Awakened (27 page)

“Someone lured your brother away from here with a lie. Find out what’s going on.” He didn’t respond. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, didn’t dare lock on his thoughts to find out. “Did you hear me?” I snapped.

“No one tells me what to do,” he snarled then a chair lifted and whipped through the air. It wasn’t coming toward me or the chair locked in the tug-of-war between me and the demon twins. It was headed for Kylie and the jocks, still frozen at the back of the class.

Keeping my hold on the other chair, I raised my hand and stopped the one Gavyn threw before it hit the students. I brought both chairs down and glared at him. “You could have hurt her.”

He sent a scathing glance at the students. “So? She’s human. Damned fools. Amazing what these were willing to sacrifice to win a game. So many of them, so many opportunities. Don’t get too attached to pawns, Guardian, or you’ll always lose.”

I stepped forward. “Give them back their souls, Gavyn.”

He stepped back. “I don’t have them…yet. Just bought their services for this little game we’re playing, just like I will buy others.” One of the Goetz brothers mumbled something. “Remember what I said, Guardian. Send my brother home, and I’ll leave you alone. Don’t, and you’ll be sorry.”

“I already told you, he’s miss—”

“What’s going on, Lil?” Remy snapped from behind me.

My head whipped toward the door. Remy, Sykes, Kim and Izzy stood in the doorway.

“Are you crazy? You’ve frozen everyone in the building,” Kim added.

I pointed at the corner of the room at Gavyn and his men. “The demons. They…they used these football players to attack my friend. And Bran’s missing. He’s in danger. I tried to tell Gavyn, but he wouldn’t listen. He hates me—”

Sykes gripped my arms and shook me. “Whoa, slow down. What demons?” he asked.

I glanced back at the corner where I last saw Gavyn and the Goetz brothers. They were gone.

18. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

“Gavyn and the Goetz twins were here,” I stressed, blinking hard to stop the tears from falling. Times like this I hated the fact that my tear ducts were tied to my emotions. “Remember? Bran got a message that the twins were dead and that Gavyn was being blamed for it. It’s a lie. They’re alive.”

“Really?” Kim asked.

I bristled, not liking the way she said that one word or how the others looked at me as though I’d lost my mind. I shrugged off Sykes’ hands and leaned against the wall for support. I was shaking. “Yes. I spoke with them just seconds ago. They…were…here.” I pulled out my amulet from under my top. “Look at the stone. It’s still warm and glowing.”

They all stared at the stone. That they needed proof to believe anything I said hurt.

Silence followed.

Did they believe me now? Sykes and Remy’s expressions were blank. Kim and Izzy walked past me to the frozen scene inside the band room. They circled the motionless students and murmured among themselves. I still wasn’t good at linking and only caught snippets of their thoughts.
Freezing people…my powers… not fair.

“Isn’t he supposed to be in some demon jail or something?” Izzy added.

I nodded. “For the Goetz twins’ disappearance. Yet they were here with him.”

“The bastard is playing games,” Sykes said, drawing my attention.

“He’s not. Bran believed his brother was in trouble,” I snapped.

“I meant Gavyn. He lured Bran away, and now he’s messing with you,” Sykes explained.

I shook my head. “Gavyn doesn’t know Bran’s gone. That’s why he was here. He promised to keep coming after my friends until Bran goes home. I tried to tell him he wasn’t here, but he wouldn’t listen to me.” My voice ended in a sob, which only ticked me off.

“Then someone in the demon world
is
up to something,” Sykes muttered.

“Yep, and we’re caught in the middle,” Remy added.

I blinked at his choice of word. “We?”

“Yes,
we
. When a demon targets one of us, he or she deals with all of us.” He glanced at the others for affirmation.

Sykes nodded.

Izzy and Kim took their time before bobbing their heads.

“The Cardinals might think we’re inexperienced and keep us out of the loop whenever something big is going down, but we’re more than ready for assignments. If Gavyn comes back, we’ll be waiting for him. If Bran needs our help, we’ll give it to him.” Sykes grinned as though enjoying the thought of a good fight.

“Thanks.” My voice broke.

“So what’s the plan?” Izzy asked.

Remy pointed at Dark Roots. “Bring him inside and unfreeze everyone, Lil. Let’s finish this in private.”

I pointed at Dark Roots and dragged him across the floor to the band room. Up the ramp, students were still frozen on the dance floor and in the hallway. I focused, raised my hand and pressed a palm toward them.
Unfreeze.

Using my powers the second time was a little easier but I was beginning to feel lightheaded and fatigued. And my head hurt. The students came to life, continuing to and from the restrooms as though they hadn’t stopped moving. Dancers resumed dancing and adjusted to a different rhythm. If anyone noticed the change in songs, I hope they’d blame the deejays.

“You may want to unlock the doors, too,” Sykes reminded me.

I did, smiled at him in gratitude as I joined them inside the room and closed the door.

“And these boneheads?” Sykes asked, pointing at the still frozen Dark Roots and his friends in the room with McKenzie.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Can’t we beat the crap out of them and teach them a lesson or something?”

“Don’t you know anything? We can’t use our powers to harm humans. It’s against the code,” Izzy snapped.

I caught her eyes and sighed. Why couldn’t she see it wasn’t my fault her powers and mine had similar effect? As a Time Guardian, she froze things by stopping time while I froze things without affecting time. I couldn’t even explain how I did it.

I looked away from her and focused on the frozen students. “What if we just humiliate them?”

“By doing what?” Izzy asked in a belligerent tone.

“What did you have in mind?” Remy added in a more calm and reasonable voice.

“Strip them and throw away their clothes?” I suggested.

Everyone laughed, except Izzy.

Remy nodded. “Good idea. Sykes and I will stand guard outside.” They left the room still laughing.

I went to McKenzie and pried the boys’ hands from her arms. Izzy and Kim joined me. Once we freed McKenzie, we carried her to a chair. Because she was stiff, she started sliding off. The others held on to her while I went to work.

A wave of my hand and the clothes ripped off each boy. Jeans, T-shirts and underwear flew to my feet. Even touching their clothes repulsed me. I wiggled my finger in the air and they formed a bundle, opened the door and sent them outside to where Sykes and Remy stood. “Dump them in a trash can somewhere.”

“I’ll burn them,” Sykes said and guffawed as I closed the door. I turned to Izzy and Kim. “On a count of three, I’ll unfreeze them and McKenzie.”

Kim pulled out her cell phone from a small pouch around her waist. “Let them see how they like being humiliated.”

“One, two, three.” I waved a hand and everything happened at once.

McKenzie’s body jerked. She tried to scramble to her feet and at the same time, opened her mouth to scream. No sound came out. It was either stolen by the scene across from us or our presence and my soothing words. “You’re okay, McKenzie….you passed out…nothing happened…we got here on time….” I stayed by her side.

Across from us, Dark Roots shot to his feet and joined his bewildered friends who were trying to cover their private parts. “What happened? Where are our clothes?”

“Sorry we had to stop your little party, boys?” Izzy mocked them.

“Next time, you’ll think twice before you attempt to rape a girl,” Kim added.

“And your clothes are gone,” Izzy continued. “So either you leave this room buff or wait until the dance’s over and sneak out. Either way, you’re walking home naked.”

Kim lifted her cell phone and pressed a button. “And this should get a million hits by the end of tomorrow. I think the caption should read, ‘Beware Would-be Rapists’.”

For the moment, the boys froze with comical expressions on their faces.

“What? Nothing to say now?” Izzy mocked.

The one who’d lured McKenzie away sneered. “We’ll report you to the police.”

“Oh, I’d love to hear that,” Kim said. “Three girls stripped you naked because you were trying to rape their friend. That’ll go over well with the cops.”

“It will be your words against ours,” Dark Root yelled. “My father is a lawyer.”

“Ooh, scary. Too bad we have other witnesses,” Izzy added.

As if to prove her right, a loud knock came at the door and Sykes asked, “Are you guys done?”

“Almost,” I answered. Kim and Izzy were still having fun.

I helped McKenzie to her feet. She was still staring at the naked jocks with wide eyes. “You okay?”

She nodded, leaned back and glanced at the other trainees. “How did you guys do this?”

“Long story,” I said, adjusting her top and fluffing her hair.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” she whispered.

“You don’t need to. Girls must watch out for each other,” Izzy said. She looked at the jocks who were still glaring at us, their hands between their legs. “Goodnight boys.” She opened the door and stepped out. Kim took one last shot of the boys and closed her cell phone. She followed Izzy out, grinning.

McKenzie and I left last. We didn’t close the door, but within seconds, it was slammed shut from inside. We all laughed.

“Maybe I should enroll at C12 dojo and learn self-defense,” McKenzie whispered as we joined the others.

Izzy touched her arm. “That’s a nice idea.”

“And if you need pointers, you know where to find us,” Kim added.

McKenzie’s eyes widened. “Thank you, guys.”

Sykes turned to McKenzie and offered her his hand. “How about a dance?”

Her cheeks turned beet red. She shrunk from his hand and shook her head. “I, uh, just want to go home.”

“It’s okay,” I whispered to her. “You can trust Sykes and Remy. They’d never hurt you. They kept watch while we took care of the guys inside.”

McKenzie shook her head, her eyes vulnerable. “I’m sorry. I just want to go home.”

Remy cocked his elbow. “No need to apologize. We’ll drive you home.”

She looked at me. “Will you come?”

“Sure. Let me find Amelia and Kylie and tell them we’re leaving. Wait for me outside the school.”

McKenzie nodded and walked toward the foyer with the guys. Shoulders hunched, she hugged her arms as though she was cold. Kim, Izzy and I followed.

“Poor girl,” I said, focusing on McKenzie. My head hurt and I felt sluggish, like I was sleepwalking.

“She’ll be fine. Humans are resilient,” Kim answered as she put away her cell phone.

Izzy grabbed my arm. “I want to introduce you to someone. And for the record,” she continued. “I’m going to let it all out because I hate bottling things up. You’ve some crazy, crazy powers, girl. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say it bothers me that they overlap with mine. But,” she shrugged, “I’ll get over it.”

Her honesty touched me. Since I couldn’t tell her, I did the next best thing. I hugged her.

She patted my back and laughed. “Okay. Enough. You’re wrinkling my shirt.”

I laughed, stepped back and caught a defenseless look in Kim’s blue eyes, but she hid it so fast I might have imagined it. She didn’t speak, just shrugged and disappeared in the restroom. Izzy rolled her eyes, and slanted her head toward the dance floor. “There he is.”

The boy she was with earlier detached himself from a group of guys and walked toward us. He slipped his arms around her shoulders. “Done?”

“Yeah.”

“You should have let me watch,” he teased.

“You know the rules, baby. I don’t make them. Rastiel…Lil,” she introduced us.

His black eyes twinkled. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you, Lil.”

Up close, he looked even more handsome, his brown skin smooth and unblemished. “I hope it’s all good.”

“It’s all good. Hey, Sebastian?” he called over his shoulder. A guy with curly brown hair and features so refined he looked like a doll left the same group of guys and joined us. Unlike Rastiel’s casual attire, Sebastian wore tan pants, dressy shoes and a navy-blue silk shirt. “Meet Lil.”

“Well, it’s nice to finally meet,” Sebastian said in a distinct British accent. “Everybody’s been talking about you, the new trainee with exceptional powers.”

I shrugged. “Hardly. I, uh, got to run. My friend’s waiting outside.”

“We’ll reconnect at the party next week,” Sebastian said.

I nodded. As I turned to leave, Kim walked to his side and slipped her arms around his waist. I waved to the four of them and circled the crowd, staying close to the wall until I reached where I’d left Amelia. She wasn’t there. Times like this, I wished I had a cell phone to text or call them.

I headed toward the front entrance, stepped outside and saw Remy talking to McKenzie by one of the trees. Sykes grabbed my arm before I could join them. “Let Remy do his big brother thing.”

“What happened?”

“She started to cry when we reached outside. I don’t know what to do with a hysterical girl, but Remy’s had lots of practice. His four sisters can drive anyone insane, except him.”

I studied Remy as he listened to McKenzie. She was gesturing while he nodded and patted her shoulder. His face was calm and his movements non-threatening.

“Don’t you have any siblings?” I asked Sykes.

He shuddered. “No, thank goodness. My parents have room for just one child…me. And I like it that way.”

“I bet you were a brat.”

“More like a child genius.” He puffed his chest and smirked. “Plus, I’m the first generation Cardinal in my family. Ah, here comes our unsung hero.” Remy joined us, but McKenzie stayed by the tree. “Is she going to be okay now?”

Remy nodded. “We’ll drop her off on our way to Lil’s place.”

“My place? Why are you coming to my place?” I didn’t realize how rude my question was until the guys’ raised their brows. “I mean, it’s late and I have to wake up early tomorrow morning for my session with Mrs. D. Then there’s shopping. I’ve lots and lots of shopping to do.”