Shadow Walker (Neteru Academy Books) (9 page)

“And you’re an angel, Mom,” Sarah said quietly, looking in the mirror and realizing that after her mother had hugged her, both the pimple and the static cling were gone.

“I wasn’t always.” Her mother issued a brilliant smile and arched an eyebrow. “You have no idea.”

Yeah, right. Her mom was the epitome of poise, grace and beauty. “Be serious, Mom,” she finally said.

“One of these days I’ll tell you some stories,” her mother said, laughing and shaking her head. “Oh, boy—but not today. Just know that no matter what, you’ll always be special to me.”

There was no arguing with the woman. Her mom said the kind of thing moms were supposed to say when giving you a pep talk—as if you didn’t realize that she was supposed to say that stuff, so it really didn’t make you feel better after all.

But Sarah tried one last time to get through.

“I’m your kid, so I know you’ll probably always think good things about me… but what happens when you’re not around?”

“I’ll be thinking good things about you when I’m gone and when you’re away at school, just like I always do when I’m here. That will never change. The world could blow up tomorrow and that still wouldn’t change, sweetheart. I love you.”

Sarah sighed hard, finally giving up. “Love you, too, Mom.”

It was a standoff; her mother would not be swayed from her state of denial. Her children were perfect; world peace was possible, hope sprang eternal and love could conquer all. This from a woman who blew demons to smithereens, beheaded vampires, and took out werewolves and zombies. Go figure.

In true Neteru form, her mother retained her regal presence, lifted her chin, folded her arms over her chest and smiled with a queen’s knowing gaze. Yet, even for all her mother’s stateswomanship, for once she seemed helpless to fix a problem, even though it wasn’t hers to bear. Sarah knew that had to be making her mom crazy. But rather than give in to defeat and just accept that her kid was semi-powerless, her mother lifted her chin, eyes shining with unshed tears, and set her jaw with determination, as though confident that one day things would change.

“I had another bad dream last night,” Sarah said quietly, looking away. It was an opening offered for her mother to step through, an invitation into her personal mental abyss, where she could disclose her experience with the demon without even admitting even to herself that she had ratted out the misbegotten mission from the night before. But it was clear from her mother’s pleasant, dismissive wave of her hand that she wasn’t taking the bait.

“Sarah, honey, anxiety on your big day is normal…natural. But by tonight you’ll be sitting up in the dorm, gabbing away with all your friends from home and a bunch of new friends, too, I bet. You’ll be having so much fun and staying up so late that you won’t even have time for bad dreams.”

“Mom.” It was a final one-word plea.

“Sarah.” It was the only word to trump her own.

Her mother was cheating, trying to break through her foul mood by going for the smile that fought its way free. The whole thing was so hopeless that Sarah suddenly wanted to laugh.

“I’m gonna miss you, honey.”

“Gonna miss you, too,” Sarah admitted. “Besides, who’s gonna be there to clear up my acne?”

“If you aren’t dipping into grown folks’ business, as your grandmother would say, you won’t have third-eye acne.”

Sarah felt her face get hot.

“Uh-huh,” Her mother chuckled. “This time I’ll let it slide, but stay out of your father’s and my conversations. Understood?”

“Sorry,” Sarah said quietly. “We heard you guys arguing and just got worried.”

“Your father and I are fine. Whatever you overheard has been addressed.”

“So if I mind my business, no more acne?” Sarah said, trying to make her mother smile. Although her mother was too diplomatic to outright bust her for eavesdropping, and probably knew where the zit came from, she was glad her mother didn’t say I told you so. “So, if I mess up and get nosy without permission at the Academy, can you come to school and get ride of the zits?”

Sarah smiled as her mother lost composure and laughed. She knew then that an immediate truce had been made.

“You’re just like your father—trying to make me laugh when I ought to be mad.” Her mother shook her head. “I bet after a month or so at school you’ll be able to clear up your own acne, especially with Nana Marlene giving you herbs.”

“You mean Headmistress Stone,” Sarah corrected, doubtful any new healing talents would sprout within her that soon, but glad that her mother wasn’t going to throw a fit about the eavesdropping incident.

“Ah, yes…Headmistress Stone,” her mother repeated, taking Sarah’s suitcase from her. “But we’d better hurry up. You know how your father is.”

“Yeah, I know the general is wondering what’s taking so long.”

Her mother waved her hand dismissively. “Today, he can wait. I’m not in any big hurry to turn my children over to the Academy.”

“It’ll be fine, Mom.”

Sarah looked at the strain on her mother’s face. This was a really big deal for her mom, even though she was trying to act like it wasn’t. She could also imagine the quiet war her mother had waged to get her father to relent and let them all go, even after last night’s successful mission. The spontaneous hug her mother gave her just then confirmed it. She set the heavy bag down quickly and drew Sarah into her arms as though she’d never see her again. All her mother’s misgivings were immediately telegraphed right into Sarah’s skin.

“Lord, Lord, Lord, take care of my child,” her mother whispered into Sarah’s hair, hugging her so tightly she almost couldn’t breathe. “I love you so much, Sarah. Don’t you do anything crazy that will make me have to kill anybody or anything.”

Whaaaat?

Sarah just hugged her mother back. “I won’t.”

Her mother released her, sniffed and quickly wiped at a tear, then forced herself to smile. “You’d better not. Do you have any idea how much we wanted to have you?”

Sarah stared at her mother with raised eyebrows. They’d never spoken like this before, and the fact that her mom, who’d always been pretty tough, was crying, was making her own eyes moist. Wide eyed, all she could do was stare at her mother, this woman of so many dimensions. When her mother’s smile suddenly faded, Sarah knew something had changed.

“Well, we did,” her mother said quietly, touching Sarah’s cheek. “I never told you, but I’d lost a child before you and Al…and I wanted kids so badly. So did your father. Losing that baby almost killed him. So if anything happens to you guys at school, we won’t be able to…I can’t even think like that. So you listen to your teachers and to Nana Mar, you hear me? You do not go into the forbidden zones on any stupid dares or whatever…and you make sure your brother knows I’ll kill him twice over if
he
does. I’ve already told him not to play with me on this issue.” She looked at Sarah for a long time, a warning in her stare. “I talked to Al about that this morning. Now I’m telling you. People have recently gotten hurt, but it’s nothing for you kids to concern yourselves with if you stay on campus and follow the rules. So promise me.”

“Yeah, Mom, sure.” A frown creased Sarah’s brow as she shrugged and gently extricated herself from her mother’s embrace. Fear was something she’d never seen in her warrior queen mother’s eyes or heard in her mother’s voice. Somehow, in these few moments of interaction, the tables had turned and her mother was now the one who needed reassurance.

“Promise me,” her mother repeated in a whisper, her gaze boring into Sarah, “so I can sleep at night.”

Her mother had to know they’d snuck out last night but was being cool enough not to rat on them.

“I promise,” Sarah said again, lifting her chin. “And I’ll kick Al’s butt if he does something dumb.”

Her mother nodded. “You’re the one I can always count on—my go-to girl. Thank you.”

Her mother’s shoulders relaxed. Sarah swallowed a smile, unwilling to reveal how good that small compliment made her feel, knowing that she was the dependable one, the rational one, even if she wasn’t the more spectacular and gifted one. It was something all her own.

Another one of her father’s bellows made them look at each other. Smiles of understanding banished their somber mood.

Her mother was out the door first, carrying the suitcase, hustling down the hallway yelling, “All right, all right, Carlos!” Her voice echoed along the corridor in amused annoyance. “Five minutes won’t change the course of destiny! Give us a break.”

Sarah tried to keep stride with her mother’s athletic pace. When they finally got downstairs, the entire team and all the cousins were gathered, and her father’s eyes were blazing silver. He was clearly tense this morning, too.

But poor Donnie, Sarah thought as she glanced over at her brother and the other guys from the compound. Donnie not only had Neteru Guardian parents to worry about—Uncle JL was the best martial arts tactical on the squad, and Aunt Krissy was a white-lighter—but he also had grandparents, Uncle Richard and Aunt Marj, who were wardens of the Lower Sphere dorms, and the poor guy didn’t even have his first power starting to show. Worse yet, the school administrators had to put him in the Blends with her and Tami, which was only going to make him the target of extra teasing, since everybody knew that Blends division was the dumping ground for kids with spotty skills.

“I know,” Hyacinth said, moving to Sarah’s side.

“Oh, man, I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Sarah said with a groan. “Get outta my head.”

“Sorry,” Hyacinth replied in a rush. “It’s hard to control when I’m excited.”

“As long as you tell us what the hotties are thinking, your Clair-V skills are okay by me,” Tami said with a wink.

Sarah dragged her fingers through her hair with a groan. It was always like this. Always.

“How can you even begin to think about hot bods at a time like this—they are going to shun us, Tamara.” Allie wrapped her arms around herself and hung her head.

“Yeah…if you look like that they will. But if you go in there with attitude…”

“We can’t,” Hyacinth whispered, glancing quickly at her parents. “The popular girls will hate us on sight.”

“Is that a real Clair-V prognostication or just a lousy gut hunch?” Tami shook her head. “Me, doing retro-Goth with this body, they’ll hate, and I’ll give ‘em good reason. You…cute, petite, sweet as pie, smart and wouldn’t hurt a fly—what’s to hate?”

“Don’t tease her, Tam, come on,” Allie whispered, her gaze darting around the lobby.

Sarah landed a firm hand on Tami’s shoulder. “Let up—just till we get to school, okay?” She gave Tami a meaningful look. “There’s more important stuff to talk about—later.”

“Fine, fine, my bad,” Tami said in a huff, and then smiled a mischievous half-smile.

Poor ‘Cinth—what would make her try to argue with Tami? Sarah stared at Hyacinth’s wide, startling blue eyes and heart-shaped face. She was the perfect blend of her mom and dad. She had Aunt Jasmine’s gorgeous Philippine looks and onyx hair and Uncle Bobby’s blue eyes, and her clairvoyance came from her father’s side of the family, too. If you didn’t know her, she was easy to hate for being so perfect.

Standing in the middle of gleaming green-and-white marble floor with polished mahogany all around, big, comfortable sofas and chairs, sunlight streaming in the windows where lush ferns and elephant plants turned their leaves to the warm rays… yeah, they had grown up in the lap of luxury. That alone was enough to inspire resentment, even outright hatred. The stories that had come back from Ayana during her school breaks—stories about how some kids had survived, how they’d lost parents, everything they’d endured—were enough to turn anybody’s hair white.

But was it their fault that her mom and dad, as the world’s Neterus, had found this forgotten sanctuary? Their parents had a standing offer to all the Guardian teams worldwide to take in any and all children—gifted or not—so it was up to the parents to decide whether they wanted to send their kid to the compound to grow up or even send them to the Academy early, or keep them at home to love for as long as possible. Nothing about the situation was her family’s fault. People made choices, so how come it was all so complicated?

The dark side had released the demons, zombie walkers, the viruses and all kinds of contagions, so why the resentment of her family? How her older cousin had endured that all alone was beyond her. In her mind, Ayana was her own brand of superhero, because Sarah knew that if she’d had to put up with that all by herself, she probably would have caved. At least she’d be going to the Academy with all her friends. Even if they got split up for talent specialty classes, they’d still have basic ed classes together, and they’d be in the same first-year dorm wing. But she still worried about the times when they’d be separated. Ayana had told her how students got bullied, and in a school where everybody had more impressive superpowers than you, that was like a living nightmare.

Nothing got her blood boiling like bullying. She might not fight for herself all the time, but seeing some weaker kid being picked on made her snap and go ballistic.

The sight of brother walking toward her, the other guys trailing behind, put Sarah on guard. Al had a smirk on his face that told her he’d come over to pick on her, now that he knew she was in the clear when it came to demon contagion.

“I see Mom must have cleared up that zit on your face—guess that’s what took you so long to get down here.” Al shook his head. “Next time ask her to work on your morning attitude while she’s at it.”

Sarah felt her fangs extend. Why couldn’t he just let the breakfast incident go?

She saw Miguel laugh, while Valencio looked down and Donnie looked away.

“Yeah, your mom went to help Sarah right after she mowed your back hair,” Tami said with a sneer and flipped him the bird.

But to Sarah’s horror, rather than a quick comeback, her brother turned on the oozing charm.

“Any time, Tamara,” he said with a wicked half-smile, allowing his fangs to crest as he glanced at her middle finger. His smile widened as Tami yanked back her hand and folded her arms over her chest.