Still, you survive the first week, which you can't help but feel is an achievement worth celebrating. In terms of the mission that Aunt Cavalcade has given to you, things actually seem to have got worse. Only three days before, Sonia received detention for trapping a werewolf inside a locker, which might have gone unnoticed by the staff had the same werewolf not subsequently broken the locker door off its hinges and used it to brain the first vampire within reach.
The other cloud on the horizon is Lady Rastan. You're beginning to get a real sense that she is, in a very strange way, both everywhere and nowhere: around every corner and yet able to observe without being observed.
You're hardly the only one whose sense of certainty and personal safety is dimmed in the presence of the vice principal. Even Sonia and Max tend to take the long way around the school if Lady Rastan is keeping watch in the corridors, and Michelle and Renault drop into a quieter if not more deferential tone: it seems that even the invulnerable or the intangible aren't immune from the fear of what your aunt's second-in-command is capable of.
Sometimes, you could swear it's like she's just waiting to—
"You, boy."
You stop, managing not to wince, as Lady Rastan steps in front of you. She wasn't there a second ago. You could swear that the corridor was utterly devoid of inhabitants: most of them are already outside, having sprinted out once the bell rang.
"What are you doing, skulking around the corridors?" the vice principal asks, gazing down at you from her impressive height. Not that you have any inclination to move…well, you certainly have the inclination, though nothing like the boldness…but it seems that, even if you tried, there would be some invisible, inexplicable force compelling you to remain where you are.