Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57623 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 288(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 192(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57623 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 288(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 192(@300wpm)
“You can be sure to assure your peers that is not the case, can’t you, Penelope?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Penny sniffs. She is much chastised, and clearly feeling very sorry for herself.
Jane is slightly amused by what Storm clearly considers to be a prank, but she will certainly be taking the girl to task over it.
For the moment she is satisfied with her work so far. There is something about having a well chastised, properly punished girl in view that makes Jane feel as though all is right in the world. The chaos that sometimes seems to pervade every bit of it is kept at bay.
Things are finally beginning to settle, Jane muses. She has control of the situation. Soon she will deal with Storm, and the matter will be fully in hand…
“STOP!”
The booming voice of a man makes Penny startle in her corner, and even Jane finches at the sudden loud sound which comes from outside the window.
Her gaze drawn to the window, she stares in disbelief as Storm goes sprinting past, followed in hot pursuit by Hannes.
There is no doubt he would overhaul her quickly in a straight sprint, but clearly having spent her youth running from those she has annoyed, Storm zigs and zags, quicker around the corners than the older, bulkier male. She is back up and inside the chateau in a second, and the sound of pounding feet on wood floors in the mid-distance indicates that the pursuit continues through the center of the main school building, and then out the back door.
Jane steps out into the hall just in time to see the headmistress doing the very same.
“What is happening, Miss Strict?” Frau Lotte gives Jane a look as if Jane is somehow responsible for the kerfuffle.
“I could not tell you, I’m afraid.” Jane says. She leans back into the room and addresses the student.
“You stay there, Penelope,” Jane says. “Do not move an inch until I return.”
She shuts the door to the punishment room and follows the sudden flow of curious students and faculty outside. When she looks up, she sees that Storm has gathered quite an audience. Half the school is at the windows above, watching this little show.
The fountain in the garden at the rear of the school swiftly becomes the final showdown between Storm and the guard. It is an installation wide enough that it provides a nice obstacle in which a wildly misbehaved girl might be able to circle back and forth for some time without being apprehended.
Having put the water feature between Hannes and herself, Storm takes a second to catch her breath. She pauses, partially bent over, breathing heavily. Sensing an opportunity, Hannes bolts not around, but straight through the fountain, feet instantly wet, splashing everywhere.
“Psych!” Storm straightens, laughs, and runs before he can get to her, leaving him flailing in the middle of the water in every direction but out.
Jane chances a glance at the headmistress and sees the woman becoming practically apoplectic with impotent rage.
This needs to come to a close, and quickly. Storm is making a mockery of this school, and its propriety, and its guards. Judging by the expression on Frau Lotte’s face, Storm’s little prediction about expulsion might have been more accurate than Jane could have imagined. She wonders if Storm wasn’t actually less trouble in Basel. It would make sense. There she had an entire city to unleash her impulses on. Here she is cooped up and every bit of chaotic disobedience is unleashed on the locals.
There is much mirth among many of the students. Jane can hear the whispers and the giggles as they become engrossed in this unexpected little drama playing out in front of them. This is truly starting to spiral out of control. She glances over at the headmistress, wondering if the woman is planning on sending the students back to their respective classes, but things are already coming to a head.
Storm has forgotten something:
Hannes is not the only security guard.
Creeping like a commando, Laura appears in the undergrowth behind Storm. Some of the girls shout to Storm, clearly on her side and invested in seeing her get away with this thrilling chase, but it is too late. The woman has moved too swiftly and competently, and though Storm catches the movement out of the corner of her eye, she cannot move fast enough.
Laura snatches her up from behind, and a great gasp goes up as Storm is caught. Unlike her male counterpart, Laura leaves nothing to chance. She pulls Storm’s wrists back behind her back and has her captured in seconds.
Jane calls out to the guard. “Hold her there, please. I need to get something.”
Storm can’t fucking believe it. She was so, so close to getting away and now here she is, caught in front of everybody. Laura has a tight grasp on her wrists, and all the squirming in the world only makes her shoulders hurt.