Authors Note:Thank you for all of the sweet reviews, and for ya know reading this. I's so sorry this is so late but here it is! And we get to see more of Tamsin with death.
Disclaimer: LG, not mine, I just play with it.
Tamsin sat in silence as she stared blankly into the wall behind the teachers face. The woman had stopped pacing and sat on a stool in the middle of the free space between the children and her desk. Bo and Kenzi continued with conversation as usual and waited for the bell to ring.
Tamsin hadn't hoped for something more in her many lives, an escape. The moment the blaring ring sounded, Tamsin sprang from her seat and ran from the room. She needed out, like now. Tamsin nearly ran down the hallway, dodging any teenaged bodies entering her path. English was the last class she had before lunch, she just needed to make it to lunch.
"Whoa, watch it," a teenage boy yelled at Tamsin as she rushed past. The textbooks that had been nestled in his arms now resting on the shimmering, stained concrete of the school.
"Sorry," she turned around. She nelt before the boy and helped him gather the mass of supplies he had carried.
The boy glared at Tamsin, his features becoming rough and discolored. Tamsin felt the rage seep from the boy's skin.
"Gama-Sennin," Tamsin muttered before letting the her face become skeletal.
"Valkyrie," the boy backed away, leaving his books laying on the ground.
"Whoa there girly," someone grabbed Tamsin's shoulders and dragged her down the hallway.
Tamsin fought the hands gripping her, "What the hell? I had it under control."
"Sure ya did," Kenzi leaned against the lockers lining the wall. "But use of powers, or whatever you call them aren't allowed."
Tamsin turned to face Kenzi, shoving the hands toward the body they belonged to a slightly taller boy with red hair curling at the top of his head. "Who the hell is this? And why did you grab me?"
"My apologies, the name's Dyson, and Kenzi told me to," the boy answered, moving closer to the girls still resting against the lockers.
"Thought you could use some help, if McCorrigan see's you go all skeletor then you're dead. Plus Joey isn't a threat, few secretions when he's mad but otherwise, no harm," she began walking further down the hall with Dyson closely behind.
Tamsin retrieved her bag she had dropped during the gama-sennin showdown and followed Kenzi and Dyson. "That doesn't answer why you're here, thought you and Bo didn't like me," Tamsin rubbed the back of her neck.
"Oh Tam-tam, you have much to learn," Kenzi laughed lightly, "I gotta know the new girl, the all powerful Valkyrie"
"Why? And how did you know, wait," Tamsin turned around, scanning the emptying halls, "is this a fae school?" Tamsin whispered closely to the pair she walked with.
"No, its fae and human, mainly me," Kenzi smirked.
"She's the only human, but yes, it's all fae," Dyson spoke, his deep voice vibrating the air
around him. "Gotta go babe, see ya in a few," Dyson pecked the small human's cheek.
"Bye babe, have fun," Kenzi smiled, watching him leave. "God," she mumbled, "hate to see him go, love to watch him leave."
Tamsin snapped her fingers together in front of Kenzi's face, "Stop drooling and explain."
"All in due time Tammy, all in due time. Gotta go to English, ready?" Kenzi pushed the Valkyrie toward the classroom.
Just in time Tamsin's phone became spastic with vibrations and noise escaping the fabric of her bag. "Saved by the phone," Tamsin pulled the small silver object against her right ear. Kenzi continued to pull Tamsin through the entryway of the class.
"Come on Tamsin, we can't be late. It's one thing to skip and another to ignore the bitches that speak."
"Yeah 'Cacia, okay I got it... Can't you wait a sec, I have class," Tamsin dragged Kenzi further away from the room.
The small girl shuttered at the force pulling against her strength, damn Tamsin was stronger than she had expected. "What the hell Tam-"
Tamsin cut Kenzi off as she threw the phone back into her bag, "Listen Kenzi, I know we like just met and stuff, but can you cover me for English? It's not my best class and I have to go."
"Go? Go where, Tamsin have you ever been to school? They don't just let you leave like this, it's only second period. On the firstday."
"Yeah I know Kenz, just please? You and Bo have English together, can't you think of something?" Tamsin looked up and down the emptying halls, kids slamming their lockers were shooed away by monitors standing against the walls, if you just glanced you would assume they were other children, however a closer look would reveal the ties and pleated skirts that were worn by the adults. "I, I have to go Kenzi. See you at lunch or something," Tamsin left the girl standing dumbfounded in the middle of the hall.
Bo brushed past Kenzi and pulled her into the classroom, "What happened to blondie? Scare her off already?"
"Something like that."
XX
"What happened," Tamsin had broke into a sprint when she had noticed the yellow tape being pulled against the barriers. Acacia stood on the other side of the reflective surface of the barriers with her arms crossed under her fitted leather jacket.
"It's not good Tam, kids again, older though," Acacia raised the tape enough for Tamsin to duck beneath it. Acacia stopped Tamsin before she could see the crime scene, "Listen Tamsin, I know that this stuff gets to you, if you don't want to take them I can, I just..."
"Acacia, if you thought I couldn't handle it, you wouldn't have called, I can deal with it," Tamsin passed the officer guarding the door that lead to the bodies. His face was hung toward the ground, eyes beaten with sleep, the bags under his eyes casting their own shadows. Tamsin drifted into the room with ease, it was when she saw the contents that she stopped.
Walls that had once been pale and ghostly had been stained with the remnants of the souls. The tile was cracked, it might have been nice once, soothing to some, a room of white with cool tiles to greet warm body heat. There was nothing in this room welcoming anymore, what might have been a chair lay mangled and torn in the center of the room.
Tamsin gasped, she stood in the doorway, frozen in her form. Acacia's hand found its place on her shoulder, where it had rested with Mara, where she had placed it ever time Tamsin had been trained to see these scenes without fear, or sorrow, or pain, or any emotion that led to weakness. Tamsin clenched her teeth and ventured further into the room.
Uniforms had collected their evidence, taken their pictures, now they just waited for the coroner to take the bodies. They hung their, like puppets from strings, fragile.
"Alexander, Louise, Matthew, Amanda, and Charlotte. Sixteen, fourteen, seventeen, nineteen, and fifteen," Tamsin spoke as she walked around them. Their bodies had been arranged around the crumpled remains of the chair, hanging from the ceiling. "Room twenty-seven, wing B, building C."
"They died quickly," Acacia stood in the doorway, she watched Tamsin, watched her push the pain under her job. This was training, this was what Tamsin had to do.
"No they didn't Acacia, don't lie to me. They were aware for minutes before their bodies shut down," Tamsin brushed her hand against the sole of Alexander's converse, gold streams connecting with her hand, collected. Tamsin's brow had been furrowed, the lines in her face more defined. She repeated this action four more times, taking their souls from their bodies. Tamsin let her head hang for a moment, letting the thoughts in her head settle.
"Do you smell that?" Tamsin paused in front of the chair.
Acacia spoke, "Fae."
"It wasn't suicide 'Cacia, this was an attack. Find out their parent's names, where they work, find anything with a trail," Tamsin sped through the words as if they were poison on her lips. She was tense, she felt the souls pressing against her mind.
"Tamsin," Acacia tried to reach out for her hand.
"No, it's not in the job description, I signed up for this, I can't take it back now. Like you said, it gets easier," Tamsin smiled slightly.
"Are you okay?" Acacia nearly whispered.
"Does it matter?"
XX
"So where did she go?" Bo poked Kenzi. The pair had drifted through the lunch line and ventured to the table with Dyson and Hale.
"No clue, she just up and left, she got a call from someone, guess that's why."
"Damn, you told her we were just messing with her in first period right? I mean, she looked embarrassed but she's a freakin' Valkyrie, she should get over it," Bo picked at the slice of pizza laying across her tray.
"I don't think that was it, she seemed fine with it, I mean Dyson and I swooped in and saved her from exposing herself to the whole school," Kenzi spoke.
"Who?" Dyson perked up as soon as Kenzi sat in the chair next to his.
"Tamsin," Bo mumbled through the food in her mouth.
"Who?" Hale finished off a small chicken breast on his tray.
"Hot new girl, really tall too, she's in our phys ed classes," Dyson grinned.
Kenzi smacked Dyson in the ribs, "Yo wolf-boy, how 'bout you keep the guy talk between guys when you're in front of your girlfriend. And since when have you liked blondes?"
Dyson pecked Kenzi's cheek, "Easy there tiger, you know you're the only one for me. I was just informing Hale of our new friend."
"Our? You haven't said two words to her," Kenzi spoke.
"To who?" Tamsin interrupted.
"It's whom, and you must be Tamsin, I'm Hale," Hale pushed his hand toward Tamsin.
Tamsin shook it, "Nice to meet you Hale. So, whom were you speaking of?" Tamsin asked in a very proper tone.
"You," Bo leaned over and nearly whispered in Tamsin's ear. "Don't worry about it, everyone's just curious."
Tamsin smiled, the first since her last collection. "What are they curious about?" Tamsin kept the hushed tones as the other three had begun eating.
"Why you left so quickly. Are you okay, you looked a bit frazzled coming in?" Bo inquired.
"Oh, uh yeah I'm fine, just had to go work something out with my, my roommate," yeah that should work, roommate, was she a roommate? Mentor? One might call her a guardian, Tamsin thought.
"Oh well did you work it out?"
"Yep, everything's hunky dory."
"Who the hell says 'hunky dory'?" Kenzi nearly spat.
Tamsin grinned, "I do punk, you got a problem?"
"Nope, everything's hunky dory," Kenzi smiled. "So now that you've met everyone, what do you think of the school so far, well what you have seen."
"It's okay. Your teachers suck, I ran into a really short one coming in and he was all pissy about me being late for lunch."
"McCorrigan," the group groaned.
"About this tall?" Dyson raised his hand about four feet off of the ground.
"About, yeah. Wait, is that the guy that you said would kill me earlier? He's not a threat, he's like a munchkin," Tamsin laughed.
"Yo, don't let him catch you saying that, he will literally write you out of history to keep order. My mom told me once that when the world was shit and stuff that he took over and wrote laws and stuff to stop the fighting, he's like all powerful," Dyson hushed.
"So why the hell is he a principal and a mediocre school in the 'burbs'?" Tamsin became intrigued.
"No clue. My mom never told me much else, just don't talk about him like that, he is to be respected and admired."
"Okay, okay, I get it. I won't talk about munchkins," Tamsin joked.
Dyson's face went pale for a moment, "Don't say stuff like that."
Bo's cellphone buzzed in her pocket, she pulled the small black device from the fabric of her pants and began reading something, "Hey did anyone hear about the mass suicide at North Ridge? Apparently some kids decided to off themselves in an abandoned classroom."
"Oh my god, what happened," Kenzi dropped her fork.
"Uh the news report says that the kids were hanging in a storage room at the school, names Matthew Jacobs, Alexander Robinson, Amanda Peters, Charlotte Granger and Louise Holt. They were all students," Bo touched her fingers to her lips. She read further about the horrors of high school suicides that had been elaborated in the article.
Tamsin stared blankly at a speck of forgotten food on the table, she already knew the details, the looks on the faces of children when they were taken, she knew they were happier now, safer. Whatever had done this wouldn't stop, not when it was still hungry.