Page 14 of Mask and the Magnolia
Something I’m sure my father still wishes was the case.
That’s how the first twenty or so years of Blackhurst Ridge operated, a fancy though terrifying place for the unwanted, a pretty torture chamber if you will, but when Raevenwood as well as the surrounding areas were hit with a tuberculosis outbreak in the mid nineteenth century, everything shifted.
Overflow from Reynolds Memorial immediately went to the asylum, infecting and killing those with already weakened immune systems or ones who were more susceptible because of their circumstances, and the number of patients between both dropped significantly, which meant funding did as well.
If families lost their supposed loved one, why keep paying for their housing? Or use a hospital that was sending people to theirdeath? And if the hospital and asylum were empty, what was the point of anyone going to learn how to work at either?
No monthly payments meant no paychecks for Elijah Blackhurst or Langford Reynolds, and the two alphas started grasping at straws to save the monopoly they were trying to build.
That’s when the patriarch of my family had a lightbulb moment.
There wasn’t a prison back then, there was hardly a sheriff or any law enforcement, and what they did have was barely considered a jail, so as the outbreak spread and hit an all time high, the crime rate skyrocketed. That’s when Blackhurst Ridge went fromasylumtoinstitution.On paper, anyway.
Slowly but surely, patients turned to inmates, nurses became guards, and before anyone realized what was happening, they had a new population of about five thousand dangerous, deranged deviants.
Which is when the Reynolds and Blackhursts entered into the current agreement they still honor to this day, and the experiments they’d been low key running since the mid 1800s became public knowledge.
Blackhurst Ridge became a forerunner in lobotomies, electroshock therapy, and sensory deprivation, amongst othertreatments, and each generation of our families pushed the boundaries with the way they were trying torevolutionizecarefor people who haddiminished mental capacities or dangerous inclinations.
Things leveled out when facilities across the nation were exposed as abusive, neglectful, disgusting pits people were being thrown into and by the time Evie’s grandpa had control, all three staples in the monopoly were actively focused on revitalizing, rehabilitating, and recovering.
Blackhurst Reynolds University became reputable again, bordering on an Ivy League school for anyone looking to obtain a MD. Reynolds Memorial’s reputation as a teaching hospital soared, and Blackhurst Ridge Institution was renowned for the way it promoted new and innovative ways of treating mental health.
All things that have only intensified over the years, even if there are still some skeletons in each building’s closets.
“The doors aren’t automatic, Maggie, and if you can suddenly open them with your mind, I think you’re overqualified for the internship.”
I grin as I turn to see Maddox Ridgeway standing next to me, all six foot one and two hundred pounds of the biggest omega in the history of omegas a step away from being directly in my bubble. “Shh. I’m trying to keep it quiet so I don’t get kicked from the program.”
“Dean Dickhead doesn’t need anymore fuel,” Hendrix, his twin, snorts from the other side of Maddox. “He finds out you have ESP and you’re toast.”
“Exactly,” I say as I smile at the slightly taller and definitely bulkier alpha. “I’m glad to see you doing your job already.”
Hendrix rolls his eyes just before the three of us look up at the massive building, staring at the gargoyles keeping watch over the vaulted front doors.
“How was Evie this morning?” Madds asks without breaking his stare. “She was pretty short when she texted me.”
“Camden picked her up.” Something I only know because of the tone she used when she talked about her ride. “So, Eve was fine until then.”
“That’ll ruin anyone’s day.”
I nod and pull my gaze from the front of the asylum. “I’m just grateful he didn’t come upstairs to see me.”
“No shit,” Hendrix grunts. “Cousin or not, that fucker is a waste of skin and bones.”
Andthatis exactly why I love Evie’s twin cousins just as much as I love her. It also helps that the three of them were the only people I was allowed to befriend and play with since the time I could walk, but still.
When I went to the director and asked about the open spot they had, Carter Blackhurst was kind and helpful, and I will never get used to that because he’s such a raging bastard to Evie. Then again, my dad is nice to her most of the time, so it’s not that weird.
Even still, I was worried he’d shoot me down but he didn’t, and when Carter told me that Maddox was part of the program and Hendrix was his escort, then offered to pair me with them, I was so relieved.
Madds and I aren’t going into the same speciality but he’s also trying his hand at applied psychology, so we’ll be in most of the same locations, and his twin will be responsible for making sure we get there and back without issue.
“Are you pumped for this?” Maddox gives me a nudge and the three of us start up the steps. “Nervous? Because I’m both, and if it’s just me, I’m going to be pissed.”
With a smile, I loop my arm through his and head through the doors, setting our bags on the belt for X-ray. “I’m both. Excited, anxious, sort of feel like I’m going to throw up. Mainly I’m thrilled to be literal acres away from Camden.”
“He’s such a tool,” Hendrix grunts as Madds nods. “You haven’t fucked him yet, have you?”
