“Okay, any more questions?” the teacher sighs. “Or can you two actually work on the assignment?”
“Sure thing, sir.”
The teacher moves on and Hawk winks at me. I roll my eyes and snatch up my bag of chips. I scowl for the rest of the hour, wanting to keep doing what I came here for, but Hawk shoots me dirty looks if I even appear to be contemplating stretching out my hand and calming the few werewolves I see twitching around the room.
“What I don’t get,” I say after finishing off the chocolate bar and feeling considerably better, “is why you aren’t like the rest. Chewing binders, shredding your clothes. I’m not actively trying to do anything to you.”
He shrugs and keeps his eyes on the microscope. “Maybe because we’re twins? Because we’ve always been together? I mean, what if it’s a link that’s easy to pick up once it’s already been made?”
I laugh at that. “Like wifi? Hard to make the connection, but once it’s made you pick it up automatically?”
“Exactly.” He winks at me again. “Just like wifi. I think you’ve been hanging around Witty too much. You’re spitting out tech references as if they were in a movie.”
“Yeah, because movies never mention computers or anything like that,” I say sarcastically.
“I deny your logic and submit my own.”
By the time the bell rings my chills have eased off. I do feel better and accept the fact that Hawk’s reasoning might actually make sense. I certainly hope I don’t have to keep munchies on hand all the time though if I want to keep calming werewolves and, in the future, even cure them. Hawk stops at the vending machine again and gets me another bag of Skittles. This time we split the bag in the back of physics class and Hawk allows me to give it another go. I calm a couple of wolves before the exhaustion creeps up on me again. I try to hide it from my brother so I can keep going but he grabs my hand and holds it down the rest of the period.
Lunch couldn’t be more welcome. It’s spaghetti with breadsticks and I’m famished despite the snacks earlier. I get my tray and scan the lunchroom for a place to sit. Hawk stands beside me frowning at the scene before him. The werewolves aren’t at their own table anymore. They’re everywhere, at every table, talking with every clique under the roof. It hits me that the werewolves haven’t just changed tables, they’ve literally infected every group. How many more werewolves are there since the last day I was here? And with Dr. Rosewell missing, how many of them are even taking the serum?
“Phoenix. Hey.”
I turn at the sound of my name and find Matt Jones behind me holding his own tray. His shoulders are hunched, he’s got a black eye courtesy of my fist, and he stands there like he’s waiting. I wonder if he remembers almost attacking me in the woods behind the school.
“Yes?” I ask.
“You coming?”
“Coming where?”
He starts to smile like he thinks I’m joking but then stops. “Detention. We’ve got lunch detention the whole week, remember?”
“Detention?” I draw a blank until I remember my first day. I punched Matt. Right. “Oh. Yeah. We should do that, I guess.”
Now’s not the time to be separating from Hawk but I can’t just bring my brother along to detention. He nods once, giving me leave to go, before he stalks between the tables—a wolf on the hunt.
I reluctantly follow Matt out of the lunchroom to Captain Krush’s classroom. He’s sitting on top of his desk with a foot propped up on a student’s chair, reading some kind of essay. When we enter he tosses the report to the side.
“That kid’s not going to Harvard anytime soon,” he mutters in an undertone. “Hey! Well, if it isn’t my delinquents. Take a seat.”
Matt sits at the very front and pats the desk next to him hopefully, motioning for me to join him. I clench my teeth and take the offered spot as politely as I can. I really don’t want to talk to Matt—the last time we “talked” he spilled milk down Ashley’s shirt on purpose and I knocked him flat.
Captain Krush crosses his arms over his chest and comes to stand in front of us. “You two all right? I missed you in class the other day. You’re looking a bit rough around the edges.”
“Nothing some spaghetti won’t cure,” I say and dig in.
“You sure it’s nothing serious?” he presses. “I caught your brother hanging around outside your class earlier. He looked worried.”
“Oh, he’s just like a loyal puppy sometimes,” I say, cherishing my inside joke. “We’re good. It’s all good.”
“And you, Matt?”
Matt talks around a mouthful of spaghetti. “Fantastic, Captain.”
The teacher glances at his watch and starts to backpedal to the door. “Well, as long as you two behave yourselves, I need to go get myself a sub.”
“Don’t you ever eat here?” I ask. You’d think bailing on supervising detention would get him in trouble too.
He looks shocked and holds a hand to his heart. “And eat with the other teachers? Nonsense. We substitute teachers never join the throng. Now keep put. I’ll be back.”
Captain Krush jogs out of the room leaving us alone.
I’m not left to eat my meal in peace. Matt ignores his food and spins around in his chair to face me directly, like Ben did during my last detention. I wish the werewolves would ease up around here without so much effort on my part.
“Hey, so . . . I’m sorry,” Matt begins. “I almost—” He swings his head to sweep his hair out of his eyes dramatically. The self-absorbed gesture makes me want to punch him. Again. “I almost attacked you and I know I must have really freaked you out. I guess watching those Love Moon movies really made you okay with the whole werewolf thing, though, huh? You’re handling it super good.”
My face falls flat. He did not just say that. I hold up a finger for silence as I collect my thoughts and try not to be offended.
I clear my throat and shake my head. “First, I’d be handling it well. Check your grammar. Second, I’m not a Love Moon fan. I’ve never read the books and I only watched the movies to get up to date on the latest pop culture references for werewolves as required. Third, I’m cool with the whole ‘werewolf thing’—” I make air quotes, “—because my brother’s been one for years. Fourth, and this is very important, you never ever ever start up a conversation about werewolves in public, you idiot. Didn’t Jefferson talk to you about this crap?”
He leans away from me, one arm over the back of the chair, and throws on an air as if it’s no big deal. “Yeah, he mentioned some stuff.”
“Geez, it’s a wonder nobody’s discovered this place yet. Teenage wolves are morons.” I run both hands down my face and fix my attention on my spaghetti.
“So, you’re not into Love Moon?” he says sounding utterly surprised. “You were hanging with the team whatever crowd.”
“I was hanging with the only people that were nice to me,” I grumble. “That’s it. That does not mean we’ve read all the same books, braided each other’s hair, and bonded over vampire romance.”
“Hey, I’ll be nice to you. We could hang out. Talk about other stuff. Want to go somewhere with me tonight?”
I glare at him. “Are you trying to hit on me?”
“Maybe. Is it working?”
“No. Gross.” I try to keep eating but he snatches my injured forearm and I let out a pained hiss. Instead of letting go at my reaction, he squeezes my arm until tears prick in my eyes from the wrenching pain of it.
“Let go,” I wheeze out, “or I’ll break your hand.”
Matt’s eyes have gone crazy and the yellow rims in them flare. I’ve never seen a werewolf’s eyes react like that before. I grab his wrist and twist it hard. He yelps and hastily draws away clutching it. My breath comes out in rasps and I hold my arm gingerly. It’s sure to have started bleeding again.
Before I can try to calm Matt down he lunges at me. My good hand goes straight for his throat. He scrabbles at my hand, giving me an opportunity to send a knee to his gro
in. His legs buckle. When he crumples, I step to his side and send my heel into the back of his leg. He sinks to his knees with a groan and I release his throat to shove him in the chest. He falls backwards into the hard desk and hits his head. Once he’s dazed, I hold my hand out like I’ve done for all the others.
“Calm down, you maniac, or I’ll put you face first into the floor,” I growl.
He gasps for air but stops trying to fight. He sags and slumps into a sitting position on the floor between the desks, one hand holding the back of his head. Adrenaline makes my heart pound and my skin’s ablaze again. Matt’s eyes jump around the room like he doesn’t recognize it.
“What just happened?” he asks breathlessly and his eyes finally settle on me. “How did you do that?”
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with,” I snarl. “Why did you attack me?”
“I don’t . . . I don’t know what came over me.”
“Stay there,” I order and jog to the door, throwing it wide.
If Matt is telling the truth and just received wolfy orders from his alpha, the black wolf could still be close by. I rush into the hallway and look both ways.
I spot a hideous brown and orange striped sweater move around the corner at the end of the hall.
Mr. Webster.
Chapter 25
Jefferson picks up on the first ring. “What’s going on?”
“Mr. Webster, that’s what,” I whisper into my cell phone while pacing outside Captain Krush’s door. “He had Matt Jones attack me during detention.”
“You know for sure?”
“I saw him walking away down the hall after Matt had a sudden urge.”
“Hmm.”
I tap my foot waiting for a more definitive answer. “Can we arrest him now?”
“That’s not up to me anymore, Phoenix, but I’ll tell the backup team what happened. Are you okay, though? Matt didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“He tried,” I say darkly. “He’s regretting that decision.”
“What did you—”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t kill anyone. I just twerked his wrist.”
Jefferson’s disapproving sigh is clear through the phone. “Keep your head down. You’ve definitely caught his attention and he’s making his move.”
“Yeah, so how long do we wait?”
“We’ll get him,” he assures me. “You’ve done your job so take it easy. We’ll talk soon.”
I stuff the phone into my pocket and storm back into the classroom. Matt has gotten into his chair and is alternating between massaging his head and wrist. No sympathy rises in me at his pain. My arm is throbbing horribly. I peel off my jacket and try to lift the sleeve of my shirt but it sticks to the bandage soaked through. I kick a desk in my anger and send it flying into the one behind it.
Matt jerks away from me. Good. He should fear me.
“You’re going to say nothing happened. You’re going to straighten out this mess.” I point to the spaghetti that landed on the floor during our struggle. “It was an accident. You got up too fast. You got that?”
He nods. When I snatch up my mother’s jacket and start to leave, he calls after me.
“Where are you going?”
“Tell him I’m cleaning spaghetti off myself,” I say over my shoulder and march to the nearest girls’ bathroom. Once inside, and after making sure there’s no one else around, I don’t bother to cover up the pain in my wheezy breath. I ease back my sleeve and carefully lift the edge of my bandage to inspect the damage. Blood drips down my wrist and into the sink.
“Pixies,” I say under my breath and pull out my cell.
I’m in the middle of texting Hawk to come help me when the door swings open. I freeze with my phone in one hand and my bloody arm hovering over the sink. Ashley stops in the doorway, the face of a smirking vampire splashed across her shirt, and her mouth falls open.
“Uh, it’s not what it looks like?” I say.
“Oh my gosh!” she squeaks and rushes forward. “What happened? Are you okay? Are you bleeding?” She holds her hands close to her chest like she’s afraid to touch me.
“Oh, I’m fantastic,” I say between clenched teeth. “Just a dog bite, that’s all.”
“Good thing it wasn’t a werewolf, huh?”
My head jerks up. Her sad attempt at a smile quickly fades. Then it sinks in she’s joking. She is a Love Moon fan.
“Yeah. Good thing.” I laugh weakly.
“You need to see the nurse,” she says.
“No. I’d really rather not.” I can’t risk the IMS team somehow figuring out I’ve been bitten. That would raise a lot of awkward questions. “You can’t tell anyone, Ashley. Please.”
“Did you at least see a doctor before? You could have rabies!”
That makes me laugh. “I definitely don’t have rabies.”
“Well, that looks bad.”
“Yeah, I could use a fresh bandage. I can handle it from there.”
She jabs her thumb at the door. “Well, the office staff likes me. I could get some from the nurse’s office for you.”
Ashley’s full of surprises. “You’d do that for me?”
“Well, I’m not going to let you bleed out in a high school bathroom. Gosh, that would be an embarrassing way to die.” She pats my shoulder. “Give me two minutes. I’ll be right back.”
She sweeps out of the bathroom, her hair fanning out behind her in her haste. I tuck my phone in my pocket. Hawk doesn’t need to know. He’d just worry. If Ashley pulls through for me, then no one needs to know. Wish she could get me some ibuprofen too or something. I wince through the pain and start to unwind my red bandage.
True to her word, Ashley returns within a couple of minutes with a bundle of gauze and tape in her hands.
“How did you manage to get all that?” I ask, impressed.
“I said a boy in the lunchroom got a super bad bloody nose.”
“And they let you take that much?”
She pouts. “I said it was really bad.”
“It’s perfect. Thank you.”
I dump my old bandage in the trash and Ashley leans away to cover her mouth. Her eyes crinkle at the edges and she waves a hand.
“Sorry, I can’t stand blood,” she says.
“Go get some air, Ashley. And thanks. Really.”
She nods but hustles out as fast as she can. After cleaning off the blood that’s dribbled down my wrist and hand, I wind the fresh gauze around my arm and rip the tape with my teeth. After I’m patched up, I wring out the bloody sleeve of my shirt and hurry out of the bathroom before a wave of girls comes in from lunch. I shrug on my coat just as the bell rings.
Hawk meets me at our lockers and there’s a line between his eyebrows. “Hey, things are getting scary out there,” he says by way of greeting.
“Oh?”
“The other wolves are acting almost robotic, not agitated anymore, like they’ve passed that stage or something. They’re . . . odd.” He keeps his head down and waits for a group of girls to pass before speaking again. “No sign of Jason in school today but Ben’s acting the same as the rest now. I could feel them all watching me, like they know I’m not like them.”
“That sounds familiar,” I murmur. “I saw a couple of kids doing that to Ben before, watching him from a distance. That was when he was still fighting this compulsion or whatever.”
“Think that’s why they attacked the cattle at his place? Scare him into giving in?”
I shrug. “I don’t know what else to think. He said he had been taking double doses of the serum to help fight it off so he probably held out longer than the others. That could have made them angry. That, and he was advocating for more help at the WA meeting to control the problem.”
“Well, either way, he’s part of the pack now.”
“The dream team needs to move and end this,” I grumble and slam my locker shut.
The rest of the day is spent keeping an eye on the werewolves in my remaining thre
e classes. I calm a few more but I’m exhausted. Captain Krush even notices it during the very last class of the day.
“Sure you’re okay?” he asks. “Matt didn’t get too much spaghetti on you, did he?”
“No, I’m okay.”
“If you say so.”
We discuss more Greek mythology but I’m not really paying any attention. I’m drained, and trying to snap any werewolf out of their robotic state is taking up way too much energy. Jefferson is right. If the IMS finds out what I can do, they’d have to bleed me dry to get anything worthwhile out of me. There’s just not enough power in my blood. Yet.
The bell rings and everyone empties out. I shuffle to my locker and start loading up my backpack with a sigh. Hawk disappears to get me munchies before we go. When I’m by myself, Ashley comes over to check on me.
“I’m fine, really,” I insist.
“Only if you’re sure.” She blows a few stray hairs out of her face and hugs her notebook to her chest. “I guess you’ll still miss the dance though?”
“Dance?” That grabs my attention. “What dance?”
“The Halloween dance! Didn’t you see any of the posters around school?”
“But Halloween’s on Sunday.”
She taps a finger on my shoulder. “Exactly. That’s why they’re having it tonight on Friday. That way we can stay up late for the dance. I’ve even been asked to go. You won’t believe who asked me!”
“Who?”
“Only the love of my life.” She sighs and goes all dreamy mode. “My Jason has come around and texted me asking if I’d go with him. Oh, and it’s a costume dance. You get two bucks off admission if you dress up so we’re going as a couple of elves. You’re going to miss out.”
I ease on my backpack. “Sounds like fun. But—wait, did you say Jason?”
“Yeah, Jason asked me to go. Big surprise, you know? He’s been so moody and secretive lately but he’s finally come around.” Her smile is enormous. “But maybe I’ll see you there, okay? Gotta go or I’ll miss my ride.”
She starts dashing away down the hallway.
“Wait, Ashley! Don’t go to the dance!”
She waves me off and keeps moving. I’m ready to chase after her but a hand snakes out of the crowd and wrenches me to a halt. Agent Moore glares at me.
The Curse of Moose Lake (International Monster Slayers Book 1) Page 27