Chapter 2
1683 Words
2
Sarah’s eyes widened. She opened her mouth, realized that was a bad mistake, and clacked her teeth together. A moment of thought had to run its course before she blurted out a few words that wouldn’t be patched up with a simple, truthful explanation.
Sarah swallowed and tried to steady her nerves, but she spoke in a few decibels higher than usual. “My what?”
Avery grasped her arm and frowned at her. “Come on, Teach, we both know you’re a terrible liar and I don’t have time for that, and neither do you.”
She slipped out of his hold and backed up toward the door as she shook her head. “I don’t know what-”
“Adam.” Sarah froze. A sly smile slipped onto Avery’s lips. “Now you believe me, don’t you?”
Sarah narrowed her eyes. “How do you know about him?”
Avery opened his mouth, but the sound of footsteps outside their cramped quarters made him whip his head in the direction of the door. He pressed his fingers against the entrance and leaned his ear against the hard wood. Sarah noticed his face was pale and his lower lip quivered.
The footsteps retreated. Avery breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to her. His eyes were pleading. “I really need your help, Miss Rennelle. You don’t know what kind of trouble I’m in.”
She folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow. “Try me.”
He took a deep, shuddering breath and ran a hand through his hair. His gaze was glued to the floor. “I. . .I saw something I wasn’t supposed to.”
Sarah kept her gaze on the student as she nodded. “I’m listening.”
He bit his lower lip and his eyes flickered up to hers. “I saw a Saint.”
The breath caught in her throat. Her arms slid down to her sides and her eyes widened. “A. . .a Saint?”
He raised his head and nodded. “Yeah, and you know I’m not meaning the kind you see in church.”
“What did you see them do?” she asked him.
He swallowed hard at the memory. “I. . .I saw them kill someone.” He paused and furrowed his brow as he glanced to his right. “At least, I think they killed her.”
Sarah leaned back and frowned. “
Avery shut his eyes and shuddered. “They. . .the one girl cut off the other girl’s head and it rolled over to me and spoke to me. It pleaded with me to try to help her, and that’s when they noticed me hiding behind the
“Who noticed you?” Sarah questioned him.
Avery threw up his arms. “The two in the alley! The guy and girl who killed the other girl! They saw me and tried to grab me, but I ran out of there like the last bell rang!”
Sarah leaned her shoulder against one of the shelves to her right and pursed her lips as she studied the young man before her. He shivered like a leaf in a tornado, and his fingers stumbled over one another as he awaited her reply. “How do you know they’re called Saints?”
Avery shrank beneath her steady gaze. “I. . .I’ve kind of been watching you for a while.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Watching how?”
“Let’s just say I have some big ears, but-” he paused again and glanced at the door.
Another pair of feet passed by. The final bell rang, sounding Sarah’s doom at getting to class on time. Unfortunately, she didn’t foresee herself seeing the inside of that classroom today. Sarah sighed. How she longed for the simple joys of juvenile delinquents and their wet spitballs.
The threat of wadded paper balls, however, was brushed aside for this new one of Saints and vampires, and the frightened young man before her. Sarah took a deep breath and put a hand on his shoulder. “All right, I believe you.”
A smile parted his lips. “You mean it?”
Sarah she pushed off from the shelf and nodded. “Yes, and I’ll take you some place safe.” She grasped the door knob, but he whacked her hand. She drew her hand back against her chest and glared at him. “What are you doing? I thought you wanted my help.”
He nodded. “I do, but I can’t go out there. Not yet.”
She stiffened. “What do you mean? Why not?”
He jerked his head over his shoulder at the door. “They tried to get me just now. I slunk in here, but now they’re waiting down the hall for me to go to class.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. She caught Avery’s gaze in her own and pointed at the floor. “You met them here? At school?”
He nodded. “Yeah. They’re students here, too, at least the guy is.”
Sarah performed a mental list of all the Saints she had come across. None of the guys fit the characteristics of a high schooler. That meant this was a new pair. Oh goody.
Sarah ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. “Damn it. . .”
Avery pawed at her sleeve with his hands as his big, wet eyes looked up at her. “Please, Miss Rennelle, you have to help me. You have to hide me.”
“One sec,” Sarah snapped as she looked around the small, shadowed room. A pair of coveralls that hung from a wall hook caught her attention. She snatched them off the wall and held them out to Avery. “Put these on.”
He wrinkled his nose at the stained and unwashed attire. “I think I’d rather die.”
She shoved them against his chest and looked into his eyes. “That’s probably what’s going to happen if you don’t put these on.”
While Avery slipped the coveralls over his other clothes she looked around the room for more disguise material. The mop she had earlier hit her back against gave her an idea. A spare head lay on one of the shelves. She snatched the noodle-like cleaning tool off the shelf and plopped it onto Avery’s head.
He paused and parted one of the white dreadlocks to glare at her. “I think this is a little much.”
“Not when your life depends on it,” Sarah pointed out as she slipped off her coat. She helped him put it over his clothes and stepped back.
The coveralls had Avery age two decades and the coat over all the other clothes gave him a bulky, unflattering figure. The mop top hid most of his face and obscured enough of his vision that it gave him a bumbling gait. The transformation was complete.
“Let me look out,” Sarah offered as pushed him back and peeked out into the hall.
The hall was empty but for the shadow of a figure at the end to her left. That then was the Saint. She squinted her eyes, but the distance was too great to make out the person. She ducked back in and looked over her shoulder at the hilarious figure of Avery, as amused by the situation as a wet cat.
“Follow me.”
They slipped out of the closet and into the hall. Sarah took them down the corridor in the opposite direction of the shadow. After a few steps she risked a glance over her shoulder. The figure had abandoned their vigil and now followed them. Sarah winced and looked ahead.
That’s when she ran into a very hard wall, or rather, a very hard man. She stumbled back and would have fallen if a pair of large, firm hands hadn’t caught her shoulders. Sarah tilted her head back and felt the color drain from her face as she looked into the stern eyes of the high school principal, Grendel.
“Miss Rennelle, do you know what time it is?” he asked her.
She nodded. “Y-yes, sir, but-”
“Then why are you not in your classroom with your students?” he snapped as he dropped his hands from her shoulders.
Sarah swallowed the lump in her throat, but the motion didn’t alleviate her faltering excuse. “I-I-”
“Miss Rennelle is taking me home,” Avery spoke up.
Grendel looked over at the disheveled figure behind Sarah and frowned. “What in the world are you doing wearing those school supplies, Mr. McFay?”
Avery stretched out the coveralls and grinned. “Looks good, doesn’t it?”
“It looks ridiculous, but you’re not answering my question, Mr. McFay.”
Avery winced and sidled up beside Grendel. He leaned in close to the man’s ear-or as close as their height difference would allow-and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Truth be told, I kind of-well, I kind of tore my pants and I didn’t want any of the girls to know. I’ve got a reputation to keep, ya know.”
Grendel snorted. “I’m sure all the girls in the school are well aware of your reputation, Mr. McFay, but that still doesn’t explain your involvement, Miss Rennelle,” he mused as he returned his attention to the teacher. “Mr. McFay has permission via his parents to leave at any time, but you should be in your classroom.”
Avery held up his hand and sheepishly grinned. “I kind of locked myself out, and I need her help getting a locksmith to open it up.”
Grendel arched an eyebrow, and Sarah held her breath as his eyes flickered between them. The principal finally breathed through his nose and pursed his lips. “You’re very fortunate, Miss Rennelle, in that we have a substitute in the office right this moment looking for work. You may go, but don’t let this happen again. Is that understood?”
Sarah gave him a warm but shaky smile. “Of course. Thank you, Mr. Grendel.” She grabbed Avery’s arm and dragged him down the hall toward the central exit.
Grendel turned and watched them leave with a deep frown on his lips. A figure passed by him, and his anger deepened. “Mr. Flanders, what are you doing out of class?”
The blond-haired young man stopped and looked up at Grendel with a crooked grin. “Just getting some water, Mr. Grendel.”
Grendel pointed down the hall in the direction the young man had come. “The water fountain is the other way.”
Flanders stepped backward and shrugged. “Guess I got a little lost.” He turned and walked back down the hall.
Grendel eyed the young man until the student disappeared around the corner. He returned his attention to where Sarah and her disguised companion had gone. “What trouble have you given yourself this time, Miss Rennelle?”
- Writer
