Birthright (Residue Series #2) (9 page)

Second period
was especially agonizing
as
Ms. Wizner lectured on the structure and
the
function of state governments
.
There was, however, one bright spot in my day.

From the moment Jameson and I saw each other, there was a
noticeable
release,
lessening the pressure in each of us. He looked particularly tempting
,
glancing
up
from beneath strands of his sandy blonde hair and watching everyone as they entered the door.
His shimmering agate family stone rested in the valley carved through his chest muscles
, laying on top of
a tightly-fit, white, cotton shirt –
a
display
that
must have felt like an insult toward Mrs. Gaul, our resident Vire in this class.

Jameson didn’t acknowledge me as I came down the aisle
,
or at any
other
point throughout class.
Since
this had
recently become
his typical behavior
,
in an effort to throw off the Vires, the deep disappointment
nagging
at me shouldn’t have been
there in the first place. Still,
I couldn’t help tilting my head inquisitively in his direction.

He sat, immobilized, focusing on the front of the room; his
jaw was
tight and
the muscles in his neck
were straining. With the intensity he was showing and his resolute dedication to avoid looking my way, even from this angle, he was stunningly handsome.

I was comforted just sitting beside him but frustrated that I couldn’t confide in him. I wanted to tell him what I’d learned about The Relicuum’s future, to talk through the impossibility of it
, but
without any hope of being able to, I discarded the notion
,
reminding
myself that
it still
wasn’t proven
that I was the
person in the book.

Being so
consumed by
what
I
learned last night
,
I didn’t realize until midway through the class that Jameson was trying to send me a message. His lack of any signal,
or
any reference toward me, confirmed it. Once I recognized
this,
I settled back in my chair
, waiting
for it to arrive.

But by
the end
of class, I was still waiting, unaware that it would be
delivered
as
we
left
the room
.
A few feet from the door, t
he
book he was carrying slid from his hand
,
and landed
with a
loud
thump, flapping open to reveal its innards
.

By the time Jameson
turned around, I was
already
bending
down to pick it up
;
my fingers scoop
ed
beneath the cover and
lifted
it back into place.

Jameson was
crouching
beside me
by
then, taking
the book back, when
our hands momentarily
converged.

When our skin touched, two things happened. First, a breathtaking excitement exploded in
side
me. Other than the short brush of our shoulders in the corridor at Ms. Veilleux’s evening school, we’d remained apart, teased by each other’s
presence
. Our forbidden touch instantly made me giddy
,
and I struggled to contain the sharp
breath
that threatened to give away my secret. Second, just as his finger slid against mine, words hit my mind like a speeding train.

“Meet Alison in the girl’s locker room after school.”

Apparently, his end goal wasn’t a morbid desire to test the bounds of our constraints
, chancing
the feel of his girlfriend’s hand.
No…he
had something else in mind. Unfortunately, a covert meeting between his sister, Alison, and me wasn’t nearly as enticing.

As we stood up,
the intensity of his
stare
left me dazed. For a second
,
I wondered if
I got
the message wrong
,
because
now, he looked irate.

Mrs. Gaul
suddenly
appeared beside us, taking a brisk, single step forward
and duly noting
our interaction.

I knew
then,
Jameson’s expression wasn’t meant for me. It was for her. He was playing the role, still trying to convince the Vires we were enemies. And it looked staggeringly believable to me.

“Keep moving.”

It was the first time Mrs. Gaul had spoken in our
class
so
her deep intonation threw me
off.
I hesitated, realizing that Ms. Wizner
already
rushed out of the room for her end-of-the-hour bathroom break
…leaving
us alone with her.

“Now,” snapped Mrs. Gaul, sounding to me like she was
accustomed to
everyone
taking her orders.

“We’re going,” I
carelessly
retorted
. A
chill ran through me
then
as I realized what I’d done. I referenced Jameson and me
…
as being together…directly to a Vire.

She appeared to be taken aback,
although
the reaction was
fleeting. In that instant, she’d assessed me, correctly summing up the reason behind my brash reply. “You want us to retreat…
leave
the area?”
S
he paused
then and
I knew it was to wait for my confirmation
, but
I didn’t give it to her
.
Being
fully aware
that she was searching for any r
eason to justifiably punish me,
I remained silent, glaring my response,
and
she settled back on her heels
before speaking
with a tone more sinister than
I’ve
ever heard.

“We won’t do that, Jocelyn.”

With her response, Mrs. Gaul just broke down the walls between us. No more allusions, no more
role-playing, and
no more conspiring. She’d just laid her cards on the table, validating what we assumed since the Vires began arriving. The Vires, the entire mass of them, came with a common purpose, one that would keep them here until their objectives were met. She just warned me, or threatened
me
, whichever way you wish
to look at it, that they were unyielding. They would never stop
,
never
back down
, and never
give up.

Mesmerized by the intensity of the moment, I snapped out of it when I heard the sound of Jameson’s
feet on the tile floor as he approached us
.
He was
just about to
intervene
when
I lifted my palm in his direction and glanced at him, my expression indomitable.

He
reluctantly stopped,
but didn’t turn
to
leave.

“Fending off two adversaries simultaneously?” goaded Mrs. Gaul, feigning appreciation for my courage. “Or are you? There are those of us who question it…after your brief transgression a few weeks ago.”
In no uncertain terms, she
was referring
to the open display of affection Jameson and I
daringly
exhibit
ed
when we first met. At
that
time, it
was
a way to defy our families
. We had
no reason to believe that The Sevens opposed our love more than our own relatives.

“Isn’t that why you’re here?” I taunted, trying to gain some information from her. “To see for yourself?”

“Some of us,” she replied, intentionally leaving
me
with more questions than answers.

She leaned forward
,
a sneer lifting her boney cheeks. “What you haven’t learned…your re-introduction to our world being so recent…is that you don’t control us.
We control you
.” Her eyes drifted smoothly across my arm, the one with my white metal bracelet
. She
slowly dipped her head in its direction. “It’s unfortunate for you that we don’t give warnings
.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Jameson take a
step forward because he
saw it happening before I did.

Mrs. Gaul then broke a fundamental rule, for which others had lost their lives.

She voiced an incantation in public.
“
Incantatio
i
ntumescunt
.”

Then s
omething started happening
that I did not expect.
She was the one who fell
. Her legs crumbled beneath her like stacked playing cards blow
ing
over in the wind
, h
er
body landing
with a sickening smack on the
unforgiving
floor.

As Mrs. Gaul attempted to regain control of her body, I slipped in front of Jameson, hiding him as best I could. If she saw it was him who…I couldn’t bring myself to finish the thought.

My wrist had begun to swell, bubbling up around the edges of my bracelet, leaving a purplish ring where the pressure was building. It was the same area where Mrs. Gaul had concentrated when casting a hex against me.

I wasn’t worried, though. I would recover. It was a verified certainty. My unique ability to heal others applied to myself too
,
and it would eventually
block
and counteract Mrs. Gaul’s cast.

But I wanted her to know
it
.

Staring down at her
and holding one hand over my swelling, I observed Mrs. Gaul’s eyes closing as a smirk came to rest on her lips.
Then
,
I whispered my own incantation
“Incantatio sana”
– and watched as she grasped what I’d done.

First, the discoloration began reversing
, then the swelling. The healing was so quick
, in fact,
that
she caught sight of it
just before her eyelids fell shut,
and t
he smile she wore was replaced with a scowl.

Without further delay,
we turned for the door
, but we’d only
taken two steps before I stopped.

“Jocelyn, we need to go,” Jameson insisted, keeping his voice low and glancing at the hallway where students floated by. I knew he expected a Vire to walk through at any second and he had every right to be concerned.

Still, I heaved a sigh because something was tearing at me inside.

“Just…” was all I managed before returning to Mrs. Gaul.

As my hand came around her own wrist, she jolted awake, terror flooding her expression. She was incapable of defending herself
,
and she knew it.

I
then
whispered words that I knew were the last ones she expected to hear.
“Incantatio sana.”

Her eyebrows furrowed together
,
as she watched me with confusion
now
.

That wasn’t all I’d come back for, however. In those few seconds before her body began to function again, I delivered my own message.

“No, Mrs. Gaul…” I stated gently
,
as one does while breaking terrible news to a child. “You control nothing.”

I stayed there, crouched beside her,
waiting
for the meaning of my words to sink in.
When
her mouth went slack
and her face filled with
resentment
,
I knew
it
had
finally sunk in
.