Tompkin's School (For The Extraordinarily Talented Book 1) (17 page)

I rang the bell on the handheld remote and soon a nurse came in.

“Do you have a phone I could use?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, there’s only the one on the wall for emergencies,” the nurse replied.

“I mean, a cell phone?” I asked, “I need to look something up. It’s an emergency.”

The nurse looked at me skeptically, but came over and allowed me to borrow hers.

“This is not usually done,” she said, “but go ahead.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

She handed me her cell after unlocking the screen and I quickly pulled up a search engine, typing in my question. I saw that it pulled up that the next full moon occurred on October 23 at around 1am in the morning and I smiled. Our revenge could take place here soon. I closed the browser and handed the phone back.

“All done?" She asked, her eyebrows still up in skepticism.

“Yep,” I answered, “thanks again.”

“Mmhmm,” she replied, heading back out of the room.

My head raced with the limitless possibilities. We had a few hours before it would be close to midnight and I wondered when the powers actually set in. Did it have to be exactly the time of the full moon? Or was that just when the wings grew? I decided I was going to try. I closed my eyes, attempting to relax all the muscles in my body. I wasn’t sure if this was going to work as I had never attempted anything like it before, but it was worth a shot. I tried to focus only on Kain and the message I wanted to get to him. I felt my whole body suddenly become extremely still. It was unnatural, but it allowed me to focus more on my goal. My mind soon filled with a voice that was no longer my own. But I couldn’t comprehend what it was saying as if it was muffled. It was working! I gasped as the realization set in and the voice immediately disappeared. I needed to focus more. I relaxed my body as I made my second attempt. My muscles once again becoming still as I increasingly focused internally. My thoughts no longer swarmed around noisily as I once more heard the muffled foreign voice in my mind. I listened to the strange buzzing sounds the voice made and I felt it growing stronger.

Izzy.

The voice suddenly whispered in my head and I immediately knew it was Kain.

It’s me.
I thought.

How are you doing this?
Kain asked.

It’s nearly the full moon.
I thought, opening up my memories of the past few minutes to Kain so he could understand.

This means we’ll be transitioning soon
.
Kain replied.

Yes.
I affirmed.

Chuck will pay for this.
Kain’s voice painfully growled in my head.

Ouch! Careful!
I complained.

Sorry.
he replied.

I’ve been thinking about our next steps.
I added.

Me, too,
he thought,
Show me what you’ve got.

I thought back to my plan and brought them to the forefront of my thoughts so that Kain could experience them also. We would find Chuck wherever he was, bring him back to the lodge, and torture him. It wasn’t a very detailed plan, but it was a skeleton of a good idea. Kain would be able to embellish it and add the finishing touches.

Tonight we’ll take care of him,
Kain replied.

What about the hospital?
I asked,
Won’t they notice we’re gone?

I’m sure our transitioned selves will know what to do,
he responded,
they seem to have a way of taking care of things.

I agreed and returned to my normal state. It was the most freeing experience I had ever endured. I couldn’t wait to practice some of the other abilities. One of them in particular I was curious about was the power of our hands. I was hoping I could use it to heal my feet. The time seemed to tick slowly by, but eventually it was close to the hour of the full moon and I felt my body tense as the darkness returned and made it’s way up my arm. My mind seemed to be spinning as visions flooded through of when we transitioned the first time, of the strange meeting at the castle with the eldest Bartholomew brother, and even stranger visions of a past I didn’t remember.

I felt Kain’s heartbeat beat within my own and soon I felt another and then another. These were the heartbeats of other beings out there like us. I cringed as I felt dark claws piercing through my fingertips and I rolled out of the bed in pain. I fell to the ground immediately as my feet still had no feeling in them. My whole body shook in agony as I felt sharp knives cutting through my shoulder blades. I let out a silent cry as I felt my skin breaking under the pressure. I twisted, fighting the pain but it only grew. My hands burned like fire and I saw as flames erupted in the palm of my hand. I quickly put my hands into fists, but the fire consumed them as well. I was out of breath, but soon the pain subsided and I felt the new extension of my body. My wings filled the room as I tried to lift myself up off of the floor. I put the fire out of my hands and they glowed from the heat as I placed them on the floor to try to push myself up. I tried to stand, but I realized I didn’t know where my feet were. I looked down and saw my gray toes and touched them with my hand. The gray disappeared as circulation returned to my feet and I was able to stand upright. I felt stronger than I had felt before in my ordinary form. My senses were clearer and I knew what I was capable of. I waved my hand towards the bed where my weaker self once lay and suddenly a still copy of myself was laying in bed sleeping. I turned towards the wall facing the outside and stepped through. I felt the pull of Kain’s heartbeat and I knew where to go. I jumped up into the air and soared through the brisk wind towards the lodges we had once been held captive. The trees passed below me faster than I could have ever imagined before and I swirled in the liberation only flying could give. I felt Kain close by and prepared myself to land. I slowed down and glided towards the ground, landing swiftly next to Kain who was already in full transitioned form.

There you are.
Kain’s hiss filled my head.

Patience.
I replied.
Did you find him?

He isn’t here, obviously.
Kain answered.

Do you sense him?
I asked.

Faintly,
Kain replied,
He’s not nearby.

We must find him,
I snarled back.

He glared at me, his jaw clenched in frustration. We both knew how much we needed to find Chuck, but we also began to feel the pull. A pull to someone we knew was not Chuck. We had to fight the distraction in order to finish what we had set out to do.

“Come,”
Kain said outloud, leaping into the air.

As if I had a choice! Wherever he was I was instinctively pulled, as if we couldn’t use our powers without each other. We soared through the air, the brisk wind seeming to have no effect on us. It felt perfectly fine to us, although if we were in our ordinary form we would have been freezing. If we did get cold I could start a campfire with a wave of my hand. I chuckled to myself just thinking about the endless possibilities.

Focus,
Kain snapped,
I can’t think strategy with you rambling in my head.

I just rolled my eyes and we continued in silence. We soared over the Arbuckle mountains as the scent of the one we were searching for grew stronger. He had no idea what was coming for him and the thought of it made sneer. We suddenly dove down inches from a river and I reached my hand down gently running my finger on the edge of the water leaving scattered ripples as we flew by. We rose back up into the air to get a new perspective and realized that we were close. I saw the lights of the mansion that we were headed towards and saw that there were lights on.

Someone’s awake,
I warned Kain.

I see that,
he replied.

We got closer and prepared to land gliding ever so carefully down to their fenced backyard, our feet barely touching the ground as we stepped closer to the house.

This is his family’s house?
I asked, skeptically.

Probably inheritance of some sort,
Kain suggested.

He was probably right about that. It was a spectacular place!

We never did figure out how he was related to the Tompkin line,
I commented.

All in due time,
Kain thought,
now we need a plan to get in without being seen.

I smiled, waving my hand causing my arm to become invisible.

I gotcha covered,
I smirked.

Handy,
he grinned,
pun intended.

We made ourselves invisible as we passed through the walls of the large house. It was strange, we couldn’t see each other but I always seemed to know where Kain was. We floated into the dark kitchen and down many hallways filled with ancient photographs encased in golden frames. We found a wooden staircase and were about to make our way up to the second level when we heard voices from the front parlor. I stopped and quickly lept to the parlor’s entryway, peering through the half opened door.

It’s Chuck,
I thought, knowing that Kain could hear.

I hear another voice,
he replied.

I focused more closely and soon heard a voice that did not belong to Chuck.

“You were supposed to take care of them,” an angry voice shouted.

“I know,” came Chuck’s voice who suddenly sounded much less cocky than before.

“Well, then what the hell happened?" The voice snarled.

I saw a look of shame and despair come over Chuck that did not suit the personality I had previously come to know him by. But I felt no pity. We stepped through the doorway to find an old, wrinkled, and white haired man with reading glasses sitting in a tall wingback chair. He did not look pleased, to say the least. And there was Chuck, sitting across from him looking as if he wanted to shrink into the pillow cushions and become a part of its embroidery. I couldn’t blame him. If I was seated across from such a man I would want to do the same.

“They seemed to have information,” Chuck replied.

“We can’t afford any errors,” the old man growled, “if someone’s found putting their nose into places it ought not to be then it must be cut off.”

“I know,” he murmured.

“You know?" The old man snarled, “You
know
? Well, obviously you don’t! I should never have intrusted you to this. We have a century’s worth of secrets that are a stake all because you thought you knew better than me.”

“That’s not it, Uncle, I swear!" He begged the old man to understand.

“I was counting on you to carry out our legacy,” the old man’s voice grew dark, “you take advantage of an old man who has no others to survive him but for you…but you have only proven to be a liability. How could you let them get away?”

“They were found,” Chuck whispered.

“Found?" The Uncle replied, “Found by who?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, honestly, “the next thing I heard they were in the hospital being questioned by the police.”

The Uncle choked on his Scotch, unable to respond.

“If they had said anything,” Chuck continued, “then the authorities would have already come, but they haven’t.”

“Then we have exchanged one bullet for another,” the old man gasped.

“They can’t have gone far,” Chuck explained, “they’re in the hospital!”

“You have no idea what they might be capable of,” the Uncle sighed.

“What do you mean?" He asked his Uncle.

Shouldn’t we strike soon?
I thought, sensing Kain’s anger rising.

Not yet,
he responded,
I want to know what the Uncle is going to say. Plus, we don’t want a witness when we take Chuck.

The old man slowly stood up, setting his glass on a small table as he made his way to the window.

“There’s much you do not know about the history of this place,” the Uncle began, “of the Tompkin legacy.”

This was it. I couldn’t believe our search had to come to this, but it sounded as if this man knew everything that we needed to know about this place.

“See,” the Uncle continued, “what you don’t understand is that you were never just there to prevent people from digging into the past of this school regarding the children. Those have been and always will be necessary casualties.”

“Then what?” Chuck said, looking confused.

“Your great, great grandfather founded this place,” the old man began, “but it wasn’t to inspire young children. It was to weed them out. You see, he witnessed a great power. A power that slaughtered everyone and this school has been dedicated to ridding this world of such an abomination.”

“What do you mean a power?" He asked.

“He wrote about the horrific incident in his journals,” the Uncle whispered, “but even you won’t be able to stomach it. The press would have a field day if they found out about what we do to our suspects, but it is truly the only way to stop them and I fear they have returned.”