Hair in All the Wrong Places 2

by Andrew Buckley

“You just can’t help yourself, can you? You’re like a wolf on the prowl!” shouted Becca.

  Good one.

  Thank you.

  “Well, what about you,” said Colin standing up. “You come into school every day looking gorgeous. It’s like you’ve bewitched me or something. You’re a witch!”

  Mine was still better.

  Principal Sampson stood up but stayed on his side of the desk. “Now listen, both of you—”

  Becca pushed Colin. Colin pushed her back.

  “Please, both of you. There’s no need for name calling and a shoving contest.”

  Becca pushed Colin. “Stop it!”

  “You stop it!” said Colin, shoving her back.

  Why isn’t he stopping us?

  I have no idea. I’m just going to go for it.

  Becca reached across the desk and Principal Sampson’s eyes went wide with fear. He staggered backwards but the room was too small; there was nowhere for him to go.

  That’s when a school locker smashed through the door of the office and stuck there, half in the office, half in the hallway.

  “What on earth?” said Becca.

  “Something’s wrong,” said Colin.

  “Ya think?”

  “I’m just looking at the evidence at hand,” said Colin gesturing to the wedged locker.

  “Principal Samps—” began Becca, but he was gone. Completely vanished.

  “Where did he go?” said Colin.

  “Who knows? What’s going on?”

  Colin closed his eyes and cast his senses throughout the school. He could picture hallways and classrooms. Everything was in chaos. Books, desks, chairs, lockers, even a few students were flying everywhere, getting thrown around.

  “The school is under some sort of attack. Objects are moving by themselves.”

  “Telekinesis,” said Becca.

  “Terry!”

  The automatic door tried to open but couldn’t due to the locker sticking through it. Colin kicked the door off its hinges and he and Becca ran out into the hallway. Students and teachers were screaming and trying to flee from the building as the whole structure began to shake.

  “Can you track him?” asked Becca.

  Colin inhaled deeply and his brain tried to sort through the different scents. “Got him.” He closed his eyes and focused in on Terry. Colors sprang together in Colin’s mind, painting a living picture of Terry lying on the ground, his arms covering his head. He was muttering something about control, begging something to stop.

  “I have to get to him.”

  “Go, I’ll be fine!”

  Colin took off down the hallway, moving around scared students and dodging the numerous airborne school supplies that swirled around the building.

  A locker flew off the wall at a terrified young girl. Colin threw himself in front of her, and the metal locker clanged into his back and fell to the ground.

  “Run!” Colin shouted at the girl, who complied.

  Teachers were trying to lead students to the nearest exit but everyone was too scared to move in an organized fashion. Colin pushed aside the smell of fear and panic and focused. He passed a group of students huddled together on the ground and almost collided with Jeremy, who was busy putting his books in his locker. Colin skidded to a halt.

  “You alright, Jer?” Colin asked, surprised by how not panicked his friend was.

  “What? Yeah,” said Jeremy. “A bit weird, all this. Another fire alarm. We just had one yesterday.”

  “The stuff floating about though, you don’t find it weird?”

  “Floating stuff? Colin, are you okay?”

  “Am I okay?” Colin shook his head and took off at a run.

  One weird problem at a time.

  Colin crashed through the door of the biology lab before it had a chance to swing open by itself and slid to a stop in front of Terry. Chairs and desks swirled around the room and Colin had to duck to avoid getting hit.

  “Terry, it’s me, Colin!”

  Terry looked up, his face streaked with tears, blue eyes shining bright. Colin could smell the rage floating off him. It smelled like mustard. Anger always smelled like mustard for some reason.

  “You have to stop this,” Colin said. “People are going to get hurt.”

  “I-I didn’t do this.”

  “Terry, you have to stop.”

  His anger increased and Colin took a step back. Terry balled his fists and screamed, “I didn’t do this!”

  The world around Colin exploded. It felt like a train had slammed into him as he was thrown back. He felt the wall behind him collapse as he was pushed through it, and then all went quiet. Darkness crept in around Colin. The last thing he heard before everything went black was Terry gently sobbing and muttering, “I didn’t do this.”

  Chapter Nine

  Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

  Colin was having a serious sense of déjà vu. For the second time in as many days, the school was closed early and the norms (and even the freaks) were all magicked to believe it was nothing more than a fire in the biology lab.

  “I wonder if all this magical brain stuff has any long-term effect?” asked Colin.

  “What do you mean?” said Becca. They were sitting on the school steps, waiting for Varson to bring out Terry. The final few students who hadn’t been picked up by family members were being loaded onto Elkwood’s only school bus.

  “I mean, every time everyone has to get magicked to believe something that’s not true, how do we know they’re not going to eventually end up a drooling vegetable?”

  “Well, the alternative is that all the normal people would know exactly what’s going on in Elkwood.”

  “Would that be so bad?” asked Colin. It’s something that occasionally bothered him. Maybe because he was once a norm himself, or maybe because it just didn’t seem fair to keep people in the dark.

  “The human brain,” said Becca, “the normal human brain, can’t handle certain things. Like knowing you’re living in a town full of monsters and magical creatures, for example.”

  “Then maybe Elkwood shouldn’t allow any norms,” said Colin.

  “But it’s part of the cover of the place and, as weird as that sounds. It helps keep everyone in order. I heard there was a place out east where the government attempted to create a town like Elkwood, but without any norms.”

  “What happened to it?”

  “It didn’t work. The townsfolk, knowing they didn’t need to hide their true nature, ran the town, but so many different races of creatures in one place can only get along for so long. Fights broke out and people were attacked. It was a disaster.”

  “Is it still there?”

  “I don’t know. I heard a few of the soldiers discussing it once. Like it or not, the normal people create a balance in the town that in turn keeps us all safe.”

  “Unless one of them gets eaten by a werewolf.”

  “Well, sure—”

  “Or bitten by a vampire.”

  “I suppose—”

  “Or burned by a—”

  “Okay, okay, I get it. There are risks on both sides,” said Becca, giving Colin a friendly punch on the arm.

  Colin sniffed the air. “They’re bringing Terry out.”

  The automatic doors swished open and Varson walked out with Principal Sampson, followed by Terry, who was flanked by two large guards. Terry looked very small between two such imposing figures. His face was streaked with tears and his clothes covered in dust. When he’d gone nuclear and tossed Colin through a couple of walls, he’d also blown out the walls of the classroom and collapsed part of the roof. A construction crew from the base was already on its way to try and repair the room before school tomorrow, but the general thought was that the classroom would likely need to be taped off for the time being.

  Colin’s sweatshirt was slightly torn, and it had taken a few minutes for his bones to repair themselves af
ter they were practically shattered due to being forcefully pushed through several layers of concrete.

  On the one hand, it really, really hurt. On the other hand, Colin was becoming more and more impressed with his healing abilities. Aside from silver, it seemed like he really was invulnerable. Any injury healed quickly.

  Terry was led into the back of a van along with his guards. Varson looked pale and shaken. He was probably keenly aware that Mr. Emerson and Night Watch had only been gone for a couple of days and in that time there had already been a vampire attack and a telekinetic explosion, and the local demon had gone missing.

  “Hello,” said Varson.

  “Are you okay, Mr. Varson?” asked Becca.

  “Yes. Yes, I think so,” said Varson unconvincingly. “It’s just been quite a week. Colin, I was hoping you would accompany Terry. I’ve spoken with his mother and she thinks it’s best if Terry stays at the base for a while.”

  Colin could sense Varson’s discomfort, hear the man’s heartbeat quicken, and detect the slight waver in his voice. “You’re going to put him in the prison!” blurted Colin.

  “He doesn’t have control over himself,” said Varson.

  “But he’s just a kid!”

  “It’s not forever, it’s just until we can figure out how to help him control his power,” said Varson. “I don’t like it any more than you do.”

  “I doubt that,” said Colin, remembering full well how he and Silas had been held at the prison, accused of being murderers.

  Varson took a deep breath. “I feel that young Terry would benefit from having you around while we take him up there. He seems to trust you; maybe you can talk to him on our behalf? I promise he’ll be well taken care of.”

  “Fine,” said Colin, but he could feel the anger inside as his wolf creature gently clawed at the door to get out. “I’ll go with him.”

  Varson nodded and walked away to speak with Principal Sampson.

  “Are you okay?” said Becca.

  “It’s not right,” said Colin, frustrated. “It’s not his fault.”

  “Are you sure? You did say you’d heard him before, muttering about trying to keep control. Maybe he just needs some time to master his powers?”

  “Maybe.” Colin watched as Varson chatted with Principal Sampson. He could hear them talking about the unfortunate event, and Principal Sampson was reassuring Varson that he’d take good care of the students. “I think we have bigger problems.”

  “Sampson,” said Becca.

  “He just vanished in his office before everything with Terry happened.”

  “And that spell activated and your senses shut off before we went in to see him.”

  “And he’s there every time something is about to happen.”

  “And you can’t smell him or hear his heartbeat.”

  “Do you think he cast the spell on me?” asked Colin.

  “I don’t know. It’s not like spells have signatures. So what do we do?”

  Colin wasn’t sure what to do for the best. He couldn’t tell Varson because they had no evidence and he seemed to trust the new principal. Silas was out of the country. Charles had vanished. There was his grandmother, but she’d been acting weird lately. It didn’t leave a ton of options.

  “We follow him,” said Colin.

  “Stakeout? Nice,” said Becca with a grin. “That’s my boy.”

  “Think you can keep an eye on him until I get back from the base?”

  “Does a werewolf make a vampire puke?”

  “Ugh, don’t remind me. You know I can still smell Micah’s vomit on me? No matter how many times I shower. The only drawback to super wolf smell.”

  Becca kissed Colin on the cheek. “Hurry back.”

  “Will do.”

  ***

  The drive to the base was a quiet one. The two large soldiers said nothing. Terry just sat between them and stared blankly at the floor. Colin sat facing them but didn’t know what to say.

  The van drove through the large cargo bay doors of the base and stopped in front of the elevator. Colin stood next to Terry with the two guards—Igg and Ook, as Colin had begun referring to them—flanking them.

  “It’ll be okay,” said Colin as the elevator descended.

  “I’m sorry,” said Terry, still staring at the floor. “I didn’t mean … ”

  “It’s okay,” said Colin. “I heal.”

  “What … what are you?” said Terry.

  “I’m a werewolf,” said Colin. No matter how many times he said it, it still sounded funny.

  “Really?” Terry’s eyes widened and he looked at Colin for the first time since he’d exited the school. “You actually turn into a werewolf?”

  “You bet. Cool, right?”

  “I—I’m really sorry about what I did. I swear I didn’t know I was doing it. It just—”

  Tears began to well up in the boy’s eyes again and Colin placed a hand on his shoulder, but he really didn’t know what he should do to console him. The elevator shuddered to a stop. The doors slid open to reveal a long, metallic room lined with barred cells on either side with a control console in the center. As per usual, there were a variety of inmates, and the smells that hit Colin were unlike anything he’d experienced outside of the base. Blood tinged with salt water, burning, and garbage assaulted his senses.

  There were a couple of ragged-looking vampires in one cell. A large troll-like creature had a cell to himself but he could barely move. His broad shoulders touched the cell walls and his wide nose was pressed against the front bars. He grumbled in a low rumble that sounded like boulders crashing.

  A purple dragon the size of a small horse climbed around its cell looking for a comfortable place to perch.

  Five humans occupied other cells but their scent was not ordinary. They were certainly ogres because they smelled just like Gareth Dugan, a rotting sort of wet garbage smell.

  All these were regular residents of the cellblock, but there was a newcomer since Colin had last been down here. One cell contained a large water tank, but the water was dark and murky and stank of seawater and oil. Colin could sense something moving around in there. Something large.

  Then there was the fire imp. Still in its little box, but now also inside a cell. The creature was bouncing small fireballs around its box. It noticed Colin and waved its hand excitedly. Colin grinned and waved back. Ever since the imp had burned Colin terribly, he felt a sort of connection with it. For whatever reason, the creature seemed to like him.

  “Open seventeen!” shouted the guard Colin had labeled Ook.

  The lazy, lanky soldier who had also been Colin’s prison guard sat at the console with his feet up. He slapped down the magazine he’d been reading and flicked a few switches. The bars of the empty cell next to the imp began to retract into the ceiling.

  “Well, if it isn’t the werewolf boy!” shouted the prison guard.

  When they’d imprisoned Colin, the man had been less than nice and it had left a bad taste in his mouth.

  “Just ignore him,” said Colin, turning back to the cell. Terry eyed the large metallic box and Colin could smell the fear. “It’s okay. It’s not as bad as it seems, and Varson says you won’t be here too long. This was my cell, you know.”

  “It was?” said Terry. “You were in here?”

  “Yeah,” said Colin. “When I first turned.”

  Terry warily stepped into the cell.

  “Close it up,” shouted Ook.

  The prison guard flicked a switch and the bars slid smoothly back down into place.

  “It’ll be alright,” said Colin. “You just need to get those powers under control, and then yo—”

  “But I can control them!” blurted Terry, his face pressed up to the bars.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Come along, Strauss,” said Ook.

  “Hang on a second. Terry, what do you mean?”

  “I can control my po
wers. It’s not easy, but I’ve never lost control before. It was the man. The man did it.”

  “C’mon, kid, we’ve got to go,” repeated the guard.

  “What man?”

  Terry’s bright blue eyes stared through the bars and Colin heard his heart skip a couple of beats.

  “The man with the glowing red eyes.”

  ***

  After Colin said farewell to Terry and waved goodbye to the cheerful fire imp, a soldier escorted him back to the main level of the base. The sun was already setting below the tree line.

  They offered to give Colin a ride back down to town but he refused. Before they could argue, Colin had already jumped the fence, landed a hundred feet below the base at the edge of the forest, and taken off at a run. He wanted nothing more than to strip down and turn into a werewolf but he didn’t have any spare clothing, and he and Becca still had work to do.

  The man with the glowing red eyes.

  Finally, some proof that Colin hadn’t been crazy that night in Seattle. Terry had seen him too. He ran through the now familiar forest trail, ducking branches, leaping over the occasional fallen tree, while his mind raced.

  Colin had seen the man with the glowing red eyes in Seattle and lost control of his powers. Then Principal Sampson had shown up and Colin couldn’t sense him. Then Charles vanishes, Micah loses control, and now Terry. And before every single event, Colin’s senses went out of whack because there was a spell cast on him. But what’s the point of it all? Someone causing trouble in Elkwood? And is Principal Sampson the man with the glowing red eyes? That guy was young; Principal Sampson certainly wasn’t. And why now? Maybe because Night Watch was out of town?

  It was all too confusing. The smell of a scared deer caused Colin to briefly change course, until he remembered what he was supposed to be doing and he headed back toward the school. His stomach rumbled in protest and Colin made a mental note to grab some food before he met Becca. The last thing he needed tonight was to be fighting the urge to eat his girlfriend.

  Becca, can you hear me? Are you out there? Hello? Anyone? Is this thing on?