Read The Vespertine for Free Online Page A

young, but not so terribly old either, she wore a cloak of weary irritation as she returned to her desk. "Am I to sacrifice
my
dinner because you couldn't join us at nine o'clock?"
    Zora twisted toward Miss Burnside, and I could tell from the flickering at her temple that she had an admirable defense she longed to mount.
    Beside me, Thomas curled like an autumn leaf and said, "Never, ma'am, I apologize. I'll come back on time on Monday."
    Lifting my hand, I spoke out of turn. "Miss Burnside, may I challenge his seat?"
    "I'm quite sure I was clear, Miss van den Broek. Jumps are made on Monday mornings."
    "Beg pardon, ma'am, I know." I felt quite in the middle of it—like I had a thousand eyes on me, for how bare I felt. I rose to my feet because I couldn't bear ignoring that bit of etiquette, too. "But it's empty now and wouldn't it be punishment enough if he had to take mine?"
    The room stirred. Edwina Polk, one of the other girls our age in class, cast incredulous looks at Zora, who spread her fingers to cover her lips. Wills watched and Charlie smiled—only the littlest ones held their tongues. Their toes, instead, whisked the floor in a nervous rush.
    With all grace one would expect of a lady, Miss Burnside said, "Perhaps You should like to teach my class?"
    "No, I shouldn't like it at all, ma'am," I said, and flushed when laughter erupted. I hadn't meant to be impertinent. But I heard my smart tone, one I had always reserved for tormenting August. I bungled it all the more when I quickly added, "I only intended to have his seat."
    Details turned sharp. Thomas' breath rattled as it drained out, and I heard Zora whisper, "Oh, Amelia." My manteau suddenly bestowed such heat that I longed to tear it off. Instead, I stood straight to await a reprimand.
    Miss Burnside unstoppered her inkwell. She sat, reached for a pen, then pondered a moment. When she finally touched the nib to paper, its brass scratch seemed to claw my skin. I could scarcely imagine what terrible thing she needed to write at that very moment. I watched with a dawning terror as she tossed sand on the page to blot it, then blew it dry. Then she turned not to me, but to Zora.
    "Miss Stewart, this is for your father," she said, folding her note in half. "You and Miss van den Broek are dismissed for the day. You too, Mr. Rea. Please show your selves out."
    ***
    "Beg you forgive me," I said, clinging to Zora's elbow as we stepped into the cold.
    The row houses had a curious effect on the wind—when it twisted between the brick narrows, it
cried.
How eerie a day so bright could be; how thoroughly I had ruined it trying only to help.
    "Papa will..." Zora said, then trailed off. She looked down one way, then the other, taking off suddenly as she finished her thought. "Well, he'll find it amusing. Mama, however ... oh. I can hear her now."
    I recognized our direction. She had turned us not toward Kestrels but toward the path we took last time, to spy on Thomas. Tugged along like a toy on a string, I followed Zora to the alley.
    "I'll take the blame for it; it was my fault, not yours."
    Dismissive, Zora said, "It gives us something to talk about. Thomas!"
    Thomas stopped, making a tall shadow against the light at the end of the way. Perhaps I had infected Zora with my lapse of sanity, because I couldn't believe her. Where was the girl who'd introduced me to Thomas Rea behind the privacy of a fence? Why, she ran after him now—she called out to him!
    When Thomas realized who called to him, he hesitated. I saw it in his step and the way he tipped his head to one side. Then finally, slowly, he approached us. It was a brave and dastardly thing to do, meeting a lady in an alley.
    So that, perhaps, explains why he held a hand up to stop us a few paces from him. "Is something the matter?"
    Zora slipped away from me. "I'm furious! Had you dawdled this morning, surely you'd deserve a reprimand, but working in the doctor's surgery!"
    "No need to get inflamed about it," Thomas