by H G Lynch
Ember smiled a little, and nodded again. She knew Sherry was right. But one thing nagged her. “Just…promise me you won’t tell Reid what the nightmare was about? I don’t want him to know. He might get upset, or freak out or…something.” Ember gripped Sherry’s wrist, as if the contact could make her understand how much it meant that she keep the nightmare a secret.
Very solemnly, Sherry nodded, green eyes kind. Ember let out a breath of relief and forced a smirk to her lips.
“We should probably go back to the boys before they rip each other apart,” she suggested.
Sherry nodded.
Ember crawled off the bed, caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and frowned. Her eyes were red-ringed and her cheeks were blotchy, and her hair was a mess. She sighed. “I’ll just be a minute. I’m going to clean up a bit,” she told Sherry, and slipped next door into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.
While she waited for the sink to fill with warm water, she stared at herself in the huge mirror along the wall. There were deep purple hollows under her eyes like bruises, and her lip was bloody from biting it. God, she thought, what a mess.
Once the sink was full, she took a facecloth and soaked it in the water before wiping it carefully over her face, breathing in the damp warmth in the hopes it would heat the remains of the cold place in her chest. Tiredly, she let her hands bathe in the sink, enjoying the feeling of the water swirling around her wrists.
After a while, she let the water out and ran a brush through her hair, tied it up in a ponytail to keep it out of her face; If she had no curtain to hide behind, she’d be less likely to cry.
Eventually, she had to leave the bathroom and face the world again, so she straightened her spine and unlocked the door.
The minute she stepped into the hallway, she blinked in surprise. Reid was sitting on the floor by the door, looking forlorn. When she stepped out, he looked up and scrambled to his feet, his blue eyes fixing on her face.
“Are you okay? Sherry told me I should stop arguing with Hiro like an idiot, and give my girlfriend a hug, so I…” He shrugged, his mouth curling a little.
Ember felt that last bit of ice in her chest melt away as Reid wrapped his arms around her, and held her against his chest. Sherry was right about one thing at least; No matter what it took, she’d always try to save Reid. She had to.
Hey, Emz.
I found some info on The Society. Turns out, all the newest members are recruited from the same place: The University. All science honours. The older members were taken from the same place incrementally, every two years since 1993. Some of them were teachers there, too, not just students. Couldn’t hack that super-private file they‘re working on, sorry. But I think the uni would be a good place to start, if you’re looking for clues. I‘ll keep looking. Be careful. Tell the others I say hi.
Love Cris.
“Way to go, Cris,” Ember murmured to herself, before typing up a reply email.
Thanks, Cowboy. We’ll check it out. Keep digging, and I’ll fill you in on what we find later.
Emz. X
She pressed ‘send’ and turned off the computer. She stood up and stretched, and arms slid around her waist from behind.
She grinned. “Must you?” she asked quietly.
Reid chuckled in her ear. “I must,” he replied, pressed a kiss to her cheek. She’d perked up since earlier, though she’d drunk about three litres of coke in the last three and a half hours. Still, at least she was back in fighting mode, and now she had a course of action - Sort of.
“So, what did Cris have to say?” Reid asked, releasing her, but taking her hand instead. His long fingers were warm on her skin, comforting in a way they hadn’t been last night, when she’d needed the comfort.
Don’t think about that, she told herself sternly, and smiled at Reid.
“All the members of The Society have been recruited from the university. Science nerds—”
“Like you?” he teased.
Ember grinned, and nodded. “Like me. But smarter, probably.”
“Impossible. You’re the smartest person I know.” Reid looked very proud of that.
Ember laughed at him. “That doesn’t mean much,” she said.
Reid feigned hurt. “Ouch. Are you saying all those other girls were dumb as mules? And Brandon and Perry too? Oh, wait…Yeah, I guess you have a point.” He flashed a smirk.
“Anyway, yeah, we need to visit the university, see what we can dig up. Maybe we can find out who’s behind The Society. We should be careful though. It’s likely that some of the members will be hanging about the campus or even in classes.” She was surprised, but glad, at the spark of excitement that glowed behind her ribs. The idea of possible danger, maybe even a fight, thrilled her a little, making her feel…well, more like herself again.
“Awesome. What’re we waiting for? I’ll grab Ricky, and we’ll get going.” Reid was definitely up for the danger. She could see the enthusiasm glowing in his eyes.
“Going somewhere?” a cool voice asked from the doorway of the study. It was Hiro, and he was looking surly.
Reid snorted. “None of your business, fox-boy. Go back to your den.”
Hiro’s cat-like eyes narrowed for a moment, and then he looked at Ember, expression softening so he looked even younger. “You’re going to leave me here? But I could help. You know you might need the extra hands.” He looked so…sincere. Those eyes didn’t seem strange right then, but adorable. Like a baby fox cub. She was learning fast that Hiro knew how to push her buttons. Damn her animal-loving nature. She sighed, and Reid turned on her with wide eyes.
“You can’t be serious, Emz! He’s a kid, you said it yourself. We can’t risk bringing him along on something like this. It could be dangerous as it is, but if we have to baby-sit some—”
Ember held up her hand to shut him up. “Come on, Reid, you know as well as I do that an extra set of eyes and ears can only help. So, we’ll make him watch guard.” She batted her lashes softly, knowing what it did to him.
Reid groaned and ran his hand through his hair. “God, I hate it when you do that to me! Fine! He can come, but if he gets in the way—”
“I won’t. I promise,” Hiro chirped, grinning cheerily.
Reid rolled his eyes, gave Ember a stern look, and went to get Ricky and Sherry from the living room.
Hiro remained where he was, and lounged against the wall. He caught Ember’s eye and winked. “Hey, cheers for that. I don’t think he likes me much,” he chuckled.
Ember resisted the urge to sigh, and shrugged. “Well, you make it kind of easy for him to dislike you. And I didn’t do it for you. I did it because I’m not a moron; I know we need the extra help,” she said, paused, then added, “By the way, just out of curiosity, how old are you?”
Hiro straightened up, and a dark look crossed his face, but it was there and gone before she could identify it. “Fifteen. And a quarter. Why? You into younger guys?” he grinned, but there was something strained to it.
Ember made a sound of disgust and shook her head. Maybe she should let Reid hit him a couple of times, just to see if he can knock some of the annoyingness out of the kid.
“Okay, Emz, we’re ready to go!” Reid called from the kitchen, and she realised Ricky and Sherry must’ve walked past without her even noticing. There was something so distracting about Hiro. When you talked to him, he was the centre of your attention, no matter what he was saying. She wondered if that was a Kitsune thing?
***
Reid let out a low whistle as they pulled up at the huge, black iron gates of the university.
“That’s dramatic,” he commented as the gates swung open gracefully.
Ember shrugged. She’d been here a handful of times, for various school trips. It didn’t faze her anymore.
“There’s a lot of people around. We’d better be careful. We can’t afford to get in a fight with so many people as witnesses,” Ricky said cautiously.
Hiro snorted, an
d Ember shot him a look that said ‘behave’. He made a face back and crossed his hands over his heart as if to say ‘Of course’. She gave him one last glare, and then hopped out of the car.
The campus was crawling with students who hadn’t left for the winter break, some obviously aiming for extra tuition from the teachers who’d also remained. Everyone was wrapped in hats and scarves, making Ember feel their group was a little conspicuous in jeans and jumpers, without even gloves —except Reid, of course, because he was wearing his fingerless gloves as usual. Hiro was the only one who looked appropriately dressed, with his hands shoved into the pockets of a fleecy jacket Ember had dug up for him from her Grandfather’s closet, and heavy-soled boots that crunched easily through the snow. Still, he was probably more conspicuous than the rest of them, with his shaggy scarlet hair and odd cat-like eyes.
“So, where do we start? Do we just go around asking everyone if they’re members of The Society, and hope we don’t get stabbed?” Reid sighed, and his breath made a white cloud in the chilled air.
He frowned, as if he hadn’t realised it was quite that cold. He probably hadn’t. Ember, though, even with her vampire blood, really wanted to get inside before her fingers went numb. It was freezing out, even for Scotland in December.
“No, we start with the science block. We pretend we’re just other students, but if anyone asks, we’re looking to visit our friend. That way, if anyone points out that we aren’t students, we have a cover.” She pulled down the sleeves of her hoodie and curled her fingers round the cuffs, hoping to save her fingertips from frostbite.
“And once we get to the science block, what do we do?” Ricky asked curiously, looking around him as if he were admiring the architecture.
Sometimes, Ember wondered if Ricky had a longing to travel. He seemed to find everything in Scotland fascinating, so far.
She shrugged. “We keep our eyes open for anyone suspicious, and see if we can pry some info from one of the teachers. Maybe they know something about a secretive science club. Maybe they’re referring students to it. We should be on our toes though. We don’t know what The Society members look like, but they could know who we are the minute we step in the door,” Ember warned, bouncing on her toes as if to illustrate her point. Really, her feet were just very cold.
“Okay, lead away to the science block,” Reid indicated with an elegant sweep of his arm that she should go ahead.
Ember shot a glance at Sherry, who laughed.
“Come on, I remember the way,” she announced and took the lead.
Ember grinned and shrugged, followed after her, linking her fingers with Reid’s.
He leaned down to murmur to her, “Your fingers are like ice.” He squeezed her hand.
She shivered. “Only half-vamp, remember? I still get cold.”
Reid chuckled, pulled her a little closer. “Don’t worry. With me next to you, you’ll heat up quick.”
Unfortunately, she couldn’t shut down his ego, because he was perfectly right.
The science building was mostly empty, with a few students carrying heavy textbooks, or chatting about string theory with a professor. Ember was a little awed at some of the equipment she glanced through open doorways. It was the kind of stuff she’d wished they’d had at her first academy here in Aberdeen. She wondered if they had dry ice in store, or cesium. Cesium was awfully dangerous because it was so volatile, but she’d always wanted to see it react with water first hand, rather than on some documentary. Though, it was always fun to watch stuff like that on Mythbusters, when they tried to blow up a bathtub with insane quantities of Sodium.
“Earth to Emz, hello?” Someone waved a hand in front of her face and she blinked.
“Huh? What?” She looked at Sherry, who grinned at her.
“Told you she would get all lost in the science when we got here,” the green-eyed girl proclaimed, casting a look at Ricky.
Ricky smiled. “I can understand. It’s really quite impressive some of the stuff they have here,” he agreed with what she’d been thinking and she beamed at him.
She hadn’t realised he liked science. He wasn’t in her Chemistry or Biology class at Acorn Hills, and Reid had dropped out of…well, okay, he’d been kicked out of Chemistry when he’d tried to put magnesium and potassium in a bowl and set them on fire in the hopes that the magnesium would burn purple, like a firework. Ember suspected he’d just wanted a way out of the class without it seeming like he was abandoning her. He really sucked at Chemistry.
“Ricky took Chemistry, and Biology last year. He’s taking Physics this year,” Reid explained, rolling his eyes.
Ricky shrugged. “I’ve never understood your aversion to science, Reid. It’s not like you run on faith or religion. Do you believe in anything? Wait, stupid question. You didn’t believe in love until you fell into it. Is that what has to happen to make you believe in something? You have to fall head first into a meeting with God, or stumble into a scientific discovery,” Ricky scoffed.
Ember had to laugh. It was exactly what she’d thought about some people hundreds of times. If you didn’t believe in science, how could you understand anything around you?
“Actually,” Reid said haughtily, “I believe in science. I just don’t believe it’s always right. For example, according to scientists, we shouldn’t exist, Ricky boy. None of us here should. So, until science catches up and proclaims that the monster under your bed does indeed exist, I’m not taking a vested interest.”
Ember sighed and she and Ricky exchanged a glance. Then Ricky rolled his eyes, and the topic had to change.
“Right. We should start talking to teachers, see what we can find out. I vote we start with the biology department. I get the feeling they’d be most likely to have an interest in something like The Society.”
Ember agreed, and Reid and Sherry appeared not to really care where they went first, while Hiro was watching everyone around them with narrowed, suspicious eyes. She was starting to think he was taking his job as watchdog rather seriously, which was really something, seeing as he’d been nothing but offhand since they met him. Well, since they met him as a person rather than a fox.
The first teacher they questioned was a stocky woman with wild brown hair and thin-rimmed glasses. She was just taking off her lab coat as they walked in. She looked surprised when she saw them come in.
“Oh, hello there. I’m sorry, but you just missed the revision lecture. You’ll have to read it on the school website,” she said kindly, picking up a pair of plastic safety goggles and putting them away in a drawer in her desk.
Ember stepped up to the plate. “Oh, no, actually, we’re here just visiting our friend. We’re from another university and we were thinking about switching to this one. Ours has a limited science department, and we wondered if there was maybe any extracurricular activities for science students here?” That was about as sly as she could make it, and the teacher didn’t seem suspicious.
She waved her hands exuberantly in front of her. “Oh, dear me, yes. We’ve a group for budding biologists that gathers on a Thursday afternoon. We do all sorts of things, like going out to ponds to record species of fish and insects, such as the blowfly. Sometimes we take a trip to the beach to measure the ratio of marrow grass to Lyme grass on the dunes. We’ve taken trips to the science centre to study anatomy and the processes of glycolysis.” The woman was getting all excited with herself, and her pitch rose until she sounded like a balloon losing air.
“Wow, that sounds amazing. We’ll have to seriously consider it, but it sounds like this might be a better place for us to study biology,” Ember piped in before the woman could get another breath to keep rambling.
The woman smiled cheerily and nodded. “Oh, yes, I’m sure you’d like it here. If you want, you could even pop in next Thursday afternoon and join us, just to see if our group is what you’re looking for,” she suggested eagerly.
Ember said they’d take it under consideration, and then got everyone the hell out
of there.
Once in the hallway, she let out a breath. “Well, I think it’s safe to say she doesn’t know about The Society. I doubt they’d have any interest in the habitats of blowflies,” she sighed.
After that, they tried several more teachers, even a few students, and came up with nothing of any importance. Their trip was a bust so far, and then they reached the final professor, the one they’d seen talking to some students when they’d first entered the science building.
He was a tall, elderly man with grey hair neatly styled, and spectacles perched on the end of his long nose. He was dressed in a dull grey suit, with shiny leather loafers, and a lab coat on top.
“Ah, yes, we did have a group that used to meet on Mondays, but there weren’t enough people to keep it going. Terribly unfortunate, I had high hopes for the few members who attended. I’m sorry, but perhaps you could try one of the other departments. I heard Ms. Langley has an excellent biology club going.” The professor spoke in a very dignified manner, pushed his spectacles up his nose as he looked down at them all. Ember felt like a little kid again, and tried to draw herself up taller. The man looked at her with clear grey eyes like chips of ice, and smiled faintly. “Are you sure you’re old enough to be in university, miss? You seem a little young,” he commented gently, as if it were a compliment.
Ember tried not to bare her teeth at him.
Luckily, Reid cut in quickly, “Actually, she’s something of a genius. Only fifteen and with an IQ of 170. She’s really quite incredible.” He smiled at the professor charmingly, and Ember got the distinct feeling he was using a little compulsion.
