Torn (26 page)

"That's
ridiculous. There's absolutely no way that I'm going to approve
anything of the kind. Do you have any idea how pissed the faculty
would be if I let you change your classes around this late in the
semester? I don't care what kind of dirt you think you've got on me,
you're not getting your way."

I let him yell for
another ten minutes and then let my beast flood the room with power.
It wasn't elegant, and it wouldn't work long-term, but Principal
Gossil folded like a pinata when the first burst of energy
flowed over him. I hadn't done his heart any favors, but once he
stopped jumping at shadows in a day or two he'd probably be ok.

Donovan had prepared
notes for Principal Gossil to sign, which he did somewhat shakily.
We informed the recently-arrived school counselor of the changes and
then everyone split up to go to class.

Adri had obviously
been fuming at being one of only two people not changing their
schedules around, but managed to keep her dissatisfaction inside
until we were nearly to her Biology class.

"You should have
had me change some of my classes. Everyone is already bent out of
shape over what you've done for me, I don't want the rest of
the...your friends even more mad at me."

I shook my head and
pulled her along behind me.

"You and Rachel
are the ones who need the most sleep, ergo you don't change classes."

"That's crazy."

She tried to stop, but
I had a pretty good feeling that would lead to an argument.

"It's not crazy.
Everyone who swaps classes is going to be doing double homework for
the duration. Assignments for their old class, which they presumably
still want to get credit for, and assignments for the new class so as
not to make any more waves than necessary with their temporary
teacher. It only makes sense to place that burden on the ones who
can most easily deal with it."

The entire
conversation had been conducted in a whisper, but she lost a little
volume as we finally did stop just outside her Biology class.

"I can help. I
could switch at least one class and still keep up."

Donovan's hacking
skills ranged to more than just getting us scheduling information
from the school computer. I hadn't wanted to bring it up, almost
hadn't wanted to believe it, but I'd seen the unofficial notes her
teachers had been leaving.

"Adriana, you're
struggling in two classes already. How do you propose to handle yet
another set of homework?"

Her mouth abruptly
slammed shut. For a second I worried she'd bitten her tongue. It'd
been a low blow but we had to get into class before the bell rang or
we'd just end up with more of a fight on our hands when we told Mrs.
Sorenson she was going to have to accept me into the class.

"But they'll
hate me even more."

I'd thought she'd just
been looking for fodder for her argument earlier. I hadn't realized
she really thought Jasmin and the others hated her.

"They don't hate
you. A few of them are scared almost senseless over what might
happen, but nobody hates you."

Her voice dropped to
something even fainter than a whisper. It was possible she didn't
even mean to say the words out loud, but I was still able to hear
them.

"They were
willing to kill me. They wanted to trade me back to Brandon."

I pulled her into a
hug, ignoring the scattered gasps from inside the room and a couple
of wide eyes among the students walking past us. Leaning my face up
against hers, I whispered into her ear.

"I'm not going
to let anything happen to you. If there's a way to keep you safe
I'll find it."

She pulled back and
offered me a brave smile. It was unlikely I'd really convinced her,
but some fears could only be defeated with time.

I walked into class
and handed Mrs. Sorenson the signed note from Principal Gossil. I
had some suspicions already about her based on the fact she was one
of only two teachers to be giving Adri less than an 'A', so it gave
me the slightest tingle of satisfaction to see her eyebrows rise
halfway to her hairline at the bold, uncompromising language of
Donovan's note. It had to suck when the administration essentially
told you to suck it up and let two of your students do pretty much
whatever they wanted.

"This is highly
irregular, Mr. Graves. In fact I don't believe the administration
can legitimately expect me to comply."

I gave her a bland
smile and held my hand back out for the note.

"I promise not
to get in the way. In fact if you could just find us a couple of
desks in the back corner you'll hardly know we're here."

She shot Adri a look
that didn't bode well for Adri's continued enjoyment of her class.

"Ms. Paige has
an assigned seat towards the front of the class. Based on her
scholastic performance to date it would be highly irresponsible of me
as an educator to allow her to change seats."

Half the secret to
getting what you want out of people when you have the upper hand is
letting silence work on them. I looked rather pointedly at the note
and then waited for her to run down the logic tree and realize she
didn't really have any other choice.

"Ms. Bellarose,
please move up to Ms. Paige's old seat."

I collected the note
and then led Adri back to the far corner of the room. Mrs. Sorenson
proceeded to deliver on the unpleasantness her earlier look had
promised. I'd had her for Biology the year before and enjoyed the
subject enough, despite her efforts, that I'd spent some time in a
couple of college texts.

It didn't take a
doctoral student to see she was singling Adri out for a fairly
humiliating session of question and answer. Even when Adri couldn't
answer her unreasonable questions she didn't stop badgering her. I
felt my beast bubble to the surface with all of the rage that
normally accompanied it.

Adri had demonstrated
a better understanding of the subject than anyone in my class last
year had possessed, but was still being wrung out and left looking
stupid. I kept the anger off of my face, but was already planning
ways to improve the situation.

I trailed along behind
Adri, letting the last few pieces snap into place as she reached her
locker.

"Is that normal
for her?"

Adri's laugh was
slightly hysterical. She cut the sound short, nodding as she slammed
her locker shut.

James was already
nearly to us. There wasn't time to do anything about Mrs. Sorenson
right now, but that would change.

"We'd better get
you to your next class. Dealing with that will have to wait until
later."

I watched James and
Adri disappear around the corner and then slipped off to History. I
stayed out in the hall just long enough to text a question to
Donovan, and then went in and suffered through another hour of Mr.
Simms doing absolutely nothing to teach anyone anything.

If it had been Jess or
James that'd been assigned to take Adri to her third hour class I
probably would have made sure they didn't conveniently forget to pick
her up, but I had faith Jasmin would keep her promise to me. She
occasionally went off half-cocked when it came to the other pack, but
she never failed to do the things she'd committed to.

I was busy confirming
my earlier hypothesis with Donovan, when I felt twin rushes of power
from the other side of the school. I took off at a brisk pace,
something that would have been a near run for a human.

The halls had already
started to clear out, but it was still all I could do to avoid
running into the scattered students. I brushed past people with more
force than was polite, ignoring their angry gasps.

Jasmin's familiar
power was so quiet as to be non-existent. I broke out into a full
run as I heard Isaac come up behind me. We came around a corner just
in time to see Brandon come into view on the other end of the hall.

Vincent and Cassie were
already mere inches away from Jasmin, and their power sparked higher
with Brandon's presence to back them up.

I let an answering
roar of power surge from me as I closed the remaining distance to
Jasmin. I could only assume that Adri was safely inside the
classroom surrounded by witnesses.

"We could kill
all three of you right now."

Vincent's
sub-vocalized taunt was designed to egg Jasmin on, but she kept her
calm with surprising restraint considering just how irrational she'd
been with regards to Vincent lately.

"If you attack
now, with so many humans around the Coun'hij will crucify you."

My voice came out more
even than I'd expected, but Brandon laughed off the threat.

"Please, you've
finally played right into my hands. We meet at lunch to resolve this
or we'll create the kind of ruckus that'll have people wondering how
you managed to survive being thrown through cinder block walls."

It wasn't something we
had to do. I'd be within my rights to refuse to talk to him, but it
wasn't a practical solution. Besides, the Coun'hij tended towards
extremism when it came to punishing both sides of any confrontation
that risked disclosure of our secret to the public.

"We'll be there,
now get lost."

Brandon's lazy smile
seemed to say he knew exactly what I was thinking, but Mr. Rindell,
the assistant principal, chose that moment to arrive and break up the
impending fight.

"Class is about
to start, and if every one of you isn't where you're supposed to be
before the bell rings, you'll have detention for the next month."

Vincent's hiss was
just loud enough to carry into the classroom.

"This isn't
over."

I wanted to check on
Adri, but there wasn't time. Mr. Rindell was singularly
incorruptible, and I couldn't afford to push him any further than I
already had lately. He was capable of creating all kinds of problems
for us.

I headed up to my art
class at something less than a dead run, but at a quick enough clip
to satisfy Mr. Rindell that I took him seriously. A quick text as I
ducked through the door ordered the entire pack to meet at Adri's
locker during lunch and then I was forced to sit through another hour
of class before I could hurry down and breathe a sigh of relief at
the fact that Adri was unhurt.

I took her hand as
soon as I was close enough to touch her.

"Are you ok?"

She shook her head,
presumably out of shock over everything that had just happened.

"This is going
to be really bad isn't it?"

It felt odd to be
talking of such things around the pack. I paused for a second and
then tried to parry her questions.

"I'd...we'd...spare
you it if we could."

"No, this is my
fault. I belong here, not cowering in a corner somewhere."

Rachel and Dominic
closed ranks around Adri, and then we all walked outside. Brandon's
entire pack, less Nathanial and Simon, was waiting for us already. I
faced off against him as the two packs fanned out at our backs.

"I demand
satisfaction on behalf of my pack for the two of our number that you
brutally murdered. This is within my rights under the laws that bind
us. I demand two lives for the two lives robbed me."

As always Brandon
ignored the actual law, instead twisting it into something that
served his purposes. Still, his demand was exactly as expected.
He'd gone after something that would destroy my pack.

"Your wolves
were lawbreakers who were executed before they could break further
laws. The protection of the people, of the secrets that guard our
nature from the dayborn, represents a law that supersedes any
question of territory or dominance."

Brandon's pack tried
to batter us to our knees with a surge of power, but we collectively
answered with a blast of energy that was equal to theirs. I felt
Rachel and Adri shaking from being on the fringes of the exchange,
but there wasn't any time to worry further about them. I continued
with my prepared defense.

"By their
actions Adriana Paige learned of our nature, and it was only by the
grace of the Maker that I was able to stop them from killing her.
Their deaths were an unavoidable price to save an innocent."

Three of Brandon's
wolves flinched at my words. I had a second to realize that it was
Jack, Sam and Alison, and then Brandon laughed.

"Her life
belonged to me, it was mine to dispose of as I saw fit."

It was a gross
corruption of the ancient code. It was the kind of thing the
southern shape shifters believed, but not us wolves.

"The ancient
laws don't support her life being a disposable commodity,
extinguished at your whim. Not even the bond of Ja'tell provides you
with that right."

Brandon's grin was
sarcastic.

"Ah, but those
aren't the laws under which we labor now are they? She's mine, and I
have every right to do whatever I wish to her. Her presence among
your pack is a direct affront to my rights and honor. I could demand
your life, be glad I'm only requiring two of your pack."

I felt my face go
wooden as I realized there wasn't any way to save the pack. The
Coun'hij currently treated any human a shape shifter took an interest
in as Ja'tell. They would support his position that no mere human
was worth the lives of two shape shifters.

I shook my head and
invoked the ritual words.

"By the same
laws set down by Adjam and Inock when they first took mates from
among the dayborn, I challenge your bond of Ja'tell. I challenge
your standing among the people, and your personal honor. The dispute
between us is such as can only be settled by blood."

Brandon's expression
flickered slightly, but it couldn't be true surprise. He'd been
maneuvering for exactly this day ever since he'd manifested his power
and become confident he could kill me. Maybe he was just surprised he'd
finally succeeded in backing us against a wall.