7-2: Feral Glare

This is the part where X.A.N.A. wins and everybody else DIES! Unless you'd rather I kept it tame for now. I'm not as much of a sadist as I'd like my readers to believe. Maybe someday…

(((-2-)))

The impatient girl fingered her braid, wondering if Odd was ever going to show up. It was more than just the dance. But maybe, just maybe, the dance would be the beginning. Surely he knew that Janika had some kind of feelings for him! Well, guys missed lots of hints that girls considered obvious, so maybe she just wasn't doing the right things to attract his attention. Then she caught sight of Sissy and sighed inwardly as her cousin stormed over.

"What's wrong this time?" Janika asked, wondering what the other girl was batty about.

"Odd, that's what! If you'll help me out I can get him expelled. Daddy would never think I made up something if you back me up." She wiped her shoe on the grass. "I hate his dog."

"Why don't you just tell Jim about Kiwi?" she inquired with a yawn.

"Because Ulrich said he'd never speak to me again if I did. He likes that stupid mutt for some reason. Just help me out and I'll make it worth your time, Nika."

"What's in it for me?" She inspected her nails critically.

"Look, I can get you any boy on campus. Say his name and he's yours." She smiled cunningly, sure that Janika couldn't turn that down.

"Including Odd?"

"Yeah, even—what! You like him! How could you even consider someone so…tacky?!" Sissy was incredulous. "I never thought you had such bad taste. If your mother knew what kind of company you keep here at school she'd have you shipped off to the Navy! Maybe then you'd get rid of that awful braid. It really did go out of style about fifty years ago, you know."

"So?" She glanced down. "Oh wow, look at my wrist! I have to go. I'm meeting up with Odd for Chemistry."

She stood up and started into the park, but the taller girl gripped her arm angrily.

"Fat chance! That jerk couldn't pass class without cheating."

"Is that mud on your shoe?"

Sissy tightened her grip, her face turning a slight shade of red. "Forget about that. You're not leaving. You are going to help me whether you like it or not!"

Janika looked down at her cousin's hand. It was really getting on her nerves. She tried to keep from blowing her top and said in a very calm, but clearly ticked-off voice, "Sissy…let go of me."

"No! And your little boyfriend will be on a one-way trip to Brazil tomorrow!" On emphasis, Sissy imprudently yanked the other's braid with a flourish.

Janika felt fiery rage burn through her veins. She snarled dangerously and twisted her arm out of Sissy's grasp in half a second, swiping at her with hooked fingers. She recoiled suddenly, yelping as blood seeped through four deep, cat-like cuts along her arm.

"You scratched me!"

Still wildly enraged, Janika hunkered down, ready to attack in a flash. Her face was a mask of fury as she crouched with her back pressed up against a tree, a low growl resonating from the back of her throat. Sissy tripped over her own feet and landed on her butt, staring with alarm at the girl she had thought was a pushover.

Odd came up just then and saw the feral, almost animalistic gleam in his friend's eye.

"Janika!" he called out.

Her head swung his direction (he could have sworn she bared pointed fangs at him), but the dangerous gleam faded slowly and she blinked. She saw her cousin and rose to her feet, suddenly concerned.

"Oh no! Sissy, are you all right?"

The girl cradling her arm jerked away as Janika came closer. "What did you scratch me for?! And why were you acting like that? I thought you were going to…" She trailed off and darted a glance at Odd. "Forget what I said. I don't want anything from you, least of all your help."

"I'll take you to the infirmary."

"Don't bother! I know the way." She stumbled away, directing an uneasy look back at them. "…freakier than I thought…" she muttered, hurrying off.

Odd looked at Janika.

"What?" she demanded. "It's not my fault, Odd! She grabbed my arm and jerked my braid. I just got really mad all of a sudden. I never get upset like that. I don't know why I did."

"I do," he said stepping closer. "I know that was Bloodlust. Two days ago you used it on Lyoko and you looked at me like that. You were ready to tear her throat out, weren't you?"

She grumpily folded her arms across her chest. "Look, all I need right now is hot tea or something to help me relax. I'm just a bit wound up. It's not going to bother me as long as no one makes me mad."

He didn't say a word.

"You won't tell the others, will you?"

Odd began walking away and she called after him desperately.

(V)

Millie stood alone in the room she shared with Tamiya, trying to bounce the hackeysack with her foot. It jumped over to her computer and the girl with pigtails tiredly went to fetch it. She was just picking it up off the floor when the screen flashed and an unnerving symbol appeared there.

She was staring confusedly at it when something much like pale smoke billowed out of the computer and enveloped her! Millie staggered toward the door, but her strength sapped away as she tried to escape. The redhead landed facedown and there was a sensation much like flying…

(V)

The rest of the gang was in Jeremy's room, and the boy himself shuddered as though a chilly wind had just swept through. Aelita was sitting on the bed describing a complicated snag she'd encountered in the Tower she had been analyzing the night before, but she immediately stopped when his normally attentive gaze became unfocused.

"Is something wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, no! I just…nothing." He closed his mouth but she, Ulrich and Yumi didn't say anything else. They just waited. "Well, I thought I heard someone screaming."

"You did?" Ulrich stood up quickly. "I didn't hear anything. Where did it come from?"

"That's the deal," the blonde boy murmured. "I heard it in my head."

Yumi patted her friend's arm sympathetically. "It's okay. We're all a bit stressed out from X.A.N.A.'s attacks lately, especially that weird one a week ago with Maïtena. When do you want me to take Aelita back home to get dressed for the dance?"

"Pretty soon. I was going to buy a corsage for her. What do you think of pink, Aelita?" Jeremy put his arm around his date and she nodded, leaning her head against his shoulder and giggling.

He dismissed the strange sound he had heard, thinking it could have been his imagination. But the voice had sounded so much like Millie. He just couldn't understand why she had screamed, "What's happening? Help me, please!"

I know, it's one of those things where you know what'll happen next. Hopefully I'll still surprise some of you, but in the meantime, tell me what you would do if some freaky stranger (of the opposite sex) came out of nowhere and tried to kiss you. I'm serious!