Starbright (The Starbright Series) (47 page)

             
I stood up abruptly and announced, “I think I’m going to be sick
, I need to go,” I started to walk away and then realized my alibi sucked since I needed Seth. I reached down and grabbed a handful of his shirtsleeve before yanking him up with me. “And I’m going to need Seth.”

             
I ignored Piper’s hurt look at choosing Seth in my time of need over her
, completely avoided Tristan’s eyes because I knew they would be
filled with
wor
ry
and ignored
Rigley’s
snide, “You need Seth to get sick?” and bee lined it
back into the school
.
Seth and I rushed pas
sed
teachers who were too busy watching the darkening sky or covering their ears against the unearthly sounds coming from the building and snuck back in through a side door that had been propped open.

             
I turned around in the hallway just in time to see thousands of Shadows swoop down in an angry mob and pummel towards us. Seth and I threw our bodies to the ground as the
y
filled the hallway around us and kept going, their trail narrowing to a point at the end like caricature of the devil’s pronged tail. The sound that followed them was deafening, their screeching
echoed against my ears and the scent of hell filled the air.

             
“I don’t have a weapon!” I shouted to Seth with my hands still covering my ears.
Our bodies were encompassed in a soft glow as we let our light expand in order to protect ourselves.

             
“I do, in my locker!” he shouted back and tilted his head toward where the hallway came to a T thirty yards away. He held up two fingers, letting me know he had two swords waiting for us and I was suddenly so thankful for his preparedness I could have kissed him.

             
Except there was a serious chance that
kissing Seth
would lead to our untimely deaths, so I refrained.

             
The hallway suddenly became eerily quiet. No more shrieking.
No more swishing sounds as the Shadows moved through the halls in their haunting formations. Everything stilled and became absolutely silent.
But the smell of death and evil things rotting still filled my nostrils and so I knew they
hadn’t left, they
were
still
close.

             
W
aiting for us.

             
We
jumped to our feet in a synchronized effort and
took off sprinting
down the long hall. Without slowing down we slid
into Seth’s locker, his shoes squeaking across the waxed tile. Before he could open the door, the Shadows were back in formation and plunging toward us. I pressed my back into the wall of
rusting red
lockers and shut my eyes, preparing myself for painful impact. I could feel their ice cold presence even before they hit me, and even though I released my light into the dim school hallway before they
could get too close
, their momentum was too fast for all of them to completely abort their attack.

             
I held my breath as the brightness of my inner light singed and burned the Shadows that didn’t stop soon enough, t
heir screeching abruptly halted
as they were burned into ashes before completely puffing away. I held the circumference of my light in a wide circle around Seth and I
and then moved forward so
he could open his locker and retrieve the two weapons. They were hidden behind a long trench coat that hung from the center hook of his locker, and velcroed to the
back metal wall
.

             
Geesh, good thing he didn’t have many friends. I was pretty sure that hiding swords in your locker was so against school policy. 

My light drifted down the three separate hallways we stood at the crossroads to, but beyond my warmth that flickered like an ultra-bright candle, I could see the darkened hallways packed with those wicked little wisps of evil. I regulated my breathing and took the cutlass saber Seth was holding out for me.

It wasn’t my katana, but it was deathly sharp and immensely capable. I tested out its weight, shifting it back and forth between my hands and swinging it around my body holding it by two hands before I dimmed my light.

The heat and brightness of my inner essence was fantastic and effective when I needed to keep Shadows completely at bay. But I was a Star and wh
en I turned up the heat and
light it started to have adverse effects on the atmosphere around me, which was why Seth hadn’t lit up yet.

I could already feel the malleable bend to the surrounding lockers after being exposed for a few moments to a light that was capable of burning as bright as the sun. The floor beneath me was sticky from melting and the lights in all three hallways had burst and shattered glass everywhere.

Well shoot. That was going to be harder to explain away
than
bats.

Please, please, please let these people only see what they
are ready
to believe.

I couldn’t think about that now though.

I dimmed my light, so that I was a glowy version of my regular self and Seth heated to join me. We held out our swords, with our bodies perfectly tensed and ready
. Then
waited
for
the attack.

A lone, shrill, shrieking pierced through the school and I relaxed into the instincts that were bred for battle. Instead of attacking though, the ho
rde
of Shadows turned and ran instead. The
y
melted together in a combined cloak of darkness and whipped out of our sight down another hallway.
             

             
Seth and I paused for all of one point two seconds and then used our supernatural speed to chase after them. We were on the tail end of them, racing to slice through their disgustingly, if not a little surprisingly, solid bodies to head off their retreat and hopefully make some headway.

             
As I ran with my sword slashing accurately through my enemies, I was constantly sprayed with the black, tar these creatures considered blood. I suppressed the disgusted shivers and kept on, not even dwelling on the cute, gray bubble skirt I wore, or the pink and black striped preppy sweater I had borrowed from Piper. I promised myself I would replace her sweat
er if I lived through this
, even if she had only bought it because she was feeling “ironically kitschy.”

             
I kept pace with Seth easily and when the swarm of Shadows disappeared down the stairwell that led to the locker rooms and creepy bowels of the school I decided to pause and gather our bearings before we continued. Our light could flush out the Shadows easily, but we had to be careful of the boiler room and any damage that couldn’t be easily explained.

             
Besides my irrational fear of basements, the Shadows had gone suddenly quiet, seemingly sucked into the vortex of the unknown. The hairs on the back of my neck sprung straight and my eyes watered with nervous energy. This could not be good.

             
I heard voices in the distance and decided they were the law enforcement investigating the cafeteria and what I could hear be referred to as the “bat problem.” I nodded toward the human sounds to alert Seth to be
stealthily
quiet.

             
I wasn’t exactly sure how we were going to get out of this mess and protect Mead High School, all without making an unexplainable scene. Right now it seemed impossible.

             
But safety first, right?

             
Seth motioned that he would go first and so I followed him into the dim stairwell and down the cement stairs that led beneath the school. It was still quiet when we turned the corner into the main hallway that ran the length of the school. There was no movement, no sound, no evil.

             
What in the world?
             

             
“I could have sworn I just felt the strongest presence….” I whispered as we crept carefully forward.

             
Our swords were held high, and we walked on our tiptoes, ready for anything at any time. A skittering near the boy’s locker room door caught our attention and we followed it, although something clearly didn’t feel right.
Actually that was the problem. I didn’t
feel
anything.

             
“What do you think?” Seth asked, paused just on the outside of the locker room door.

             
“This feels a lot like a trap,” I admitted and Seth nodded in quick agreement. “But what choice do we have?”

             
“Wait for Seren
a
and Nate?” Seth suggested.

             
The evil was there again, raising my hairs and reminding me just how elusive and evasive it was. I tilted my head when I realized how close it was, whatever “it” was. It may or may not exist but I was more frustrated than ever that Seth seemingly couldn’t feel the sneaky little evil. I had to get to the bottom of it.

             
“That’s
if
they even know we’re in trouble,” I sighed a little impatiently, knowing with the mystery evil floating around there was a strong possibility that the heightened evil activity hadn’
t even registered with Seren
a
yet. 

             
“Stella, I will follow you to hell and back, just give me the word.”

             
“Then let’s do this,” I smirked, feeling confidence surge in
side
of me. Whatever the outcome, I knew the Council of Elders had chosen me for moments like these, Jupiter had drove me crazy and beat the crap out of me for chances like this and my parents had raised me to be prepared for exactly this moment.

             
I couldn’t back down. It just wasn’t in my nature.

             
With a quick breath and courage so fierce it formed the expression on his face, Seth shoved through the heavy wooden door. I was at his side before the door could even close and suddenly we were trapped in utter Darkness. The iciness of evil surrounded us, filling our lungs quickly with
its
presence and turning our blood to slush.

             
What was more frustrating than the fact that we had actually walked, willingly into a trap was that we should have known what was on the other side of the door. We were born with a sixth sense for detecting evil. One day I would literally be able to feel an increase in evil activity all the way across the world, but right now I couldn’t even tell what was on the other side of one door before I walked through it.

             
My breathing became quick and labored as I forced air in and out of my lungs, but the pungent smell of death made even the little oxygen I did get torturous. I clenched and unclenched my fists trying to keep the blood pumping to my hands, I needed to be able to grip and swing a sword or this fight would be over before it began.

             
And then they attacked.

             
From every direction and angle.

Seth and I kept our backs
pressed against each other in an effort to protect each other while our swords flailed around us in graceful, skilled movements.
There was no stopping the Shadows from touching my skin, slicing away at my arms and chest, my legs and anywhere else they could get to.

             
I winced against the pain, the consuming coldness. Icicles crackled through my veins as the pressure to cave against the debilitating torture threatened to win. I looked back at Seth for just the smallest moment as he fought vigilantly and mercilessly. How could I even entertain the idea of giving up when nothing would convince Seth that it would ever be time to throw in the
towel?

             
I put more effort into my sword, more of myself into every swing. The Shadows were
everywhere;
there was no stopping them, no slowing them down. They just continued to attack as we fought them from taking us completely.
   

             
A concentrated rush of movement on my left side caused me to stumble to the side. I caught myself, never slowing the movement of my weapon, but I was effectively separated from Seth’s protection against my back. Immediately we had to get more involved in the fight, flipping forward or spinning around to keep the Shadows from being able to connect with our skin the best we could.

             
I felt my veins r
ise from my skin and knew that my golden skin would be marked with their swollen, black trails. I intensified my li
ght and forced the Shadows back;
giving myself some reprieve for a moment, but immediately the small space of the locker room felt the effects of the hot light.