Shadow Walker (Neteru Academy Books)

by L. A. Banks

  “Look, Melissa took something from him. I don’t know what, but… Look, all I’m saying is he could be dealing drugs right here in the school, or maybe he’s into something worse. In any event, he told her he was a werewolf—that much I’m sure of. And whatever other stuff he’s into, it didn’t sound good.”

  “First of all, you don’t know that for a fact. Melissa is pathetic. She could be lying. She’d do anything to get him back, I bet.” Tami frowned, then her expression slowly changed to one of awe. “I thought Baba Shabazz was the last of the shape-shifters. If you’re right about Stefan, then…cool.”

  “Cool. Cool? Do you hear yourself? A shape-shifter is one thing, but somebody who gets crazy and eats people when the moon goes full is something way different.” Sarah began to pace. “Like, I think you need to know a lot more about Stefan before you get all caught up, especially before you ask Jessica for anything—you know what I mean? And especially since we don’t know if he was involved in opening portals and—”

  “Hold it. Now you’ve crossed the line, Sarah,” Tami said, kicking off her slippers and climbing up onto her bunk. “I didn’t say anything to you about Wil and the fact that something’s obviously going on with him and Patty, so don’t you judge me! Not to mention, I already admitted where I was. I might have gotten the poor guy expelled for doing nothing more than a lot of kids are doing. He’s certainly not a kidnapper or a… a… I don’t know what.”

  “I’m not judging you, Tami. I’m just—”

  “Back off. It’s my choice! I like the bad-boy types, so sue me. This hasn’t got anything to do with Ayana being gone. This is about you not liking my choice and not respecting it! I have always had your back, Sarah—when are you going to start having mine, huh? It’s always crazy Tami’s fault, isn’t it?”

  “Well, at least cut Al a break in public, then, all right,” Sarah said, feeling her face getting hot. “You almost got my brother beat down by a real live half-were at the luau.”

  “First of all, you’re one to talk!” Tami shouted. “What was that thing with you and Wil after dancing up close and personal with Val? I guess it’s okay for you to let Val be ready to punch out some guy’s lights over you, but when—”

  “What the hell has any of this got to do with you staying safe, Tami? You always try to change the subject when you’re dead wrong! Tonight I’m not in the mood for it!”

  “I am so sick of your holier-than-thou crap, Sarah!” Tami shouted back, veins standing out in her neck. “Everything is always about what you’re worried about, what you think, what you’re scared of, you and all your little problems! Everything always revolves around you, Sarah! Well, who made you the center of the frickin’ universe? Who made you the leader of our group? I bet your parents had a nervous breakdown when they found out you were a Blend like me and Donnie. Don’t even try to deny it—they were sitting on the edge of their seats at the ceremony praying for a last-minute change, just like you were. Admit it! But the sick joke is that you got stuck in Blends with me, so now you’re trying to suck up to Mrs. Hogan in the library and do extra work, hoping somebody will finally rank you higher. Don’t speak to me or try to tell me how to live! For once I have somebody who likes me waaay more then they like you, and I don’t have to stand in your stupid shadow!”

  Pure hurt made Sarah’s words explode past her dropping fangs. “You really feel that way about me, Tami? And you call yourself my best friend?”

  “Why are you two arguing?” Allie shouted, coming between them as Hyacinth placed her pillow over her head. “Just stop it!”

  But Sarah couldn’t disengage from the emotions imploding within her, and she leaned past Allie’s small frame to get in Tami’s face. “Net compound sticks together, like we should be sticking together over this horrible thing that’s happened to Ayana. I’m telling you about Stefan because I care! I don’t want anything to happen to you! If Al had swung on Stefan trying to protect you, he might’ve gotten hurt. So give him a break—”

  “What?” Tami pushed Allie out of the way and squared off with Sarah. “Since when do you give a crap about your brother? I thought I was your BFF, through thick and thin. When those two are too chicken shit to go on an adventure,” she said, pointing at Allie and then Hyacinth, “who’s got your back? Me, that’s who. Who always stood up to Al when he was in your face? Me. And now, just because I’m interested in a guy you’ve decided not to like…now I’m wrong? Puh-lease! Plus, I don’t like your brother like that—never have and never will!”

  Sarah held her hands up in front of her. “You said you’re my BFF, then run me down like you just did, actually sounding like a hater? And however you feel about my brother, just on general principle, not to care if he’s totally humiliated…okay, now that’s deep.” She shook her head as tears rose in her eyes. She let her arms drop to her sides and walked to her bed, then spoke to Tami with her back turned. “I shouldn’t have to take that from anybody, but from one of my compound sisters, especially from you… Wow.”

  “Whatever.” Tami stalked away to climb back up into her bunk on the other side of the room.

  Yeah, whatever, Sarah thought as she climbed into bed and tried to make her mind stop whirling. Sleep would be impossible. She could barely force her eyes to stay shut, so instead she stared at the wall. Ayana was missing, but somehow she also could feel that her beloved Yaya was still alive. None of this bull with Tami meant anything compared to the need to find their compound sister. Tami was so self-absorbed that Sarah could almost scream. In this moment, hurt quietly collided inside of her with fear and anger. Why, of all times, would Tami be worried about some stupid maniac dude and not focused on the serious fact that Ayana was missing! And then to pick some ridiculous fight?

  It took everything within Sarah not to get out of bed and kick Tami’s stubborn ass.

  Chapter 22

  Morning came with a vengeance. Sarah rubbed her temples and climbed out of bed as her PIU gently chimed. She squinted and read the message being blasted out simultaneously to all students from Headmistress Stone. An emergency assembly would be held right after homeroom, so each student could be counted present before their parents came to collect those who were leaving. Sarah sighed. Things were so bad now that the administration had to do a headcount. Just great.

  Gathering up her toiletries and robe, she moved like the walking dead. Bizarre dreams of everything in her life running in reverse had haunted her all night long. There was still a trace of a nagging headache that she was sure was the result of too much crying and the final blowup with Tami. Each girl in the room had awakened slowly and unhappily, then navigated her way to her closet without a word. Tension was wound so tightly that Sarah finally bolted toward the showers just to get away from them all.

  As she stood in the spray and closed her eyes, the comfort of darkness lessened the headache and almost managed to mute the pain in her spirit. If she could just stay here for a little while, just to avoid going out and facing the harsh realities waiting for her. Ayana was gone. She couldn’t take another argument with Tami and didn’t want her mind cluttered with bickering, anyway. Didn’t Tami understand that the only reason she was making such a stink about Stefan was because she loved her? If something bad happened to Tami, she would die.

  But obviously Tami was too pigheaded to recognize true friendship and sisterly love when it smacked her in the face. All over some dude. That was what pissed her off the most. Her compound sister was yelling at her for worrying—all because she was so caught up with some guy that she didn’t care if he ate people or not! And she was the crazy one?

  It was more than that, though. Remembering all the hurtful things Tami had said stung so deeply that new tears rose in Sarah’s eyes. She angrily wiped them away, trying to collect herself before she went to class. There was always an edge to Tami, and her tongue was always as sharp as a razor, but this time Tami truly resented her. Now that it was fully out in the open, there was no denying it, and it hurt.

>   She was so upset that she couldn’t even shore up Allie or Hyacinth; it was hard enough trying to keep herself together. Right now the warm water felt good, like a clean, hard rain washing through her system, and she closed her eyes against the spray. But she had to get out of the shower and get to homeroom. Finally she opened her eyes to shut off the water, then stood very, very still. For a moment there was nothing but darkness enveloping her, then it lifted and dissipated like a dark mist.

  The urge to scream bubbled up inside her, but the very second it did, an eerie calm befell her. What was going on? The sensation was both fascinating and frightening, and she privately pondered it as she dried off, pulled on her robe and finished her morning routine in the now-quiet bathroom. Then sudden panic hit her as she realized what that silence meant.

  She was late!

  Running into her room, there was no way to erase the knifing disappointment when she saw no one there. Her friends had all left her.

  Glancing at the clock, she hurriedly pulled on her uniform, then dragged a comb through her damp hair before giving up and simply yanking it up into a ponytail before dashing out the door. It felt like she was walking through molasses as she hurried along the hallway, then everything began to go wrong.

  Just like in her dreams, everything seemed reversed. The atmosphere around her was suddenly too dense. She kept finding herself walking in the opposite direction from what she intended and realizing it only after she’d gotten to the wrong end of a corridor. Though she was running now, with only seconds to spare, Miss Tittle’s classroom might as well have been on the moon. The bell sounded just as her PIU shrieked an agonizing truth—she was late.

  As if an invisible haze had been lifted, she suddenly saw where she was—only a few classrooms away from where she needed to be.

  Sarah cringed as she opened the door to Miss Tittle’s room. Hyacinth and Allie stared at her with compassion in their eyes. Hyacinth shot her a mental message. We left because you two were fighting and we didn’t want to be late. We figured you knew where class was. If we had known you didn’t, we wouldn’t have left you. Hyacinth lowered her gaze just as Tami glared at her, then looked away.

  “I cannot believe you are three minutes late, Miss Rivera,” Miss Tittle chastised. “And on a morning like this, where there is so much going on. What have you to say for yourself?”

  Miss Tittle’s shrill voice sliced into Sarah’s head and sent a shiver through her like fingernails raking down a blackboard. At a momentary loss and with twenty-nine pairs of student eyes on her, she tried to muster her voice to speak. Then a snicker from Melissa Gray broke the deadly silence.

  Full comprehension hit Sarah as the brittle seconds passed and Melissa whispered to Amy, “Her white light needs batteries.”

  Amy giggled behind her hand.

  Any barriers Sarah had up had dissolved by that morning. She and her crew hadn’t been able to reinforce their protections after her fight with Tami, hadn’t been able to come together and renew the ward Ayana had suggested, and she herself had been further weakened by the ordeal of getting to class. Sarah gave her friends an accusing glance. They’d left her alone and at risk. Had Melissa sensed her vulnerability and targeted her? Had the strong Clavs gone after her and shifted the hallways on her, or was something scarier, something more dangerous, going on?

  She stared past Miss Tittle to Melissa. Had they actually attacked her when Ayana was missing? That was so cold…so unforgiveable. Fury imploded within Sarah as Miss Tittle tapped an impatient foot, waiting on her answer. Sarah would have ratted Melissa out if she’d been sure the other girl had been jacking with her.

  Staring at Melissa’s too smug expression, Sarah suddenly realized her guess was right. She wasn’t sure how, but the truth hit her in the gut like a punch. Now, on top of everything else, she was about to get a detention because of Melissa Gray? She should have hung her out to dry last night, should have gone back to Nana Marlene and told her everything that she’d heard in the hallway. But somehow there just wasn’t enough satisfaction in that. She wanted to take care of things herself—maybe wrap her hands around Melissa’s throat.

  “Well, young lady, what have you to say in your defense? Why are you late?” Miss Tittle continued to tap her long, narrow, birdlike foot, then crossed her arms over her flat chest. Her beaklike face was contorted into a scowl, and her red hair piled up into a beehive was smoking on top.

  Sarah looked away from Melissa to Miss Tittle, ready to tell all.

  The class issued a collective gasp, and Sarah realized her fangs had dropped.

  Miss Tittle jumped back and began to screech as her hair actually caught fire. “You dare to threaten me to my face in my own class, young lady?” The distraught phoenix dashed back and forth in front of the class, flames sparking in her eyes as she waved both her hands and a pointer. “I feel a transition coming on—I am about to flame over this outrage! Do you think your parents’ station gives you the right to disobey the rules of this institution and threaten a teacher in an outright display of hostility?”

  “No, ma’am,” Sarah said, trying desperately to retract her fangs. But she couldn’t. Not while Tami shook her head knowingly, and Melissa and her crew laughed behind their palms.

  “Get out of my classroom! Report to Headmistress Stone immediately,” Miss Tittle shrieked, picking up a PIU and quickly transmitting her complaint to the school administration.

  A low, ominous “Ooooh” buzzed through the classroom as the edges of Miss Tittle’s dress began to smolder.

  “The one thing I detest more than tardiness is impudence—I will be respected in my classroom! I would have given you one evening kitchen detention demerit, but, but, but…!” Miss Tittle exclaimed, sounding like a giant, squawking chicken. “Off to the Pegasus stables with you, Miss Fangster! Let’s see how much good those puny little incisors will do you there. You can report to Mr. Milton, our stable keeper, at four a.m. sharp for the rest of the week—and for every day that you show up late, I will add a week! And I will be watching!”

  This was so not how this day was supposed to go. Didn’t that old battle-ax understand that her compound sister was missing? Didn’t that dumb Clav understand that this was like having a death in the family, or at least the closest thing to it that she’d ever experienced? Didn’t anyone know anything about compassion? What bitches—both of them!

  Guess with your big sister falling down a demon hole you’ll be doing detention all the time, Melissa mentally shot into Sarah’s unprotected mind. You’re wide open, newbie, and even your friends aren’t loyal anymore.

  Sarah glanced briefly at Melissa Gray and something very dark slithered through her system. The shadow cast by the adjacent desk near Melissa seemed to grow. Melissa had hurt her. She’d gone after her crew—and now she was taunting her about the loss of Yaya?

  Every offense built inside Sarah as Melissa tossed her glossy hair over her shoulder. The shadow beside the globe scampered to the back of the class, seeming to find its partner there. Then Sarah blinked.

  It was a slow closing of her eyes as something dark raced down the aisle from the back of the room. She reached out her hand toward Melissa in fury, and an invisible power pulse flipped the books off her desk and blew the girl out of her chair. Students shrieked, but Melissa never hit the ground. Two squabbling shadows that emitted a low, gibberish-filled hum yanked her by the hair, tore at her clothes and began dragging her down the center aisle of the classroom.

  Chaos broke out as students rushed out of the way. Miss Tittle began screaming and running back and forth in front of the room again. Another teacher burst in, shouting. But Sarah heard none of it as static blue energy lifted her hair up off her shoulders.

  “Sarah!” Al shouted, leaping over his desk and shaking her. “Make them stop!”

  She snapped out of her daze and stared into her brother’s eyes.

  “Are you crazy?” he said, then went over to Melissa, who was bleeding and crying on the floor. He t
urned accusing eyes back to Sarah. “What the hell was that? What did you do?”

  Sarah just stared at her brother as he helped the sobbing Melissa. Someone else had finally seen her shadows. She wasn’t insane. They really did exist.

  “The girl’s a freak, man,” someone mumbled from nearby.

  Tami, Allie and Hyacinth just stared at her, petrified. Val looked like he was in shock, and Wil was paralyzed at his desk. Only Al seemed brave enough to move, as he helped Melissa up. Sarah’s vision blurred as tears stung her eyes.

  Dear God, what had she done?

  Blood dribbled down Melissa’s chin and her crying grew louder. It would take a full cosmetic healing to repair the damage to her face.

  “Someone help this young lady to the infirmary,” Miss Tittle shrieked, rushing around in a smoldering circle.

  Three guys in the front of the room jumped out of their seats. Wil just stared at Sarah, his eyes holding both pity and worry. Val’s eyes seemed to be trying to tell her that it would be all right, but her brother glared at her and was the one who picked Melissa up when she fainted.

  The moment Melissa passed out, Miss Tittle whipped out her PIU and sent another complaint to Headmistress Stone. “Get out and report to administration!” she yelled at Sarah, stamping her foot.

  Sarah quietly backed out of the classroom. She closed the door softly behind her and this time navigated the corridors with ease. If she and her friends hadn’t been distracted, hadn’t been fighting, she would have known to reinforce their barriers, but they’d gotten caught up and distracted. The pandemonium after losing Ayana had made everybody turn on one another and argue about nonsense.

  But the real question was, what had just happened?

  She felt so stupid as she trudged up to the pristine, snow-capped hallway of the administrative area. This was the last thing her grandmother needed this morning.