Shadow Walker (Neteru Academy Books)

by L. A. Banks

  “Yes!” the teacher said, running down the aisle to deposit her kettle on a burner. It immediately started to smoke, so Mrs. Guilliaume paused as Kimberly Wilkerson, one of the Olfactories, turned green from the smell, and bent over and hurled. Instantly the giant toad that was positioned by the side of the desk opened its wide mouth and caught the contents of her stomach. A loud “Eeeww” rose up in unison from all the students as three more Ollies followed suit.

  “You may be excused,” Mrs. Guilliaume said enthusiastically, and she waited as the four sick students dashed from her classroom. Those who remained made faces of disgust, but the teacher waved dismissively, staying determinedly cheerful. “As they should have explained on day one of class, this is why I’ve placed waste buckets by my Olfactory students. We must be good planetary stewards and recycle everything. A good nose is a must for developing the finest of blends and the richest of recipes.

  “There is a science of molecular combination, certainly, but there’s also the fact that no two compounds of the same element are ever of the same concentration. That is the art—getting the strengths of the mixtures right, based on the variables of the concentrations—and we shall learn to go beyond the basics to create chemical composition art.”

  Sarah just stared at the woman, her mind a million miles away and focused on finding Ayana as soon as she could. At least her little shadows hadn’t come out of hiding since the Amy Feingold incident.

  When the bell rang, Wil got up and stood by the door. He looked at her and smiled, but somehow Val body blocked her in the aisle, and it was next to impossible to see around him, given that he was more than a full head taller than her.

  “What’s the rush?” Val said, teasing her.

  “No rush,” Sarah said, laughing, trying to get past him.

  “Did you talk to T?”

  “I tried to catch her in the hall between classes, and you can see what good it did. Now she’s totally not speaking.”

  “Hey,” Val said, shrugging. “What can you do?” He glanced over his shoulder at Wil and then looked back at Sarah. “Remember, I’ve got your back, okay?”

  “Yeah, Val, I know that,” she said with a slight frown, not understanding why he seemed to take exception to Wil.

  “Cool,” Val said, and then loped past Wil, giving him a curt nod of recognition.

  “Hi…” Wil said, when Sarah made it to the door at last.

  Sarah could feel Allie and Hyacinth hanging back, wide-eyed.

  “The big mixer is tomorrow… save me a dance, okay?”

  Sarah smiled, her pulse racing. “Sure… okay.”

  “Catch you later, then—getting together with the guys from track right now.”

  The moment Wil jogged away, Allie and Hyacinth accosted her.

  “OMG, Sarah,” Allie whispered. “What is going on with you and Wil?”

  Hyacinth squeezed Sarah’s arm. “Is it my imagination, or…?”

  Sarah just shrugged. “It’s nothing.” But she couldn’t stop herself from beaming.

  The balance of the day crawled by. Ayana was still preoccupied, but the teachers had handed out assignments as if they were handing out lunch. There was so much homework to get done, and all assignments had to be in the following day, on pain of being barred from the dance.

  Everyone was on their best behavior all day Wednesday. Amy Feingold had come back to class with a newly repaired tooth but gave Sarah a wide berth. In fact, the only static Sarah and her friends got consisted of a few evil glances, which was just fine with her.

  But by the end of Blends lecture, she was thrumming with anticipation. She was going to dance with Wil, and she could hardly wait.

  However the real challenge would be what to wear tonight. It had come across on their PIUs—no uniforms required at the luau. A massive cheer had rung through the halls. Students could wear their own gear tonight. But for her and her friends, there was only dread. They’d never lived “off compound.” They weren’t sure what was considered the latest and hippest fashion. Sure, they’d gone on PirateNet to see what was what and asked around casually, so no one would know how out of touch they really were, but the feedback was vague. Just jeans, boots and a nice blouse.

  Back at the dorm at last, Sarah studied her burnt orange midriff sweater with cap sleeves and chain belt. She’d seen the same style worn by an outlawed band star, although she wasn’t bold enough to put a black lace bra under it and leave the front half opened—even she owned a black lace bra. Still, it gave what little figure she had a lift. The straight-legged jeans she wore seemed okay, and the metal hardware around her waist gave her a bit of edginess that she prayed looked cool. She just wished she could have done something new and dramatic with her hair, but at least allowing it to simply hang down on her shoulders was a departure from her perpetual ponytail.

  Although nobody said it, she knew all her friends were thinking the same thing as they fretted and hunted through their clothing choices. They, like her, only owned whatever their parents had hot-zapped in from the outside world. Everybody depended on supplies coming into the compounds by way of her dad’s white Light energy whirls, which had the upside of the cargo being safe and the down side of complete parental censorship.

  Allie and Sarah stared at each other as Tami flung clothes out of drawers and closets like a mad woman while fussing at Hyacinth to make herself useful by reading somebody’s mind. What had previously been a neat, orderly room was demolished by clothes all over every surface as the four friends tried desperately and in vain to reassure each other. Tami’s previous attitude had been replaced by a new anxiety over not looking cool.

  Ayana could have helped big time, but she was nowhere to be found.

  “Try her again,” Tami said, looking at Sarah. “Where the hell is Yaya?”

  “Okay, okay, I’ll text her again, but you have got to relax.”

  “Do you actually wanna go to the first mixer wearing something your Mom picked out for you?” Tami shrieked, holding up a floral print shirt with puffy sleeves from Hyacinth’s dresser.

  “I’m not going. I—”

  “‘Cinth, concentrate!” Tami begged. “Surely you can get a glimpse of somebody’s brain, for the love of Pete. Where is Yaya—how could she leave us stranded like this? ‘Cinth, you aren’t concentrating!”

  “Quit it, Tami,” Allie said, hurling a tank top at her. “The poor girl is exhausted, and everybody around here with half a brain knows to lock it to all Clav invasions. We already asked people and even looked up stuff on the Net, okay?”

  Hyacinth ran her fingers through her damp hair. “I would bust into somebody’s mind if I could, but right now I can’t, Tam! Wait, no I wouldn’t—it’s not ethical.”

  “What?” Tami turned away from her closet. “Ethical? Are you crazy? Desperate times call for desperate measures. What has—”

  “Stop,” Sarah said. “I’m going to try something else. Just find something to put on while I text Ayana’s friends.”

  “Finally somebody with a plan,” Tami said, settling down and beginning to drag on a pair of jeans.

  Sarah picked up her PIU and frowned. She had texted Ayana an hour ago asking if she wanted to go to the party with them but hadn’t heard back. She let out a frustrated sigh. She thought she and Yaya were past the my- boyfriend-thinks-we’re-too-cool-for-you thing.

  All right, don’t jump to conclusions, she told herself, and shot off a two-way text to Darlene and Tina.

  Have u seen Ayana?

  A few seconds later Darlene wrote back, Not w us. Prb w Brent somewhere.

  Doin somethin nasty! came Tina’s reply.

  Ignore her, Darlene wrote back.

  “Thanks, I will,” Sarah said, tucking her PIU into her fitted jeans. She didn’t like thinking of Ayana with Brent, let alone doing something nasty with him. That guy would always be a jerk, no matter how much Ayana thought he could change.

  Oh well, she would just see Ayana at the dance.

  “Well?
” Tami asked, waving her hands.

  “They don’t know where she is,” Sarah said flatly.

  “But did you at least ask them what to wear?”

  Sarah just stared at Tami.

  “Du-uh,” Tami said, walking away and shaking her head.

  Sarah pulled out her PIU again and sent Ayana’s friends another message. K about Ya. But what 2 wear?

  Cool jeans, boots, t-shirt, tank top, blouse, Darlene wrote back. Easy.

  Yep, basic, Tina texted.

  Thx, Sarah sent back and then sighed. She turned around and faced her roommates, and held up her PIU for them to read the messages. “We’re panicking for nothing.”

  “Okay, I do feel better,” Tami said, the edge gone from her tone. She held up a sexy, blood red lycra tank top that accentuated every curve and slipped it on, then began inserted large silver hoop earrings. “And for the record, ladies, lose the pastel undies. Black, red, animal print, purple, go for something—anything—dangerous. Not all virgin white, lilac, baby blue and pink, puhlease. We’re going to a party.”

  “Huh?” Allie said, glancing at Hyacinth. “Why? Like, who’s gonna see those?”

  Tami shot Sarah a meaningful glance. “One never knows… so a lady should always be prepared.”

  “Oh… my… God, Tamara,” Hyacinth said, and closed her eyes.

  “Do not listen to her,” Allie said, slipping on a pink V-neck camisole. She turned away from Tami and began putting in her small silver hoops. “La la la la la, Tami, we can’t hear you.”

  “I am not listening to her,” Hyacinth said, and then tied the pretty floral silk sashes of her halter top together. She slipped on a violet headband and shook her hair out over her shoulders.

  Tami just laughed and shrugged as she slipped on her high heel biker boots, her jeans fitting her like second skin.

  Sarah took a step back and surveyed herself one more time, wishing she had the nerve to wear thigh-high boots like Tami’s, not that she even had them. Her basic knee-high ones would have to do.

  “Ladies, we are going to knock their heads back,” Tami said, smiling, as she stared at her own backside in the mirror.

  Allie struck a pose, and they all laughed.

  They arrived so late to the luau that they’d missed the meal blessing. Sarah could hear the music blaring down the hall well before they got to the cafeteria. The lights were dim, fireflies on the murals helping to light the way. But the moment they hit the entrance, she, Allie and Hyacinth had to body block Tami to keep her from turning around and leaving.

  They’d obviously missed the memo that the current look was sexy warrior. Forget what they’d seen on PirateNet, the school apparently had its own unique style. They stared in horror, and Sarah wished she could find a dark hole to crawl into.

  Everyone had on military green cargo pants or jeans, with rips and tears that made it seem like they’d been savaged by demon claws but had miraculously survived. The guys all wore black or white sleeveless t-shirts or fatigue vests that were threadbare and zigzag ripped, and the girls’ tanks had major lacerations across the belly or down the back, as though they’d been vampire attacked… and their bras were dark colored, just like Tami had warned. Pastels were out. It was all about black, red, deep purple or animal prints that were hinted at through the rips. Jewelry consisted of heavy leather wristbands with thick buckles, and footgear was combat boots or graffiti-emblazoned hiking boots.

  For earrings they wore sections of motorcycle chain or old tire bits, and everybody only wore one—not two—to give the effect that they’d battled so mightily they’d lost one earring somewhere along the way. Sarah discreetly brought her hand up to her right ear and slipped out one of her silver hoops, all too aware that in this crowd, burnt-orange seemed like a pastel color. Allie and Hyacinth had to be dying, too. Pink and floral… There was no justice in the world. Only Tami was barely passable.

  And the make-up all the girls wore consisted of red, red lip gloss glistening on their mouths, dark mascara and liner around their eyes… It gave them the surreal and dangerous look of a potentially turned vampire or a demon-infected warrior… which in some very bizarre way made them a risky and thus seductive choice for the guys in the room. The unspoken message was, really brave guys could handle a sexy vampire.

  Sarah and her crew glanced at each other. Their faces were naked, save for pink lip gloss. The hairstyles around them were moussed to wildness, to mimic having been in an attack, not neatly combed like theirs.

  Some of the other students had already spotted them, and were pointing and whispering. Some were outright laughing.

  “Can we leave now?” Tami asked quietly, so bereft that she’d clearly gone past the point of panic to a place of abject defeat.

  “No,” Sarah said, squaring her shoulders. “I’m not going to have them laugh at us for running away.”

  “So it’s better to have them laugh at us for totally not fitting in?” Resigned, Tami just shrugged. “Your call, fearless leader.”

  Allie and Hyacinth glanced at Sarah, waiting on her decision. Sarah didn’t say another word; she didn’t trust herself to verbalize anything. There was a fifty-fifty chance she’d talk herself out of being here if she did. But she wasn’t leaving and letting Wil think she had stood him up for their dance. She just walked forward and kept her chin high, ignoring Melissa Gray’s table and their rude snickers as she passed. Amy Feingold was back with them, teeth fixed and clearly ready for war.

  “Losers,” Amy muttered loudly.

  Sarah ignored her and moved forward with greater resolve, her back straight as she headed toward the food. Then she spotted her brother and almost dropped fang. Alejandro was in dress code—of course. Someone—no doubt one of the girls fawning all over him—had obviously deigned to tell him.

  Ayana was so gonna hear from her the moment she saw her!

  Her brother wore a black sleeveless t-shirt, ripped so badly it was hanging off his buff body. Of course the guys from the compound had fatigues and army boots with them—hell, even Donnie was fashionably correct.

  “Hey, I was looking for you,” Val said, coming up behind her. “What’s up?”

  Her girlfriends grumbled a hello and hung back to find a desolate salad bar, as though trying to head off any additional teasing.

  “Why were you looking for me?” Sarah asked, surprised.

  He smiled. “I was looking for my dance, girl—what?” Val held out his hand to her. “You remember our moves from the Net-pound, right? Or did you get brand new on me?”

  “Actually. we’re thinking about leaving,” Sarah said uncomfortably.

  “Why?”

  “Because we look like idiots compared to everyone else!”

  Val stepped back, and looked her up and down. His perusal was liquid slow and intense. Suddenly Sarah flushed, feeling as if he were almost stripping her bare. He had never looked at her like that before.

  Finally he met her eyes and said, “You look awesome.”

  Sarah stared at him, dumbstruck.

  Val held out his hand again. “So how about it?”

  Sarah spotted Wil in her peripheral vision, making his way toward her, probably to claim his dance.

  “I’m starting to feel like I’m being played here,” Val said a bit sheepishly.

  “Oh!” Sarah said, snapping her attention back to him. “Well, sure, but—”

  “Cool,” Val said. and swept her onto the dance floor.

  Wil stared after them, and Sarah felt awful. But she didn’t have long to dwell on that, because Val knew how to dance his butt off. She had forgotten how well he could bring it. Heavy bass thrummed through her body as Val mirrored every move she made, anticipating her like they were joined by one pulse. Then she saw Tami backing it up on Stefan, one leg raised and all.

  “That girl,” Sarah muttered, but then had to laugh. Tami was so outrageous that Sarah spun around to keep her back to her friend.

  Val looked over at Stefan and Tami too. “Y
our girl likes to play with fire, huh?”

  “And that’s news how?”

  Val just grinned.

  Back-to-back songs kicked up the heat in the caf until the walls were sweating. Students whooped and called out, keeping time to the thundering beat. When the tempo switched over to a popular reggae cut to give everyone a chance to rest, Val surprised her by pulling her in close, still breathing hard, his movements becoming even more fluid. She wasn’t plastered against him, but she could feel the strength of his body, could feel how light he was on his feet… could feel the heat rising off his damp skin.

  The sensation made her heady, warmed her in a way that she’d never dared imagine when thinking of Val. She couldn’t understand what had triggered it now. It had to be all the bodies moving to the beat, she reasoned. Had to be all the energy kicked up and the fever of the sweat. What was wrong with her? This was Val.

  “I can hear your heart racing,” he said.

  She looked up and saw a hint of fang. He could hear the sound of her heart and the sound of her blood rushing through her veins? The vamp in him ignited something dormant within her. She couldn’t help but respond. “You can hear that over the music?”

  “Part vamp, baby,” he whispered, leaning in. “But then so are you.”

  Sarah could feel his breath on her neck when he slowly drew his head back and stared at her. Then his attention suddenly snapped away from her. She looked up at him in surprise, wondering what in the world had happened.

  Val was staring across the room. Sarah followed his line of vision and saw what had captured his attention.

  Tami and Stefan were still at it. Difference was, Al was looking like he was about to have an apoplectic fit. Melissa looked violently unhappy, as well.

  “Let me go get your brother before he does something stupid. I’ll be right back,” Val said, and then he was gone.

  Sarah stood there, not quite sure what was happening. Then it hit her. She had almost kissed Val! And on the dance floor, in front of everyone. She glanced around, but no one seemed to be paying attention to her. But what about Wil? Had he seen what had almost happened? This was so not good and way too confusing.