True Trust
Part 2
"Are you sure you don't want me to help you look for your classes?" Ruhe asked Nicola worriedly.
"I'm positive," she assured him, "It's not that big of a school and I'm not a baby anymore, I'm 15, I can take care of myself."
"Well you do that pretty well any way," he grudgingly admitted. And she did, Old Souls may have been only humans that kept getting reborn many times, but every time they were reborn they became more knowledgeable and clearheaded since they accumulate more knowledge with each lifetime. But that also made them rather cryptic at times; sometimes it seemed like Nicola could read Ruhe's mind, and it was rare that Old Souls were able to fall in love; they were so hard to hold onto. The only cases that when they did fall in love were the rare cases of soulmates.
Soulmates. Ruhe felt a lump form in his throat; he had yet to find his. But maybe this was for the better, he probably would die soon after they found each other and he couldn't put someone in that position to be hurt so badly.
"Hey! Yoo-hoo! Anybody home?" Nicola asked, snapping her fingers in front of his face.
"What?" Ruhe asked dazedly, startled out of his thoughts.
"You know, you have been doing that a lot lately," Nicola told him worriedly.
"Doing what?"
"Staring off into space like that."
"I just have a lot on my mind right now."
"Well, anyway," Nicola started skeptically, "I was saying that I will see you at lunch, OK?"
"Yeah, sure," Ruhe said.
"See you later then!" Nicola said cheerfully.
"Later," he said watching her leave. For the first time in a long time Ruhe really looked at Nicola and found that she was right, she wasn't a little girl anymore, she was a young woman, but at the same time there were still some things about her that were a little childish.
Ruhe shook his head and shrugged, 'I dunno,' he thought to himself.
Polaris-Willow was about a mile from school, chatting with her sister when suddenly something "hit" her.
"Oh Goddess!" she gasped, putting her hand over her mouth.
"What?" Ursa-Violet asked.
"I just remembered that people moved in across the pond from us!" Polaris-Willow murmured.
"So?" her sister asked.
" 'So' I haven't even found out their names!" she exclaimed, "How can I do a background check on them to make sure that they are safe?!"
"For Goddess' sake Polaris! Sometimes I think that you are way too paranoid!" Ursa-Violet told her rolling her eyes.
"I am doing this for our own safety!" Polaris-Willow told her, "Do you want to end up like Mom and Dad?!"
"Polaris, we are extremely carefully, if we were any more careful we would be living in a plastic bubble!"
"I am not that protective!" Polaris-Willow said indignantly, then she looked a little unsure, "Am I?"
"Hell yeah!" Ursa-Violet told her.
"Hey!" Polaris-Willow snapped, "Watch the language!"
"You say 'hell' a lot!" Ursa-Violet retorted.
"Yeah? Well that doesn't mean you should say it!" Polaris-Willow shot back.
"What ever!" Ursa-Violet said waving her hand in a dismissive gesture, "We are getting off of the point. The point is that you need to lighten up a little."
"Starting with…?" Polaris-Willow asked expectantly.
" 'Starting with' giving Leo and I more freedom," Ursa-Violet informed her, "Neither of us are little kids anymore! I'm 13 and he is 14 and we are both freshmen in high school for crying out loud!"
"All right! Goddess! I'll talk to Aunt Poppy and Uncle James," she conceded, "We'll see what we can work out. Happy?!"
Ursa-Violet nodded approvingly, and somewhat smugly.
'And she wants to be a doctor?!' Polaris-Willow thought, 'She should be a freaking lawyer!'
Polaris-Willow rarely gave, but when she did it was only to her brothers and sisters and it was still rare when she gave to them, especially when it involved family safety. 'I must be getting soft,' she thought. But she did have to admit that she kept her brothers and sisters on short leashes. 'It's only because I worry about them.' She had great incentive to worry, the images of her parents' dead bodies floated into her mind, but she immediately pushed the images away. If Ursa-Violet picked up on the images it would cause her great distress. Plus, Polaris-Willow didn't need to think about that anyway.
Polaris-Willow stood in front of her locker twirling her combo. When she was done she tried to open it, it wouldn't open.
"Oh, come on!" she protested, jiggling the locker.
"Hey got a problem?" came a friendly female voice.
"Oh, hi Saphrin," Polaris-Willow responded, "My locker is jammed again."
"Again?!" she said incredulously, "That's–What?-the 12th time this week?"
"15th actually," Polaris-Willow told her dryly.
Saphrin shook her head. "Here, let me try something." Polaris- Willow motioned her to go ahead.
Polaris-Willow watched her work. Polaris-Willow and Saphrin had been best friends since first grade and they knew each other as well as sisters, a little too well for Polaris-Willow sometimes. Saphrin was like a carbon copy of her mother, Thea Harman, Aunt Thea as Polaris-Willow and her siblings called her. Saphrin had the trademark blond Harman hair and gentle brown eyes. Though their eyes were different colors and their hair was different shades, people often said that Polaris-Willow and Saphrin looked more like twins than Vega-Iris and Polaris-Willow did. Polaris- Willow and Saphrin were cousins of sorts, but very distant. The Redferns and Harmans had done a blood tie a few centuries ago by Hunter Redfern and Maeve Harman.
Polaris-Willow watched Saphrin do some witchy things to her lock. When she was done Saphrin shook her head in disgust.
"What's wrong?" Polaris-Willow asked.
"One of Lina's 'jokes'," Saphrin replied humorlessly.
Relina Harman was the daughter of Blaise Harman, Thea's first cousin, but they were more like sisters. Saphrin and Relina were similarly close, but Saphrin never put up with Relina's antics.
"What did she do to it?" Polaris-Willow asked, pressing her lips together and crossing her arms.
"It's a pretty simple hex, I can easily remove it," Saphrin assured her, but Polaris-Willow knew that Saphrin would give Relina a "blast" later.
"Thank you," Polaris-Willow said.
"No problem," Saphrin told her as she did some more witchy things.
Ten minutes later Saphrin stood up with a satisfied, "There." She motioned Polaris-Willow to open her locker.
Polaris-Willow held her breath in anticipation and released it again when the locker opened.
"Thanks a million Saph!" Polaris-Willow said with gratitude in every word.
"Like I said before, no problem," Saphrin told her, "I have to get to Zoology, so I'll see ya later, kay?"
"See ya!"
Polaris-Willow gathered her books for her first period class, Astronomy, one of her two favorite classes. The other was English and that was second period.
Just then the bell rang.
"Goddess! I'm late!" Polaris-Willow cried.
She ran up the stairs to the 2nd floor to the classroom, but when she reached the door she stopped, composed herself, quietly opened the door, coolly walked in and quietly closed the door again. The teacher, Mr. Lawson, was standing at the front of the class lecturing, he didn't so much as spare a glance for her, much less scold her for being late. It was funny how so many humans thought that she, being a Night Person, would hurt them if they did something to make her mad. Most of the students hadn't even noticed her entrance except for her brother, Sirius-Oak, who glanced up at her when she sat down in her seat beside him. He raised a questioning eyebrow, but Polaris-Willow shook her head more or less saying, "Don't ask." He shrugged his shoulders and bent back over his notes and some star charts again.
Polaris-Willow opened her notebook, blocked out Mr. Lawson's voice and started making notes about the charts. This was technically Astronomy Honors, but Polaris-Willow and Sirius-Oak were beyond honors and in a special college course. But they were the only ones, so they were put with the honors students and just given work that was up to their level.
Polaris-Willow was concentrating so hard that when a wad of paper hit her foot she almost didn't notice it. She discreetly glanced around looking for the sender; her gaze was met by her distant cousin Becky Redfern, who nodded when Polaris-Willow gestured at herself. Polaris- Willow bent down and picked up the wad. She uncrumpled it and read what it said, ~Are you going to the Meeting?~
Polaris-Willow wrote her response underneath, ~Hell yeah! I never miss! You know that!~ She recrumpled the paper, knocked it on the floor again and kicked it forward. A person two seats in front of her kicked it across the isle to Becky, who picked it up. After a few seconds Becky glanced back and gave Polaris-Willow a slight smile. Polaris-Willow smiled back.
Polaris-Willow and Becky had a few things in common: Becky was half human with a Redfern vampire father and a human mother. Her father, Delos Redfern, was one of the Wild Powers that had saved the Millennium. Becky's mother, Maggie Neely Redfern, and Delos were soulmates. Becky was dark haired like both of her parents and had brown eyes like her mother's. Those eyes were more often than not filled with a stubborn and challenging light. That stubbornness was put to use in hunting evil Night People, which was a profession that both of them shared.
Just then another note hit her foot, Polaris-Willow picked it up, it said, ~Dumb question, but watch the attitude, girl!~
~And what can you do to me if I don't?~ she wrote back.
When Becky read the note she glared at Polaris-Willow, who looked back mockingly. Becky gave Polaris-Willow the finger and mouthed, "F*ck you," at her. Polaris-Willow smirked at her. They both retuned to their work, Polaris-Willow laughing inwardly.
How the hell he hadn't seen or heard her come in was beyond him. Ruhe was staring at the back of the-girl-in-front-of-him's head, her hair was ash blond and done up in a bun held by two hair sticks.
He hadn't really noticed her until she had bent down to pick up a note on the floor by her foot that another girl two row and across the isle had sent back to her. He watched them exchange notes a couple times until the girl two rows up received a note that apparently pissed her off a little, gave the other girl the finger and mouthed, "F*ck you," at her. Ruhe got the feeling that neither of them was really that mad at the other.
The teacher, Mr. Lawson, apparently was either blind or just didn't give a d*mn as to what his students were doing. He hadn't protested once when the girls had their silent conversation and he hadn't scolded the girl in front of him for being late, as Ruhe knew she was.
Ruhe shook his head and continued to take notes on the lecture, though he did observe his classmates. They were only a few miles outside of Las Vegas, the capitol of the new international government and the head quarters for Night People, so there were a lot more Night People in the class than Ruhe was used to seeing. There was a female witch sitting next to him, a male werewolf in the front row, the girl two rows in front looked like a Night Person, but Ruhe wasn't sure what she was, there was a lamia girl and a made vampire guy, who looked like a couple, in the row in front of him and two rows to the right, there was the guy next to the girl in front of Ruhe, who was a Night Person of some sort, and of course there was the girl in front of him who he didn't have a clue about. Ruhe had yet to see her face. She was obviously absorbed in her work, a bunch of star charts; they were totally different from what the rest of the class was doing. Why she was doing something different he didn't know.
Just then the witch sitting next to Ruhe discreetly placed a crumpled note on his desk, and muttered out of the corner of her mouth, "It's for you."
Ruhe uncrumpled the paper; it was a seating chart of the class with everyone's name and where they sat. At the bottom was a note, ~Watch your back and welcome to the school.~ It was signed S-O R.
He wrote on the corner of one of his sheets in his note book, ~Who sent this to me?~
He then turned it toward the witch next to him, Theresa Abforth, short for All bringing forth, the seating said her name was.
Theresa looked at the note and wrote a response in her own note book, ~S-O R.~
~Yeah, but who is S-O R.?~ Ruhe wrote back.
~Figure it out your d*mn self! It's not that hard!~ she wrote back, ~Even Louis Aveceado figured if out on his own!~
Ruhe consulted the seating chart, Louis Aveceado, he discovered, was the werewolf. Werewolves as a majority were rather stupid, how he got in an Honors class Ruhe didn't know.
Ruhe studied the chart; he found that the girl two rows ahead's name was Becky Redfern, yet she didn't look much like a vampire. The lamia girl's name was Thyme Crescent and the made vampire's name was Ross Willis. The girl in front of him's name was Polaris-Willow Redfern and the boy next to her was Sirius-Oak Redfern. 'Three Redferns?' Ruhe thought to himself, 'I didn't know this area was so popular for them to live in.'
Ruhe paused for a second and looked at Sirius-Oak Redfern's name again. Then he looked at the initials under the note and mentally slapped himself across the forehead. 'Well duh!' he thought, 'S-O R.; Sirius-Oak Redfern!' Ruhe couldn't believe he had been so dense.
Theresa had obviously noticed that Ruhe had figured it out and wrote him a note, ~Took you long enough, Drache.~
~How did you know my name?!~ Ruhe wrote back, bewildered.
~It's a small school; news of you and your cousin has been flying around all morning!~
'Great!' Ruhe thought to himself. He had been hoping to keep a low profile, but that was obviously impossible.
Just then the teacher announced that it was time to change classes. Polaris-Willow and Becky Redfern were already hurrying out of the door together when Ruhe was getting out of his seat. But Sirius-Oak Redfern met Ruhe's gaze and a silent agreement was formed… they would talk at lunch. Ruhe nodded and Sirius-Oak disappeared into the halls.
Ruhe checked his schedule and found he had European and American literature Honors next. In the class they would be reading works from some of his favorite authors: Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickinson, Jane Austin and Mark Twain. Ruhe liked to keep it quiet that he liked to read, most people thought you were weird if you liked to read.
"Relina Harman, that was a cruel trick! How could you do that?! You made her late!" a female voice shouted, dragging Ruhe back to that present.
"I have no idea what you are talking about!" another female voice fired back indignantly. Ruhe searched for the sources and saw a blond haired, brown eyed girl fuming at a tall ebony haired and gray-eyed girl. They looked about the same age and were both witches, Harmans. Looking at them he was vividly reminded of Hellewise and her sister, the first vampire, Maya. The blond looked exactly like Hellewise Hearth-woman was said to look like and the black haired girl looked like Maya, except for the eyes. Both of them, though, seemed to be oblivious to the crowd that was gathering around them.
"Don't you dare give me that crap Relina!" the blond girl shouted at the black haired girl, whose name, apparently, was Relina, "I know you put that hex on her lock!"
"So what?! You can't prove a thing!" Relina shot back haughtily.
"Like hell I can't!" the other girl snapped, "I know the feel of your majick as well as I know my own! So give me the damn truth!"
"Screw you, Saphrin! What can you do to me if I don't?!" Relina demanded of the other girl, who was apparently called Saphrin.
"I can put your whole diary up on the internet," Saphrin informed her pleasantly.
"Impossible!" Relina scoffed, but there was a small quaver in her voice, "You can't get to it!"
"You want to bet your reputation on that?" Saphrin challenged her, smirking.
Relina narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together, "You are so going to pay for this!" she assured Saphrin.
"Perhaps," Saphrin conceded, with a faint look of triumph, "but not today. Today you are going to apologize to her and swear you won't do it again!"
Relina stood there for a few seconds, glaring at Saphrin, then she spun around and stormed off down the hall looking furious.
The crowd that had gathered burst into applause. Saphrin looked around, grinned and gave a mock curtsy. She sauntered over to where Theresa Abforth, Thyme Crescent, Becky and Polaris-Willow (whose profile he could just barely see) Redfern and a few other girls were standing, laughing. They gave Saphrin high-fives. The crowd quickly dispersed, everyone hurrying to their classes.
Ruhe checked his watch. "Oh, sh*t!" he almost shouted, he was going to be late for class. Ruhe took off at a run, dodging people.
"So, were you serious when you said that you would put Lina's diary on the net?" asked Briar Blackthorn.
"No, it was a bluff," Saphrin laughed, "I have no clue as to where it is."
"Damn! It figures," Briar muttered under her breath. Briar was another distant cousin of Polaris-Willow's. Briar's mother was Jez Redfern Blackthorn (whose real name was Jezabele, but she never let anyone call her that) who was another Wild Power. Jez and Briar's father, Morgead Blackthorn, had been friends almost their whole lives, they found out that they were soulmates around the time of the Millenium. Briar, like her parents, had a kind of "Bad Girl" image, her long wild mane of curly red hair was like her mother's and her gem green eyes were like her father's. She too was a Night Person hunter, and not a purebred; she was a quarter human (from her mother) and the rest vampire.
Briar adjusted her leather jacket then asked, "So, who's going to Circle tonight?"
"Ross and I are," Thyme Crescent said.
"Me too, so's Lina," Saphrin assured her.
"I am and as Polaris-Willow so eloquently informed me last period, she is as well," Becky said, pointedly looking at Polaris-Willow.
"Don't go into specifics about it!" Saphrin told her, "I really don't want to know."
Becky and Polaris-Willow laughed.
"What about Vega?" Thyme asked.
"She'll be there," Polaris-Willow assured her, "She's getting in this afternoon."
"So, how was it having your own room?" Briar asked, "You moving to the attic soon?"
"Hated it and yes," Polaris-Willow informed her.
"If you hated it, then why are you going to get your own room?" Thyme asked, in her usual naïveté.
"I only hated it because there were constant reminders of Vega-Iris's absence," Polaris-Willow told her patiently, "She'll be going on more trips so not having the constant reminders will make things easier."
"Oh!" Thyme said, finally getting it.
Thyme wasn't stupid, just naïve. That was "her part" in their group. Their "group" as they called it was just a small group of girls. They were all Night People, it wasn't that they had anything against humans, most of them were part human and they had human friends, it was just that they had grown up together on the same street, Redthorn Road. It was sort of an unofficial rule that only Night People lived on Redthorn Road. There were humans that lived there, but they were Old Souls, the soulmates of Night People or both. The kids from R.R. stuck together pretty much, formed their own Club. Within the Club were groups; the groups went by gender and age more or less. Their group was composed of Polaris-Willow, Vega-Iris, Saphrin, Briar, Thyme, Theresa, and sometimes Relina. Most of the time Relina preferred to hang out with the witches that were more like her, liked to toy with people, Saphrin completely detested this. But even without Relina they were a complete group. They all had their "parts": Saphrin was the "mother" in the group, she settled the spats. Briar was the "bad girl", she came up with a lot of the dangerous stunts. Thyme was the "little sister", even though she was three months older than Polaris- Willow, she was so naïve at times. Theresa was the quiet one, she rarely said much, but when she did it was something important. She was also the artist; she was rarely without paint on her face and/or hands. Vega-Iris was the "conscience" of the group, when ever Polaris-Willow, Becky and/or Briar was about to do something dangerous she would always try to talk them out of it. Polaris-Willow and Briar were the "rebels", they didn't really fall under any of the normal stereotypes, they sort of were all of them. Polaris-Willow was also the secretive one, but none of her friends knew it and she didn't intend for them to find out any time soon.
To be continued…
Part 2
"Are you sure you don't want me to help you look for your classes?" Ruhe asked Nicola worriedly.
"I'm positive," she assured him, "It's not that big of a school and I'm not a baby anymore, I'm 15, I can take care of myself."
"Well you do that pretty well any way," he grudgingly admitted. And she did, Old Souls may have been only humans that kept getting reborn many times, but every time they were reborn they became more knowledgeable and clearheaded since they accumulate more knowledge with each lifetime. But that also made them rather cryptic at times; sometimes it seemed like Nicola could read Ruhe's mind, and it was rare that Old Souls were able to fall in love; they were so hard to hold onto. The only cases that when they did fall in love were the rare cases of soulmates.
Soulmates. Ruhe felt a lump form in his throat; he had yet to find his. But maybe this was for the better, he probably would die soon after they found each other and he couldn't put someone in that position to be hurt so badly.
"Hey! Yoo-hoo! Anybody home?" Nicola asked, snapping her fingers in front of his face.
"What?" Ruhe asked dazedly, startled out of his thoughts.
"You know, you have been doing that a lot lately," Nicola told him worriedly.
"Doing what?"
"Staring off into space like that."
"I just have a lot on my mind right now."
"Well, anyway," Nicola started skeptically, "I was saying that I will see you at lunch, OK?"
"Yeah, sure," Ruhe said.
"See you later then!" Nicola said cheerfully.
"Later," he said watching her leave. For the first time in a long time Ruhe really looked at Nicola and found that she was right, she wasn't a little girl anymore, she was a young woman, but at the same time there were still some things about her that were a little childish.
Ruhe shook his head and shrugged, 'I dunno,' he thought to himself.
Polaris-Willow was about a mile from school, chatting with her sister when suddenly something "hit" her.
"Oh Goddess!" she gasped, putting her hand over her mouth.
"What?" Ursa-Violet asked.
"I just remembered that people moved in across the pond from us!" Polaris-Willow murmured.
"So?" her sister asked.
" 'So' I haven't even found out their names!" she exclaimed, "How can I do a background check on them to make sure that they are safe?!"
"For Goddess' sake Polaris! Sometimes I think that you are way too paranoid!" Ursa-Violet told her rolling her eyes.
"I am doing this for our own safety!" Polaris-Willow told her, "Do you want to end up like Mom and Dad?!"
"Polaris, we are extremely carefully, if we were any more careful we would be living in a plastic bubble!"
"I am not that protective!" Polaris-Willow said indignantly, then she looked a little unsure, "Am I?"
"Hell yeah!" Ursa-Violet told her.
"Hey!" Polaris-Willow snapped, "Watch the language!"
"You say 'hell' a lot!" Ursa-Violet retorted.
"Yeah? Well that doesn't mean you should say it!" Polaris-Willow shot back.
"What ever!" Ursa-Violet said waving her hand in a dismissive gesture, "We are getting off of the point. The point is that you need to lighten up a little."
"Starting with…?" Polaris-Willow asked expectantly.
" 'Starting with' giving Leo and I more freedom," Ursa-Violet informed her, "Neither of us are little kids anymore! I'm 13 and he is 14 and we are both freshmen in high school for crying out loud!"
"All right! Goddess! I'll talk to Aunt Poppy and Uncle James," she conceded, "We'll see what we can work out. Happy?!"
Ursa-Violet nodded approvingly, and somewhat smugly.
'And she wants to be a doctor?!' Polaris-Willow thought, 'She should be a freaking lawyer!'
Polaris-Willow rarely gave, but when she did it was only to her brothers and sisters and it was still rare when she gave to them, especially when it involved family safety. 'I must be getting soft,' she thought. But she did have to admit that she kept her brothers and sisters on short leashes. 'It's only because I worry about them.' She had great incentive to worry, the images of her parents' dead bodies floated into her mind, but she immediately pushed the images away. If Ursa-Violet picked up on the images it would cause her great distress. Plus, Polaris-Willow didn't need to think about that anyway.
Polaris-Willow stood in front of her locker twirling her combo. When she was done she tried to open it, it wouldn't open.
"Oh, come on!" she protested, jiggling the locker.
"Hey got a problem?" came a friendly female voice.
"Oh, hi Saphrin," Polaris-Willow responded, "My locker is jammed again."
"Again?!" she said incredulously, "That's–What?-the 12th time this week?"
"15th actually," Polaris-Willow told her dryly.
Saphrin shook her head. "Here, let me try something." Polaris- Willow motioned her to go ahead.
Polaris-Willow watched her work. Polaris-Willow and Saphrin had been best friends since first grade and they knew each other as well as sisters, a little too well for Polaris-Willow sometimes. Saphrin was like a carbon copy of her mother, Thea Harman, Aunt Thea as Polaris-Willow and her siblings called her. Saphrin had the trademark blond Harman hair and gentle brown eyes. Though their eyes were different colors and their hair was different shades, people often said that Polaris-Willow and Saphrin looked more like twins than Vega-Iris and Polaris-Willow did. Polaris- Willow and Saphrin were cousins of sorts, but very distant. The Redferns and Harmans had done a blood tie a few centuries ago by Hunter Redfern and Maeve Harman.
Polaris-Willow watched Saphrin do some witchy things to her lock. When she was done Saphrin shook her head in disgust.
"What's wrong?" Polaris-Willow asked.
"One of Lina's 'jokes'," Saphrin replied humorlessly.
Relina Harman was the daughter of Blaise Harman, Thea's first cousin, but they were more like sisters. Saphrin and Relina were similarly close, but Saphrin never put up with Relina's antics.
"What did she do to it?" Polaris-Willow asked, pressing her lips together and crossing her arms.
"It's a pretty simple hex, I can easily remove it," Saphrin assured her, but Polaris-Willow knew that Saphrin would give Relina a "blast" later.
"Thank you," Polaris-Willow said.
"No problem," Saphrin told her as she did some more witchy things.
Ten minutes later Saphrin stood up with a satisfied, "There." She motioned Polaris-Willow to open her locker.
Polaris-Willow held her breath in anticipation and released it again when the locker opened.
"Thanks a million Saph!" Polaris-Willow said with gratitude in every word.
"Like I said before, no problem," Saphrin told her, "I have to get to Zoology, so I'll see ya later, kay?"
"See ya!"
Polaris-Willow gathered her books for her first period class, Astronomy, one of her two favorite classes. The other was English and that was second period.
Just then the bell rang.
"Goddess! I'm late!" Polaris-Willow cried.
She ran up the stairs to the 2nd floor to the classroom, but when she reached the door she stopped, composed herself, quietly opened the door, coolly walked in and quietly closed the door again. The teacher, Mr. Lawson, was standing at the front of the class lecturing, he didn't so much as spare a glance for her, much less scold her for being late. It was funny how so many humans thought that she, being a Night Person, would hurt them if they did something to make her mad. Most of the students hadn't even noticed her entrance except for her brother, Sirius-Oak, who glanced up at her when she sat down in her seat beside him. He raised a questioning eyebrow, but Polaris-Willow shook her head more or less saying, "Don't ask." He shrugged his shoulders and bent back over his notes and some star charts again.
Polaris-Willow opened her notebook, blocked out Mr. Lawson's voice and started making notes about the charts. This was technically Astronomy Honors, but Polaris-Willow and Sirius-Oak were beyond honors and in a special college course. But they were the only ones, so they were put with the honors students and just given work that was up to their level.
Polaris-Willow was concentrating so hard that when a wad of paper hit her foot she almost didn't notice it. She discreetly glanced around looking for the sender; her gaze was met by her distant cousin Becky Redfern, who nodded when Polaris-Willow gestured at herself. Polaris- Willow bent down and picked up the wad. She uncrumpled it and read what it said, ~Are you going to the Meeting?~
Polaris-Willow wrote her response underneath, ~Hell yeah! I never miss! You know that!~ She recrumpled the paper, knocked it on the floor again and kicked it forward. A person two seats in front of her kicked it across the isle to Becky, who picked it up. After a few seconds Becky glanced back and gave Polaris-Willow a slight smile. Polaris-Willow smiled back.
Polaris-Willow and Becky had a few things in common: Becky was half human with a Redfern vampire father and a human mother. Her father, Delos Redfern, was one of the Wild Powers that had saved the Millennium. Becky's mother, Maggie Neely Redfern, and Delos were soulmates. Becky was dark haired like both of her parents and had brown eyes like her mother's. Those eyes were more often than not filled with a stubborn and challenging light. That stubbornness was put to use in hunting evil Night People, which was a profession that both of them shared.
Just then another note hit her foot, Polaris-Willow picked it up, it said, ~Dumb question, but watch the attitude, girl!~
~And what can you do to me if I don't?~ she wrote back.
When Becky read the note she glared at Polaris-Willow, who looked back mockingly. Becky gave Polaris-Willow the finger and mouthed, "F*ck you," at her. Polaris-Willow smirked at her. They both retuned to their work, Polaris-Willow laughing inwardly.
How the hell he hadn't seen or heard her come in was beyond him. Ruhe was staring at the back of the-girl-in-front-of-him's head, her hair was ash blond and done up in a bun held by two hair sticks.
He hadn't really noticed her until she had bent down to pick up a note on the floor by her foot that another girl two row and across the isle had sent back to her. He watched them exchange notes a couple times until the girl two rows up received a note that apparently pissed her off a little, gave the other girl the finger and mouthed, "F*ck you," at her. Ruhe got the feeling that neither of them was really that mad at the other.
The teacher, Mr. Lawson, apparently was either blind or just didn't give a d*mn as to what his students were doing. He hadn't protested once when the girls had their silent conversation and he hadn't scolded the girl in front of him for being late, as Ruhe knew she was.
Ruhe shook his head and continued to take notes on the lecture, though he did observe his classmates. They were only a few miles outside of Las Vegas, the capitol of the new international government and the head quarters for Night People, so there were a lot more Night People in the class than Ruhe was used to seeing. There was a female witch sitting next to him, a male werewolf in the front row, the girl two rows in front looked like a Night Person, but Ruhe wasn't sure what she was, there was a lamia girl and a made vampire guy, who looked like a couple, in the row in front of him and two rows to the right, there was the guy next to the girl in front of Ruhe, who was a Night Person of some sort, and of course there was the girl in front of him who he didn't have a clue about. Ruhe had yet to see her face. She was obviously absorbed in her work, a bunch of star charts; they were totally different from what the rest of the class was doing. Why she was doing something different he didn't know.
Just then the witch sitting next to Ruhe discreetly placed a crumpled note on his desk, and muttered out of the corner of her mouth, "It's for you."
Ruhe uncrumpled the paper; it was a seating chart of the class with everyone's name and where they sat. At the bottom was a note, ~Watch your back and welcome to the school.~ It was signed S-O R.
He wrote on the corner of one of his sheets in his note book, ~Who sent this to me?~
He then turned it toward the witch next to him, Theresa Abforth, short for All bringing forth, the seating said her name was.
Theresa looked at the note and wrote a response in her own note book, ~S-O R.~
~Yeah, but who is S-O R.?~ Ruhe wrote back.
~Figure it out your d*mn self! It's not that hard!~ she wrote back, ~Even Louis Aveceado figured if out on his own!~
Ruhe consulted the seating chart, Louis Aveceado, he discovered, was the werewolf. Werewolves as a majority were rather stupid, how he got in an Honors class Ruhe didn't know.
Ruhe studied the chart; he found that the girl two rows ahead's name was Becky Redfern, yet she didn't look much like a vampire. The lamia girl's name was Thyme Crescent and the made vampire's name was Ross Willis. The girl in front of him's name was Polaris-Willow Redfern and the boy next to her was Sirius-Oak Redfern. 'Three Redferns?' Ruhe thought to himself, 'I didn't know this area was so popular for them to live in.'
Ruhe paused for a second and looked at Sirius-Oak Redfern's name again. Then he looked at the initials under the note and mentally slapped himself across the forehead. 'Well duh!' he thought, 'S-O R.; Sirius-Oak Redfern!' Ruhe couldn't believe he had been so dense.
Theresa had obviously noticed that Ruhe had figured it out and wrote him a note, ~Took you long enough, Drache.~
~How did you know my name?!~ Ruhe wrote back, bewildered.
~It's a small school; news of you and your cousin has been flying around all morning!~
'Great!' Ruhe thought to himself. He had been hoping to keep a low profile, but that was obviously impossible.
Just then the teacher announced that it was time to change classes. Polaris-Willow and Becky Redfern were already hurrying out of the door together when Ruhe was getting out of his seat. But Sirius-Oak Redfern met Ruhe's gaze and a silent agreement was formed… they would talk at lunch. Ruhe nodded and Sirius-Oak disappeared into the halls.
Ruhe checked his schedule and found he had European and American literature Honors next. In the class they would be reading works from some of his favorite authors: Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickinson, Jane Austin and Mark Twain. Ruhe liked to keep it quiet that he liked to read, most people thought you were weird if you liked to read.
"Relina Harman, that was a cruel trick! How could you do that?! You made her late!" a female voice shouted, dragging Ruhe back to that present.
"I have no idea what you are talking about!" another female voice fired back indignantly. Ruhe searched for the sources and saw a blond haired, brown eyed girl fuming at a tall ebony haired and gray-eyed girl. They looked about the same age and were both witches, Harmans. Looking at them he was vividly reminded of Hellewise and her sister, the first vampire, Maya. The blond looked exactly like Hellewise Hearth-woman was said to look like and the black haired girl looked like Maya, except for the eyes. Both of them, though, seemed to be oblivious to the crowd that was gathering around them.
"Don't you dare give me that crap Relina!" the blond girl shouted at the black haired girl, whose name, apparently, was Relina, "I know you put that hex on her lock!"
"So what?! You can't prove a thing!" Relina shot back haughtily.
"Like hell I can't!" the other girl snapped, "I know the feel of your majick as well as I know my own! So give me the damn truth!"
"Screw you, Saphrin! What can you do to me if I don't?!" Relina demanded of the other girl, who was apparently called Saphrin.
"I can put your whole diary up on the internet," Saphrin informed her pleasantly.
"Impossible!" Relina scoffed, but there was a small quaver in her voice, "You can't get to it!"
"You want to bet your reputation on that?" Saphrin challenged her, smirking.
Relina narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together, "You are so going to pay for this!" she assured Saphrin.
"Perhaps," Saphrin conceded, with a faint look of triumph, "but not today. Today you are going to apologize to her and swear you won't do it again!"
Relina stood there for a few seconds, glaring at Saphrin, then she spun around and stormed off down the hall looking furious.
The crowd that had gathered burst into applause. Saphrin looked around, grinned and gave a mock curtsy. She sauntered over to where Theresa Abforth, Thyme Crescent, Becky and Polaris-Willow (whose profile he could just barely see) Redfern and a few other girls were standing, laughing. They gave Saphrin high-fives. The crowd quickly dispersed, everyone hurrying to their classes.
Ruhe checked his watch. "Oh, sh*t!" he almost shouted, he was going to be late for class. Ruhe took off at a run, dodging people.
"So, were you serious when you said that you would put Lina's diary on the net?" asked Briar Blackthorn.
"No, it was a bluff," Saphrin laughed, "I have no clue as to where it is."
"Damn! It figures," Briar muttered under her breath. Briar was another distant cousin of Polaris-Willow's. Briar's mother was Jez Redfern Blackthorn (whose real name was Jezabele, but she never let anyone call her that) who was another Wild Power. Jez and Briar's father, Morgead Blackthorn, had been friends almost their whole lives, they found out that they were soulmates around the time of the Millenium. Briar, like her parents, had a kind of "Bad Girl" image, her long wild mane of curly red hair was like her mother's and her gem green eyes were like her father's. She too was a Night Person hunter, and not a purebred; she was a quarter human (from her mother) and the rest vampire.
Briar adjusted her leather jacket then asked, "So, who's going to Circle tonight?"
"Ross and I are," Thyme Crescent said.
"Me too, so's Lina," Saphrin assured her.
"I am and as Polaris-Willow so eloquently informed me last period, she is as well," Becky said, pointedly looking at Polaris-Willow.
"Don't go into specifics about it!" Saphrin told her, "I really don't want to know."
Becky and Polaris-Willow laughed.
"What about Vega?" Thyme asked.
"She'll be there," Polaris-Willow assured her, "She's getting in this afternoon."
"So, how was it having your own room?" Briar asked, "You moving to the attic soon?"
"Hated it and yes," Polaris-Willow informed her.
"If you hated it, then why are you going to get your own room?" Thyme asked, in her usual naïveté.
"I only hated it because there were constant reminders of Vega-Iris's absence," Polaris-Willow told her patiently, "She'll be going on more trips so not having the constant reminders will make things easier."
"Oh!" Thyme said, finally getting it.
Thyme wasn't stupid, just naïve. That was "her part" in their group. Their "group" as they called it was just a small group of girls. They were all Night People, it wasn't that they had anything against humans, most of them were part human and they had human friends, it was just that they had grown up together on the same street, Redthorn Road. It was sort of an unofficial rule that only Night People lived on Redthorn Road. There were humans that lived there, but they were Old Souls, the soulmates of Night People or both. The kids from R.R. stuck together pretty much, formed their own Club. Within the Club were groups; the groups went by gender and age more or less. Their group was composed of Polaris-Willow, Vega-Iris, Saphrin, Briar, Thyme, Theresa, and sometimes Relina. Most of the time Relina preferred to hang out with the witches that were more like her, liked to toy with people, Saphrin completely detested this. But even without Relina they were a complete group. They all had their "parts": Saphrin was the "mother" in the group, she settled the spats. Briar was the "bad girl", she came up with a lot of the dangerous stunts. Thyme was the "little sister", even though she was three months older than Polaris- Willow, she was so naïve at times. Theresa was the quiet one, she rarely said much, but when she did it was something important. She was also the artist; she was rarely without paint on her face and/or hands. Vega-Iris was the "conscience" of the group, when ever Polaris-Willow, Becky and/or Briar was about to do something dangerous she would always try to talk them out of it. Polaris-Willow and Briar were the "rebels", they didn't really fall under any of the normal stereotypes, they sort of were all of them. Polaris-Willow was also the secretive one, but none of her friends knew it and she didn't intend for them to find out any time soon.
To be continued…