animal!”
Just as Michael emerged from the water, he saw Nakano pointing a finger at him. “He started it!”
The American? Blakeley found that hard to believe, it wasn’t like him; he was, oh, what was the right word? Bookish, refined, whatever the word, he wasn’t a bully and he didn’t pick fights. Nakano on the other hand did. “Apologize.”
Nakano was dumbfounded. “What?!”
It was Blakeley’s turn to point a finger. “You know the rules in my pool! You start a row, you apologize.”
“I told you I didn’t start it!”
“Tell it to somebody who bloody well cares! Apologize right now or you’re off the team!”
Glaring at Michael, Nakano wasn’t able to conceal his hatred. It could be felt and Michael knew there was no way Nakano was going to apologize, so he had to make a choice: He could let Blakeley continue to think Nakano was the initiator or he could admit the truth. It was an easier decision than he thought. “I started the fight.”
Oh, how Blakeley hated to be contradicted. “What?!”
“I’m sorry,” Michael said. “It was me, I started it.” Michael couldn’t see Ronan, but he knew he was proud. “Nakano, I . . . I’m sorry.”
That isn’t good enough, Nakano thought. “What about you?” he asked Coach Blakeley.
The gym teacher wasn’t sure he heard Nakano correctly, so he thought he’d give him a chance to rephrase his question. “Would you mind repeatin’ that?”
I don’t need this anymore, Nakano thought. It’s like I always suspected; they’re all jealous and I am way too good and way too mature for this. “You know something? I quit! I’m done playing with the boys!”
First everyone was speechless and then Fritz broke the silence the only way he knew how, with his trademark laugh. Nakano had barely fled for the locker room before, one by one, the rest of the students joined in and the gym was filled with laughter instead of shouting. Blakeley made a feeble attempt to quiet everyone down, but even he knew it was pointless, the students needed this release after such a tense situation, so being more practical than professional, he joined in. And when the laughter finally subsided, he announced the new revised team rosters. “Ciaran!” Blakeley shouted. “You’re taking Nakano’s place on Team A.” Ciaran tried to act indifferent but wasn’t entirely successful, gladly accepting the whoops of congratulations from his friends, and when Ronan grabbed him by the shoulder, he didn’t pull away.
“Welcome to the big time, brother,” Ronan said.
“Thank you,” Ciaran said. “Or I guess I should really thank Michael.”
Michael wasn’t at all sure that he deserved thanks. In fact, at the moment he wasn’t sure what he deserved. Blakeley was sure of one thing, though; he needed another swimmer. He studied his clipboard and then cried out, “Bhattacharjee!”
A slight Indian boy with a thick mop of black hair and reddish skin the color of sun-faded brick stepped forward from the crowd. “Yes, coach?”
“Amir Bhattacharjee, you’re the newest member of Team B,” he announced. “This is your chance to make something of yourself. Don’t screw it up!”
The cheering continued, and since he and Ronan were of different species, Amir thought it was safe to whisper to himself, but he was wrong. Ronan heard his words as clearly as if they were shouted. “Don’t worry, Nakano, I’ll make our people proud.” Ronan didn’t make the same mistake and silently remarked to himself, Oh, well, one vamp out, another vamp in.
“I don’t know what happened to me.” Showered and dressed, Michael needed to get away from the continued chatter and was staring out the ice-covered windows that encased the far wall of the gym, gazing at what could be seen of The Forest. When he thought about how dumb he acted, how reckless, he was embarrassed and confused and could hardly look at Ronan.
“You got a little carried away, it happens,” Ronan said, knowing full well the temptation to want to use one’s power, show it off, especially when it’s new. “But you have to be careful.”
Michael understood, he got it. He just didn’t want to hear it at the moment, so he cut Ronan off. “I know.”
Ronan allowed the silence to continue for a while; he knew Michael was upset with himself and he wanted to choose his words carefully. “C’mon, let’s go home.”
Just as Michael turned, he finally realized what the windows reminded him of. They were covered with large patches of ice that made them look as if they were being encased, protected, until the time was right for them to rejoin the world. Just like a cocoon that was about to burst open and unleash a new life. Michael knew exactly what that felt like.
chapter 2
From inside, it appeared as if the sun was winning. Despite the frigid temperature and the dark gray clouds that hovered over the grounds of Double A, one ray of light after another pierced the locker room windows to create a long row of sunshine. Dr. Lochlan MacCleery, sitting on one of the narrow wooden benches, his back facing the light, felt the warmth penetrate his tweed jacket and spread out across his hunched shoulders, down his back, up toward the nape of his neck. But despite the sunlight’s heat, he still felt the chill. It wasn’t the outside cold that made him shiver, it was Alistair’s note.
Evil walks among the angels. The children must be protected. It must have been the fiftieth time he read it and he still couldn’t imagine what the words meant. He had known the former headmaster for many years, the entire time he worked at Archangel Academy, and not once had he spoken so cryptically, so fantastically. No, Alistair was a logical man. Like me, he thought, someone whose mind had a firm grasp on reality. But could it be possible that Alistair discovered that their reality had changed, shifted in some horrific way?
“How can I protect the children if I don’t know what I’m protecting them from?” Lochlan muttered to himself. He had started that habit about a month ago when it became clear that Alistair wasn’t returning to his post, that he had decided to seek out a new life or was being held captive somewhere against his will or something equally preposterous, and he would have to ponder this mystery alone. Many times he wanted to reach out to someone for help, share this unwanted information in the hopes that perhaps a more fanciful mind might be able to uncover its meaning. But who could he possibly turn to?
He was tempted to confide in one of his colleagues even though he usually kept personal matters private, but he couldn’t think of anyone he could fully trust. And he knew it would serve no good to turn the note over to the police, they would simply file it away as proof that Alistair was delusional, at best formally deem the abandonment of his post as the action of an academic in the throes of a midlife crisis, either way forever ruin his reputation. Lochlan knew that’s what most people already believed, a dozen rumors were circulating among the students and the faculty, but gossip isn’t as concrete as evidence, and for some reason the doctor felt that he needed to protect his friend’s reputation. Because the more he dwelt on it, the more he was convinced Alistair would not willingly desert his students. “But what the hell happened to you?”
“Practicing your speech, MacCleery?”
The voice startled Lochlan so much that he sprang up from the bench with such force, he would have knocked it over if it wasn’t bolted into the floor. “Whoa there,” Blakeley said, raising his two hands in front of him as if Lochlan were a horse that needed taming. “If public speaking makes you this nervous, why’d you demand that you be the one to give the speech?”
Because I need to clear my friend’s name, he thought. “Because I felt like it,” he replied, trying to look and sound disgruntled and not panicky.
“Well, you hardly look like you fancy talking in front of a bunch of out-of-control kids,” Blakeley observed. “Go out wearing that face and those juvies will make you wish you were back in med school slicing open cadavers.” Lochlan never liked the gym teacher; he found him crass and loudmouthed. Now he disliked him for a new reason; he was also perceptive. Try as he might to put forth an earnest facade, an enthusiastic expression, he was clearly unsuccessful and couldn’t fake that he was not only terrified to speak in front of such a large group of students but
