“Damn it,” Cameron said. He looked at Noah hurriedly. “Do you know when?”
“Let go, Lusk.” The coach pushed Cameron off him.
“He was threatening Lorelei,” Cameron said as he let go, and Coach Chavez seemed to calm.
He looked at me. “Did he touch you?”
“No, he just got mad at me.”
“Then you need to file a statement with the counselor. She’ll know what to do from there. You,” he said, looking at Noah, “need to be someplace else.” Thankfully, he didn’t realize Noah wasn’t a student.
Noah headed off, but he turned back and said, “Soon.”
Coach Chavez offered him a warning expression, then pointed in the opposite direction of the school.
“You too. Go.”
“Can I get my things?” I pointed inside.
“Hurry.”
I rushed in and gathered the snacks I’d bought, then burst out the door and hurried away. While
Cameron’s walk was more like a saunter, unhurried, thoughtful, he caught up to me in only a few steps.
“What was that about?” I asked, looking over my shoulder to make sure Coach Chavez was leaving.
Cameron plucked the MoonPie out of my hands. Then he went for the chocolate milk, and I yanked it back from him.
“Dude, Brooke likes her chocolate milk. Take it and you’re risking my life. Just where the heck have you been?”
He stuffed half the MoonPie in his mouth. “I was eating. I thought you were supposed to stay on the bench. You said you weren’t hungry.”
“I wasn’t.” When he looked at the contents of my arms doubtfully, I added, “I am now. What was that about? Who was that?”
“Noah, apparently.”
“You don’t know him?” When he shook his head, I asked, “Then what is going on?”
“He’s possessed.”
I stopped and stared up at him. “What? You mean, like, with a demon?”
He put his free hand in a pocket. “No, Lor. Not like you. He’s possessed like Brooke was when her parents first brought her to Riley’s Switch, to your grandparents. He’s possessed by a rogue spirit. And he must know things if he came here seeking our help.”
I started forward again. “Then we have to help him. That poor kid.”
“That’s just it,” Cameron said. “I don’t think we were talking to the kid.”
DETENTION
“Nutrition bars?” Brooke moaned as I walked up to her. “Granola? What the heck is up with that?” She grabbed one out of my hand and pointed accusingly. “That machine has Cheetos. I’ve seen them. Orange.
Crunchy. How am I supposed to live on this stuff?” I plopped down beside her and let her get it out of her system. After a rant that lasted two whole minutes, she opened the nutrition bar and took a bite.
“Strawberry. Yum.”
I sat on the bench beside her in a trance. “You will not believe what just happened.”
“Is that a MoonPie wrapper?” She finally spotted the evidence in Cameron’s hand.
“N-no.”
I handed over her milk before Cameron lost a leg.
“Oh, yes. Milk from my favorite color of cows: brown.”
“Brooke, seriously, you will not believe—”
“I was starving,” she said. “I’m surprised you didn’t have to revive me. You took, like, forever.”
Ashlee and Glitch walked up then, Ash’s eyes darting around furtively. “Did that kid try to hurt you?”
“What?” Brooke’s gaze bounced back and forth between Ashlee and me. “Who? What happened?” She finally realized I was taken aback. “Lor,” she said, putting a hand on mine, “what happened?”
“That boy from the Clearing. He’s possessed.”
“What boy?” she asked. “That kid in the army jacket?”
I nodded and told her the whole story of what just happened.
“So, what does that mean?” she asked, as clearly disturbed by the idea as I. “Cameron?”
“It means he won’t live much longer with that thing inside him.”
I gasped.
“And it means he knows something. I’ll have to see if the sheriff can find him. Before Vincent does.”
I glanced up in surprise. “Vincent?”
“Did you see his reaction when you mentioned the descendants? There’s no love lost. Did you find an address on Vincent?” he asked Ashlee.
“I’m sorry,” she said, clearly disappointed. “I couldn’t get his file. The cabinets were locked today because Mrs. Terry is out sick.”
“Oh, crap.” I stuffed wrappers in my pockets when I saw Mr. Davis walking toward us. I had no idea why. It just seemed like the right thing to do.
I was so hoping this day would be incident-free.
He turned his big mustache-covered head toward Ashlee. “Ms. Southern, would you mind giving us a minute?”
“Oh,” she said in surprise. “Not at all. I’ll see you later,” she said to Glitch.
He eyed her a long moment. “Oh-kay.”
Maybe he was getting a clue. He turned back to us and shrugged.
“We can do this out here, or I can take you into my office one by one,” Mr. Davis said, his expression grave. “I’m fine with either, but I want to know what happened yesterday.”
Brooke said, “Didn’t the sheriff talk to you?”
His mouth formed a solemn smile, and while it wasn’t actually out of appreciation or humor, it wasn’t harsh or derisive either. It was almost sad. “You kids did a lot of damage yesterday. I don’t even know what to say to the superintendent. To the school board. But one thing I can’t tell them is that you went completely unpunished. One month of after-school detention for all of you, starting today. And that includes Kovach when he comes back.”
“Oh, man,” Glitch said, kicking up dirt.
Brooke stood, indignant. “What? That’s—that’s—”
When Mr. Davis leveled a challenging stare on her, she caved.
“That’s more than fair, Mr. Davis.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Cameron said to him. He wasn’t so much challenging Mr. Davis as —and I could hardly believe it—as confiding in him. “And I’m certain Lorelei’s grandparents won’t think so either.”
Mr. Davis stepped forward menacingly. Or at least he menaced me. “Then when you can explain to me what happened, we’ll talk about it. I’ll be in my office.” He glanced at each of us. “If any of you would like out of ASD.”
After he left, Glitch scoffed at Cameron. “You couldn’t have taken Jared outside where your little wrestling match wouldn’t have caused so much damage?”
Cameron looked down at him. “Why don’t you take some Midol, little man?”
To everyone’s utter surprise, Glitch actually took a swing at Cameron. A swing! Cameron easily sidestepped it, his brows raised as though impressed. But I was not. I ran forward and got in between them. Unfortunately, Glitch was already in the process of trying again. Noble but suicidal.
His fist struck me on the temple, and unlike Cameron, I ate dirt.
In an instant, Cameron had Glitch by the throat and pressed against the wall in a chokehold that was more choke than hold. Brooke and I both ran to him, pulling on his arms.
“Are you psychotic?” Cameron asked him.
But Glitch was just making these gurgling sounds.
“Cameron,” I said in a loud whisper, worried Mr. Davis was still around.
But he didn’t listen to me. Not really a surprise. What did surprise me was when Brooke took her turn at him. “Cameron Lusk, drop him this minute.”
He did. Glitch went down hard. He grabbed his throat and coughed a full minute.
“What are you thinking?” I asked him.
He pushed my hands away, stood, and strode off.
“What has gotten into him?” I asked.
“What has gotten into you?” Brooke asked Cameron.