Silent World

by Natalie Warren

  Elaise chewed her lip for a moment. "I actually like the idea of silver doorknobs on our dorm door."

  Jason looked over his non-occupied shoulder to frown at her. "Why?" he asked childishly.

  All eyes turned to her and she shrugged. "What if Kyle tried coming into the dorm again while we're not there? Or Boulder? Vampires can't enter the room without being invited and bad werewolves" –she whispered as a boy walked past, nodding to them– "won't be able to let themselves in. It keeps us safe, and don't you reckon that's important?"

  "It is," Der spoke up.

  "But…" Jason was disappointed.

  "Kyle and his friends were heading towards our dorm when Speed arrived," Raven looked at the ground as Jason carried her. "If Speed hadn't of woken us up then the three of them might have come into the room."

  "Was the door locked?" the green-eyed boy mumbled. Raven nodded.

  "Kyle can pick locks," Der added. "I don't like the idea either but it'll keep them safe. I know you don't want Raven to get hurt again."

  "That's true," Jason gave in. "When can you get them?"

  "I'll get my secret agents back together and get the doorknobs from Kyle's door," Elaise smiled.

  "Why not just ask for his permission to go into his dorm and take them off?" Der looked down at her. "After all, he doesn't want them on his door."

  Elaise had to admit it would be easier that way but she didn't like the idea of being near Kyle. She sighed and nodded. "Okay, but only if you come with me."

  Der chuckled and patted Jason on the shoulder. "We'll catch up later."

  Jason agreed and led Raven away. Elaise followed Der in the direction of the boys' dormitories and wondered how Kyle would react when she offered to take the doorknobs off. She told herself that she could probably make new ones, but it would take her until next Saturday to be able to go out and get pure silver, and Saturday was too far away.

  She held Der' hand the whole way and she wondered how she was going to go with her research. Would she find any evidence of vampire covens? Would she be able to hack into a system that would be able to track them? She figured that if certain humans knew about werewolves then maybe there would be humans that have encountered vampires and lived to tell about it. If she could find a website that talked about it then maybe she could find the location of a coven. It was worth a try, she thought.

  As they approached Kyle's door, Elaise took a deep breath, wondering if he was even in there after reporting to the headmaster about Speed. Der knocked on the door and they waited for the answer. Elaise tapped her toe and after ten seconds she was convinced Kyle wasn't in. She tried pulling Der away but a voice stopped them.

  "Can I help you?" Elaise looked up at Kyle as he walked up the hallway to join them at his door.

  "Yeah," Elaise nodded quickly. "The silver doorknobs… I was wondering if you'd let me take them off for you."

  "Why would you want to do that?" Kyle narrowed his eyes at her.

  "Maybe because I feel like being nice," she mumbled. "Do you want them off your door or not?"

  Kyle glanced up at Der for a moment and nodded. "Yes. But make it quick." He opened the door and walked in, letting Elaise and Der join him. The brunette went straight to his bedroom door which was wide open with a boot holding it so it didn't close. She crouched down beside it and went to work at taking her creations off.

  "You do know that the only reason I put them on here is because of what you did to my friend?" Elaise said.

  "I realize this," Kyle snorted.

  "Why'd you do it?" Der decided to ask. "Jason has claim on her so why would you want to throw him off? Raven would never choose you after what you did."

  Kyle shrugged his huge shoulders. "That's none of your business. I just want claim on her."

  "Then why did you drop her from the roof?" Elaise scowled. "That's a horrible way of making a claim."

  Kyle was quiet as Elaise finished taking the doorknobs off. She weighed them in her hands and stood up, walking back over to Der. "If I can't have her, neither can Jason."

  Elaise looked at Der and shrugged. "Let's just get out of here." He nodded and they politely said goodbye to Kyle, however much the brunette wanted to smash his head in with the silver doorknobs and condemn him to Hell for the things he'd done to Raven.

  They walked back towards the dorm that Speed was now trapped in and Elaise continued to weigh her possessions in her hands, imagining how much it would hurt if she decided to throw them at Brittany's head.

  A sudden thought came to mind and she let out a tiny sigh. Der heard it, of course. "What's wrong?" he asked.

  "Nothing," she mumbled. "It's just… Why do you think Jason hasn't asked Raven out yet? Jake pointed it out earlier… It's been weeks and he still hasn't popped the question."

  Der chuckled half to himself and shrugged his shoulders dramatically. "I don't know."

  Elaise narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes you do! Tell me!"

  The blonde boy quickly shook his head and took off down the hallway. Elaise grumbled and found her feet, tearing after him and holding the doorknobs securely in her hands. What was Der hiding from her? Why wouldn't he tell her the reason for Jason not asking Raven out? The green-eyed boy had said almost a week ago that he was waiting for Raven to be ready for a relationship but even Raven seemed prepared to make such a commitment if it meant being with Jason. The pup was the first boy to ever pay so much attention to the blonde and Raven loved having him around. Surely Jason could tell Raven wanted to be officially claimed as his?

  Elaise was out of breath as she chased Der up the staircase and all the way back to her dorm. Der waited for her at the door and laughed at her as she almost sank to the floor with exhaustion. She glared up at him and scowled, ready to ask him again but the door opened to reveal Jason.

  "How'd it go?" he chuckled at the sight of Elaise. She held up her silver weapons and the boys stepped back. She gave in trying to talk to Der and she went straight to work at replacing the original doorknobs with the silver ones. She glanced passed Jason's legs and saw Raven sitting on the couch, talking to Speed. Frustration swept over her and she glared at Der, who shrugged and earned a questioning look from Jason.

  Elaise finished her work on the door and checked to see if they turned and allowed the door to close properly. She was happy with her work and she led the boys back into the room, smiling when Raven and Speed looked up at her.

  "I'm so glad I can stay here," Speed almost bounced with excitement.

  "We can fix up one of the spare rooms for you," Elaise offered. "We'll just have to cover up the windows so no sun can get in."

  "Is that a good idea?" Der pursed his lips.

  "With the drugs from Jake we can keep his cravings under control," Elaise reminded him.

  "I know, but he-"

  "He's gay," Raven said simply and Der' mouth hung open for a few moments. "Maybe it is best that he stays with us."

  "No arguments here," Jason chuckled.

  "Yay!" Speed cheered and hugged Raven gently before jumping up and hugging Elaise. "I can't thank you's enough."

  "Just be good," Jason told the vampire boy. "We'll find a safer coven for you as soon as we can. But for now, you should get some sleep."

  Speed nodded and Elaise led him to one of the spare rooms, quickly pulling the curtains over the window. She brushed off the blanket and stepped back so Speed could lie down on the bed. She smiled down at him and pulled the blanket over him, happy that the young vampire was safe.

  "Sleep well," she whispered to him. "Raven and I will be back after classes."

  Speed nodded. "Thank you, Elaise."

  The brunette smiled and left the room, shutting the door to let the boy sleep. She received a warm hug from Der but glared up at him when he grinned sheepishly, not telling her what he knew about Jason and Raven.

  After they went down to breakfast at seven thirty, Elaise and Raven collected their bags and made their way down to their Homerooms. Elaise tapped her toe
all through Homeroom and waited for the teacher to mark the role. She almost jumped out of her seat when the bell rang and rushed to Math, preparing herself to bug Der until he told her what he knew. There had to be a reason why Jason and Raven weren't dating yet, and she wanted to know why!

  As soon as she entered the room, she couldn't help but smile up at Der and Jake who sat up the back with a spare seat in between them for her. Jake was slouched over with his arms on the desk and his chin resting on them. His eyes were bloodshot and Elaise wondered if he was high again. Despite the bad impression Jake gave her the first day she arrived at White Grass, she had to admit he was a pretty cool guy. At least he was willing to help with Speed and wasn't hitting on Raven. She bit back a scowl when she thought back to when he asked Raven for a kiss in exchange for the drugs, but she shrugged it off and walked up to the back of the room, taking her seat between the boys.

  "Hey," Jake greeted her.

  "Hi," she replied. "You look tired. Is everything okay?"

  He stifled a dramatic yawn and rubbed his eyes. "Well, two girls woke me up before seven o'clock asking for stuff," he flashed a cheeky smile to show he was teasing and Elaise lightly punched his shoulder.

  "It was important," she giggled and he snorted good-naturedly. The brunette turned to Der who was purposely not looking at her, keeping his eyes trained on the blackboard. "You have something to tell me," she grumbled.

  "What?" he turned to blink at her. "I do?"

  "Yes," she nodded and put her bag under the table, pulling out her Math textbook that had many pages which she had covered with scribbles from her pen. She grabbed out her pencil case and notebook and shoved them on the table with her textbook. "About Jason."

  "What's this about Jason?" Jake mumbled.

  "Der knows why Jason hasn't asked Raven out yet," Elaise explained.

  Jake choked on a laugh and Elaise even heard Der trying to hide his laughter. "I know too."

  The brunette crossed her arms grumpily and sank down into her chair. "So why am I not informed?"

  "It's a lycan secret," Jake whispered. "And we wouldn't want you running off to tell Raven now, would we?"

  Elaise felt slightly offended. "Who says I'd tell her?" Although she knew she wouldn't be able to keep a secret from Raven. But she didn't understand why Raven couldn't know either. What was Jason keeping so secret that not even Elaise was allowed to get a hint of? She told herself that Raven was in English with the green-eyed boy now.

  Der reached up a hand and tapped her on the nose. "It's a secret. You'll find out eventually."

  She didn't get the chance to say anything more as students filled the room and the teacher walked in, greeting them all. Elaise felt confused as soon as the class started and she had to complete equations from her textbook. Her head turned to mush and the two werewolves on either side of her had to help her as best they could, but it didn't work.

  When Math was over, Elaise was eager to get to her IT class, despite having to deal with Mandy and Katie. She walked into the room with her head held high and she sent a quick prayer to God that he would grant her enough patience not to strangle the two girls that sat on either side of her computer.

  "Elaise, good to see you," Katie said, raising her head.

  "Hello, Brittany's minions," Elaise sneered rudely and sat down, starting up her computer immediately.

  Mandy rolled her eyes. "You have to let that go. We were just having a bit of fun. It's not like we were doing any damage."

  "If you don't shut up, I'll do damage to your face!" Elaise snapped, silencing the girl.

  The teacher hadn't yet arrived and Elaise took the time to access the internet and begin hacking into the system to get to the outside world. Jason had assigned her the duty of doing research so she was going to get it done.

  Mandy and Katie couldn't help themselves as they leaned in to see what Elaise was doing and she ignored them, smiling when she got into the system. She quickly went to Google and starting looking up places that had any missing people or pets as Jason had said. She frowned when she didn't have any luck and she tapped her finger on the mouse, scrolling down through pages and reading what little information she found.

  A sudden thought hit her like a brick and she took a deep breath, beginning a new hack and watching screens popping up. She growled when she saw the three firewalls she had to get through and her fingers flew over the keyboard. Katie and Mandy seemed to exchange a glance but Elaise wasn't going to worry about it. Minutes ticked past and her heart raced as she broke through the firewalls and found herself looking at the one site that would give her what she needed; every possible file of police information.

  "You hacked the police?" Katie gasped, smart enough to keep her voice below a whisper.

  "Shut up!" Elaise hissed and quickly riffled through files, knowing she had five minutes before the police would know she was in their system, if they hadn't already detected her. She went into files from her hometown and read over them, feeling her blood freeze as she looked at the most recent reports. Murders upon murders… People going missing… Bodies being found drained of blood with their faces completely carved up. Elaise's entire body shook and she couldn't help herself when she printed out six of the reports.

  The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she looked at the end of one of the police reports: "Eleven men and women found dead at the border of the forest near the town."

  She knew Jason wanted her to try and find possible covens but she quickly exited and logged off from the computer, picking up her bag and rushing to the printer, snatching the pages she printed out. She wasted no time in racing out of the room, pushing past the teacher on her way.

  She found her way to the benches and dropped her bag, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating when the truth sank in. She put the pages in her bag and paced around the bench, running her hands through her hair. She herself knew that this wasn't a vampire coven. No vampire would be stupid enough to leave traces like that.

  Elaise knew who had done this.

  And she knew Raven was in danger.

  Enemy on the Inside

  "I hope you're all nearly finished with your work," Miss Peterson said to the class and Raven glanced up at the clock, telling herself it was almost lunch. She turned back to her small canvas and added another tree, using delicate brushstrokes as the brown paint stained the canvas.

  The teacher walked around the classroom, checking everyone's progress and she stopped when she saw Raven's. For a few moments the blonde felt her heart racing, wondering if Miss Peterson would send her to the headmaster for another unappreciated piece of work. The teacher had given nothing away to suggest she was a werewolf and Raven didn't want to ask, in case.

  "Don't forget to start studying," Miss Peterson announced to the class. "Your mid-term exams are in two weeks. Your tests will be in every class on the last day of the semester so you have to be prepared. And Sunday night that weekend you will all have the dance that the headmaster has organized for you to enjoy yourselves after a hard semester of work. You must all have a date so it might be best for you all to start thinking of that as well."

  Students started whispering amongst themselves and Raven shrugged it off. Mid-terms were more important than a dance and she knew she would be able to study her Science with Elaise, as well as Physical Education with the brunette, Jason and Der. She would also have English, Math and Home Economics to study with Jason, as well as History with Der and Music with Lupo. The only thing she had to study for alone was Art. She wouldn't have had to if Stephanie hadn't been taken, she reminded herself.

  For once in her life, she actually wanted to make sure she got it right so she could get good marks. She had no idea what White Grass had done to make her want to study, but she knew it was a good thing. She also promised Lorna she would do her best, she thought.

  As soon as she was finished with her painted canvas she picked it up and took it over to the drying rack. She returned to her table and cleaned
up her mess, putting her art book back in her bag just as the bell for lunch rang.

  Miss Peterson stood at the door with a pile of booklets in her hands and she gave them out to the students as they started to leave. "You will need to study everything in this booklet for your Art exam. I won't give out another one so don't lose it!"

  Raven thanked her as she took hers and she put it in her bag carefully, making her way over to the basketball courts to meet up with Jason and the others. Elaise and the green-eyed boy were already there and the brunette had snatched the basketball, running rings around Jason. He made no move to steal the ball back as Elaise continued her teasing and they both noticed Raven's approach right before the brunette seemed about to throw the ball at the boy's head.