The Venator (The Mindbender series Book 2)

by C. S Luis

  Eyes glanced over at me from the back of the classroom, mostly those of girls; the guys that looked over were jocks. It looked like they were sizing me up as well, but in the sense that they wanted to recruit me. They whispered back and forth to each other.

  Joseph noticed too. He swung his elbow back to give me the heads up. Yeah, I know the routine, I thought. I was in before I knew it.

  The teacher turned into a different person when she regarded Joseph and Michael, looking very polite and a vision of kindness. She smiled up at Joseph almost immediately as she came forward to greet us.

  “Sorry to interrupt your class, Mrs. Whitman, but I wanted to introduce you –”

  A murmur in the back interrupted Michael’s words. Mrs. Whitman spun back and gave them a stare silencing those few. She looked back fully attentive and a different person once more. Pleasant and helpful.

  Her eyes regarded Michael, waiting on the introduction that had been interrupted.

  “This is our new principal, Dr. Joseph Müller,” Michael immediately said.

  She smiled extending her hand out to Joseph, gripping his hand firmly, it caught him off guard for a second. Pretty strong handshake for an older woman, Joseph’s expression seemed to say. I personally hated handshakes that started limp.

  “Pleasure, Müller, that’s German, correct?” she asked, her eyes narrowed and her lips spread wide.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  She wrinkled her nose over at him. The look on her face said she didn’t believe him to be German. True, Joseph was a tan brown color, with light highlights in his hair, an obvious hint of his Hispanic heritage.

  “My uncle was adopted,” I volunteered before she could insult us.

  “My family is originally from Germany. My father still made frequent visits back when my grandmother was alive.”

  “Oh, I see…Well, that makes more sense.” The tone of her voice was anything but pleasant, in fact it sounded a slight bit cold.

  I nearly lost a laugh.

  “It’s certainly a pleasure nonetheless. Maybe we can get acquainted through lunch later?” she offered.

  Joseph tucked in his lip and nodded.

  Michael cleared his throat.

  “Mrs. Whitman,” Michael interrupted.

  She glanced over at him like he had just walked up to her.

  “This is Christian John Müller, Dr. Müller’s nephew, he’s our newest student.” She looked at me taking a more attentive look over. “Um…John,” he glance over, I nodded.

  “John, a pleasure to meet you,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll do fine at Milton, as long as you’re not a troublemaker.”

  Laughter from inside her classroom, had her spinning her head back glaring into her class.

  “Not at all ma’am,” I thought I had to say.

  “That’s good.” She turned back.

  “I’m moving John Müller to Ms. Witherson’s class. I just wanted to stop to inform you.” She nodded saying nothing.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Whitman.”

  She stared back at Joseph with a glare of disapproval, not sure why. Then, she looked over at me as we walked away with Michael leading the way.

  She was quiet, moving back and slamming the door closed.

  “My apologies.”

  “For what?” Joseph asked, “She’s a charming woman.”

  No, I couldn’t believe it. He was trying to be polite, or sarcastic, or something.

  We followed Michael down the hall and turned a corner. The halls seemed slowly filling up. A bell above rang, and I knew classes were slowly coming to life.

  “Well, this is it,” Michael said glancing over at me.

  Again, he knocked at the door, and again, there was a hush among my peers. Slowly, the door opened. A younger teacher came to the front of the entrance; she smiled as her eyes caught sight of Michael, then Joseph. She was a brunette, and she wore a red sweater. She had a slender frame, shoulder-length light brown hair and hazel, almond-shaped eyes. Her hair was pulled back by a single black barrette.

  “Sorry to interrupt Ms. Witherson, but I wanted to notify you of a change in the schedule.”

  “Yes, yes; I got your note in my inbox earlier in the day. Not a problem.” She smiled at Joseph. He responded back with one of his charming smirks. If I knew no better, I’d think Joseph was attracted to her.

  “This is John Müller, the new student I mentioned. I also, wanted to introduce you to our new principal, who is John’s uncle?”

  She gazed at us, first Joseph whom she shyly lowered her gaze to. Well Joseph was one of the handsome ones. Reminded me of Aquaman actor, Jason Momoa when I looked at him.

  “This is Dr. Joseph Müller …”

  “It’s a pleasure, Mrs. Witherson,” Joseph said, and I could tell he had taken a liking to her.

  “Ms. Witherson. I’m not married. Please, call me Janet,” she offered. She bit her lower lip like a shy little schoolgirl. Michael seemed to be a little speechless by the display. Maybe he was wondering what was happening to all his teachers in the presence of the two newcomers.

  “Ms. Witherson,” Michael impatiently said to get her attention diverted from Joseph. She glanced over at him, she looked lost.

  “Did you have any other questions regarding what you mentioned in your email?”

  “Oh yes of course. I mean, no, I didn’t have any questions, sir?” she said.

  “Again, I’m transferring John Müller to your class. He was originally in Mrs. Whitman.”

  “Ok?” She gazed over at me standing alongside Joseph.

  “Is this your nephew?” she asked. Joseph nodded politely. “Such a handsome young man.” She looked back at Joseph. “He must take after you.” She grinned back at him. Her eyes dropped shyly as she smiled, turning a warm blushing red like the sweater she was wearing.

  I rolled my eyes; seriously? On a positive note, it might work out for me.

  Joseph slightly turned toward me. “I like her,” he whispered.

  “Well, then. I’ll leave him in your hands,” Michael said, but she wasn’t listening to him.

  “Well, this is where you get off, Nephew,” Joseph said.

  “John,” Michael motioned me into the class. Ms. Witherson barely moved. I had to squeeze passed her as she made every attempt to get Joseph’s further attention.

  “Thank you for your time, Ms. Witherson.” Joseph politely said.

  “Janet—” she corrected him.

  “Janet.”

  “It was a pleasure… And don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your nephew. Feel free to stop by anytime to say hi…anything, any time.” she whispered.

  I made my way to an empty seat I spotted at the back, walking between the aisles of desks, looks from other students either sought my attention or tried to avoid it. Whispers, snickers here and there, I was used to it all. The first time it bothered me, but now it was a game that bored me.

  As I passed by, a voice caught my attention. I looked over to my left.

  A girl with golden locks of hair was smiling up at me. She was quite lovely, a revealing pink blouse spread open slightly above her boobs. It made me blush when my eyes dropped and danced over the opening.

  “You can sit here,” she boldly offered. Her pink lips spread into a slim, sexy smile. There was an empty seat right next to her I had missed. I grinned and looked back at the entrance as Joseph and Michael disappeared. Ms. Witherson came back into the class as I took the seat across from sexy blond.

  “I’m Rachel Westcott,” the girl introduced herself.

  I turned and gave her a smile. Her eyes gazed at me racing up and down my body, examining me before her lips spread into a smile once more.

  “John Müller,” I said.

  “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

  The guy in front of me turned suddenly it caught me by surprised. “You play?” he asked.

  I wrinkled my brow at him and slowly answered, “Yeah,”

  “I knew it…I told you,�
� he said to two other guys.

  “George always knows how to spot them,” Rachel said. She furrowed her eyes at him. I had this strange feeling she wanted all my attention on her.

  Shooting an apologetic glance at my admirer, the boy said, “Hi, I’m George Miller, by the way.

  “John Müller,” I offered. Same old thing, different school. Intros were always nice.

  He chuckled like a silly girl. “Yeah, I know, Principal Müller is your uncle. Neat,” he said.

  Rachel glared over at him, pressing her lips in frustration. “George, do you mind?”

  “Right,” he stupidly said. “Welcome to Milton,” he quickly said again and turned around.

  At the front of the class, Ms. Witherson was writing on the chalk board. When she finished, she turned and faced the classroom. She took two steps forward. I knew what was coming.

  “Class, I would like to introduce you to our newest student, John Müller.” She looked over at me.

  Rachel grinned, clapping long before others did. It looked as if when she did things, others went along with it.

  “John, will you stand up and tell us a little about yourself?”

  I rose, here it comes. Time to put on a good impression as Dr. Nicolson had said. “Well, there’s not much to tell.” I ran a hand over the back of my neck.

  “Oh, I doubt that,” Rachel whispered looking very attentive.

  “As some of you might already be aware. John is the nephew of our newest principal, Dr. Joseph Müller,” Ms. Witherson proudly announced. “Isn’t that right, John?”

  There were ‘oohs’ and ‘awes’ from my peers.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said politely.

  Rachel clapped louder; her followers did the same.

  “Well, my father is a respected surgeon; we moved here from New York. My father’s originally from Germany. We travel quite a bit. We had a death in the family recently; so, yeah, that’s the reason why I’m just now getting into school…” I glanced around, it seemed I had gotten everyone’s attention and sympathy.

  “Like I said, not much to tell.” I grinned, shrugging my shoulders.

  I had Rachel’s devoted attention and all I could think of was Claudia Belle.

  After class, I thought about getting into my role and setting up the devices I was required to set loose, but Rachel was at my heels as soon as I left the entrance of Ms. Witherson’s class. Her friends, the jocks, were right behind me, too. They looked like they wanted to recruit me.

  George, Eric, and Jeff kept asking if I was interested in coming over to play some hoops with them after school. I shrugged to get them to stop asking. Rachel pushed them off and made herself noticeable.

  “So, what are you doing after school?” She asked.

  I was taken off guard. We stopped by the locker I had been assigned. I dropped off a few things, trying to avoid her seeing what I was doing but she was stuck to me like glue.

  She leaned on the lockers; the others hovered over us. I felt I had acquired my own entourage, the way they followed me around. They were soon joined by a bunch of girls, I’d guess Rachel’s girlfriends. They were all dressed in the same way. There was a poster at the far side of the wall featuring the girls who were flocked around me. They must be the cheerleading squad. In the poster, Rachel wore a uniform of gold and blue- the school colors. She was in front of the other girls and looked like the head cheerleader. How did I always attract the cheerleaders?

  I was the new popular face in Milton it seemed.

  “Sorry, guys,” I said addressing all of them. “I’m having dinner with my father this evening. He’s coming into town.” Of course, that was a lie, Father didn’t even exist, yet.

  “That’s cool, man,” George said. “We can hang out some other time. I have all week. My parents will be out of town and I have a pool.”

  “I heard there’s a party coming up this weekend?” Rachel suddenly said.

  “Yeah, I know the guy who’s throwing it. You coming, John?” Eric asked.

  First time I heard of it, but I guess that made sense since today was my first day at Milton.

  “Yeah, why not?” I muttered. A bell rang above us; the halls began to thin out.

  “Maybe I’ll see you there,” Rachel said smiling over at me.

  I closed the locker, putting the backpack over my shoulder.

  “Let’s all go,” George suggested, pushing himself close. He looked like the clown of the bunch and seemed to be getting on Rachel’s nerves. She was desperately trying to get my attention.

  “Who you taking to prom, John?” Eric asked. He had blond hair and blue eyes. They were a preppy bunch of students. Possibly all from wealthy families, but I wasn’t sure how true that assumption was. Eric reminded me of my old pal, Jack, mainly because he seemed a little rough around the edges.

  “Haven’t given it much thought. I just got here,” I said, which was the truth. Wasn’t prom still awhile away?

  “Well no one’s asked me, yet,” Rachel volunteered, setting her eyes on me.

  “I thought I asked you?” George said.

  She slapped him on the side of the shoulder.

  Immediately, something tugged at me. With it, I spotted a current of golden light flowing in the distance.

  What the…? The light formed a path leading into an office before fading. It pulled at me, urging me to follow.

  I stumbled when Claudia Belle came out of the assistant principal’s office. The light was coming from her. It was leaving a beautiful glow. She was glowing, but only I could see it. It was faint, but enough to tell she was the source of the light. Did she know it? She seemed oblivious to it, so I had to assume not.

  Jeff put his arm over my shoulder to get a better view of what I was looking at. Eric and Jeff seemed like your standard jocks who had a little bit of wealth on their side. Where Eric had blond hair, Jeff had dark. They were both tall and muscular, the typical build of a high school athlete.

  “Ah, Claudia Belle. I’d stay away from that beauty, if I were you,” he advised.

  I wrinkled my eyebrows at him almost immediately. “Why do you say that?”

  “Just she’s off limits…sort of.”

  “She has a boyfriend?” I asked dreading the answer.

  “Nope. She’s just…. well…”

  “Weird!” Rachel voiced. “She’s the weirdest girl I know. Just like her grandfather. Ever since she came to Milton strange things have been happening.” She sounded like she didn’t like Claudia. Was it mere jealousy, or could there be something else behind her attitude?

  “Whatever,” Jeff said. “…weird things have been happening in Milton even before she came.” He had defended Claudia which put him in a more positive category in my book.

  “She’s not strange; she’s just…eccentric and extraordinary. The vision of perfection….” He sounded like he was in love with her. It made me a slight bit jealous, but I had to agree with him.

  “Besides, her guardian is Michael McClellan, and she’s got the whole team of assistant principals at her call. I would worry about getting detention or worse for messing with her...”

  “Whatever,” Rachel said rolling her eyes. She moved close to me, turned my face when I didn’t turn on my own to look at her, and forced my attention on her rather than Claudia.

  I was drawn to Claudia, though. Could she sense it? Why did I feel it was more me than her? She must have better control than I. And I was supposed to be a hunter. That made me curious far more about what classification of minder she was, or if she could even be considered such.

  “But you’re the principal’s nephew, so you might be ok,” Jeff let me know, patting my shoulder.

  “Why should he have her, when I’m available?” Rachel demanded.

  Jeff grinned and winked at me; George didn’t look happy. I didn’t like that he had asked her out and now she was coming onto me right in front of him. That showed me everything I needed to know about her.

  A second bell rang, and
Jeff dismissed himself. I glanced back, but Claudia was gone. I wanted to go after her, but the trail faded. I could no longer follow it. How did she do that? Did it only happen when I was near her and she near me?

  I moved Rachel aside very politely and carefully. “Got to go, guys. Need to go see my uncle.” I turned and darted away in the opposite direction, towards the stairwell and the main office. I hated high school.

  12

  Time For The Hunt

  After my little run in with Rachel and her friends, I stopped by the office to check on things and hide. By then, the movers had left clearing away all the remaining boxes. Michael, I assumed, had returned to his duties as an assistant principal. He was in good spirits when he had left Ms. Witherson’s classroom with Joseph.

  The secretary was busy in the back room looking through some file cabinets. She didn’t notice me when I came in. I peeked into the office. Joseph seemed to be getting into character as he sorted through the boxes. He didn’t seem to see me.

  “Get in here. You’re making me nervous,” he said from the other end of the desk.

  Okay, so I was wrong, he’d seen me. Closing the door behind me, I moved forward until I was a few steps in front of the desk.

  He looked up.

  “I need a hall pass,” I said.

  Ah, his eyes smiled before his mouth could move to repeat the sentiment. “Getting to work?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  He opened the center of his desk, picked up a note pad, and grabbed a pen from the pen holder. He began writing a note for me. He handed it to me and shooed me away with his free hand. “Go and hurry back, I could use some help,” he looked around the office. “sorting this shit out.”

  He stopped me before I left, realizing he’d forgotten simple pleasantries.

  “How was class?”

  I made a not-so-pleased expression.

  He laughed.

  “Made some new friends,” I offered.

  “Oh, really? Any use to the mission?”