Shadow Walker (Neteru Academy Books) (31 page)

Sarah took a step back and surveyed herself one more time, wishing she had the nerve to wear thigh-high boots like Tami’s, not that she even had them. Her basic knee-high ones would have to do.

“Ladies, we are going to knock their heads back,” Tami said, smiling, as she stared at her own backside in the mirror.

Allie struck a pose, and they all laughed.

They arrived so late to the luau that they’d missed the meal blessing. Sarah could hear the music blaring down the hall well before they got to the cafeteria. The lights were dim, fireflies on the murals helping to light the way. But the moment they hit the entrance, she, Allie and Hyacinth had to body block Tami to keep her from turning around and leaving.

They’d obviously missed the memo that the current look was sexy warrior. Forget what they’d seen on PirateNet, the school apparently had its own unique style. They stared in horror, and Sarah wished she could find a dark hole to crawl into.

Everyone had on military green cargo pants or jeans, with rips and tears that made it seem like they’d been savaged by demon claws but had miraculously survived. The guys all wore black or white sleeveless t-shirts or fatigue vests that were threadbare and zigzag ripped, and the girls’ tanks had major lacerations across the belly or down the back, as though they’d been vampire attacked… and their bras were dark colored, just like Tami had warned. Pastels were out. It was all about black, red, deep purple or animal prints that were hinted at through the rips. Jewelry consisted of heavy leather wristbands with thick buckles, and footgear was combat boots or graffiti-emblazoned hiking boots.

For earrings they wore sections of motorcycle chain or old tire bits, and everybody only wore one—not two—to give the effect that they’d battled so mightily they’d lost one earring somewhere along the way. Sarah discreetly brought her hand up to her right ear and slipped out one of her silver hoops, all too aware that in this crowd, burnt-orange seemed like a pastel color. Allie and Hyacinth had to be dying, too. Pink and floral… There was no justice in the world. Only Tami was barely passable.

And the make-up all the girls wore consisted of red, red lip gloss glistening on their mouths, dark mascara and liner around their eyes… It gave them the surreal and dangerous look of a potentially turned vampire or a demon-infected warrior… which in some very bizarre way made them a risky and thus seductive choice for the guys in the room. The unspoken message was, really brave guys could handle a sexy vampire.

Sarah and her crew glanced at each other. Their faces were naked, save for pink lip gloss. The hairstyles around them were moussed to wildness, to mimic having been in an attack, not neatly combed like theirs.

Some of the other students had already spotted them, and were pointing and whispering. Some were outright laughing.

“Can we leave now?” Tami asked quietly, so bereft that she’d clearly gone past the point of panic to a place of abject defeat.

“No,” Sarah said, squaring her shoulders. “I’m not going to have them laugh at us for running away.”

“So it’s better to have them laugh at us for totally not fitting in?” Resigned, Tami just shrugged. “Your call, fearless leader.”

Allie and Hyacinth glanced at Sarah, waiting on her decision. Sarah didn’t say another word; she didn’t trust herself to verbalize anything. There was a fifty-fifty chance she’d talk herself out of being here if she did. But she wasn’t leaving and letting Wil think she had stood him up for their dance. She just walked forward and kept her chin high, ignoring Melissa Gray’s table and their rude snickers as she passed. Amy Feingold was back with them, teeth fixed and clearly ready for war.

“Losers,” Amy muttered loudly.

Sarah ignored her and moved forward with greater resolve, her back straight as she headed toward the food. Then she spotted her brother and almost dropped fang. Alejandro was in dress code—of course. Someone—no doubt one of the girls fawning all over him—had obviously deigned to tell him.

Ayana was so gonna hear from her the moment she saw her!

Her brother wore a black sleeveless t-shirt, ripped so badly it was hanging off his buff body. Of course the guys from the compound had fatigues and army boots with them—hell, even Donnie was fashionably correct.

“Hey, I was looking for you,” Val said, coming up behind her. “What’s up?”

Her girlfriends grumbled a hello and hung back to find a desolate salad bar, as though trying to head off any additional teasing.

“Why were you looking for me?” Sarah asked, surprised.

He smiled. “I was looking for my dance, girl—what?” Val held out his hand to her. “You remember our moves from the Net-pound, right? Or did you get brand new on me?”

“Actually. we’re thinking about leaving,” Sarah said uncomfortably.

“Why?”

“Because we look like idiots compared to everyone else!”

Val stepped back, and looked her up and down. His perusal was liquid slow and intense. Suddenly Sarah flushed, feeling as if he were almost stripping her bare. He had never looked at her like that before.

Finally he met her eyes and said, “You look awesome.”

Sarah stared at him, dumbstruck.

Val held out his hand again. “So how about it?”

Sarah spotted Wil in her peripheral vision, making his way toward her, probably to claim his dance.

“I’m starting to feel like I’m being played here,” Val said a bit sheepishly.

“Oh!” Sarah said, snapping her attention back to him. “Well, sure, but—”

“Cool,” Val said. and swept her onto the dance floor.

Wil stared after them, and Sarah felt awful. But she didn’t have long to dwell on that, because Val knew how to dance his butt off. She had forgotten how well he could bring it. Heavy bass thrummed through her body as Val mirrored every move she made, anticipating her like they were joined by one pulse. Then she saw Tami backing it up on Stefan, one leg raised and all.

“That girl,” Sarah muttered, but then had to laugh. Tami was so outrageous that Sarah spun around to keep her back to her friend.

Val looked over at Stefan and Tami too. “Your girl likes to play with fire, huh?”

“And that’s news how?”

Val just grinned.

Back-to-back songs kicked up the heat in the caf until the walls were sweating. Students whooped and called out, keeping time to the thundering beat. When the tempo switched over to a popular reggae cut to give everyone a chance to rest, Val surprised her by pulling her in close, still breathing hard, his movements becoming even more fluid. She wasn’t plastered against him, but she could feel the strength of his body, could feel how light he was on his feet… could feel the heat rising off his damp skin.

The sensation made her heady, warmed her in a way that she’d never dared imagine when thinking of Val. She couldn’t understand what had triggered it now. It had to be all the bodies moving to the beat, she reasoned. Had to be all the energy kicked up and the fever of the sweat. What was wrong with her? This was Val.

“I can hear your heart racing,” he said.

She looked up and saw a hint of fang. He could hear the sound of her heart and the sound of her blood rushing through her veins? The vamp in him ignited something dormant within her. She couldn’t help but respond. “You can hear that over the music?”

“Part vamp, baby,” he whispered, leaning in. “But then so are you.”

Sarah could feel his breath on her neck when he slowly drew his head back and stared at her. Then his attention suddenly snapped away from her. She looked up at him in surprise, wondering what in the world had happened.

Val was staring across the room. Sarah followed his line of vision and saw what had captured his attention.

Tami and Stefan were still at it. Difference was, Al was looking like he was about to have an apoplectic fit. Melissa looked violently unhappy, as well.

“Let me go get your brother before he does something stupid. I’ll be right back,” Val said, and then he was gone.

Sarah stood there, not quite sure what was happening. Then it hit her. She had almost kissed Val! And on the dance floor, in front of everyone. She glanced around, but no one seemed to be paying attention to her. But what about Wil? Had he seen what had almost happened? This was so not good and way too confusing.

She spotted Wil again, and thankfully he hadn’t given up on her. He was making his way toward her once more. His gaze was locked on her, and his expression was unreadable. Oh, God, please don’t let him have seen her and Val! Then again, would he be making his way over to her if he had?
Okay, don’t panic.
She tried to put on her brightest smile and began walking toward Wil.

Suddenly a pair of hands seized her from behind.

“What the—”

She whirled around to see Jessica smiling at her. Allie and Hyacinth were behind her.

“Rescue mission!” Jessica said, locking one arm through Sarah’s.

Sarah stared around the room. What on earth…?

Stefan’s attention was on Al, who was glaring at him. Val looked like he was body-blocking Al as he stood in front of him, a hand placed on Al’s chest while he said something in Al’s ear. Using the male standoff to their advantage, Andrea and Bebitta—or Bebe, as she told them to call her—had no problem seizing Tami.

“To the ladies room!” Jessica declared, and dragged them away.

“Jess, wait—” Sarah started to say, but she couldn’t stop her friend. She looked over her shoulder and cast a pleading look in Wil’s direction just as she was dragged out through the doors of the cafeteria. Caught up in that female whirlwind, all Sarah could do was to leave Wil standing on the dance floor, watching her disappear. Her eyes had met his only for a few seconds, and she felt her stomach sink when he shook his head, then turned and walked away.

They all fell through the doors in a loud collision of female voices, and laughed hard as Jessica yanked off their scrunchies and headbands. Andrea whipped out mousse and began mussing up their hair, while Bebe flung a worn pocketbook so big it looked like a duffle bag on the sink and then began rummaging around in it.

“Since two of you are on our squad now, and just because we feel sorry for the other two of you, you’ve gotta get down with the latest styles,” Bebe said.

Allie and Hyacinth gave Tami a look, and Sarah laughed. Tami had been so wrong about the older Blends. They
did
care.

“You guys really know how to do our make-up like we saw out there?” Tami asked, unsure as Jessica whipped her around to face her and accepted a jar from Bebe.

“Girl, please. We make it, distribute it and rule. Understand?” Jessica said with pride, and then high-fived Bebe and Andrea.

“Is it hard to make?” Hyacinth stood alongside Sarah and peered over Jessica’s shoulder as Jessica started transforming their friend’s eyes to a sultry demon-contagion look.

“It’s easy,” Jessica said without breaking the momentum of her chemistry lesson as Sarah gawked. “The basis of lip gloss is beeswax, and the color… our group makes the best stuff, because Blends have superior intellectual skills. We sell it to the other girls,” she added. “That is, when they grovel at our feet. We’ve got the compounds down for replicating Egyptian kohl and know how to coax a little honeycomb out of the Fae who tend the apiary. We’ve got the perfumes on lock. Ms. Guilliaume is soooo cool—she showed us how to infuse body butters and whatever. Our recipes are unbeatable.”

Bebe reached into the bag, came out with a small tube and squeezed a glob of hand cream onto Allie’s palms. “Mango butter, boo… the fellas can’t resist it. Plus has a little scent aphrodisiac in it—but if I tell ya, I’ve gotta kill ya,” she said, laughing.

“This smells divine,” Allie murmured, sharing some with Hyacinth.

“Look at your face, Tami,” Sarah gasped, thoroughly impressed.

“She’s gorgeous!” Hyacinth squealed. “Do me, do me!”

“Step right up,” Jessica said, laughing, and began to work on Hyacinth.

Andrea produced a razor and pulled off Tami’s shirt. “Good girl—black bra.” She glanced around. “If any of you have on white, I’m not cutting your shirt.”

“Tell em to go braless, then,” Bebe said with a shrug. “Live dangerously.”

When Allie and Hyacinth shared a gasp, the older girls doubled over laughing.

“You-all are so precious,” Bebe said, wiping her eyes. Then she turned back to Tami. “There. How’s that?”

Tami stared in the mirror and looked at the deep gashes that showed off her tight midriff and then turned to examine the rents down the back of her shirt. “This is awesome.”

“Strip and gimme your jeans,” Bebe ordered. “I will have you so frickin’ hot in the next ten seconds, you won’t recognize yourself.”

“That girl is wicked with a razor,” Jessica said, turning Hyacinth to stare at herself in the mirror.

“Oh. My. God,” Hyacinth breathed.

The others gathered around behind her. The demure Hyacinth had been turned into a vixen with dark smudges around her pretty eyes, and dark lines along her cheekbones to give her cherub’s face a gaunt look. Dark sooty glitter covered her lids, and with red lipstick, the girl looked dangerous.

“Man!” Sarah exclaimed, completely impressed.

“I make it do what it do, babe,” Jessica said, yanking Allie into place. “Weinstein, your assets are the big gray eyes and curly hair. I say werewolf transition, don’t you, Bebe?”

“Definitely—give her wolf eyes,” Bebe said, nodding while Jessica began applying Allie’s make-up.

“The girls who buy from you…do they give you a trading number, Jess—like a fake bar code, so you can buy or sell in town?” Allie whispered, looking five ways before returning her gaze to Jessica. “But where could you spend it? Like, we can’t even get to town.”

“No,” Andrea said quietly. “Everything here is on the favor system.”

“You gonna tell them our biggest seller—the one item that keeps every smart female in here on her game?” Bebe dropped her voice in a way that made the others lean in to hear Jessica’s answer.

“We’re gonna make an exception for you, young Clav and young Tactical, and spill the secret in your presence,” Jessica said, smiling at Hyacinth and then glancing at Allie. She paused, then said, “Birth control.”