Read Online The Angel Stone: A Novel by Juliet Dark - Free Book Online

stretched in a smile, but his eyes darkened. “That would be premature. They need to learn toassimilate to … 
college life
. As part of their rehabilitation, I’ve ordered them to perform community service. And if all goes well, we can reinstate social gatherings in time for a Christmas party.”
    “Christmas?” I repeated. “What about the Halloween party? It’s a Fairwick tradition—”
    “A
pagan
tradition,” Duncan cut me off, all trace of his smile disappearing. “It’s time Fairwick gave those up. I would think that after your experience with monsters and ghouls you’d be the last person to want to celebrate Halloween.”
    “I have a fondness for candy corn,” I replied.
    “I’d get over it,” he suggested, moving toward the door. “There’ll be no Halloween party, and,” he added, tapping the lock on my door as he walked past me, “in pursuance of our mutual goal of making the campus safer, I’ve ordered all the locks to be changed to spell-resistant ones.”
    When Duncan Laird was gone, I closed the door and sagged against it, my anger and outrage leaving me drained and deflated. I didn’t have time to recover, though; I was already late for my class. I’d have to talk to Frank later. I rushed down the stairs and into the lecture hall …
     … where I was greeted by a round of applause.
    The last time that happened was when I’d canceled the final after being attacked by a liderc.
    When the clapping stopped, I smiled and gave the students a puzzled look. “Gee, I’m excited about today’s reading, too, but I really think Bruno Bettelheim deserves the lion’s share of the praise.”
    “No, Professor, that’s not why we’re clapping,” Scott Wilder objected. “It’s because you schooled those Alpha dudes. Epic!”Apparently
epic
was the new
awesome
. I kind of liked it, but still …
    My eyes flicked guiltily toward Adam Sinclair, who was leaning back in his seat, surrounded by empty desks. His ostracism was no doubt a result of my stink-bomb spell. His eyes were hidden by Ray-Bans.
    “Did something happen at your party last night?” I asked innocently, taking out the folder of corrected papers.
    “Nah,” said Adam. “Some girls got scared because they saw a mouse.”
    “Ah,” I said. “Rodent infestations can be bad around here. That must have been the odor I detected coming from Alpha House this morning.”
    “No worries,” Adam said, showing a lot of white teeth as he smiled. “We’ve put out traps.”
    I smiled back at Adam, despite the chill I felt at the implicit threat. I’d have to keep Ralph from going over there.
    “Well, if that’s all, let’s turn our attention to Bruno Bettelheim. What did you think of his assertion that the Little Red Riding Hood story reflects Oedipal conflicts during puberty?”
    Nothing galvanized students more than a good sex-symbolism debate. Half of them thought that reading sexual content into their favorite bedtime stories was heresy. The others were delighted to be talking about sex. The lively discussion took their minds off my supposed heroic exploits. Ruby Day took part enthusiastically, declaring that she liked the Little Red Riding Hood in Roald Dahl’s version, in which Red takes out a gun and shoots the wolf. Adam Sinclair remained quiet through most of the class period, until it was nearly over, when he said, looking straight at Ruby Day, “Little Red Riding Hood got what she deserved. You don’t go walking in the woods alone if you want to avoid wolves.”
    I was about to say something in response, but Nicky Ballard did it for me.
    “You could say that about the wolf, too. If you go around attacking defenseless girls, you can expect payback.”
    A good note to end class on! I saw that Nicky wanted to hang back to talk to me, but I told her it would have to wait because I needed to go see Professor Delmarco.
    “Sure, Prof,” she said with a sly smile. “I think it’s really great you guys are, like,