“Well, Josh, I’m sure one of the professors or Nurse Miller will be able to fix you right up.”
He nodded as we walked, his arms held close to his chest.
Ten minutes later, I asked, “Still with me, Josh?”
He’d stopped moving and was sort of swaying in place and didn’t answer me.
I faced him and waved my hand in front of his dazed eyes. “Josh?” I questioned. “Josh!” I patted his cheek and he blinked at me.
“Wha- what happened?” He blinked some more. “Where am I?”
I could see his shirt was now soaked with blood and I fretted my bottom lip. “James!” I called over my shoulder. “James!” I looked back toward the school and could see Professor Swift, James and the other Strigoi had the lion almost back to campus. He turned and said something to Professor Swift and one of the other Strigoi and then jogged back to us.
“What’s wrong?”
“He’s losing a lot of blood and I think he’s going into shock,” I worried. “I don’t think he can walk anymore.”
James nodded and swiftly bent down and picked up Josh in his arms, carrying him in a fireman’s hold. “Come on, we’ve got to get him help and fast.”
He took off toward the school and I had to work hard to keep up with him. He didn’t have his vampire speed with it being daylight, but he was still fast. We’d practically caught up to Professor Swift and the Strigoi, who were struggling with the Lamia who seemed to be completely out of her head.
“What is wrong with her?” I asked.
James shook his head. “I don’t know. What do you think, Professor Swift?”
“I’ve never seen anything like this before, Mr. Barrett. Perhaps Professor Singh will be able to sort her out?”
James and I looked at each other. “If anyone can, it will be Professor Singh,” I said as we picked up speed again.
Chapter 6
James
The news of the out of control Lamia blew through the school’s gossip grapevine like water through a sieve. The witches stayed together in clusters, avoiding all vampires as if they were the plague. Gone was the trust we’d built up over the last year and a half. I sighed watching a group move to the other side of the corridor as I passed them.
Luckily it wasn’t all witches. Bethany was still in our corner, and Terrance too, but for the most part, we were persona non grata. Still I had to go to classes, so I made my way to my first class, English, and slid into my seat, ready to be bored out of my mind for the next hour and a half.
We were studying classic literature and its influence in the magical worlds. Shakespeare’s disparaging version of witches in particular, but also his disturbing interest in the Fairy realm. Luckily, he didn’t touch on vampires, but that didn’t keep our professor from making literary connotations between some of the violence and early covens of vampires.
I was happy when the bell rang and I could head to History of the Magical World. Now that Professor Chalcedony had been, well… eaten by the automaton spiders he’d created, and Professor Corbett was now taking over the class, I actually enjoyed it. Plus, Bethany shared the class with me. She was always a plus. I smiled seeing her coming through the door and taking the seat next to mine.
“Hi,” I commented as she looked up at me.
“Hi.” She blushed, turning her cheeks a pretty pink.
“I hope your day is going better than mine,” I muttered, but smiled at her.
She took a breath and blew it out with a sigh and then frowned. “No, not really.”
“Why?” I whispered as Professor Corbett called us to attention.
“Later,” she mouthed.
I nodded and put my head down on my fists, my eyes drifting closed.
* * *
“No! Stay away!” Arrond shouted.
“Arrond!” I ran toward him, but he just seemed to be getting further and further away. “Arrond! I’m coming!”
I could see the witches dressed all in red robes with white masks covering their faces. They were chanting and moving closer and closer, surrounding Arrond. Arrond seemed to be frozen, physically unable to move anything but his mouth. His arms hung tightly at his sides and his body shook.
“No! No!” he shouted.
Black fog moved in and out of his eyes, through his ears and nostrils. It was thick and inky and full of shadows. A Forsaken One.
“Oh no! Arrond! No!” I shouted, but I couldn’t move any closer. It was as if there was a barrier keeping me from getting to him.
Suddenly the witches in their red robes and faceless white masks came at me, surrounding me—
“Mr. Barrett!”
I woke, practically leaping from my chair.
The class broke out in snickers as a wave of panic flowed through me.
“Thank you for rejoining us, Mr. Barrett. I would hate to think I was boring you,” Professor Corbett said wryly.
I shivered, still feeling like I wasn’t all here in the present. I looked at him and said, “Sorry, Professor.”
I felt a hand on my arm and quickly pulled away. I looked over to see Bethany staring at me as if I’d bitten off her head. She frowned and then her expression turned to concern.
“You okay?” she mouthed.
“Fine.” I nodded and dropped back in my seat. I stayed awake, but that dream, nightmare really, had me shaking and feeling like I was still in it.
When class ended, I looked at Bethany and said, “Go on without me. I need to talk to Professor Corbett.”
She frowned and nodded. She gathered her things slowly and looked at me with a hurt expression as she moved out of the classroom. Once she was gone my shoulders relaxed a bit. I gathered my things and headed over to the professor.
“Mr. Barrett.” Professor Corbett raised an eyebrow at me. “May I ask why you were sleeping in my class?”
“I’m sorry, Professor, I… I have no excuse.” I frowned. “Professor, is Leonora alright?”
“Oh, yes, Professor Swift mentioned you were one of the ones who helped to restrain her, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, she’s under sedation right now. Professor Singh and I are running tests, but we were able to bring her out of the fit for a bit and she has no memory of the attack. It seems she has no memory of even waking up yesterday morning and going to Merriwick’s Coffee Shop. The only thing she could tell us before she was pulled back into that frenzied state and we had to sedate her again was that she’d been experiencing severe nightmares for the last few days.”
“Nightmares?” I asked and felt a chill go up my spine.
“Hmmm, yes. The entire situation is quite odd. We’ve never seen anything like this before. She seemed to be back to herself for a short while, but then as I said, the frenzied state returned. We’ve decided to rule on the safe side and have her sedated for the time being while we try to work out what this is.”
I nodded. “Okay, thank you. I just wondered how she was doing and if you’d discovered anything about what caused it.”
“You have a curious mind, James. Perhaps you will consider going into research or scientific studies in the future. For now, you’d best be on your way, James. Take this.” He scribbled something on a piece of paper and then handed me the note. “So you won’t be counted as tardy.” He smiled. “Now off you go.”
“Thank you, Professor.” I headed out of his class and down the hall to my next one, but my mind was still stuck on the fact that Leonora had been experiencing nightmares before she went into that frenzied state. Nightmares like those that I’d been having? I had to wonder. I certainly hoped not, because if that was the case, I was in serious trouble.
Chapter 7
Bethany
I placed my hand on James’ arm in concern. He looked completely devastated and in shock. But the moment my hand touched his arm, he recoiled as if I’d hurt him. I knew he couldn’t have meant it, but it still hurt and I couldn’t keep the pain of rejection from my eyes as I looked at him. I t
ried to mask it by focusing on my concern for him and whispered, “You okay?”
“Fine.” He nodded and then resumed his seat.
I covertly watched him for the rest of class, and he seemed to be shaking, not a lot, but still, it was worrying me. When class ended, I started to tell him that I wanted to go see Professor Singh, but before I could, he looked at me with an almost revulsive expression that quickly turned blank.
“Go on without me. I need to talk to Professor Corbett.”
My heart was breaking, and I had no idea what I had done to cause him to act in such a way. I wanted to ask him about it, but he didn’t seem open to discussion right then. I frowned at him and gave him a tight-lipped nod. Gathering my things, I gave him a chance to apologize, but he said nothing. I looked at him once more as I quietly walked out of the door. My eyes were starting to water and I knew I was on the verge of tears, so I leaned back against the wall and took a few deep steadying breaths.
After a minute, I was able to move down the hall to my next class. Math wasn’t my favorite class, and I barely heard half of the lesson. Before I knew it, the day was over and I was making my way down the hall to Professor Singh’s lab.
I knocked on the door and waited.
“Well, good afternoon, Miss Welch. What brings you by today?”
“Hello, Professor. I just wanted to check on Josh.”
“Oh, he’s doing fine. He did lose quite a bit of blood, so it was a good thing you all got him here as quickly as you did. Now the scratches are healing nicely and he’ll get the stitches removed in about a week. He’ll have a few scars, but nothing major was damaged and he still has use of both limbs, thankfully.”
“That is good. Did he say…” I frowned. “Did he say how the attack happened?”
“No. Which is odd. He doesn’t really remember much, only arriving at the coffee shop, and sitting down with his friends and then being here. Considering what we got out of Leonora, before she returned to the frenzied state and we had to sedate her, it is all very odd.”
I frowned again. “It really was strange, Professor. I—” I stopped, unsure how to put what I wanted to say. “I think I felt it. Whatever magic it was that took over her, it was like a chill. But I remember feeling it and then looking around the room and seeing the Lamia, Leonora, holding her head before she dropped her glamour and pounced on Josh.”
“Could you tell where the magic was coming from?” Professor Singh asked, looking at me curiously. “Think hard, Bethany, it could be very important.”
After a moment, I shook my head. “No.” I frowned. “Maybe I’m wrong? I mean the door did open just before that all happened, maybe it was just a breeze, but it sure felt… I don’t know.” I ran a hand over my face and shook my head, pushing my brain to recreate exactly what happened in my head.
“I think maybe you are trying too hard, my dear, it probably was just the breeze. But if it was something else, someone else, it will come to you.” She smiled. “Why don’t you take the afternoon off and do something fun? Maybe find your friends and watch a movie. I think you are a little over stressed after last semester, anyone would be.” Her voice was gentle and understanding.
I gave her a tight smile. “Yes, maybe I will. Thank you, Professor.”
Pulling open the door to the lab, I smiled at her again over my shoulder and then quickly dropped it as I made my way back to my room. Seeing my friends wasn’t really what I wanted to do. They were all whispering about the attack, talking about untrustworthy vampires and I didn’t want to have any part of that.
“Hey, Bethany,” Consuela said, waving at me as I passed her in the hall.
“Hey.” I smiled and then, finally reaching my room, pushed in my door. I dropped my books on the desk and collapsed on my bed.
I’d been laying there for about ten minutes when my phone rang. I jumped up eagerly, hoping it was James, but then realized it wasn’t his ringtone. With a sigh, I hit the accept call button.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hello, dear,” Mom said, sounding as if she were already exasperated with me. “I just thought I should call and let you know we are back from our cruise. It was so lovely getting away. And the islands were just so wonderfully relaxing. How was your holiday?”
“It was—” my mind drifted back to the Aspen trip which now seemed to have been ages ago. Some of it had been great, until the attack, but I wasn’t going to tell her about that. Nope. She’d drag me home in a heartbeat. “—great, Mom. I learned to snow ski.”
“That’s wonderful, darling. So you’re still seeing that… Boy then?”
“His name is James, and yes. I’m still seeing him.”
“Hmmm. Well, let’s not dwell on what you will not change. How is school?”
I sighed. “School is fine, Mom. I’m sure my grades are somewhere in the pile of mail on the counter. You’ll see I passed all my classes just fine.”
“Oh, yes, here it is.”
I could imagine her painted nails scooting envelopes around on the counter making a mess that I knew she’d leave for Dad to pick up. “So everything is good at home?”
“Of course, sweetheart. You are coming home for the long weekend, right? We’d love to see you.”
“Yes, Mom, but that still isn’t for a couple weeks. The weekend before MLK Monday.”
“Of course. Anything special you’d like to do when you’re home?”
I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see it and dropped down on my bed. “Not really. Why?”
“Oh, I was thinking we could go do a little shopping. I do need a new wardrobe to go with this tan from our cruise.”
“Sure, Mom. Shopping sounds like fun.”
“Wonderful, darling. Well, we’ll pick you up on Thursday evening, then.”
“In two weeks, Mom, not this Thursday.”
“Right, darling, your father has the details, see you soon,” she said and then hung up.
I dropped the phone on my chest and sighed. “Parents.”
* * *
I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, someone was knocking at the door.
“Just a minute,” I called, sitting up. I stretched and then stood up and went to the door. I opened it to see James. I frowned at him, but let him in.
He came in and reached for me, attempting to kiss me, but I turned my head, still upset with him from earlier. “What’s wrong, beautiful?”
I stared at him and frowned. “Really?”
“Is this about Corbett’s class?” He frowned back at me.
“Why did you treat me like that? Why did you pull away from me as if I have some kind of disease? I was just concerned; you don’t normally sleep in class and you looked like you had a bad dream or something.” I crossed my arms in front of me attempting to hold on to my displeasure, which was hard because all I really wanted to do was hug him.
“I’m sorry, beautiful.” He reached for me and tilted my chin up with his finger. “I mean it. I did have a bad dream. It was about Arrond. I think I was still feeling the effects from the dream when you touched me. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, beautiful. I’m sorry.” He smiled at me. “Am I forgiven?”
I sighed and dropped my arms, wrapping them around him. Resting my head on his chest, I said, “Yes.” I looked up at him and smiled.
He leaned down and kissed me breathless and I knew we were back on even ground.
“So what did you talk to Corbett for after class?”
“I wanted to see how Leonora was doing and what had happened.”
“Oh?” I raised a brow, taking his hand and drawing him over to the bed where I pulled him down with me. “So what did he say?”
“Not much. They haven’t been able to completely remove whatever magic is making her go into that frenzied state. They were able to bring her out of it for a short period of time and question her, but Leonora doesn’t remember anything. Apparently, all she remembers is going to bed, and that she had been having a bunch o
f nightmares over the last few days and then waking up in the infirmary. The frenzied state returned after that and they had to sedate her.”
“Well, that’s not good.”
“No. It’s really not.” He sighed and brushed a strand of hair from my cheek. “I am sorry for upsetting you, beautiful.”
I smiled. “I know.” Suddenly a thought occurred to me and I snuggled into him attempting to ward the thought off.
“What is it?” he asked.
I looked up at him and frowned. “How did you know that I’d had an idea?”
He grinned. “Because your eyes brightened for a half second and then you shivered and shook your head like you were trying to get rid of the thought. So let’s have it. What did you think of?”
Sighing, I said, “What if this somehow relates to the Shadow Society? I mean, with the attack in Aspen, we know they are still active. What if Leonora was meant to attack me, but Josh was the first witch she saw?”
James drew in a breath like a hiss and gripped me tighter. Not hurting me but holding me as if he could protect me from the secret clan of people attempting to take over everything magical. He didn’t say anything for a few minutes, just sat there holding me and breathing as if trying to get himself back in control. Luckily it wasn’t twilight yet, so he was at normal strength, not his vampire strength.
After a few minutes he said, “It’s possible, but we have no proof. We’ll have to be extra vigilant. Did you feel like anyone was watching you at Merriwick’s?”
“No, not exactly. I felt something, but I might have been mistaken.”
“What did you feel?” His eyes met mine, a look of worry in them. “Was it like a chill up your spine?”
I felt my eyes widen. “Yes.”
“I felt it too. Just before Leonora shifted. It didn’t feel normal.”
“That’s what I thought too.”
He nodded. “Still, I couldn’t say where it came from. And I didn’t see anyone I thought might be part of the Shadow Society. Merriwick was the only adult working and Professor Swift was the only other adult in the entire building as far as I could tell. The rest were just students, mostly witches, but a few Lamiae aside from Leonora were there too.”
A Witch’s Immunity: Supernatural Academy - Book 3 Page 4
