Channeler's Choice (5 page)

“
It means this will be a good year—or a bad one, it depends. You reap what you sow. For us, it will definitely be a good year,” he said.

His voice lowered and got that husky sound to it that made Eren’s heart speed up. He started to lean in for a kiss but paused as their gazes met. The moonlight reflected off his eyes and almost made them look like they were glowing. Eren thought that her own blue eyes would look so dull in comparison. His lips touched hers and completed a perfect New Year’s Eve, banishing any doubts she had about how the year would turn out. He was right; this was going to be a perfect year.

“
Society members will be drawn to their Rectors.

There is no choice in the matter, only instinct.”

~from
Life In A Society

Chapter 3

Excited chatter reached Eren’s ears before she heard her friends knock on the door. Tossing her backpack over her shoulder, she kissed her grandfather on the cheek and dashed outside. Ankle deep in snow, Aiden and Fane waited for her. She’d been promising grandfather that she’d get around to shoveling the sidewalk and suddenly she felt guilty about forgetting, again.

Aiden managed to make a black ski jacket and blue jeans look totally hot, while Fane looked like a young gentleman dressing for prep school. Having worn a white button up shirt and black skirt for most of her scholastic life, Eren knew how he felt. When in doubt, one reverted to what they were comfortable in.

“
You’re going to knock the girls dead, Fane. But let me help out a little.”

Fane tolerated her attentions while she rolled up the sleeves of his suit jacket and unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt. Nodding in satisfaction, she stepped back.

“
Thanks, Cuz” he said.

“
Cuz?” she asked as she lifted an eyebrow at him.

“
Aiden has a nickname for you, but I couldn’t really use his. You don’t like it?” he asked, unsure of himself.

Insecurity was so unlike him. It made Eren realize how nervous he was about this whole public school thing. She put an arm around his shoulders as they started down the alley.

“
I like it,” she said. And she did. It made her feel more like family.

Fane grinned, and stood a bit taller, making it harder for Eren to keep her arm around his shoulders.

Ahead of them, Aiden turned around and walked backwards. “And do I need any help with my look?”

“
Well, the jeans could be a bit tighter, but then it could start a fight,” Eren teased as she wiggled her eyebrows.

Aiden laughed. “Oh really? I’ll remember that.”

They talked and laughed all the way to school. Going there was no longer a horrible ordeal for Eren, not now that she and Aiden didn’t need to pretend they didn’t like one another. It didn’t hurt that Luke wasn’t there either. Knowing he was on an entirely different continent brought Eren a huge amount of comfort. He’d tried to kill her—and worse—so she didn’t feel an ounce of remorse about him being forced to leave Spruce Knoll. His sister, Elisabeth, was a different story. Eren still thought about her from time to time, but she knew Elisabeth must be happy now that she lived with her grandparents, despite the fact—or maybe because of it—that her murderous parents were dead.

The steps of the school came into view and Fane stopped, smiling up at the building. “How charmingly American!”

Eren laughed. Yep, with a vocabulary like that, the girls were going to absolutely flip over him.

“
I mean that in a good way of course. American architecture is wonderfully practical and that’s not a bad thing,” he explained.

Aiden rested and elbow on Fane’s right shoulder. “True, but I much prefer the brilliance of Roman architecture.”

White shown around the deep brown of Fane’s eyes as they grew wide. “Understandable considering that it’s hard to compare with the people who designed aqueducts,” he said.

They delved into a conversation about different eras of architecture and design and soon, Eren was completely lost. But it was a pleasure seeing them so engrossed in conversation.

Heads turned when the three of them walked through the double doors. The looks everyone cast their way weren’t like the hostile looks Eren used to get. Now they were cautious and unsure. The stories about the fight at last October’s bonfire party were still hot news. Everyone talked about how Eren could fight and heal. What they didn’t know was that now Aiden could do it too. There had been a time, back in prep school, where she hadn’t minded being the center of attention and gossip, but not anymore.

Today everyone was looking at Fane. Eren felt sorry for him, but only for a moment because he didn’t seemed bothered by the attention at all. In fact, he seemed oblivious to it. His eyes were filled with wonder, and his head turned every which way as he tried to take it in all at once.

Ignoring the gawkers, they found Fane’s locker and showed him to his first class before the bell had them scurrying off to their own. As a sophomore, he didn’t have a single class with them so Eren didn’t see him the rest of the morning.

After phys ed Eren was headed out for the girl’s locker room when her instructor stopped her. She wondered if she was in for a lecture for being overzealous with the bag again. It was hard not to be, considering it was the only thing she got to hit. Despite all the progress she’d made—or perhaps because of it—she still wasn’t allowed to spar with the kids.

“
Yes, Maestro?” she asked.

“
You cannot use the kids’ locker room anymore,” he said.

Wow. Whatever she did must have been really bad. She racked her brain but couldn’t come up with anything bad enough to get her kicked out of class altogether. A sick feeling came over her as she realized it may have something to do with what happened at the party a few months ago. She was just starting to enjoy training. She didn’t want to have to stop.

“
I’m sorry, Maestro. Whatever I did, I’ll make it up to you,” she said, trying hard to keep the quiver out of her voice.

Getting kicked out of this class was the last thing she wanted. How was she supposed to become a great Rector if no one would teach her how to fight? Her heightened anxiety tried to start the tremors that precluded channeling. She banished the desire and tremors with a thought. This was no time to be losing her cool.

“
Nonsense, Eren. What I meant was; you’ll have to use the high school girls’ locker room from now on. I’m moving you into their class starting next week,” he said with a rare smile.

A plea froze upon Eren’s lips. Had she really just heard him right? She’d only had four months of training. True, she was working ridiculously hard and getting quite good, but that didn’t mean she could hold her own among the high school girls. Did it?

“
They’re going to be hard on you, be prepared for that. But I’m sure you’ll give them a run for their money in no time at all.”

His smile grew, his thin mustache stretching into a barely perceptive line as he clapped her on the back and gave her a push toward the locker rooms. His confidence in her was flattering. She tried to thank him, but her lips didn’t want to work. From the opposite side of the gym, the opening to the high school girls’ locker room yawned like a dark abyss with the promise of frightful creatures within. Shoving aside her fears, she strode over to it and entered; only to stop the moment her feet touched the tiled floor.

The roar of sixty gossiping girls fell silent as if a switch had been flipped. Eren’s smile didn’t even wilt as she walked in and headed straight for the showers. The moment she turned the water on, hushed conversation started back up. By the time she finished, over half of the girls had left. Wrapping a towel about herself, she picked up her backpack and walked over to the lockers. A line of girls were leaning up against them, chatting about the upcoming tournament.

Eren cleared her throat but they ignored her. Someone came from behind her, a blond girl, and walked up to the others. She leaned in close to one of the girls and held up a fist that glowed with blue-green energy. The energy sort of pulled at Eren instead of pushing like most others did. She had come to realize this meant someone was a healer channeler instead of a warrior channeler.

“
Okay, whatever. You don’t have to get all hostile on me, all you had to do was ask,” the girl against the lockers said.

She pushed away from the lockers and strutted off, pausing to give Eren an intimidating look. The others followed, one of them running into Eren’s shoulder, hard. Instinctively, Eren spun around, fists clenched and glowing with bright blue energy as she dropped into a fighting stance. The girl gasped and jumped back, her wide eyes fixed on Eren’s hands. Pulling her energy back in, Eren sighed and turned back around. This was not the way she wanted this to go.

“
Ignore them. They’re just high-strung bitches,” the blond girl said.

She whipped through the numbers of a combination lock in less time than it took Eren to exhale. Opening the locker, she stepped aside and motioned to it.

“
You can have this one. 24, 17, 12,” the girl said.

“
Thanks.”

When Eren stepped forward to put her soap and shampoo in the locker she got her first good look at the girl. She had long, curly blond hair and blue eyes, one of the Irish channelers, and she looked familiar. Eren stared as she tried to remember where she knew her from. Then it hit her.

“
You’re the girl who tried to warn me about Luke and Elisabeth,” Eren said.

“
Yeah, sorry that didn’t go so well,” the girl said.

Eren slipped into her clean clothes and began to comb her hair. “I guess not. Thanks for trying though. What’s your name?”

“
Caitlin.”

“
Well Caitlin, why don’t you come have lunch with me?” Eren asked.

She knew she was going out on a limb here, but there was something about this girl that she liked. Besides, she’d been nice to her twice already, so the feeling must be mutual. Caitlin finished applying her lip gloss and gave her a thoughtful look.

“
I guess, since it’s obvious you’re no longer bringing about the apocalypse, it should be safe,” Caitlin said with a smile that didn’t match her dark words.

“
Huh?” Eren asked, as the brush she held paused halfway through her hair.

“
People were overly freaked about you growing up with normals. I thought it sounded kind of dangerous and cool,” Caitlin said as she shrugged.

Snickering, Eren tossed the brush in her locker and locked it. “My cousin is going to love you.”

They picked up their backpacks and made their way through a group of eavesdropping girls at the door. The girls stared and sneered, but they were quick to move out of the way. Eren couldn’t care less about what they thought. She was done trying to impress people like them, especially when there were people like Caitlin around. From her last school she had learned that being part of the in-crowd wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. While she wasn’t exactly ready to trust Caitlin, there was definitely something about her she liked.

Lunch time proved her right. Fane was completely enamored of Caitlin. Her slight Irish accent wasn’t enough to deter him from thinking she was quintessentially American. She had a dark sense of humor and a brutal honesty that was refreshing. It came as no surprise to Eren that she was charmed by Fane as well.

“
So you’re from Romania. What’s your last name?” Caitlin asked.

Eren cringed and Aiden’s hand tightened on hers. They both held their breath waiting for Fane to answer. His lineage wasn’t really common knowledge yet, and they’d all known this moment would come. Having just met Caitlin though, Eren was hoping this wouldn’t blow any chance at a future friendship with her.

“
Moldovan,” Fane said without hesitation.

Caitlin’s eyes lit up and she leaned across the table closer to Fane.

“
Really? Wow. How were you related to Virgil and Camilia?” she asked.

Eren could hardly believe it. She thought Caitlin would have been horrified and would have run screaming from the table. But then, she didn’t really know Caitlin yet.

“
Virgil was my father’s brother,” Fane said.

When Caitlin reached out and grabbed his hand he looked like he was going to swallow his tongue. Eren hid a smile behind her dark hair.