“How?” The IV starts to flow through the tubing and straight into his veins. “Your friends gave their permission to be a part of this scientific study. In writing.”

“But they’re minors!” I point out. “Their guardian didn’t agree to it, did he?”

“Certainly he did,” Ransom responds. The plasma continues to flow through the tube. Headmaster Ransom leans back in his leather chair, letting his fingers relax and breathing deeply. “We’re old friends, John Underwood and I. He was a student here when I first began my teaching career.”

“I know.” I’ve seen Gravelle’s—I mean, Underwood’s—memories. Ransom was in charge of the disciplinary hearing that ended in Underwood’s expulsion, after the prank in the science lab that went horribly wrong. Underwood was the only student asked to leave Darkwood, even though some of his friends were equally guilty. They didn’t stand up for him—which is why he’s been seeking revenge on their families ever since.

“I believe we’re done here. Or would you prefer a detention, Emmaline? Because you’re turning misbehavior at the outset of the school year into quite a pattern.”

Wait, I’m the one doing something wrong? When he was the one who forced my friends to sit in those chairs and be subjected to weekly “treatments” at the hands of Principal Fleischer?

“Did you hear me, Emmaline?” Ransom makes a fist with his hand, then flexes his fingers, letting the contents of the IV continue to flow into his body. “You just confessed to me that you were in the abandoned science building last year without faculty clearance. I’d be happy to add on an extra week of duty for that infraction, which went unpunished. But I can let that slide—if you leave. Now.”

I don’t want to go and let Ransom win. But what can I do? If the Similars really did give their written consent, and Gravelle did too, would a contract like that hold up in court? Even if it wouldn’t, the Similars would never want to sue Ransom. Without him and his “hospitality,” they might be deported and sent back to Castor Island. The thought of that, of them leaving Darkwood and taking with them my one solid tie to Levi, makes my stomach churn.

There’s not a thing I can do or say right now. Without another word, I go, simply turning and walking down the hallway, away from Ransom’s office, suddenly missing Levi so acutely that tears begin to stream down my face.

• • •