by L. A. Banks
Sarah took off down the aisle, calling Hyacinth’s name. Her heart was racing as each of her friends took a different aisle, shouting for Hyacinth at the tops of their lungs. Tiny shadows slipped from the bookshelves and combined to create two yawning stretching shadows that made Sarah gasp and skid to a stop. But the way they were bouncing up and down wasn’t wholly threatening.
Something in their urgent motion seemed almost like an appeal for her to follow them. Taking the risk, she followed their lead, even though they were urging her in a different direction, noting how this time she actually heard them squeak and squeal as though in delight.
They led her to a misty aisle, and when she hesitated, she felt something shove her forward and almost screamed. Then one of the shadows seemed to inhale, and instantly the mist began to clear away.
The moment it was gone, Sarah saw the open doorway that said Senior Reference and knew that was where Hyacinth had gone. “‘Cinth, you’ve gotta get out of there!” she called out. “Now! It’s dangerous!”
One of the long, stretchy shadows rushed to the door, as though urging her to go through it.
“I can’t see!” Hyacinth said in a far-away-echo voice.
“Okay,” Sarah said, trying not to hyperventilate. “Just stop walking. Tell me when you’ve stopped walking.”
“Okay, but I’m scared, Sarah!” Hyacinth yelled back.
“Think of me. Close your eyes and picture me in your mind. Use your Clav skills. I’m closing my eyes, too, so I can picture you.”
One of the shadows tugged on Sarah’s, and she moved gingerly through the door, gaining confidence with each step. The shadows were helping her find her friend. In a place where her ability to see in the dark was severely limited, the shadows were helping her to safely make her way forward like supernatural guide dogs.
“Okay, Sarah,” Hyacinth said in a shaky voice, “but it feels like there are other presences in here with me, and I really don’t want to close my eyes.”
“Bring the white light down around you—remember how Nana Marlene taught us at home? I’m going to think of a golden light around your white light. Then I’m thinking of the sealer we always do…c’mon, say it with me, just like Nana taught us. ‘In the name of the Most High of the Light, I am safe in all dimensions of time and space in which I exist on all planes and subplanes, and consciousness time zones.’”
Sarah waited until her friend repeated the words along with her, her voice sounding stronger as she spoke.
“All right. Now, nothing can hurt you, so you can close your eyes.”
“Okay, Sarah…I can see you standing by the door. But there’s a big spider beside you.”
“He’s cool—that’s Mr. Anansi. It’s not a dark side illusion.”
“I can see Tami running down the aisle, and Allie is behind her. There’s a snail back where you guys were before, and—”
Sarah caught a brief glimpse of a shadow in the shape of a girl, reached out into the mist and pulled hard the minute she connected with something solid. Then Hyacinth was in her arms. She wrapped her own arms tightly around her friend and dragged her away from the open doorway.
When they were far enough away that she felt safe, Sarah allowed them to collapse to the floor, their backs against a bookcase. As soon as they caught their breath, she blurted out, “Ohmigod, ‘Cinth—no matter what, don’t go through unknown doorways around here by yourself. Are you crazy?”
The shadows that had been in the aisle with her jumped up and down as though they were also fussing, but Sarah couldn’t spare any attention for them now.
“I didn’t think there could be any danger in a freakin’ library, Sarah! I thought I was going to find something that could help us,” Hyacinth said, burying her face against Sarah’s shoulder. “It was so dark and scary in there.”
Tami and Allie bumped into them as the large spider scampered away.
“There’s so much we don’t know about this place. If anything seems questionable, wait for backup, okay?” Sarah pushed Hyacinth away so she could look her in the eyes. “Safety first. Always.”
“We left Miss Tillie screaming on the shelf. We’d better go tell her you’re all right before she has a heart attack or pops out of her shell,” Tami said, then glanced at Allie, Sarah and Hyacinth, who all just stared at her. “What? I’m just saying.”
Suddenly two large figures loomed in the doorway, then moved forward with such velocity that there wasn’t even time to scream. In seconds, Tami’s mystery man somersaulted to a stop beside them as his blond buddy came sliding out on his backside, laughing. Sarah stared at them both hard, remembering that the blond kid had been sitting close to Ayana during opening ceremonies.
The shadows made scary faces, but then squealed and jumped back into the bookshelves, intermittently peeking out. Sarah glanced up at them once, but she didn’t want to draw attention to her connection with them, so she turned away from them quickly. One of her tag-along shadows had actually stuck out its tongue at the two boys.
“Whew, what a rush!” the athletic blond guy said, rolling over and doing a hard pushup off the floor.
“Sweet,” Tami’s mystery man added, back-flipping up to his feet. He smiled at her. “Long time no see, newbie.”
Tami smiled and looked down. He moved toward her, and Sarah’s focus was split between the threatening presence she sensed behind the door, Tami and the guy slowly stalking her. Allie and Hyacinth were no help—they were huddled against a bookcase holding each other and looking confused.
The blond Adonis chuckled under his breath as gray eyes lifted Tami’s chin with one finger. “You ever take a walk on the dark side, babe?”
“No,” Tami said, trying to sound tough.
“If you’ve got the right tour guide, it can be a lotta fun. I heard you have a little vamp in you.” He smiled and then ran his finger down the side of her neck.
Tami gave him a sexy smile and lowered her voice to a husky murmur. “A little bit… on my mother’s side.”
“A little bit is all I need.”
“Hey, you’re Ayana’s little cousin, aren’t you?” the blond guy said, looking at Sarah.
“Yeah,” Sarah said uncomfortably.
“Impressive performance earlier—a Neteru kid making it all the way into Blends division, go figure,” he said with a smirk, clearly letting her know that he didn’t think she’d been impressive at all.
The dislike between them was instant and palpable.
“Hey, Tam, we’ve gotta get back to our room and, uh…finish doing stuff,” Allie said, sounding lame as she tried her best to get them away from obvious trouble.
“In a minute,” Tami said, clearly enjoying flirting.
Sarah’s stare bored into the guy with the gray eyes, and flashes of Melissa stabbed into her mind. There was a connection there; she just didn’t know what it was. She slowly dragged her focus to the door. Behind that door were secrets. But she wasn’t strong enough to get more than fragments. It wasn’t like when she was at home on familiar ground, listening to unblocked conversations with her brother helping.
That was when it hit her. The Upper Spheres had blocked all eavesdropping and scrying…not just one-on-one, it was such a blackout of information that it had to have been done as a group. So, that was how it was done around here, huh. Groups. And it made sense, if students were sneaking doing stuff they weren’t supposed to right under the noses of some of the strongest telepathic teachers on the planet. Okaaay. She’d just learned something valuable, and she would ask Ayana for more details later. Sarah returned her focus to the boys and frowned.
“Why don’t you tell your girls you’ll catch ‘em later?” Gray Eyes murmured in Tami’s ear, his body pressed tightly against hers as he gently pressed her against the stacks.
Was this guy seriously going to make out with Tami right in front of them? And was Tami seriously going to let him? What the hell was wrong with Tami when it came to this guy? It was like she fell under some k
ind of spell that left her stuck on stupid.
“Because we roll as one squad,” Sarah said calmly, getting to her feet. She grabbed Tami’s arm and looked the guy square in the face. “And we don’t know you.”
“The name’s Stefan, and I’m trying to get to know her better,” he said with a chuckle, holding his hands up in front of his chest.
Alarm bells went off in Sarah’s head. That was the name she’d picked up from Melissa’s mind when they first clashed. “How about you do that another time?” she said, giving him a hard look.
“Sarah…” Tami said in a whiny tone she’d never heard her friend use in her life.
Taken aback, Sarah let go of Tami and stubbornly folded her arms. She was so not leaving her best friend here with only a big spider and a snail to keep her safe.
“I don’t want to get into a beef with you, fang girl,” Stefan said to Sarah. “I might accidentally have to show you mine.” He gave her a slow smile. “And trust me, babe, mine are bigger.”
“You sure about that?” Sarah said, lifting her eyebrow.
“Aw, man, leave the newbies alone. You wouldn’t want the Neteru twins to call Mommy or Daddy, would you?” the blond guy said, laughing.
“I’m so glad you crack yourself up,” Sarah snapped, trying to hide her embarrassment. So that was what everyone thought—the moment any of the kids from the Net-pound had a problem, they’d snitch to their parents?
“Be cool,” Tami said, frowning at Sarah. “Forgive my roommate,” she said to the boys. “She’s just a little overprotective.”
Sarah looked at Tami in disbelief. Her best friend had just thrown her under the bus for this slimy Casanova?
Stefan stared at Sarah for a moment with a triumphant smirk. “You and I are cool… I just like your girl,” he added, slowly allowing his upper and lower canines to crest.
Sarah just stared back at him for a moment, vaguely aware that Allie and Hyacinth were as dumbstruck as she was. His were bigger, and he had a double set, too—like Headmaster Shabazz. Shit…
He gave her a wolfish grin, allowed his canines to go back to normal, then leaned in and kissed the side of Tami’s neck. It was a slow, sensuous caress that made her blush and giggle.
“Later,” he murmured. “We’ll get to know each other when you don’t have a bodyguard.” He backed off and gave his friend a swift nod.
Within moments they had melted into the aisles and were gone.
“You okay?” Sarah said, rushing over to Tami, with Allie and Hyacinth on her heels.
Tami just fanned her face and slid down the shelf. “He’s the one.”
Sarah felt heat flush her entire body. Was Tami out of her mind? She drew a deep breath, ready to launch into an argument, when a shrill voice made all the girls turn around.
“Heavens to mercy! Goodness gracious!” a short, chubby woman with blue hair exclaimed. Erratic sparks flared from the end of the blue marble wand she was waving about, causing Sarah and her friends to duck with each pass.
Sarah realized immediately that this must be the librarian, Mrs. Hogan. It also occurred to her that they had just been found in a forbidden part of the school. Well, hell.
Mr. Anansi dropped from somewhere unseen, his squeaking an agitated recitation of what had transpired, no doubt.
Mrs. Hogan blinked several times, her small violet eyes shaded by long blue lashes, and her pink cheeks deepening to fuchsia before normalizing to a dusty rose.
“You ladies could have been severely injured!” she fussed, adjusting the powder-blue dress that matched her hair. “Before you go rummaging about in the library, it is vitally important to get a basic orientation.” She let out a peeved sigh and tapped her wand against her small plump palm. “I am Mrs. Hogan, and you would be…?”
“I’m Sarah…and we’re sorry, ma’am. We didn’t know there was an off-limits section.”
“Ah, yes! Sarah the brave, my new work-study student,” Mrs. Hogan said, rushing in close to hug her. “Wonderful instincts. Mr. Anansi reported it all—but the next time you reach into the Shady Path, you must be doubly sure that what you pull out is truly a friend.” She peered at the other girls until Tami finally spoke up.
“I’m Tamara, and these are my friends Allison and Hyacinth.”
“These two ladies don’t have their own voices?” Mrs. Hogan asked with a droll smile.
“Yes, ma’am,” Allie said with a nervous curtsey. “I’m Allison, and she’s Hyacinth.”
Mrs. Hogan shook her head. “So it is only poor Hyacinth who cannot speak, eh?”
“No, ma’am… I mean, yes, ma’am. That’s me, Hyacinth.”
“Nervous child, my goodness. But I dare say you have reason to be, although thankfully you’re none the worse for the wear.” Mrs. Hogan let out a little sigh, and then folded her arms over her ample chest and nodded toward the open door. “Ladies, are you aware of what’s behind that Senior Reference sign?”
When none of them answered, Mrs. Hogan clucked her tongue. “That area is for Upper Sphere students. It contains a tear between dimensions. Guardian warriors must learn how to block dark forces from slithering out of such regions.”
Mrs. Hogan began pacing, using her wand to draw sparkling images as she spoke. “Only a person who is extremely versed in countering demon attacks and building white light barriers should ever enter there. Those are usually our more senior Clair-V students, and even then, we send them in with another strong student who grounds them from the outside of the chamber, and we have an instructor on standby. It is not a place for the uninitiated, as you can literally feel presences touching you in there, even succumb to a temporary possession—which means we’d have to do an exorcism, yada, yada, yada, not pretty. And with all the recent issues we’ve had at the school, we do not want students or faculty going in there until the disappearances have been addressed. Understood?”
Hyacinth immediately began to pat down her body with alarm. “Mrs. Hogan, did anything get on me? Can you tell? I’m not possessed, am I?”
The three friends peered at each other nervously. Mrs. Hogan wrinkled her nose and waved her wand over Hyacinth’s trembling body.
“Hmmm…hard to tell…let me see. You were in there for how long?”
“Only a few minutes,” Sarah said breathlessly.
“Never can tell how long it takes, though,” Mrs. Hogan said, rubbing her chin, and then smiled when tears welled in Hyacinth’s eyes. “You’ll live. But no more shenanigans in my library.”
Hyacinth rapidly nodded.
“Good, then be off. And before you ladies explore another thing, open your PIUs and learn about the danger zones, thank you very much.”
The girls watched the blue matron float away.
Tami glanced at the others. “Just one question. What the heck is a PIU?”
PART TWO
Knowing
“I have come into the Island of Fire, I have set right in the place of wrong…”
—The Book of Going Forth by Day
Chapter 12
They left the library without finding any defensive protections, but at least Sarah felt better now that she’d learned what nexse meant, though not why the being had said it to her.
Now they just needed to find their way to the cafeteria, which was turning out to be easier said than done.
They’d made a complete and frustrating circle twice before getting it right. Between having a seer in their group and using Tami’s expert tracking skills, they were finally able to figure out that the color grid was laid out like the chakra system. The delicious smell and hubbub of activity greeted them before they actually saw the cafeteria. Then all they had to do was enter the flow of hungry students, following along, and being bumped and shoved like she’d seen on old DVDs of salmon swimming upstream.
The hallway madness dumped them out into the mouth of the cafeteria, where it took a moment to get oriented. Rather than utilitarian tables and glass-shielded vats of mass-produced gunk, like she’d
expected, it was more like an endless buffet of gourmet choices.
A loud gong sounded and the older students stood still, causing the new students to freeze where they were.
“Es, Es, Hetep, students!” Headmistress Stone called out in the ancient Kemetian greeting while opening her arms, walking stick held high, and bringing the group to full silence. “We shall ask for a blessing over the food that was prepared for the nourishment and health of your bodies, Ashe. We will ask the divine Creator to have mercy over all students, staff and faculty, and to allow you to partake in this wonderful feast with grace, health and thanks, Ashe.”
“Ashe,” rang out in the cafeteria.
“We do this because there are always dark spiritual forces lurking, and also because to cleanse the food before consumption is wisdom, Ashe.”
“Ashe,” the student body responded as one.
The headmistress smiled a wise old smile and lowered her ebony walking stick. “Then, my children, enjoy.”
It was as though Headmistress Stone had lifted invisible floodgates. Students grabbed trays and plates and silverware and rushed about in a frenetic ballet. Everyone jockeyed for position to get in line for their favorite food; it was survival of the fittest, pure and simple.
In easy-to-access stations placed around the room, there were salads, breads, hot and cold dishes, make-it-yourself sandwiches and fountains for cold drinks…even a dessert station and ice cream bar near the coffee and tea urns.
But the best thing of all was that her grandmother had not come over to her. They’d simply shared a knowing look. God bless Nana Marlene for staying in character as Headmistress Stone, so that she could be a regular student for now. Later, she would sneak off for a private visit. For now, learning the ropes of the lunchroom without embarrassing oneself was paramount.
As Sarah glanced around she saw multi-armed beings, something like a cross between giant squids and humans, wearing white chef outfits and flipping pans of made-to-order pasta and stir-fry for eagerly waiting students. Must have been some of the Mer come over from Nod, she decided. She tried not to stare, but that was impossible.
