Chapter 3

*Kelley Armstrong owns all except additional characters and the current plot idea.

Derek's POV

The creepy lady led us up a creepy flight of stairs and into a creepy hallway. I'm sorry about all the creepys but there really is NO OTHER way to describe it. The church still looked abandoned except for the fact that there were people roaming the halls. It was almost like a haunted house.

The creepy lady pulled out an old fashioned key as she turned a corner with us right behind her. She stopped at a door painted blue and unlocked the door, motioning for Tori and Chloe to go inside.

"This will be Too - ree's and Chlo - ee's room. No boys allowed so do not enter," she said in a monotone voice. Closing the door behind Chloe and Tori she walked to the end of the hall with us on her tail. There was a tiny flight of stairs at the end and we had to crouch to climb them. My dad tried climbing after us but eventually gave up and just kind of waved us off. He stayed at the base of the stairs while we barely made it up alive.

There was one room at the top of the stairs that was extremely tiny that apparently Simon and I had to share. The creepy lady motioned for us to enter and told us that dinner was in half an hour and that we should unpack before then. When we told her we didn't have any luggage she rolled her eyes and said there was school uniforms in the laundry room. She would have them sent up to us ASAP. She quickly left after that so we half walked half fell down the stairs to say goodbye to dad.

"Hey guys, I know this place looks a little drab-"

"A little?" I interrupted.

My dad sighed. "Look, if I had a better place to send you, I would send you there. This is only for a little while anyway. Just until I can find somewhere to hide out or get y'all some fake ids or something. Just bear with me okay?" We nodded just as Chloe and Tori walked up.

"Mr. B, how long do we have to stay here?" Tori asked politely. I waited for dad to yell at Tori for calling him Mr. B. He hated that. He wished she would just call him dad but I knew Tori never would. She didn't like Kit and had never accepted that he was her dad.

Instead of yelling at her though he ruffled her hair and smiled. "Just for a bit. I'll see you all later. Hang tight. And try to make some friends okay? You too Chlobird." He kissed the top of Chloe's head and walked off. He loved Chloe like he was her own. I didn't understand why he called her Chlobird though… Maybe because she was tiny like a bird… But I would never tell her that because she would probably hit me. She may be small, but dang is she mighty.

Chloe's POV

After Mr. B left, we all just kind of stood there awkwardly. Finally, Simon broke the silence with an "Okay then, well, do you want to walk around or something because I don't know about y'all but I don't want to stay in my room longer than I have to."

"I agree," exclaimed Tori.

"Maybe we should split up though," I chimed in. "So we can cover more ground you know?" I shrugged.

Simon nodded. "All right. Sounds good. I'll go with Derek and you go with Tori."

A dark cloud passed over Derek's face. "Hell no. I'm going with Chloe."

I sighed. I didn't really like it when he treated me like china, but I was too tired to argue.

"Fine, Tori and I will go together and you can go with Chloe," Simon said dramatically. I knew he was still hurt from when I chose Derek over him, but cOME oN.

Derek rolled his eyes and we all walked to the end of the hall together, then went our separate ways. Tori and Simon turned a corner and Derek and I went downstairs. On the way down we accidentally ran into a small girl, no older than 8.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she exclaimed. She perked up and said, "Do you two know who Chloe, Daniel, Tony, and Simone are?'

I heard Derek chuckle and elbowed him. I heard him cough as I smiled and said, "Do you mean Chloe, Derek, Tori, and Simon?"

"Oh yes!"

"That would be us," I said sweetly.

"Oh! Well, these clothes are for you." She handed me 8 pairs of pants and 8 shirts. "Those are your uniforms. Two pairs each. Enjoy!" She smiled and ran off.

"Okay then… Hey!" I said stopping a girl with long blonde hair who looked about 14. "Sorry, we are new and we just got our uniforms. Do you happen to know where the bathrooms are?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Go down this hallway and go into the big room with all the pews and stuff. The bathrooms are in the back of that room."

"Thanks!" I exclaimed. She walked off with her brown haired friend, talking about some book…

"Wanna go change real quick?" I asked Derek.

"Not really but sure why not."

(15 minutes later)

"Now that we have changed and put our clothes in their designated rooms do you want to explore downstairs?" Derek nodded so we headed back downstairs and walked into the lobby area. This was where most of the kids were hanging out. They were all dressed the same but all looked different. They were all different sexes, shapes, and colors. They all seemed like totally normal people except for the fact that we knew they weren't. We were all witches, sorcerers, half demons, astral projectors, necromancers, and much more.

All of a sudden, a long bell rings for at least 30 seconds. My ears hurt afterward and I notice all of the students start to whisper as they head down the hallway that is to the right of the lobby. Derek and I shrug as we decide to follow.

"So,why is everyone whispering?" I wonder aloud. Derek shrugs and pulls me close as we walk down the hallway. I lean into to him and allow myself to feel safe for a moment. The kids walk to the end of the hall and walk into a medium sized room with tables and chairs. This 'cafeteria' seemed to be the only modern room in the whole building. The chairs and tables were the same ones you would see at a regular school. With blue plastic chairs and brown wooden tables, the place almost seemed normal. Except for the creepy alter thing in the back of the room.

I pointed at the creepy alter and Derek nodded, understanding. We got in the 'lunch line' with everyone else and waited for our food. Dinner was meatloaf (I think I couldn't really tell), soggy green beans and mashed potatoes that tasted like styrafoam. Derek and I sat at an empty table and picked at our food. I grabbed the bottle of ketchup and squirted ¾ of it on my mystery meat. I didn't exactly want to find out what it tasted or looked like on the inside.

We ate in silence for about 2 minutes when 3 girls walked up the our table and sat down. I recognized the blonde haired girl and her brown haired friend from earlier. The other girl I had never seen before. She had reddish brown hair and wore a lot of makeup. She kind of looked like a whore but it went well with her short skirt and tight polo. She wAS really pretty introduced herself first.

"Hi. I heard y'all were new? I'm Amanda O'Borne. This is Destiny Aguilar ( she pointed at the blonde) and this is Gabby Sailor. (she pointed at the brown haired one) She smiled sweetly. "And you are?"

I swallowed dramatically and spoke. "I'm Chloe Saunders and this is Derek Souza."

Amanda nodded. "And you are…"

I didn't understand what she meant and Derek obviously didn't either so we just kind of sat there staring at her blankly.

Destiny interrupted. "Sorry. Amanda is very," she grimaced "direct. What she means to say is hi welcome to SS. We would like to all be friends how is your day going something along that line."

Amanda rolls her eyes. "Yeah whatever. But what are you?"

I finally understood. "Oh. I'm a necromancer and Derek is a um astral projector." Derek glanced sideways at me and nodded. As far as anyone knew in the supernatural world, werewolves didn't exist. So we thought it would be best to keep it that way.

Amanda nodded. "Coolzies. I'm a half demon, Destiny is a wiccan, and Gabby is a witch."

"You know Amanda, we have mouths. We can speak for ourselves," Gabby said slowly.

"Wait, what is a wiccan?" I interrupted.

Amanda replied, "It's not a real witch. Like, they don't have any witch ancestors they are just mortal and practice witchcraft."

"Oh…"

"Yeah, I know it is pretty lame right?"

"Hey!" exclaimed Destiny.

"What? Oh I was just kidding chill."

"Whatever. I'm going back to my room," Destiny said and Gabby nodded in agreement.

Amanda shrugged. "I guess I will come too. Nice meeting you guys though. Ttyl!"

The 3 girls ran off and we just kind of sat there for a minute trying to discern everything that just happened.

Derek finally spoke. "Well I think this is probably the most interesting day ever." I nodded in agreement. "Why don't we head back to our rooms and get some sleep. We're probably going to need it."

"Yeah," I agreed and stood up. He followed me back up stairs and we walked towards our separate rooms. Then I remembered I had forgotten my necklace in the bathroom. I had taken it off when I was changing and forgot to put it back on. Derek was already halfway to his room and it wasn't like I needed protection. We were in the safest place we could be, or so we had been told. I decided to run to the bathroom really quick and grab my necklace.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard faint voices. They sounded familiar and I was curious so I followed them to the big room with the pews. I peeked inside and noticed that Destiny, Amanda, and Gabby were arguing about something. I managed to get bits and pieces but I still wasn't close enough.

"...need to leave tonight! If we stay any longer we'll be next!" Amanda exclaimed.

"But we can't be for certain that this school or whatever it is is dangerous."

"Yes we can! You and Gabby and I all saw what was in that room and what was in that book! We need to leave before we all are next!" Amanda hissed.

Suddenly they all turned and looked in my direction. I quickly backed up and ran toward the stairs. I heard footsteps behind me but I didn't stop until I got to my room and shut the door. Tori was inside and gave me a strange look. I shushed her and put my ear against the door. I heard them run past a ways and stop.

"Who was that and where did they go?" Gabby whispered.

"All the more reason we need to leave tonight!" Amanda whispered harshly.

"Fine," Destiny agreed. "Let's go. But we need a plan and…" Their voices faded as they walked back down the hallway. I slid down the door and let out a breath I had been holding. Tori stared at me wide eyed and I shook my head, mumbling something about a shower...

***Hope this makes up for the super short chapters I recently uploaded!***