‘I’m sorry, Lynx. Mr. Grumpy Bear wants you gone,’I say with regret, petting his head.
‘It’s okay, Rez. He’s just intimidated by my superior good looks. I’ll catch you after class or maybe at lunch. After my little power up, I need a cat nap!’
I watch as he jumps off my desk, walks right up to Mr. Grumpy, bares his teeth in a hiss, and pisses on him.
I’m momentarily in shock as my jaw hits the floor.OMG! Did he just do that?By the gasps around the room and looks that everyone is giving me, the answer is yes, yes he did. I internally cringe when I hear Lynx’s laughter in my head. Dumbfounded, I look up at the visibly shaking man and wonder for the first time being here if teachers are allowed to kill their students.
* * *
“So, who is he?” I ask Moni, nodding towards Mr. Grumpy Bear who is leading our rag-tag team down a path towards the woods. After Lynx decided to empty his bladder in public, Mr. Grumpy bellowed that the class would be held outside for today and to leave our shit behind. He was barely holding himself together, if the constant ripples along his arms were anything to go by. That, and his face was turning bright red.
“That’s Chief Cloak, one of the leaders of Nova. He’s widely known for his hot temper, brutal assignments, and unforgiving nature.” She shrugs and pulls out a coffee cup from nowhere. “But that’s expected with a shifter—don’t want to be on their bad side,” she deadpans. Before I can ask more about the shifter or how she gets coffee from her ass, apparently, I trip and land hard in a heap.
I hear giggling as I lean back onto my knees, and brushing myself off, I look up to see my favorite group of mean girls. “Aww. Look guys, it’s true humans have no balance,” Emer says.
A tall redhead with flames for hair peers over her shoulder to smile at me, “I wonder if it’s also true that their IQ is as high as a wet towel?” She laughs as Emer beams her megawatt smile.
“Of course not, Katie May. I heard they barely speak one language.Non denim fas set, Sentina?” She laughs when I don’t respond, then walks past to catch up with the rest of the group.
Moni comes over and helps me up while a couple of girls linger to throw more insults at me.
“Are you okay? Do you want me to boom them to death?” She asks, and my heart melts at my new friend wanting to stand up for me.
“I’m good, but no, I don’t need you to handle my fight,” I say, giving her a smile. “It doesn’t matter where I’m at. All bullies are the same. I know how to handle them.” Relief filters across Moni’s face, probably because she won’t have to figure out how to recreate her boom. I would never ask her to defend me though. Bullies are just attention whores who crave the spotlight. It doesn’t matter if it’s positive or negative, they bask under that spotlight.
Naturally, if you ignore them, they back off. I do a pretty good job at blocking them out until Moni informs me she needs to do something.
“Rez, I’ll be right back. I need to pick some of that fireweed for my cat tree in my room—”
“Cat tree?” I interrupt.
“Yeah. Doesn’t everyone have one? It helps keep me flexible, just add foliage and it’s like living in my own jungle gym. Now I need to collect some stuff for it first. I promise to catch up,” she explains and zips off towards a red bunch of flowers before I could reply.
We walk into a denser part of the woods when Katie May grabs my arm and starts pulling me behind a tree. “Hey! Let go,” I say and try to pull away, but her nails lengthen into black claws that dig into my skin and draw blood.
“Oh, come on human,” she spits out the last word like it’s a cuss word. “I just want to try out an experiment,” she says coyly. She laughs, and it’s echoed by the other girl she was walking with. I look back and notice the girl for the first time. She has blue skin with slits running up her neck, and has kelp pieces in her white-blonde hair. I’m surprised to see her friend is still trailing behind us, but at a slower pace. Her vicious smile is filled with sharp tiny teeth as she winks at me.
I dig my heels into the ground, and Katie May yanks me to her so I’m close enough I could feel the heat from her hair. “Listen here, you dumb p—” She suddenly stops and her body starts to jerk. Her sneer vanishes when fear and shock run over her face. The vice grip she has on my arm goes slack, and her jaw opens to let out a searing scream. With my hands free now, I cover my ears while my eyes are glued to the disturbing scene.
I watch in horror as her skin blackens and slowly cracks, molten lava peeking out from between the crevices. Pieces of her red hair start floating down to the ground and turn to ash. Her charred skin burns my nose as it crumbles to the ground as well.
All I hear are screams that continue on even though Katie May is now a pile of dust at my feet. I feel someone pull me away and into a hug. Images of Katie turning to ash are still playing on a loop in my head while a voice starts to filter in over the screaming in the background.
Suddenly, the screams die out as I find myself gasping for air and in a tight hug that’s moving us away from the scene.Was I the one screaming? No, that can’t be right. It’s Katie May that’s screaming.The tight embrace leaves me and takes their warmth with them. I feel the rocking of someone shaking me but I just can’t pull myself away from the repeated scene in my mind.
“Rez, it’s okay. Just breathe. Come on, roomie. Breathe. I don’t know what to do to snap you out of this. Does anyone know how to do CRP? I don’t know how to do the Chicks Response Programming. She’s not talking. Rez!” Moni shouts frantically, and I feel myself jerk from the sting of her slap. Katie's face finally dislodges from my mind, and I see Moni looking at me in concern. “Rez, OMG! Are you okay?” She asks, pulling away to look at me.
I notice we're now surrounded by the rest of the class, but the focus isn’t on me or Katie’s ashes. It’s all on the black pathway that is now slithering away from us like a snake.
Moni looks in the direction of my gaze, “Holy shit,” she gasps. “That’s the Withering Sulks!” She looks back at me in shock. “Thank God I got to you before you touched it. It kills anyone that comes in contact. Just ask Katie May,” she whispers and hugs me again.
Yeah, asking Katie is out of the question, that’s for sure.
Chapter Fifteen
Killer Among Us
Knox
