Student Bodies (10 page)

Marcus nodded and said, “Is everything OK?”

“It freaking well wants to be,” I grumbled as I got up and proceeded to climb down the bleachers onto the gym floor. I dashed behind the crowd of students forced to stand because of the numbers in the gym, never once taking my eyes off the girl and thankfully not being cornered by any teachers. My heart was racing and I could feel my pulse throbbing in my temples as I pulled my amulet out of my pocket and snapped it into the recess on my Shadowcull's band. Instantly my senses exploded with vibrations emanating from the auras of everyone in the gym, but that was nothing compared to the energy coming from the First Nations girl standing no more than twenty feet in front of the east exit doors.

I couldn't launch an all-out assault in the gym. I just needed to get the girl's attention enough so that she'd chase me out into the hallway and away from anyone who might wind up on the receiving end of either my magic or hers. I gulped back another small phial of potion to mask my magical signature and grimaced as I ducked underneath the bleachers on the east side of the gym. I could see her clearly now so I slipped into the small alcove of east exit doors and then snuck up right behind her.

I could hear her muttering. The words poured from her lips so fast that I struggled to make out even a single syllable. I got a closer look at the small pouch she was holding in her right hand. The intricate bead work created a magical pattern the likes of which I'd never seen before, and the tiny fetish appeared to be a focus of some kind. Every magical focus I'd ever seen was made from copper; the best conductor for magical energy known to anyone who practices magic. Her fetish looked the same as any other pouch a tourist might find at an Indian craft store, so that told me the strange girl must have something inside the pouch – something that amplified her power similar to that of my Shadowcull's band.

I took a deep breath because I hadn't expected that I'd be duking it out with another practitioner so soon after defeating the Matthew Hopkins-possessed Marla Lavik a few weeks back. I needed to cut off the girl's spell before she unleashed God-knows-what, so I grasped the push bar on the east exit door and then whispered the tiniest of hexes aimed squarely at the bead-covered fetish.

A thin finger of magic shot across the alcove, hitting the fetish dead on, and it slipped from her grasp. She spun around and glared at me, her chestnut-colored eyes flashing with anger as she palmed the fetish and prepared to lash out at me, but I was ready. I pushed through the east exit door and dashed into the hallway. I raced past row upon row of lockers and then I checked over my shoulder to make sure the girl was following me.

And she was.

Her eyes blazed furiously as she gave chase so I ran as fast as my legs would carry me down a flight of stairs and through a pair of doors that led to the basement. I quickly looked around for anything that might wind up being used as a projectile and smiled to myself. The basement corridor was free of clutter so I sprinted down to the far end, around a hundred feet from the stairwell doors. I spun around and readied my magic to nail her the moment she came through the doors, digging my feet into the floor for traction.

I could hear her feet pounding the metal steps so I reached into my magic and thought of a spell that would blow her out of her boots.

But what happened next told me that I wasn't dealing with someone new to the craft. Instead of appearing through the doorway the doors themselves blew off the hinges in an explosion of magical energy. She'd set up enough of a distraction to allow herself the time she needed to step into the hallway and send her own hex straight at me. I quickly raised a dome of protective energy and the spell bounced off harmlessly into the ceiling.

I prepped another volley of magic and was about to lower my magical shield when the girl did something completely unexpected. She tossed the bead-covered pouch onto the shining cement floor and it landed about twenty feet in front of her. Instantly I could feel her magical signature diminish and I watched in stunned silence as she reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a package of bubble gum. She unwrapped a bright pink cube and tossed the wad into her mouth which she then promptly began chewing.

She blew a bubble and it popped with a loud crack that echoed through the corridor. “You know, I was working when you decided to hex my fetish. I totally hate being interrupted when I'm concentrating. It took me a month to master that tracing spell and you just had to go and mess with my chi.”

I blinked and then spread out my fingers to scan her magical signature for even the tiniest trace of malice.

Another bubble appeared from her lips. She inflated it so that it was half the size of her face and then it popped, so she scraped the gum off her chin with an index finger and stuffed it inside her mouth.

“Oh great,” she said. “
Now
she decides to scan me for malice. I was making progress until you decided to show up.”

“You're a witch?” I answered back.

She rolled her eyes. “Uh no, you're the witch, a pretty powerful witch, too, since you're clearly skilled enough to mask your magical aura. Up until a few moments ago, I thought that I was the only person with special powers at Crescent Ridge High School. The name is Twyla Standingready and you are?”

I narrowed my eyes and lowered my magic. “Julie Richardson and I've been going to Crescent Ridge since September. I'm in Grade Ten and I haven't a clue why we haven't picked up each other's magic until now.”

She snorted. “Because I just transferred in two weeks ago. I moved to the city from Big Bear Lake. I live with my grandfather. He was doing a sweat lodge ceremony on Saturday and said he had a vision. He's a medicine man for the tribal council. He told me that he saw a boy walking into a blizzard and the boy was killed. He said the kid had been marked with a black hand that was placed on his spirit. I heard about Travis through Facebook so I put one and one together.”

I eyeballed the girl closely. Clearly she was skilled in an advanced form of native magic. The source of their power is still the individual practitioner's spirit, but the methods by which they cast spells and the spells themselves are a mystery to non-natives. Shamans are healers; they're highly spiritual people and they're an important member of a tribe or band.

And I was staring down the hall at a shaman who for all I knew was just as powerful as me.

“Do you yield?” I said trying to sound like I wasn't even remotely intimidated.

Twyla's eyes narrowed and she glanced at her fetish and then back at me. “Do I yield? What kind of stupid question is that? We aren't in driving school here, white girl. You're not the one I'm after so there's not a whole hell of a lot of point in my wasting an ounce of energy fighting with you. Still, it looks like we're after the same thing.”

I slipped my amulet out of the recess on my Shadowcull's band and gripped it tightly. “I don't even know what I'm after yet,” I said as I strode back up the corridor. I stopped when I arrived at the fetish she'd thrown onto the floor. “All I know is that somebody killed Travis Butler and the day before that someone nearly killed Mike Olsen. A practitioner is enthralling students; they're infecting them with a spell that I've never seen before – Soul Worms.”

“Ugh,” Twyla said, her voice taking on an edge of disbelief. “Magical worms… What the hell are those?”

“The technical name for the spell is Carrion Phage, about as dark a mind control spell as you can get.”

She grunted and I watched closely as she knelt down to pick up her tiny fetish. She loosened the draw string and opened the small pouch so that I could look inside. I saw hundreds upon hundreds of tiny beads, each one no bigger than the head of a pin and each a different color. I self-consciously covered my Shadowcull's band with the sleeve of my shirt because the magical energy coming from inside that small leather pouch felt very old and very sacred. She quickly pulled the leather drawstring back and closed the tiny pouch.

“Those are lovely,” I said warmly. “Do they work on black magic? Because that's what we're dealing with.”

A thin smile formed on her face and she nodded. “Every single one of those beads carries a fragment of the living spirit of all my people. The pouch is made from deer hide and each bead is a symbol of my people. My grandfather is the spiritual elder for our band and I've been his pupil since I started walking. These beads work on everything.”

Whoa. Twyla Standingready was an apprentice just like me. She motioned for me to follow and then she headed back down the corridor to the doorway leading to the main floor of the school.

“I'm an adept,” I said as we reached the stairwell. “I've been my mother's student since I was little, only lately things have changed for me in a big, big way.”

She cocked and eyebrow and glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. “I can see that. You have a thick copper band attached to your wrist and a charm. I take it they work together to help your magic along?”

The sound of our footsteps echoed through the stairwell as we climbed the stairs. “Something like that,” I replied. “Look… I don't know you from Adam, but it might be worthwhile to partner up on this… whatever
this
is.”

Twyla pushed open the doors to the main floor and I could see hundreds of students pouring out of the gym, so we headed back to the east exit doors and waited until the crowd thinned out.

“Partners, huh?” she said, leaning her back against the wall. “I guess that two heads are better than one.”

I raised a finger. “Actually there are three heads. My boyfriend Marcus is helping me find whoever did this.”

She frowned. “And he's like us?”

I shook my head. “No, he's not like you and me. But he's wickedly smart and he knows that I'm not exactly the same as other girls at Crescent Ridge.”

She arched her eyebrows. “He knows the truth of what you are? That's insanely dangerous for the pair of you. When do I get to meet him?”

Another dozen or so students filtered out the door and it closed with a loud hiss. I pulled it open and stepped into the gym then I glanced up at the bleachers. Marcus was sitting by himself and Willard Schubert was nowhere to be seen.

“You can meet him right now,” I said, pointing to the bleachers. “Don't worry, Twyla. Marcus has my back.”

“That's good to know,” she said grimly. “But if he's got no magical skill and nothing to defend himself, I can't help but wonder who's got his.”

 

 

CHAPTER 12

 

Marcus waved at me and then grabbed my coat along with my backpack. He climbed down off the bleachers, his own backpack dangling off his right elbow and thumping against his hip.

“Hiya,” he said. “Willard took off once the assembly ended. That dude has got some serious anger issues. Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Not exactly. This is Twyla Standingready. She's looking into this stuff as well and she's got a secret life, too.”

Marcus handed me my backpack and coat then he stretched out a bony hand in front of Twyla. She stared at it for a second before taking it.

“Interesting,” she said as she closed her eyes. “You're honest, Marcus. I'm kind of surprised by that because most people who shake hands with me… Well, let's just say I can immediately feel whether they're good, bad or somewhere in between.”

“I aspire to be a good guy,” he answered. “Actually, sometimes I think I'm one half of a superhero team, thanks to Julie. So you're a w-girl like Julie?”

“Kind of… I suppose you'd call me a witch, but I hate labels,” she replied. “Let's just say that I'm supernaturally awesome and we'll leave it at that.”

Marcus slipped his arms into his backpack and then raised it onto his shoulders. “You know about what happened to Travis then? You know that it wasn't an accident and he didn't kill himself on purpose, right?”

She nodded and said, “I know that his dying wasn't at his own hand if that's what you mean. I also know that if a person is murdered then someone has a reason for killing them. If we can find the reason, it might lead us to the killer.”

“There was also a cop at Mike's house last night. Julie thinks the cop is a witch or something,” he said.

Twyla cocked an eyebrow. “And you know this how?”

I glanced at my watch. “Malicious energy was leaking through the bottom of the police cruiser's doors and onto the ground. My bet is that's the practitioner we're after.”

“I don't like cops,” Twyla said menacingly.

“I don't like the fact that one kid is dead and the other has had his brain fried,” I replied. “Look, school has been canceled for the day so maybe when the hallways clear out we can do a little snooping for clues. Any takers?”

The pair nodded so I motioned for them to follow me and together we headed out into the hallway. There were still dozens of students milling about, so we headed to the stairwell and started up to the second floor of the school.

“Where are we going?” asked Marcus.

“Travis Butler's locker,” I answered back. “We're going to do a little forced entry so I'm going to need you to act as a lookout in case anyone comes along. Twyla and I will combine our skills and maybe something will turn up.”

“You don't think the school has it cleaned out by now?” asked Twyla.

I shrugged as I grasped the second floor door handle and pulled. “Maybe – we'll just have to hope they didn't.”

I poked my head in through the doorway and looked both ways down the hall. There were still a few dozen students wandering about so I nodded in the direction of the closest corner of the stairwell. “We need to get behind a veil and wait until the coast is clear.”

“A veil?” asked Twyla. “Is that like an invisibility spell or something?”