The relief that filled her was intense. It didn't sound as crazy when he put it like that.
"Do you think we should tell Benedict?" More students were now filling the outside area, and a quick look at her watch Jaycen realised that yep, she was definitely going to be late. She needed to accept that now.
"Yeah, this is important, we need to tell him. Do you still have the drawing?"
“Well, a picture of it, yeah.”
Jaycen lead the way into her dorm building; the halls were full of students, and all of them recognising Thornton as he followed her. Some of the girls were just in awe, their mouths hanging open. Others were throwing some serious flirting looks, twirling their hair with their fingers. Jaycen didn't even know that girls actually did that.
“You really are a god around here, huh? She stopped at her door, turning to him as she opened it.
"My family is known." He shrugged it off, seeming to ignore the looks from the girls as they passed him.
She knew that he was some sort of celebrity, but she also knew he'd still be getting those looks if he had come from a family with no great last name.
She walked into her room, wishing she had cleaned it before she left, and picked up the trousers she had been wearing the night before.
Thornton stayed in the doorway. "You've been here for less than a week. How is this place so messy?"
She tossed the worn trousers onto the bed and picked up her phone. "I haven't moved in properly yet. My stuff doesn’t have spaces to go into yet, I need to organise.”
He stepped in the room, looking behind her door at the boxes still piled up. She was probably thirty percent of the way unpacked, which she thought wasn't bad considering she had only arrived four days earlier. Once she had lived out of boxes for a year, refusing to unpack because she knew her mom would want to leave again soon. They ended up staying a lot longer than she thought. But still, four days and thirty percent really weren’t bad going.
"All of your stuff won't fit in here,” he said simply. Jaycen shrugged, handing him her phone. She honestly hadn’t thought about that. Looking around at her lack of space, he was probably right.
"I'll find a way. This is the drawing that Perry gave me.”
Thornton examined it as they left the room and while Jaycen shut her door behind them.
"He was attacked by this?"
Jaycen nodded, closing her door behind them. “Scary, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” He kept hold of it as they walked into the courtyard, Jaycen letting him lead the way to Benedict’s office. “Let me do all the talking when we see Benedict, okay?”
“Why?”
He shot her a look as he opened the door to Benedict’s office.
“Oh, hi Thorn, how are you?” Benedict’s receptionist sat behind her desk, smiling widely at them, her smile fading slightly when she saw Jaycen. “You’re the young lady who barged in here the other day.”
It wasn’t a question but Jaycen smiled a little sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
“Mmm.” Her glasses fell slightly down her nose as she eyed Jaycen. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Is Benedict here?” Thornton couldn’t hide the smile in his voice as he watched the older woman give Jaycen a stern look.
The receptionist smiled at him. “Sadly not, dear, he left this morning and won’t be back for a couple of days at the very least. Anything I can help with?”
He shook his head. “No, that’s fine. Thanks.”
They waited until they were out of his office before they spoke.
“We could call him.” Jaycen guessed that Thornton would have Benedict’s number; he seemed friendly with everyone here.
Again, he shook his head. “No. He’d need to see this.” He held up the drawing on her phone. “It’s better that we wait until he’s back.”
“That sounds good in practice but what if someone else is attacked?” Killed even? She didn’t dare say the words out loud.
“The teachers are already on the watch. The grounds patrol has been doubled at night time. Guards on the gates have doubled. There really isn’t much more that can be done.”
Jaycen wasn’t one hundred percent sure that was true; surely the teachers would like to know that what they were looking for was an invisible beast? Now, what they would change because of that information was another matter, but surely they should be warned at the very least?
“Trust me on this. The campus is as safe as it can be with what we know.”
She looked at him for a long minute, her gut telling her that no, they needed to tell people about this. Her brain however wasn’t agreeing with her gut. How would they tell everyone? Would they believe them? The answer was probably not, not without Benedict’s backing anyway. So, she nodded.
“Okay. But we have to tell Benedict as soon as he comes back.”
Thornton agreed, pulling out his own phone. “I’m sending this to myself. I know a guy on the local police force. I’ll message him, say I want to go for a drink for something. I might be able to get him drunk enough that he’ll spill something about the homeless guy. Something we don’t know.”
That sounded like a great plan. “I think I should come too. I could work on the 'getting him drunk' part while you ask your questions.”
“Nope, you’re too young,” he said it like he had expected her to ask, passing back her phone.
“You know in England you can drink at eighteen.”
“We’re not in England.” She watched his eyes dart to the clock on the wall. “And you’re late for your first class.”
“I’ve accepted that I’m going to miss that class all together. But I need to catch my second one; I might actually be able to use magic.” She wiggled her eyebrows up and down.
“I’ll warn everyone on campus then.”
She hit his arm. “Hey, I’m going to be the greatest, strongest witch ever. I just need to be able to use magic first to show everyone.”
“Well, good luck with that. I’ll let you know when I’ve spoken to my guy at the police department.”
They both stood there, the minute seeming to drag. “Okay, then. See you later.”
Jaycen was the first to turn and leave, heading back to her dorm again to get ready. Students were now in their first class, the campus empty and silent. She walked past the flowers that had been laid out for Amy the day before. The tape was still up, but only one guard stood watch this time.
She tried not to read the messages that people had left, or look at the pictures. There were so many of them.
“Please, just leave me.”
At first, Jaycen thought it was the guard who had spoken. She looked at him, raising her eyebrow in a silent question. He looked at her, but quickly looked away with a frown, probably a little uncomfortable with her just looking at him. No, it sounded too far away to be him.
Then, she heard it again. “I just need to get to class.” This time she recognised the voice, the hairs standing up on the back of her neck as she heard boys laughing. Jaycen stood still, trying to figure out where the laughter had come from. She followed it, backing up and rounding the corner of one of the school buildings. She started out walking, and then began to jog until she was running.
“Gemma?” She rounded another building, the boys’ laughter getting louder and louder, but she couldn’t hear Gemma’s voice anymore. “Gemma!” Her scream was becoming frantic.
“Please, stop.” Gemma was crying and Jaycen was running. Finally, she rounded the corner, and found them. Gemma was on the floor, her bag in the hands of Stephen and his friends. One of them, she didn’t know his name, was throwing her own books at her while the others laughed and filmed it on their phones.
“Stop it,” she screamed, running and pushing the boys out of the way. “Stop it before I shove that phone up your arse.”
Their laughter only got louder as she helped Gemma to her feet. She was bleeding from the head, one of the books must have caught her. Ang
er and rage started burning through Jaycen, starting in her stomach and getting bigger and bigger.
“You’re scum, you and your friend.” Stephen held out his hand, dragging Gemma forward and out of Jaycen’s arms, using his magic.
“Please, leave me alone.” Gemma’s body fell to the floor, landing on her hands and knees.
“Beg me.” Stephen dared; he’d barely said the words before Jaycen lunged forward. She tackled Stephen to the ground.
Her nails were digging into his face as she hissed, “How about you beg me to stop.”
Gemma cried out behind her; his friends cried out too, all of them shocked at Jaycen’s sudden and violent appearance.
She was ready to hit him, and carry on hitting him until he was crying. She wanted him to beg her to stop, but two strong hands gripped her upper arms and pulled her up.
“Get off me.” She kicked out with her legs, reaching for the crying boy. His friends were running to help him, and Stephen’s lips were trembling.
“Calm down,” Thornton whispered in her ear, his hands keeping a strong grip.
Her heart skipped a beat as his breath fanned over her ear, but she couldn’t think of that now; all she could think about was Stephen and beating his ass.
“He hurt her.” Her feet touched the ground, his grip still iron tight.
“I know. Go and make sure she’s okay.” He turned her so that she was now facing Gemma. She was still on the floor, blood and tears mixing as they dripped down her face. Jaycen fell to her knees next to her.
“Are you okay? They’re not going to hurt you again.”
Gemma gave a shaky nod that Jaycen didn’t believe. “My head hurts.”
“Yeah, we’re going to get that looked at.”
“Thornton, dude, thanks for that. The crazy bitch just attacked me.” Stephens’s voice was like a cold bucket of water being thrown over her.
She turned, not sure what she was about to do. Scream at him, try and attack him again? She wasn’t sure. It turned out she didn’t have to decide as Thornton spoke.
“Shut up.” His voice was low and threatening. All Jaycen could see was his back, and it was stiff as he spoke. “Just shut up.”
“They attacked me,” he tried again.
“She’s bleeding!” Jaycen shouted. None of them turned to look at her.
“Get yourself and your friends out of here, now. Just go.”
Thornton turned his back on the group and was walking over to Jaycen and Gemma when Stephen called out, “You’re a Krull, and Krull shouldn’t mix with dirty blood mixers.”
Everything happened so fast that if you blinked you would have missed it. But Jaycen didn’t and saw it all. She saw Thornton turn back around to face Stephen; he didn’t reach out his hand but Stephen flew forwards, much faster than Gemma had moved minutes earlier. The boy flew through the air, stopping just in front of Thornton and gasping for breath.
“Never say those words again. Or they will be the last words you say.” The threat took Jaycen by surprise, not just the words but the way they were said.
Stephen’s face started turning a light shade of red, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.
“This pain that you’re feeling, remember this. Because it is just the tip of what you will be feeling if I see you even come near these girls again. Got it?”
“He can’t breathe! Please, let him go,” one of his friends cried out. Thornton released Stephen and he fell to the ground, gasping for air.
His friends pulled him up and they all ran off.
Thornton turned back to Jaycen and Gemma, his face completely calm. No one would have guessed that he had just been that terrifying, angry, threatening guy.
“Are you okay? We should get you to the nurse.”
Jaycen couldn’t speak, and it turned out she didn’t have to when Gemma said the words she had been thinking.
“My god, you’re such a badass.”
Chapter 12
“Hold out your hand, strong and firm.” Students followed the teacher’s instructions. “Then say the word: Come. That simple.”
“Come.”
“Come.”
Students all called out, books wobbling on the tables but none moving.
“Imagine the book coming towards you,” the teacher said, walking up and down the aisles of the classroom.
Jaycen held out her arm. Did it matter that she didn’t care about the book? “Come.”
The book shook, but still didn’t move.
“Say it strong and clear.” The teacher came to stand beside Jaycen. “Go on; give it a try.”
Jaycen licked her lips. A few of the younger students turned around to look at her; they all seemed to love the fact that an older student was learning with them—Jaycen felt like an animal at the zoo. She held out her hand again. “Come.” The book flew into her hand so fast it kind of hurt her wrist.
The teacher beamed. “That’s it. Perfect, well done.” She patted Jaycen on the shoulder. “Now, try with a bigger book. You’re picking this up so fast.”
That was it. Her first bit of intentional, real magic. Okay, it was only moving a book, but it was something, right?
She quickly moved the book and put a bigger, heavier book in its place.
She tried again, holding out her hand and saying the word, “Come.” Again, the book flew across the space and into her hand. “This is awesome.”
A younger boy sitting next to her leaned over. “You’re really good at that.”
She smiled. “Thank you. Keep trying; you’ll get the hang of it.”
The boy smiled and tried again. Jaycen felt smug, she was going to ace the test.
The classroom door opened. Benedict’s elderly secretary stood in the doorway. Jaycen watched as she quietly spoke to the teacher, then as they both scanned the room until their eyes landed on her.
“Jaycen, could I speak to you for a moment?”
She stood, picking up her books, and walked over to the teachers. She had been expecting this, ever since she and Thornton took Gemma to the nurse’s office two days before. She had been ushered off back to class almost immediately and wasn’t allowed to visit until lunchtime today. That was still an hour away.
“Is it about Gemma? Is she okay?”
“Who?” Benedict’s secretary took off her glasses and motioned with her head. “Come on, dear, Benedict wants to see you.”
Benedict wanted to see her, in person. That surely wasn’t good.
“I thought I needed to stretch my legs,” the secretary laughed, grabbing Jaycen by the arm and linking them together. “I was wrong. My legs are no longer made for walking, let me tell you that.”
Jaycen had met the woman twice, so it seemed a little too familiar. She didn’t complain, though, instead she took most of the woman’s weight as they walked and listened to her as she told Jaycen about her glory years.
The walk took twice as long, but Jaycen enjoyed it, just listening to the older woman talk.
“Is that the man you married?” Jaycen asked, opening the door to Benedict’s office after hearing the end of one interesting story.
“Oh no, dear, my husband was a nice, homely man. Not a world traveller.” She patted Jaycen on the hand as she unlinked their arms and walked around to her desk. “Benedict is in his office, my love.”
“Okay, thanks.” Jaycen liked the my love comment, especially as the woman had been giving her the evil eye a day earlier. Oh yes, this definitely meant they were friends.
She was smiling when she opened Benedict’s door. The smile stopped when she saw Thornton sitting in a seat opposite Benedict.
“You look happy, having a good day? Broken any more school rules?” Benedict was sitting behind his desk, reading papers that were laid out in front of him. Well, they’d clearly been speaking. She clocked Thornton’s phone open on Benedict’s desk, Perry’s drawing clearly illuminated. Wasn’t he supposed to wait for her before he told Benedict? She knew they hadn’t actually said that,
but surely it was just a given? Thornton, dressed all in black, looked up at her, his face completely blank. No apologetic look, nothing. Her irritation simmered deep. Had he forgotten that it had been her that had told him about the monster in the first place?
She knew that if she spoke she’d say something sarcastic, because sometimes she couldn’t help it. Other times, she just plain old wanted to. So instead of saying anything, Jaycen held out her hand. “Come.” A book flew off his shelves and into her hand; she stumbled back a little but smiled, so proud of herself. “I’ve had a great day.”
Benedict didn’t look impressed; in fact, he didn’t look anything. “Good for you.” He stood, casually putting his hands in his pockets. “You can practice that in the car. We need to take a trip to New York.”
Jaycen scrunched up her face. “A trip? Why?”
“Because after I spoke to Thornton this morning I called the Cure. They want to speak to you both.”
The last time Jaycen had seen Thornton was when they both took Gemma to the nurse’s office. He’d been in an okay mood and he definitely hadn’t mentioned thinking about talking to Benedict. What had suddenly changed? And why?
Jaycen fell into the seat next to Thornton, dropping the book on the floor, and leaning forward taking the phone off his desk. “The Cure as in the government? So, you think it’s real? The monster?”
He snorted, rubbing his bearded chin. “No, monsters don’t exist. Plain and simple.”
She looked between the two men, completely confused. “But he was attacked. You saw him too. You saw the marks on his arms.” She twisted in her seat, gaze bouncing from one to the other. “How else can you explain that?”
“We’re surrounded by fields and woodland. There are bears and all other kinds of animals out here. We’ve been warned plenty of times about it, I just—” He exhaled deeply, looking away from her. “I thought our walls were going to be enough. Clearly, they are not.”
“But, but...” She turned to Thornton now. “Perry saw this. He drew it. I saw him being attacked, which by the way no one has come and spoken to me about.”
“Perry was on pain medication. He was probably hallucinating; he’s said already that his memory is becoming unclear. As for you, it was dark; you were just in a serious accident; your testimony wouldn’t be valid. Especially when you start mentioning monsters. We can’t have that in a police report. The school would be investigated for drugs!”
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