“Bitch?” Cambria finished for me. She shrugged. “Good question. Some people have had tragedies or negative circumstances. And some people have no excuse. That would be Victoria.” She leaned forward, swiping at the line of black eyeliner under her eyes. She had to pull her bangs out of the way to swipe at the other eye.
I took a closer look at her and saw that she was practically jumping up and down in her black leggings and boots. Her off-the-shoulder shirt was a bright, energetic yellow, which matched perfectly with her mood. Something was up.
“What’s up with you?” I asked, seeing the way she was messing with her hair and jewelry.
She turned to me and grinned. “You wouldn’t believe what happened to me after you left last night.”
“I’m guessing this doesn’t have anything to do with getting Logan to do your homework,” I said. She shook her head, and I leaned against the sink and crossed my arms. “What’s his name?”
“Phillipe. He’s Italian. Sexy, right?” She grinned. “Anyway, he’s new on Kane’s security detail, and he is total hot sauce.”
“What security detail?”
“Oh, Kane is in charge of school security and uses mostly seniors to head it up, with a couple adults to run things. Phillipe just got hired this week, so I haven’t seen him before. Trust me, I’d remember.”
“Kane’s the one with the scar on his face, right?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah.” Cambria was distracted again, swiping at her makeup and examining her reflection. “Werewolf attack, pretty effed up looking, isn’t it?”
“He seems pretty scary even without the scars,” I said.
“He’s tough, from what I hear. We’ll have him next year, and he doesn’t mess around with combat training. Sends kids out on their own, and they can’t come back until they’ve downed a Were.”
I frowned and finished with the nonexistent amount of makeup I bothered with. “That’s crazy.”
Cambria nodded, but she was smiling. Like ‘crazy’ was a compliment. “I know. So you can imagine what kinds of standards he must set for his employees. Which means Phillipe must be bad ass in a fight.” She sighed. “It’s the older ones from now on. No more high school guys for me.”
I didn’t say anything; Instead, I listened to Cambria make up new words to describe this Phillipe guy and thought about Wes.
“I’m ready,” I said, eventually gathering up my stuff and turning to Cambria.
Her face fell. “Oh, honey, no you’re not.”
“What do you mean?”
Cambria stared at me with something resembling sympathy. “I know the lighting in here sucks, but you should take a closer look at your face.”
I looked from her to the mirror and leaned in. Then I saw it. A large patch of skin near my eye was yellow with the first stages of a bruise, courtesy of Alex. “Crap.”
“Here.” Cambria handed me a bottle of foundation, and I got to work. The bruise hurt a little to touch, but I managed to pat enough cover-up on to mostly blot it out. I think. It was hard to tell in the dim, yellowish light of the bathroom.
“What do you think?” I asked, turning to Cambria.
She shrugged. “It could be worse.”
I promised myself I’d make Alex pay in my next training session. I dropped my stuff off in my room and grabbed my backpack before following Cambria up to ground level for breakfast. The glares and comments didn’t affect me today as much as they had yesterday, and I wasn’t sure whether I should be happy or depressed about that. I could still hear the same derogatory references being used to identify me as I passed.
“Dogs…”
“Mutt.”
“Dirty Blood.”
I didn’t catch the rest of the comments but those few words were enough to figure out the overall message wasn’t a nice one. One kid even put his foot out as I passed, not even trying to be slick in his effort to trip me. When I stopped and eyed him, he just pulled his foot back and snickered. Cambria stayed close beside me, giving out as many dirty looks as I got. Maybe having a friend beside me made the walk easier.
We reached the cafeteria door at the same time as Logan. He sported a backwards hat, same as yesterday, and his overflowing backpack hung off one shoulder.
“Hey,” I said, happy to see another familiar face, even if my current limit was only two.
“Hey.” He started to smile and then made a face as he caught sight of my cheek. “Ooh. Are you okay?”
I sighed. “I’m fine. And no, we’re not talking about it.”
He shrugged, like he was fine with that answer. “Let’s eat.”
We filled our trays and ended up at the same table as the day before, tucked in the corner and away from the crowds. Today I made sure to sit facing the wall, so I didn’t have to pretend to ignore all the glares and whispers. I dug into my muffin, picking pieces off it and chewing slowly. Although the rest of my muscles had loosened, the soreness behind the bruise was just warming up and moving my jaw to chew sent painful jabs up to my temple.
Across the table, Cambria’s eyes focused on something behind me. “Don’t look now, but I think you’ve reached celebrity status.”
“I know, they’re all looking at me,” I said, refusing to turn.
“You’re tumble is big news,” said Logan, looking sympathetic.
“How’d you even know about that?” I asked.
Logan had the grace to look guilty. “Like I said big news…”
“Putting the moves on an upperclassman on your first day is pretty major,” added Cambria.
I didn’t answer.
“Uh-oh,” said Cambria. “Enemy approaching.”
Victoria had entered and was scanning the room. Her eyes lit on mine and she smiled the most perfect evil smile I’d ever seen. She headed our way, two minions trailing behind her.
“What do you want?” I asked when she stopped at our table.
“Is that any way to talk to your roommate?” Victoria’s voice was so syrupy fake that it hurt my teeth. “I brought you a present. Sort of a house warming thing. Here.” She held out a plain paper bag and set it on the table.
I stared at her, unwilling to take the bait and open the bag. God knows what was in there. Apparently, this didn’t work for Victoria because she leaned forward, acidic smile frozen in place, and shoved it towards me. “Open it, silly.”
I looked over at Logan, who was staring down at his tray, pushing his scrambled eggs around with his fork. His face was beet red. No help there. I caught Cambria’s eye and she stared back at me with one eyebrow raised. What was that supposed to mean? I took the bag.
“Thanks. Bye now,” I said, hoping she’d take the hint.
Thankfully, she did. Either that or she realized I wasn’t going to open her stupid bag until she left. She deepened the smile for a split second, revealing teeth that I had no doubt wanted to tear me to shreds.
“See you later, roomie,” she called.
Then she spun and headed for her table by the window. The two girls trailing after her were the same girls I’d met in the hallway when I’d been looking for my room. I waited until they were across the cafeteria and seated at their window table.
“Are you going to open it?” Cambria asked.
Logan looked up at me again, waiting for me to answer. His color was returning to normal.
“Later,” I said, picking up the bag and setting it under the table at my feet. “It’s going to be either hideous or embarrassing. I’m not going to fall for her BS and open it in here in front of everyone.”
We emptied our trays and headed out. I’d flipped through the stack of papers given to me by Headmaster the day before and found my locker number and combination, so I headed there first, even though it was a Saturday. I wanted to drop my backpack there for safe keeping – nothing felt safe in my room and my phone was in there. Cambria and Logan stuck with me, probably too curious to know what was in the paper bag to do anything else.
I found my locker, which was only a few doors down from
Logan’s, and slid the dial back and forth until it popped open. I hung my backpack inside and then shifted the paper bag so I was holding it from underneath. Logan and Cambria didn’t say anything, just watched me and waited. A few kids passed us on the way to breakfast.
“Here goes,” I muttered. I pulled open the bag flap and leaned forward to peek inside.
BAM!
It blew up in my face. I jerked backwards and dropped the bag, wiping crud out of my eyes and trying to figure out what had happened. My hands came away covered in soggy brown goo. I stared at it in shock and then looked at Logan. His eyes were round and his lips formed a wide ‘O’. I looked back down at the muddy-looking goo that caked my hands–and the rest of my upper body–still trying to figure out what it was. Then I caught a whiff of something. No way. It couldn’t be. Slowly, I brought my hand to my nose and inhaled.
Eww.
I jerked my hand away. There was only one answer for that smell.
“Dog food!” I slammed my locker shut with a bang. “Dog food!” I couldn’t do anything but repeat myself. Okay, well I could do something else, but I was trying to decide what to do first. Shower (again) or find Victoria.
“Tara…” Logan trailed off, and I could only assume it was because he had no idea what else to say. He glanced away, to something behind and beside me. I followed the direction of his eyes, and then turned away again. I was gaining an audience and it was getting bigger the longer I stood here.
Beside him, Cambria hadn’t said a word. She gaped at me like she couldn’t believe what she saw. Then she seemed to snap back to reality, and her jaw tensed and she whirled on our little audience, eyes blazing.
“I know you have somewhere to be,” she said, advancing on them until they began to scatter. There were a couple of stragglers, who apparently didn’t know enough to be afraid of Cambria. She rounded on them and her voice changed as she approached. “You two need to get to the library and check out some gay romance novels right now. Forget what you saw and get reading,” she said. Her voice was low and crooning, and the boys stared at her for a second before snapping up straight and walking off without another word.
When they were gone, Cambria walked back to me, looking satisfied. “You need to shower. Again,” she said. “Come on.”
I clenched my jaw tight and let her take the paper bag and lead me away.
“We’ll catch up with you later, Logan,” Cambria called. I didn’t hear him respond as we hurried for the dorms.
The entire way to the shower, and all the way through it, I entertained myself with thoughts of maiming Victoria. It helped a little.
Cambria disposed of the paper bag in the trash can in the bathroom and I bagged up and dropped off my soiled clothes in the chute next to Ms. Fincham’s door marked ‘Laundry,’ which according to Cambria was run by any student bad enough to get that kind of detention. The washers and dryers were all housed one floor below us – in other words, the basement of the basement.
When I was clean and dressed and had reapplied all the cover up to my yellowing bruise, I stomped back upstairs and headed for my locker. I still hadn’t decided the best payback but I knew I had to clean up the mess in front of my locker first. I would not allow Victoria to see the evidence of my humiliation. But the area around my locker was pristine, not a trace of dog food in sight.
“We’ll thank Logan later,” said Cambria, tugging on my arm. “Let’s go.” She turned and headed down the hall.
“Where are we going?”
Cambria’s hold on my arm was vise-like, and I hurried to keep from stumbling as she dragged me along.
“You’re pissed, right?”
My mouth hardened. “Yes.”
“Like kill-her-when-she’s-sleeping pissed, right?” We reached the lobby and Cambria turned, heading for the back doors.
“Yes.”
“Right, so before you do something you’ll regret, like punch her in the face and get expelled… again, I’m removing you.” We reached the doors, and Cambria pushed them open and strode out into the morning air. It was still chilly enough that a sweatshirt or jacket would have been nice. I hadn’t worn either. Goose bumps appeared on my bare arms and I looked at them, curiously. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gotten goose bumps when it didn’t involve my body reacting to a Werewolf in close proximity.
“Removing me?” I echoed. Cambria was still leading and we were heading for the woods now.
“Normally I’m all for violence, especially in retribution, but I have to stop you. It would only get you into trouble and you’re the most fun I’ve had in this place in a long while. I can’t let you get expelled and leave me. I’ll die of boredom.”
I imagined Cambria being stuck listening to Logan as he told her all about his most recent experiment and her eyes glazing over and then rolling back in her head. Despite my anger, my lips curved up a little.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“You’ll see.”
We took the path that led to the training area used for Defensive Maneuvers but cut away before we reached the spot. We were off the trail now, picking our way through thick trees. Cambria seemed to know where she was going, so I didn’t stop her. We came to a new trail and Cambria veered onto it.
“I’m thinking what you need is some place to let out all that pent up anger and energy,” she said. “Oh, look, we’re here.”
Ahead of us, I could see the opening of a small cave looming out of the ground. It looked out of place amongst the pines and oaks, half hidden under moss and brush. I couldn’t see more than six inches inside it, and the fact that it was almost obscured from the path made me think no one had come this way for a long time.
Cambria walked towards it and carefully stepped around the vines that grew to one side of the entrance. She stopped inside and unzipped her bag, fishing around. She came away with a flash flight and clicked it on. She looked back at me. “You coming?”
I hesitated, not a huge fan of damp, dark places like this one, but in the end, I shrugged and made my way forward. “Sure.”
Cambria led the way since she had the light, but I stayed close. No telling what sort of creepy-crawlies had made their home here. And while I had no problem taking down a full-sized, murderous Were, I’d definitely scream like an infant if I saw the slightest hint of a crawly bug right now.
After a while, I could make out the sound of rushing water. It grew steadily louder as we descended deeper into the cave. Up ahead, I could see the walls give way to open space. Cambria hurried towards it and into the space beyond, clicking off her flashlight. I followed and then stopped short when I reached the opening.
It was incredible; a large cavern with rock walls worn smooth by the trickling water that seeped in through the pores and cracks of the ceiling. Sunlight filtered in through the larger cracks, giving everything an orangey-red glow. In one corner, a rushing waterfall fell from some unseen opening above into a dark pool that lapped at the edge of its smooth, rock bank. Above me, giant, cone-shaped rock formations dangled from the ceiling. They looked like red icicles, ready to crash down around me at any moment. Their edges were pointy and sharp. I remembered the terms stalactites and stalagmites from Earth Science class, but I couldn’t remember which was which. And I’d never seen any rock this huge. It was amazing. Several of them had grown together, making a giant blob of a rock formation. I stared at it until the blurry lines became a recognizable shape.
I felt Cambria come up beside me. “I see you’ve noticed our resident wolf. Cool rock formations, huh?”
“It’s amazing,” I said. “The whole cavern is.”
Cambria grinned. “And the best part is the echo. Check it out.” She spread her arms wide, tipping her head back so she was looking at the ceiling. “Hello!” she called. The echoing O-o-o could be heard for several seconds after she’d stopped. It seemed to bounce off every part of the room and back again, making the space feel even bigger and emptier.
I smiled. �
�Not bad.”
“It’s good for anger management.” She shrugged. “At least that’s what my last shrink said.”
“You go to a shrink?”
“I did, before I came here.”
“For anger problems?” I couldn’t help but look a little skeptical. Cambria was the least angry person I’d met in a long time. She was always grinning or looking at me with the sparkle of laughter in her eyes.
“Let’s just say it manifests differently in me,” she said.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I’ve been known to charm the ones who piss me off into doing things they wouldn’t normally do.”
I eyed her, thinking of the boys in the hallway. “Are those boys really going to check out gay porn at the library?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
She shrugged. “Probably not since I doubt there’s any there to begin with. But if they get up the nerve to ask the librarian where to find that kind of thing, they’re going to have a tricky situation on their hands.” She smiled but there wasn’t any humor in it. “My mother says I’m evil.”
“For using your gifts?”
Her expression clouded over with some memory. “A Hunter is only supposed to use their gifts negatively against Werewolves or their enemies. Never other Hunters. When I was younger, and I couldn’t control it as easily, it would happen accidentally. I used it on my mom a few times without really meaning to, and she realized what was happening. She got pretty pissed off. I started boarding schools earlier than most. Third grade. I also had to see a shrink once a week, because I was so young to be away from home.”
She trailed off, still caught up in seeing something that wasn’t really there anymore, and I didn’t say anything. I hadn’t expected all of that and I wasn’t sure whether to show sympathy or brush it off, like she seemed to do most of the time.
She cleared her throat. “So, give it a shot. Yell. Let it out,” she added, when I stared at her blankly. She spread her arms wide, gesturing to the open space. “No one can hear you and it will make you feel better, trust me.”
“I don’t really feel that mad anymore.”
Cold Blood Page 9
