Page 81 of Changeling
Nathan shrugged after she had gone and looked to Sasha. “Am I that repulsive? Be honest.”
Sasha just laughed.
Leven was the one who gestured after Andy, looking frustrated and concerned. “Andy’s been pretty freaked ever since Miss Hammil.”
Nathan remembered that Miss Hammil, one of the teachers who helped with costuming, had been the first victim.
“More deaths means more freakage. For everyone,” Leven said. “Andy even snapped at me the other day and she’s usually Little Miss Sunshine. It’s really starting to get to everyone.”
Which was probably exactly what the creature wanted, whatever it was. It made Nathan worry for Andy too. Anyone could be a potential victim.
Thankfully, Leven was more than willing to show Sasha and Nathan the places where all of the victims had died. After aboutan hour, Leven had to return to class. He went reluctantly, promising to see them again later when they met up with the others. The plan was to meet Wade at her night job as soon as Jim and Cam joined them in the parking lot after school.
Finally, at 3:40pm on the nose, Nathan was roused from near-dozing as the bell—more like an electronic beeping noise—sounded to let the students know they were free for the day. He and Sasha had managed to accomplish quite a bit, including a list of everyone who had stumbled upon bodies and the general state of everyone who died before they were found. Leven had been right—they were all terrified, like marked victims. They had several different things to go over when they finally met Jim in the parking lot.
“I’m gettin’ antsy,” Nathan admitted. “Something about this one’s gettin’ to me. Where’s Cam at?” He looked at his watch. It had been almost ten minutes since their scheduled meeting time.
“Maybe he’s waiting inside. I can’t remember if we specified or not. I’ll run check quick,” Sasha offered. “You two stay here in case he shows.” He ran off towards the buildings again, leaving Jim and Nathan alone.
“So, be honest,” Nathan grinned at his brother with a good buck in the shoulder. They were both leaning back against the side of their car. “You were bored stiff being on police report duty all alone in that hotel room. Either that or how you kept yourself entertained is so not something I need to hear about.”
Jim rolled his eyes and bucked Nathan right back. “I did not surf for porn. Or watch any on Pay-per-View,” he added quickly. “And it was actually nice getting some alone time away from you two lovebirds constantly making out and trying to feel each other up when I’m asleep in the next bed.”
“Whatever. We’re adorable,” Nathan shot back. He waited for his brother to shoot something snarky back at him, but when helooked over again, Jim seemed to be straining to hear something in the direction of the building nearest them.
“Something’s going on,” Jim said. “I think someone’s being attacked.” He took off for the building without another word.
Nathan stumbled a little but tried to keep up as he ran after his brother. “Geez, Jim, the psychic stuff is one thing, but these super-senses are just unfair.” He couldn’t hear anything himself, but he trusted Jim’s determination.
By the time they were almost around the building, the sounds of the school parking lot were fading away and Nathan could finally hear what Jim had picked up on. Angry voices. Scuffling. Curses. Nathan had a pretty good idea what was going on and it had nothing to do with the supernatural.
Prepared as he was to find a gang of bullies and their victim, however, Nathan was not prepared to run intoLevenunexpectedly for the third time that day.
After turning the corner of the building, the group of teenagers was still several yards in the distance, but Nathan easily spotted the turquoise hair among the otherwise boring shades of blond and brown. There were four boys besides Leven, all clearly the same age as him or close enough. Two of them had his arms while another slammed a knee up into his stomach. The fourth stood back, clearly the leader. The others all barked out insults and curses, but the leader was the one spewing angry sentences that got Nathan’s blood boiling.
“Stupid fag,” the leader spat. “I bet it’s you. I bet they’re not accidents at all. You working some pansy-ass goth magic shit, is that it? Want revenge on the school like some Columbine reject coz nobody likes you? Coz no onewantsyou here? Fucking queer,” he sneered. “We’ll show you what we do with freaks like you.”
Bells clanged in Nathan’s head at those familiar words, but the voice he heard was not that of a teenage boy.
A snarl formed on Nathan’s lips. Suddenly, he was right back in that hick town and there was Pete and that damn pool cue. Pete’s buddies. Pete’s hands. Pete’s fetid breath. Only this was Pennsylvania, Nathan wasn’t drugged, and he didn’t need any backup to handle pathetic, prepubescentfuckslike this.
Nathan flew so fast across that last bit of ground in front of him that he left Jim behind in the dust. The leader’s lackeys were smart. They saw Nathan coming before it was too late and let Leven go, immediately backing off. But the leader himself wasn’t as quick. He was Nathan’s real target. In the end he was the one stirring up hatred. He was the one without the balls to just stand up to someone by himself. He was the one who needed to be taught a lesson.
Nathan had that kid slammed up against the brick wall of the building so fast, he heard the sweet telling crunching sound that meant he had either chipped a tooth or cracked the kid’s jaw.Good.
“You think he’s a freak?” Nathan growled dangerously. “Well I know a thing or two aboutfreaks, lemme tell ya, and I am looking at the worst kind right now, you mother-fuckingshit.”
“Nathan!”
But Nathan couldn’t hear Jim right now. He was so angry he couldn’t see straight. It might as wellbePete he had eating the brick right now, with Pete’s arm wrenched behind his back. Nathan had never gotten to repay the bastard himself, after all.
“Nathan, stop!” Jim called again, and this time Nathan felt a firm hand grip his shoulder. There was no power to Jim’s words but sometimes brother mojo worked even better than the psychic kind. “You’re gonna break his arm,” Jim explained, like that was the only reason he was getting in Nathan’s way, not because he thought beating the kid up a little was wrong.
The fury lessened in Nathan somewhat but he only loosened his hold on the kid a little. “I’m guessing you’re realizing yourmistake about now,” Nathan said evenly. Shaky breathing was all that responded like the kid was too scared to actually speak. “Yeah, I’m thinking you do. So you’re not gonna be making that same mistake in the future, are you? Coz if you even think about going after someone this way again, ganging up like a damncoward…I will fuckingkill you. We clear?” Even if Nathan didn’t really mean those words in relation to the teenager, it still felt incredible to say them.
Again, there was only shaky, harsh breathing that responded, and Nathan had a pretty good suspicion that the kid was trying not to cry. He pushed the kid into the wall one last time before releasing him and backing away. He glared mercilessly at the kid and the others that were hanging back.
“Get outta here!” Nathan yelled, gesturing at all of them with one angry toss of his arm. “You try and report this or some shit, you better believe I’ll know how to find you.”
