Shadow Walker (Neteru Academy Books) (50 page)

“What’s your father say, Tam?” Al said, pointing to Tami, not missing a beat.

“Don’t blink or stutter when it’s time to pull the trigger.” She bobbed her head in an exaggerated nod. “Famous motto of Neteru Guardian Jack Rider.”

“Handling your bizness with authority is a Rivera tradition,” Al said with confidence. “You know our father doesn’t have a problem with protecting the fam, and that was the one thing he told me to do—and if you ask me, his word overrides Headmistress Stone’s any day, any time. And like Val says, I know Headmaster Shabazz ain’t gonna have a problem if I bring in a werewolf pelt. And another thing, I’m the only one that can get up close to him, hand-to-hand, and not come away with any bug he’s carrying, it’s that Neteru blood.”

“But how will you feel if you find out you were wrong?’ Sarah searched the group frantically for someone to stand with her.

“You know, Sarah does have a point,” Wil hedged. “Like, what if by some chance it wasn’t Stefan who went after you guys? Or what if he didn’t have squat to do with whatever came through the portal? There’s a lot we still don’t know, guys.”

“It’s true,” Allie finally said. “Like, Jess, you said you were there when it all went down after they lost those two fliers, right? So you can tell us what it was like.”

“It’s true,” Jessica said quickly, leaning in and keeping her head and voice low. “Headmistress Stone scanned every student, looking for who was making and selling.” She looked around the table conspiratorially. “Students worked together to block her mental access. Like everybody in here has secrets, so everybody made a pact not to let her or any administration seer break us down, so all she got was the fact that there were drugs involved. People didn’t want her to know about who’d been in the Shady Path, about any contraband operations, you know? Then her concern about drugs got sidelined as more people turned up missing. She has to be frantic at this point.”

“Yeah, but what about Stefan? Didn’t she scan him? Wasn’t he questioned?” Sarah leaned forward so far that she almost got cold tofu scramble on her sweater.

“Yeah, and he had an alibi, just like everybody else. They couldn’t pin the sell on him or pick up that he’d had anything to do with those fliers getting high,” Wil said, dragging his fingers through his silky black curls. “Patty told me about it.”

“But on the other hand,” Donnie said quietly, making everyone listen harder to hear him, “based on stuff from Mr. Everett’s class and stuff I’ve read, a demon doesn’t have a consciousness to scan. It’s just black, void.”

Everyone there leaned farther forward, hanging on Donnie’s every word. Sarah herself was stunned, listening to Donnie’s rare display of leadership. The only problem was, he could be leading the group in the wrong direction—right into danger.

“Here’s the thing,” Donnie said, sending his gaze around the group. “If this kid is part werewolf, then he might be like those kids who are born without a conscience because their moms took drugs or drank too much while carrying them. You know, a part of their brain isn’t like a normal person’s brain. Right versus wrong doesn’t mean anything to them. They function on sheer impulse. There’ve been a lot of studies on that. They look normal, but there’s a part of them that’s…off. In Stefan’s case, when he goes rogue at the full moon, maybe a part of his psyche just shuts down. There could be no way to glean evidence from it, even if there wasn’t a single kid in here willing to block for him to get him past Nana Mar.”

“And that’s my point,” Al said, nodding firmly toward his sister and then sitting back with his arms folded, vindicated. “You know taking in strays is Nana’s blind spot. She did that for our mother, and she turned out to be Neteru. She did that for our father and didn’t off him while he was a mad-crazy vamp, and look who he turned out to be. So Nana can’t bring herself to blow away some kid, even if he’s too far gone. She just can’t see it. So, come sundown, on this last night of the full moon, it’s on. We’ll give the Neteru squad an assist, but then, if they don’t find him, we get more boots on the ground and try to find the guy. Okay, okay, Sarah, with the intention of bringing him in. Then dad can have at him for all I care. That’s the for-real point is all I’m saying.”

“And that is my point, Alejandro,” Sarah said, gesturing wildly, she was so upset. “Nana didn’t blow our dad away or back him in a corner where he felt so threatened he attacked her ‘cuz he was running on survival instinct. What you’re proposing is dangerous for both of you! She saw something in Dad, even before he could see it in himself.” She looked at Val, unshed tears of frustration beginning to well in her eyes and make her voice tight. “Your father is a two-hundred-and-something-year-old vampire who hung with my father, his best hombre from their old days. Still my dad’s right hand lieutenant, his best friend. Both of them had something redeeming inside. Both of them made it into the Light. Both of them ran Hell together for a while—the damned Vampire Council! But they changed. That’s what Nana saw, what she sees in every student who comes here, good or so-called bad. That’s why she can’t just eliminate Stefan like he’s nothing.”

Sarah looked back to her brother, her impassioned plea fracturing her voice. “Our grandmother is not blind to human potential. She sees more than you think she can see and knows more than you think she knows, Al, but I guarantee you, you will break her if you kill a kid in this school over a personal vendetta. And I will not be a part of it.”

Pushing away from the table as two big tears rolled down the bridge of her nose, Sarah stood and angrily wiped them away. “I’m so disappointed in you, Al, and you, too, Val…in all of you guys, and especially you, Tami, and I don’t care what you think. All I know is, our nana didn’t raise us like this. She never cared where a kid came from or blamed him for the circumstances of his birth. Every soul matters to her, so don’t you do this Al. Don’t any of you. It’s not right!”

Breathing hard, she hoisted her backpack over one shoulder and rushed away from the table. She could hear Allie on her heels, but she just wanted to find a private place to let it all out. Her brother and his friends— Val, of all people—were plotting the unthinkable, a potentially deadly attack on a fellow student—something so wrong that she didn’t know where to begin to stop it. Sure, Wil was hedging, but only because of her, not because of his own personal convictions.

Sarah ran down the corridor, feeling the need to escape, rounded the corner and pushed her way into a girl’s room stall. She covered her eyes with her forearm, willing herself not to sob. They were forcing her hand, boxing her into a corner. If she couldn’t get them to call off this wolf hunt by sundown, she was gonna have to out their dumb asses to the administration—and that was the last thing she wanted to do. Val would never speak to her again. Her brother would never speak to her again. None of her friends would, but right was right.

“Sarah?” Allie called. “Come on, Sarah, it’s me.”

“Go away!” Sarah shouted. “Just go back with them!”

“Some of us think you’re right. I don’t wanna see anybody get hurt. Neither does Wil.”

Sarah slammed out of the stall, making the door bounce and rounded on her friend. “Then why didn’t you speak up? Why didn’t you say anything!”

Silence met her, and Allie looked down. “What if they’re right, though?” she finally said quietly.

“And what if they’re not? Are you ready to live with that?” Sarah began to pace.

“We’re gonna be late for homeroom,” Allie said in a soft voice.

“Screw homeroom!” Sarah shrieked, losing all control as the tears came. “My brother and his crew are about to commit murder!”

“But what if…what if Stefan
is
part of what’s going on?” Allie asked, her voice unsure.

“Then if any of us know where he is, we tell the school authorities, we lay low till they pick him up. And if he is connected to the contagion, we let them follow the lead from his dark consciousness energy back to the dead zone looking for the missing people and the PIUs! What about this don’t you get? Al is only doing this because Stefan scared the crap out of him, and I know my brother—now that he knows how strong Stefan really is, he doesn’t want to walk around looking over his shoulder all the time. He thinks this is the easy answer, the quick fix, so he isn’t even rational right now, and Val is no better, I’m sorry to say. He’s stupid loyal to Al, just like Miguel and Donnie are, and once Al gets them all fired up in ride-or-die mode, they’re liable to do anything.”

Sarah slumped against the wall. Defeat claimed her, disappointment burrowing into her heart like a tick.

“You gonna rat ‘em out?” Allie asked softly, staring at Sarah.

Releasing a long sigh, Sarah closed her eyes. The end-of-breakfast gong sounded, and she straightened.

“Only if I have to.”

It was the longest half hour of her life. Even Miss Tittle was subdued. No homework assignments would be collected until next week, given the shock all the students were experiencing. Only English, math and bio classes would be held, and the school would be dismissed for a half day—since the chemistry, history and specialty-section instructors were all engaged in holding vigil over the critically ill students or searching the grounds and surrounding area for the missing students, missing PIUs, open portals and Stefan.

Sarah didn’t meet anyone’s eyes. She kept her focus on Miss Tittle. It was too upsetting to look at her brother, too stabbingly painful to look at Val. Glancing at Wil just made her weary. Hyacinth’s chair was empty, and when Sarah saw that out of the corner of her eye, she could have put her head down on the desk and wept.

“Classes will end at eleven-thirty,” Miss Tittle said in a somber, gentle voice. “Amazon Akoben’s gym will be open, as some may find it easier to relieve their stress with vigorous activity. The chapels will also be open, and Counselor Zehiradangra will be in the Great Hall until two p.m., available to any students who are having difficulties processing this. After that, she will be convening with Headmistress Stone and the rest of the administration. The library is off limits for now, but students are welcome to congregate in the lounges, game room, auditorium and cafeteria…though access to the outside, for now, is not permitted.”

Miss Tittle looked around the classroom and sighed deeply. To all the students’ surprise, a large, diamond tear rolled down her gaunt cheek, and as it did, gorgeous, multi-hued plumage began to overtake her dress and skin. Long, jewel-toned feathers in azure blue, emerald green, topaz, golden fuchsia, crimson and bronze sprouted from her skin. Her eyes became large, oval pools of beautiful onyx, and her pursed mouth stretched out to become an amazing golden beak.

Students gasped as her arms became majestic wings and her tail spilled out in a golden fan. She was the most beautiful creature Sarah had ever seen, next to Peggi.

“I share your pain,” Miss Tittle warbled. “Oh, students…so much potential wasted, if any of these children die. I promised myself I wouldn’t do this in front of you all, that I would remain composed, but… Forgive me, I am simply overwrought.”

More teardrop-shaped diamonds fell from her eyes to bounce across the classroom floor as she broke down and openly wept. It started the girls in the class weeping, too—first someone in the back, then Allie, then, the next thing Sarah knew, everyone had gone there. The guys just looked away, sometimes sniffing, trying to act like they could deal. But a few wiped their faces openly, because they either didn’t care or couldn’t help themselves.

A girl in the front row stood, ready to go to Miss Tittle to console her, but another student wisely held her back.

“Stay back. She’s gonna go,” the second girl told her friend.

“Yes,” Miss Tittle warned, hastening from the room, “but bless you, child.”

An awful shriek and an influx of floating cinders made the students cringe where they sat. Sarah finally lowered her head to her desk. She could hear frantic elves scrambling about in the hall, and the sound of fire extinguishers discharging. Their chemical scent, along with the odor of burning bird flesh and feathers, made several students hurl.

That was Sarah’s breaking point. She was out of there. She got up and headed for the door. Val was on her heels as she passed the awful sight of Miss Tittle’s entrails frying. She ran harder and faster than she’d ever thought she could run. The outdoors was calling her. She had to get to fresh air and peace and beauty and hope, and rules be damned.

“Don’t follow me!” she screamed, feeling Val closing on her. “Get away from me!”

Tears flowed down her face as she ran blindly toward the only portal to freedom she knew, past the gym, to the exit staircase. If Titan Troy would let her, she’d go clean the stables—that would be her excuse. She’d do it in daylight, moonlight, whenever. She’d clean horse shit until it soaked into her pores—anything but this!

When she rounded the bend she hit the steel door and started crying even more hysterically.

“Damn, damn, damn!” she shouted, sobbing. “I don’t know the code. I’m not strong enough to open the door!” She turned around and looked at Val, who’d skidded to a halt behind her. “Why aren’t I strong enough to fix the things I’ve messed up? Why can’t I get my own brother not to do something terrible? This isn’t how we were raised!”

“I’m not going to let him kill anybody,” Val said, softly, coming to her quickly. He held her by both arms and then hugged her. “Al is a hothead—we all know that. If you go against him in public, he just digs in, gets blind. We talked about it at the table after you left. I don’t think any of us wants innocent blood on our hands. Do you trust me?”

Sarah held his sweater to her face, clutching it in her fists as she nodded, breathing hard as he kept talking.

“We’ve got a senior Tactical with us, Wil; two senior Clavs; a couple more of Ayana’s friends who can work with Donnie, plus a couple of Shadows like Wil and his boys from track. They can rig something to triangulate on Stefan’s PIU, not the missing ones in the dead zone. Nobody’s gonna do anything messed up or put anybody at risk. You, Tami and Allie need to lie low. We’re just gonna try to locate Stefan and bind him in white light, then call Headmaster Shabazz. Cool?”