Disclaimer: I do not own the House of Night series…blah blah blah….. they are written by two brilliant authors…..blah blah blah…..PC and Kristin Cast. This is just a spin-off with new added characters and the original ones that I definitely do not own any rights to.
I looked down at the paper that was just tossed on my desk. Great. Just Fabulous. I crammed it in my backpack before anyone around me could see. The letter F in big loopy red ink. This Spanish class was kicking my ass. I was a senior in high school, and I was stuck in a class with a majority of sophomores. In fact if I did not pass this class I wouldn't be allowed to graduate. No pressure or anything. Groaning I rush out of the classroom. Thank you last period of the day way to really put a damper on things.
"Faith, wait up!" I slow my pace, but refuse to turn around.
"You couldn't have done that bad." Her voice says extremely closer to my ear. I stop and face her. My best friend.
"Nichole, I got an F okay? Again. Yes even after studying together." I add noticing the look she was giving me.
She was my favorite person in the whole world, aside from my mom of course. Nichole was a petite little blonde who had an attitude and the looks to go with it. Her hair was cropped into a bob with short bangs. She sighed.
"Man, I am sorry hun. I know this is putting a gray cloud over your senior year." "Tell me about it." I grunt.
The hall was crowded with students, and then I noticed the one non-student. The one non-human for that matter. He was leaning nonchalantly against the lockers obviously looking for someone. The students were giving him a huge berth.
"So another kid is getting marked. Sucks for them." Nichole says chuckling. I knew she was kidding of course. She thought it would have been so cool to have gotten marked.
I couldn't imagine getting marked. I loved my family. And had no reason to want to leave them. I had been fraught with joy when my 16 and 17th birthdays had passed. Those were the year's kids usually got marked, and as long as I made it past those two I'd be home free. Even if I did still have to deal with passing Spanish.
The tracker was gorgeous, as are all vampires. His blonde hair seemed to accent the filled in crescent moon on his forehead. As I got closer I noticed the intricate detailed barbed wire looking tattoos that took up half of his face. Intense. Nichole and I walk past him. I chose to pay more attention to where I was walking, where as Nichole was staring at the vampire.
"Faith Lauren."
I turn around at the sound of my name. And to my horror I see the Trackers finger pointing at me. "Oh my God!" Nichole shouts. A second later I fall to the ground in pain, clutching my forehead.
Nichole leaned down and helped me up. "Are you okay?" she asks worriedly. I raise my head looking at her. She gasps. "No way." She says.
I look around the hallway. Everyone was staring. The Tracker was gone. Nichole grabs me by the arm and rushes me to the nearest bathroom. "Out!" she shouts at a lingering freshman that was putting on some lip-gloss. Looking petrified as soon as she sees me, she dashes out of the bathroom. I didn't want to, but I couldn't help looking at my reflection in the mirror. There I was, or at least it looked like me. My black hair looked almost purple now, maybe it was because I was looking so pale. Of course I only noticed this after I saw the dark outline of a crescent moon smack dab in the middle of my forehead. I couldn't help but let out a sob. The tears began falling before I could stop them.
"Faith, sweetie, it will be okay." Nichole says pulling me into a tight embrace.
I didn't say anything. I couldn't. I was too busy thinking about my mom, my brother, my friends, and well my life. I had to back away from her, as I leaned over into a coughing fit.
"Oh no." she says, her eyes wide. "What now?" I ask noticing her worried expression. "You're already coughing. I heard that is the first sign that your body is rejecting the change. You need to get to a House of Night." Nichole says grabbing my hand. I shake her hand off.
"I am not going to that place." I say vehemently.
"Well, how about you let your mother decide okay?" Nichole says again, this time taking a hold of my hand and not letting me go.
I had driven to school that morning, but Nichole was dragging me to her car. Probably best, considering I was in no state to drive. I began feeling increasingly dizzier with every step I took. I barely even noticed all the wide eyes following us. Barely. After pushing me in the passenger seat she slammed the door. "Put your seat belt on!" Nichole says firmly, the sound of her own clicking into place. I do as she says as she speeds off. We reach my mothers work in record time. She was the manager of a theater company, and this week was the opening of a huge musical called Urinetown. I am serious, Urinetown. My mom was semi-crazy but I loved her. At this thought the tears began to fall again.
"Why me?" I ask as she slammed on her breaks fitting into the tightest space ever. "Not the time to discuss the pure impossibility of it all," Nichole says helping me out of her car. I could walk, but barely.
For whatever reason my body was shutting down. Oh wait, the reason was I wasn't supposed to be marked. Someone had gotten it wrong. My body didn't want to change any more then my mind did. I chuckle sadly as Nichole pushes open the doors. I'm dying within the first hours of being marked. The irony was not lost on me. And then I hear my mother's voice.
"Holy crap, Faith!" My mother was over to me in a second. She gasped as soon as she saw my forehead.
"I am so sorry mom. I don't know why they picked me. I didn't want this. I thought I was clear for good." I ramble trying to keep my head up.
"Shh." Both Nichole and my mom say together.
"Ms. Lauren, we have to get her to a House of Night Pronto." I interrupt trying to tell them I didn't want to go but was shushed again. "If she doesn't she will die. And by the looks of it very very quickly." Nichole finished sounding incredibly scared.
"The nearest one is in Oklahoma. How fast can your car go?" my mom asks. She owns a little 1990's Honda. It gets her from one place to another; that is about it.
"I've reached 120 before." Nichole replies hastily.
"I would have been happy for 90. But can we borrow it?"
Oh yeah, Nichole's family is filthy rich. Something about realty somewhere out west. So she has a 2005 M3 Convertible. And Nichole just lied to my mom… we've made that puppy reach 150 mph. I was the one driving.
"Do you know how to drive a stick?" Nichole asks.
"She is the one who taught me." I manage to mutter.
"Oh. Then let's get going!" Nichole says helping me back outside.
"Rickie! I am driving my daughter to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Break a leg with the show tonight!" I hear my mother shout running out after us.
"What!?" Rickie screeches. Even in my current state I couldn't help feel sorry for him, he was new after all. Nichole helped me lie down in the back and climbed in the passenger seat. I have another coughing fit as my mom slams the door.
"It takes about four hours to get there from here. But if this car is as fast as you say it is, we will make it in two." My mom says shifting the clutch into first gear and gunning it out of the parking lot.
I continued to have coughing fits, but about an hour into the ride I start to feel better. No one had said a thing the entire way, and I was getting sick of it.
"Guys I am fine. Look I can sit up and everything." I say trying to lighten the mood. Neither of them even smiles. "So what is going to happen? We drive to the house of night they fix me and I get to go home?" I ask leaning forward to see how fast the car was going. 110. Yowza.
"I really wished you would have paid attention when I talked about this last year… all year." Nichole says sadly.
"I did. A little. Okay maybe very little," I add as she gives me a scoffing look.
"Bunny you're going to have to stay there, at the House of Night. It is the only way you won't…" but my mom doesn't finish as she lets out a soft sob.
"Die." Nichole finishes for her.
I gulp. How could this happen? A surge of anger goes through me. I did not want this. I never asked for this. As soon as I thought that a pain so overwhelming entered my body. It started at my forehead but spread to my other limbs. I couldn't help but screech in pain.
"What's wrong?" Nichole and my mom shout in unison.
"I. don't. know." I manage to get out through the screams. I cough harshly on my hand. I look down and see blood covering my fingers.
"Oh My God. She is dying. Hurry Ms. Lauren!" Nichole shouts unbuckling her seatbelt and leaning over the back chair to help me.
Only she couldn't help me. The pain was eating away at my skin. Every follicle of hair hurt, every movement stung. The more I coughed the less coherent I became. Overwhelmed by the pain I black out.