Naomi Grim

Naomi Grim

Book One of the
Silver Scythe Chronicles

(Part 3)

Naomi Grim

Book One of the
Silver Scythe Chronicles

(Part 3)

Other books by
Tiffany Nicole Smith:

Books 1-4 of the
Fairylicious Series

The Thing About
Scorpions (Scorpions 1)

Naomi Grim (The
Silver Scythe Chronicles)

This is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's
imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

Copyright © 2013 by Tiffany Nicole Smith
All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be copied or reproduced in any
matter whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Printed in the United
States of America.

Cover Design by Damonza

Twisted Spice Publications

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Naomi Grim

Book One of the
Silver Scythe Chronicles

(Part 3)

Tiffany Nicole
Smith

Naomi Grim

Part 3

Chapters 22-33

Part 3

Repercussions

I stepped inside Kennedy High’s office. Mrs.
Clark, the same woman with the red-rimmed glasses who had helped us the first
day, just two short weeks ago, was behind the counter yelling at a boy.
"The copier is not for student use. Now get!"

The boy mumbled something under his
breath and left.

I leaned against the counter and took a
deep breath. "Excuse me."

"Yes?" Mrs. Clark said,
flipping through a stack of yellow papers. After a few seconds, she looked up
at me. "Oh, hello. How are you adjusting, dear?"

"Great. Can I speak to Principal
Sharpe, please? It's very important."

"She's meeting with a parent right
now. She should be done in a few minutes. You can see her then. Is everything
okay?"
            No.
"Yes. Everything's fine."
            Mrs. Clarke smiled. "Have a seat. I'll let you know when she's
free."
            I took a seat on the row of chairs against the wall.  Having to
wait would give me the opportunity to change my mind. I sat tapping my foot,
hoping this wouldn't take long. If it did, Bram would come looking for me. If
he found me in the office, he'd know what I was up to.

A security guard came in, dragging a boy
by his arm. The boy was glowing. Seeing another Fated made me realize that I
was doing the right thing

"Sit right there and wait for
Principal Sharpe!" the security guard ordered.

The boy yanked away from the man.
"Get your hands off me!" He plopped down in a chair five seats away
from me.

Great. I was sure this would take
precedence over me. The security guard left. I grabbed my backpack and followed
him before I chickened out.

He walked briskly and turned a corner.
School had been out for over ten minutes, and the hallways were slowly
emptying.

"Excuse me," I said. He kept
walking. "Wait!"

He looked over his shoulder and did a
double-take. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yes. I have to tell you
something."

"Are you all right?"

I nodded. I looked into the man's eyes.
They were blue and concerned. "I—something . . ."

He frowned. "What is it,
honey?"

I took a step back. What was I thinking?
They were only humans. How could I put them before my family and friends?
Before my home? I thought about my father, who was waiting so eagerly for this.
For his home in the Upper Estates and the status he'd worked so hard to earn. I
was about to betray them all and for what?

"Nothing," I said, still
backing away. "Sorry I bothered you."

I turned and ran. "Hey!" he
called after me, but I didn't look back.

I got to the car, where my brothers were
waiting.

"Where were you?" Dorian
asked.

"Bathroom," I lied.

Bram began to back out of the parking
spot. "Well, guys, this will be our last time doing this. Tomorrow we go
home."

As we pulled out of the parking lot, I
looked back at the school, wondering what it would look like the next day.

* * *

Bram said we needed to celebrate our
last night on this assignment so the five of us went to a restaurant—me, my two
brothers, my best friend Keira, and her brother. It was a nice place and the
food smelled great, but I didn't have much of an appetite. I ordered a side
salad. Keira looked at me strangely because I never ate so little, but she
didn't say anything.

After the waitress left with our orders,
Bram leaned in. "Okay, so tomorrow no one's going to class. We need to get
to the school bright and early. I want us to spread out—one person in each
hallway. Don't forget the bags Doyle gave us to collect the lifestones. We have
to move fast. There's going to be a lot of lifestones to grab quickly. When
we're done, meet at the vehicle."

It sounded so simple. I told myself I was
doing the right thing. I was doing my job.

"I can't wait to get back home and
sleep in my own bed," Keira said. "Not that I haven't enjoyed sharing
a room with you, Naomi."

I nodded. Maybe when we got back to
Nowhere, our friendship wouldn't be so tense. That's what I was most looking
forward to.

 "I can't wait to get back to my
lab," Dorian said. "I have lots of new things I want to experiment
with."

"I miss my parents," Josh
said.

"What about you, Bram?" Keira
asked.

"I can't wait for us to collect our
money and move to the Upper Estates. At least there Father can find a better
girl for me than Rosaleen."

Keira stirred lemon in her water.
"It's about time."

 "What does that mean?" Bram
asked.

"Most boys already know who they're
going to be engaged to before they turn eighteen. Once they do, they get
Confirmed and married right away."

That was true. Bram was in this weird
place between being a kid and a man. He wanted the privileges that came with
being an adult, but he wasn't yet Confirmed so he couldn't have them.

"Well, I'm not going to marry just
anybody. When you're as hot as me, you get to be picky."

Keira and I both rolled our eyes. I
wondered what would happen once we moved to the Upper Estates. My parents would
surely fix me up with some snooty boy I wouldn't be able to stand. But like
Mother always said, I'd learn to love him. I couldn't help but think about
Hunter and how I longed to have more time with him.

The waitress brought our food, and we
had a perfectly civil dinner discussing the future. As I ate my salad, I knew I
had made the right decision by not telling Principal Sharpe or the security
guard. I loved everyone sitting around that table, and I didn't want to do
anything that would jeopardize their futures.

* * *

Surprisingly, I slept well that night
until Bram woke us up at four in the morning. We needed to get to the school
while the boys set up and planned so we could position ourselves in areas that
would have the most carnage. We all wore our usual Grim attire: black jeans,
black shirts under black hoodies, and black boots. Even though wearing hoods
was against the rules, it didn't matter that day.

Keira and Josh rode with us to school. The
sky was still black like it was nighttime. There were no cars in the parking
lot at a quarter to five. Finally a long maroon car pulled up and parked in one
of the spaces closest to the school. Mr. Jannigan, the custodian, got out and
went inside the building.

Five o'clock rolled around and there was
still no sign of anyone else.

"You'd think someone planning
something so important would be punctual," Josh said.

"Maybe they chickened out,"
Dorian suggested. I hoped so.

"Don't say that!" Bram snapped.
He turned around and glowered at Dorian. "Sorry, they're just running a
little late, that's all. There could be a variety of reasons."

At 5:16, a beat-up black pick-up truck
pulled into the parking lot. They parked as far away from the building as
possible. Six boys dressed in camouflage sat in the bed of the truck. Bram
grabbed the door handle as the boys unloaded and walked toward the school.

Each of them wore a black backpack that
bulged. Who knew what was in there? Three of the boys also carried large duffle
bags. They walked right through the front entrance of the school. I guessed
there was no danger in that. It was still dark out, and no one was around but
us and a custodian. The only lighting was provided by two bulbs that hung over
the front entrance and the light posts in the parking lot. My heart sank. This
was going to happen.

"Let's go!" Bram ordered.
Obediently, we exited the car. We each pulled our hoods over our heads and
walked briskly toward the entrance.

Without a word, the five if us split up
and went to our pre-assigned stations. I had been assigned to the 500 wing,
which was the school's middle building. When I got there, the hallway was empty
and quiet. It was close to collection time now, so soon our visibility to
humans would wear off. Only the Fated would be able to see us. Until then, we
had to be careful not to be seen.

The hallway was very dim. The security
lights that always stayed on gave off a small glow. I situated myself in a gap between
two sets of lockers. I heard the heavy doors at the end of the hallway open and
close.

"Yeah. I'm set. I'll be waiting in
the bathroom until it's time," said a voice.

There was static. "Okay. We're
securing the cafeteria and then the library. Over."

He was speaking to someone over a
walkie-talkie. I heard some movement, and I wanted to know what he was doing. I
peeked at him from where I stood. He had a locker opened and was doing
something inside there. He shut the locker and opened another one about ten
lockers down. He knew the combinations for both. I wondered if they had placed
bombs in various lockers.

Suddenly the hallway became bright.
Either the school's lights were set on a timer or Jannigan had turned them on.
The boy quickly rounded the corner. I heard a door open and close. He had
probably gone into the bathroom like he'd said.

The hallway stayed quiet and empty for
what seemed like an eternity. I stood there, impatiently twisting my
life-collecting bag in my hands. I wondered what the other boys were doing
around the school.

Not wanting to stand there any longer, I
decided to go to the cafeteria to see what was going on there. I looked through
the windows of the double doors. Three boys milled around inside.

I thought about being invisible, which
was all I had to do to become unseen when on assignment, and walked through the
doors. One boy looked at his phone while another sat casually on one of the
tables, as if planning a massacre was something that happened every day. I
noticed none of the boys were glowing. They were about to take the lives of
others while keeping their own.

Looking around, I tried to figure out
what they could possibly have done in there—then I saw it. Underneath several
tables I spotted backpacks. They weren't the black backpacks the boys had
carried in. Each was different. Pink with zebra stripes, bright orange, leopard
print, and an assortment of others. I imagined they were full of explosives.
Once the cafeteria was filled with students, it would be impossible to tell
those backpacks didn't belong.

A noise came from the kitchen. The boy
who sat on the table jumped up. "Come on, they come in early to start
making breakfast." The boys grabbed their backpacks and walkie-talkies and
ran right past me.

When I got back to my assigned hallway,
Bram was standing there. "What are you doing, Nay? You're supposed to be
in your place."
            "I wanted to see what was going on."

"Well, you can't do that. Stay
where you're supposed to be."

"You're not where you're supposed
to be," I pointed out.

"Because I'm in charge and I have
to make sure you guys are where you belong. Stay put. Keep your eye out for
Foragers."

 I went back to where I had been
standing before between the lockers and stayed put.

Slowly but surely the hallways became
crowded. I stayed invisible, guarding my post as unsuspecting students walked
right past me, a few of them glowing. I watched friends walk by, laughing and
chatting like they did every day, with absolutely no clue of what was about to
unfold. I pitied them. Their carefree teenage existence was about to be cut
short. Even the ones who survived would be burdened with this tragedy for the
rest of their lives.

The bell rang for first period, and the
hallways became deserted. Only the security guard who I had attempted to talk
to the day before ambled up and down the hallway from time to time. I wondered
what time it was supposed to happen. None of the boys had said. I figured it would
happen when kids were in the hallway, since I'd seen that boy doing something
in the lockers.

I thought about that boy waiting in the
bathroom like a coward. I wondered what could have possibly made him or the
others stoop to something like this. I had a good mind to go into the bathroom
and ask him, then I remembered the rules—just do my job.

I looked at my watch. First period would
be over in twenty minutes. It could be happening then. I leaned my head against
the wall and breathed deeply. I had been lying to myself. This was not okay. I
couldn't let Hunter, Roxy, or any of the others die. I couldn't just watch
these boys commit these murders. I was torn, but I had to make a decision
quickly. This could happen at any moment.

I emerged from between the lockers and
headed toward the office still confused. Should I tell Principal Sharpe to
evacuate the school or should I let death have its way?