She paused and glanced at me. I held her gaze and nodded my head at her as if I was telling her it was okay to go on.
How do I tell these children that a classmate was found dead in the woods, her throat ripped out?
I jumped, and my heart started racing. Had I just been inside her head? My senses swam. This was the first time I had ever read someone’s thoughts, other than my own. Had I somehow acquired another gift? Did I now have the ability to do what my father so loved to do with me?
“Noreen McDonald was found dead this morning,” our teacher announced. “Her body was discovered hidden in the woods.” Her voice cracked. She was obviously finding this hard.
Her body was dry, no blood in her veins.
I shivered. How was this happening?
That poor dear died alone in the woods.
All around me students burst into sobs of shock and grief. Noreen McDonald was our class president, a member of the basketball team, and pitcher for the girls’ baseball team. She was an all-around nice girl unless it concerned me. She was the girl in English who had started the rumor that I was a vampire when I first moved there. She had never appeared as if she wanted to get to know me. Instead, she would stick up her nose and walk away whenever I even tried to say anything to her. Not that I ever really tried much.
I pondered over what my teacher had just thought. No blood in the body and her throat torn out. It was the stuff that nightmares were made of.
“What happened?” one of the students asked.
Everyone turned to see who had spoken. It wasn’t a boy I recognized. His eyes were dark, but his hair was light. Had we got a new student without me knowing?
“They haven’t said,” our teacher answered quickly.
I glanced at her, and as her eyes met, she shifted uncomfortably under my gaze. I wondered suddenly if she knew that I could read her thoughts.
I felt woozy for a second and the room began to spin. I closed my eyes, trying to calm the effect. Just as I reopened my eyes, to find our teacher still staring at me, the loudspeaker came to life as the principal addressed the school. The atmosphere immediately became tense.
“Teachers, please send all seniors to the gym.”
Everyone began to stand and shuffle out of the room. None of them seemed to notice the way the teacher and I were looking at each other. No one was sobbing now. It was like they were just a bunch of robots. I blew it off as nothing; grief takes people separate ways, and many of them had just lost a dear friend.
“Dawn, could you hold back a second?” the teacher requested quietly.
I gave her a polite nod and waited till the others had passed by.
“I know you and Noreen didn’t see eye to eye.”
“We never really spoke,” I said defensively, crossing my arms.
“Something spooked you when I was talking to the class. Do you have some information about this?” I wasn’t sure if she was accusing me or just testing me.
“No, ma’am. I know no more than you do,” I said slowly, waiting for her to come to her point.
“As much as I do… how do you know as much as I do? Details have yet to be released.”
I hesitated. I couldn’t come out and tell her how I knew, as that would give away things that I barely understood myself. But I couldn’t say anything at all.
“Would you believe me if I said some weird stuff is happening? I can’t say more, even as shocking as it is about Noreen’s death. I have a feeling she’s not the only one.” I bit my tongue. That had not come out the way that I had meant for it to.
“Are you confessing to something?” Her voice had become dangerously low.
“No, ma’am! It was just an observation. Let’s not forget how Wesley disappeared and the ones who died in the shooting that day. We’ve already lost a lot of people; who’s to say we won’t lose more along the way?” I winced. The words coming out of my mouth didn’t sound my own. I had this horrible feeling I was getting myself into an even stickier situation with every sentence. Each time I opened my mouth something else incriminating seemed to come out.
“You’re in the hot seat, Dawn,” our teacher warned me. “People will want to know who’s to blame for this tragedy. And not everyone believes in your heroics during the shooting.” She smiled this creepy smile, and I guessed she was one of them.
“What are you saying?” I breathed.
“I’m saying you need to watch your back. They may have been led into believing you are an angel but have you told them about the demon in you as well?”
I reeled. What did she just say?
“I–I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” I stammered.
She frowned. “But that’s just the thing, Dawn; you understand perfectly well what I’m talking about.”
I gave her a flat look. “Then you’d better tell me.” I had this sensation that this wasn’t my teacher speaking anymore. Someone else was using her body as a puppet, controlling her actions and speech.
“The queen will have your core!”
I swallowed hard. This Hybrid Queen I had heard so much about had to be Miranda. There was no other explanation. However, who was this being in front of me? I put my hands to my face as dizziness threatened to overcome me again. The room felt suddenly hot, and I felt like I was spinning into oblivion. When I hit the floor, however, my vision cleared.
“Dawn? Dawn? Are you okay?”
My teacher’s hands were on my arms, hauling me up. I looked up into her face. Her expression was sweet and caring with all signs of cruelty gone. There was
