Night School

by Mari Mancusi

  “Come on, they can’t be that bad,” I say, trying to twist around to see for myself.

  “They’re ... they’re ...” Sunny stumbles. I see her hard swallow. “Rayne, what did you do?” she asks finally, her voice barely a hoarse whisper.

  “I just sparred a few times with Corbin. But I totally won. So I don’t see—”

  “I’m not talking about that,” she interrupts. “I’m talking about ...” She shakes her head, as if in disbelief.

  “What?” I cry, fear starting to creep through me. “Just spit it out!”

  “Did you go and kiss your elbow or something?”

  I stare at her, suddenly remembering the ritual I performed in the library last night, horror slamming through my insides. Leaping from my bed, I dive for the full-length mirror I installed behind my closet door. Twisting around, I try to catch a glimpse of ...

  My wings.

  Well, not wings exactly. Not yet. But there’s definitely some kind of growth going on back there. Two large lumps, protruding from my shoulder blades ...

  Covered in white feathers.

  My head spins and I force myself to return to my bed, sinking down onto the mattress, a combination of fear and excitement whirling through my brain.

  It worked. It actually worked. I can’t believe it.

  “Rayne! Why would you do that?” Sunny cries in an anguished voice. “After all Mom and Dad have done, you just, willingly ... UGH!” She buries her eyes in her pillow. “I can’t even look. It’s so grotesque.”

  “Nice, Sun,” I snap, feeling a little offended. I turn my head to see the little feathered bumps. “Thanks for making me feel all self-conscious.” They are kind of weird, yeah, but once they grow into full-fledged wings, I bet they’ll look kind of cool. Though a little hard to keep under wraps ...

  “Why, Rayne? Why would you do this? I mean, of all the crazy things you’ve—”

  “I did it for you, dummy,” I interrupt grumpily. “So how about you lay off the whole judgmental thing for once?”

  “Wait, what? For me?” she demands, looking over, her face full of confusion. “What do you mean, ‘for me’?”

  “Look, it’s simple, really,” I tell her. “Like you said, if Mom and Dad fail in their talks, one of us is going to have to take the fairy queen gig, right? So who’re the fairies going to choose now—the reluctant mortal who can’t stand the taste of nectar or the full-fledged fairy with amazing wingspan who’s ready and willing to go?”

  Sunny shakes her head in disbelief. “Rayne, I never wanted you to have to—”

  “You’re my sister, after all,” I interrupt. “And I love you. Even if you are a total crybaby at times.”

  “Uh, thanks. I think.”

  I grin wickedly, then turn serious. “Sunny, I want you to be able to have the happily ever after you want for yourself. And I know this way you’ll actually have a chance to have it.”

  Sunny crosses the room in two seconds flat and throws her arms around me, burying her face in my shoulder.

  “Hey, hey! Watch the wings! I don’t want to lose any feathers. After all, fairy pattern baldness is no joke. And I doubt Rogaine would work for something like that.”

  Sunny giggles and cautiously reaches out to pet the wings in question. As her hands make contact, she squeals and scampers back to her side of the room.

  “I still think it’s totally freaky,” she says, rubbing her palm on her flannel PJ bottoms.

  “I do, too,” I admit. “Not to mention once they start growing, they’re going to be a bit of a problem hiding from the student body.”

  “And here I thought you concealing the fact that you’re a vampire was bad enough.”

  I let out a frustrated breath. “That’s even worse. I’m so hungry for blood I’m going crazy. I had a nightmare that I broke into a blood bank and drained it dry.”

  Sunny looks concerned. “There’s no place to get blood here?” she asks. “What about ... from me?” I can tell it takes her effort to say this and I appreciate the grand gesture.

  Luckily I can easily turn her down. “Holy Grail blood, remember?” I remind her. “Poisonous to vampires over a few months old.”

  “Oh yeah,” she says, relief clear on her face. She’s quiet for a moment, then adds, “So what are we going to do? You can’t stay here and starve to death. And if those wings keep growing they’re going to be a problem.”

  “Yeah,” I say, glancing at the mirror at my little winglets. “I have no idea how fast these things are going to grow either.” I shake my head, annoyed with my impulsiveness. Seriously, what was I thinking, going through the ritual like that? I guess it just seemed so ridiculous—I didn’t think it would actually work ...

  “I think we have no choice,” Sunny says, interrupting my self-rebuke. “One way or another, we have to get out of here.” She looks over at me, setting her chin determinedly. “We’re breaking out of Slay School tonight.”

  10

  “Okay, I think the coast is clear,” I hiss, after peering out the front door of our dorm room and looking left and right, taking special care to make sure Headmistress Roberta isn’t out on her nightly body bag run. (I didn’t mention that whole thing to Sunny ’cause I didn’t want to freak her out too much.) But the campus appears dark and still, with only a crescent moon to light our path. I slip outside, careful to stay in the shadows. My sister steps out beside me, her backpack stuffed to the brim.

  “I thought we agreed we’d travel light,” I remark, raising an eyebrow at the nearly overflowing bag on her back.

  “I need all this stuff,” she protests. A moment later, a string bikini top falls out of the bag. She grabs it with a sheepish look. “It’s designer,” she explains. “And Magnus gave it to me, so it’s sentimental.”

  I sigh and shake my head, then begin slinking around the side of the dorm, back up against the cold stone walls. The temperature has dropped at least twenty degrees and I’m hoping that, in addition to her Calvin Klein resort collection, Sunny has a big warm parka in her overstuffed escape luggage. After all, we have no way of knowing just how far we may have to travel tonight.

  Earlier in the day, I hit the library, trying to do some research on exactly where in the world we are here at Riverdale Slay School. Lilli had said the only way out was by helicopter, but my guess is that’s something they say to all the new students to encourage them to stay put. After all, they don’t want them slipping out at night and heading to the nearby town tavern to get wasted and dance on tables. So not behavior becoming of a Slayer in Training.

  And sure enough, after paging through a billion cryptic texts—no books in this library are less than a hundred years old, I swear—I was able to get a general idea of where the school resides and information about a small village probably located somewhere in the vicinity.

  Sadly, “somewhere in the vicinity” isn’t exactly GPS coordinates so we may be wandering for a bit. Still, it’s better than staying put and having my fairy vampire status discovered by the student body and faculty. Because I’m guessing that’s grounds for immediate expulsion. And not the kind where you’re just sent home in shame, either.

  We reach the back of the dorm and settle into complete darkness. I look over at my sister and nod. “Okay, now!” I cry, breaking out into a run. The cold air whips against my face as we dash for the nearby forest, crashing through the underbrush. Only after a few hundred feet of “dodge the big pine tree” do I dare stop and turn around to look, hands on my knees, panting to catch my breath. Sunny catches up to me a moment later. The forest behind us is silent and still. I grin at my sister. We did it.

  “Piece of cake,” I say. “We should have tried this our first day here.”

  “Yeah, but ...” Sunny looks around the woods. “Now what? Do you have any idea where we’re supposed to be going?”

  “Well ...” I tap my chin with my finger. “Look! There’s a path. Let’s follow it. It has to lead to somewhere, right?”

  “Sur
e. Like to the gingerbread house where the evil witch waits to throw us in the oven.”

  “Please. That was totally Germany. We’re in Switzerland. A whole ‘nother country.” I step over a rotting log and head for the path. “In fact, I bet this is the road they use to bring in weekly supplies. After all, they have to get the students’ food from somewhere and helicoptering it all in isn’t exactly economical.”

  Sunny looks at me doubtfully, but falls into step anyway. Reaching in my pocket, I pull out a small LED pocket light/lighter combo—all I could find at short notice. I flick it on and point it down toward the ground, keeping the light low. Don’t want someone back at school to see it flickering and alert the guards.

  As we walk down the windy path, the wind whistles through the trees and tall shadows, cast by my light, dance madly across the road. Sunny grips onto my shoulder, her fingernails digging into my flesh. “Should we be dropping bread crumbs or something?” she whispers, still on her little Hansel and Gretel kick, I guess.

  I open my mouth to answer her, but a crashing noise behind us makes me shut it again. I whirl around, shakily shining my flashlight into the bushes. A wild animal? Or something more deadly? From beside me, Sunny whimpers in fear.

  We wait, holding our breaths, but are greeted with nothing but silence. I shrug at Sunny and motion for us to continue. After all, it’s too late to turn back now.

  But a moment later, another noise erupts—a low growling sound, somewhere to our left. Sunny looks over at me with wild, frightened eyes. “What was that?” she hisses.

  I shrug, hand in my bag, reaching for the stake they gave me with my Riverdale enrollment papers. Though what good a small hunk of carved wood is going to do against a big, snarly wolf or lumbering bear is anyone’s guess. Fear pounds through my heart as I shine the flashlight into the woods. Maybe the light will scare the creature off ...

  Suddenly I’m grabbed from behind. I scream, but my voice is muffled by a smelly rag, stuffed into my mouth, and a black hood, pulled over my head. Two hands grab my shoulders, two more grab me by the ankles. I kick as hard as I can, but they’re too strong.

  I can hear my sister thrashing behind me. Oh God—whoever these people are, they’ve got her, too.

  After what seems an eternity, our captors stop and I’m plopped unceremoniously onto the ground, my butt slamming against hard rock. I can smell something here. Something like ... burning flesh. The hood is ripped from my eyes and the gag pulled from my mouth. I look up, catching sight of the glowing eyes of the ...

  Alphas.

  More precisely, the laughing-their-asses-off Alphas.

  “Oh man, we got you!” Varuka crows, high-fiving Mara. Leanna does a little dance around the bonfire while Peter works to untie my sister.

  “You should have seen your faces!” Mara cries. “You were totally freaking out.”

  “Who did you think we were?” Leanna asks gleefully. “Vampires?”

  But, to my ultimate annoyance, it’s Corbin’s face that glows with the most satisfaction. “Hmm,” he observes. “Maybe you’re not as brave as you thought you were, huh, Little Slayer?”

  Now untied, my sister leaps to her feet, her eyes blazing with fury. “How dare you?” she screams at the group. “How could you—?” She breaks off and I realize she’s this close to crying. I don’t blame her. My whole body’s still trembling, amped up with fear and adrenaline. I scramble to my feet and cross the campsite to be by her side, shooting Corbin my best Raynie Look of Death.

  “Nice,” I growl. “Real effing nice.”

  “What?” he protests, holding up his hands in mock innocence. “You’re just lucky it was us and not the patrol. I mean, let’s face it, you guys weren’t exactly subtle, crashing through the forest like that. We heard you and saw your light a mile away. And if the guards caught you, there’d be hell to pay.” He grins wickedly. “We saved you from a fate worse than death, if you want to know the truth. You should be thanking me.”

  I scowl. “Well, next time don’t do us any favors, okay?”

  “Aw, don’t be like that!” Peter begs, evidently in a merry mood. He prances over to me, playfully hooking an arm around my shoulder. I shove it away. “Hang out for a while. We’ve got beer and burgers.”

  “Yeah, you should stay!” Mara pleads. “I’ve made way too much food—even taking into account the boys’ appetites.”

  “You can’t go back now anyway,” Leanna interjects. “You’ll get caught by the patrols for sure. We’re far enough out not be noticed here, but go any closer and you’re sitting ducks.”

  “Yeah,” Peter adds. “You’re stuck with us ’til at least two. That’s when Johan takes his twenty-minute snooze.”

  I’m about to retort that Johan can stick his twenty-minute snooze up his ass, but Sunny suddenly cuts in. “Fine. We’ll stay,” she says, breaking away from me and plopping down on one of the log stools. I stare after her. What is she doing?

  Corbin flashes me another one of his annoyingly sexy grins. As if he’s won somehow.

  “Fine. I guess we’re staying.” I shrug. “But for the record? I’m still completely pissed off at you and I will get you back for this.”

  “Fair enough,” Corbin replies with another smirk. He hands us each a can of beer and I take my seat next to Sunny at the fire. “I shall look forward to bearing the brunt of your revenge, Little Slayer.”

  I roll my eyes and turn my back to him to address my sister. “You okay?” I murmur.

  “Yeah,” she whispers back. “Just more ... embarrassed than anything.”

  “Yeah. Imagine how I feel. I’m supposed to be the big bad vampire slayer here. And I got tricked by a bunch of amateurs.” I sigh. “If only I thought I could take on all five at once ...”

  “Don’t even think about it,” she admonishes me. “Besides, as jerky as they might be, they aren’t the bad guys here. They’re your fellow slayers and you don’t want to be all getting in trouble with Slayer Inc. on top of everything else. Besides,” she adds, “we’re going to have to postpone the escape plan anyway. Otherwise one of them might report us to the headmistress and we’ll miss our head start.”

  She’s right, I know. We can’t trust these guys as far as we can throw them. (And without vampire powers, that’s admittedly not very far at all.) Still, it sucks we’re stuck at school for at least another day. Not to mention stuck out in the woods for the next two hours with the Alpha-bets.

  “Who knows,” Sunny adds. “Maybe they can help us in a way. You heard what they said about the guard Johan. They may know other useful stuff like that.”

  “Right.” I sigh, reluctantly agreeing with her. “You see, this is why you’re so much better at navigating the various high school circles of hell than me. You’re way more diplomatic.” I take a sip of slightly warm beer. As a vampire I can’t eat, but I can drink my weight in alcohol and not get the slightest buzz from it.

  The others settle around the fire and Mara starts placing uncooked burgers on a small grill plate. The sight and smell of bloody meat assaults my senses and it’s all I can do not to beg her to put a drip tray underneath and let me drink all the greasy droplets that fall into it. Unfortunately, I recognize that kind of odd request would just make things awkward.

  “So, um,” Sunny says brightly, obviously straining to come up with conversation with our archenemies. “How did you guys all find out you were destined to become slayers?”

  Five pairs of confused eyes look over in her direction. “Destined?” Mara repeats doubtfully. “No one’s just destined. We all chose to become slayers.” The others look at one another, nodding in agreement.

  “Wait, what?” I interject. “I thought you had to be born into the whole thing. Once a generation there is a girl, etc., etc.”

  “You’ve obviously seen one too many Buffy episodes.” Varuka sniffs haughtily. “In real life, no one’s born to be a slayer. It’s a choice they make when they turn twelve. You apply, take a test, go through boot camp, and
if you make it, then you can come here and start your training.”

  They get to choose? Man, that’s so unfair. Why can’t it work that way in America? I mean, then at least they’d get slayers who really wanted the gig to begin with—instead of forcing unwilling girls like me to take the job and threatening to kill them if they refuse.

  “Is something wrong, Little Slayer?” Corbin asks sweetly. “You look a little pale. I mean, more than usual.”

  I can feel Sunny staring at me, but I can’t bring myself to meet her questioning eyes. Instead, I swallow hard and force myself to turn the questions back on the group. “So what made you decide to join up then?” I ask.

  “Well, I got in some trouble at school,” Peter confesses. “And my dad told me it was either Slay School or juvie.” He grins. “And slaying vamps just sounded way cooler. Now I’m just like Blade!” he adds, launching into some sort of strange looking kung fu pose I’m positive the real Blade never used.

  “Well, I’m a direct descendent of Van Helsing,” Varuka snottily adds. “So vampire slaying is in my blood.”

  I don’t have the heart to tell her that according to the Blood Coven files I’ve read, Van Helsing wasn’t the great slayer that Bram Stoker made him out to be. In real life, he was secretly seeing Mina (when her fiancé, Jonathan, was overseas visiting Count Dracula) and when Dracula showed up and chose Mina to be his blood mate, Van Helsing got pissed off and vowed revenge.

  Mara looks up from her book. “I’ve just always been Team Jacob.” She shrugs. “It was so unfair that Bella chose that sparkly piece of stalker crap instead of him.”

  “But that’s just a—” Sunny starts. I kick her. After all, we have no idea whether the Twilight saga is fictional or not. Why not a Cullen coven?

  “And what about you?” I ask, turning to Corbin. “Are you Team Jacob as well?” I tease.

  He scowls. “I’m Team Corbin and that’s it,” he snarls. Rising to his feet, he storms off into the woods.

  I look at the rest of the Alphas, puzzled.

  “It’s a sore subject for him,” Leanna whispers. “His parents were killed by vampires.”