider something for a moment, then pulled out a sheet of paper. “Look at this,” Sangster said as he handed it to Alex.
“Are you listening to me? We had another kidnapping,” Alex said urgently.
“Just—read it,” the teacher said. “And then give it back to me, because that’s confidential.”
Alex took the sheet of paper and studied it for a moment. It was an official form from the Glenarvon Academy office. He saw the subject line, read on, then looked up. The subject line was essentially the entire document. Alex looked around, but nobody seemed to be paying attention to them. “This is a withdrawal notice,” Alex said, confused.
“For Bill and Steven Merrill,” Sangster said quietly. “That’s on their parents’ orders. School got a message saying that Steven and Bill were going to be picked up at the hospital and not to expect them to return.”
“This has to be a fake,” Alex said, handing it back. “I mean, the form is real, but I just saw a bunch of vampires take them away.”
“I understand,” Sangster said. “But Otranto received the phone call himself.”
“Anyone can make a phone call,” Alex insisted. “I could do that.”
“Alex,” said Sangster, “did they try to get away, the Merrills? Did they ask for your help?”
“No, they . . .”—Alex had to sigh—“Bill was in charge. He wanted us gone.”
“Think about it,” said the teacher. “Soon they’ll be just two of perhaps scores of students taken out over the next hour, if I had to guess. The Merrills are gone, and if what you tell me is correct, they made a deal we can’t stop.”
“You think the Merrills’ parents deliberately handed them over to the Scholomance?” Alex looked around again, keeping his voice down. “I thought that organization was a secret.”
“The parents in these schools are some of the most connected people in the world, in politics, business, and everything else,” said Sangster. “The Merrills are part of a very old family in New York. Shuttling away children is not unheard of.”
“It’s the Scholomance. Why would they do that? What kind of parents would do such a thing?”
“Maybe they thought it was their last hope for Steven,” said Sangster. “I don’t know. But right now we have to stay on task. What about your parents?”
“Like I said, they’re cool,” Alex said, looking back at the two of them, chatting with some other parents. Dad glanced at him briefly. Dad the retired spy. Mom the—the witch.
There was a buzz of activity in the library as Mr. Otranto entered in his usual elegant topcoat, bearing a briefcase. He headed for the center of the room and took his place.
“Oh,” Sangster said. “I called the hospital. The dead doctor you mentioned? There’s no record of him either. And this time it’s not us doing the covering up.”
Alex stared. “Jeez.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming,” said Mr. Otranto. “I know we have a lot of visitors. I myself am a visitor, so it weighs heavily on me. What I hope we accomplish tonight is a beginning of a shared destiny, if you will. But first I know that you will all enjoy seeing what these young men and women have been up to. Ms. Daughtry?”
For the second night in a row, Daughtry kicked off the evening as Alex went to take a seat with Paul, Minhi, and Vienna. Paul had an empty seat next to him, and there was also an empty seat between Minhi and Vienna. For a moment Alex froze, completely thrown by this choice. Computer, run diagnostic. He sat between the girls.
Behind him he heard some students studying the program and whispering, “A new one, a new one.” He realized they were talking about Sid’s story. After one night, he had fans.
Sid’s story tonight was called “The Iron Veil,” and it was a creepy little tale of unrequited love and an unpleasant discovery, in a strange, dreamy world of castles and knights. It came across more like a poem than had his previous work: more repeating phrases and rhythms within rhythms. When it finally wound its way to a climax of horror, Alex became aware that he had been drawn to the edge of his seat—the literal edge of his seat!—but that was nothing compared to the effect on the other students, especially some of the girls. They were as enrapt as before, with the same glassy-eyed, forward-leaning expression. That was some mojo Sid was working, especially, Alex noted with some astonishment, with the dozen or so senior girls in the room.
Alex threw Paul a smile that suggested they should all give up right now and start taking advice from Sid from then on.
After the readings were over, Ms. Daughtry made a few announcements about the next and final round coming in a few days. And then she shooed them all away for the parents’ conference.
Alex wasn’t there for that, but when his parents took their leave later, to go to their hotel in Geneva, he learned that it had been the civil bloodbath that Sangster predicted, since it appeared that returning to Glenarvon’s campus was not going to be as fast as most parents had hoped. By the next morning Glenarvon Academy was seventy-five students lighter, bringing them down to one hundred, and the Merrills were just another ripple in the wave.