KATIE LEFT MY ROOM A little while after we shared our experiences. I had missed her company and was glad she finally found time to come by. I felt lighter by the time I shut the door behind her, and hungrier. After washing up, I head for the dining hall near the front of campus. My heart’s racing despite the fact that I’m telling myself there’s nothing to be nervous about, but I know that’s a lie. There’s everything to be nervous about. I’m surrounded by a room full of novices from first year to fourth year who think I’m a suspicious dormant.
I blend into the crowd of novices already filing in through the front doors, and focus on the smell of dinner coming from the kitchen near the back of the large hall. Circular tables fill the main room, all with eight chairs around them. Some have pushed tables together, while others sit in the windowsills alone or carry their food outside. Elders and Grounds Keepers mix in with the group, filling the air with words and laughter. It’s the same way night after night.
I try to find Katie amongst the loud chatter and shoving, but it is like looking for a zebra in a pack of zebras; though everyone is different, they all look the same, black uniforms, anxious faces. I bite the inside of my lip and decide to continue with the flow of the crowd, which carries me to the back of the large hall where the food line forms.
There aren’t as many options as I thought there would be; lots of fruit to choose from, chicken or steak, potatoes or macaroni, green beans or corn, biscuits or corn bread, cake or ice cream. I take whatever they put on my plate, too hungry and too nervous to care, and head for the open refrigerator that offers milk or chocolate milk. I reach for the chocolate. I’m already in all black, might as well follow the pattern of darkness.
“I see you’ve been brought to the dark side,” Jaxen says from behind me. I jump at the sound of his voice, dropping the milk in the process. It smashes against the ground, but thankfully doesn’t burst open. He chuckles and bends down to pick it up for me at the same time as I do. On the way down, we bump heads hard enough to knock us both back onto our butts.
“I’m so sorry!” I rush out, rubbing at my head. My face is on fire.
“You’re growing notorious for food handling misconduct. I think I might have to report you,” he says, pulling himself back up to his feet. I meet his gaze when I stand, the fire in my face now coming from something different- the glint in his green eyes and the upturned pull of his charming smile. “It was my fault for startling you.” He puts the milk on my tray that sits on the metal stand.
“I… I’m sorry,” I say, shaking my head, realizing that I just apologized again, “I just…it was…I see you’re in a better mood, Dr. Jekyll.” My eyes grow wide the minute the thought passes through my mouth.
His grin grows a little wider, a little more crooked. “Well, I guess I’m full of surprises,” he says, reaching for a chocolate milk. He walks past me and turns to wait for me to follow. I have to pick my jaw up from off the floor and shake my head, even blink rapidly. He’s still the same Jaxen on the outside, so who could possibly be possessing his mind?
I want to ask him why the sudden interest in hanging around with me, but don’t. I follow him back out into the dining hall, watching him out the side of my eye.
“I don’t miss these days.” He looks out at all the novices filling the hall, seeming stuck between a memory and reality. I follow his gaze, trying to picture what it would be like looking through his eyes. I don’t think it’s as far off from how I see it. There are so many faces, so many voices, all of them foreign and disjointed from the path we’re walking, all of them oblivious.
I follow the perfect arch of his back, watching the way his heavy steps call attention from the people near him without ever meaning to. There’s a wild danger about him, and even amongst a sea of innocents, he can’t help but intimidate. We walk past a few more tables until I notice a particular auburn-colored head hunched over her plate. Katie’s sitting a couple tables over with two others, all looking surprisingly morose.
“I’m going to go to go say hi to Katie,” I say, not waiting to see his response. I walk over to her, hoping he follows, but not asking him to. I don’t want him to think I’m desperate or in need of his company, because I’m not…or so I tell myself.
But when I notice him following me, the pace of my heart picks up and a grin pulls at my lips, telling me otherwise.
“Hey! You’re actually here!” I call out when I reach the table. I think she flinches at the sound of my voice, but I can’t be sure because she follows up by getting up quickly and throwing her arms around my neck. There’s a desperation in the way she’s hugging me. I pull her a little tighter, feeling confused. She just left my room, happy and whole.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she says, emotion choking her words. I try to pull back to see her, because she sounds like she may be crying, but she hangs on tightly, refusing to let me go. My eyes wander over to the two others sitting at her table. Todd smiles sadly at me, like there’s a reason to be sad and the reason is Katie.
My stomach somersaults with worry.
The other at the table is a black-haired girl with small, green eyes and quirky turned up features. I smile awkwardly at them from over her shoulder. By the way they’re leaned into each other, I can tell they’re affinity partners.
She lets me go and turns to them. “This is Todd and Jia-Lu, Hunter and Witch couple.” She nearly falls back into her chair. “This is Faye, guys.” I sit next to her and smile up at them, but their eyes aren’t on me, they are on Jaxen who’s still standing behind me.
“Jaxen Gramm. Nice to meet you,” Jaxen says, sitting in the chair on the other side of me. I gulp, unsure if I’m nervous because of meeting new people, or nervous from the fact that he’s so close. And smelling so good.
“Gramm?” Todd asks, “As in the Gramm brothers?” He looks over at Jia and they exchange looks, the kind of looks you exchange with your friend after you encounter a star. Or someone with a heavy reputation.
“Yeah. One of them,” he says, his tone deflating like a balloon. He picks his fork up and digs into his food, ignoring their intrigued stares.
“So,” I say, pushing my hair over my shoulder. I open my milk and take a sip, coating the back of my dry mouth. “Where’s Chett?”
She nearly chokes on a mouthful of potatoes. Jia and Todd look at her sympathetically, and I feel a small sense of jealousy creeping into the back of my mind. They already know things about her, things that I don’t, but should, things I would know had I been a normal Primeval. They probably even share classes together, classes that I don’t have time to be a part of, classes that I’ll never be a part of.
“He’s uh, he’s over there,” she says, pointing without looking over to her left.
“Okay,” I say lowly, looking down at the back of Katie’s head. I have yet to see her face. I don’t understand why she’s hiding, why she’s being so weird. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her hide from anything in her life, not even when her grandmother had passed. A sick, sinking feeling coils around my heart.
“Katie, what…”
I peer back over my shoulder, and, sure enough, there’s Chett. He’s standing up, one foot propped up in a chair. He’s talking to a table full of girls who all seem enamored by him. There’s another guy next to him, who looks the same in size but with blonde hair, talking to one of the girls.
“Why is he over there?” I feel a sense of betrayal for her. He’s eating up the attention with a silver spoon. The affinity bond isn’t supposed to be that way, especially not in the beginning, at least, that’s what we’ve been told our whole lives. Maybe there are more lies than we knew what to do with.
“‘Cause Chett’s a douche bag,” Todd says, glaring over at the table. He’s sitting erect now, seeming more like a Hunter than before. “And so is his friend Mike. They both get off on bullying and flirting.” Jia wraps her arm around Todd’s, leaning into him.
“He’s ‘rebelling’ against the natural order,” Jia quotes.
“He thinks he doesn’t have to follow the criteria and subject himself to just his Witch. He also doesn’t know how to treat people right. He’s let everyone know that Witches should be considered a Hunter’s property, not their equal.”
Jaxen snorts.
“I don’t understand, Kat. You didn’t tell me it was that bad,” I say, wishing she would just look up at me. “We have to do something.”
“No,” she says. “There’s nothing that can be done, nothing that will change who he is. It’s rooted into his thick skull. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay the Coven for giving me such a wonderful partner.” The amount of venom and disgust in her voice, I believe, could kill on spot. She stuffs her mouth full of more potatoes.
“He won’t get very far with that thinking. Someone will end up beating that train of thought out of him,” Jaxen says from over the top of his tray. “You can’t fight what’s meant to be.” I catch him looking over at my arm where my mark is and feel my face scrunch.
“Katie,” I say with force. She finally looks up at me. Her eyes are a little glossy, and just above her cheek is a dark pink, almost purple welt. A volcanic heat wave passes over my entire body, pressing my lips and eyes into a firm line.
“Who did that to you?” I can barely get the words out, I’m shaking so badly. Someone physically hurt her. Someone laid a hand on her, and I bet I know who it was.
She stares off distantly through the hall windows. Something was broken in her gaze, stolen from her. Her light, her hope, it was missing. “I don’t know why I was matched with him.” I don’t like the tremble in her voice. I reach for her arm. She looks down at my hand, and then tenses. “I’d rather not talk about it here. I’d rather not talk about it at all, not until I can gain control of my mind.”
The telepathic link.
I look back over my shoulder at the infamous Chett. His eyes are pinned on me, a scowl forming on his lips. My face stiffens, and I narrow my eyes on him, not willing to back down. “We’ll talk tonight,” I say lowly, still glaring at Chett. He’s the first to break, as if I’m not competition, and turns back to the table, picking right back up wherever he had left off with his table full of airheads.
“I can’t,” she says, regret in her voice. I look back at her. “I have a lot of reading to catch up on tonight. We have pre-screen exams tomorrow in Aura Reading and Herbology. Plus, I need to get my head in the game for quarter trials. Maybe in a couple of days?” She sounds so miserable, nothing like the girl who left my room. All because of him. He literally sucked the fun out of this for her.
“Okay.” I grab the biscuit off my plate and take an angry bite. I can’t help the millions of cruel thoughts burning through my mind. There has to be a way she can be reassigned. Maybe the Culling quartz was wrong? I know Mack won’t tolerate abuse. Someone needs to report what’s happening.
“I’m going to report his ass, Katie. He can’t touch you, not like that.” She looks at me, panic in her eyes. Before I know what’s happening, Jaxen stiffens next to me and then stands up so forcefully his chair flies backwards. I look up at him, watching the rage rolling over his face, darkening his eyes and features. He wears a mask of confidence, an air of defiance. He’s a vision of a Hunter.
“That’s not going to happen.” It’s a voice I don’t recognize, and there’s an unfamiliar hand resting on my shoulder, gripping hard enough to leave a mark.
“Chett,” Katie says, turning to face him, “not now.” Her face is tight with anger, but her voice has an edge of fear to it. I twist under his grip and jump out of my seat, shoving him back. “Faye, don’t, please.” Her voice drops as her eyes plead with me. “You’ll embarrass me. I have to be the one to fix this.”
Katie’s words barely register. “Don’t you EVER touch me like that,” I say, my temper going from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds. He picks his gaze up from Katie and drops it on me. His eyes are so dark brown they almost look black. From this close, I can see the twisted crook in his nose. It had definitely been broken many times. I wouldn’t mind breaking it again. His hair is shaved around the sides, except for a small patch on the top that resembles a mohawk.
“You must be Faye,” Chett says to me. His eyes roam over me, almost in an approving manner. I shudder, feeling violated and enraged. “I hear you’re some kind of super freak or something. Is that true?” He tilts his head, staring at me squarely.
“Don’t answer him,” Jaxen says, moving around my chair to get in Chett’s face. His chest is bulked up, the muscles in his back flexed to the point of stretching the leather in his jacket. He walks Chett a step back. Chett bows up, bumping Jaxen back with his chest. He’s clearly an idiot.
“Come to protect your stupid Witch? Going to beat me up?” Chett breaks off in laughter, looking around the table as if everyone else should be laughing right along with him, but they aren’t. Their eyes are like mine, wide with fear and centered on Jaxen, the Hunter with the power to hurt Chett if he really wants to.
A low growl comes from somewhere deep inside of Jaxen, slowly building and radiating through the hall. The chatter inside of the hall dies off as every head turns in our direction. Volation races down Jaxen’s arms, sparking with blue lightning, something only a seasoned Hunter could do in the hall and so far away from his Witch.
Something only a Night Watchman could do.
Chett takes a step back, his face paling a little. He must finally realize that Jaxen isn’t just another novice. “I see. A bodyguard for super freak here.” He points to me, but his shoulders are tense. He’s scared. He grabs Katie’s arm and tugs her up out of the chair, knocking the edge of her plate in the process. Food flies into the air, landing on the ground in between us.
It’s so quiet now; I can hear the sound of my heart pounding in my ears. Katie’s eyes flicker to mine, and something inside of me breaks at the sight of fear on her face, the same kind of fear I felt before the Culling. Jaxen takes a step in Chett’s direction, but I move between them.
“Let her go,” I say evenly, demandingly.
He glares down at me, his grip tightening around her arm. “Or what? Going to have your boy toy do your dirty work? She’s my property now,” he spits out. He jerks Katie’s arm and pulls her away from me, moving toward the exit.
“Just let it go, Faye. This is my problem to deal with.” Katie doesn’t even look at me when she says this. She tries to pull out of his arm, but he lifts his hand like he is about to strike her.
My rage is a caged animal finally let loose.
Instinct, or something Primeval coursing through my blood, snaps open in a flurry. An angry growl rips past my lips as I lunge for Chett, throwing myself onto his back. I start punching him in the head. Tiny, crackling sparks ignite with every hit, growing stronger and stronger. I can feel the volation waking inside of me, the electricity in the air waiting to be tapped in to. There’s also a force, the one implemented to keep novices from using their powers outside of the classrooms, trying to dampen my power, but I shove it off, determined to prove a point. I pull hard on my power, using it to make my hits count. The lights flicker in and out the more I pull, filling my arms with electric power. I slam one fist into his ear, and then the other to his temple.
He thrashes and reaches for me, trying to pull me off of him while the whole dining hall chants, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” all around us. I see red, focused on the sole intent of revenge, revenge for hitting my best friend, revenge for hating what can’t be controlled, revenge for taking away her control.
I’m so caught up that I barely feel Jaxen’s hands around my waist, prying me off of him. I can’t tell who I’m hitting anymore. I can’t even tell where Katie is. All I see is anger and hate and a need to release everything that’s been locked deep inside of me.
“Faye!” Jaxen barks, shaking me one good time.
A veil lifts from my eyes. I blink, and then blink again. Blood covers my fists, and there’s a stinging sensation on my lip. I was hit? I didn’t even
feel it when it happened. I jerk my head around him, searching for Katie. All I see is blank stares. Chett’s on the ground next to me, blood pouring from his nose and eye. His friend is hunched over him, glaring up at me.
“Crazy freak,” he spits out.
I don’t wince. The words bounce off of me. I flex my bloodied fist at him, still clinging to the edges of anger. The front door to the dining hall bursts open. Three Elders flood through the doors, eyes scanning the crowd. They were probably summoned by my misuse of power, sent here to deliver punishment.
I gulp.
“Let’s go,” Jaxen says, his hands still on my waist. My skin burns achingly underneath my shirt from his touch. He lightly pushes me forward, walking me in the opposite direction of the Elders. The novices in the dining hall scatter about as they all scramble to leave. No one wants to be around when there’s trouble with an Elder.
“Where’s Katie?” I ask, stopping to look past him. His grip tightens around my waist.
“Todd and Jia took her away after you started fighting. I told them to,” he says in a hushed voice, guiding me to a side door. He’s using the movement of the novices to our advantage. We’re walking as quickly as possible without giving us away.
When I step into the cold night air, he finally lets me go. I’m all too aware of the disappearance of his hands. I tuck the thought away as best as I can, knowing it’ll lead to nothing good, only expectations unfulfilled. Pain ignites in my hand and in my jaw. I reach up to rub it, but Jaxen pushes my hand away. “We need to get you hidden for now, at least until I can talk to Mack about what happened.”
“Where?” I ask, my head starting to throb on the side. I forget about my lip and lick the outside, wincing from the sting. Chett must’ve punched me, but everything is just a huge blur. All I can remember is the anger and the power.
“I guess you can come back to the room Gavin and I share. You should be safe there.” My heart jumps at the mention, but I do little to show it.