by April Marcom
“Rose? Rose, what happened?”
“...I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING...IT’S SO HOT IN HERE...”
“ROSE!”
“PLE-HEE-HEE-HEESE...”
“What’s going on?” Luke asked.
“Rose is hurt, but I don’t know where she is and I don’t think she can hear me.”
“...WHY ISN’T SOMEONE COMING...I NEED HELP...”
Luke let go of the door and came to stand beside me. “Geez, everyone can probably hear her out there. Can’t you turn the sound off?”
“I don’t know. Kristine Con, silence.” The cries stopped, but Rose continued to look around in desperation.
“There’s a pile of pipes in the back of the room. I know where that is. Shut that off and I’ll show you.”
“Kristine Con, return!”
The second it fell in my hand, Luke ran out the door and down the hallway. I raced as fast as I could behind him, turning down bends, passing open doors I didn’t have time to look in, running down two flights of slippery stairs, and through more hallways. Finally I could hear her up ahead. Down another hallway and through a heavy iron door. Her terrified voice hit us almost as hard as the scorching waves of heat pouring out of the room.
There was Rose, with her con floating behind her head, lying in the middle of the room with her leg broken above the knee. “Rose, Rose I’m here,” I said, running to her side.
“SOMEBODY HELP ME...”
“Can’t you hear me?”
“...PLEASE, SOMEBODY...” Her eyes looked around wildly, but she still didn’t see me.
I reached in my bag and pulled out my con. “Call Headmaster,” I commanded as it opened. “Now, call Headmaster now!”
It only took a second for him to come on the screen. “Kristine, where are you?”
“Rose is hurt. She needs help.”
“I know. She called everyone. Where is she?”
Realizing I needed to keep Luke away from Rose’s con so no one would know he was with me, I stood up and walked to the doorway where he still stood. No one but Headmaster would see either of us there. “I don’t know where I am.” I stared at Luke, hoping he would help me.
“She’s in the boiler room.”
Headmaster stared at Luke for a second. “How do I get there?”
“It’s too complicated to explain. Get my headmaster and he’ll show you the way.”
Connie’s face appeared on the screen. “Can I do anything else for you, Kristine?”
“No, thanks. Kristine Con, return.”
I went back to sit beside Rose. “Should we get her out of this heat?”
“I don’t think we should move her since we don’t know what we’re doing,” Luke said, moving to sit behind Rose’s con.
“Rose Con, return,” I tried, with no success.
I looked up at Luke. “Thank you.” He smiled and nodded.
I took my notebook out and fanned Rose with it, sweat pouring from my face and Luke’s until our headmasters came running through the door with two men in white carrying a stretcher. One pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and tried to look in her eyes, but she wouldn’t stop screaming and thrashing around. The other man took a needle out of his pocket and injected her with something that put her to sleep. The first one held her eyelids up and shone the light in them. “She’s definitely got a concussion. We should have brought more supplies, but all we’ve got is that stretcher.”
“We can’t get anything now. We’ve got to get her out of this heat,” the other said. The two men began working together to get her onto the stretcher and carry her out of the room.
“Rose Con, return,” Headmaster said. Her con moved to him obediently and closed into his hand.
“Come on, Knight. I need to have a word with you,” his chilling headmaster said.
“Bye, Luke,” I said. He didn’t look back or respond as he followed the long, dark figure out of the room. Knight, I meant Knight. Dang it!
My headmaster put his arm around me and led me out, too. We followed but stayed several paces behind. I could hear the hissing whispers pass between Knight and his master, even though I couldn’t make out anything that was said.
I reached into my bag and got out my con. “I need a keypad,” I whispered to Connie before she could ask what I needed. One came up on the screen and I typed, “Will Luke be okay?” I watched Headmaster nervously as we began climbing stairs. He pointed to Luke and I nodded. Then he typed, “He’ll be fine. My brother’s just trying to learn what happened.”
Hoping it would work, I typed, “Kristine Con, return,” and watched it begin to close.
We walked silently until we reached the beginning of the hallway I’d started in. “Can you find your way from here, brother?” Tobias asked.
“I believe so,” Headmaster said before he led me past the different rooms, through the gymnasium, and then the cafeteria, where we found a group of our kids huddled around the door near the fireplace in the southwest corner of the room. Everyone began talking at once when they saw Headmaster.
“It’s all right, it’s all right. Rose is being given medical attention at this very moment. I will do my best to explain everything as soon as I have answers. For now, I really must speak with Miss Fayre.”
We worked our way through the students and into the door behind them. I realized a plaque labeled ‘Headmaster Trey Veziamo’ was attached to it as we walked into a small office with a desk in the middle of the room, just like the one back at North Haven. Books were stacked messily all over the shelves on one wall.
“Am I in trouble for being with a Cinder?” I asked when the door was closed.
Headmaster sat behind his desk. “Please, have a seat so we can discuss this.”
I sat down and watched him nervously. What if I was about to get expelled or something?
“You’re not in any trouble, Kristine, and there’s no rule against you and any of my brother’s students making friends. I’ve always hated the fact that no one from either of our schools can get along. But it seems that things will always be this way.”
“Yes, sir, and I’m beginning to understand why. But Luke and I go way back. We were best friends once, and it still feels like we are. So—”
The door was thrown open suddenly, whacking the wall and shaking Headmaster’s books. Roman tore in and wrapped his arms around me. “Kristine! Thank goodness you’re all right. I saw you on Rose’s con and she wasn’t making any sense.”
“Mr. Armstrong, please wait outside until we are finished,” Headmaster said, rising to his feet.
“I’m sorry, Headmaster, but I was worried about Kristine.” He put one hand on my cheek and leaned down as if he would kiss me. “If anything happened to you after we’d had that fight, I wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
Seeing someone approach out of the corner of my eye, I looked over and saw Luke and his headmaster walking into the office. I got out of my chair and moved away from Roman, not even sure why I did it.
“You don’t need to worry about her. She was with me the whole time,” Luke said smugly.
“He’s the one you were with?”
“You knew I was going to be with him today, Roman,” I said.
“Mr. Armstrong, please wait outside until we are finished,” Headmaster said again.
Roman bumped Luke’s shoulder on the way out, setting Luke’s eyes on fire, but he dared not do anything with his headmaster at his side.
“Knight tells me you two know each other very well,” his headmaster droned.
“Yes, sir,” I answered.
“Please, Tobias. I’m as eager to know their story as you are, but hearing Rose’s is far more important at the moment. If someone dangerous is out there, we need to find them immediately.”
“Very well.”
I knew I couldn’t tell Rose’s story, but we all sat down and I told Headmaster everything I could.
Chapter Eighteen
~ Late Night Incident ~
“K
ristine,” someone hissed. I saw the great head of a mutant rodent coming closer. “Kristine, can I come in?”
“No...” I struggled to say as I began trembling with fear. “Luke?” I needed his help. It had to be him. “Luke, I need you.”
“I’m right here,” the red-eyed rat hissed as it began to dissolve. “Are you awake?”
I snapped out of it and sat up in bed, finally waking from my dream. “Harmony?” I whispered.
“It’s me—Luke.”
I grabbed his arm and pulled him onto my bed. Then I made sure the curtains were completely closed and turned my light on. His hair was a terrible mess. I figured I didn’t look any better, but middle-of-the-night hair never mattered before. “How’d you get in here?” I asked.
He twisted his arms inwardly and disappeared. All that was left was a hint of a shadow.
“You’re wearing shadow technology? Cool...Are you all right, though?”
“Yeah, I had that nightmare about my mom, and I thought since you’re here now—”
I grabbed the blanket he was sitting on and pulled, so he would move up to let me get it out from under him. Then I held it up so he could climb under.
He didn’t need to finish. Ever since the slaughter of his parents, he’d had these two horrifying nightmares. One where his mother is tied to a chair and the man who killed her has different things lying on the table in front of him—an axe, a chainsaw, a scalpel, and so on—and he’s just standing there, trying to decide what to kill her with. His mother is terrified and Luke’s frozen in a corner of the room, watching it all. He wants to save her, but his body won’t move. He always wakes up as the psycho’s getting started, and it takes him a minute to realize it’s over. The feelings of terror linger long after. The dad-dream’s even worse.
I pulled the blanket up over us and stared at Luke. We had to lie on our sides in the little twin bed.
“You’re a hero, you know,” I said. “You probably saved Rose’s life. That makes you North Haven material.”
We both looked up when we heard Harmony roll over.
“I wouldn’t have been much good to her if I hadn’t seen her on your con...Everyone’s saying a Northerner’s footprint was found in the boiler room. Is that true?”
“Yeah. A lot of people think a Cinder put on one of our suits and did it to make us look bad.”
“What do you think?”
“I think it could go either way. I figure a Cinder wouldn’t go anywhere near our stuff, since they hate us so much, but I can’t imagine anyone from North Haven hurting Rose. Headmaster has us checked out before we get recruited.”
“How’s she doing?”
I yawned and stretched my legs before I answered sleepily. “She’s still sedated for the pain, but she’ll live. Hopefully when she wakes up we’ll know who attacked her... A lot of people are scared. Whoever did it’s still out there.”
“You probably shouldn’t go anywhere alone.”
“The buddy system—That’s a good idea. I might bring it up with Headmaster.”
Luke put his arm under his head and stared at me for a minute. “I still can’t believe you’re here. Waking up from one of my nightmares with you around isn’t so bad.”
“You wanna watch cartoons?” I asked, sitting up on my elbow.
“It’ll wake everybody up, won’t it?”
“Not if we use my earphones.” I turned my light out and opened the curtain beside me enough to pick up my bag from the floor. I shut it back tight before I rummaged through my bag and pulled out the tiny headphones.
Then I felt for my con and let my bag slip off the bed as it began to open. “Kristine Con, silent.” When Connie’s face appeared, a message began writing itself across the bottom of the screen. “What can I do for you, Kristine?”
“What do you wanna watch?” I asked Luke.
“SpongeBob used to be our favorite.”
I plugged my earphones in and said, “Kristine Con, please turn on the Hash Slinging Slasher SpongeBob episode.”
“That used to be my favorite one,” Luke said.
“I know.”
He put one of the earphones in and held an arm out for me to lie on. That way we had enough room to lie flat on our backs and watch.
As the pirate painting began singing, “Are you ready, kids?” I couldn’t believe how much I’d missed these late night incidences. It almost felt blissful to be snuggled up close to him like that.
My eyes were soon heavy. I tried to fight off sleep so I could remain consciously with Luke for as long as possible. But it eventually won out and I let my eyes close. Somewhere between the world of slumber and wakefulness, I felt him kiss my forehead and whisper, “Good night, Kristine.”
* * * *
The sound of my curtains being opened woke me up. “Rise and shine, Kr—” Harmony gasped.
I realized someone was lying beside me, his arm draped over my waist. Luke was lying asleep in my bed.
“A Cinder’s trying to get Kristine!” someone screamed.
“No!” I sat up as Luke opened his eyes. The curtains on the other side of my bed were ripped open by Tracy, who slept in the bed beside mine. “He’s not trying to hurt me. We fell asleep watching my con.”
“But he’s a Cinder,” Tracy said.
“So? Luke, you have to go.”
He looked at me and moved his arms under the blanket—and then he was gone. I could feel him climb out of bed, but he was impossible to see until the light hit him. He looked like a shapeless shadow moving across the room. Everyone moved as far away from the strange apparition as they could, like he had some infectious disease. Once he entered the hallways, he would become invisible.
“What was he doing here?” Harmony asked. Any girl within earshot stared at me for answers, including Sassy and Nadine.
I got out of bed and went to my roommate’s bunk, deciding it was no one else’s business. Harmony and Nadine stood beside me and Sassy leaned in. “He had a nightmare, so we were watching cartoons. We must have both fallen asleep.”
“But he’s a Cinder,” Harmony said. “Second floor’s for North Haveners only during competitions. We don’t bother them, and they don’t bother us.”
“Headmaster said it was okay,” I said.
“Well, it’s not.” I looked at each of their faces, firmly set in agreement with what Harmony was saying.
I let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t like the Cinders much either, but Luke’s different. He’s changed a lot since we were separated, but he’s still the same guy inside. You’re just going to have to trust me on this.”
“So you’re going to keep seeing him?”
“Yes.”
“Aw, forbidden love,” Sassy cooed. “How romantic.”
“Forbidden friendship, you mean.”
“Don’t encourage her,” Nadine said.
“We’re your sisters,” Harmony said, “and we’ll stick with you no matter what. But any of us getting too close to a Cinder is a bad idea.”
But it was too late. I got too close to that Cinder when I was still in grade school, and there was no turning back now.
I reached out for a group hug, because this was proof that I could count on them no matter what. “Thanks, guys.”
Chapter Nineteen
~ Suspicious Character ~
I hoped everyone wouldn’t find out what had happened, but I didn’t know how gossip worked here. Hopefully, North Haven students were above that.
I was surprised when I walked into the gym and found Coach Ling and her two remaining runners standing beside Coach Beckham, who looked a little happier than usual. “Fayre!” he boomed. “I’m turning you over to Coach Ling. You’ll be training with her from now on.”
“What? But I don’t want to join the Tracers. I already have activities committee meetings with Harmony.”
“You said you would run if anything happened to Rose. You’re not backing out on your word now, are you?”
My mouth went dry. I be
gan to panic. “I said I would run, and I will. But I really don’t want to join the team and have to put all my time into training. And what if Rose can run again before you need her? Don’t bones only take a few weeks to heal?”
“We run next Friday,” Coach Ling said, causing even more dryness and panic. “Winter Competitions are always kicked off with the fifty yard dash. Tracers run three nights stretched out over the winter, one in each month. You score us a point for every one you win. Rose might be ready to run in time for the last one, but we can’t be sure.”
“Are you saying you’ll run, but you don’t want to join the team as temporary head captain?” Coach Beckham asked, all happiness gone from his face.
I gulped nervously. “Yeah.”
His face got kind of purple as he spat out, “Rose Jennings is in the hospital. We don’t know if she’ll ever run again, and you can’t do this for your school. It needs you, Fayre—”
I took a step back as Coach Ling cut in. “Calm down, Charles. We should be grateful she’s willing to run at all. Kristine, you meet me in the hall outside here this Friday at two. You run at five.”
Feeling a bit petrified, I nodded.
* * * *
Twice during the day, my fear that everyone would find out about the previous night was confirmed. First a group of kids stopped talking to stare at me when Harmony, Sassy, and I walked into the game room. And later in one of the bathrooms, two girls came in talking about it, not realizing I was in one of the stalls. But at least their story of what happened was accurate and hadn’t been twisted into something ugly and humiliating.
So I wasn’t really surprised when Headmaster placed a hand on my shoulder and said, “Can I have a word with you?” as I walked into the dining hall later that evening.
“We’ll save your usual seat,” Harmony said, she and Sassy going to sit with Nadine.
I followed him silently to his office. Since the dark half of the room didn’t turn to stare at me when I walked past them, I assumed they hadn’t heard what happened. All eyes were on me as I walked through the rest of the room, though.
