Rocky Road (Cape High Series Book 18)
Page 25
“How did he do that?” he asks.
“I have no idea,” Banshee admits. “Considering he’s a multiple animal shifter, who knows what other powers he’s got? Those all tend to come from strange lines, you know?” They watch as the coyote enters the room, following as the door swings open. It’s Brandon’s room. The teen is finally visible, and sound asleep, buried in a pile of pillows and blankets. Lance’s sleepwalking form doesn’t pay any attention to him at all. Instead he heads for the table in the corner, jumping onto the chair and pawing one of the drawers open. He sticks his muzzle into the drawer and they hear him eating something.
“He just raided Brandon’s snack horde,” Blackjack says, amusement lacing his tone.
“Yes, yes he did,” Banshee agrees as the coyote jumps off the chair and heads out the door again. “Did he eat the wrappers? Because that’s probably bad for him.”
“That’s what you’re worried about?” Blackjack asks.
“Even if he is a super, he can still get sick from eating strange objects,” Banshee says. They follow Lance as he trots down the hall, his tail wagging happily. “He seems quite happy with himself, now,” she says.
“Brandon has one of the best stashes on the guy’s floor, so of course he looks happy,” Blackjack says. “Oh, he’s decided on who to visit next.” They pull to a stop as Lance repeats the same unlocking move at Ward’s door, and then heads in. “What could he want from Ward?” Blackjack asks curiously.
“Do you think we should stop him?” Banshee asks a bit reluctantly.
“Of course not,” Blackjack says in a patently innocent tone. “We can’t risk waking a sleep walker!” That, and this is entertaining, they both acknowledge silently. “Ah, he found his stash,” Blackjack says as Lance belly crawls under the sleeping teen’s bed and pulls a bag out with his teeth.
“So… basically he’s hungry?” Banshee offers.
The coyote leaves the room, carrying the bag of snacks like it’s a grand catch. “Looks like it. Should we get him some food?” Blackjack asks.
“I’ll go make a plate,” Banshee says, leaving Blackjack to follow Lance. Lance stops in the hall and rips the bag open with his teeth, eating all of the snacks quickly. He pauses to scratch his ear with his back paw, and then starts for the stairs.
“Banshee, we’ve got a problem,” Blackjack says as he follows the teen up the stairs. “He’s heading for the girl’s floor.”
“Then we’ll just distract him with some food,” Banshee says. Blackjack heads up the stairs, glancing back as he feels the wind change. Banshee has a plate in her hand, which she places on the ground near Lance. The coyote stops, his nose twitching as he smells it, and digs in, his tail wagging happily. “I’ll have to speak with Vinny about feeding him more,” she whispers as the plate is licked clean a second later.
“He’s like a bottomless pit,” Blackjack says. “He eats almost as much as the Liberty boys.”
They watch as the coyote stretches, a satisfied expression on his face. “And now we just need to get him back to his room—” Banshee starts out, only to sigh as Lance starts trotting down the hall, as if he knows exactly where he wants to go. “Oh… oh, this isn’t good,” she says as he comes to a stop in front of a particular door.
“Whose room is that?” Blackjack asks.
“Sandra’s.”
“She could kill him, couldn’t she?” Blackjack sums up. They both fly down the hall, reaching the coyote just as the door swings open. Blackjack groans as he looks in, seeing that Sandra is wide awake. Her eyes are glowing in the dark room.
“Sandra,” Banshee says, “he’s not awake—”
The coyote trots into the room and jumps onto the bed, completely ignorant of the glowing eyes staring at him. He curls up right next to the girl, draping his tail over his nose and sighing happily. The tension in the room is palpable to everyone except him, and both of the adults get ready to leap in and save him.
“Was he sleepwalking?” Sandra asks. Her voice is raspy and deep. To their surprise, she reaches down and pats the sleeping coyote gently. “He used to scratch at the glass in the middle of the night all the time.”
“So… he’s done this before?” Blackjack asks.
“He’s got chocolate on his muzzle,” Sandra points out rather than answering that.
“He, ah, went trick-or-treating before coming here,” Banshee says, smiling slightly as it becomes obvious Sandra won’t do anything. “You don’t mind?”
“Nah, but he’s shedding,” Sandra says, scooping Lance up and standing. “I’ll take him to Freddy,” she decides. “I’d take him to Vinny, but… well, I ain’t sure he’s not flammable.”
They move out of the way as she willingly leaves her room.
“He really should be scolded for going to a girl’s room in the middle of the night,” Banshee says as Sandra heads up the stairs.
“Why did he go to her?” Blackjack asks, silently.
“Who knows?” Banshee says. They watch as Sandra reaches Freddy’s room, wincing slightly as she breaks the lock with ease.
“Wha—what the heck, Sandra!” they hear Freddy say.
They look in to see her plop the still sleeping coyote on his lap and leave. Freddy looks at them, groaning at the sight of his door swinging on the hinges, and then down at the happy, sleeping coyote. Without a word he tugs his sheets up and goes back to sleep.
The dorm parents look at each other. “All’s well that ends well?” Blackjack offers.
“Sounds good to me,” Banshee agrees, and they both head to their respective apartments.
Lullaby
*Some Time Ago*
It’s Blackjack’s night to stay up as dorm parent. He’s sitting in one of the chairs in the rec room, playing a game of online poker on the wall when he hears water start to run. He sighs, lazily sitting up and looking over at the kitchen. A while back, Nico had set up an auto-off system for the water because of this. Just as expected, a few seconds later the water stops. The first few months, they’d had several cases of flooding because of Malina’s nightmares.
He stands, reluctantly, knowing that even if he tries to speak to her, nothing will happen. He’s not good with this sort of thing. He really should have handed the job over to someone with psychic abilities, but then he’d have to find a new place to live. He’s too selfish to do something like that. Plus, when he had tried to do something, they’d all gotten mad at him. He’d been silently stonewalled for a week just for asking if Morgan was okay.
He stops as he hears a door open. The floors are solid concrete covered with carpet, but he still hears someone walking down the boy’s hall, heading for the stairs. He groans and starts for the stairs to stop the idiot that just dared to start up them. He stops, a bit surprised, to see Justin.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“I’m sick and tired of this, Blackjack,” Justin whispers, turning and looking at him. “You just let them cry all night, and you KNOW that everyone’s awake thanks to it. I’m going to do something about it.”
“Is it because it’s Malina?” Blackjack asks. “If you try to go into her room, I’ll have to bring it up in front of the council, you know. She’s a ward of—”
“I’m not going into her room,” Justin says, sighing and running a hand over his face. “That wouldn’t do anything, anyway. Here, you can follow me—” He stops as Banshee appears on the stairs above him, her hands on her hips. “You can come, too,” he says gracefully.
“Thank you,” she says dryly. “What do you think, Blackjack? Should we see what he wants to do?”
Blackjack looks at Justin, and then at Banshee. “If we can’t stop him from doing something stupid while we’re standing right there, we probably deserve to be replaced.”
“Thank you,” Justin says, heading forward as Banshee steps aside and down the hall to the door with Malina written on it. He looks around for a second before sitting down with his back to the door. The crying stops and the enti
re dorm goes unnaturally silent. Justin opens his mouth, feeling just a little awkward as he begins to sing a gentle lullaby.
Quietly, almost unnoticeable to Blackjack, the tension in the dorm starts to fade. Throughout the place, sheets are situated, kids roll over, and they all start to fall asleep. When he hears Malina sighing in her sleep, Justin stands again and heads past the adults and down the stairs.
His door closes with a click and Banshee and Blackjack look at each other. “That actually worked?” Blackjack asks.
“He’s perfected his sleep song,” Banshee says proudly. “I should have thought of that.”
“Why didn’t you?” Blackjack asks, yawning as he heads for the stairs.
“Well, the last time I used it, the guy didn’t wake for almost a week,” she admits. “Ah, but I’m sure that won’t happen here. He’s still young.”
The next morning they have to shake each of the kids awake, and they all fall asleep during Blackjack’s class.
~About the Author~
R.J. Ross has been writing since junior high, when she discovered that it could help her keep an A in English Class. She lives in Missouri, where she spends all of her time writing. If you would like to see more of her work, you can find several short stories at amazon.com/author/rjross!
Like her on Facebook for bonus material such as character profiles, unpublished information, and status updates at https://www.facebook.com/capehigh! Or check out her blog for free Cape High short stories at https://capehigh.wordpress.com or follow her on twitter @rjrosscapehigh
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~About the Cover Designer~
Artist, designer, programmer - you would think that by growing up near the Gulf Coast Leslie Zielinski would spend more time on the sandy beaches. No, she spends her time in front of a computer screen creating digital art and making it come to life.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN