I gave in to the spinning. Who was I to say no, to stop what needed to stay in motion?
I let the whirlwind take me wherever it wanted to go, into a chasm. I was falling into an abyss, unknown and unseen, cloaked by mist. A hand reached out.
Somehow it was James I saw in the fog.
He clawed at the mist, searching for me, trying to show me the way. But I fell too far, too fast, too deep. Reaching out with my hands, I tried to circle the clouds under my feet. Didn’t I read somewhere that the Seer could control weather? But it was too late. James was gone, and nothing but gray surrounded me.
Just like that I was back in my dorm, staring at my suitemate, her face clouded with confusion. How long had I been out this time?
“I’m sorry to dump all of this on you, Lucy. I hope you’ll still come to the meeting tonight.” Julia gave a tiny little wave and disappeared out the door.
I didn’t want to move, but I had to. I had to find a way out, or something bad would happen, as if the fate of the whole world depended on me. I picked up my keys and headed out the door.
One thing I knew for certain, Colleen and Monica were just plain wrong. I had to get to the bottom of this.
Chapter 12
Shanda eased her Mini Cooper into the parking lot of the Riverdale Coffeehouse. A bell jangled overhead as we stepped into the dingy, beige-tiled restaurant. At the counter, we ordered two grasshoppers as the invitation instructed.
“That’ll be ten dollars. This way.” The waitress stuck a pencil in her hair and ushered through a yellow gingham curtained to a back room. “Your drinks will be out in a few minutes.”
Shanda and I glanced at each other and shrugged.
“Is that Miss Sherry?” Shanda his in my ear.
Sure enough, our dorm mom sat on a burgundy booth bench in the back of the room, facing rows and rows of empty diner chairs.
Julia turned her perfectly highlighted head and waved us over to sit beside her on the front row. “You guys are the first ones here.”
“Great.” Shanda mumbled under her breath. “Fashionably early.”
Just then, the waitress returned with a frozen cup of chocolately-coffeeness complete with whipped cream on the top. I put the straw to my lips and sucked down the minty-chocolate goodness. As I sipped, more people trickled in behind us.
“You should try it.” I tapped Shanda’s arm with my cup. “It’s amazing.”
Shanda took a sip. “At least it’ll keep me awake through this thing.”
Caffeine buzzed through my veins, and I bounced on the cracked burgundy vinyl seat. Murmurs and whispers rippled throughout the crowd, making me wonder if the rest of these people were as clueless as I was about the Watchers. These guys were pretty secretive, even for a secret society. This may be my only chance to get any intel on them.
“Ahem,” Miss Sherry cleared her throat, rising to her feet to address the room. “Thank you for coming tonight and following instructions. The Watcher Corps needs new recruits who can follow orders.”
“Ugh.” Shanda rolled her eyes and slumped down in her chair.
Yeah, maybe the Watchers weren’t for me.
“Some of you may be asking why we’re meeting off campus. The other two societies have headquarters at the academy that are open to the public. However, that is not the case for the Watcher Garrison. Our facilities are underground, hidden all over campus.”
Someone to my right raised their hand. “Why is that?”
“Good question. The Watcher Corps was founded to keep the peace between the Order of the Guardians and the Nexis Society. Our origins date back to the Tower of Babel. The Nexis Society split off from the Order of the Guardians to create the tower of Babel and make their own deities. The founders of the Watcher Corps did not agree with the way the Guardians handled the debacle, so they too separated and formed their own alliance. It is the Watcher Corps that eventually toppled the tower of Babel.”
I leaned in a whispered to Julia. “Is that all true?”
She nodded her head like an enthusiastic bobble-head, her brown eyes crazy wide. “Shush, she’s about to get to the good part.”
“Sorry,” I mouthed, turning to watch Miss Sherry again.
Our dorm mom fluffed her frizzy red hair and kept right on talking. “Today the Watcher Corps is tasked with keeping the peace. At Montrose Paranormal Academy, our job is to enforce the neutrality between the three societies. And to make sure things don’t get out of hand.”
“That sound ominous.” I whispered to Shanda.
She only gave me a slight nod as she raised her hand. “How exactly can you enforce this neutrality?”
My lips curled up at her brilliant question. I was definitely glad I brought Shanda tonight.
“Another good question.” Miss Sherry’s eyes narrowed into slits and her lips quirked. “The Watcher Corps has garrisons all over campus, hidden underground and access through a maze of tunnels and secret passages. These garrisons monitor all activity on campus, and off-campus reports concerning students. Based on these reports, we intervene when necessary.”
“Cool, like the secret society police.” I mumbled.
“More like the CIA of the three societies.” Shanda murmured in my ear, plastering a fake pageant smile on her face.
“Harrumph.” It was my turn to slump down in my seat as Miss Sherry droned on and on about the merits of the Watcher Corps. But I wasn’t buying it. There was no way these guys simply “monitored” everything on campus just to “enforce neutrality.” Not even close. They had to have plans of their own. And judging by this little room of thirty plus recruits, the plans of the Watcher Corps were far bigger than they were letting on.
~
“One hour! The countdown is one hour.” Shanda screeched at me as soon as I opened the door. “You should be getting ready.”
I rubbed my eyes and
