Iron Cast by Destiny; Soria Page B

wasn’t willing to part with her biscuit. She took a bite of it instead.
    â€œLet’s go uptown today,” she said around her mouthful. “I’ve got an idea that might be worth some aces. It’s like an abbreviated Carraway coal mine, but with scarves.”
    Ada looked at her strangely, and Corinne wiped her face, expecting it to be smeared with food. “What?” she asked.
    Ada let out a short laugh.
    â€œYou’ve forgotten.”
    â€œForgotten what?”
    â€œYou’re due at the train station today. It’s still school holidays, and your parents are expecting you.”
    Corinne groaned and dropped her head onto her arms.
    â€œCan’t I just telephone them and tell them I fell off a horse during equestrian lessons and the school nurse demands I stay in bed?”
    â€œAnd risk your parents’ driving to Billings Academy to visit you?” Ada raised an eyebrow at her, unmoved by her distress. “You pay the headmistress to send home good reports, but not nearly enough to deal with your parents in person.”
    Corinne moaned and did not raise her head.
    â€œThere, there,” Ada said, patting her arm with faint sympathy. “It’s better than actually having to attend Billings. Posh food and unparalleled academia. The horrors.”
    â€œSnotty debs and itchy uniforms and not a single drop of booze for miles,” Corinne corrected. She stood up. “Fine, but I’ll be visiting Aunt Maude first thing tomorrow, so I’ll meet you here around ten.”
    â€œOne day you might consider spending more than a few minutes with your aunt Maude.”
    â€œYou wouldn’t say that if you’d ever actually met the woman.”
    Corinne took her dishes to the kitchen and headed to their room to change. She kept her school uniform folded in a suitcase under her bed. The leather-and-brass case was by far the nicest possession she had, but she touched it only during the holidays. She had been at home for Christmas still when Johnny called to tell her that Ada had been taken into custody. She couldn’t even remember the details of the barely coherent lie she’d concocted to convince her parents that she had to leave the next day to return to school. Something about a national Latin competition and the Billings contestant having the flu. If they hadn’t been immersed in preparations for their New Year’s party, they never would have bought it. Corinne was skilled at taking advantage of her parents’ inattention, though. She’d promised to catch the train home in two weeks and escaped before they could come to their senses.
    The uniform was a white pleated skirt, white blouse, white stockings, and white Mary Janes. Billings had an obsession with the color. The school motto,
Super Omnia Puritatis,
“Purity Above All,” was emblazoned in various strategic places across the sprawling campus. Since it was located in Pennsylvania, Corinne didn’t have to worry about her parents stopping by for a surprise visit, andshe used almost all of the money she earned running cons to compensate the headmistress for her role in the elaborate deception that was Corinne’s life.
    She didn’t particularly enjoy lying constantly to her family, but she didn’t have any other choice. When her hemopathy had manifested, she had been starting her second year at the academy. She grew too ill to function, barely able to leave her room. A nurse had recognized the symptoms almost immediately, but she hadn’t told the headmistress, or Corinne’s parents, or even the Hemopath Protection Agency, which was supposed to be notified of all hemopaths so that they could be properly registered. Corinne learned later that the nurse’s younger brother was a hemopath, living in seclusion in the countryside, safe from society’s fear and hatred.
    The nurse had heard the stories of the club owner in Boston who took hemopaths under