The Nightmare Dilemma (Arkwell Academy) (13 page)

Yeah right,
I thought as I took a second look at the coach and saw the smirk still on his face. I turned toward Selene, wanting to complain about Fritz, but I froze when I caught sight of Oliver Cork pulling on his helmet a few feet in front of me.

“Catch you later,” I whispered to Selene, then I darted toward Oliver, falling in place right behind him. I accidently kicked him in the back of the shoe, and he turned around, startled.

“Whoops.” I flashed my cutest smile and pointed at myself with both thumbs. “Clumsy. Did I break your foot or anything?”

Oliver surprised me when he smiled back. Maybe I was getting better at this whole flirty thing. “S’okay. I’m pretty tough.”

I laughed. “Tough like a tree, right?”

The smile vanished from Oliver’s face.

Crap. Open mouth. Insert foot. Swallow.

“Are you making fun of me for being a dryad?” His dark eyes hardened.

My eyebrows shot up my forehead. “What? No way. I think it’s cool. I love trees and nature.”

Oliver scowled. “Whatever.” He started to turn back, but I grabbed his arm. It did feel surprisingly like a tree limb, strong but sort of bendy.

I let go at once. “Wait a sec. I wanted to ask you something.”

He faced me, looking cautious but not hostile. Thank goodness dryads were known to be extremely patient and slow tempered, an effect of the bond they shared with their respective trees. “Yeah?”

“Um.” I bit my lip, wishing I’d planned this out a little better. “I want to know about the Terra Tribe.”

His eyes narrowed beneath the crest of his helmet. He crossed his arms, the gesture made awkward by the strips of shielding on the safety suit’s sleeve. He looked like an overgrown beetle. So did I, for that matter.

“What for?”

I frowned. This wasn’t the answer I’d been expecting. It was a student organization, after all, and I was a student. “I just want to know more about it.”

The suspicion in his gaze increased, and I had a feeling he was connecting the dots back to his interrogation by Sheriff Brackenberry and my conspicuous presence right outside.

Thinking fast, I added, “Britney told me a little already.”

Oliver chuckled. “I doubt it.”

Again, this wasn’t the reply I expected. “Sure she did. And I want to join.”

Now Oliver laughed outright, sounding genuinely amused.

I blushed, the unpleasant awareness of being the butt of some inside joke making my eyes burn with tears coming to the ready. I fought them back. “What’s so funny?”

“It’s impossible for
you
to join the Terra Tribe.”

“Why?”

“No darkkinds allowed.”

His words hit me like a bucket of ice water to the face. “What … what …
why
?”

“It’s for naturekinds
only
. Which you would’ve known if you really had talked to Britney about it.” He swung around in a clear dismissal.

I stood there, reeling from shock and indignation.

Tears threatened again and I resisted a strong desire to punch him in the back of the head. I contemplated returning to Selene, but I didn’t want to give Oliver the satisfaction of seeing me retreat.

Not that it mattered. Oliver kept his back to me the whole time, talking and laughing with one of his friends. I told myself it wasn’t about me, although I suspected it was—the darkkind who dared to mingle with naturekinds. A blush of shame blossomed over my skin, and I was glad for the helmet covering my face.

When it was my turn to enter the Gauntlet, I went in without hesitating, grateful for the chance to escape the crowd. I had a feeling my conversation with Oliver had been overheard and that everyone in the class knew about it by now. All I wanted was to be by myself.

Two steps into the Gauntlet though, and I knew I wasn’t alone. Not by a long shot. A murky, uneven light illuminated the tunnel in places, casting long, dark shadows. Some of the shadows were moving, writhing like something alive. I couldn’t see the walls or ceiling of the Gauntlet. It might’ve been five miles long or only a couple of feet. I took a deep breath and walked on, braced for whatever.

A few steps in, a portion of the floor sunk beneath my right foot like a lever depressing. There was a loud pop and a hiss. I froze as the stench of sulfur burned my nostrils.

Something flashed, and I jumped back as a wall of flames burst up in front of me.

“Crap.” I stared at it, trying to calm my racing heart, which proved difficult as I caught a whiff of something burning. I ran my hands over my helmet and down the front of my suit, checking for fire as I tried to decide what to do next.

Then I remembered my simple goal—get to the other side. I pointed my hand at the flames. “Hydro-rhe.” A jet of blue light shot out from my fingertips. The flames sizzled and hissed then disappeared. That was one spell I didn’t struggle with anymore.

I moved on. Several more obstacles rose up to block my way, but I took care of them easily, relying on spells and techniques we’d learned in class.

After a while the obstacles began incorporating a more physical element. This was gym class after all. A magically propelled tire rolled out of the darkness, barreling right toward me. I jumped left, dodging it, but then I had to twist to the right to avoid the next one that came quick on the heels of the first. The third, I hit with a deflector spell. It careened sideways, out of my path and was swallowed by the shadows once more.

Next, I had to vanish a creek of boiling green liquid, probably some kind of acid. The fumes made my eyes water, and the stench of it lingered in my nose long afterward.

But really, the Gauntlet was proving to be pretty tame for gym class, full of obstacles a blind person could see coming. My mind soon began to wander. I found myself thinking about what Oliver had said, the shame and embarrassment coming over me as strongly as before. It was so unfair. Like there was anything wrong with darkkinds. We were all more or less the same, right?

Whack.

I reeled backward, clutching my pounding face.
What the…?
I turned in a circle, searching for whatever had hit me.

Whack.

This time the something struck me in the back of the head. I dropped to my knees on instinct. A wooden bat swung through the air above me. It was moving comically slow. A baby could’ve dodged it—if they’d been paying attention. I cast a restraining spell at it, and the bat stopped midair, giving a slight tremble as it fought to get free of the magic.

I stood and walked past it, my head back in the game as I strained to see more obstacles. I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted. Always a bad idea in gym class. With my right eye watering, seeing grew harder and harder. The skin where the bat had struck felt tight and puffy. But somehow I managed to get through the rest of it with only a couple of minor scratches and a bruised shin to add to my injuries.

By the time I emerged from the end of the Gauntlet, my eye had almost swollen shut.

Coach Fritz grinned when he spotted me. “Run into trouble, did you?”

“Nope. I’m just trying to start a new fashion trend—black-eye foundation,” I said, cupping a hand over my eye. The pain made me forget the dangers of mouthing off, but to my shock, Fritz chuckled.

“Well, then, I’d say you’re off to a great start.”

Asshole
.

But Fritz’s sudden receptiveness to my sarcasm put me on edge, and I dropped all the snark from my voice as I said, “Um, can I go to the infirmary?”

Fritz’s grin widened. “I don’t think that’s necessary. A little bruising never hurt anyone. You can wait until after class.”

“But I have detention after class.”

Fritz’s shoulders rose and fell in an exaggerated shrug. “Not my problem. But I’m sure the teacher will understand if you’re late.” Something about Fritz’s triumphant tone told me that he knew very well who my detention was with and that Corvus would be about as understanding as a swarm of pissed-off killer bees.

Resigning myself to the overall injustice in the world, I walked to the back of the line. I kept my head down, hoping nobody would give me crap about my face.

Once again, I was stuck behind Oliver. This time I seriously contemplated punching him in the back of the head. It was his fault I’d gotten hit by that bat. If I hadn’t been so distracted by his idiotic naturekinds-only club, I would’ve been paying better attention.

But once again, I managed to restrain myself. I even got lucky as class ended before I had to go through the Gauntlet again. I quickly changed out of my gym clothes, doing my best to dodge Selene’s probing questions into my bad mood.

“Come on, Dusty,” she said, hands on hips. “What’s bothering you? You must be really upset to have gotten hit by that bat. You haven’t done anything that clumsy in a long time. You’ve gotten really good.”

I tried to roll my eyes, then wished I hadn’t as a fresh spurt of pain shot down the right side of my face. “You’re wrong there. I’m as bad as ever at this magic business.”

“Yeah, right. So what’s up?”

I could tell by the firmness in Selene’s tone that she wasn’t going to drop it.

“Okay,” I said, gingerly pulling my shirt down over my head. And then I told her what had happened with Oliver. I braced for an explosion. She was darkkind, too, and bound to be just as upset about the discrimination.

But Selene didn’t explode. Instead a sad, almost haunted look rose to her face, and she sat down on the bench across from me with an audible sigh. “That really sucks. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t seem surprised.”

She sighed again. “Well, stuff like that’s been happening for ages among magickind.”

I swallowed, knowing she was right but hating it just the same. It was so stupid—excluding people just because they were different.

“But don’t let it bother you,” Selene said. “For what it’s worth I doubt it’s personal to you, and really, who cares what they think? We both know you’re awesome.” She beamed at me, and I felt a flush of gratitude, lifting my spirits.

Selene and I finished getting dressed in silence then I headed off to detention.

Despite Selene’s pep talk, my thoughts remained unpleasant company as I climbed the winding staircase to the third floor. The door into Room 337 stood open, and I went in, forgetting to knock. I froze at the sight of the familiar room. I hadn’t recognized the number, but of course it made sense. There was the large desk, cluttered with books and papers. There were the shelves full of strange items, the spyglass and the wooden compass with the endlessly spinning needle. Even the smell was the same, something spicy, like an old man’s cologne.

This had been Marrow’s office. But all of his things should’ve been removed. What was the senate playing at, leaving this stuff here? It could be dangerous. It could be connected to
him
.

My pulse quickened, and I contemplated making a mad dash out of here, but the room was empty and curiosity got the best of me. With my imagination working on overdrive, I stepped into the office and started pulling the books back on the shelf one by one, checking for a latch to a secret chamber. It might’ve seemed stupid, a cliché right out of a B horror movie, but it was definitely possible. Especially here. At Arkwell. During my detention with Ms. Hardwick, I’d learned the location of several secret passageways and hidden rooms on campus.

As I moved along, checking book after book, I realized that this was Monmouth
Tower
. A tower like the one in my dreams. What if there was a connection?

You’re being paranoid, Dusty
.

Better paranoid than taken by surprise like last time.

A familiar, gravel-filled voice spoke from behind me. “Just what are you doing, Miss Everhart?”

I spun around so hard that I knocked a row of books from the shelf. The loud crash as they fell made me jump. Then I let out a scream.

Marrow stood in the doorway.

12

J Marks the Spot

“What are you looking for in my office?” the man said again.

I blinked as his features blurred into Mr. Corvus.
Not Marrow. Never him
. It was just my imagination. How could I have not noticed the eye patch even for a second?

A dozen answers to this question flitted through my mind, including lack of sleep and the possibility of impending insanity, but I ignored them as I noticed the person standing behind Mr. Corvus. That awful sense of déjà vu came over me again.

Paul was looking at me with an alarmed expression. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Catching onto the focus of his gaze, I raised a hand to my cheek and gingerly ran my fingers along the bruise. His concern, especially the genuine sound of it, took me by surprise. It didn’t help that he was looking as handsome as ever. Maybe even more so with his short hair and that haunted look in his eyes like something had broken on the inside, something that needed to be fixed. That
I
could fix.

Don’t fall for that,
I reminded myself.
This is Paul, a manipulative siren, capable of forcing sympathy.
A part of me winced at my easy use of stereotyping, but sometimes it was hard not to judge a person by their kind. Especially when combined with their past actions.

“I’m fine,” I said at last.

Mr. Corvus made a disgruntled sound. “You still haven’t answered
my
question, Miss Everhart.”

I blinked, coming back to my senses. “Oh, I was just…” I stooped and started picking up books, my face aflame. “Just…”

“Snooping?” Mr. Corvus said. Startled by what sounded like humor, I glanced up to see he’d raised his one eyebrow in a somewhat amused expression. “I’ve heard you’ve a habit of doing that.”

“It’s more like a compulsion,” I said, encouraged by the slight change in his attitude—subzero to only icy was still an improvement. “I just can’t help myself sometimes.”

“You’ve got lots of reasons to be suspicious,” Paul said in a quiet voice, his eyes fixed on the floor now.

Mr. Corvus cleared his throat. “Reason or not, that’s no excuse for you to invade my privacy.”