The Last Alignment: Cry of the Scorpions (20 page)

“
Hudson, does she dress
like that all of the time,” whispered Natalye. Hudson didn’t reply,
but shook his head “yes.”

“
Hello?! Amanda? We’re
over here by the sign,” Awbrey said frantically. “Can you please
just come so that we can talk?” Androse watched Amanda stop walking
with her cell phone up to her ear. For a second he thought that she
was going to turn around, but then she tossed her phone into a
bunch of bushes and kept on her way.

“
What a bitch,” Androse
heard Zander murmur to Natalye. “I see why she and Awbrey are
friends. Birds of a damn feather.”

“
Come on,” Hudson said
taking Awbrey by the hand.

“
What are you doing,” she
asked.

“
She’s not coming over
here, so we have to go to her. The sooner we talk to her, the
sooner we can leave and get back to my house.”

“
Or, we could turn around
and go back now,” said Androse. “You tried. She clearly doesn’t
want to speak to-”

“
We
’
re already here
,
Androse
,”
Awbrey said through gritted teeth. “I’m not leaving without making
things right with my friend. If you’re that damn afraid of getting
caught, then go back by yourself and be useful and try to cover for
us.” With that, Awbrey and Hudson set off toward the school and
Zander and Natalye followed them.

Androse stood there for a
moment stinging because Awbrey obviously still thought that he was
pathetic, but then he shook it off, took a deep breath, and ran to
catch up. Sometimes, one just had to accept it when things were out
of their control. He actually thought that Awbrey’s suggestion was
a good one for a second, but now he refused to go back since he had
been called out.
Fuck
it
, he thought as he sprinted up behind
Natalye.
Whatever
happens
,
happens
. Besides, he wouldn’t have
been able to cover for them anyway. Even if he were to tell the
adults that Awbrey, Zander, Hudson, and Natalye were still
sleeping, Sylvia would’ve found out that they weren’t there after
she Sensed the house which would’ve made Androse look like an
untrustworthy liar and caused his grandfather to get on his case.
Charles hadn’t really spoken to Androse since the first meeting and
Androse hadn’t spoken to him because he was still working up the
nerve to apologize. Nevertheless, he couldn’t say that he minded
the fact that they weren’t speaking; it had been nice not having
Charles breathing down his neck like he usually did.

When they got to the sidewalk in front of
the school, it wasn’t long before Hudson and Awbrey had people
going out of their way to say hello to them, but chiefly Hudson.
There was a slew of, “Hey! I thought you weren’t coming back,” and
“I heard that you guys moved away,” and people wanting to stand
around and catch up. There was a group of girls that had started
toward them all eyeing Hudson, but once they saw Awbrey they all
stopped, exchanged looks, and opted to walk in a different
direction though Androse was sure that he saw one of them smile at
him before she turned around. After making their way through the
crowd and trying his best to politely blow people off, Hudson was
finally able to lead them into the school and from the looks of it,
Vancent was grand.

There was a massive blue and white marble
staircase about twenty feet from the front doors that led to the
second level, and there were blue and white banners, posters, and
decorations everywhere that displayed the name of the school and
had “scorpions” emblazoned on them in metallic silver letters.
There was a vast glass trophy case that exhibited athletic and
academic awards that the school had won, and there were pictures of
past and present students that hung beside some of the trophies.
Overall, the place had a very prideful feel and it was a big change
from Androse’s last school. However, he squashed his excitement
since he wasn’t going to get the chance to attend Vancent
anyway.

“
Okay, it’s nine-thirty,”
Hudson said after looking at his watch. “We have fifteen minutes
until the bell rings, so let’s-”

“
Hudson
Williams,” called a voice to their right. They
all looked to see a woman standing in front of the main office
leaning against the glass. She had short blonde hair, brown eyes,
and she wore a basic brown pantsuit. “And Awbrey Cates,” the woman
said folding her arms. “I thought that you two were out of the
country and weren’t supposed to be back until Thursday?”
I knew it
, Androse
thought pursing his lips.
I knew we were
going to get caught
.

“
I’m sorry, but who are
you,” Awbrey asked.

“
My name is Michelle
Green,” she said walking over to them. “I’m one of the new Office
Assistants.”

“
And, how do you know who
we are,” asked Hudson.

“
Student database,” Ms.
Green explained. “I’m one of those people who like to stay
informed.” She then looked around at all of them, and by the way
that she glanced back and forth at Androse, one would’ve thought
that he was someone that she recognized though he was sure that he
had never met her before today. “Okay, let’s see if I can get this
right,” Ms. Green said placing a hand on her chin. “Androse
McWayne?”

He didn’t know what to do. Ms. Green
obviously knew who he was, but if she studied the student database,
then how could she have possibly known that he was who he was if he
didn’t yet have a picture in the database? Realizing that he was
taking too long, Androse went ahead and answered. “Yeah. That’s
me,” he said slyly eyeballing Hudson to try and convey that he
thought something was wrong, but Hudson just shrugged his
shoulders. He hadn’t been kidding before; he really didn’t pick up
on things all that well.

“
Then that would mean that
you two must be Zander Rostino and Natalye Roberts,
correct?”

“
Yes, ma’am,” they
answered in unison.

“
Good, then. Very good,”
Ms. Green smiled. “If you five would follow me to the office, then
I’ll get you your class schedules.”
Shit
, Androse thought. They all
exchanged glances and Awbrey pointed to her watch. “Hurry up, now,”
Ms. Green called over her shoulder. “The bell is going to ring in a
little over ten minutes.

They followed her into the main office where
there was another woman sitting at a desk. She had long, dark brown
hair, dark eyes, and she too wore a pantsuit except hers was gray.
“Isabel, would you mind giving me a hand with these students’
schedules,” Ms. Green asked opening a file cabinet. “That’s Isabel
Donson, by the way. She’s the other new Office Assistant.” The
woman named Isabel looked up and grinned, but then went right back
to whatever it was that she was doing on her computer.

“
What happened to Mrs.
Duncan and Mrs. Moore,” asked Awbrey.

“
I don’t actually know,”
Ms. Green said sifting through folders. “I didn’t ask because that
information is irrelevant to me. Let’s see…I have Awbrey’s, I have
Hudson’s, and…what do you know, I have Androse’s as well,” she said
pulling out three folders. “Androse, I read that you attended an
all-male private school.”

“
Yeah, I did,” he said
looking at the clock.

“
That’s fascinating. Well,
I’m sure that you’ll love it here at Vancent. Should be a nice
change,” Ms. Green said handing him his schedule. “Your locker card
is stapled to the top, and here are your schedules,” she said
handing pieces of paper to Awbrey and Hudson. “Now, you three get
along. And Mr. McWayne, I’m sure that Awbrey will take good care of
you on your first day. You two have almost all of the same classes,
and seeing as how all five of you spent almost a whole month
together in Europe, I would say that you’re fortunate to come in
already having friends.”

“
Uh…yeah, I guess,”
Androse replied trying to seem calm.

“
Oh, I almost forgot,”
said Ms. Green. “We need to make you an ID card, but we can do that
before lunch. Just swing back by here and I’ll get you squared
away. Mr. Rostino and Ms. Roberts, we can make your cards shortly
while Ms. Donson figures out your schedules.”

“
Well, let’s get going you
guys. Don’t want to be late,” Awbrey said wasting no time in
walking to the door. Androse saw Zander’s and Natalye’s eyes widen
and he knew what they were thinking.
We
can
’
t just leave
them here
, he thought. “Thanks, Ms.
Green,” Awbrey said stepping out into the hallway. “Nice to meet
you.”

“
You are very welcome, and
likewise,” Ms. Green said smiling. “Zander and Natalye, if you two
will have a seat in front of Ms. Donson, we can start getting you
sorted out.” Hudson pulled Androse out of the office by the
forearm, closed the door, grabbed Awbrey’s hand, and then the three
of them set off.

Are you
serious
, Androse thought. “Guys,” he said
allowing himself to be steered along, “we have to figure something
out. We can’t just leave them in there!”

“
I know,” Hudson said
looking around. “Believe me, we won’t be here for too much longer.
I’ll text Natalye and tell them both to go to the bathrooms and
wait for us. It’ll be fine.”

That
’
s not good
enough
, Androse thought. “Look, I got
a...a
feeling
,”
he said stepping behind Hudson so that he wouldn’t run into what
looked like a teacher. “We need to get out of here as soon as
possible.”

His words fell on deaf ears.

Awbrey led the way down a series of hallways
while Androse tried to hide the fact that he was panicking. Before
long, Amanda came into view as she was standing at her locker and
despite the fact that Androse was semi-relieved that they had
finally found her, the sight of her was even worse up close.
Amanda’s dress had a lot more detail than what he could see before
and the color itself was hard on the eyes. She also had on a lot of
makeup, but it didn’t help to soften her prominent nose or jaw at
all. She had on white heels and long silver earrings, seemingly
trying her best to look as ladylike as she possibly could. It
wasn’t hard to tell that Amanda dressed like this in an effort to
make herself feel womanly and without realizing it, Androse pitied
her.

“
Amanda,” Awbrey called as
they walked toward her, but then the three of them stopped dead in
their tracks when she looked at them. Her stare had been blank, but
then it read of nothing but the purest hatred. However, it wasn’t
her look that stopped them; it was a sensation, and without
thinking about it, Androse was taking steps backward as were Hudson
and Awbrey.

“
H-Hudson…do you feel
that,” Awbrey asked as she put a hand on her stomach.

“
Yeah, I do,” he replied
staring at Amanda as she reached into her locker.

“
I feel it too,” Androse
said knowing that something awful was about to happen. It was dread
the likes of which he had never felt before. It started in the pit
of his core and swiftly spread itself throughout his entire being
to the tips of his toes, the tips of his fingers, and the very top
of his head. Androse was all too familiar with anxiety, but this
time, it was different. There was a distinct and unnatural edge to
it that put him on guard and he knew that it had something to do
with their powers.

“
Oh
,
my God
,”
Awbrey shouted, and after looking up, Androse saw why she had cried
out. “AMANDA,
NO
!!”

Chapter
15

Zander

How are we going to get out of this? We
can’t leave the school now. They’ll call our parents.

-Natalye

It
doesn
’
t even
matter what we do at this point
, Zander
thought locking his cell phone.
We
’
re
caught if we stay
,
we
’
re
caught if we leave
.
We
’
re in
deep shit any way you slice it
.

Zander knew that by this time his mother was
at least up. The only hope that they had was the fact that they
were allowed to sleep in, but even that was bleak since all Sylvia
had to do was Sense the house and she would know that they weren’t
there. Zander looked at Natalye whose leg was going sixty miles an
hour. She was clearly nervous, and Zander supposed that he was used
to getting in trouble so he felt like there was no need to be
afraid of what was inevitably going to happen. He was simply
bracing himself to deal with his mother and the possibility that he
would never sit right or see daylight again.

“
Okay, it’s nine-forty
five. Time to ring the…
what in the
world
,” Ms. Green said getting up from her
desk. Now that Zander noticed, he thought that his body had been
pulsing because of the trouble that he knew they were in, but it
wasn’t that; the ground was literally shaking and it was distantly
noisy too. He turned around to see people screaming and
hysterically running out of the front doors of the school through
the office window. Security guards were doing their best to direct
students and were speaking wildly into their radios with horrified
expressions on their faces.