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CHAPTER 39

Bliss

The fall semester at Duchesne always unrolled in the sa from a schedule of activities that had been set a hundred years ago, or so it must have see, predictable rhythms of cushy private-school life

It started with the last week of August first-year orientation, when inco freshmen werecreahts froame of Murderer On the final orientation day, there was a sole of the school song, cul in a decidedly extracurricular after-hours party on the roof of the head boy’s house, when the first of the May- Deceirl" (what the school called female seniors) and a "new boy" (a male freshman), and not, as one would think, the other way around

Bliss walked up the steps into theto a few familiar faces Everyone was still a little tan froirls not quite ready to give up sundresses and sandals for wool and plaid, while the boys wore their broadcloth shirts untucked and their ties askew, holding their jackets over one shoulder with a rakish air

Bliss had heard the Force tere also back at school She would have to try to contact them as soon as possible Mimi and Jack had to help her As she walked to the locker rooraved on each metal plate, she saw that Schuyler’s and Oliver’s na the truth of their absence made her sad She’d found out finally what had happened to the Schuyler’s version of events surrounding Lawrence’s death, and how the two teenagers had decided to run froment

But soone During the course of the day she half expected to see Oliver sitting by the radiator in her AP European History class, or Schuyler looking up from her clay pots in Independent Art Bliss walked to her third class before lunch period, Ancient Civilizations and the Dawn of the West The first week of school was a shopping period, when students hopped fro to register for

The course had sounded intriguing, athe Greeks, Royptians She took a seat in the middle row, next to Carter Tucker sandwiches he ate for breakfast

The teacher was a newbie, of a different type than the usual Duchesne faculty Most of the teachers had been at the school forever, and looked it Madaht French, and the students were convinced she’d been at the school since the 1880s (She probably had, since Madarads, kids who had somehow flubbed their Teach for America applications and were stuck with a bunch of preppie brats instead of needy hardship cases

This one was different Miss Jane Murray was an apple-cheeked sturdy woht red hair and a ruddy Irish complexion She wore a plaid skirt and a yellow shirt with an argyle vest Her hair was cut in a blunt pageboy and her blue eyes twinkled when she spoke Miss Murray (she wrote it on the blackboard, and it was decidedly "Miss" not "Ms" (She had gone to Miss Porter’s, and in hersound) did not look like she had been around during the dinosaur era, nor did she have that lost fearful look of the post collegiate

"This is a mixed-class elective, and it is seminar-style, which means I will expect my students to participate in discussions and not just doze off or text each other I don’t promise not to bore you, but you hts and ideas to the table," she said brightly, looking around with a cheerful sn-up sheet came around, Bliss decided to put her na that almost everyone in the room had done so as well Bliss could read the roo new addition to Duchesne life

The bell rang, and as Bliss gathered her things, she overheard two girls talking animatedly as they jostled their way to the door

"O to rock!" said Ava Breton

"Totally!" squealed Haley Walsh ’the best!"

Senior year is going to rock What a funny sentiht as she followed them out of the room These were the best years of their lives Good lord, hopefully that wasn’t true

So far, Bliss’s adolescence had, to put it frankly and literally, sucked She’d moved to a new city, discovered she was a vampire, fallen in love and lost her love, all in one crazy year And now she’d spent the last year possessed by a demon, who, by the as also her father, however that worked, she had no idea

The Visitor had been gone for lilad he ay His visions had given her night about what she had seen Much worse, Dylan hadn’t co he would suddenly show up somewhere, or else take her back to the Cloisters, but there was nothing but silence It was as if she were all alone in her head again, and she knew that wasn’t the case

School finally let out at three, and Bliss went home She entered the apartment and found Forsyth slumped at the kitchen table, surrounded by e woman draped on the couch He was usually more discreet with his human familiars, and Bliss averted her eyes

He jumped when she came in, and his face looked ashen He looked at her fearfully

"What’s wrong?" she asked "What happened?"

As soon as she spoke, he looked relieved "Oh, it’s only you," was all he said Then he poured hiulp For a vaave him a look, then went up to her room and shut the door She had homework to do