Disclaimer: see previous chapters
Author's Note: Please R&R! Thanks to everyone who already has! Flames welcome!
The Trouble Begins
The bus ride was a torment I barely withstood. Worry for my friends' safety and indecision about the truth of Allanon's words swam in my mind and clamored for my attention. Before the bus reached Taylor High School, I suffered from a crashing headache. However, the moment we arrived I searched them out. They were fine, so I went to my locker and then to first period with an easier mind.
Throughout the day, I barely saw the Kana twins, but every period I searched the school once with my spirit for any signs of a Skull Bearer. None came to my attention. By seventh period English, the last period of the day, I was beginning to doubt that Allanon had been correct. After all, he hadn't told me how he had come across this conclusion that the attack would occur today. Amanda, who also had English seventh period, looked fine.
Despite my misgivings, I humored Allanon's warning and finished my English quiz as quickly as possible. Then I bent my head, and reached deep down inside of myself. I dug my spirit from my innermost self and sent it out. It swept the corridor outside my classroom with no results, and searched an adjoining hallway with similar results. A sense of relief washed over me, but it was suddenly replaced by a wave of overpowering fear. In the next hallway, I caught something. I checked again, quickly, but there was no mistake. An evil presence was in the school, and I knew that Allanon's warning had come to pass. I began to panic. Fearing for my friends' lives, I raced upstairs and searched the second floor. With mounting fear bordering on hysteria, I discovered two Skull Bearers, passing from class to class. My ghost ran back to the first floor, dashing helter-skelter through hallway after hallway. I was nearly finished, racing back to my classroom recklessly, when something that I would regret forever after happened. As my inner self rounded a corner, it slammed into a fourth Skull Bearer.
The few seconds it took me to recover from the shock enabled the Skull Bearer to detect my presence. It tracked my spirit back to my body as I yanked my ghost back, frantic with fear. My inner self passed right through the walls of the adjoining classroom and into my English class, crashing into my body with such force that I rocked back and forth in my desk for a moment before catching my balance. My head snapped up, and I found 24 pairs of eyes locked on me.