Jen Pretty

hold of Peran… I’m not sure, but I heard a phone ring in

  the trees. Like I had called someone who was standing near

  us. It could have been the person who attacked you.”

  190

  Nick's eyes went wide then he rolled up and grabbed

  his boots.

  I pulled my shoes on, and we were out the door.

  Nick pounded on Peran and Kai’s door.

  When the door swung open, a half-asleep Kai stood in

  the doorway. He was wearing fleece plaid pyjama pants and

  an old ratty tank top that sat crooked on his shoulders,

  adding to his dishevelled look.

  “We have to get Nick’s phone,” I said.

  Kai’s bleary eyes focused on me. “We can get it in the

  morning.” He started to shut the door, but I stopped it and

  pushed it open.

  “I think I accidentally dialled the person who attacked

  Nick. I heard a ring in the forest.”

  Kai rubbed his eyes and then scratched his head. He

  pulled the door open and backed up to let us in. Peran was

  fast asleep on the bed, snoring softly.

  Kai sat on the corner of the bed and pulled on his

  shoes. His eyes were still heavy as he stood and put a hand

  on each of us, sifting us back to the graveyard. I stood still

  to get my bearings, but Nick lurched forward in the

  darkness, head down, searching for the phone.

  Kai flicked on the flashlight on his phone, and we all

  moved around the area, searching for the phone. The grass

  191

  was dry; it should be fine as long as it wasn't sitting in the

  puddle of blood.

  “Here it is,” Nick called. I hurried over, and he pressed

  the button to turn it on. As the screen lit up, it displayed a

  gross smear of dried blood. Nick scrapped at it with his

  fingernail, and it flaked off, raining to the grass like

  grotesque snowflakes.

  He tapped the screen a few times and look up at me.

  Then his eyes shifted to Kai.

  “She dialled Falcor.”

  192

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  We all stood in stunned silence for a minute.

  “Why would Falcor do that?” I asked.

  “He’s an ass, but I don't think he would cut my throat,”

  Nick said.

  “All the women who died washed up on the shore had

  their throats cut,” I whispered.

  Kai put a hand on each of us and sifted us back to his

  motel room where Peran was still snoring. I was getting

  used to travelling that way. It hardly affected me at all, this

  time. I went to the bed and shook Peran’s shoulder. His

  snoring stopped on a quick snort, and his eyes flipped open

  and focussed on me.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, his eyes darting around

  the room to rest on Kai and then Nick.

  “Caw,” Crow appeared on the headboard of the bed.

  He had something clasped in his talons.

  193

  “What is that?” I asked reaching out towards it. As my

  fingers touched in, he unclasped his long nails, and a watch

  fell into my hand. “Where did this come from?”

  Crow launched himself off the headboard, circled the

  room and then dove straight for my chest. I tried to back

  up, but it was too late. His feathered body slammed into

  me, disappearing into my chest and magic exploded,

  sending blue sparkles through the room.

  Dry heaves wracked my body, but my vision shifted,

  and I was suddenly standing in the graveyard at the edge of

  the trees. I hopped forward and let out a caw. My mind

  spun until it put the pieces together and I realized I was

  seeing what Crow had seen.

  There in the underbrush was something shiny,

  reflecting the moonlight. I hopped forward and pecked at

  it. It was clean and new looking as if someone had just

  dropped it on the fresh leaves. I picked it up in my beak

  and turned back out of the brush. My eyes could make out

  three figures standing near a grave in the place we had been

  moments ago.

  I heaved again and coughed until my eyes watered

  before reaching into my mouth and pulling free a long

  black feather.

  “Are you ok, Selena? Selena!” Nick's voice sounded

  urgent. I wiped the tears from my eyes and looked up at

  194

  his worried face. I was laying on the floor but didn’t

  remember falling.

  Crow cawed from the bedpost.

  The watch was still in my hand. I inspected it as I

  caught my breath. God that was gross. I held up the feather

  that had been down my throat. “Was that necessary?” I

  asked the bird.

  He bobbed his head up and down like a lunatic.

  “Crow found this in the graveyard. It was near where

  we were.” I held up the watch.

  “I’ve never seen a watch like this before. Certainly not

  on Falcor,” Nick said.

  “Could it have been a coincidence I heard a phone ring

  at the same time as I dialled?” I asked, taking the watch

  back from nick and trying to remember if I had ever seen

  a watch like that before.

  Everyone stared at it in my hands. “We have to go talk

  to him, anyway. We need to know for sure. Is there any

  way to know if he was at the school during that time?”

  Kai hummed. “Well, if he was teaching a class or with

  someone, he would have an alibi, but if not, the school

  doesn't keep track of comings and goings.”

  “Let’s go,” Nick said.

  Kai grabbed his arm and disappeared. He returned a

  moment later to grab Peran who was still in his pyjamas

  195

  and sock feet. He grabbed my arm too and a moment later

  we were standing in the school cafeteria with Nick.

  I checked my pocket to make sure the book had made

  it through the sifting and sighed with relief. I didn't like

  the school at night. The lights were low except for the

  marked security exits, and there was absolutely no sound.

  I could feel the magic seeping out of my pours with

  every moment. It was uncomfortable, but I was holding so

  much magic, I figured I had a while before I needed to get

  out of here. Still, the feeling of losing magic provided an

  urgency that had me marching out of the cafeteria and

  down the hall towards the dorms.

  “Selena,” A tiny voice called from behind me.

  I spun back, my magic tugging in the direction the

  voice had come from, not that I needed it to tell me who

  was behind me. The tiny boy came charging down the

  darkened hallway and flung himself at me. His magic

  wrapped around me tighter than the serpent had in the

  graveyard in Canada.

  “Hey, Colvin. How’s it going?” I asked, his vibrancy

  lightening my mood and bringing a smile to my face.

  “Good, I’ve been waiting for you to come back. Mr.

  Denner said you might not come back because the school

  magic wasn’t good for you.” His big brown eyes blinked

  up at me from the frame of his white hair.

  196

  “I probably won’t stay long, but I’m glad you were here

  to gre
et me.”

  “Colvin. You should be in bed,” a tall, lanky vampire

  said as he rounded the hall and caught sight of us.

  “Look, Mr. Denner. Selena came back.” Colvin’s

  enthusiasm was over the top.

  The vampire shook his head and smiled. “That doesn’t

  change the fact it’s the middle of the night and you should

  be sleeping.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, scooping up Calvin in a hug. The

  weird connection between us made me want to keep him

  close to me.

  Crow appeared in the hall and hopped over to where I

  stood with Colvin wrapped awkwardly in my arms, his legs

  hanging down towards my knees. Crow hopped up to nip

  at Colvin's shoelaces that hung limply from his sneakers.

  He and I laughed as his teacher approached. “Hello

  Anick, Peran, Kai. How are you all doing this evening?”

  The guys replied in a jumble of positive statements

  followed by “Mr. Denner,” and I assumed they had all been

  a student of his at one point. It was funny how teachers

  never lost the Mr. or Mrs. before their name, no matter

  how long you were out of school.

  I set Colvin’s feet on the ground and smoothed his hair

  back.

  197

  “Will you be here for breakfast?” he asked.

  I didn’t want to lie, but something inside me wanted to

  get to know him. “Maybe.”

  He smiled at me, then turned and ran past the guys

  towards the dorms — his shoelaces whipping along at his

  feet.

  “It’s nice to see you all back. You must be Selena,” he

  said extending his hand to me. I shook his hand but held

  my magic captive, so it didn’t hop into the vampire. “I’ve

  heard quite a bit about you.”

  “Nice to meet you too,” I said.

  “So, what can I help you with?” he asked, his blue eyes

  were intense like a hot summer sky.

  “We came to talk to Falcor,” I said.

  “Oh, I guess you wouldn't have heard, he left the

  Sanctuary. He wasn’t content to be a teacher.”

  I caught Nick’s eye. His face looked dark as if he had

  the same thoughts as I did. If Falcor wasn’t here, he could

  be anywhere.

  “Do you guys want to stay here for the night? I think

  someone who should be sleeping would like you to stay,”

  he said in a louder than necessary voice, looking past us

  down the hall. When I spun around, I saw a flash of white

  hair disappear around a corner.

  198

  “I’m not sure how long I should stay, but I guess I can

  try,” I said, looking back to the teacher.

  “All right, follow me.” He led us down the hall and

  pushed open a door, flicking on the light inside. There were

  two bunk beds in the room — one on either side.

  “I call top bunk,” Kai said as he launched himself up

  onto the loft bed on the right.

  Peran hopped up onto the other one, leaving me a

  bottom bed. I tucked the magic book under the pillow and

  curled under the blankets.

  I assumed Nick would head to the room I had

  stumbled upon full of vampires my last night here, but,

  instead, he threw himself down on the other bottom bunk

  and stretched out on his back, hands behind his head.

  Kai jumped down and flicked off the lights, throwing

  the room into blackness. The squeak of bed springs

  announced his return to his top bunk, and the room fell

  into silence. I stared into the darkness and got lost in

  thoughts of Falcor and the dead bodies washing up on the

  shore. Falcor knew where I lived and worked. I had seen

  him at the graveyard the night I raised the old man before

  all this started. It could have been him that delivered the

  dead things.

  The sound of rustling feathers near my head nearly

  shocked me off the bed. “Shit,” I said.

  199

  “What is it?” Nick said.

  “My stupid Crow just scared me,” I replied.

  He cawed, the sound ripping through the room.

  “Shut up,” Kai said, the springs of his mattress creaked

  as he rolled over on the bed.

  “Sorry,” I whispered.

  The bird settled down beside me on the pillows and I

  hoped he would just sleep. I closed my eyes and tried to

  stop my mind from thinking. There would be plenty of

  time for that tomorrow.

  When I woke up, the sun was streaming in through a

  window at the foot of the bed, blinding me. I turned onto

  my side and came face to face with a tiny brown-eyed boy.

  His giant gap-toothed grin was too much, and I smiled

  back at him.

  “Good morning, Selena,” he said. He was crouched

  down beside the bed, still wearing his pyjamas.

  My magic had nearly drained off while I was sleeping,

  I would have to run outside or something before breakfast.

  That super magic zone outside sounded pretty good.

  “You ready for breakfast?” he asked.

  “Sure, just give me a minute to have a shower.” I

  watched Colvin scurry out of the room, then looked

  around. The guys had left. I was still wearing Peran’s t-shirt

  200

  and jogging pants. It was all the clothes I had, so I would

  have to put them back on after my shower.

  I had a quick, luke-warm shower and went off in search

  of the guys. After walking the hall back to the cafeteria, I

  found them sitting at a table near the back of a very

  crowded, loud room full of bouncing children. Some of

  them were disappearing and reappearing like the warlocks

  do, while others were jumping from their seats up on the

  table and back down the other side — little vampires in

  training.

  “Selena!” Colvin yelled. I weaved my way through the

  room carefully. Small bodies were running with trays and

  dashing away from each other.

  “Hey guys,” I said.

  Colvin had put his backpack on the chair, but pulled it

  off and smiled up at me as I slid into it. He was cute. I

  looked up, and Nick was glancing between Colvin and me.

  “What? I asked.

  “It’s just, you two could be siblings. You’re so similar.”

  I looked back down at Colvin’s grinning face and

  returned the big toothy grin. Yeah, we were similar, but it's

  hard to see past our brown eyes and white hair. Peran's

  blue eyes made more sense with his pale hair than Colvin

  and my brown eyes. It didn’t matter; I felt a connection to

  Colvin and was happy to pretend he was my little brother.

  201

  “I’ll go get you some breakfast,” Colvin said as he

  hopped up and ran off.

  My laughter bubbled out, and the guys joined in for a

  moment, but then their faces fell.

  “We tracked Falcor’s phone. He is in your city,” Kai

  said.

  “Shit.”

  Colvin raced back with a tray in his hands loaded with

  breakfast foods at that exact moment. I covered my mouth

  with my hand, realizing I swore in front of a kid, but he

  just smiled and set the food
down for me.

  “Thanks, Colvin,” I said, snatching a piece of toast off

  the plate.

  Peran reached across the table to take some too, but

  Colvin’s magic lashed out like a whip and smacked Peran’s

  hand with a slap.

  “Colvin!” a stern voice called from across the room.

  “Sorry, Ms. Everly,” he said in a sing-song voice with

  a frown on his face.

  “You know the rules,” she huffed before turning to

  stop a couple of vampire kids who were trying to jump to

  the ceiling fan.

  “You aren’t allowed to use magic here?” I asked him.

  Peran was still rubbing the sting on his hand.

  202

  “I can use magic, but not offensive magic. They take

  me to the graveyard sometimes,” he said smiling again.

  “It’s fun there.”

  “I like it there too,” I said with a laugh.

  The small cup of orange juice that Colvin had brought

  me tasted like fresh squezed and the eggs were light and

  fluffy. It was hard to believe the school made food for all

  these kids every day.

  I turned back to Colvin dreading that what I had to tell

  him.

  “I have to go again for a while, but only a few days

  hopefully. Then I’ll come back and see you.”

  His smile fell, but he nodded and looked at Nick. “You

  will stay with her? I don’t want the boogie man to get

  Selena.”

  “Who is the boogie man?” I asked thinking it was a

  joke.

  “Falcor.” His face was serious, and I almost dropped

  my cup of juice.

  “What do you know about Falcor?” I asked. The guys

  were all focussed in on the kid too.

  “I had a vision one time. He was doing bad things. I’m

  glad he’s gone, but I don’t want him to hurt you.”

  “I promise, I’ll keep her safe,” Nick said.

  “We will all help keep her safe,” Peran chimed in.

  203

  Colvin wrapped his short arms around me and closed

  his eyes. “I’m glad I have a sister,” he said.

  I wasn’t sure where that came from, but I was happy

  to let it ride. The thread between me and the little boy

  pulled tight around my heart.

  “All right, we should get going,” Kai said, standing up

  from the table.

  I downed the last of my juice and hugged Colvin once

  more.