In the chaos of the hallway, he stewed over the start of his day. Not since basic training had he been treated so horribly. Guardian status made him complacent, almost cocky. A demotion later, he had to force himself to adjust. Still, a bucket of water in the face wasn’t usually how he liked to wake up. His fault, really. When his uncle said, “better get up or I’m pouring cold water on you,” he should’ve listened. The stories were true. Rainer wasn’t someone who spoke idle threats.
What he wasn’t prepared for, and what all the training in the world never taught him, was how to deal with high school. Being homeschooled all his life, he only interacted with children from other Illumenari families. All of them disciplined. Each one hungry to begin their climb up the hierarchy. They trained together, competed in the yearly games. Even the blood-thirstiest Illumenari spawn he understood better than a normal teenager. At least in the Illumenari there was order. The chaos that was Newcastle High put a knot in his brow.
The stream of students filling the hallway moved in every which direction. No one cared who they bumped into. Some walked around obsessed by whatever was on their phones. A jock threw a football. A gaggle of girls stood in the middle of the way, blocking the flow. Cloying perfume mixed with unwashed bodies. Locker doors opened and slammed, wreaking havoc on his sensitive hearing—what little he had left of it. Day one and he already felt weaker than a pixie.
Just when things began to make sense, a girl in one of his classes zapped him. One handshake and she almost lit him up like a Christmas tree. She felt the electricity, too, judging from her reaction. He grunted. If he’d had his Guardian powers, he would have been able to sniff out what she was. Since he no longer had that luxury, he relied on instinct. She seemed human enough, but his gut told him to stay the hell away from her. Touching her seemed to have flipped a switch, because thinking about her made him seek her out. Even now, in this crowd, he scanned every face in the hopes of spotting her. How hard was it to find copper curls? She should stick out. It pissed him off.
Lesson of the morning?
School. Sucked. Ass.
He would rather have his balls in a vise than spend another minute here. Yet, staring down at his schedule, he wondered how many more classes he shared with…what the hell? Again with the thoughts of her and that unmistakable pull.
“Focus, man,” he mumbled to himself, his hand itching to crumple the confusing map and schedule. The idea of catching a bus out of this hick town tempted him. How many hours would it take before Rainer caught up with him if he bolted?
Nah.
No matter how much he wanted to run, the Council had frozen all his accounts. And working odd jobs sucked worse than school—even with the freak show encounter in class. He’d do his time. Didn’t mean he couldn’t fantasize about escape.
Looking left and then right, he noticed the students gave him a wide berth. Maybe they felt his slowly darkening aura and stayed away. This didn’t seem so bad. He could tough it out. He didn’t used to be the fastest rising star in the Illumenari for nothing.
How hard could school be?
Maybe less so if he found his locker before lunch ended. Taking his time in the shower forced him to skip breakfast. Stomach grumbling, he spotted a girl in a white dress no one else seemed to see at the end of the hall. She stood barefoot, and her long, brown hair framed a haughty heart-shaped face. His blood froze. The hand holding his schedule shook as her white, almond-shaped eyes stared at him. Her full yet blue lips pursed then spread into a smile. Hunger forgotten, he forced himself to blink. Apparitions usually disappeared when the eyes opened. And as expected, once his eyelids lifted, she was gone.
He counted his breaths, focusing on the in an out motion of his chest filling with stale, sweaty air. No relief came. Not when his mistakes haunted him.
“Need help?”
He jerked and turned toward a girl in a black and orange cheerleading uniform. How long had she been there? He cursed himself for not paying more attention to his surroundings while she devoured him with her eyes.
Scowling at her blatant objectification, he said through gritted teeth, “I’m looking for locker 2-2-5.”
A corner of her shiny lips pulled up. She gave him one more assessing glance then pointed down the hall. He twisted toward the direction her black fingernail indicated and walked away.
“You’re Mr. Sloan’s nephew, right?” She sashayed to his side, her voice as bubbly as her step.
“That’s right,” he said. His molars threatened to crack at his stupidity. He should have known the lockers were arranged in ascending order. Finally reaching his, he punched in the code written at the top of his semi-crumpled schedule.
The cheerleader flitted from behind the open door to his other side. “You just transferred in, right? Where you from?”
He stuffed books he didn’t need inside the tiny space. “Budapest.” Could she just go away?
“Where’s that? Idaho?”
Slamming the locker shut, he stared wide-eyed at her. She had got to be kidding, right? Please let her be kidding. From the seriousness of her expression, she really expected an answer from him. But before he could respond with a zinger, a chill of dread ran down his spine. So much for avoiding the Boogeyman. Bad enough they’d be spending first period together for the rest of the year. Someone? Anyone? Save him.
“Ah, Ms. Easton, I see you’ve met my nephew,” Rainer said from behind them, pulling said nephew to his side and mussing his hair.
“Jesus, don’t you have a faculty lounge?” Dillan shoved at him. No go. Rainer clamped on tighter than a succubus on a sleeping human.
“Hall monitor.” He wiggled his eyebrows at them.
Right. Playing the innocent—still a little creepy—uncle card. All an illusion based on the predatory glint in Rainer’s eyes. His training kicked in. When faced with predators, stay still. Keep calm. They smelled fear.
Again. Anyone? Help?
The cheerleader laughed. “I was just about to introduce myself to him, Mr. Sloan. Hi, I’m Sheila.” She eyed him like she couldn’t wait to take a bite.
As if sensing his flight response kicking in, Rainer yanked him closer and whispered, “You better blend in.”
He spoke without really moving his lips to keep the succubus…uh, the cheerleader, from noticing their conversation. She waved at a passing group, letting them know about a meet up at the mall. “And if I don’t?”
In response, the Boogeyman squeezed the shoulder he had dislocated last night, causing Dillan’s knees to buckle. Only his uncle’s hold kept him standing. “Play nice, Dillan, or I won’t let you investigate the disappearances.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw Rainer speak while maintaining a perfect smile on his face. His gaze never left the cheerleader, his grip on Dillan’s shoulder never slackening. One more squeeze and he’d pass out. He prayed to anyone who would listen that Rainer wouldn’t humiliate him that way in front of so many strangers.
“Fine,” he hissed, painted into a dark, dreary corner. Something had to give. If he wanted the case, he needed to play by Rainer’s rules.
“I was just about to ask Dillan if he wanted to have lunch with us,” the cheerleader finally chimed in, returning her full attention to them.
“I’d rather—” He coughed out the rest of his sentence as Rainer’s elbow slammed into his side. Dammit. Even his love taps hurt. He righted himself as if nothing had happened. “Is there a child abuse hotline I can call? Minor, remember?”