The Wanderers Beginning: The Wanderers, Reborn, & Unforgiven

by Jessica Miller

  While we waited, I turned to Cameron, and asked, “So what’s the deal with Roman?” I had a hard time believing he was one of the good guys after the stunt he pulled. I needed to know what the real deal was so hopefully I could put this mess behind me.

  “Roman’s actually a good guy,” she said. I’ve been hearing that a lot, but have yet to be convinced. “He helped save me from a disastrous relationship and introduced me to Austin. I owe him a lot. His only downfall is that he’s dating Mackenzie,” Cameron moaned. “Besides that everyone pretty much loves him, including the teachers. He gets along with everyone, gets good grades, and never causes any trouble.”

  “Okay I’m done,” Sienna said, handing me the shirt.

  I almost didn’t take it, it seemed way too easy. “Um, the blood is gone, but so is the part of the shirt the blood was on,” I said, sticking my hand through a giant whole in the front.

  She took the shirt back and sighed. “Let me try again.” She closed her eyes once more.

  “So what’s the sudden interest in Roman? Does someone have a crush?” Cameron asked, wiggling her brows.

  “No!” I said. “I just think some people aren’t always who they seem to be.” I knew this for a fact. I decided to leave out the part about him being the one who put me in this whole predicament in the first place. I didn’t want to hear any excuses on his defense.

  “Okay, how about now?” Sienna asked hopeful.

  This time she got it right. “That’s awesome, how’d you do that?” She just shrugged her shoulders like it was nothing. I was kind of surprised at how easy it was. I thought maybe she’d say a spell or there’d be some kind of smoke or lights flashing, but no. I was realizing there was a lot I had to learn.

  “See, I told you you could do it,” Cameron said, praising her.

  “Why is there a cooler full of blood bags?” I asked as I put my shirt back on.

  “Hello, Ella, we do go to a school with a bunch of vampires,” Sienna said laughing.

  Too embarrassed to mention that I didn’t know anything about our kind, I just brushed it off. “Right,” I said, laughing with her as we headed back out to the party. Cameron promised me she wouldn’t leave my side for the rest of the night.

  “Staying out of trouble I hope?” Dean projected. I craned my neck in search of him. I found him over on one of the couches with his arm around some redhead. I gave him an exaggerated smile and he went back to entertaining his guest. I really disliked this one way mind speak thing. I didn’t think it was fair he could talk in my head when I couldn’t talk back.

  “Here you go,” Sienna said, handing me a soda.

  “It’s not going to explode is it?” I asked a little frightened.

  “No. I handpicked it myself so you should be safe,” she smiled. “You want some snacks?”

  “No, thank you.”

  “She just wants an excuse to go talk to that cute guy over there by the snack table,” Cameron groaned.

  “Really, what guy?” I asked interested, anything to take the attention off of me for a while. Sienna pointed over in the direction of the guy she was swooning over. “The guy with the Mohawk in the red polo shirt?” I asked, thinking that Mohawk looked vaguely familiar.

  “Is there something wrong with him?” Sienna asked, noticing my odd expression.

  “No,” I shook my head. “It’s just…there’s something familiar about him.” I looked over my shoulder at him. I disregarded my feeling and turned back to Sienna. “Why don’t you go talk to him?”

  “Oh, I can’t,” she said, blushing shyly.

  “Do I have to do everything?” Cameron said, dragging Sienna over to the guy.

  “Oh my God. Oh my God,” she shrieked, trying to pull away.

  Not wanting to be left behind, I caught up to them and tried to calm Sienna before we approached the mystery stranger. Cameron marched right up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. Sienna was so nervous her palms were sweating. I had to wipe my hand on my pants. When the mystery man turned around I almost fell over. I spotted his red streak before I even saw his face. I did the whole girly thing and squealed excitedly – like girls did when they hadn’t seen someone in a while. I didn’t give him any time to react, instantly throwing my arms around him, almost knocking him over. I pulled back enough to get a good look and make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.

  “Ella?”

  “Oh, Dixon,” I cried, jumping on him. He laughed, shuffling back a bit from my attack. I was never so happy to see him. “What are you doing here? Are you a vampire?” I asked in a soft whisper, even though it was no secret there about what we were.

  “No, I’m a warlock,” he said, like I should have known.

  “A warlock?” I scrunched my nose.

  “It’s the male version of a witch. And you’re a vampire,” he said, matter of fact.

  “How’d you know?”

  “Your smell,” he smiled. I sniffed my shirt and he shook his head laughing. “No honey. You give off a distinct aroma that lets me know what you are. It’s not a bad smell, trust me, you smell quite delicious,” he said, winking at me. I blushed and turned my head.

  Cameron cleared her throat. ”I take it you two know each other?”

  “Oh, sorry,” I said, finally hopping down off of Dixon. “Cameron, Sienna, this is Dixon.”

  Dixon bowed, kissing both their hands and making Sienna blush. “Oh, a fellow witch. How do you do?” Dixon smiled. He then turned on me. “You know, you also have the smell of a witch on you,” he said looking me over. “You weren’t making out with one were you?” he asked with a disapproving look on his face. There was nothing more that Dixon loved than good gossip.

  “No,” I said, elbowing him. “Long story short Sienna had to do a glamour spell on my shirt.”

  He scrunched his brow at me suspiciously but let it go. “You know I should be mad at you for not returning my calls,” he said with his hands on his hips.

  “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I just…I wasn’t really talking to anyone and –”

  He cut me off by crushing me in a bear hug. “I know,” he said softly, knowing this was a sensitive subject. “But I’m not just anyone,” he reminded me. After everything that happened Dixon was the one person who was there for me to help me cope with everything. He picked me up when I couldn’t myself and let me be when he knew I needed to do things on my own. I owed him a lot.

  “Okay, enough of the reunion,” Cameron said, pushing me out of the way and linking her arm with Dixon’s. “So Dixon, who does your hair?” she asked, pulling him away and into the crowd.

  The girls instantly fell in love with Dixon, as do most people. Cameron was the one who spotted Dixon’s interest right away and had to tell poor Sienna the bad news. I knew she was disappointed to find out that he admired the male figure more than she would have liked, but she put on a smile still enjoying his company.

  After running into Dixon I was able to relax a bit, making Mackenzie’s little stunt a distant memory in my mind. We spent the next hour gossiping with Dixon, learning things about people here I never wanted to know. The girls hung onto his every word impressed that in the small amount of time that he was here he was able to discover the juiciest gossip.

  Sometime during the end of the night Austin had whisked Cameron away for some ‘alone time’ while Sienna joined some of her other witch friends. Dean had left earlier in the night with the redhead he was hanging out with, but made sure to throw me a few brotherly words of advice. I ignored every single comment. Dixon and I spent the rest of the evening catching up and when the party started to die out Dixon offered to walk me back to my room.

  On the way back I filled Dixon in on all the letters and texts Billy had sent me. Including his latest one where he felt he was getting closer to finding Jack. That’s what most of them said, but I didn’t feel he was any closer than from when he started. His last tip had him bouncing around Europe.

  Dixon told me all about how he fo
und out he was a warlock and came to the school. We ended up taking a walk instead of going back to our rooms and sat by the fountain to catch up. We talked for over an hour. We talked until I could no longer feel my toes.

  After Dixon dropped me off at my room we agreed to meet for lunch tomorrow. I gave him a hug and kiss goodbye, then sighed, not wanting to deal with Mackenzie, but luckily she wasn’t there. Happy to have the room to myself for the moment, I changed into my pajamas, and slipped underneath the covers.

  I woke up sometime in the middle of the night. I could feel someone watching me. I sat up, spying someone standing at the foot of my bed.

  I froze, surprised at who it was.

  I rubbed my eyes thinking I was dreaming. “K-Kyle?” I stuttered.

  His eyes met mine for a moment. He opened his mouth to say something, but all too soon he was gone. I blinked a few times. I must have been dreaming. I ran my fingers through my hair and looked over at Mackenzie sound asleep in her bed. I rubbed my chest and lay back down. There was a pain inside; one that wouldn’t go away. I closed my eyes tight, praying that I would be able to fall back asleep.

  chapter ten

  When I woke up in the morning, Mackenzie was sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at me. “Can I help you?” I asked groggily.

  “Get up. We’re going to the headmaster to get this whole room situation dealt with,” she said, crossing and uncrossing her petite legs. I sighed and threw off the covers, stepping out of bed. “That’s what you slept in?” she criticized.

  I looked down at my pajamas thinking, “What the hell was wrong with them?” I had on a long sleeve shirt and flannel pajama pants. I looked back up at Mackenzie who was giving me a look like I just stepped out of a discount outlet store and I should be embarrassed to be caught wearing this. I ignored her sneer and got dressed. I didn’t sleep well last night and was not in the mood to deal with her snotty remarks.

  We headed down to the headmaster’s office in silence. She kept at least two feet in front of me the whole way – I didn’t mind. When we entered the office, Mackenzie walked straight up to the secretary and demanded to see the headmaster that instant. The woman behind the desk was tiny, with thin red hair that was pulled back into a tight, braided bun. Her pale face was covered with freckles and she wore turquoise, turtle shell glasses that hung just barely on the bridge of her long nose. She had a few wrinkles around her eyes, indicating she was maybe in her fifties.

  For a tiny person she had a tough exterior that demonstrated she didn’t tolerate impatient children. “Miss Hilliard, please have a seat and I will let you know if Mr. Callahan is available to see you.”

  Mackenzie huffed and sat two seats away from me, letting us know she wasn’t happy about having to wait. Thankfully it wasn’t much longer before the secretary told us we could go in. Mackenzie jumped up and flew to the door before I even had the chance to blink. I rolled my eyes and pushed myself out of the chair to join her in the office. I followed Mackenzie’s lead and took a seat in one of the chairs across from the desk. I imagined this office would have belonged to some old, stuffy Professor, but to my surprise it had a young feel to it. There was an autographed Dave Mathews poster on the wall, along with a few ink blots, and college degrees with a recent graduation date, a few Japanese ferns along the window sill, a dream catcher hanging on the wall, and tons of Pop art – everything from Abstract to Surrealism.

  The headmaster stepped out of what appeared to be a bathroom, disposing paper towels in a trash can before having a seat behind his desk. My jaw dropped at the sight of the young man sitting before me. “Miss Hilliard, Miss McCallister, how can I help you?”

  I managed to close my mouth when Mackenzie started to talk. “Mr. Callahan, there seems to be some kind of mistake with our room situation. I was told from the beginning I would be allowed my own room. So you can see as to why I was surprised to find out that I suddenly had a roommate,” she said in her sweetest voice.

  “Miss Hilliard, I don’t know how you managed to not have a roommate until now, but I can assure you this was not a mistake,” he said affirmatively.

  “Can’t you just give her another room?” she asked, trying to hold onto her sugary sweet attitude.

  “We have limited space as it is. Everyone has a roommate. No exceptions,” he said.

  “Can’t we switch roommates then?” she pleaded, trying anyway possible to get rid of me.

  “That wouldn’t be fair to the other students who have already settled into their rooms.”

  “But,” she yelped. All her kindness from earlier gone.

  “I’m sorry Miss Hilliard but there is nothing I can do. I suggest you brush up on your socializing skills.”

  Mackenzie stood up and stormed out of the room.

  “Is there something else I can help you with, Miss McCallister?” he asked, looking at me for the first time since I arrived in his office.

  “So, you’re the headmaster…and you didn’t care to share this with me last night because?”

  He met my eyes and smiled. “Would you have been so honest if you knew I was the headmaster?”

  “Yes.” I lied. “You’re kind of young to be a headmaster.”

  “I’m filling in for my father until he is well,” he said. When I met his eyes I felt a small flutter in my stomach and shifted uncomfortably in my chair. “Anything else?”

  “No,” I shook my head, standing up to leave. “You’re sure there’s nothing you can do about the roommate situation?” I asked, hoping that there might be a slight chance of a miracle.

  “Sorry, I wish I could. Unfortunately you’re just going to have to deal with the roommate you were given.”

  “Great,” I muttered to myself.

  On the walk back to my room I thought about Mr. Callahan. It was strange to see him all dressed up in a suit. Last night he seemed so laid back. And why was he there at the fountain? I remember Roman saying he wasn’t supposed to be back until today? I waved off the thought as I reentered my room.

  Mackenzie was pacing back and forth angrily. It was obvious she was used to getting her way and when she didn’t things got ugly. Instead of making matters worse, I thought I’d try to make peace. Seeing that we were stuck with each other there was no reason we couldn’t try to be civil. I was even willing to look past her little stunt from last night, be the bigger person. “Look Mackenzie, neither of us is happy about rooming together. So instead of being angry with each other for something we can’t control, why don’t we try to find a way to be civil?”

  She turned and faced me, letting out a harsh laugh. “Okay fine, here are the rules. Touch any of my things and die. I need an hour every morning in the bathroom to get ready with no interruptions.” I couldn’t imagine what she did for that hour to get ready. By the looks of her split ends I would have to say she flat irons her hair to death and plasters on way more makeup than necessary. I shrugged, letting her have the hour. If she needed to do all that to feel better about herself then so be it. All I needed was ten minutes in the shower and I was good.

  “Also, none of your lame friends are allowed to hang out here. I don’t want their weirdness near my stuff and getting their cooties all over and this is just for now. I will get back to you with a list of official rules. Now you can leave,” she said, dismissing me.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I need to be alone when I meditate.”

  “Where the hell am I supposed to go?”

  “Not my problem,” she said, sitting on her bed with her legs crossed and eyes closed. She waved me off like I was some cat she was shooing away. I bit my tongue, grabbed my IPod, and slammed the door behind me. Clearly she was one of those kids who never understood the meaning of share time in preschool - there was always one.

  Not knowing where to go, I pondered on what to do. I thought about paying Dean a visit, but it was early and I knew he would still be sleeping. Lost in thought, I felt my stomach growl at me in protest so I decided to check and see if the
dining hall was open and serving breakfast.

  To my luck it was. The dining hall wasn’t crowded and I was happy for that. I grabbed a tray and stuffed it high with scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon. Then I picked a seat in the corner and put in my ear buds while I dug into my breakfast. I contemplated about making a list of rules myself, but then again what could I possibly make a rule? I didn’t really care about much, just as long as she left me alone.

  While I continued to eat my breakfast, I got the strangest feeling that I was being watched. I put down my fork and scanned the room for the person with prying eyes. I spotted Roman not far off in the opposite corner from me. When I met his gaze his eyes quickly dropped down to his plate, embarrassed at being caught staring. I glared, going back to my eggs. He had a lot of nerve. I didn’t know what his problem was with me and after that little prank he and his girlfriend played on me, I didn’t care. I wasn’t worried about trying to fit in here. I just wanted to make it through the semester without someone trying to kill me.

  I bit off a piece of toast and almost choked on it when I saw Roman pull out the chair in front of me. “Hey,” he said.

  “Can I help you?”

  He ran his hands through his hair. I could sense he was feeling uneasy and having trouble forming words to speak. I narrowed my gaze not in the mood for him first thing in the morning. “I wanted to…” he paused and took a breath. “I wanted to apologize for last night.” Clearly apologizing wasn’t something he did very often. “It really was just a joke and I had no idea Kenzie was going to follow you and try to pull something like that.”

  “I find that hard to believe,” I scowled.

  “Hey, I’m trying to be nice. I said I was sorry. What else do you want?”

  “I want you to leave me alone,” I said, thinking his apology was a joke.