Curran chuckled into my ear.

I turned and bumped my head against his chest a few times. It was the nearest hard surface.

“We found the crate near the ley line.”

Well, at least she was smart enough to get out of the crate before it was pushed into the magic current. With my luck, she’d end up getting shipped to Cape Horn.

“She’ll come back here,” I said. “I’ll bring her back in a couple of days.”

Parker pronounced the words very carefully. “That won’t be necessary.”

“What do you mean, not necessary?”

He sighed. “Ms. Daniels, we are educators. We’re not prison guards. In the past school year Julie has run away three times. She’s a very intelligent child, very inventive, and it’s painfully obvious that she doesn’t want to be here. Nothing short of shackling her to the wall will keep her on our premises, and I’m not convinced that even that would work. I spoke to her after her previous caper, and it’s my opinion that she will continue to run away. She doesn’t want to be a part of this school. Keeping her here against her will requires a significant expenditure of our resources, and we can’t afford to be held liable for any injuries Julie may incur in these escape attempts. We’re refunding the remainder of her tuition. I’m very sorry.”

If I could reach through the phone, I’d strangle him. On second thought, if I had that type of psychic power, I might pluck Julie from wherever she was instead and drop her in the middle of the room. She would be begging to go back to that bloody school by the time I was done.

Parker cleared his throat again. “I have a list of alternative educational institutions I can recommend to you . . .”

“That won’t be necessary.” I hung up. I had a list of alternative educational institutions already. I had put it together after Julie’s first escape. She shot all of them down.