Chapter 11

She awoke to darkness. A blur of glowing green light caught her attention. After a few moments it came into focus. Five fifty-nine, it said. What did that mean?

Oh, yes. The time. It was morning. So hard to tell in the darkness. No sun, no light. The display changed and the alarm screamed in her ear. Her hand shot out of its own accord to silence it. Six o’ clock. She was too tired to even curse at the time. She rolled out of bed and discovered that she was in her pajamas. She didn’t even remember changing. The clothes she wore the night before were nowhere to be found. Somebody must have moved them. Mom?

Shower, clothing, hair. Her mind was on other things.

She should have done something. Well, she did do something. But she should have done something more. What would Mom or Papá have done? Clawed it through the heart, probably. One of them must have done just that when they had come for her. She didn’t have that option. Just a teenage girl. Just human. And she would always be just human. Right?

Her arm. Whole and perfect, not a single mark on the skin. She could still remember the torn flesh hanging off her harm in shreds. Too shocked to notice at the time, she could now see the arm in her mind, remember Mom fixing it for her. Good as new. Her arm should be in tatters. She would have changed by the next full moon. Probably another wolf like the one that had bitten her. And then what? Live out the rest of her days as a feeder? Hunted down by her own family? She would rather have been killed outright than suffer that fate.

And yet here she stood, human and whole. Getting ready for school like any other teenager. At least it was Friday, though she wished it could have been the weekend. She would have to go to school today and face her classmates, pretend like nothing was wrong. She couldn’t possibly show them that anything had happened. What could she say? Tell them that she had been attacked by what they would know as a werewolf the night before? Not only that, but be physically unscathed by the encounter?

And Nate…

Nate knew. Had always known. How had she not guessed? It was common enough for a few hunter families to live in the same town. Not that it was the type of thing that they broadcasted, but she should have at least realized that somebody she knew could also be a hunter. And it was Nate, of all people.

There was nothing for it, now. Mom would soon be inviting his parents over for dinners and weekends. She had been itching to host social events since they had arrived in Delaware. Now that there was another hunter family in the neighborhood, she would be having their newfound cousins over for every holiday on the calendar.

It was strange. Normally she would be just as thrilled as Mom that there were people that they wouldn’t inevitably have to say goodbye to. Maybe it was just the prospect of being around the same people so very often. Goodness knew the ‘visiting cousins’ excuse wouldn’t work if she were dating Nate.

It was a good thing Mom and Papá knew that she liked him.

Aleda couldn’t even imagine how scandalized her friends would be if one of her parents were to let slip that the Burnses were ‘cousins’.

Of course, Talia would be visiting as well. She was more interesting than an entire family on her own. And she, at least, could be safely called a cousin. On Mom’s side, of course. She didn’t exactly look like Papá’s side of the family.

It might even be fun for Talia to meet some of her friends. Aleda wasn’t sure how often she socialized with mortals, but she knew Val and Mara would absolutely love her.

Aleda herself was looking forward to seeing the girl again. She, of all people, might have some insight for her. Again, she wished it were Saturday already. Anything to avoid going to school that day.

Maybe she could just go through everything on autopilot. It was easy enough to do. Goodness knew she did it often enough anyway.

For that matter, she had walked all the way to the entrance of the building without even noticing.

There was nothing left to do now but go to homeroom. She could put it off, and be late, but that would only draw even more attention. She still needed to come up with an excuse for being so preoccupied, though. Now that it was known that she and Nate were seeing each other, she couldn’t use nervousness as an excuse.

She should just make him come up with something. He had been there, too, after all, and was clearly less shaken up about it.

Let him explain why she was so out of it when he was the last person to see her besides her parents. They had been at a party, and one of the cutest guys at school had quite visibly offered to walk her home the night before. By all rights she should be downright giddy. Well, she had until homeroom to work out her story.

But she needn’t have worried. Nate already sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by the other kids. He talked animatedly, eyes wide and making grand gestures with his hands as he spoke. He certainly was quite the storyteller. He waved her over when he saw her without pausing his narrative. Bemused, she sat in the seat in front of him and listened.

“So, he’s got a knife out, right? And he says he’ll kill Aleda if we don’t give him our money…”

Aleda’s head snapped up. What?!

“…And she was so scared, but I was too quick for him!” Nate continued. “While he was looking at her, I caught him across the cheek with a right hook!” He demonstrated for his captivated audience. “And then another, and he went right down! Tell them, Aleda! I was telling everybody about the mugger last night!” he insisted, winking at her.

Aleda stared at him in absolute shock. A mugger? Nate fighting him off? Nate had stood there like an idiot while the demon had almost torn her apart! She had been the one fighting the bloody feeder! Ineffectively, sure, but this… She tried desperately to make her tongue work.

“I… I really… don’t want to talk about it!” she spat out, and fled the room, the teacher giving her an odd look as she passed.

“Please excuse her, Mrs. Simmons,” Nate said, “she’s pretty upset. We were mugged last night.”

Aleda found herself backstage in the auditorium. It was the only place she would be guaranteed some peace. She clung to the heavy curtains like safety blankets. She had spent so much time back here that she knew the area intimately. It was comforting.

She finally allowed herself to calm down. Images of last night’s carnage still flashed across her vision, but they no longer sent her into a panic. She could remember, now, how poorly she had fought. She should have known she would never be strong enough to forcibly pull the feeder off of Ms. Tyler. Better to go for a sensitive spot, the ears perhaps, than the main body. Cause pain in just the right spot, and she could have used its strength to her advantage, flipping him when he lunged and crushing his throat while he was on his back.

It had obviously been a phenomenally stupid thing for her to do, attacking a feeder on her own, but she might have been able to beat it. Instead she had fought like a child. A stupid child.

She went over the fight in her mind a hundred times. She and Nate had both been useless. In her memory, she could see him staring in shock, the few times he had been in her line of sight. It had not been until he had seen her bitten that he had come to drag her away from the demon. Ms. Tyler had been killed almost as soon as the feeder attacked. There had been nothing she could have done to stop that. Only a hunter would have felt the demon near, and have been quick enough to stop it. She should have run as soon as she saw the thing attack, and sent her parents to kill it instead of trying to stop it herself.

And yet, going over the scene once more in her head, she thought she might be able to kill the feeder if she could do it again.

No. That was stupid. She had no business trying to fight any kind of demon, feeders included. She would only get herself killed if she tried. Better to get used to the idea. She would never be a hunter, and it was useless to think otherwise. She would graduate high school, go to college, and find some nice career that wouldn’t get her killed like nearly her entire extended family.

The only problem was she couldn’t think for the life of her what that career might be. If nothing else she could find something in the lower levels of government work that would be useful to the Council. She would be miserable in that life, though. She knew she would.

She supposed she was good enough with her violin that she could make a living with that, but the idea didn’t appeal much either. She just didn’t have the same passion for it that her mother did.

What else was there? Art? Business? Medicine? Criminal Justice? She could never stand working as a doctor when she had witnessed her parents heal everything from wounds to fevers without breaking a sweat.

And meddling in mortal affairs would feel strange as well. It just wasn’t done.

Never mind that she was a mortal, too.

The bell startled her out of her thoughts. Was homeroom over already? She had better go to class. Homeroom was fine enough to miss, but skipping English could be disastrous. As long as the other kids didn’t bother her too badly about last night, she should be fine.

Fortunately, they probably wouldn’t have heard rumors of Nate’s outrageous story yet, so they wouldn’t be attacking her with questions as soon as she walked into the classroom. Aleda figured she would use the mugging story anyway, though. If she didn’t, there would only be even more questions later.

She just hated having to go along with this lie. She would much rather have pretended that nothing was wrong. It especially galled her that she would have to use Nate’s falsely heroic account of it as well. Leave it to a guy to paint himself a hero.

She composed herself as she walked down the hall, rehearsing the story in her head. She and Nate had been attacked by a mugger last night while he was walking her home. The man had pulled a knife, but Nate fought him off. She was shaken but not harmed and yes she could handle being at school today.

Yes, her parents knew what happened.

No, there was no need to call them. She really didn’t want to miss any of her classes.

Yes, she was quite sure she was fine.

It would certainly give her a license to tune out her teachers today. It would be nice to have an excuse for a change.

Up the steps, down the hall, through the door. She paused for just a moment, closing her eyes in gratitude for the familiar flood of sunlight streaming through the windows of this room. She could almost feel it lightening her thoughts, as dark as they had been for the past hour. Mara already sat in her usual seat in the back of the room, her feet up on Aleda’s chair. She pulled them off a moment before Aleda threw herself into the seat.

“What’s with you?” she asked. “Late night?”

“Something like that,” Aleda said.

“What happened to getting home early? Or was that just an excuse to get alone with Nate?”

Aleda shook her head emphatically. “No! No, nothing like that. We, uh…” She paused, gnawing on her bottom lip. “You know what? I don’t really want to talk about it.”

Mara stared at her friend for several moments. Aleda rested her head on the desk. Nate would be there in a few minutes, and then the storytelling would start again. Unfortunately, she couldn’t skip English as easily as homeroom. Have to just stick through it.

He walked in. She could hear his voice, though her eyes were closed. He had his friends with him. They all had Physics together first period.

He had tried, once, to explain some of it to her. It was interesting, in a vague sort of way, but she couldn’t see any point to it for the average person. She had eventually given up, saying that if she had a head for math, she would have taken the class herself.

As it was, he couldn’t fathom her interest in literature. He had been morbidly fascinated when she told him she had enjoyed the first novel that Mrs. Van had assigned; he had never gotten around to reading it.

Even more ironic, then, since he seemed to be so fond of telling stories himself.

Aleda raised her head and smiled at him as he walked by. He immediately came over to squat by her desk—after tossing his backpack on his seat.

“Hey, Leda, how are you doing? You had me worried in homeroom,” he said. He grabbed one of her hands and started rubbing it.

“Hah!” Mara exclaimed. “I knew something was wrong. What’s going on?”

Aleda shot a glance at Mara but smiled again at Nate. “I’m fine. Just needed to get a little air. Think Mrs. Simmons minded?”

“Don’t worry about that, I told her what happened last night.”

“For God’s sake! What happened last night!?” Mara practically shouted.

“I…We…” Aleda stammered, trying to repeat the story she’d been telling herself on the way to class. She could hardly get the words out.

“We were mugged on the way home,” Nate told her. “She’s okay. I punched the guy, but it was pretty scary for Leda.”

“Aw, Leda! Why didn’t you tell me?” Mara demanded. A few other students leaned over to listen. Aleda looked around and winced. Far, far too much attention. Not good at all.

“Leda? Hey, chica, it’s okay, I’m here for you if you need to talk about it.”

“What happened?”

“Leda got mugged.”

“Leda? The Spanish chick?”

“Oh my God, Leda!”

“Leda, tell us what happened!”

Son of a b***h! If she heard one more ‘Leda’ she was going to snap. Oh, she had worried about the wrong things this morning! For one insane moment she had the almost overwhelming urge to stand on her desk and scream that her name was not a metric unit.

The moment passed, as well as the urge. Instead, she buried her head in her arms again, trying to block out the rest of her classmates.

“Please, give her some space,” Nate begged. Mrs. Van was about to come over to see what was the matter. “Can’t you see how upset she is? Come on!”

Aleda opened her eyes and smiled at him gratefully. He gave her hand one last squeeze and returned to his desk. Mrs. Van looked over at them curiously, but decided not to get involved. She needed to start the lesson, after all. Teenagers always had some new drama in their lives.

She had a small piece of luck. Mrs. Van had not heard anything about the night before, and she did not allow her students to talk during class. Aleda was able to sit through the entire class without having to put up with her classmates’ questions. Mara, thankfully, chose to keep her mouth shut. She would surely interrogate her after school, but for the time Aleda had a little peace.

Maybe the rest of the day wouldn’t be so bad. Nothing happened in Chemistry. Mara didn’t even manage to set anything on fire. Another hour passed.

She found a seat in her next class, grateful that she had some peace. She waited, getting bored, for the teacher to show up so that they could get on with the class.

And waited.

The class was getting restless. The period had started a good ten minutes ago. Where in the hell was Ms. Tyl—

Oh Heaven help her.

Aleda’s hand flew to her mouth. Ms. Tyler would not be coming to school today. Ms. Tyler would not be doing anything today.

Sweet mercy, was she still laying in the grass? Mom and Papá would not have touched the body. No; somebody must have seen it in the morning, notified the police.

But she would have lain outside, sprawled in the grass, for the entire night. Aleda felt her stomach turn. Nobody should have to suffer that fate. Ms. Tyler was – had been – a human being. She deserved far more than to be left to rot on her own lawn.

Suddenly she felt the weight of every horrible thing she had said about the woman. How she wished she could take back every word! She had meant it, and yet…

She would not have thought and said such things if she had known… what? Known that Ms. Tyler would be killed just a few months after the school year started? But she would have thought them just the same. The words might have been silenced but the thoughts would not be pushed away. The woman had been awful to her, and the rest of the students. She had been a terrible teacher. Not even a few hours before the attack, she had scornfully sent hopeful children on their way.

Would she have still thought poorly of Ms. Tyler? Of course she would have. It had been her first reaction, and she had been given many reasons since then to dislike her. She wished she had been kinder, but there could be no changing what she had thought – or still thought, for that matter. So where did that leave her?

She had no answers.

The substitute chose that moment to come into the classroom, looking rushed. There hadn’t been very much warning. The poor young teacher had been called out of bed just half an hour before school started. Aleda felt sorry for her. She couldn’t have had much time to get dressed and come to school, let alone prepare a lesson.

The other students murmured a bit, wondering where their teacher could be. Had she gotten sick? Trouble in the family? Celebrating Halloween a little bit too much the night before?

Aleda studied the substitute. Did she know why she was here? Had there been enough time for them to explain? Or had they simply called her in, telling her it was an emergency? There was sorrow in her eyes. Hesitancy. She knew.

But would she tell the students? Aleda waited, alone in her patience among the restless students, while the poor substitute tried to decide how to address the class.

Minutes passed. The students were more than impatient. She spoke.

“Hello, class. My name is Ms. Carroll.” She paused nervously. “I- I’m afraid that Ms. Tyler will no longer be your teacher for this class. Last night, there was… she passed away. I can’t tell you anything else right now. I will be here for a few days while the school finds a long-term substitute. For now, please just bear with me. I- I’m very sorry for the disruption in your lessons, I—.”

Ms. Carroll broke off. She knew what had happened. The shock of it choked her voice. Aleda cradled her head in her hands. She couldn’t look at her and not break down herself. Bravely, the young teacher continued.

“Unfortunately, I’m not sure how Ms. Tyler taught this class. The principal tells me that you’ve just started Chapter 5 in the textbook. If you would all open to the first page of that chapter?”

 

î

Aleda didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Not knowing what else to do, and still reeling from the shock of replacing a teacher who had apparently been attacked by a rabid dog the night before, the young Ms. Carroll recited to them directly out of the textbook.

Every so often she wrote the next subheading on the chalkboard.

Verbatim.

Aleda could squint and almost pretend that it was Ms. Tyler determinedly copying as much of the textbook as she could onto the board.

Maybe it was for the best. The other students would never be able to learn any unique information given today. Aleda looked around the room without seeing a single kid paying attention to the substitute. Most whispered to each other, speculating on the night before. Passed away? Ms. Tyler, dead? It didn’t even seem possible! They had seen her just the day before. Mocked her behind her back just the day before. How could she be dead?

Before the period ended, there were no fewer than ten different rumors about how it had happened. Half of them were completely ridiculous, and many were not kind. Aleda heard everything—from aliens to a freakish illness to a rape attempt aborted when the attacker saw his victim—whisper past her ears.

Only a few sat silently, still trying to process the news. Aleda was one of the few. She was processing something far different, however. Was this what humans were? Ms. Tyler had just died, and all they could do was make more jokes! She had sat there just minutes ago, hating herself for ever thinking ill of their teacher.

Would it even make a difference if they knew how she really died? How she had been outside because of kids just like these who had vandalized her house? The attack that she could have never anticipated, not in a thousand years? The demon, the teeth, the blood spraying everywhere?

There was nothing funny about any of it. Nothing to laugh at. No jokes. Just fear.

Some of them, she knew. She knew they would still make jokes. Maybe not the same jokes, but jokes just the same. They had hated her in life and they hated her in death.

Fools, all of them. They laughed, ever so secure in their belief that nothing could touch them, while her kind gave their lives to protect them. Mother, father, one aunt and a great-grandfather.

That was all she had left of her entire family.

And why must they sacrifice so much? For the sake of these ungrateful fools? They did not deserve such safeguard. For as long as humanity had drawn breath, her kindred had hunted the creatures that would have slaughtered the budding species. In all of that time, humans had not once proven that they deserved it. She saw no reason to give up her own life for them.

And yet, she was hesitant to join them. Would she become like the rest if she were to remain human? Selfish and nearsighted, absorbed in her own life? If only there were a third option!

She sat through the rest of first period absorbed in her thoughts, growing ever more cynical as the hour wore on. She didn’t bother taking notes or even paying more attention than was necessary to check the clock every few minutes. Before the class was half over, she was more than ready for the weekend to start.

Twelve minutes left in the period. She looked up at the board, then back at the blank page in her notebook. She grimaced and closed it. Put it back in her bookbag. What was the point, seriously? Maybe their next teacher would actually teach, but for now she would be better off to simply read the textbook later.

Ten minutes left. Outside, the fiery leaves she had admired for so long had come and gone. Only dead branches remained.

Nine minutes. It was becoming unbearable. Her hands itched to do something. Now she regretted putting the notebook away. She wouldn’t have started taking notes, of course, but at least she could have sketched for the rest of the period.

Still nine minutes. She cursed under her breath at the clock. All she wanted to do was go home and disappear into her bedroom for the weekend, but at this rate she would never get there.

Finally, finally, finally. She could honestly say she had never been happier to jump at that damned bell. Give her a collar and call her Fido—she was out of her seat and through the door before the blasted thing stopped ringing. She flew through the hallways. She barely had to look where she went—her feet knew where they were taking her. They even managed to steer her around the little freshmen, just as confident as she was now.

In fact, she was spared completely until last period.

Chorus.

By then the rumors had long since spread about Ms. Tyler, but few had heard Nate’s story. There were a few murmurs about somebody being mugged, but that was all. Aleda simply did her best to keep her head down and remain inconspicuous. If anybody noticed that she was quieter than usual, they said nothing.

By Chorus, the official story about Ms. Tyler had circulated. She had been attacked by a rabid dog the night before. The stray, apparently, had been caught and killed. Aleda had the confirmation on that from her art teacher. None of the details were known, of course, but the poor woman had not survived.

They would be getting a new History teacher soon. When, they weren’t sure. As soon as one could be found.

For now the substitute, Ms. Carroll, would have to do. Aleda hoped that the young teacher was up to the job. She wasn’t sure how the class, so used to Ms. Tyler’s strict discipline, would treat the sweet woman once the shock had worn off. Probably no better than they had treated Ms. Tyler behind her back.

The difference was that this time, it wouldn’t be so hidden. Maybe the new teacher would be strict. Whenever it was that the new teacher would arrive. Soon, hopefully. The sooner the better.

Chorus started much the same way as English had started, although Mara wasn’t there to greet her. No sooner had Aleda gotten settled in her seat than Nate walked into the room. He wasn’t as animated as he had been that morning. Could he have been tired of his own story? That would be an interesting turn.

No—he didn’t have any friends with him this time. There was nobody to listen to his story. He came and sat by her despite being assigned to a different section.

He grinned at her while he shoved his backpack under the seat. “Hey Leda. Doing any better?”

She shrugged and managed half a smile. “A bit, yeah. How about you?”

“I’m fine. Didn’t get quite as bloodied up as you did.”

Aleda glanced around them nervously. “Yeah. Right. By the mugger, of course.”

“Right.”

“So… won’t you get in trouble for sitting over here?”

“I’m not worried about it,” Nate said. “I’ll just tell her what happened.”

“I really don’t want to make a scene,” Aleda protested. “It’s okay. I’d rather you not get in trouble.”

“If you like. But I’ll stay over here until class starts. Hey, what time do you want me to pick you up tonight?”

“Tonight?” Aleda blinked at him, confused. “What’s tonight?”

 “I thought I’d take you out to the movies or something. It’ll help get your mind off things.”

“Movies. Er, okay… Is seven okay?”

“Seven it is. I hope there’s something good playing.”

“You think there might not be?”

“Well,” Nate said with a lopsided grin, “I can’t let our first date suck, now can I?”

“First date?”

“I’m not counting last night, you’ll never go out with me again.”

“I actually meant that there would be a second date,” Aleda admitted.

“Of course there’ll be a second! What, I finally get a hot girl like you to go out with me, and you think I’m going to let you go?”

Aleda flushed an embarrassing shade of crimson. “All you had to do was ask,” she said under her breath. “Anyway,” she continued, “What time does the movie start?”

Nate shrugged. “It’s opening night, so it’ll be playing constantly. If we get there early we can just grab something to eat.”

“Oh. Well, okay. Seven it is, then.”

“Good afternoon, students. Seats, please. We have a lot to work on today.”

Mrs. Dodges had finally come into the classroom. Nate reluctantly moved to the tenor section, taking his backpack and leaving Aleda with one last glance. They still had a lot of music to learn before the winter concert. Unfortunately, many of the students had only signed up for Chorus because they needed a music class.

True singers were the exception; most in the class could barely tell one note from the other. Aleda, of course, had grown up listening to her mother play her violin. Being tone-deaf was not an option for the daughter of Aria Solana. The others, though…

It gave Aleda plenty of time to relax after the rest of her classes. Sometimes she even did her homework, hidden behind the other sopranos. Once or twice she had even caught a quick nap, although that was made more difficult by the amount of time Mrs. Dodges had them stand. Usually, though, she just propped a textbook against the chair in front of her and tried to study. English was one thing, but she could stare at timelines for hours and still not remember everything she needed.

If it wasn’t history, it was precalc or chemistry. In her defense, though, Mara kept her far too busy in chem class for her to pay attention to such petty details as molecular structure. As for precalc, well, her only excuse for that was that she hated her teacher. Ever since the first day of school, when she had oh-so-kindly decided to humiliate Aleda in front of the entire class. At least she’d tried. She could have just sat in the back of the classroom and talked to the nice girl with the pink hair. So maybe she hadn’t listened as carefully as she should have. But she’d read every word of those directions, and could she be blamed for following them to the letter? It wasn’t her fault that there were different directions on the handout than what the teacher had said.

After that she didn’t even bother.

That was one of the few good things about being in a hunter family, she mused. Nobody expected you to get a great education. Actually, her parents would probably be more worried if she were doing exceptionally well in school. If she did too well, she would want to go on to college, and have a career in some competitive field.

Hunters didn’t have careers. Impossible, when they had to move so often. Retail, restaurants, service jobs. That’s where hunters worked. Or, in her father’s case, for companies owned by the Council. Mom only cared that she passed all of her classes. She encouraged her to do her homework, but that was a recent development.

Aleda suspected her mother was just concerned with keeping her mind off of her trouble with hunting. If the situation were any different, she would probably be spending her afternoons training with her parents, not schoolwork.

Of course, if her parents knew what she was really thinking, they would be just a bit more concerned with her grades. Hunters might not need an education, but mortals did. She would need a college degree and a career and a retirement plan so that she could support herself even when she was too old to work.

At least it was still early enough in the year for her to get her grades up. She was passing, yes, but in some cases only barely. The problem was that she wasn't sure she could do better. She could understand the material if she really tried, but she simply didn't care. It was too trivial, too useless to her.