In Too Deep

Chapter 11

I tossed and turned most of the night, when it got so late that continuing to try and sleep was pointless, I decided to give up and use my time more productively. Violet was still asleep so I snuck out of our room as quietly as I could. I headed to the campus office, assuming no one would be there at this time. I kept looking around and made sure I moved as stealthily as I could, just in case.

I decided it was time to up my game with investigating Fair Lake, and as I couldn’t sleep anyway, this presented the perfect opportunity. I didn’t come across anyone on my way, and I looked out for security cameras, I couldn’t see any but didn’t necessarily mean there weren’t any.

The office door was unlocked, which struck me as odd. I looked around the small room and decided the filling cabinet was the best place to start. However those were locked, I concentrated and used magic to break the spell sealing the cabinet shut.

I pulled open the top draw and started rifling through the files. The first two draws consisted of student’s files, with a quick flick through it seemed like pretty standard stuff, emergency contact information and any disciplinary reports. The files also seemed to include details of any powers each student possessed, which I guess for this type of institution wasn’t particularly surprising.

They were in alphabetical order so I searched for mine, but it was nowhere to be found. This definitely struck me as odd, I’ve been here long enough now that they shouldn’t be that far behind on their filling.

Unless they kept it somewhere else, which wouldn’t strike me as a good thing. It was that or I didn’t have a file, and there was someone here that didn’t want anyone to know I was a student here at Fair Lake. Neither of these options struck me with confidence. I searched through the other files to make sure it wasn’t filed in the wrong order, but it wasn’t in either of the draws I had searched so far.

I looked in to the third draw and I almost dropped the file I was holding when I read the word that was printed on the front of the folder.

DECEASED.

The red letters burned in to my eyes, whatever was kept in these folders could finally give me answers. I flipped open the folder and it was another student’s information contained within the file. My eyes ran over the pages as I concluded what this meant. The file stated the cause of death for this student as accidental. That’s all it said. I searched through more files within the draw and they all said the same thing, there had to be at least 100 folders in these remaining draws, all saying the same thing. The students died accidental deaths whilst attending Fair Lake Academy.

I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I had finally found my proof. I don’t know exactly how these students had died, but I would bet they were anything but accidental. Accidental could include maybe a couple of deaths, but not when it reaches triple figures. Someone at Fair Lake was covering up these deaths.

I memorised as much information as I could, and took photos on my phone of the student’s details, including their emergency contact pages. I had an idea of how to get the answers I needed. I put the files back where I found them, and cast a locking spell back on the filling cabinet, returning it back to how I had found it.

I checked through the desk whilst I was there, but there was no lock on it and it proved to hold no more valuable information. It was easily accessible for a reason.

I left the building and headed to the clearing to go for a run, I needed to burn off some of my restless energy. I sent a text to Smithy, not wanting to call him at such an early hour.

I NEED YOUR HELP. CALL ME IMMEDIETLY.

I sent it all in capitals so he would know it was urgent. I began my run and I had nearly gone round the clearing three times when I could feel my phone buzzing. I looked at the screen to see it was Smithy, it may be early, but I could still rely on him to be there for me in an emergency.

“Hi Smithy.” I said when I answered my phone.

“What’s wrong, are you hurt?” He asked, worried.

“No, but I need your help.” I said.

“What have you found?” He asked, I figured he had already guessed I wasn’t at Fair Lake to improve my education.

“It’s bad. They’re covering up students dying unexplainably. I found at least 100 files labelled deceased, with the cause of death listed as accidental.” I told him.

He was silent for a moment before answering.

“Oh my.” Was all he said, clearly shocked by this news.

“Have you known about anything suspicious going on here?” I asked him.

“Nothing like that. I always suspected, but I didn’t have any proof, and I didn’t think it would be anything like this.” Smithy said, still stunned.

“What I don’t understand is how they could possibly get away with this. Their contact information is in their file, surely their parents would investigate? That they’d want answers?” I told him.

“This is quite a revelation. I can’t believe it.” I could almost picture him shaking his head. “When you said about the contact information, I don’t suppose you made a note of anything did you?” He asked, now on to my train of thought.

“Of course I did, I’ve got photos. I thought maybe I could send them to you-“ I began before he interrupted.

“And then I can contact the parents, find out what lies the Academy fed them.” He finished, knowing where I was going with this.

“Exactly. I hope you don’t mind, but this is bigger than what I ever thought I’d find here.” I explained to him.

“Of course, I’m glad you clued me in, this is more than I have ever managed to find out about that place, and I wouldn’t want you to have to tackle this on your own. If you send me the information I’ll start contacting the families as soon as the day reaches an appropriate time, it’s still pretty early. I’ll try and see if any of them would be willing to speak with us.” He told me.

“Thank you Smithy.” I said.

“No problem. Freya, please be careful, if they find out you have this information they may try to shut you up. Permanently.” He said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.” I hung up the phone and sent him all the information from my phone, starting with the students who had died most recently. He replied to let me know he had received the information, and that he’d get back to me as soon as he had anything.

I continued my run around the clearing, I’m still shocked by what I’ve found, I’ll have to be careful not to let on to anyone what I know. When I had almost finished my run I thought I could hear someone behind me. I stopped and spun around, trying to catch them off guard. But no one was there. I looked around, not being able to shake the feeling that someone had been watching me. I decided this was a good time to end my run, I ran back to my building and had a shower.

I still felt uneasy, about the files, about the feeling of someone watching me. It really wasn’t a good start to the day. I was definitely going to have to find a new place to train Violet and Lucas, I couldn’t risk going back there if I was right about someone watching me.

After I was dressed it was still too early to head to classes, so I thought I’d head to the music room instead, it would be empty at this time and I could use something to distract me.

I sat at the grand piano, letting my fingers drift over the keys, creating a soft melody, and growing in intensity as I really got in to the piece. I didn’t have anything specific in mind I wanted to play, so I just let myself enjoy the feel of the music that I was creating.

I stopped playing once I finished the piece, feeling at least a little calmer from the sound of the music.

“That was beautiful.” A voice said from behind me, making me jump. I didn’t hear anyone come in. I turned to see Bastien standing there smiling.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, slightly accusatory for interrupting my feeling of calm.

“I was sorting a few things out before classes started and I heard you playing. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” He explained.

“It’s ok, I was finished anyway, it’s just nice to have the room to myself to play.” I said.

“I’ll leave you to it then.” He turned to leave.

“What happened the other day, with Mr Bentlen?” I had to ask.

“It’s ok, there’s nothing to worry about.” Bastien said briefly.

“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?” I asked, disbelievingly. He sighed.

“He didn’t see enough to have proof of anything.” He told me.

“But will you be in trouble?” I asked, worried. Bastien smiled.

“No I won’t, you don’t need to worry about me.” He said, and stepped closer to me.

“I just don’t want to mess anything up for you. I didn’t mean for anything to happen.” My words came stumbling out, not really knowing what I was actually trying to say. He took my hand in his and pulled me up off of the bench I was sat on, stepping closer to me so my back was against the piano.

“Do you regret what happened?” He asked softly.

Now I didn’t know what to say even more. Should I be honest? Tell him that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get him out of my mind. No I definitely couldn’t tell him that. Or do I lie? Tell him that it’s ridiculous to even entertain the idea, and that we should stay as far away from each other as possible to avoid any complications.

He raised his eyebrow in question, I had waited too long before answering.

“No. I don’t regret it.” I said honestly. I held my breath whilst I waited for what he’d say next. His next words could bring me tumbling down to Earth if he thought what happened was a mistake.

“Neither do I.” He said softly as he stepped closer to me again, our bodies completely flush against each other, I stared up in to his gorgeous blue eyes.

He leaned his head down and kissed me, softly at first and then more intensely. I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding on to him tightly. He lifted me so I was sat on top of the piano, I wrapped my legs around his waist and our kiss depend even more, if that was even possible.

He lifted me in to his arms, and held me as he climbed on top of the piano, setting me down on my back as he laid on top of me. I could feel his hard, muscular body pressed against me.

His hands ran down my body, feeling the curve of my hips and back up to cup my breast. As he squeezed my breast I let out a gasp, which he used as an opportunity to push his tongue in to my mouth. I moaned as our tongues battled and I could feel his bodies’ reaction pressing in to my stomach.

In the next moment everything changed, suddenly Bastien was off of me, the absence of his weight on top of me feeling strange to my body. He grabbed me off of the piano and placed me back on the ground, my head spinning from this turn of events.

“What-?” I began but as I looked up I saw exactly why.

Stood in the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb, was Mr Bentlen. Again. Shit. Why does he keep showing up at the worst moments? I stared at him wide-eyed. They’re both vampires so I’m sure they could hear my heart trying to beat out of my chest, and I could feel that my face was flushed red.

“What’s going on in here?” Mr Bentlen asked, a stern expression on his face. I wondered how much he had witnessed. But I can’t imagine anything he saw could be particularly explained away. Neither of us answered him, I was still trying to control my breathing, to steady my heart beat. He turned his gaze to me. Oh crap. “Freya?” He asked. I shook my head, I couldn’t trust my words right now.

“Answer me!” Mr Bentlen demanded, I flinched at how loud his voice was.

“N-nothing.” I just about managed to stammer out. He pressed his lips together disapprovingly.

The bell signalled the start of the school day and I saw this as my escape.

“I should get to class.” I said.

“Yes you should.” Mr Bentlen stated.

I grabbed my bag and headed towards the door, I couldn’t risk a glance at Bastien. Mr Bentlen didn’t move straight away, he fixed me with a stare, I couldn’t meet his eyes. After a moment he moved over, creating enough space for me to scuttle away to my first class.

I sat in my Runes class, unable to concentrate as I tried to take deep, steadying breaths. I was still on edge when I got to English, taking my seat next to Violet. I tried to give her a smile but she knew instantly something was wrong.

“What’s the matter?” She whispered, clearly concerned for me.

“Later. Not here.” I told her and she didn’t need further convincing, just nodded and covered for me when our teacher asked me questions during class that I clearly wasn’t paying attention to.

After break my stomach was in knots when I got to my Maths lesson, I so desperately wanted to skip it, but knew I had to face the music sooner rather than later. I took my seat and felt Mr Bentlen’s eyes on my immediately. The lesson seemed to drag and I felt almost physically sick by the time the bell rang.

“Freya, could you stay for a moment please?” I wasn’t surprised when I heard him ask, I knew this was coming.

Mr Bentlen waited until the class was empty before saying anything.

“Freya, are you ok?” He asked me, this wasn’t exactly where I thought the conversation was going to go. I nodded.

“I’m fine.” Was my brief reply, he sighed.

“You don’t have to be afraid to talk to me.” He began and I met his eyes for the first time since I saw him in the music room. “You’re not in trouble.” He said.

“I’m not?” I asked, surprised. Maybe he hadn’t seen as much as I thought.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen Bastien acting inappropriately towards you. This is his fault, not yours.” He said, and I realised where he was going with this.

“What? No, it’s not like that-“ I started but he interrupted.

“He’s your teacher, Freya. I know he looks young, but that doesn’t excuse this behaviour. If he’s been forcing himself on you, know that you are safe-“ He said, but this time it was my turn to interrupt.

“No! He hasn’t, I swear, it’s not like that.” I couldn’t let him think that.

“Either way, he should’ve nipped it in the bud before it got as far as what I saw this morning. I will leave your name out of it, but I will have to report him.” Mr Bentlen told me, my eyes widened as he stared at me.

“No! Please, you can’t. This is my fault.” I begged him, I can’t believe he was going to report Bastien, he’s going to get him fired.

“Freya, I must. His behaviour has been inappropriate, it’s up to Mr Jackson to decide what to do with this information.” He told me. I shook my head and closed my eyes, trying to shut everything out. I heard him sigh.

“I can see that you’re upset, I’ll excuse you from the rest of your classes for today. Take the day to process all of this, and maybe then you’ll understand that this is for the best.” My Bentlen said. I nodded and left his classroom, sending a text to Violet and Lucas to let them know I wouldn’t be at lunch. I didn’t tell them the real reason why, just that I wasn’t hungry.

As I was walking back to my room I felt my phone buzzing, it was Smithy. Maybe he’ll have some good news.

“Have you found anything?” I asked him as I answered.

“One of the parents of the deceased students have agreed to meet with me. Can you get out of classes? I thought you’d want to come too.” He said to me. Turns out the events of this morning have been good for something, my day has suddenly cleared up.

“Yes, where shall I meet you?” I asked him.

“I’ll pick you up just down the road from Fair Lake, so no one sees us together and asks questions. Meet me by the corner shop.” He instructed me. “I’ll be there in about 15 minutes.”

“I’ll see you then.” I said, and hung up the phone.