Scion of the Sun

by Nicola Marsh

“So you just hang out at freak school for the hell of it?”

  With a grimace, he pointed down the long corridor. “Come on, I’ll tell you all about it on the grand tour.”

  With a resigned sigh, I fell into step beside him, my curiosity outweighing my urge to run screaming from this place and its freakoid occupants.

  “Much to my aunt’s disappointment, I’m perfectly normal. No sign of any supernatural gifts, not even a flicker, which is why she insisted I attend school here for the next two years ’til I graduate.” He made cutesy quotation marks with his fingers. “If you open your mind, Quinn, immerse yourself in New Age subjects, who knows what may manifest?”

  I chuckled at his perfect imitation of Brigit’s voice. “What do your parents think about it all?”

  Discomfort flashed across his face, darkening his eyes to emerald. “Mom’s a hippie. Never knew my dad.”

  “Me either,” I said, wary of any guy who was the principal’s nephew but happy to find some common ground with the first “normal” person I’d met all day. “How long have you been here?”

  “Three months.”

  I winced, hoping Nan would snap out of her coma soon and I’d be back in our cottage by the lake, away from visions and bad dreams and suspect principals. I couldn’t imagine spending a week here, let alone months.

  “It’s a drag, but I’m making the best of it.”

  Something I could empathize with one hundred percent, but I didn’t want to bond with him, didn’t want to feel anything other than resentment at being put in this position, placed here with the rest of the freaks. What would he know, anyway? Mr. Normal wouldn’t understand what I was going through: the confusion, the fear, the anger, the hope I’d learn to control whatever was going on and not feel so utterly helpless.

  “So what can you do?”

  “Precognition,” I admitted reluctantly. He’d find out from Brigit anyway.

  A newfound respect gleamed in those enigmatic eyes. “Visions?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “How long?”

  “Two weeks.” Fourteen days too long. If I hadn’t had those stupid visions, Nan wouldn’t be in the hospital and I wouldn’t be here. “Anything else you’d like to know? Like what I saw? If I can levitate? What I eat for breakfast?”

  Some of my hostility waned as I noted his pained expression, his awkward stance of hands shoved in pockets and his body half turned away like he didn’t want to be near me. This guy wasn’t the enemy. He could be a potential ally in whatever I faced here. It would be smarter to befriend him rather than alienate him. “Sorry for being a pain.”

  “No worries.”

  Our gazes locked, and this time when I saw the flare of awareness in his eyes, it had nothing to do with his aunt’s projecting energy.

  Off-kilter, I gestured around us. “Aren’t you supposed to be filling me in on details during the grand tour?”

  “Right.” He ticked points off on his fingers. “Some students find the New Age hippie thing isn’t for them, so they only stay a term or two, but the school offers the normal subjects through to graduation.”

  So I got to excel at my favorites, English and biology, while flunking Read-the-Crystal-Ball.

  “No boarding fee since we’re funded by the Parapsychological Society, who would love to find more students willing to undertake post-grad work at college. You pay for incidentals. You choose elective classes, with the option of one-on-one tutoring, and take any classes you want on an accelerated program.”

  It all sounded very civilized. What he hadn’t answered was the important stuff: how many other freaks like me were here, who the powerful freaks in charge were, and what they actually taught us.

  Quinn was oblivious to my insecurities as he prattled on about practicalities. “No curfews, no uniforms, free rein of resources, access to whatever you need to get your high school diploma while honing your skill, if you have one.”

  “Just like summer camp, goody,” I muttered. While the freedom didn’t sound so bad, he didn’t need to sound so damn peppy about being here. He was practically a walking, talking brochure.

  “You wouldn’t have come here if you were hoping for a vacation.”

  I smiled at the irony. This place was far removed from any vacation spot I’d ever choose. Who would want to come here voluntarily?

  Eager to finish the tour, I picked up the pace. When he fell into step without a word, I thought that maybe he’d underestimated his normality and possessed a hint of clairvoyance.

  “How many people study here?”

  “Ninety.” My eyebrows shot up and he chuckled at my surprise. “About seventy are like me, magic wannabes, hippie kids interested in mysticism and paganism, nothing out of the ordinary. The rest are like you, gifted.” He paused outside an elaborately carved oak door, his hand on the doorknob. “From what I’ve heard, some people have been here a while, but haven’t gotten far.”

  “Why?”

  He shrugged. “Because they’re too scared to know.”

  I knew the feeling. Part of me wanted to gain control over the visions, wanted to use them to find my mom and maybe get the answers I deserved. But delving into my so-called power—what did that mean? I didn’t want to know the future. The present was freaky enough. Besides, I wanted to be normal.

  I’d always laughed at Nan’s second sight and scoffed at her vague predictions. Some had come true, some hadn’t, but they’d been so general, like horoscope stuff, and I’d never paid much attention. Yet when I’d confided in her about the visions, Nan hadn’t been surprised. She’d merely nodded, picked up the phone, and called Brigit.

  Quinn touched me lightly on the shoulder. “It’s okay to be scared. I guess it’s better to know what you’re dealing with, huh?”

  Finding his touch comforting rather than spooky, I nodded. “I guess.”

  With that half-crooked smile that made my synapses zing, he turned the doorknob. “Come meet the rest of the crazy crew.”

  I stepped into a cavernous room lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and ergonomic desks and chairs. The quiet hum of computers warred with the subtle murmuring of students. The heads bent over textbooks brought some normality to my otherwise abnormal day.

  It also felt like the first day at high school when about twenty curious gazes swung my way: coolly assessing, openly inquisitive.

  “Study hall,” Quinn announced unnecessarily, beckoning me into the room. “Come meet Raven. She’s a newbie too. Started last week.”

  Stares prickled the skin between my shoulder blades as we wound our way between tables, quickly reaching the far side of the room, where a girl around my age sat alone, her black hair shadowing her pale face and her snub nose firmly buried in a worn novel with a vampire on the front.

  “Hey Raven.”

  The girl didn’t respond and Quinn snatched the book out of her hands. “Listen up, bookworm. Newbie alert. Stop reading for a sec and meet Holly.”

  Disinterested dark eyes, almost as black as her hair, swept over me before she managed a tight smile. “Hi.” She held out her hand to Quinn. “Book, please.”

  With a wicked chuckle, Quinn held it overhead. “Come and get it.”

  I liked Quinn, liked his ability to joke around and fit in and be at ease when he’d only been here a few months longer than I had. Considering how on edge I was, I could spend a lifetime here and I still wouldn’t feel comfortable.

  Raven rolled her eyes. “Child.”

  Before I could smile at Quinn’s mock indignant expression, Raven did some fancy wrist maneuver while pointing an extended index finger at the book. I watched, dumbfounded, as it sailed out of Quinn’s hand and landed back with its owner.

  “Show off,” Quinn said, his amused tone laced with admiration.

  Raven arched an imperious eyebrow. “Just practicing.”

  “Like I said, show off.” Quinn turned to me, his smile teasing. “Telekinesis is much more impressive than the stuff you can’t see.”

/>   I mumbled a noncommittal response, curious as to how much practice newbies had to do and when I’d get to start. The faster I learned to control my precognition, the faster I could get out of here.

  While I wasn’t here to make friends, the fact that this Raven chick barely looked at me rankled. Who did she think she was? Some clichéd semi-goth in head-to-toe black, with the regulation long black hair, alabaster skin, and ebony nail polish? She probably changed her name just to sound authentic.

  As if sensing my silent animosity, she shut the book with a loud snap and glared up at me. “What’s your thing?”

  “Precognition.”

  “Visions. Cool.” Her disparaging flyaway comment implied it was anything but. She flipped open her book again.

  Quinn swung his head between us, frowning. “We should hang out. You two can practice together in the vain hope it’ll rub off on me.”

  Raven ignored us and flipped to the next page, while I shrugged. “What do we get to practice? Vampire-hunting skills and befriending werewolves?”

  My snark captured Raven’s attention long enough for her to look up from her book. “Have you had your version of the Sorting Hat with Brigit yet?”

  “You mean the shortest interview on record, where I got told nothing before being handed over to Quinn with that weird hand buzzing thing?”

  She laughed. “Yeah, same thing happened to me. Don’t worry. You get used to it.”

  “Really?”

  “Hey!” Quinn butted in, tapping his watch. “Cut the mushy female bonding stuff, I’ve got things to do.”

  Raven snorted. “You’d think he’d been here a year rather than three months.”

  “Guess it pays to be confident.”

  Quinn blushed at my backhanded compliment before waving toward the door. “Come on, let’s go.”

  “See you ’round,” I said, pleased when Raven smiled at me again.

  I needed all the friends I could get in this place.

  The rest of the tour proceeded without incident, and as much as my imagination had built boarding school up into some kind of haunted house for crazies, the reality was surprisingly tame.

  The ancient sandstone building sprawled over an acre and consisted of long, cool corridors, several large conference-style rooms, a library, a cafeteria, a fancy dining hall, classrooms, and a dorm.

  All very conventional, discounting the one class I’d peeked into that had books hovering over desks. Scratched that one off my subject list. Levitation 101 held little interest unless I could levitate my mom directly out of that dreary cave and away from the monster.

  “Your room’s this way.”

  Quinn pushed through a heavy wooden door and we stepped out into another stone archway linking the main building to more dorms.

  I pointed overhead. “What’s with the rocks? These stone arches are everywhere here.”

  He shrugged. “Stones were prominent in the megalithic period, supposed to be powerful in casting magic. Guess it stands to reason this place would have them.” His half-crooked smile managed to be adorable and bashful at the same time. “I’m kind of a nerd for facts.”

  “Me too.”

  He stared at me for a long moment, something more than admiration in his eyes. “If you ever want a study partner, I’m your guy.”

  “Thanks.”

  Neither of us moved, and a slow blush crept into my cheeks. I’m your guy. I’d never had a guy want to study with me, let alone come near me, and the fact someone as cute as Quinn was offering made me think this place wouldn’t be all bad.

  “Hate to run, but I’ve got a bus to catch after I show you your room.”

  “Oh, right,” I mumbled, mortified I’d misread his attention. The guy wasn’t interested in me. He was being polite. All part of the grand tour, probably. Schmuck. Me, not him. I practically ran along the flagstone pathway, desperate to get to my room and away from the embarrassment of taking up too much of his time.

  Quinn didn’t speak as we walked, though I caught him sneaking a few confused glances my way.

  “This one’s yours.”

  We stopped outside a thick wooden door devoid of numbers and I frowned.

  “No numbers, because we’re supposed to be intellectually gifted, remember?” He laughed and I managed a tight smile.

  I shuffled my feet, anxious to get inside before I made any more blunders. “Thanks for the tour.”

  His slow wink had me blushing again. “Anytime.”

  I opened the door and slipped inside, ready to close it, when he placed his hand in the doorjamb.

  “Holly?”

  “Yeah?”

  “It’s going to be cool getting to know you.”

  His lazy smile set my body buzzing all the way down to my toes, making me grin like a goofball. I watched him stride down the corridor, purposeful long legs eating up the yards, a guy going places, a guy knowing where he wanted to be. I envied him that, because right now, after the confusing, crappy day I’d had, I had no idea where I was headed, let alone what I’d find when I got there.

  CHAPTER THREE

  My plan to grab a quick snack from the cafeteria and head back to my room to eat in peace hit a major snag the second I stepped into the huge room and ran into someone. Literally. Not a little “oops, sorry” bump, but a full-on slamming into the back of a girl who appeared from nowhere as I entered. My apology died on my lips as she swung around to face me.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  She jabbed me in the chest, hard, and I struggled not to wince. Like I’d give the troll with the magenta Mohawk, ten eyebrow piercings, and a nasty lower lip bar the satisfaction. Usually, I’d walk away from confrontation, but after the day I’d had? I needed to let off a little steam.

  Hoping I’d keep all my teeth intact on my first day here, I tilted my chin up, eyeballing her. “Me? I’m just getting some food. You, on the other hand, need to visit an optometrist.”

  “Are you implying I can’t see where I’m going?” Her nostrils flared, making a tiny diamond stud twinkle in false friendliness.

  I shrugged and waved my hand in front of my face as if shooing away an annoying fly. “Not implying anything. Stating a fact.”

  She bared her teeth and I inadvertently found myself searching for fangs. “So that’s why Drake was all over you earlier.”

  “Drake?”

  What did scary biker dude have to do with magenta Mohawk? “Don’t know where you get your intel from, but you’re wrong.”

  Her vicious leer made me wish I’d apologized and backed away. “I saw you cozying up under that tree.” Her dismissive glance flicked over me. “You’re so not his type, but I guess that badass attitude you got going on kept him amused for a few seconds.”

  Her possessiveness clued me in. Mohawk was biker dude’s girlfriend. “You and Drake are together?”

  The rings in her right eyebrow quivered in outrage. “What of it?”

  I tapped my lower lip, pretending to think. “I guess that makes you the Duck?” I swear her eyes glowed crimson just like Drake’s, and I braced, realizing too late that antagonizing people on my first day probably wasn’t the way to go.

  To my amazement, she let out a ripping laugh akin to a braying donkey, drawing the attention of every student in the cafeteria. She planted hands on her hips and cocked her head to one side. “Don’t go getting any ideas, ’cause you and I are never going to be friends. But you’re okay for a newbie.”

  It wasn’t until she’d spun around and clomped away on her purple Doc Martens that I realized my hands were shaking. Swiping the clamminess down the side of my jeans, I headed for the fridge. I grabbed a strawberry milk and an apple, keeping my head down the whole time. I didn’t want to run into possessive psychos or even the tentative friends I’d made in Quinn and Raven. All I wanted was to head back to my room, curl up on my bed, and process the monumental first day I’d had.

  After chugging back the milk, I lay on my bed and crun
ched the apple, brooding with every mouthful. I might have survived my first day at boarding school for nutcases, but I felt just as isolated here as I had at Wolfebane High. I’d hated having to come here, but a small part of me had hoped a new start would make me feel different. Like I fit in or belonged or something.

  Yeah, like I was desperate to fit in with a bunch of kooks. I lobbed the apple core in the trash and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I sat up and let the silence wash over me.

  I don’t know what I’d expected from this place, but it certainly wasn’t anything this civilized. Apart from the few odd ones I’d encountered, the rest of the students appeared fairly normal. The facilities were classy, and my dorm resembled an eighteenth-century hotel room, complete with rolltop desk, fancy bookcase, and a bed designed for late mornings and skipped classes.

  I reached for my iPod, jammed one of the pieces into my ear, and ramped up the music, my heart doing a weird little turnover as the first strains of Michael Bublé’s latest song filtered through. Not my choice in music, but he was Nan’s favorite—a good stand in for Frank Sinatra apparently—and listening to his soulful voice and soppy music made me feel close to her at a time I needed her most. I wished my life could go back to the way it had always been, before the visions, before Nan’s stroke, before cute guys I couldn’t stop thinking about.

  If Nan were here, she would’ve been overjoyed I was showing interest in a “boy,” as she called any guy under forty. She’d urged me to date, to go out with my friends. And therein lay the problem. I didn’t have any. My cell? Textless. Email account? Bare except for the usual spam for drugs and enlargements.

  Sure, I’d had study partners and a spot at the nerd table at lunch if I wanted it, but nine times out of ten, I’d preferred eating outside under Wolfebane High’s oldest oak tree, my nose buried in a book, effectively shutting out the world and how damn lonely I really was. I’d never spoken to anyone at my old high school the way I’d spoken to almost every person who’d crossed my path today. I’d stood up to them all: Colt, Drake, Brigit, Mohawk. And what had happened? They respected me for it.