Storms 01 - Family Storms

March again. Perhaps she would come in to interrupt us and mock me. I could see that Mrs. Kepler wasn’t pleased with my responses.
    Mrs. March stopped by to see if Mrs. Kepler was going to stay for lunch. She told her she thought we had done enough for the day. From the looks they were giving each other, I knew Mrs. Kepler wanted to speak with her privately. She said she would return about the same time tomorrow and then left with Mrs. March. I hoped she wasn’t going to tell her that it was too soon to have me do the schoolwork. I was happy to have it, to have something that would take my mind off everything. In fact, by the time Mrs. Duval stopped in with my lunch, I had already done everything Mrs. Kepler had assigned for the day. I knew that would both surprise and please Mrs. March.
    When she returned, because of what Mrs. Kepler had obviously told her, she wanted to know if she was rushing me too fast. “With your recuperation and all that’s happened, maybe we should wait on your schooling and …”
    “Oh, no. I like it,” I said. “I’ve done everything she left for me to do.”
    “Really? Well, that’s wonderful, Sasha. She’ll be pleased. If you’re not too tired, I thought I’d replace Mrs. Caro todayand take you out. I’ll wheel you along and show you more of the property. Would you like that?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good. I’ll be back in about a half hour.”
    Almost as soon as her footsteps died away down the hall, Kiera came into my bedroom. I had my back to the door and was looking through the science workbook. I caught her reflection in the window and held my breath. She was still in her robe, but her image appeared so silently that she looked more like a ghost. I turned around slowly.
    “So, Mother is going to show you the grounds. How sweet,” she said, coming into the sitting room.
    How did she know that? Did Mrs. March tell her, or could she hear what went on in my bedroom? Was she always going to be spying on me? She looked at my workbooks and the books on the table, tossing them aside as if they were someone’s garbage.
    “And you’re getting private tutoring, too. I’m sure you need it.” She stopped and put her hands on her hips. “So, what, do you expect to live here forever?”
    “I don’t expect anything.”
    “Yeah, right.” She continued to inspect everything in the suite and saw my new iPod. She picked it up. “What’s this? My mother bought you this? This is better than mine,” she said, and dropped it. “Oh, sorry. I hope it didn’t break.” She didn’t make an effort to see or to pick it up.
    She continued to stroll through the suite.
    “It’s been some time since I’ve been in here for any length of time, actually. Mother kept it locked up, you know. She had it cleaned regularly but wasn’t keen onanyone else but the maid being in here. I see nothing has been changed for you.”
    She wandered past the bed to open the closet.
    “I heard she’s been buying you some new clothes, too.” She turned to look at me more carefully. “But that’s not new. That’s one of Alena’s outfits you’re wearing. Aren’t you ashamed to wear a dead girl’s clothes? No,” she said before I could respond, “you were probably finding clothes in garbage heaps to wear.”
    “I’m not doing anything your mother told me not to do.”
    “I’ll bet. You know, my father’s not happy that you’re here. They had a big fight about it. She tell you that?”
    “No.”
    “I wouldn’t count on being here much longer.”
    “I told you. I didn’t ask to come here.”
    “You won’t ask to leave, either, but you will.”
    I turned away from her. She returned to the sitting room and looked out the window.
    “You know, I saw you watching us the other day. I didn’t tell the others, because I didn’t want anyone to know you were here. They’d have all sorts of stupid questions. It’s embarrassing.”
    “Embarrassing? I think what you did was more than embarrassing.”
    “Aren’t you smart. Anyway, did you get a good look at everything going on at the pool, a good look at all of my friends?”
    I didn’t answer.
    “You’d better not be telling my mother about anything you saw out there. It’s none of your business.”
    “I don’t tell on people,” I said. “I don’t care what you do, anyway.”
    “You don’t tell on people? You told her I came into the bedroom last night, didn’t you?”
    “She knew you had come in, but don’t worry. I won’t