Silent Scream (Bittersweet Series, Book 2)

by Marcia Colette

  “I ran into Lou and Carson,” she said, after sipping her milk. “They said we should try the graveyard again, but only in the daylight.”

  I snorted. “I’m surprised they want to try anything, especially Carson.”

  “I know, right?” She hunched a little further over the table and kept her voice low. “All of us saw what you can do with your powers. While it’s not pretty, it’s pretty powerful. But, what exactly were you thinking when that cop car got thrown into the tombstones? Mass destruction? Running them off the road? Getting them out of our way?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I wasn’t thinking much of anything other than what an idiot Carson was being.”

  “Just like the rest of us.” She paused as if to gather her thoughts. “Suppose your mother did that. Suppose she was really there, but we didn’t know it.”

  I chuckled. “And here I thought my mom was the only one who was insane.”

  “I’m serious.”

  “So am I.” I shook my head. “Look, when my mother’s powers are activated, they don’t save anyone any more than mine do. They do either one of two things and that’s to hinder or hurt. She only uses them when she’s full-blown schizo because that’s the only time they come alive.”

  “And she’s been off in the head since your house nearly burnt down.”

  “That doesn’t mean she would save us from the cops. If anything, she should’ve rammed your car right into theirs.”

  “That’s why Carson thinks something else is going on out there. He says he sensed psychokinetic energy there.”

  “It could’ve been mine.”

  She shook her head. “No. I don’t think it was or he would’ve said something. Look, either your mother is out there or the cemetery is haunted. Do you really want to believe the latter?” Sighing, she shook her head, crossed her arms in front of her tray, and stared out the nearby window. “I don’t even know why I’m trying to convince you of anything. If it were my mom, I’d be out there right now.”

  “I guess that’s where you and I differ.” I began stuffing my things back in my backpack since I had to get to my next class in less than ten minutes. “If It weren’t for my stupid ankle, I would have been one step ahead of the cops and probably have her back by now. No foster family necessary.”

  “You would be living under a bridge with Nadia if not worse.”

  “It’s better than being in a house where I have no connection to the people living there. No offense, but you guys aren’t my family and we aren’t trying to be yours. We want to go home and don’t care what kind of shape it’s in. That’s what we know and what we’re used to.”

  “Hey, I’ve seen kids of all kinds pass through our house over the years. I’ve learned not to make a connection with them either for the same reasons. Because I know they’ll be gone. But that doesn’t make my parents any less committed to what they do.”

  “I wasn’t questioning their commitment. I’m just preparing you on what’s to come.”

  Jayden pulled out her tablet and began sliding and tapping her finger across the screen. She finally stopped and slid it across the table. On her tablet was a news article with pictures of our house. A gaping hole took out more than a third of the roof and charred wood lined the room below. More charred walls and busted-out windows made it look like it needed to be condemned. Even though it was just one side of our home, there was no way we could live there. Who knew what kind of structural damage was under all of the blackened wood?

  “Why are you showing me this?” I asked. “ Are you trying to throw what’s left of my pathetic life in my face?” A tremor ran across the table surface. Even the students at the other end noticed when their forks and spoons bounced off their trays and onto the floor. I gulped, closing my eyes and forcing my emotions to calm. If I had been paying more attention to my anger rather than those pictures, I might have reigned it in before anything ever manifested. Damn it, I had to be smarter about things like that.

  “That wasn’t my point.”

  “Then what was? My mom might be as decimated as our home?”

  “Oh my god.” She shook her head, staring like she wanted to drill through my pigheadedness. “You know what? This piece of rubble is all you and Nadia have to go back to whether your mother is found or not. So while you might not like our house very much, at least it has a roof.” Jayden grabbed the tablet.

  An invisible current went through my hands and hers. Time stood still throughout the cafeteria while we continued to move in a slow-motion movie. Jayden’s pixie hair stood on end. Something drew me inside her and for a few seconds. I was looking through her eyes. When I glanced at everyone around us, their futures blinked on and off in my mind. They were all going to run, some were going to scream, and others were going to whip out their phones and take pictures. But of what?

  I noticed our bodies floating above our seats. Were my powers doing that? They had to be. I tried to move, but I couldn’t. My body was frozen in time somehow. Once we were in the air, we slowly spun in a circle before stopping lengthwise and being lowered to the table. Anyone within twenty or thirty feet of us, their own tables rippled in shockwaves, sending lunch trays, backpacks, and students flying. Those outside the zone ducked and flew out of the cafeteria with their jackets and books covering their heads from sparks showering down on them.

  I blinked.

  Jayden and I slammed down hard on the table. The impact blasted the overhead lights to pieces just as I had seen it. Tables flipped up and down, throwing students, food, and their trays into the air and onto the floor. Screams erupted around the room as dozens flooded the halls and the inner yard as if the fire drill were real. Smoke filled the cafeteria while things like napkins and books left behind acted as kindling for small fires.

  I rolled off the table and smacked hard on the floor. Everything inside me hurt right down to my bone marrow. Jayden lay crumpled on the opposite side. She stared at me in terror, but it gradually turned into a grin.

  “Oh. My. God.” She rolled onto her back as pain-ridden as I felt. “That was incredible. You were inside my head, weren’t you?”

  Gulping, I nodded. “Were you in mine?”

  “Heck yeah.” She chuckled between huffs. “Don’t ever do that again. Feels like a bullet went through my brain.”

  It might have. Blood was coming out of her ear.

  Chapter Eleven

  The school nurse said we were suffering from shock. Of course, she admonished me for even coming back to school so soon after the fire, let alone hobbling on crutches when I could’ve done my classes remotely. I gave her my middle finger thanks when she left the area where I had been sequestered. Jayden was across the way behind a closed curtain, too.

  “You okay?” I slipped off the table and peeked through the curtains. Nobody was there.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I’m faking sleep. I didn’t want that old billygoat touching me and I certainly didn’t want to answer her questions. My ears are ringing enough.”

  I smirked. “I just ignored her.”

  “I figured as much.” Her cot squeaked, probably from her weight shifting. “They took my tablet, you know. I just got that thing, too. I think someone said something about it having a spell placed on it.”

  “A spell? How?”

  “Not sure. Like I said, I just got it from the IT guys because there were a couple of cracks on the screen of my last one. But I know there were a lot of people talking after we left the cafeteria. I think this one might top your locker explosion welcome.”

  A door swung open somewhere beyond our beds. I dashed back to the bed and sat down. I scrambled to get the ice pack back on my sprained ankle. Muffled voices came from the other side of my curtain.

  “May I come in?” A voice asked.

  “Not like I can stop you.” I frowned, somewhat confused by the question. He must have thought the school nurse had stripped me of my clothes. If so, there would’ve been a coroner on-site to mop the mess I would’ve l
eft of her dead carcass.

  The curtains yanked back, rings rattling on the rods. Mr. Savoy, the school’s headmaster, sighed, shoulders slouching. A trimmed brown beard outlined the strained smile on his face. He glanced at my ankle before turning his attention back to me.

  “Any idea on what happened?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “I was hoping someone could tell me, so I can make sure it never happens again.”

  “Me, too.” He chuckled before stepping closer. “As far as we can tell, that tablet your friend, Ms. Kendrick had, wasn’t her tablet. I’m not sure how it got mixed up with someone else’s, but my guess is someone switched it out as a practical joke. Like some objects that can be haunted, we think that’s the case with the tablet, though nobody has any ideas on how it happened. Most haunted objects aren’t associated with technology.”

  “That still doesn’t explain exactly what happened with us.”

  “Again, I’m not sure, but we think your psychokinesis charged it since there were reports of your power being active before you touched the tablet. But at the same time, you also charged Jayden’s powers to a degree that she’s not used to. Neither one of you could control it, and that’s why it got away from you like it did. But again, it’s not your fault. Whatever spell was cast on the tablet exacerbated it.”

  “You’re looking for the perp, right?” Jayden shouted from behind her curtain.

  Nurse Cold and Scratchy yanked back her curtain and crossed her arms. “Should’ve known you were faking.”

  “I’d do anything just to see your pretty face.” Jayden scowled before hopping off the cot and coming over to mine. She crossed her arms and glared at Savoy. “So what’s being done about locating my real tablet and finding the jackass who switched them out in the first place?”

  “We’re investigating, Detective. Or would you like to take a crack at it?” Savoy’s smile turned less friendly, but he kept it in place. “Anyway, we don’t take things like this lightly. It’s a violation in more ways than just snooping on someone else’s personal property, which resulted in the destruction of school property. Whoever is responsible will be dealt with.”

  “Your insurance premiums must be through the roof, since you let me come here.” I slumped back on the cot. Given we had to deal with insurance ourselves with our house nearly burning to the ground, it came as no shock that I knew a little something about how that stuff worked.

  Savoy chuckled before scratching his sideburn. “Well, you’re not the worst that’s happened to this school, though you’re about to break the top five. Assuming that’s any consolation. But others made it through and graduated with high school diplomas and college degrees. Unfortunately, they didn’t stay in touch, so I can only hope they’re doing okay out there.”

  “What kind of powers did they have?” I asked.

  “Psychokinesis for one. But pyrokinetics were by far the worst. It was so bad that Ms. Mathis was the reason why we had to institute remote learning.”

  “I thought that was done because of the shapeshifter and vampire kids.”

  Savoy shook his head. “No. Although, I can see why that would be a running rumor. But that wasn’t the case. Whenever Ms. Mathis had to come to the school, we had to take certain precautions because, like you, her powers were controlled by her emotions. Of course, we didn’t have an IT department back in those days like we do today, so by remote, I mean her lectures were carried out by phone.”

  “What precautions did you guys have to take?” Jayden asked.

  “She had to have a certain level of sedation. Of course, that defeated the purpose of her being here because she was practically inert and didn’t remember anything by the time she left.” Savoy turned to Nurse Boucher—her real name—and asked, “Are these two ready to head back to class or are they going home?”

  “Class.” She looked me up and down. “Although nobody has brought this one’s crutches back, so I have no idea how she’s going to get around school.”

  “You’re not leaving me here,” I warned.

  “I’ll help her get around.” Jayden was dragging me off the cot before Mr. Savoy could get a word out.

  I guess I wasn’t the only one who wanted out of this place.

  #

  My afternoon classes were Latin, Chinese, and Navajo. Even though I wasn’t a full-time student at Cornerstone University nor were my transferred grades high enough to land me in the hub’s gifted program, I was given an exception due to my being a language prodigy. Naturally, the hub decided to test my skills by giving me two of the hardest languages in the world to learn. I was pulling a B in both Chinese and Navajo, which was still impressive by their standards. Less than a tenth of a percent of the supernatural population could speak either one and certainly not both.

  Whenever it came time for me to report to my college-credit classes, I was pushed to the top of the waitlist for a study room in the library. I opened up my laptop, placed my satchel on the table, and logged into my online classroom. While I waited, I lifted my ankle into another chair at that table and placed my jacket underneath it.

  Latin and Chinese, I understood, but one of these days someone would let me know why speaking Navajo was so important when less than 200,000 people in the world could speak it. Only seven other students were in the Navajo class, and they always whined about how much trouble they were having understanding anything Mr. Nez said. Had it been me, I would’ve dropped the class a long time ago. But since it would be paying for both mine and Nadia’s tuition as long as we remained in the hub system, there was no way I was flunking out.

  My classes lasted a little longer than the regular high schoolers, so Jayden offered to pick up Nadia for me while I finished up my Latin pop quiz. Both hung outside the room until I waved them inside.

  “Can we go home now?” Nadia sat in Jayden’s lap, pouting. “I want to hear about what happened in the cafeteria today.”

  “Oh man.” I wanted to put my head down and sign out of life, but couldn’t. I still had to pack up my stuff. “Can we talk about something else?”

  “Actually, it might not be a bad idea.” Shifting Nadia, Jayden took out her cell phone. “Since I won’t get a new tablet until tomorrow, I’ve been doing some research on my own about what Mr. Savoy said.”

  “You mean about others who came to this school who are just as dangerous as me?” I shoved my notebook in my satchel and snapped it shut.

  “Exactly. I had to ask around, but I got their names. Miles Shotwell and Kelly Mathis, the pyro. There were other psychokinetics, too, but those were the only two who came to mind.”

  “I’m hoping none of this is related, but at the same time, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  “There’s something else.” Jayden paused as though she was trying to figure out how to say it. “What happened between us right before the craziness took off...I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shown you those pictures and pissed you off. You want your own place. I get it.”

  “It’s not just that.” I stood with the help of the chair and motioned for Nadia to get up so we could leave. “I think we all hated our house. But at the same time, we had put so much time, money, and energy into making it work for us over all of those years and now all of it’s gone. Our only sanctuary is gone. Even if we were to get our mother back, we have nowhere to hide her and that scares me more than anything.” My throat tightened. I frowned to keep the mounting sadness and fear from overtaking me and spilling out in the form of tears. I didn’t have time for that. I needed to find my mother, and I couldn’t think beyond that. I needed to if we were going to survive and thrive through this.

  “I know that fear.” Jayden paused to push down a gulp. “Vanessa’s powers going unnoticed were only part of the reason why we left Detroit so fast. The other had to do with my parents losing their jobs within a week of each other right before that. We lost our amazing condo and had to sell almost everything we owned before moving in with my aunt and uncle and their two kids. They only ha
d so much room in their house. Dad finally got a job here as a drug counselor and my mom as a customer support rep. Vanessa and I stayed with our aunt and uncle in Ann Arbor in their tiny three-bedroom house with their two kids. We were miserable but by no fault of theirs. They were sweet and tried to make the most of it. Vanessa and I had to wait over another year for my parents to save up enough to send for us. When we got to the two-bedroom roach apartment, we mourned to have our old lives back. We knew it wasn’t happening, so we had to endure until we saved up enough to get the house we have now. So, I sort of get where you’re coming from with your home being taken away and not knowing what the future holds. Just know that it will get better if you work at it. And you’re one hell of a workhorse from what I understand.”

  Half-smiling, I nodded my thanks.

  #

  Since Jayden lost her driving privileges, we had to wait until either Ian or Bree picked us up from school. When we saw Ian storm out of the office carrying a pair of crutches, we could only guess what that conversation was about. Someone must have told him what had happened. When he caught a glimpse of us heading for him, he hurried down the hall to meet us the rest of the way. Naturally, he snatched up Jayden to make sure she was okay before he looked both Nadia and me over.

  “What was that all about?” Jayden leaned to the right and caught a glimpse of Mr. Savoy holding the office door, but not approaching.

  “Nothing,” Ian said, scooping Nadia into his arms. “Just me having a word with your headmaster about how he could use a lesson about safeguarding the children at this school when he couldn’t even protect you two from a practical joke that could’ve gone horribly sideways.”

  “Practical joke?” I asked. “Is that what he told you?”

  “More or less, but that’s what it sounded like.” Ian led the way to the door, holding it open for Jayden and me before following. “Actually, he said he thinks it was done in extremely poor taste and he’s working to find out who’s behind it. My guess is he’s going to scry for the answer.”