Cold Blood

by Heather Hildenbrand

  “Well, yeah, but… I’m a dirty blood.” He winced. Only a little, but I caught the reaction. “See? You have issues about that. It’s fine. I’ve accepted it.”

  “You’ve accepted that I have issues?” An eyebrow arched as he said it. “That was nice of you.”

  I could hear the sarcasm, and I would’ve backtracked since that had come out wrong, but the way he was looking at me was fanning my temper. I did not want to ruin the little bit of civility we were working on here. I looked away and breathed deeply to calm down.

  “I’m saying that I’m dealing with the fact that you never have anything nice to say to me or always seem to be looking for a way to annoy me. I don’t expect anything more. So you being friendly and open enough to show me this hobby you have, it’s a little unexpected. That’s all.”

  “You’re the one who started the conversation back there.” He jabbed a finger behind me. “Are you saying you were pretending? Would you rather I pretend to be friendly and not mean it?”

  “No. It’s called small talk. It’s better than silence.”

  Alex took a step back and I braced myself, knowing what was coming; yelling or another wrestling match. Either way, I was sure he was about to let me have it. But he shook his head and paced back and forth along the truck. He stopped abruptly and walked up to me like he was going to say something and then shut his mouth again and stepped back.

  “Training’s over. I’ll see you Monday,” he said finally.

  He turned on his heel and jogged back down the road. I stayed where I was, watching him go and feeling like whatever had just happened was all my fault.

  *

  Cambria was waiting at my door when I got back from the showers. She had apparently already moved on from the Phillipe fiasco and was her usual energetic self. She followed me inside my room and flopped onto Victoria’s bed.

  “What’s up?” I asked, throwing my laundry into the mesh bag the school used for washing.

  “Plotting, remember? Now’s our chance to get back at the Wicked Witch. Find her weakness.”

  I shook my head. “I changed my mind, okay? I’m not going through her stuff.”

  “We don’t even need to. I’ve got the perfect solution. Photoshop.”

  “What?”

  “Anne Price was talking about how Nevan Brown is gone for the weekend, too.” She said the name like it held some special meaning.

  “And who is that?”

  “Nevan is the kid you don’t even feel bad for not going out with. He’s gross and dorky and crude, and I’m pretty sure the rumor about him dressing up in girl’s clothes on weekends is true.”

  “Sounds like a winner.”

  “Right. And my friend Dave is a whiz with Photoshop. We just need to get a picture of Nevan and a picture of Victoria and voila! By Monday, everyone thinks the two of them had a weekend getaway together.”

  “And why would anyone believe that?”

  She raised her eyebrows, like the answer was obvious. “My natural charm will convince them.”

  “You mean you’re supernatural charm.”

  “Whatever.”

  I stared at Cambria. “You scare me sometimes, you know that?” I wrung my hair out and sat down in front of the mirror, pulling it into pieces so I could braid it.

  “Is that a no?”

  “That’s a ‘hell no’. I’m not stooping to Victoria’s level and playing her games. If she doesn’t lay off with the comments, I’ll–”

  “Yeah, we all know your solution. It’s not any better.”

  “I was going to say ignore her.”

  “That’s completely lame. My idea’s better.”

  “Your idea could get you expelled.”

  “So could yours.”

  Our eyes met through the reflection in my desk mirror and she held my gaze, eyes sparkling and pleading and willing me to say yes. For some reason, the fact that she was pressing me struck a nerve and something inside me sparked with temper. Even though I knew Cambria was trying to be a friend and have my back, I suddenly felt pressured and antagonized and my skin began to heat with temper. My eyes blazed with it.

  “Look, I said no. Get it through your head,” I snapped.

  Cambria blinked at me, her smile disappearing as she realized how upset I was. “Geez, Tara. Fine. You don’t have to snap.”

  “Apparently it’s the only way to get you to stop nagging me,” I shot back.

  She gave me a strange look that was more confusion than anything. I wanted to take it back and calm down, but I couldn’t. Something inside me was irrationally angry, and I couldn’t put it aside. Cambria must’ve realized I wasn’t going to back down because her expression hardened, and she got up.

  “You’re acting weird. And by weird, I mean bitchy. I’m leaving. Come find me when you get it together,” she said. She slammed the door on her way out.

  I finished braiding my hair, my fingers moving like a robot. I stared at my reflection, surprised at how much anger showed in my face, and sat there until I could finally feel my temper begin to fade. When it was gone, all I had was guilt. What had made me so angry in the first place? Why had I snapped like that? I knew I’d been a little short on sleep lately, but that wasn’t me. I flopped onto my bed, trying to decide whether it was too soon to go find Cambria.

  *

  I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew, I was waking up, on the floor, with a sore hip. I blinked, trying to clear the haze of sleep. I’d fallen off the bed. No, more than that, I’d thrown myself off the bed. I knew I’d been dreaming something terrible but it was one of those things that drifted farther and farther from memory the more you woke up. All I could picture were teeth. Lots of sharp teeth, aimed at me.

  I got up, rubbing my hip. I checked myself in the mirror and made a face. My hair wasn’t so much braided as it was knotted. I pulled the braid out and used my fingers to comb through it until it looked vaguely presentable. It fell in loose waves that looked like I’d been sitting in front of a fan for the last few hours, and I left it. I needed fresh air.

  The shadows around Lexington Hall were long. I’d been asleep most of the afternoon. I zipped my jacket, glad I’d thought to grab it, and wiggled my toes inside my knee high boots. These boots so often held wooden stakes that they almost seemed roomy without a weapon tucked along my leg.

  I didn’t have a specific direction in mind, but I ended up on the trail that led to the bonfire Raj had invited me to. It was late enough. And maybe Cambria was there, and I could apologize. Not that I had any reason or explanation for why I’d gone off the deep end earlier. It was all sort of sudden and confusing. Hopefully a simple apology would be enough.

  Inside the trees, I glanced down at my phone, which I’d turned on outside Lexington Hall in the hopes a signal would appear, but the readout was still blank. No signal. I kept walking.

  The bonfire was happening as far away from school as we could get without being off school grounds. By now the announcement had been made that the wards were stronger and more complex and if any student stepped outside the perimeter, Headmaster Whitfield would know and there would be consequences. How he would know wasn’t clear, and neither were the consequences, but it had done the trick. Sometimes the unknown was scarier, I guess.

  From what Cambria had told me about the bonfire, it wasn’t exactly condoned, but a lot of the teachers knew and chose to look the other way. As long as no one left the grounds or caused trouble, it stayed under the radar.

  The further I walked, the more spread out the trees became, until finally everything opened up and I could see a gathering of people up ahead. It wasn’t so much a clearing as a large space in between trees. And it wasn’t so much a bonfire as a few pieces of kindling and a flame. I guess it was safer that way, considering we were still in the woods. At least the area around the fire had been carefully cleared of any stray leaves or brush. Someone had thrown a metal rack over some rocks and had hot dogs and burgers cooking. Logs had been p
ulled up and were filled with students talking and laughing around the small fire. A beat-up card table was set up nearby with plates and buns and a gigantic bottle of ketchup. Kids wandered around, munching on roasted meat.

  At one edge of the clearing, a younger group of kids – probably freshman – were lined up along the ground and being yelled at by upperclassmen. They dropped to their hands and toes and began doing pushups at the barking command of the lead jock. I recognized Levi as one of the torturers. He walked along the row, at the feet of the freshman, kicking their feet out from under them as they tried to push up.

  Smaller clusters of kids were scattered here and there, huddled against trees. Further out, couples were half hidden behind the bigger tree trunks and whispering close together – or whatever they were doing. I tried not to look too closely. Not because I was embarrassed. It made me miss Wes.

  I turned back to the fire and searched the faces there. I recognized some of them from my classes and was surprised to see one or two wave at me instead of sneer or turn away. Only a couple, though. The rest didn’t bother to acknowledge my arrival, sneer or otherwise. I hesitated, on the outskirts, wondering whether this had really been a good idea. If Cambria didn’t talk to me, it wasn’t like anyone else here would, either - except maybe Levi - And I didn’t see Cambria anywhere.

  I was halfway to retreating when Raj spotted me and broke away from the group nearest the fire. He was smiling, his expression friendly, and I relaxed a little.

  “You came,” he said. His dark skinned arm reached out and clapped me around the shoulder.

  “It’s pretty cool. How did you get all this back here?”

  “I know a guy who helps out in the kitchen. And Cambria helped convince the lunch ladies to give us the food.” He pointed and I spotted Cambria on the far side of the fire, talking to a girl with spiky hair that I recognized from my Chemistry class.

  “Oh,” I said, looking away before she saw me. “I didn’t know you were cool with her doing her… thing.”

  Raj laughed. “Her thing comes in handy.” He shrugged. “She knows better than to use it on another Hunter so we’re cool. You hungry?”

  “Sure.” I let Raj lead me over to the table and make me a burger. The only topping available was ketchup so I made sure to douse it. “Thanks,” I said, digging in. “This is great.”

  “It would taste better on a real grill but it’s not bad. How’s the shin?”

  I made a face around a mouthful of smoky tasting hamburger. “Better. By the time they’re done healing, it’ll be Monday, and I’ll have a whole new layer of bruising.”

  Raj grinned. “You want me to go easy on you?”

  “No way.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Raj nodded like he’d expected that answer. “Besides, Hunter chicks don’t really get breaks because they’re female. We believe in equal opportunity mayhem.”

  “As it should be.” I smiled and was pleased to know I meant it; I was having a good time, in the midst of a school full of haters. Maybe there was hope for me here, after all.

  Raj got called back to the fire, and I finished the ketchup-drenched burger. More kids were arriving so even though the space was pretty open, it was filling up fast. I heard enough comments from passers-by to know most of the junior and senior class was here – along with whatever underclassmen they wanted to bring along for tortured entertainment.

  Logs were dragged closer and sat on. Someone had brought a battery powered radio and found a station that played top twenty. The light was dimming to almost nothing and even though the sun was still setting somewhere, shadows covered most of the ground. I found an empty spot on a log a few rows back from the fire and sat.

  “Hey.”

  I turned and saw Nina. Her hair was in its normal French braid but a few strands had come loose that she hadn’t bothered to re-secure. It made her look more laid back. More approachable.

  “Hey.” I brightened. Probably because her face was both familiar and friendly. A rarity.

  “Thanks again for showing me to the dorms last week,” I said.

  “No problem. Are you settling in okay?”

  I nodded even though I wanted to say ‘no, of course not, I’d rather be at home.’ “I’ve learned a lot,” I said instead.

  She nodded, warming easily to the topic of education. “This school is one of the best in the country. You’ll have to tell your grandma thanks for that.”

  “My grandma?”

  “For giving so much,” she said. Then her expression changed. “Darn. I did it again, right? Put my foot in my mouth? Don’t they tell you anything?”

  “What does my grandma have to do with the school being the best?”

  “She provides most of the funding for it. I mean, it was here before she was, but she’s the real reason it’s still open. She basically paid for the underground dorms to be dug out and the ventilation and plumbing and everything else that it took to create an underground dorm system. And she makes sure CHAS allows for proper training with new recruits and stuff.”

  “CHAS? Oh, the Committee, right?” I thought I’d heard Logan refer to it that way.

  “Right.” Nina looked a little relieved that I knew something. “Stands for Committee of Hunter Affairs and Security.”

  “My grandma is a member of CHAS?”

  “She’s all about making sure we don’t get killed because of inexperience and stuff. She’s pretty awesome, huh?”

  “Mm-hmm.” I nodded automatically, but my mind was already far away from Nina.

  “And I’m sure the fact that you’re going here will make it easier for you when you take over her spot.”

  The moment snapped back into focus. “Her spot on CHAS?”

  “Um, yeah. You know, because it gets passed down to family members?” Nina seemed to realize she’d dropped a bomb of new information on me because at that moment, her attention turned to the kid sitting on her other side and she dove into a deep conversation with him about weaponry improvement in hand-to-hand combat.

  I tuned it out and stared into the trees.

  I was supposed to take over this CHAS position? Was it like a political office or something? Geez, I should be used to this by now. My family not telling me things. But I’d never really lumped Grandma in to the same secret-keeping category as my mother–until now. And if Nina knew about my supposed political future… that meant everyone knew.

  I stood up and brushed myself off and marched over to where Cambria was still sitting with the spiky haired girl.

  “I need to talk to you,” I said, without waiting for a break in their conversation.

  She eyed me from behind her bangs, and her expression was hard. “I’m busy.”

  “I don’t care. It’s important. Is Logan here?”

  “Um, I think I saw him over–”

  “Show me.”

  She shot her spiky friend a look and rose. “What is going on?” she hissed as we walked.

  “There’s Logan,” I said, walking right up to him and stepping between him and a group that reminded me a lot of a chess club for some reason. Logan had a plastic cup in his hand and his hair tucked inside his hat. He looked like a frat boy lost in the wrong crowd.

  “I need to talk to you,” I said, interrupting another kid who was droning on about some War of Zombies game.

  “Okay.” He looked startled but he didn’t argue. “I’ll be back guys.”

  He stepped out of the circle and caught sight of Cambria. She shrugged and gave him a look that said she was as confused as he was and infinitely more irritated. I headed straight for the trees, in the opposite direction of any trail, and pushed my way through until we were far enough away from the party that we wouldn’t be heard.

  “So when exactly did each of you become aware of the fact that I’m an heir to a political office?” No answer. “I’ll assume from your silence that each of you knew from the beginning. My grandma’s position with CHAS? The funding she provides for Wood Point?” St
ill no answer. “Let me guess. You kept it from me for my own good.”

  I was vaguely aware that I was shaking and my voice was pitching from one octave to another. Both of them stared at me with wide eyes. I couldn’t see much else of their expressions; it was a lot darker in here than it had been in the clearing. “So you have nothing to say about the fact that you lied to me all this time?”

  “Tara, you really need to calm down,” said Cambria.

  “Are you feeling okay?” Logan sounded concerned.

  I ignored that. It wasn’t the response I was looking for. I ground my teeth together hard enough to make the noise audible. “Answer me.”

  “Seriously, Tara, what’s wrong? You’re shaking.” Cambria put her hand out and touched my arm. I flung it back out of her grasp, and she backed away. “You’re burning up. You need to calm down.”

  “Look, I don’t know about Cambria but I didn’t lie to you. I thought you knew about the CHAS thing already,” Logan said.

  I didn’t answer. I looked at Cambria.

  “I didn’t bring it up because you don’t like to talk about stuff like that,” she said. “You’re already freaked out enough by Vera’s vision about you, and I didn’t want to upset you. I didn’t realize you had no idea.” Her words came quickly, like she was trying to hurry to explain.

  I didn’t know what to say. And I hated how angry I was. Especially after how guilty I felt for getting this way earlier.

  “Take a deep breath, Tara.” Logan’s voice was low and even. I did as he asked. “Good, now let it out slowly.” I did. “Again.”

  All I could do was obey his instructions. I didn’t speak, just concentrated on the sound of his voice and doing what he told me. After a few minutes, I could feel my heart rate begin to even out. The shaking had stopped. I still felt too hot, though, so I continued with the deep breaths even after Logan had stopped telling me to.

  “Thanks,” I said when I could speak again.

  “Don’t mention it,” he said.