Sitting outside the headmaster’s office, waiting for the inevitable telling-off, Chase couldn’t quite believe he’d already ended up in trouble. It wasn’t even the first time this week! He’d only been thrown out of BSS two days earlier so this was a new record, even for him.
When the headmaster’s door finally opened, the man who emerged was tall and thin, with leathery skin that looked too big for his slight frame. His jet-black eyes glistened like lumps of coal and wispy tails of grey hair dangled down from behind each of his ears. The faint hint of what might once have been a beard clung to his chin, forming a thorny garden of uneven patches of black and grey bristles.
“You’ve had quite the first day, Connors.” The head’s accent took Chase by surprise, he sounded almost local, but not e
