Page 13 of Coerced

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“What do you mean, he wanted to have Kerry suspended from school?!” Gemma’s shriek woke me up quick.

“Wass wrong?”

I slit my eyes open enough to see her standing next to my bed.

“Shh.” She brushed my hair back from my forehead. “I’m sorry I woke you. Go back to sleep.”

“You okay?”

“Yes.”

She started humming, and that was all it took.

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Kerry

I slept through the rest of the day and woke up the next afternoon when Hank brought in a tray of sandwiches and chocolate milk. I propped myself up on a mound of pillows and he sat on the end of the bed as we ate.

“Did I get suspended?” I asked.

“Of course not.” He snorted and reached for a second sandwich. “Anthony was reprimanded by the Keeper for putting his precious gargoyle’s existence above the lives of two nephilim. He can’t help it. He’s been a curator for a couple of centuries now. The Repository is his life. I suppose we all grow obsessed with something at some point in our lives.”

“Is Ms. Chapman okay?”

“Of course. Thanks to you. She would have died if you had left with the rest of your class. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “She knew it, too, but she stayed to fight. Some of the other students talk bad about her because she’s strict, but she treats me like I’m normal. And she’s got guts. I couldn’t let her die. Not when I could do something about it.”

After we finished and he left with the tray, I called Gemma. She was at work, so we couldn’t talk long, and I told her I’d pick her up when her shift ended. Feeling at a loose end after I hung up, I showered and shaved and changed into clean clothes. I was trying to tame my hair when someone knocked on the front door. I heard Hank open it, then the murmur of voices. Throwing the comb onto my dresser, I went to see who it was.

Ms. Chapman sat on the loveseat with Hank opposite her in the chair.

“Hello, Ms. Chapman,” I said. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you yesterday when you told me to go. I ain’t mad if you need to give me detention or something.”

“Why would I do that?” She frowned and folded her hands in.

“I dunno. I disobeyed you. That curator wanted to suspend me.”

Anger, sharp and familiar, stirred in my chest.

“You saved my life, Harker. I cannot punish you for that.” She shook her head. “No, I’m to thank you, nothing more and nothing less. If you’d come to school today, I would have done so after class. However, since you saw fit to skip, I was forced to come to you.”

“I was too tired for school.”

“Were your injuries so great as to exhaust you? Surely Ms. Shepherd rushed down here to heal you yesterday.”

“I lost my temper. When that motherf—” I caught myself. “Uh, when that idiot said what he did. It took everything I had to keep from killing him. It always wears me out, holding back like that.”

She looked at Hank and his head dipped in a quick nod.

“Harker, thank you for saving my life,” she said. “And also for not killing Anthony. I wish to present you with a token of my gratitude.”

I cut my eyes down to Hank’s.

“Like a reward,” he said.

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