Stronger than Blood

Goodbye

When they touched down to the perfectly mowed lawn, the teachers came hurrying over, Good and Evil alike. A young woman with a long black braid came to a halt in front of them. She observed Evelyn with a wary look. Then she turned her attention back to Rafal. He sighed. " Lady Lesso, what would be the problem now? It better not be a waste of my time. I was just about to show Evelyn here around the grounds, and introduce her to everyone, and I would very much like to give that my undivided attention, so hurry up and tell me what's going on." Rafal grouched. Lady Lesso bit her lip. " It's Julianne, Master. She's dead." . She turned to face Evelyn. " Julianne is; was our history teacher. She was a very talented seer." Lesso explained quickly to her. Evelyn looked at Rafal. Rafal nodded to her. " My brother August, he's a seer. And he loves history of any kind. He could . . I mean, if you needed him to, he'd probably be happy to fill the position." . Lady Lesso came close to smiling. " That's wonderful. I'll tell Clarissa." she said, and turned on her heel and walked off towards Good castle. Evelyn stared at Rafal. He rolled his eyes. " That" he began. " Was Lady Lesso. She's the Dean of Evil. Clarissa Dovey is her best friend and fellow Dean." . They began to walk across the Clearing . " That poor woman, what was her name, Julianne. How do you think she died?" asked Evelyn. Rafal looked up at the Evil castle. "Window, most likely. The students get annoyed with their rankings, and whoosh, teacher goes out the window. Quite common really. We should be expecting another . . . three cases of flying teachers this week, maybe?". He looked at Evelyn's horrified expression and laughed. " Kidding. This has only happened twice before in the last hundred years." he said. Evelyn visibly relaxed. Rafal laughed again. " Now, let's properly welcome you to The School for Good and Evil."

A couple of hours later, the two returned to Rafal's tower. Evelyn sat herself down on the bed. " I quite liked Lady Lesso, and I suppose Dovey and Manley aren't too bad, but that Pollux is an absolute bum. I mean, who does he think he is?" she said. Rafal sat down beside her. " It was either get Castor, but have to live with Pollux, or be two teachers short. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice." he said, laughing. Evelyn turned to look out the window, and when she turned back, Rafal was mere inches from her, a seductive grin on his face. She gave little yelp of surprise, and he burst out laughing. " Your face! Evelyn Sader, you've made my day." . Despite her embarrassment, she laughed too. Suddenly, she felt overwhelming urge to kiss him. Those perfect lips. She could see it in his eyes too. He leaned in, and when she kissed him, she realised this was how Vanessa must feel about Stephan. Vanessa! She'd never said goodbye. Reluctantly, she pulled away from Rafal. " I forgot to say goodbye to my sister." she explained. Rafal took her hand. "Well, you'll get to see her when we go back to Gavaldon to collect our new history teacher, your brother August. That sound good?" . Evelyn smirked at him. " Gavaldon can wait" she said, tackling him. He pulled her towards him, grinning like a cat. Evelyn was truly happy for the first time since she'd left her sister behind.