Page 88 of Demon Apathy: Sunderverse

Crap!

We exchanged worried glances, and this time Jenna didn’t look so satisfied with herself. Drevan had clearly spilled the beans about our summoning exploits, but had he told Grant about my friends’ decision to enlist in theSave the World from the Apocalypse Brigade?

Hmm, that would be SWAB, for short.

If I hadn’t been so worried about what Grant would do to us, I would’ve laughed at my lame acronym.

Grant threw open the door to his office, removed the Queller from the belt at his waist, and placed it on a stand specially designed for that purpose. As we filed in, he sat behind his desk.

“Close the door,” he ordered Benjamin, who was the last one in.

Benjamin did as he was told, then joined us to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the director, who regarded us one by one, his gaze dark and unsympathetic.

“I should expel you,” he barked. “All of you.”

He let the words hang. The use of the wordshouldwasn’t lost on me. That meant he wasn’t going to do it, but would he punish us? Whatever he decided, we would deserve it. Maybe, somehow, he would come up with a punishment that kept my friends from falling prey to Drevan’s manipulation.

“What if you had allowed that demon to go free?!” he demanded. “Did you think of that?”

“It was only a level E demon,” Sage said.

I elbowed him, a warning for him to keep his mouth shut.

“Tell me, Mr. Donnelley, what do you know about Phenog and her exploits?”

Sage babbled but nothing else. I’d told them all to read up on her, but clearly, he hadn’t. It seemed someone else had a pride problem.

“I thought so,” Grant huffed

I knew plenty about Phenog. I had read all I could about her after LeBeau had me summon the tricky demon, and I’d reread a lot of the material in preparation for today, but I wasn’t about to open my mouth without being asked. Phenog wasn’t the kind of demon to be summoned by amateurs, which was what we were. Drevan was right. I had thought I could trust her, but I had been horribly wrong.

Grant leaned over his desk. “What you do outside of the league does not concern me unless it breaks rules of conduct relating to quelling, summoning, and exorcising.”

I narrowed my eyes, reading in between the lines of what he was saying. He would only concern himself with our activities outside of school if we meddled with things better left to professional demon hunters. If we were involved in other…activities,there was nothing he could do.

Great!

So there was no way to stop my friends from risking their lives to help me. Grant was in too deep with Drevan. He seemed to always do what the demon wanted. That much was clear.

“This time,” Grant said, “and only this time, I will let you off with a warning, but if you, once more, are found carrying out tasks you aren’t authorized to perform, you will be expelled—no matter who intervenes. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Benjamin responded like a good little soldier.

“Ms. Griffin?” Grant said when no answer came from Jenna.

“Yes, director,” she responded.

Next, Grant skipped me and turned to Sage. “Mr. Donnelley?”

“Yes.”

Lastly, he turned his piercing brown eyes on me. “Ms. Sunder?”

“Yes, Director Grant. It’s clear.”

“Good. Now, the three of you leave. I need to talk to Ms. Sunder in private.”

They hesitated, showing either solidarity or curiosity… I wasn’t sure which.