“Hey, you!”
I got up and ran, ignoring the pounding of my bag against my back, thump, thump, almost as fast as my racing heart as my feet thudded over the grass. I looked like just another boy in the navy blazer and backpack. If I could make it to the crowd of students, I’d be free. I looked over my shoulder to see a chubby kid with a red face far enough behind that I was going to get away with it. At least, I was going to until I slammed into somebody, knocking him back, but not down.
He grabbed my backpack straps in an unbreakable grip.
I gasped as I stared up at the beautiful, heroic looking guy, the wind blowing his hair away from his face while his strong arms held me up. I felt suddenly dizzy, weirdly spinning.
“Thanks, Orion,” the puffing plump kid said, coming up to us, then leaning down, wheezed, holding his knees. “He was trying to get away,” he gasped.
Orion Daughtry, my brother’s enemy still had his hands on my straps, and I could feel the warmth of his fingers through my jacket. I should take that as an insult, a threat.
“I wasn’t trying to get away,” I protested, then realized how high my voice came out, lowered it as I pulled away from Orion and straightened my jacket. “I’m late for class.”
“You go here, do you?” Orion said, raising a perfect black eyebrow.
I mean, raising a completely average and boring eyebrow.
“It’s my fourth year at Contemptible Calder. I belong here as much as anybody.” I scowled up at Orion, hoping I wasn’t blushing. He studied me passively before glancing over at the chubby kid.
“Why were you chasing him, Toby?”
“He was acting suspicious in the garden, possibly drug related.”
“You brought drugs to Calder?” Orion asked me, raising that insignificant brow once more.
Anger mixed with frustration and embarrassment. “You caught me. I was burying a liter of coke in the garden because I want to go to jail today.”
“Then what were you doing on your knees?” the obnoxious chubby kid pressed, getting all in my face.
“None of your business,” I hissed. Maybe Sebastian was right in hating this place all those years.
“Sebastian Tancetta,” Orion said with steel in his voice I hadn’t heard before. That voice made me shiver and cleared my head. It was not the voice of a romantic hero. “It is good to see you in such excellent health. I understood that you wouldn’t be returning to school this year. My condolences for your parents.”
Why did those words, coming in such a black-and-white way make me stare at the cement walkway and fight back sudden tears? I’d been so prepared to cry earlier, to get it out of my system, but the ice hadn’t cracked until this person, a complete stranger who was unjustly the most beautiful boy I’d ever seen, had shattered it.
“Thanks,” I mumbled while my chest tightened with smothered pain. “I’m sorry about the plant. I just wanted to keep it and I didn’t know where else…”
“You brought a plant to school?” Toby asked, his voice reminding me that I wasn’t alone with Orion.
I scowled at him. “How is that your business? Am I supposed to tell you all my business? Do you have something against plants?”
“Toby. Go to class,” Orion said nodding at him before he put his hand on my shoulder.
The tightness in my chest grew tighter and tighter while at the same time I felt a wave of calm and something really, really good, deeply satisfying that made me waver. I wanted, so much to lean into him and let some of the horrible pain go.
He pulled me into a hug so my forehead rested against the warm skin of his neck for a brief moment before he pulled away, giving me a brief smile before he turned and walked back where I’d come from.
“Show me,” he said while I reeled from the whole encounter.
Boys didn’t hug. Sebastian certainly didn’t hug. What would he do after that kind of assault, an empathetic touch from his sworn enemy? He’d probably punch him, insult him, be a completely insecure jerk. I was supposed to be Sebastian, but I could be the grief-stricken kid who wasn’t quite so obnoxious. I couldn’t throw that hug back in Orion’s face. I’d needed it. It took the edge off of the grief that would have had me in tears. Now was not the time to cry.
Everything would be fine. I’d save up the grief and let it out later, after I was alone in my room.
“What kind of plant is it?” he asked, his voice soft and silky, as soothing as his touch had been. I followed him from a distance, trying to shake off the overwhelming emotions.
“It’s called Everlast. It was my mom’s.”
“She was a gardener?”
“A botanist,” I corrected sharply then added more gently, “also a gardener. She worked at the botanical gardens. She could grow anything. Everlast was her prized herb in our garden. She loved it like some people love their dogs.”
“What’s happening to your house?”
I shrugged trying to look like it didn’t break my heart. “It’s sold.”
He put his hand on my shoulder again. Again, I felt a wave of calm and good that eased some of the pain out of my body. After a moment he dropped his hand, curling his fingers into a fist.
“I’m sorry. Where is it?”
I led him to the little plant and dropped to my knees in front of it. The ride in my backpack hadn’t done it much good. Neither had my rough transplanting.
“It needs water,” I said.
“What about light? This part of the school is rarely sunny.” He knelt beside me, his shadow feeling warm instead of cold.
“Morning light, good drainage,” I said automatically, quoting my mom only in a slightly lower voice. Orion was too close to me. I couldn’t let him get so close when I wanted to rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes so that the rest of the world went away. I was not the kind of person who avoided difficulty. I faced things with determination and planning, but how could I face nothing? What could I plan that would bring back my parents?
“I think I have a better idea for your Everlast.” His voice was softer, almost a whisper, but carried to me clearly.
I looked over at him before I glanced down, watching him dig into the soil without hesitation, getting dirt under his nails. I had a vivid memory of my parents, my dad hesitating and my mother laughing at him. ‘Afraid to get a little dirty?’ she’d say, teasing before he’d sigh and dig her a hole, shaking his head at her.
I blinked tears out of my eyes.
“Do you trust me?” he asked holding the plant carefully, his hands cupped around the root ball, a question in his brown eyes, eyes that seemed warm enough to melt anything.
I backed away, scrambling to my feet. What would Sebastian say? “Man, it’s a plant. It’s going to die sooner or later, anyway.”
Orion’s eyebrow quirked and he looked past me, distance in his eyes that I’d put there. He didn’t like Sebastian. I stared at my dirt streaked sneakers and reminded myself that I was not Violetta, but Sebastian, and distance was exactly what I needed if I were going to last longer than one day at Calder, School for boys.
“Follow me,” he said, holding the plant in his strong, capable hands as he walked briskly away.
I followed a few steps behind, watching him move. Could I walk like that? Such long legs ate up the ground, until I had to move into a jog to keep up with him. We went around a corner of the school to a garden. He walked past the formal hedged garden with a maze on one side.
I slowed down and took in the grounds. They were much more extensive than I’d imagined from the front. There was even a little wooded area to one side that looked mysterious and dark. I ran when I realized how far ahead of me Orion was, barely catching up as he reached a vegetable garden with raised beds filled with healthy looking vegetables.
We walked through an orchard, the trees hanging heavy with apples and pears, a few last peaches on the slender branches before we reached a small shed beside a low-walled herb garden.
I walked behind him slowly, brus
hing my fingers over rosemary, smelling my fingers and smiling at the scent. I passed Lavender, thyme, and a messy corner of mints climbing over one another in the low-walled garden.
He, Orion, took my plant to a spot where it would get the morning rays of the sun and have the warming of the stone wall on windy days.
I knelt beside him as he dug a hole, our shoulders brushing accidentally. He jerked away from me, like he was as uncomfortable with casual contact as my brother, Sebastian.
“That should do it,” he said as he smoothed the soil down, tamping it lightly with his fingers.
He finally glanced at me, a perplexed look on his face.
I tried to look masculine and tough. “Thanks. I really appreciate it,” I said, nodding.
Orion raised an eyebrow. “Really? You appreciate something that I did?”
Apparently, he knew that Sebastian hated him. “I must be having a weak moment.” I climbed to my feet and brushed the dirt off my pants. “I’ll try to regain our former camaraderie before things get weird.”
Orion smiled. “In the meantime, I’ll escort you to the headmaster’s office. I’m sure you’re anxious to get your paperwork out of the way so that you can focus on your grades.”
I smiled back at him, finally confident about something. “I have a feeling that it’s going to be a good year where my grades are concerned.”
His smile flickered.
We walked back through the orchard, but he took me in a back way that led to an empty hall that was only a few short turns from the Headmaster’s office.
We walked in together. I expected him to leave me at some point, but apparently, he felt the need to accompany me into the headmaster’s office and watch while I presented my paperwork.
“Tancetta,” the surly, balding man snapped, looking over my papers. “I thought we were done with you after last year’s dismal performance.”
“No, sir,” I said, trying to smile and not notice how Orion was watching me. I did not want to look stupid in front of him. “I’m determined to raise my GPA and get my diploma. My father would have wanted that.”
“Your father…” he said, glancing up at me with narrowing eyes. “Do you still imagine that you can follow in his footsteps?”
I inhaled. “I am determined to graduate in the same school he graduated from. Other than that, I have no plans.”
“What do you think, Daughtry,” he asked, turning to Orion.
Orion glanced at me, a piercing look that made me shrink back before he shifted his gaze back towards the headmaster. “I think there’s been some positive changes in Tancetta’s attitude that could help him to merge a little more successfully with Calder. I think in memory of his father…”
“Yes, yes,” the Headmaster interrupted, his gaze anything but pitying as he scowled at me. “Your father’s family had good blood. Maybe you’ll do something useful with your life after all. All right,” he said, filing away my folder in an ancient wooden filing cabinet. “Welcome to Calder. Now get to class before you get expelled.” He smiled maliciously as I scuttled into the hall. I’d gotten in. I’d passed the first hurdle and maybe smoothed over some of the issues between my brother and Orion.
Chapter 3
The Butcher
I felt like I was passing time. Days of studying, nights of combing the streets alone, searching for clues, something that would bring an end to the animosity between Olivia and myself. I felt worn. If I could go back, would I change what happened on twelfth night? In the following weeks, everyone had combed the city for signs of Lance, but other than a few dead werewolves, all we found was Armand’s unconscious body. At the trial, he’d told his story, attacked by Lance down at the docks before he’d lost control and let the beast take over. He couldn’t remember what happened after that, or so he said.
He’d been released by the CM. I’d genuinely thought that Armand would be properly executed. When his trial was over, I’d seen Olivia look at me, cold, hard, death in her eyes. I wouldn’t be crossing that bridge any time soon.
I sighed in the warm late August air and walked across the busy street towards Calder, the massive school built like a fortress behind the iron fence. Boys streamed towards it like ants in blue jackets, all of them eager for the new year, except a boy who walked nervously, like the school would bite him.
I frowned as Andy, long legged and clumsy ran into him while he was looking at something else, knocking the newcomer down along with his papers.
“Hey,” I said to Andy, earning a brief look of embarrassment before he scuttled away and I was left to help the boy.
He looked up at me with enormous eyes, a soft face full of gentleness and sweetness that did not belong at Calder.
I handed him his papers and stalked forward, irritated that I was already concerned about the next year of new boys who would be exposed to dangers and fears that they had only previously imagined. My brother had taken me with him when I was seven. I’d never failed him, always followed his orders with precision. That’s what made a good Butcher. Boys in high school did not want to follow instructions. Maybe it was a good thing that I’d started so young, otherwise, I may have gotten myself killed when I was old enough to think I knew better.
I glanced around the courtyard searching for Mal or Toby. Both of them would have seen Olivia over the summer. I hadn’t. She refused to see me. Right after twelfth night, I’d gone every night to report the nothing we’d found of her brother, and every night her friend, Maria would listen and then slam the door in my face. I’d come to the realization that he was gone and that we all had to accept that. I’d almost accepted it, but Olivia had to find her own closure.
“Orion Daughtry?” a hesitant voice asked as I felt a hand on my elbow.
I held very still instead of pulling away. I simply turned and looked down at the boy wearing glasses.
“Yes?”
He smiled his relief. “I’m Curt. I’m here on a music scholarship. You’re in the choir, right?”
I nodded. “Welcome to Calder, Curt. Check in at your dorm room. You have a map, right? Then we’ll all meet at the main hall for the first convocation. Just follow the stream of navy blazers.”
I looked up and saw Mal heading towards me, a scowl on his face, as usual.
“Orion,” he said with a slight sniff and general condescension that made him universally despised.
“How are things?” I asked as he fell in beside me.
“I can’t believe they’re letting Tancetta back into school.” He wasted no time airing his grievances.
I frowned back at him. “Sebastian Tancetta?”
“Yes. You know, the one who punched you in the face last twelfth night. Also the one whose parents were killed by tigers.” He raised his eyebrows towards me pointedly.
Ah. That. I was supposed to have solved the mystery of what and who was responsible for the death of the Tancetta couple. Another thing I’d failed at. I inhaled slowly. Tancetta. Those eyes had been familiar but so different. Death sometimes changed people, but I’d never expected to see Sebastian with his guard down entirely, not with me.
I’d forgotten about Tancetta in the rush of what followed the January before. I should question him about his parents now before he regained his customary attitude.
I waited by the main doors, greeting the newcomers and the older boys alike with a serene nod and a, “Welcome to Calder.”
The boys thinned out as I waited for stragglers. He’d been right behind me. Where had he gone? Would he take a side entrance?
I heard yelling from the side yard. Pretty soon, I saw someone running flat out across the grass towards me and the main entrance. Tancetta. I walked towards him slowly. He was looking behind him when he ran right into me.
I grabbed his backpack straps, holding him up when he would have fallen over. He looked ridiculous, sweaty hair in his eyes and his eyes, bluer than a perfect sky staring at me dazedly.
“Thanks, Orion,” Toby said, wheezing as he nearly fel
l over, panting over his knees. I should have him chase Tancetta every day. It would be excellent conditioning. “He was trying to get away.”
I could see that, but Tancetta argued anyway, his voice high and shrill before he took a deep breath. His bottom lip trembled like he was going to cry as he pulled away from my grip, smoothing down his jacket with soft looking hands.
He looked like Tancetta, but his whole energy was off.
“You go here, do you?” I asked, studying him, the way he looked at me, like he’d never seen me before.
“It’s my fourth year at Contemptible Calder. I belong here as much as anybody.”
He finally sounded like the Tancetta we knew and kicked out.
“Why were you chasing him, Toby?” I asked, glancing over and trying not to smile. I had enjoyed watching Toby try to catch Tancetta. He had good legs. Good lungs, too. Last year he’d be winded after a single lap. He’d had a very difficult transition from ordinary boy to Butcher’s boy. Most of us had thought that he’d never make it. Had he? I questioned him about the plant, something completely out of character for the Tancetta that I knew.
He sighed. “You caught me. I was burying a litre of coke in the garden because I want to go to jail today.”
His humor caught me off guard. Toby rounded on him and he reacted strangely. The old Tancetta would have physically attacked him, irrational and out of control, but now he only scowled and muttered. That was an improvement.
“Sebastian Tancetta,” I said, half making up my mind, what to do with him. His parents died and I had no answers for him. I owed him something for that. “It is good to see you in such excellent health. I understood that you wouldn’t be returning to school this year. My condolences for your parents.”
His bottom lip trembled again as he stared down. I saw him swallow hard and felt my stomach twist. So much weakness would be crushed here. He was going to cry. New boys did that sometimes, older boys also when I’d pushed them hard and they came face to face with their own terror, but this, mentioning his parents would make him cry? How could I interview him if he couldn’t keep it together after one sentence?
Butcher, Baker, Vampire Slayer: A Retelling of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Page 3
