Perhaps it had something to do with my ADHD and attention span the size of an ant, but I couldn't remember the rules to save my life. Sometimes it was missing dinner, sometimes it was skipping class — while other times I managed to somehow miss entire drills.
Yeah, drills.
No, they're not what you're thinking. They weren't the fire or earthquake drills that other schools did.
Westover Hall was a military school. Over here, 'drills' meant several hours of doing strenuous physical exercise, no matter what kind of weather it was. Until now, we'd mostly been treated to good, sunny weather, but I could remember many nights when I had mud and grime streaked all over my face, as rain poured down and soaked our smelly, sweaty bodies.
I shuddered. Winter was coming — and soon. I'd managed to get through most of the year without getting in too much trouble, but there was this one teacher, Dr. Thorn, who kept eyeing me just like our previous lawyer had.
I had no doubt that he was going to make us go on a stupid ten-mile run as soon as the first snowstorm hit. Frost was already beginning to show up in the early and late hours of the day, and the temperatures had dropped so much that they rarely surpassed over 30 degrees Fahrenheit.
The only good thing about this terrible weather was the increasing darkness. For as long as I'd known, the shadows had provided me strength and comfort — and though I'd never tell anybody, I was certain that once or twice, I'd slipped on the ice and somehow teleported myself back into my room.
Yeah, you read that right.
I freaking teleported.
The entire experience left me feeling like I'd gone on a sugar rush, and I hadn't been able to stop jumping up and down for hours. It was almost as if I gained energy from the shadows themselves, but that was just ridiculous.
I sighed and pinned my ebony locks up in a ponytail, letting my red streak dangle in front of my eyes.
Currently, we were getting ready for some stupid dance.
I hadn't even wanted to go, but Nico had, apparently, wanted to exchange some of his Mythomagic cards with the other kids. He'd somehow roped Bianca into coming with him, and so obviously Bianca had to drag me into attending as well.
Thanks a lot, sis.
I didn't like to be around many people apart from my siblings. Spending a couple of hours in a large, extremely crowded room with smelly teenagers and ridiculously loud music?
No, thanks.
Large crowds made me…uneasy.
My thoughts were interrupted when Bianca came in through the door. She took a look at my attire and gave an approving nod, shooting a quick grin at me. "Ready to go?" She asked, and I sighed, nodding and tugging at my shirt.
"Let's get it over with," I said resignedly.
I felt slightly better about my predicament when I saw Nico in the hallway, wearing his own party clothes, clearly uncomfortable.
He scowled up at me. "Don't laugh, Callie," he complained.
"You look like a clown, Nico," I told him, barely concealing giggles. My mood had instantly lifted.
Apparently, someone hadn't realized that going to a dance involved actually wearing dance clothes.
"And you look like the entire circus," my little brother retorted sulkily. "Why're you dressed like that?"
I blinked, mouth falling open. "Oi!" I spluttered, flabbergasted at the small brat's sheer audacity.
Bianca interrupted what probably would've turned into an hour-long argument. "Alright, you two, come on." She took us by the arms and guided us down to the gym, my face twisted in a grouchy scowl (although, one gentle nudge from my sister made me reluctantly let it go).
Nico wriggled out of her grip a few flights down, pressing his nose against the window. Curious, Bianca and I followed him.
"Woah," we breathed together, before letting out giggles at the synchronization.
Nico grinned at us. "It's snowing!"
I nodded. "I know!"
"It's beautiful," Bianca said in wonder, reaching out a hand to touch the cold glass. "And so…white."
Yeah, so we were excited to see snow.
Mock us all you want, but it was a reasonable reaction: we hadn't ever seen snow before.
And, well, it was rather pretty. It almost made me feel glad that I'd come.
Almost.
We eventually snapped out of our daze, and headed for the gym again.
I wrinkled my nose as I saw the situation inside. Jeez.
I remembered now why I hadn't wanted to go.
The guys were kicking the red and black balloons everywhere, including into the faces of others. Some were trying to strangle each other with the crepe-paper streamers that were taped to the walls. All that frustration at being pent-up inside all day had to go somewhere, I supposed, although I wasn't particularly happy about it.
On the other hand, the girls were moving around in huddles, wearing spaghetti-strap tops, brightly coloured pants and shoes and so much makeup caked on their faces that they made Nico look downright plain.
Honestly, I thought, these guys are the real clowns.
The whole scene made me glad that I'd worn my normal casual clothes instead: pale jeans and a dark shirt, my black coat wrapped tightly around myself.
Dance be damned, I wasn't going to be wearing some sparkly dress all night.
Nico drifted off from Bianca and I the moment we entered the gym, heading to the corner where he excitedly began trading cards for figurines he did not have. I contemplated joining him, but decided not to — Nico needed to socialize with others that were his age, not just us.
And who knew, maybe gaining new toys to play with would distract him from the uncertain life we led.
I nodded, my shoulders slumping. Yeah, that was for Bianca and me to worry about.
Speaking of my twin, she elbowed me a few minutes later. Her voice was uncertain. "Hey, uh, are you feeling a bit," she leaned in, cautiously glancing side to side, "...strange?"
I frowned. "No. What're you talking about?" Bianca wrung her hands nervously. "I don't know…" She lowered her voice. "I just keep feeling like we're being watched."
Her anxiety was making me edgy too.
I looked around warily and caught the eye of Dr. Thorn. He was staring right at us.
I suppressed a shudder.
Holy cow, this guy was creepy.
Bianca followed my gaze and we both exchanged glances at the same time.
"What does he want?" I hissed to her. Despite my best efforts, my voice still cracked, betraying my emotions. "He's been looking at me like that for the entire year!"
Bianca moistened her lips, eyes darting around. "Should we tell a teacher?"
We looked around for one, but there wasn't anybody in sight.
"Weird," I muttered, my head beginning to ache.
Something was wrong.
"Callie! Bianca! Look!" Nico's voice made me look down, where he bounded next to us. "I got the Zeus figurine from Charlie!" He showed me the statue, and I patted him on the head, grinning. "That's great, Neeks. Now all you need to get is Hades, right?"
He nodded vigorously. "But that's a really rare one," he said, pouting. "I've got duplicates of nearly everything except him."
Bianca smiled. "You'll get it eventually, I'm sure," she said, ruffling his head fondly.
Damn, we loved this kid.
Nico brightened. "Yep! So can we stay a little longer? Please?" He shuffled his cards absent-mindedly in his hands as he looked at us, pleading. "I might be able to make a few more trades — someone's bound to have that statue!"
Bianca and I exchanged glances over the top of our little brother's head.
I widened my eyes at her meaningfully. Back to the dorm?
I mean, sure, I loved Mythomagic, but I could never garner as much devotion to the game as Nico had — I was mature enough to know that little statues and figurines weren't worth risking our safety.
To my surprise, Bianca shook her head side to side, each movement practically invisible to anyone except me. No, we can't leave yet.
I weighed our options, understanding — although I wasn't happy about it.
On one hand, Dr. Thorn was being super creepy.
…But this was Nico.
The boy hardly ever asked us for anything.
We nodded simultaneously, reaching a decision.
"Alright, piccolo, but don't take too long, hmm?" I said, waving him off as he gave us a beaming grin and raced away. I watched him go, but the uneasy feeling in my gut didn't leave.
"I don't feel good about this, Bianca," I muttered as my eyes followed him chatter amicably with a small group of young boys.
She let loose a long breath. "Me neither. But it's been a while since Nico's talked to anyone his age — he needs to socialize, Callie. Maybe we should let him have his fun, for just one night."
I sighed, conceding reluctantly, but the feeling stayed, making my gut twisting uncomfortably. "Yeah. Besides, Dr. Thorn's a teacher. He wouldn't actually try to harm us, would he?" But I didn't sound so sure, and it showed.
Bianca pursed her lips. "I hope you're right," she muttered, and I snorted, muttering under my breath: "Me too, Bianca. Me too."
We hung around for a bit, chatting with each other, before I headed off to go get some punch for us. I was just filling up the last glass when I noticed four kids slipping into the gym from the hall.
Usually, I wouldn't have paid much attention to them, but there was a feeling surrounding them that intrigued me. It felt almost…familiar, as if I'd seen them somewhere before.
I recognized the guy with the goatee — I'd accidentally bumped into him in the hall a few days before. He walked funny and was probably a sophomore, what with that beard of his. He'd fallen down and I'd helped him up, but when he'd raised his head, either thank me or tell me to be more careful, he'd let out some sort of panicked bleat and rushed off.
Yeah, a panicked bleat.
Like a goat.
Some kids really were strange.
I studied the quartet carefully. One girl had spiky black hair and was dressed more like she was going to a fight rather than a school dance. Perhaps the strangest thing about her was that she had these blue eyes that seemed to almost spark, like pure electricity was residing within her.
The other girl was blonde and had these gray eyes that looked sharp enough to slice someone open. She had a tan and a rather athletic physique.
I'd have enjoyed drawing her.
But it was the boy that drew my attention the most. He had dark hair and a vibrant set of sea-green eyes, but everything about him seemed to scream, I'm trouble! He had this sarcastic smirk and seemed to be vehemently arguing with the spiky-haired girl from before.
His appearance made my mind ache so hard that I'd winced and pressed a hand against my temples, which were beginning to throb like someone had just split my head open with an anvil.
I quickly gathered up the cups filled with punch and tried to navigate my way back to our table: which, let me tell you, was not an easy task when your brain felt like it was going to pour out of your ears any second.
Thankfully, Bianca seemed to notice something was wrong, and took the cups from me right before I fell to my knees, fisting my fingers in my hair and letting out small, strained gasps.
I couldn't breathe.
My head was in agony.
My twin sister hastily set the cups on the table and knelt next to me, taking my hands in hers. "Callie! Are you OK?" She asked in panic, checking me over.
I let out a groan, mumbling something like, "Uh huh uhhh."
I squeezed my eyes shut as I was suddenly hit with a familiar feeling — the sensation of something wriggling in my mind, straining to be free.
I knew the drill — usually, the feeling would disappear after a moment, but this time…it didn't.
Instead, the thing that was pulling to be free, actually escaped.
I gasped, my eyes flying open. Images and pictures flitted past my mind, and I stood up abruptly, casting a panicked look around.
Danger, danger, danger, my brain screamed at me. Run!
Oh, and also, You're going to die!
(Real helpful as always, my brain).
"Callie?" Bianca asked, getting up. "What happened?"
"We need to leave, now." I said tersely. "It's not safe here."
"What do you mean?" Bianca asked, before yelping as I grabbed her arm and dragged her with me to Nico. He was trying to convince Gavin, a kid in his grade, that exchanging one of his rare cards for Nico's duplicate was an excellent deal.
"Neeks, we're going," I told my brother firmly, interrupting whatever executive decision Gavin was about to make. "Oh, come on, Callie!" Nico complained, turning around as the other boy quickly excused himself and rushed off. My brother scowled at his retreating back, before turning to me and saying, "You said we could stay a little longer!"
"Callie, slow down," Bianca said, touching my arm. "What's going on?"
I let out a huff of irritation. Why couldn't they understand? "I can't explain it," I said frustratedly. "I only got the vaguest glimpse of…something. But we need to go." My voice increased in urgency, but neither of my siblings seemed to understand the level of danger we were in. I wanted to shake their shoulders and yell at them to get moving. I settled for glaring at them instead, tugging them insistently towards the doors. "Now!"
"Dr. Thorn's probably not going to let us leave the dance now that we've been here for a while," Bianca pointed out. Her hand tightened around mine as she lowered her voice, muttering to me: "Also, I don't think it would be a good idea to have us all near him, right now."
"Yeah," Nico piped up. He'd only heard the first half of what Bianca had said. "He'll probably say — I dunno — 'oui oui,' or something," he imitated Dr. Thorn's French accent, "and give us a stupid lecture!"
I couldn't help but crack a grin, even though my heart was hammering a hundred miles an hour.
I'd always known Nico never paid any attention in class.
"You go on, Nico," Bianca told him, smiling and seizing the opportunity. "I think Callie just got a little overwhelmed."
I yanked Nico by the back of his jacket as he started to run away. He frowned at me.
"Bianca, no," I said, deadly serious. "I'm serious. We need to leave."
"Is there a problem, children?" A silky French-accented voice asked from behind me, and I stiffened, shooting my siblings a Look.
Bianca's eyes widened as she swallowed roughly, turning and giving Dr. Thorn a nervous grin. "N-no, sir," she stuttered. "No problem here."
"Nope!" Nico said helpfully, popping the 'p'. His eyes flicked to us curiously, clearly wondering why we were acting so scared, but thankfully, he didn't ask any questions.
Dr. Thorn stared straight at me, and I shifted nervously. "Uh, we're good, sir," I muttered. "We were just heading back to our dorms," I raised my eyebrows at my siblings, and they finally acquiesced.
"Fine," Nico grumbled, but it was already too late.
Dr. Thorn waved us off. "I don't think so. Come with me, di Angelos."
Crap, I thought wildly. I hadn't acted in time.
We shuffled our feet reluctantly as Nico began packing up his Mythomagic cards. Dr. Thorn growled in irritation. "Now!" He shoved Nico towards the double doors, making him drop some of his cards and scowl.
I swallowed as I saw one of the cards flutter to the floor.
I was getting a really bad feeling about this situation.
He steered us by the scruffs of our necks, like kittens. That did nothing to calm me down.
Frantically, I cast my gaze around for anything that could get us away from Dr. Thorn, and managed to catch the eye of the kid who'd given me the headache — the kid with the sea-green eyes and troublemaker attitude.
I shot him a panicked look, and his eyes widened. He opened his mouth to say something — like, hey, stop! — as if it was somehow my fault this clearly creepy teacher was taking us away.
I didn't appreciate that, but I had bigger things to be worrying about.
I widened my eyes too, like, hurry up! and he took out a ballpoint pen — of all things — out of his pocket before racing after us. My gaze lingered on the pen, face twisting into a frown as something tugged at my memory.
I knew that pen.
But then, Thorn yanked us out of the hall, and BAM!
The double doors banged shut behind us ominously.
My heart thundered in my chest.
I only hoped that the guy would catch up soon.
Preferably with an adult in tow.
Because otherwise…
We were all going to die.
Sorry for not updating sooner! We've officially hit one thousand views, so thank you to all those who've read this story, you all made my day!
Special thanks to DaughterofTime14: thank you so much for reviewing nearly all of my chapters! I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this fic!
Have a great day (or night), everyone!
-Peace out,
WriterOfNonsensicalThings.
:D
