by Lanie Jordan
At the end of the day, my own personal demon-scoreboard was as varied as the demons. It ended with three demons that had normal reactions to me, two that were definitely going on my mental foe list, one that liked me, and the Sharphynx that was in a kind of purgatory until she tested the species again.
So far, I hadn’t had any abnormal reactions to the demons, though I had no idea if Dr. Cherry was testing for that. Regardless, that was definitely on my watch list. I wanted to know how different demon species reacted to me, but more, I needed to know my reaction to them. I needed to know if there were more demons—like the Sercoons from last Phase—that I’d like.
It’d only been my first appointment with her, so I tried not being disappointed that we were no closer to finding out anything definitive.
When Dr. Cherry finished her tests (including some blood-drawing), she led us back down the never-ending corridor to meet up with the other P3s. They were already there waiting. Eric spotted us and made one of his usual faces at me (a cross between a sneer and a look of straight disgust). It was pretty much the only expression I’d seen on his face since last Phase, so I tended to ignore it. Okay, I tried to ignore it.
His head tilted to the side and he smiled. “Awh, I think they let her hang out with her own kind for a while. How sweet,” he whispered to his friends.
“Jerk,” I muttered.
Dr. Cherry looked down at me. “Ex-boyfriend?”
Linc laughed as I made a choked sound. “No,” he said. “Just an as—”
“A someone—” I shot Linc a glare. “—who doesn’t like me very much.”
“Oh?” She raised an eyebrow. “Why is that?”
Linc snorted. “Because she’s her.”
She nodded, like that made perfect sense. “I see. Director Greene did mention that you weren’t very…popular among your peers now, because of your DNA.”
“I guess you could say that.” Though, saying I wasn’t very popular was a bit of an understatement.
“Well, the director has high hopes for you and is sure you’ll win them over.”
I blinked. “He told you that?”
“Yes.”
He’d said the same thing to me at the end of last Phase, but I hadn’t expected him to share his thoughts with anyone else. I wasn’t sure why he had.
“Director Greene gives us impressions of people we—the scientists—may work with,” she said, reading my thoughts. “It doesn’t necessarily help us with our work, but it’s nice to know who we’re dealing with. As I said before, I was anxious to begin working with you, so I did a bit of nosing around.” She managed to look almost abashed for two seconds. “I’d apologize again, but I’m clearly not sorry. I’m a scientist. We snoop. We’re good at it.”
I laughed. As far as scientists/doctory types went, she wasn’t that bad. Funny, smart, and she wasn’t at all like Dr. Asshat, which was a big plus. I liked her. She kind of reminded me of a female version of Greene.
“We about ready here?” Mr. Connor called out, looking over the students and doing a quick count of heads.
Dr. Cherry held out her hand. She shook Linc’s, and then mine. “It was nice meeting you both, and I look forward to working with you again.”
“Thanks,” we both said.
“And Jade? I know your aversion to doctors, so I appreciate you agreeing to work with me in the first place.” She laughed at my gaping stare. “Yes, that was also discussed.”
Linc said bye again and dragged me toward the exit before I could respond or sputter. “C’mon, Hall, your eyes are about to bug out.”
I let out a hmph. “Don’t I get to keep secrets? From anyone? Ever?”
Linc stopped short. His head tilted to the side and he gave me a you’re-really-asking-that? look. “No comment.”
“That was comment enough,” I said, and then I slapped his arm.
Someday, someday soon, I’d have a darn secret that wouldn’t be blabbed to everyone and their grandma.
*~*~*
On Halloween morning, I woke early and just laid in bed, staring up at my ceiling. My heart ached. Today marked the third year since my mom and brother died.
A part of me did want to take Greene’s advice to take a day off, to stay in bed, to stay locked in my room until it was over. A big part of me wanted that. But another part didn’t, because it’d be too easy to do that.
The last week had been hard, but this year was a little better already than last, wasn’t it? Not a lot, but at least I hadn’t broken down yet. That was progress.
“It’s supposed to hurt,” I told myself as I sat up and pushed my sheet away. “And it’s not going to stop.” It didn’t have to, and I didn’t expect it to. It would, hopefully, get a little easier, like this year versus last. Pain went away and wounds healed, but the scars were always there.
If I didn’t get my butt out of bed and do normal things, it wouldn’t stand a chance of getting better. So I dragged myself into the bathroom for a quick shower, got dressed, and prepared to attack the day before it attacked me.
“Wrong attitude, Hall,” I said, shaking my head at myself. Last year, I said I’d try to make it through the day. Today, I wasn’t going to try. I was just going to do it. No fake smiles, only genuine ones. I couldn’t just sit around waiting for something good to happen, so I’d make it happen myself. Smiling and trying to be—no, being—happy wasn’t a disservice to my mom. She’d want me to be. I could be sad and happy at the same time. I could miss my family and manage to have a decent day. And...and damnit, I was going to have one.
With my mind made up, I gathered my stuff for the Demonology extra-credit thing. Instead of waiting for Linc to come get me for breakfast, I decided to go get him for a change. Today was the day for change.
I knocked on his door. He opened it with a look of surprise on his face that slowly turned into a smile. Before he could say anything, I jumped into his arms, planted a big kiss on his lips, then jumped down.
Staggering back, his eyes went kind of fuzzy. The smile stayed in place, then turned into a big, satisfied grin. “I don’t know what you’re on, Hall, but I approve.”
I laughed and gave him a slight push back into his room. “Get your stuff, Flyboy, because I’m walking you to class.”
*~*~*
After breakfast (where I delivered Linc’s food to him and stole a piece of his bacon), I hooked one arm through Linc’s, another through Tasha’s (who had Chris’s arm), and walked them all to class. Everyone gave us weird looks, but it probably had more to do with the fact we took up most of the room in the halls walking in a line than anything else. At least, that’s what I told myself.
Mr. Sheldon tried masking his surprise with a smile when we all walked in wearing big, goofy grins and laughing like lunatics. “Morning,” he said as we took our seats at the back of the room.
Everyone was actually there, which told me they’d all come to the same conclusion we did: it was worth studying on the weekend if it meant getting extra credit.
Mr. Sheldon walked around to the front of his desk. “I know it’s Sunday, and I know you all didn’t have to come in, but I’m glad you did. As you know, this is partly for extra credit, and partly a lesson, too.” He leaned against the desk and crossed his ankles. “I want to talk about Halloween first. The day for tricks and treats—tricks and treats that apply to both humans and demons. It’s the one day a year where demons can walk around freely without drawing any extra attention to themselves because scary monsters are expected. It’s a good day for them.”
“Sounds like a bad day for hunters,” someone muttered.
“To an extent, yes. Having demons walk around unnoticed—or at least not paid any attention to—is difficult for us, it’s also easier in a way.”
“How?” Natalie shot Mr. Sheldon a questioning glance. “Aren’t the demons harder to figure out?”
“They can be, yes. There are, unfortunately, some costumes that have been inspired by actual demons. Even without those, n
ew hybrids are popping up, so it can be hard to determine friend from foe—at least at first glance. Some people—agents and cops—react first and think later. There have been a few instances where someone got a pretty decent shock by being tranqed unexpectedly.” He coughed. “Not by me, of course.”
The class laughed. “You tranqed someone?”
Mr. Sheldon’s eyes were bright. “Hypothetically, we’ll say the hunter in question might’ve been a little jumpy as it was one of their first hunts as a newly trained demon hunter.” He gave another fake cough. “However, despite the accidental people-hunting—” Everyone chuckled. “—Halloween isn’t a total loss for hunters. It makes hunting more difficult, but it does, believe it or not, aid in capturing.”
“How?” Tasha asked.
“We don’t have to be as stealthy, for starters. Demons aren’t the only ones who fit in on Halloween. Apparently being a secret-agent type person is pretty popular.” He smiled now.
“How’s it easier for capturing demons, though?”
“Because when we do, if someone sees us, we can play it off as prank. The person being pranked—the demon—can’t argue with us. They typically grunt or make random, intelligible noises and people assume they’re in character. If they were in real trouble, obviously they’d call out for help, right? So, yes, there are plenty of pros for the demons on Halloween, but we’re not without our own ways of handling things.” He clapped his hands together and pushed away from the desk. “So, in honor of the coolest holiday of the year, we’re going to do some Halloween challenges.”
“Like what?” Cassidy asked.
“A small competition of sorts. A competition that will aid you later this Phase, say, when it’s time for your final essay. An essay, I must admit, that’s going to be a doozy. And of course, what Halloween would be complete without…” He trailed off as he walked around his desk and dug through his drawers. He yanked out bags of candy. “Junk food.” After ripping open one bag, he tossed everyone a few pieces. “Free food. The rest you’ll have to earn.”
There was a collective groan.
“Here’s how this is going to work. I’m going to split the class into two teams. I can pick them, or, if you’d prefer, you can pick your own. Up to you. I’ll ask questions and the first team to answer correctly gets a point. Or in this case, a candy. Make sure you don’t eat your points. Once they’re gone, you can’t get them back.” He gave that a second to sink in. “At the end, the team with the most points will only have to write an eight page essay—on the topic I’ve yet to determine—instead of ten pages. After that, it’ll be a singles round. The three people with the most points will, again, owe less pages. First place gets another three pages taken off, second gets two, third gets one. Any questions? No? Okay. You’ve got five minutes to make your teams.”
It was a repeat of Combat class where Eric’s biggest supporters moved to him, like he was their fearless, idiotic leader. Linc, Tasha, Chris, and, to my surprise, Brian walked over to my desk. A second later, Natalie and another girl, Chloe, came over to our side of the room. The other four and a half minutes left the rest of the class staring at Eric and me.
“Problems?” Mr. Sheldon asked when the time was up. “Need me to divide the rest?”
A few people shook their heads and picked a team—mostly Eric’s. The rest debated for another second or two, then decided. In the end, there were more people on Eric’s team, but at least our side wasn’t a team of five like in Combat.
Mr. Sheldon nodded to the groups. “Alright. Let’s begin…”
*~*~*
By the end of the group round, our team had won (by three points—even though Natalie and Tasha had both eaten a point). When it came time for singles, I hesitated. We weren’t far into the Phase, so a lot of the questions Mr. Sheldon asked had to do with demons we’d learned about during our first two Phases. I knew most of the answers and everyone knew it. They’d all heard about my memory thing by now, so most of the P3s were looking at me like I had an unfair advantage.
“Should I back out?” I whispered to Linc.
Tasha heard me, too, and glared at me before Linc could answer. “Do it and I’ll kick your butt,” she hissed.
I made a face at her and sighed. “Fine.”
The singles round went quick. Mr. Sheldon asked question after question, and despite Tasha’s threat, I hesitated on a few to give people a chance. I would’ve hesitated more, but Tasha kept stepping on my toe. One time she did it, I let out an angry sound that Mr. Sheldon mistook as me wanting to answer. I almost answered incorrectly, just to spite her, but damned if her glaring didn’t do me in. So I muttered the answer, hoping Mr. Sheldon wouldn’t hear or understand me, but of course he did.
“Alright, that was the last question. Time to tally up and find out who our winners are.”
Almost everyone’s desk had at least a few pieces of candy. Mr. Sheldon moved around to count points and typed the numbers in his tablet. When he finished, he went back to the front of the room and stood at his desk. “Let’s see… Well, it looks like we have a tie for first place. Jade—” A few people groaned (like Eric). “—and Brian. Second is Natalie, and third is Linc.” He set his tablet aside. “Congrats, everyone! You may now eat your points.”
I glanced over in time to see Tasha already inhaling her candy. I laughed.
“What?” she said. “I’ve been staring at them for hours. These puppies are mine.” When Chris put some of his pile on her desk, she fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Now that’s a good boyfriend.”
Smiling, Mr. Sheldon gave the room a congratulatory round of applause. “Jade’s team, you only owe eight pages. Linc, your paper only needs to be seven. Six from you, Natalie. Brian and Jade, five. As for the rest of you, for participation, you can each take a page off.”
Eric scoffed. “Don’t know why she needs the extra help,” he said to his friends.
“You know, Eric—”
“Ignore him,” Linc whispered in my ear.
Keeping my eyes on Eric, I said, “No, he’s right, I don’t need them.” I shrugged. “Do you want them, Eric?” He muttered something under his breath that made me sigh. “I’m not being fake or trying to give you an attitude or anything. If you want them, they’re yours to take.” I tore my gaze from him and looked to the front of the class. “Is that okay with you, Mr. Sheldon?”
Everyone in class stared at us expectantly, though I had no idea what they were expecting.
Mr. Sheldon said nothing for a minute, but then shrugged. “Your reward, your call.”
Eric’s eyes nearly rolled into the back of his skull. He shot me his most disgusted glare yet, like I was insulting him instead of trying to be nice. “Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t need charity from you.”
I nodded. “Okay.” I looked around me. “I mean it. I don’t need them, so anyone else want them? Anyone else have objections to charity from me?” No one said anything or moved. “I’m dead serious. No attitude, no thanks required. You want ‘em, you got ‘em.” It took another minute before two hands went up, then two more a few seconds later. After an obvious internal debate, a fifth person raised their hand. “There you go.”
Linc stepped up beside me. “Three more up for grabs.”
“Two from me,” Tasha said. She glanced at Chris and crossed her arms over her chest.
“And my two,” Chris mumbled half-heartedly.
The rest were gone in seconds—by Eric’s team and some of our own.
Mr. Sheldon looked back and forth and made notes in his tablet. He rattled off the new numbers to everyone. “Okay. I think we’re done for the day. A little early, but I’m sure you’re all excited for the Halloween party, so enjoy your evening. I’ll see you guys next week. And don’t forget your candy.” He held the bag out. “Please, take the candy. I’ve had two bags already.”
Tasha smiled at me as people piled out. “You’re a stand-up gal, Jade Hall.”
“Well, I am standing up, so it fits.”
I grinned. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
As the rest of the class left—some shooting me weird looks as they stepped out of the room—Mr. Sheldon walked over. “She’s got a point, Jade. You started a good thing. You all did. And you’re all keeping your rewards.”
I shook my head. “No. You said you wanted ten pages? You’ll get fifteen from me. And don’t,” I added quickly, giving Linc and Tasha stern looks, “even think about volunteering.” I didn’t bother looking at Chris, because I was pretty sure he wasn’t crazy enough to follow my insane plan.
Mr. Sheldon blinked at me. “Jade—”
“It doesn’t mean anything if I don’t put the work in. It doesn’t mean anything if I gave them something I earned too easy. Maybe it’ll mean something later if I…I don’t know, pay for their reward?”
“I’ve got you down for your five still. If you turn in more—”
“No.” I crossed my arms over my chest now. “Put me down for fifteen.”
I had no idea why I was being so stubborn about it. Regardless of what I did or didn’t do, I wasn’t actually sure it’d change anyone’s opinion of me. It’s not supposed to. You can’t change other people—you can only change yourself.
“Okay. Your call. Fifteen it is. As for you three...the same as discussed before. Seven pages, Linc, and eight for you two.”
“Thank you,” I said.
Mr. Sheldon shook his head, like he was in disbelief. “You haven’t taken the essay, so don’t thank me yet,” he warned darkly. He waved his hands at us. “Now scram before I change my mind.”
Linc and Tasha each took one of my arms and pulled me to the door. They only stopped when Mr. Sheldon called my name. “Yeah?”
“I’m glad you came to class today. Have a great night.”
I glanced at my friends. Chris shook his head and gave me a look that clearly said he thought I was crazy. Tasha had a similar expression on her face, but also a resigned one, because she was used to my craziness already. Linc… He caught me staring at him and wrapped his hand in mine. His expression was harder to describe. It was sort of soft and he had this small smile on his face that left me with a warm, good feeling in my stomach. A content feeling.