by Slick, Tabi
“Okay, everyone,” his dry voice made my insides squirm, “since Ms. Morgan is not here today, again, and the president is currently ill I will be joining you all. You all know your parts so…. get a move on.”
He waved his hand towards the stage and we all filed by. I was reluctant to talk to him so I looked around for Kia to find out what I was supposed to do.
“Hey,” I said, walking up to her as she waited in line to get to the stage, “did Ms. Morgan mention what my part was? I’m sure someone already took over my old part.”
Kia made an awkward face before answering.
“Uh, yeah I kind of took over for you,” she shrugged, “but no worries, you should go ahead and do it.”
“No way,” I replied, “I’ll take whatever is left, you’ve been practicing for this and I wouldn’t know the part as well.”
“Are you sure?” Kia asked.
“Yes,” I smiled, “positive.”
“Thank you,” she said.
I could tell she was holding back her excitement, she had been wanting the lead part since the beginning. She’d do a good job at it. She handed me the last part available, a character that was basically an extra. I didn’t mind. I had more important things to do than to worry about memorizing lines.
“Izary!” I heard a nagging voice calling my name, “Or whatever the hell her name is,”
I felt someone nudge me and I shook my head, trying to focus on the present and push my distracting thoughts out of head.
“Yeah?” I replied.
I saw Chuck’s smug face as he held his clipboard as if he was so important. We shall see how important he’ll feel after Kain and I destroy him.
“You aren’t supposed to be in this scene,” Chuck scolded, “get off my stage,”
I rolled my eyes as I exited the stage. He acted as if he owned the whole place. Maybe he did, but that didn’t give him the right to go around torturing people and ordering them around. I was done with this crap. I grabbed my bag and decided to leave early. I felt someone grab my arm as I was trying to head down the aisle.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Chuck sneered.
“You know what you did,” I scowled, “and you will pay for it.”
“I am going to find out what you’re hiding,” Chuck smiled, “and you can try anything you’d like, darling, but you really have no power here.”
“We’ll see,” I replied, shoving his arm away as I stormed out.
I pulled out my phone and dialed Kain’s number. It rang twice before he picked up.
⎼“Kain,” I said.
⎼“What’s up?” Kain answered.
⎼“We have to go after Chuck tonight,” I replied.
⎼“How do you suppose we do that?" He asked, “We don’t have our power anymore.”
⎼“I don’t care!” I cried, “he tortured us for weeks and now he’s prancing his little smug self all around us like he can get away with anything he wants.”
⎼“What are you suggesting?” Kain asked.
⎼“I don’t know,” I sighed, heading up the path to the dorms.
⎼“Look,” Kain said, “we’ve got the Bartholomew brothers working on finding the journal, but who knows! They might’ve already found it. I don’t know how this whole time thing works, but finding that journal needs to be our priority.”
⎼“Yeah, but Kain,” I replied, “he needs to be stopped.”
⎼“That would be too suspicious,” Kain pointed out, “Chuck just so happens to kidnap the two of us and then he disappears? The uncle would definitely come after us! It would remove all doubt of what we are.”
I couldn’t believe Kain was talking me out of getting rid of Chuck. He usually was the unreasonable one. But in this instance I knew he was right.
⎼“Where are you?” I asked.
⎼“Staking out good old Theodore,” he replied.
⎼“What? Are you crazy?” I cried, stopping in my tracks, “he doesn’t know that we know that he’s involved. Ifhe suspects we know then that will confirm who we are and he’ll kill us!”
⎼“We want the journal, don’t we?" He said, his voice hushed.
⎼“Yeah, but we don’t want to get caught either,” I said.
⎼“Don’t worry,” he said, “I won’t get caught. Anyways, I just figured if he doesn’t have it in his castle then he must be hiding it close by somewhere. Maybe even at the school somewhere.”
⎼“Keep me in the loop,” I replied, “but my focus is going to be on Chuck. Don’t get caught...again.”
⎼“You don’t get caught,” Kain joked.
⎼“Whatever,” I rolled my eyes, “you know what I mean. Be careful.”
I heard him chuckle before hanging up the phone. He so was going to get caught and I was going to have to go after him. This time it would be different, though. I was definitely not going to go falling into another trap again.
“Izzy,” I heard a familiar voice calling behind me.
I turned around to see Lee heading up the hill.
“Hey!” I smiled.
Lee jogged the remaining distance between us and pulled me into his arms.
“I’ve been worried about you,” he whispered.
“It’s okay,” I assured, “I’m okay.”
I stepped back.
“I’m sorry about your truck,” I said.
“It’s okay, I got it back,” he shrugged, “I just don’t understand how it got back. I asked my dad to look for fingerprints but all they could find were mine and yours.”
“Whoever took us must have been wearing gloves,” I shrugged.
“Man,” Lee sounded frustrated, “I can’t believe someone could do that. Did you have any problems with anyone?”
“Me? No,” I replied, “but I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Let the police handle it.”
“How can you be so calm about this?" He asked.
“I’m not,” I said, honestly, “I’m barely keeping it together. But my brother is off doing who knows what and he’s so short fused I don’t know what he’ll do. So, I can’t afford being anything but calm.”
“Hey, I’m sorry,” Lee sighed, “I didn’t mean to criticize.”
I just nodded, not really knowing what to say.
“You know,,” he began, “I’m pretty impressed. You drop everything to go after your brother and then go through torture and are back to school days after being hospitalized!”
“Yeah, running off to an address sent by an unknown caller?” I laughed, “that’s called stupid. Nothing you should be impressed about.”
“Stupid?” Lee raised an eyebrow, “That’s brave.”
“Ha! Yeah, maybe," I shrugged.
“Hey, so I was going ask,” Lee said, “I know you might not be feeling up for it, but in a couple of weeks the school’s honors society I’m in is putting on this social at the President’s home before winter break and wanted to know if you’d like to join me?”
“Oh, wow!” I replied, “I didn’t even know they did that sort of thing here.”
“Yeah,” he said, “I don’t like to brag or anything, but it’s kind of a big deal.”
We both laughed at that.
“Is it like a date?” I asked.
“I hope so,” Lee said, the corners of his lips curling up into a mischievous smile.
“Then sure,” I smiled, “I’m in.”
“It means you’ll have to dress up,” he teased.
“Do you even know what that means?” I laughed.
“Please,” Lee said, “I make a tux look good.”
“Okay, okay,” I said, holding my hands up, “we shall see about that one.”.
“I’ll text you the info,” he promised.
“Perfect,” I smiled, “I’ll see you later.”
“Later,” Lee winked.
I was jumping with excitement inside, but contained my composure as I made it back to the dorms. I ran up to my room and flopped onto my bed, gazing out the huge window.
The sun would soon set and another day would come. I had no idea what would welcome me during the next few days, but I knew whatever came I could handle it because for the first time in awhile I had something to look forward to. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw a gold envelope being slipped under my doorway. I stood up and headed to the door, picking up the letter. It was addressed to me. I flipped it over to the back and saw it had been sealed with blue wax. I opened the letter and found a single piece of parchment paper with a single line of text.
See you at the honor’s society social, deary.
Cordially, Chuck
What the heck? Was he spying on me now? How did he know that Lee had just invited me to this social? Just then I heard someone at the door and I rushed back to my bed.
“Hey, Izzy!” I heard Kia call, “are you here?”
“Yeah,” I replied.
She came around the corner, setting her bag on her bed.
“You left in a hurry,” she commented, “what was that all about?”
“Nothing,” I shrugged, “hey, so do you know anything about this honor society social?”
“Oh, yeah!” Kia commented, “Kain’s taking me.”
“Kain?” I exclaimed, “Kain’s a part of the honor society?”
“Yeah, we both are,” Kia replied, “you didn’t know? He has been getting straight A’s all year long. Except for those weeks that he was out, of course. Which now that I think about it should disqualify him...oh well.”
I couldn’t stop myself. I quickly picked up my phone and called Kain, but it went straight to voicemail. I hoped that he had a good excuse. Why didn’t he tell me?
“Wait, why are you going with Kain?” I asked, “I thought things were still weird between you two from the party.”
“I thought that too,” Kia shrugged, “but out of the blue he asked me. I’m not going to turn that down.”
Now this definitely didn’t make any sense. Was it just a coincidence that I had received a snotty letter from Chuck regarding this event, the same day I got invited along with finding out that Kain is going as well? I wasn’t buying it.
“Why do you ask?” Kia asked.
“Lee just invited me,” I smiled.
“What?” Kia squealed, “No way! So, are you two an item yet?”
“Kind of,” I replied.
“Oh my gosh, why is this the first I’ve heard about this?” Kia laughed.
“He asked me out that day before Kain and I were kidnapped,” I said, “so, I really didn’t have a chance to tell you.”
“Wow,” Kia gasped, “that’s traumatic.”
“Yeah,” I replied.
“Let’s get your mind off of all that,” Kia suggested, “let’s talk about what you’re going to wear to your first formal as a couple!”
“I was thinking that cream knee length number,” I said.
“Cream?” Kia raised an eyebrow, “No, you definitely need to wear something just a tad more bold. I saw this off-the-shoulder mint ball gown that would be perfect! It’s pleated, flowy, and just spectacular!”
“I don’t know,” I replied.
“Here,” she said, pulling out her phone, “let me show you.”
She pulled up a picture of the gown and I had to be honest, it was stunning!
“Isn’t it amazing?" She asked, “and it would definitely knock Lee’s socks off.”
“Whoa there,” I laughed, “calm down.”
“Izzy, you have to get this dress,” she insisted, “if you don’t, I’ll be getting it for myself.”
“We’ll see,” I replied, “I guess I didn’t realize how formal of an event this was.”
“Yeah,” Kia said, “it’s pretty swanky.”
“I can’t wait,” I said.
“I know!” Kia agreed.
I was just trying to keep Kia from asking questions. I wasn’t excited about the social now at all considering who I had just received a suspicious letter from. And what was going on with Kain? Why wasn’t he answering his phone? I couldn’t believe that he was stalking a potential murderer who was out to get us. He might as well just tie a bow around him and say Merry Christmas! He was basically sprinting into the arms of the man who was out to get us. I couldn’t let myself get distracted by this social with Lee, because I had a good feeling that it was a trap and I had to be prepared for it.
‡‡‡
I woke up early the next morning, checking my phone only to see that it was four o'clock in the morning. I couldn’t sleep as I kept thinking about the meeting with Lawrence and Edwin. I realized that there was no way we’d be able to confirm whether or not they had found the journal until the next full moon which made me extremely uncomfortable. I mean, how much did we really know about them? Why should we trust anything that they had to say?
I got out of bed, quietly gathering my shower supplies, and headed for the restrooms. It was a good chance to relax and think. I wondered if Kain had gotten anywhere yesterday while following Theodore Tompkin. If Kain and I were going to continue on like this we had to find a way to protect ourselves. We needed to be able to use our power outside of the full moon. But how could we do that? It wasn’t like there was an on or off switch that we knew about and could access all the time. I remembered the struggle it took to allow Kain access into my thoughts when we were hours away from the full moon. How much harder would it be to do it now? Unlike that night, I didn’t feel the ability even remotely now. But it had to be possible, right? It had to be. I remembered how it felt when that vial appeared in my hands that first time I transitioned. I didn’t even have to think about it as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Or when I conjured fire with my bare hands. The flames didn’t even burn my hand. Could fire touch me now? Would I even burn? I didn’t know if I wanted to test that theory out. I glanced over at the shelf holding my shampoo and condition off of the floor. I eyed it as if there was nothing else in the world.
“Lid, open," I whispered.
Nothing happened. Oh big shocker.
I shrugged, picking up the shampoo bottle and reaching over to open the lid. I barely moved my hand towards the lid when it suddenly popped open. I dropped the bottle as it clattered onto the shower floor. Did that just happened? I picked up the bottle, returning it to its perch. I waved my fingers towards the lid of the bottle in an attempt to repeat whatever I had done to open the bottle before. If I was able to at least control this one power we might not be sitting ducks at the social.
The lid popped open yet again. I gasped as I realized what I had just done. I picked up the bottle and quickly finished washing my hair and headed back to my room to get dressed. I had to tell Kain as soon as I saw him next. It was Tuesday so we didn’t have any classes together, but I would hunt him down during lunch. I quickly pulled on some jeans, a tank with a warm sweater, knee-high boots, and grabbed my bag as I headed out to the cafeteria. I knew it was early and that it was probably not open yet, but I wanted to get out and practice some more. I had to be careful, couldn’t risk anyone seeing me, but I was just too excited to be cooped up in the dorms. I made my way down the path, the cool mist surrounding me as I breathed in the brisk air. There was still dew on the grass and the dirt path felt soggy underneath my boots, but I didn’t care about that at all! I watched as the leaves ahead of me flew off into the woods like magic. It was the breeze causing this, of course, but I couldn’t help but think about the endless possibilities that the power I had just experienced while opening a shampoo bottle with the wave of my hand could do. I focused on one leaf that was still soaring through the air. I zoned out, everything else around me disappearing as though that leaf was the only thing that existed on the planet. I quickly raised my hand up and the leaf halted. The wind was bustling around it, but nothing could move it. I moved my hand as if to grab it and it flew into my hand. I smiled to myself. This was going to be fun. I continued my walk down the path and suddenly I had a splitting headache. I looked around, hoping no one had seen what I had just
done. I glanced back and noticed that I had already reached the split in the path and there was a figure aways down the trail leading to the boy's dorms. The shape was too far away so I couldn’t make out who it was, but I was assuming it was that dreadful Amadeus guy. Was he one of us? If he was, why would he be doing this to me?
“What do you want?” I shouted.
My question was met with silence. I collapsed as the pain grew and as I fell to the ground I heard a familiar voice behind me.
“Are you okay, deary?” Chuck asked.
The pain quickly lifted and as soon as it did I pushed myself up off of the ground.
“Are you following me?” I asked.
“Not at all, love,” Chuck smiled, leaning against a nearby tree, “I was just heading back to the dorms. Had some business to attend to before class.”
I looked back up the path towards the boy's dorms and the figure was gone. Was that Chuck or Amadeus? Were they working together?
“Did you see that figure?” I asked.
“What figure?" He asked.
“Nevermind,” I rolled my eyes, not expecting an honest response from Chuck of all people, “what do you want?”
“Nothing,” he shrugged as he walked towards me, “like I said, I was just heading to the dorms.”
He brushed passed me with a smug face that I wanted to just wipe off of his face.
“See you at the ball, my dear” he called over his shoulder.
“Stop calling me that!” I shouted, infuriated by his insistent sarcasm.
I just heard him chuckle as he disappeared. I couldn’t stand him. Kain and I should have just turned him in when we had the chance. He needed to stop messing with me or else next full moon I would enjoy having him for dinner.
‡‡‡
I sat in my French class checking the time every few minutes, wondering how time could move so slowly. I wanted to hurry and find Kain so that he could start practicing too! We both needed to have a grasp on our powers not only because it was extremely awesome to be able to do magic outside of the full moon, but also so we could make good use of the social. Who knows, we might even find the journal. I rolled my eyes as Ms. Cotillard continued her lecture. I thought the point of taking a language class was to actually learn and practice, not sit and listen to an entire monologue in French. Suddenly, the bell signaling the end of the period rang and I jumped up and practically sprinted out of the room. I didn’t even bother stopping at my locker to drop off my books. I just went straight to Coach Webber’s class, Kain would be leaving his class so perhaps we could walk to lunch together.