Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose--A Novel by T.A. Willberg

Author:T.A. Willberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Park Row Books
Published: 2021-11-30T12:17:32+00:00

15

HEAD OF GADGETRY AND GLOOM

Ambrosia Quinn in tow, Marion arrived at the cafeteria the following Thursday morning to find a large group of employees, including all the second-year apprentices, crowded around the wall near the entrance.

As she got closer, she heard the murmurs, the hushed sniggering. Marion realized the group was staring at a row of newly planted ERPS propaganda posters. She pushed her way to the front, Quinn struggling to keep up, drew a sharp breath as her eyes traveled over the unflattering caricature of Jessica, Maud, Preston and Bill standing in a circle, each holding a pistol pointed at the person opposite them. Outside the circle was a slightly more favorable cartoon of Marion, a crown on her head, grinning like a madwoman. The tagline read, Deadly betrayal as team Dimwit Nitwit implodes.

“So it’s true, then,” Maud snarled, stepping up to her side and eyeing the addition to Marion’s uniform—the delicate blue arrow pin she wore under her apprentice badge.

“You’ve joined?” Jessica asked, incredulous as her eyes traveled from Marion to the poster and back again.

“They’re the ones responsible for Professor Bal’s demotion,” Preston added, striding up to join the mutiny.

“She has...she must have a reason,” Jessica said hopefully. “Don’t you, Mari?”

Quinn looked left and right over her shoulder, then leaned into Marion before she could answer. “Don’t speak to them. We’re not allowed to. And they’re watching.”

Sure enough, Marion spotted several ERPS members glowering at her from within the crowd, waiting for her to make a mistake, break her allegiance. She sighed. Was there any feeling in the world worse than being chastised for something you couldn’t defend? She turned around, searched the growing crowd. Bill was lingering on the outskirts, his expression indifferent. She tried to catch his eye, consumed by an urge to rush over and embrace him, rest her head against his chest. But he turned, vanished, swallowed by the mob.

This was the part she had been dreading the most—the pretense and lies. Joining the ERPS had given her a sense of guilt and regret, as if she were betraying not only herself but her friends, her colleagues and, as Preston had kindly pointed out, Professor Bal. She wondered if the professor knew of her recent tethering to the organization and what he’d make of it. What would he think if he found out she’d signed the ERPS’s referendum requesting his demotion? It made her sick to even consider.

“Are you at least going to warn us before they pass any other referendums?” Maud asked. “Is it true they’re going to ask the High Council to send us all for performance assessments at the end of the month?”

“I don’t know anything about that,” Marion snapped, ignoring Quinn’s concerned looks and the prickling at the base of her neck, warning her of the eyes watching.

“You’d be fine, of course,” Maud went on, unrelenting. “You and Amanda would pass easily. Not sure about the rest of us—”

Marion opened her mouth to argue but stopped as she spotted

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