Quantum Minds

by Destiny Roberts

  “Okay, so maybe this is more than just a turf war,” She sighed, turning to me.

  I looked between my friends, feeling protective and scared for their safety. It felt as if I were responsible for them, and if I didn't protect them I would be completely liable for their injuries – or worse. But, how am I supposed to protect them from something that seemed to be affecting Paranormal beings? And what would I have to do if they were affected by it? I don't think I could ever hurt them, but what if I had to to keep them safe?

  “What are we going to do, Kai'sa? If someone wants in this room, they'll find a way in. Sure, Ophelia can try her best to cast a protection spell, but how long can she keep it up against the brute force of a vamp or a shifter? We're sitting ducks,” Aubrielle spoke up, looking at me with fierce yet scared green eyes.

  “The Guard will protect us,” I told her, matter of factly. “It's their job to deal with this sort of thing. We just need to have faith in them to do that job. If you're really that scared, we can go to my dorm room. It's safer there.”

  Monte scoffed. “What if they get overwhelmed? We can't always rely on other people to keep us safe, Kai'sa. I sure as hell don't.”

  “If we go to my dorm room I can put a protection spell on us, the combined magic in the witches dorm should be enough to hole up until this blows over. And the more frightened witches have a spell to keep shifters and vamps away. No offense,” Ophelia piped up, looking at us apologetically.

  “Wouldn't it hurt us?” Aubrielle asked, her eyebrows knit together.

  Ophelia shook her head. “No. It protects the grounds from shifters and vamps getting in or out, once you're inside, it won't affect you unless you try to leave. And, in the case that you want to, I can lift it for you.”

  “Then it's settled. We go to Ophelia's dorm and hole up for a while,” I stated, standing from Monte's bed. He grabbed my arm but didn't move me, and with a sigh, he stood.

  “Fine. But, you're not leaving my side,” he grumbled, wrapping his hand around mine tightly.

  Three

  The earlier commotion had died down by the time the four of us left Monte's dorm, the hallway a ghost town as we crept through. Monte's hand never left mine and when he sensed something he didn't like, he'd push me behind him. It continued to get more aggressive as we started seeing people again, especially the vamps. I heard him growl softly whenever someone got too close to us and stumbled over him as he pushed me further away. It was slowly becoming annoying and I was losing my patience with this odd new Monte.

  “You kids shouldn't be wandering around right now, go back to your dorms and shut the door,” a member of The Guard scolded us as we walked by. “If you see any suspicious activity on your way, report it to the headmaster.”

  “We're going, Sir. Can you tell us what's going on, though?” Ophelia asked.

  He sighed. “Look, kid, I'm not going to lie to you it's not looking good right now. I've got thirty kids in lock-up and every second another fight breaks out. It's gotten worse since the sun went down and I have a feeling it's going to keep getting worse. So, my personal advice? Stick together and stay out of sight until the headmaster and I figure it out.”

  “Thank you, Sir. We are going to the witches' dorm and locking ourselves inside. Stay safe out there,” I told him respectfully, tugging on Monte's hand as he stared him down.

  “Hey, wait a second. What's going on with him?” He asked, looking at Monte's eyes.

  I looked, too, and my heart jumped. His eyes had gone golden again and seemingly unblinking.

  “Monte, hey, it's going to be okay,” I whispered, grabbing his face and pulling his eyes down to mine. “We're safe.”

  “If he's going to get aggressive, I'll have to lock him up, too.” The Guard member announced, holding his ground at a distance.

  I turned to him and smiled. “Sir, I assure you, he isn't going to get aggressive. He's just very overprotective of me, that's all. Once we're safe inside he'll be fine.”

  He looked like he wanted to argue, but backed off and restated that we needed to go.

  Once he was gone, Monte's eyes returned to normal and he visibly relaxed. But, I wasn't capable of relaxing with him acting this way. It was just as worrisome as it was annoying, and I found myself wishing that I could have the old Monte back – it was all I could focus on as we approached the witches' dorms. I had fixated on it so intensely that at first, I couldn't smell it, but when I did, it stopped me in my tracks. Blood and lots of it, coming from inside and around the area. Someone, or multiple people, had been injured and needed immediate medical attention.

  My feet reacted before my mind could catch up and I was running toward the strongest point of the smell. I could hear my name being shouted, but it was quiet in comparison to the sound of my heart racing and my inner voice demanding that I help. Every bone in my body was convinced that I needed to get there as soon as possible, and I couldn't ignore it. And I nearly succeeded when I was suddenly forced to the ground by a very heavy and angry body.

  “What the hell, Kai'sa?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!” Monte shouts, flipping me over to look into my eyes. His were dilated and fixated on my wide eyes.

  “Someone is hurt!” I shot back, struggling under his grasp. “I have to help them!”

  “Let The Guard do their job, those were your exact words!” He condescended, slamming his hand into the ground beside my head.

  I growled as the sensation in my eyes told me they were more shifter than human. “I'm sick of this attitude you have towards my safety! You act as if I'm a helpless little girl and I'm not! Knock it off, Monte, and let me help the wounded!”

  “I'm not just going to let you charge headfirst into potential danger! That's stupid and reckless, Kai'sa. We need to get to safety, not put ourselves in the paths of Paranormal gone rabid,” he reasoned, his voice softening as his anger started to subside.

  “If you don't get out of my way, I'll make you. Those witches need our help,” I countered, shoving Monte into the air and darting toward the blood. I'll help you, I promise.

  My body hummed painfully, running a million miles a minute as I tried to pinpoint the exact location of the wounded. I couldn't escape the tightness in my chest or the sickening feeling in my stomach as I closed in on the smell. Everything in my body screamed at me, demanded that I protect whoever was hurt, to protect everyone who needed me. It was louder than anything else, louder than the little voice in my head telling me to wait for back up as the sound of footsteps could be heard behind me. I needed to get there first.

  The scent of blood grew stronger as I rounded the back of the building and I had to cover my nose to keep from gagging. I smelled the fear and the pain as I crept forward, following the now visible trail of blood into the hedges. When I focused, I could hear a rapidly beating heart and shallow, panicked breaths. My feet moved before I could react and I found a red-headed boy gasping as he held his side, his eyes wide as dinner plates when he saw me.

  “Please leave me alone! I don't want any more trouble!” He shouts, trying to crawl away and groaning loudly in pain.

  I put my palms out and slowly approached him. “You misunderstand, I'm here to help you. Where did the person who did this go? Are there others around?”

  He coughed, a hacking and wet cough, wheezing as he pointed behind me. “My friends and I got jumped a few feet that way, two of them escaped into the dorm – but they were hurt, too. I don't know where the vamps went, but there were three of them. There was something wrong with their eyes, they looked like wild animals.”

  “Are you crazy?” Monte called as he spun me around and Ophelia went to aid the red-headed boy, she whispered quiet reassurance and put pressure on his wounds. “This place is crawling with vampires, Kai'sa, what if they decided to rush you? Could you confidently say you'd be able to handle however many vamps AND saving him?”

  I looked between Monte and Ophelia, the rush of adrenaline in my body humming softly as realization set i
n. He said there were three vampires, three rabid vampires at that. I may be a powerful shifter, but one bite from any of them and I'd be dead. As irritating as he is, Monte's right, I let my guard down.

  “Fine. You're right, it was stupid of me to rush into danger without knowing the situation, but he's hurt, really badly. I couldn't just stand there and do nothing, Monte. You know that feeling you've had all day? Well, I have had one, too. And it's screaming for me to protect everyone. It's so loud, and I can't ignore it,” I told him desperately, turning around again to look at the wounded witch.

  He stood silently for a long moment, his eyes capturing mine as I watched him physically go through a handful of emotions, and then he sighed heavily and pulled me into his arms. His body relaxed as I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face into his chest. The contact of our bodies pressed tightly together seemed to silence everything screaming inside of me and I could breathe for the first time since the sun went down.

  “Don't scare me like that again, okay?” He whispered, his hands tightening on the fabric of my shirt as he pulled me closer. I couldn't see his face, but I thought he might be crying.

  “I'm sorry,” I whispered, pulling away from him. “We'll do this together, all of us. These people need us and if this is a test from the Goddess, we have to take it. Monte, I'm asking you to be by my side through this, whatever happens, I need you.”

  He grabbed my forearm in the traditional sign of allegiance and respect for our people and held eye contact with me. “I promise to be by your side, Kai'sa Estrange, for better or worse. I will lie my life on the line if it comes to it.”

  I gripped his forearm tightly and nodded shortly. “I would gladly do the same for you, Monte Scout. We have a duty to these people and there isn't a soul on this earth I'd rather have by my side but you.”

  “You've got us, too,” Aubrielle announced firmly, putting her closed fist over her heart.

  “We'll do whatever it takes to back you up!” Ophelia agreed, mimicking Aubrielle's actions as she stood from the ground.

  Four

  After rushing the wounded to the infirmary, an announcement came over the PA across campus. The headmaster made it clear that anybody caught running around campus would be put into quarantine without question. It made our little group's job a little more difficult, as we checked on our respective species and dodged the hands of The Guard patrolling the grounds. But, we were determined and had specific instructions to keep us safe.

  “Okay, the spell is in place,” Ophelia had said, the purple hue around the bracelets on our wrists disappearing within. “If you get caught by The Guard or get into trouble, snap it in half and it will send a beacon to your location.”

  “Thank you, Phie,” I had told her, smiling encouragingly. “Okay. Aubrielle will go to the vamps and check on the unaffected, escorting them to the designated safe zone. Ophelia will handle the witches and Monte and I will check on the shifters. We meet back at the courtyard in an hour, if you're even a second late, I won't hesitate to come looking for you.”

  “Right!” They had agreed in unison, throwing their hands into the space between us. We threw our hands into the air and with that, our mission began.

  Monte and I have been walking the campus, escorting people and drawing others toward The Guard, for twenty minutes and he's starting to act weird. I could smell the protective nature on him stronger than anything else, and he hasn't let go of my hand since we began. Each time I try to let go, he grabs it again, harder than the last time. I can hear the steady, sometimes quick beating of his heart as we patrol the border between shifters and vamps.

  “What do you think is going to happen to all those people in lock-up?” He asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over us. “If this is some sort of new disease that affects all of us, will they even get better after the sun comes up?”

  I sighed softly. “I don't know, but if it is a disease, a lot of people are going to die before there is a cure. It could be disastrous for not only shifters but the vamps, too. The witches seem to be the least affected by this, just blackouts in their memories. Only the fire-type witches are a danger to themselves, but a combination of witches acting without thought could be deadly.”

  “Maybe it has to do with the Blood Moon. At least for the shifters, anyway. I remember a lecture Sophomore year about how it can make us go savage without warning, it started one of the first wars between shifters and humans over a thousand years ago,” Monte mused, walking closer to me and wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

  The Blood Moon. Of course, that could be enough to drive anyone crazy. But, if it were just that, why aren't we affected by it, too? Or, maybe we are. It could explain our weird behaviors, my desperation to protect people and Monte's sudden obsession with protecting me, I thought as we continued around the border. No. The Blood Moon doesn't affect things like that. It only makes Paranormals go crazy and rabid.

  I stopped dead in my tracks when the scent of blood hit my nose again.

  “He went this way! Fan out and check the perimeter!” A deep voice called, followed by the sounds of several sets of footfalls. I panicked, looking around for a place to hide, my eyes settling on the shifter dorm.

  “Hide,” I whispered, dragging Monte along with me as I took off toward the building.

  We were barely inside the building, running up the stairs when the door opened and slammed shut behind us again. Our footsteps echoed on the stairs as we continued all the way up to the roof access door, and barreled through it into the night air. I ordered Monte to hold the door shut while I gathered the cylinder blocks against it. Thank the Goddess for stoner shifters, I thought as my body slid down the brick wall.

  “Do you think they saw us?” Monte asked, sliding down next to me, our thighs pressed together.

  I nodded mutely, pursing my lips as I gazed up at the night sky. We can't keep running from The Guard, it's wasting too much time. And sticking together is wasting even more time. I have to convince Monte to go off on his own.

  “Once they're gone, we can go back to our rounds,” He said, recapturing my hand in his. “There can't be too many people left who aren't affected, and it's almost time to meet Aubrielle and Ophelia in the courtyard.”

  I stood up and went to the edge of the roof, looking out over the campus. The darkness that washed over it would've made it difficult to see for a human, but with my advanced sight, I could see the truly awful scene. So much blood stained the earth and cobblestone pathways, and the people running rampant through campus were everywhere. It seemed impossible to capture everyone without losing sight of the healthy people. Even The Guard looked tired, each step they took pounded into the ground heavily and a frightful chill went through me. Are we capable of surviving this?

  “Monte, we have to split up and cover more ground,” I told him firmly and turned around to look at him. He was hovering a foot away and I watched the anger rise in his eyes before it was replaced with begrudging acceptance.

  “I know we do,” he sighed.

  I grabbed his hands tightly in mine and smiled warmly. “You don't have to worry so much about me, Monte. If I get into any trouble, I'll break the bracelet in half and everything will be okay because I know you'll come running to my aid.”

  “If anything happens to you, I'll never forgive myself,” he said, moving his hand to my face. “How do you want to split up the area?”

  *******

  Eventually, The Guard left and we were able to leave the dorms. Monte took the East wing and I took the South, covering our final checkpoints easily. I ran into quite a few rabid shifters and a pack of vamps looking for a group of healthy people – which had hunkered down in the storm cellar. Quickly, and quietly, I escorted them to the gym where at least one-hundred-and-fifty people had been gathered. The number of safe, healthy students was wildly lower than the captured and running loose. It was incredibly frightening to think about that many rabid shifters and vamps, not to mention the witches that couldn't
control their magic nor remember anything.

  On my way back to my checkpoint, I heard a twig snap and before I had time to react, my body tumbled to the ground with snapping teeth at my face. I struggled to keep them at bay as we rolled to a stop under an oak tree. Her face was blood-stained and I recognized her immediately. Jenny Parsons, a first-year vampire who quickly lived up to the title of 'Jenny the Sweetheart' because of her undying loyalty and acceptance of everyone. But, as she snarled and snapped at my face, the title seemed ironic. Her once beautiful hazel eyes were blood-shot and seemingly unseeing.

  “Jenny!” I grunted, shoving my forearm into her throat forcefully. “Please, it's Kai'sa! Snap out of it, I don't want to hurt you!”

  She chuckled darkly. “That's too bad because I want to hear you scream.”

  My grasp on her slipped and she nearly tore into my throat but with quick reaction timing I managed to get out from under her. I put distance between us and took a defensive position, panting and sweating as she slammed her fist into the ground.

  “Jenny, please. Try and remember who you are. You're the least violent person I know and if you don't stop now, you'll never forgive yourself,” I tried to reason with her, again.

  She rose to her feet and laughed again. “Kai'sa, stop pretending you don't feel it, too! Of everyone at the Academy, you should understand how it feels to be out of control. Don't you remember how you came to be here in the first place? Maybe spend less time lecturing me on murder and more time running.”

  I didn't have time to process the pain that rose in my chest before Jenny was lunging at me again. Her agile body and seemingly unending stamina made it hard for me to keep dodging her. Eventually, I landed on my ankle wrong and fell to the ground with Jenny's body quickly covering mine again. She swiped at me with her claws and instinctively, I threw my bandaged arm up to protect my face, her claws tearing through to the skin.