Wings of Black Satin - Chapter 4

Chapter IV1

Sapphire2

Nik snapped her fingers.3

“Spill. Now.”4

Interpreting her sentence as “Tell me immediately about what happened last night including every last detail”, Sarah told her story, although she didn’t feel like it very much. Madame Blanc had been exceptionally nasty to Sarah all day.5

When she was done, Nik wolf-whistled.6

“No way,” she said, emphasizing each word. “Phew! It’s getting hot in here!” 7

Sarah was not amused. She frowned.8

“I don’t intend to continue my ‘relationship’, as you would call it, with Maschir any further. I don’t even want to be friends with him!”9

In anger, she dug around in the grass with her foot. Nik was grinning happily.10

“Maschir got rejected!” she said, clearly pleased with the thought.11

“Are you even listening to me? This is my social life about which we’re talking! You can’t just go and ruin it!” shouted Sarah. 12

They were in the schoolyard for recess. Of course, it was puny compared to Sarah’s old school, but the trees were nice enough, and the grass was green.13

Suddenly, in her furious kicking of the grass, Sarah’s foot struck something hard. Instinctively reaching to pull the hard thing out with her hand, Sarah felt that it was a stone. She bent down to look at it. Shock enveloped her mind. This was no ordinary stone.14

“Oh, my God. It’s a sapphire!” Nik cried, seeming to forget all that Sarah had told her.15

The sapphire wasn’t an ordinary sapphire, either. It shone with an eerie glow, and it seemed not to be dirtied at all from being buried.16

“Take it to the princ, Sar. She’ll know what to do.”17

Sar followed Nik’s advice and the two of them set off to the ‘princ’, as the students of Volant called their principal, Mademoiselle Cahar.18

At the back doors to the school, Madame Soie, one of the many teachers of the Faunian language, almost didn’t let them in. With a great deal of charming and some persuasion from the part of Nik, she allowed them to enter. 19

“Where’s the present?” she called.20

Sarah grimaced. Their story of a present for Mademoiselle Cahar wasn’t working very well.21

“It’s small. I have it in my coat pocket,” Sarah said truthfully. The stone was in her coat pocket.22

“Hope she likes it!” said the teacher encouragingly.23

Sarah rolled her eyes and hurried with Nik to the bureau, a fancy Tiellan name for Mademoiselle Cahar’s office. Nik knocked.24

“Come in!” called the principal.25

The two came in. 26

“I believe you are Sarah Satin, and you are Nicole Cygne, am I correct?” Maria Cahar asked. She was a striking young woman, with exotic Giorhiankilosi features and bronzed skin. She was dressed in a knee-length black skirt with an elegant white blouse. Her clothing contrasted well with her dark hair, and a smile played about her lips.27

“You’re right. Just call me Nik,” Nicole answered.28

“And me Sar.” 29

“Now, girls, what is this matter that you wished to speak to me about? A present of some sort?”30

Sarah felt guilty. 31

“Mademoiselle Cahar, forgive us if we are in the wrong, but we believed this was a matter preferably not known to others. These kinds of things are dangerous, Mlle,” Nik quickly explained.32

“For this reason, and for this reason only, we lied to Madame Soie.” Sarah finished.33

“I understand your judgment, ladies,” said the lady with a smile. “Let us now see whether the judgment was adequate and if you were right.” 34

Carefully, Sarah took out the deep blue stone. Looking into Mlle Cahar’s eyes, she could see the awe.35

“You were right, girls. This is to be kept secret.” The girls’ principal seemed anxious. “Which one of you found this sapphire?”36

“Me, Mademoiselle,” said Sarah.37

The teacher frowned. She plucked a thick binder off a shelf. Flipping through it, she apparently found what she was looking for.38

“Your father is the music professor here, yes?” asked Mlle Cahar.39

Sarah nodded.40

“And your mother is a Winged One?” 41

“Yes, she’s also Haloed. She’s the Senior Undersecretary to the Archangel.”42

“Good, good,” muttered the principal. “One last question: do you live on Number 97 on Florin Avenue?”43

“Um...yes, why?”44

“I’m just checking, just checking...”45

The principal seemed distraught, and certainly not brisk and stern as usual.46

“You may go, dear,” she sighed. “Keep that sapphire with you at all times!”47

She took out a piece of paper and a feather pen.48

“Dear Madame Satin...” was the last thing that Sarah heard her mutter before she left the room and rushed to class. 49

Oh no. She’s writing a letter to my mother, thought Sarah.50

***51

The bell rang, and Sarah rushed out the school doors. She hurried, with Nik, to Nik’s bus. After waving goodbye, Sarah waited for her mother to pick her up at the nearby bus stop. The crimson convertible never came. Instead, Monsieur Satin’s black Lincoln arrived.52

Sarah leaped into the elegant car.53