by Zara Zenia
"Thank you," I replied with a smile. He seemed to soften up a bit at that.
"Thanks," he said like he had just realized how rude he was acting to a harmless young girl. "If you'd like a drink of water, there's a fountain just over there," he added a little sheepishly.
I took a seat and took out my phone to play everyone's favorite candy stacking game. I found that was a lot healthier to do when I was stuck waiting than scrolling through social media. Even more so now that there was nothing nice to read with all the rumors, accusations, and stupid arguments going on because of the murders and arrests.
After a few minutes, the guy at the front desk looked at me for a moment and seemed like he wanted to say something. He was hesitating though. He went back to shuffling papers that were on the desk behind the privacy partition that stuck up in front. He pecked at some keys on his computer back there, then looked at the papers again and shuffled through them. Then he'd do the same thing, all the while looking more and more confused.
"Say, if I leave the front desk for a minute, you'll be okay right?"
"Uh, of course." It was a strange question. I don't know what he thought I was going to do.
"Just be sure to wait out here, okay?" he said with an unsure look.
"I promise I'm not going anywhere until they're ready to question me," I replied, holding up my phone a little to indicate that I was being kept quite happily busy lining up candy and desserts in my little game. I was trying to beat a difficult level that Laurie had already finished last week. Catching up with her was no longer my only goal now though. I wanted to beat her score so she would have to go back to maintain her superiority at crushing those candies.
The guy nodded and then grabbed some papers to go through the door by the front desk. He closed it behind him, at least he pulled the thing shut most of the way. But as he walked off, the latch only just barely failed to secure. Someone was talking in there, probably the guy from the front desk with someone else. I couldn't make out what they were saying though with the door closed over. I used just a teeny little force push, more like a gentle force nudge, on the door. I know it was stupid to use magic there, but I just hoped no one would be worried about detecting any magic in the waiting room.
As the door slowly opened back up just a few inches, I could hear a conversation striking up in that room. "Hey, John, are you sure this is right?" said the man who'd been at the front desk.
"Hold on a minute," came another voice, much more gruff and a little older sounding. "Okay, what's up, Henry?"
Henry was the guy's name from behind the desk then. "I'm entering these interview notes into the computer."
"Okay," said John, sounding impatient.
"Yeah, and someone wrote down that this student doesn't display any powers other than being unscannable. What's up with that?"
"If that's what they wrote down, that's what you enter into the system. Not my job to question it. And it's not yours either. We don't know what kind of paranormals are out there in some places. This is all pretty new, in case you hadn't noticed."
"I know, I know. But—"
"Look, the Great Awakening only happened sixty-eight years ago. There are a lot of different paranormals, and places like Sleepy Hollow are still very much a new thing as far as I'm concerned. It's not your job to worry about this."
"Maybe I'll ask the guys in the interview room when they're done with her," said Henry.
"I wouldn't. That girl they brought in for attacking that exchange student and cussing out a house party full of students, she's given them nothing but trouble. She's still a bit drunk too. Even took a swing at Fernandez."
"Serious? Yeah, I guess I won't bother them. He must be fuming," said Henry. "Alright then, I'll just go with what it says on the forms."
"Good," said John in an annoyed voice.
I realized it would be really obvious that I was able to hear them if the door was open, so I took a chance and carefully closed it. When Henry came out, he didn't seem at all suspicious. And little me was just playing my phone like a clueless teenager. I didn't look up when he came back in, and soon he was back at his computer clicking away at the keys.
So, this girl was immune to being scanned somehow, but didn't seem to have any other powers. That sounded very fishy to me. During my interview, I told them everything they wanted to know. They scanned me and decided there was no way I had been involved in the death of the student who'd been set on fire by her own spell. They also managed to find out that Carlotta had been seen hanging around the sports equipment storage room. There were two junior baseball bats missing from the peewee league's supplies. Our baseball team had volunteers who coached the juniors at the local elementary school.
That was enough for me to press charges against her if I wanted. And I agreed to.
14
Colin
I wanted to cheer Marina up with everything that had happened. And it had been a while since I'd gotten any alone time with her too. Since the murder, I hadn't been with any other girls either. That was partly because I'd been too busy trying to find out as much as I could to find the killer. I didn't want to admit that it was also partly because I was starting to grow very fond of Marina. I wouldn't say that it felt like cheating, but maybe she was enough woman for me at the moment.
We went to a steakhouse outside of town. With Carlotta in the custody of the campus police, it seemed like it was safe enough to go about our normal lives a little. They had a suspect and it was becoming easier to sneak out of Sleepy Hollow. Most of the students were doing it at least a little, and no one had gotten in any trouble for breaking our detainment.
Marina looked absolutely breathtaking too. I picked her up from her dorm and my mouth almost hit the floor. She was wearing a slim fitting black dress that hugged her curves perfectly. Her hourglass figure was somehow bodacious and petite at the same time. I liked that she was kind of short too, because it just added to her overall cuteness. Cute and sexy— that was something not many people were able to pull off. Her hair was down and flowed freely over her shoulders. It looked like she'd freshly straightened it too. Very much looking the part of the sexy little witch. I was more than smitten at this point, and she stirred up something powerful in my pants.
We drove to the steakhouse in Vlad's car. He was a really good guy. We'd been getting a lot friendlier lately. Daniel too. I felt like I was part of a brotherhood or something, as nerdy as it was to think of it that way.
Once we were seated and had our food, the night started to take on a fun, relaxed atmosphere. Marina was acting playful and when the waiter asked if we would like to look at the wine menu, I figured we may as well take advantage of not being asked for ID. She had a glass of sparkling white, which was so fitting to her sophisticated and bubbly personality. I didn't want to ruin the moment by declining the offer for a drink, so I grabbed a light beer.
"I'm sorry we haven't been able to spend much time alone together lately," she told me, playing with my foot under the table and looking at me with a longing expression. "And I'm really sorry to your little friend down there," she added, moving her foot, which she'd slipped her shoe off, up toward my crotch. "Maybe we can do something about that after we get back to the dorms?"
"That sounds like the perfect end to a lovely evening," I said. I knew I had a way with women, and I never had to say much to have them fawning over me. With her though, it was always like I needed to stay on my toes, or she would lose interest. I don't know, I honestly liked that she was never easy like that. Even for a girl who had four boyfriends, Marina seemed unattainable. That was crazy, but this was a situation that felt kind of crazy to me anyway. Crazy in a new, exciting, unique way. It made her seem like a highly sought after prize. That was romantic as all hell as far as I was concerned. A young lady with a bunch of suiters vying for her affections? Maybe I was cut out for this non-monogamy thing after all.
Just like that, and I should have known, Marina got a phone call. I didn't realize at first
. "Oh, hold on," she said, looking around like she'd misplaced something. She reached down and fished around in her handbag that was by her foot on the floor. "My phone's buzzing," she said. "It's a call. I'm sorry but I should take it."
"You should," I agreed.
"It's Daniel. Oh boy," she said.
I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that we both probably shared.
"Hey baby, what's up?" she said in a playful voice. Not jumping to worry yet, not letting the night be ruined quite yet. Then her happy expression dropped.
Damn it.
"Well how the hell did she get away? What? They have no idea? Yeah, okay, uh, shit. Yeah, we were having a nice time, thanks. Okay, we'll see you soon." She hung up her phone and pulled her handbag up from the floor, placing the device back inside and doing the clasp back up. That was a pretty finalizing moment that spelled the end of our date.
"Well, it was nice while it lasted," I said.
"It really was, baby."
"You look so beautiful tonight," I said. "You always do though." I waited while she pouted and we each let out a sigh.
"I guess you figured that we need to get back to campus, right?"
"Carlotta escaped? What else did Daniel say?" I asked with concern.
"That guy who was with her at the party, his name's Jacob. Well he showed up at the campus police headquarters like he wanted to ask some questions. Next thing the officer behind the desk forgot what was going on apparently. It was like he was a zombie."
"Like what happened to you, and to Vlad and his football friends during the fight at the house party," I said. "He must have been the other person who attacked you in the sticks."
"I agree. Only get this— he showed up with two other guys in masks. They were armed too! Busted Carlotta out of there and they all took off."
"Let's get back and find out what the hell's going on," I said.
15
Thomas
This week had been the hardest point in my life. I guess that would make me lucky compared to a lot of people in the world, even at my age. But I sure didn't feel lucky about facing possible murder charges, being harassed by locals and students alike as though I was some kind of enemy of the state, and also being cut off from being aided by my family's lawyers thanks to the order of confidentiality that had been placed on this case.
I was pissed off. I was desperate. Most of all, I decided that I wasn't going to take this shit anymore. The other guys were also treating me like I was an asshole, which I tried to pretend I hadn't noticed. That could make a guy do stupid things.
I waited until it was dark and headed over to the second year girls' dorm building at Sleepy Hollow. I didn't even take my car. I moved it by the entrance to the hotel lobby where I was staying too, in the closest parking place I could get. They had cameras set up there, and the staff would be able to see the car too. I made sure to act like I was just getting something out of my car and told the girl at the front desk that I was getting nervous about leaving it parked away from the cameras with all the commotion that had been going on. She was cute and clearly interested in me, even though she was a good ten years older.
I used mind magic to make sure she would remember having seen me, as well as our little conversation. I said that I was beat and would be binging my favorite show for the rest of the night. Then I went to my room and slipped out the window. I walked to Sleepy Hollow, avoiding the main road from town. This might have been a little too elaborate, but I wasn't planning on having any more bullshit pinned on me. If life was going to throw hard balls at me, I was going to need a much bigger bat.
I broke into Carlotta's dorm room when I got there. I knocked first, had been hoping I could use a mind trick on her roommate for some answers. No one was home though, so I had to let myself in. It was easy enough to get by using a credit card. I don't know why they had such crappy locks on the doors, but cost cutting reached even the most prestigious of establishments I guessed. Not that this school out in the middle of nowhere really compared to Salem University.
I slipped into the dorm and realized it was a single. That was kind of strange. Sure, I had a single at Salem, but my family was rich and influential. I had never heard of this girl. Judging from the way she acted and whatever she was caught up in, I would not have guessed that she had any kind of breeding either. I know that was exactly the kind of thinking that set Marina off. Honestly, I was working very hard to put my past self behind me. I didn't want to be a stuck-up rich kid anymore. I wasn't a kid anymore, having turned eighteen the previous year. It was time for me to stop looking down on people just because they weren't born with a silver spoon in their mouths.
Looking through her things, I noticed a box under her bed with a notebook in it. Inside was a whole lot of stuff that made her seem insane. More so, it made Carlotta out to be a paranormal hater. But that didn't make sense, since she was a paranormal student herself. Maybe this was just an emotional 'I hate everyone' thing, like a cry for help even.
Then I found a list that wasn't labelled. The thing that drew me to it was finding Marina's name written down. This was a list of students that were 'troublesome'. A hit list! At least from what I could tell, that had to be what it was. There was the name of the student who had set herself on fire, Lisa Daly. There were a few other student's names too. I needed to find out more.
I immediately went to see Marina, and we agreed some more snooping was needed to get to the bottom of this. She called on the help of two boys she knew. When they arrived, she introduced me to them.
"Tom, this is Brian Erlich, he's a wizard too," she said. "And this is Mike."
"I go by Zap and you know it," said Mike.
"You two are twins?" I asked, because they sure did not look like twins. Brian was a human paranormal like Marina and me, but Zap was a Gray. If anyone needed to quickly know what a Gray looked like, it would be easiest to mention any stereotypical alien from a movie. They had telepathic powers but were very empathetic and friendly. Big heads, velvety black eyes, gray skin, tiny mouths, no body hair— although they did have eyelashes —and standing between four and five feet tall. There was almost nothing that distinguished the males from females. They were also amazing with technology, which led to rumors that they were actually hybrids between humans and aliens.
While Grays were super friendly, they unfortunately repelled a lot of humans. I could empathize with them, but I'd never been very close to a Gray. My family wasn't big on associating with those who were different.
"So, my little brother tells me you're in need of our hacking abilities?" said Brian. "Although, you really could have just asked me. Some alone time might have been nice, beautiful," he said without shame.
"Geez, you're such a flirt," said Marina.
I didn't like it, but the guy seemed to just be that way. As soon as Marina told him off, he shrugged and walked over to sit beside Laurie on her bed.
"You're older than me by a minute, dork," said Brian with a laugh. They were both wearing skater type clothes and ball caps, which they didn't remove indoors. "Anyway, shall we get to business?" he said, pulling a laptop out of the backpack he'd been wearing and sitting on Marina's bed with it.
After bypassing some online security measures that Brian said were pathetic, they found the student record for Carlotta. "It says here that she specializes in telepathy and blessings.”
"That's bullshit," said Zap. “I have classes with her, and she doesn't have a telepathic bone in her lying body.”
"It's a hot body though," said Brian with a slime. Laurie elbowed him lightly and shook her head with a laugh.
They also found that Jacob, her accomplice in escaping the campus police, had some fake information in his records. "So, are we all agreed that Carlotta might not even be a paranormal?"
"She could be using some kind of physical artifact to block being scanned. There's no evidence she has any powers other than that," said Marina.
"And she expected to get through finals unnoti
ced? Sounds like she's got a screw loose," said Zap. "From what I've seen, I suspect she is manipulating Jacob ... and you might have a wannabe serial killer on your hands."
16
Marina
We were all horrified by Tom's findings. What Brian and Zap dug up for us was enough to urge some serious action. We called the campus police anonymously. They were already looking out for Carlotta and Jacob after the escape, but they had no idea things could be so serious. Taking her from a violent drunk to a possible serial killer in their minds was enough to really amp up the search.
Since it was in between school terms, I was told it would be best to hide somewhere and stay away from the campus. Vlad's friend Jay was happy to let me have the spare bedroom there. He was a courteous and nice guy who respected that I was with Vlad and not looking for another guy. It also meant that I got to spend more time with all of my boys when they came over to hang out. Not sharing with a roommate in a dorm also gave us all a lot more time for some amazing sex, although only two ever at a time. I had been thinking about bringing in more than one at a time and wondered if any of the guys would go for it.
Carlotta and Jacob clearly had the same idea about hiding, because weeks went by and the campus police had turned up precisely nothing. I discussed the issue with my boys many times, but we could never agree on a plan of action that might actually work without being too risky. Eventually I convinced them that the only way to bring Carlotta out of hiding would be to offer myself up as bait.
"We need to force her next move. There's one thing we know for sure: she is unstable and full of hate for paranormals. I don't know why she has something against me in particular, but I'm on that list."
