Seven and Seven Is

So this was what school looked like.

Rowan trailed through the grounds in the senator’s wake, watching the kids stream around them through the tinted lenses of her sunglasses. The noise had been incredible when they’d been inside. The bell had gone, kids had streamed out of the classrooms in an absolute riot of sound. Some had eyed them as suspiciously as they were studying them, but once they’d emerged into the grounds the glances in their direction had tailed off.

It was far less controlled than she’d expected, although the senator seemed to approve of that. Her parents would have done too, that structure was always one of the reasons they hadn’t been interested in enrolling her anywhere. Maybe if they’d stuck around their grandparents she would’ve gone to school like most other kids – like her parents had done. They’d both rebelled afterwards, but up until they’d met at Woodstock they’d been relatively good kids. They’d gone to school, graduated high school, and had then rolled so far away from the rails that Rowan wasn’t sure they ever would have found them again, even if they’d wanted to.

She straightened her jacket, her fingers twitching surreptitiously towards the weapon she wore on her hip, even here. They might never have found those strict lines again, but after their deaths, she had. Some part of her appreciated it too. Rowan cringed inwardly, the business like shell not cracking as the senator and his tour guide headed around the corner of the building, back towards its front doors. It wasn’t that she hadn’t loved being with her parents and seeing so much of the world, more that with the two of them gone that world hadn’t looked the same anymore. She’d viewed it through blood soaked lenses after they’d died, rage driving her after the men had done it, but Ingrid had changed all of that. Maybe that red tint was still there from time to time, it was just channelled.

The senator went to head back into the building, walking against the tide of students still drifting out at the end of their school day. Most had gone, but there was still pools of teenagers hanging around, like school wasn’t something they necessarily had to flee from at high speed.

Spotting Luc lounging by the doors, Rowan lifted her chin, frowning at him. Of course, he’d been put on her team, for some reason the senator seemed to have a sweet spot for him. With Ingrid maybe still have one too, Rowan hadn’t been able to turn him down too sharply. There were some boats you absolutely didn’t want to rock. ”Go in with him. I want at least two of you on him at all times.” Luc snorted, looking like he was about to argue about what possible trouble the man could get into in a carefully guarded school for the supernatural, but the sound cut off at the cold look she gave him, one hand reaching up to remove her glasses.

Less than a minute later they were out of sight again and she was standing with her back to the open doors, keeping watch over the grounds the senator’s daughter would likely be drifting around like those other teenagers within a couple of weeks. Apparently she had taken after her mother, sprouting fur and claws for the first time on the last full moon. His security detail had suddenly become his advisors in another way. An appointment was made, the senator had arrived and from the looks of things young Imelda was going to be a student.

Catching sight of someone drifting out behind her, Rowan went to turn, her fingers twitching again. She was well trained enough that she hadn’t just drawn down on the headmaster or one of those super slow students. Seeing Lexi, Rowan snorted, with far less arrogance than Luc had sported just minutes before. ”Hey … I guess I had a reason to come visit after all. I should’ve remembered you’d probably be around somewhere.” The woman had mentioned the school when they’d met at Campbell’s, but she definitely hadn’t put that fact together with the school itself until now. Shame on her. ”Are you finished for the day?” Rowan strolled towards her, her gaze still scanning around them, always restless when she was on the clock.

Tagged: @lexi * Word Count: 725