Cursed (Book # 3 of Hunted)

Creatures of the Dark

At the end of lunch, Phoebe and I parted ways. She appeared considerably more cheerful than she had at the beginning of the break. Her and Brooke even hugged and Jiayen gave her his room number which Phoebe gracefully accepted despite the smattering of giggles. Jiayen was cute in a Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender kind of way. His jokes were definitely reminiscent of Sokka's. I smiled at the comparison.

As I made to leave the mess hall, Brooke asked, "What do you have next?"

"Creatures of the Dark," I replied and she almost laughed.

"That should be fun," she said and my brow creased in worry. I didn't like the way she said that.

"Oh, don't make that face," she exclaimed smacking me on the shoulder, "I just meant that Hardwicke usually brings in something interesting on the first day of class." My eyes widened and I asked, "Like a vampire?"

Brooke grimaced and replied, "Ew no. Something cooler. They only time we use vampires is during combat training." She shook her head and muttered, "I don't think they even have any leeches in the pens right now." I stared at her in awe. They kept vampires locked up to use in combat training?

"Have...have you killed a vampire before?" I asked and she sighed replying, "Not yet. They reserve them for the third years who are starting to come into their powers." She punched me in the arm and said, "That's us now, chica. I'm totally looking forward to it." Then she pulled away and started down the sidewalk turning back to wave.

I blinked and looked down at my hands. Would I be expected to kill a vampire in class? Could I? Zane's face flashed through my mind and I felt a shiver rock through my entire body. I thrust the thought from my mind and started towards building seven.

I walked into room 212 and sighed when I saw a room full of thirteen-year-olds. The teacher was nowhere to be seen, but the projector was on. There was a seating chart on the screen. I was in the back right corner. Perfect. I sat down and pulled out a spiral notebook. I would have to make Keegan buy me a binder. A fancy zip-up one. Maybe two, one for Monday and Wednesday classes and one for Tuesday and Thursday classes. I could afford to buy them myself, but it would be so much funnier to make him buy one for me. I almost laughed. For some reason I couldn't imagine Keegan in a Wal-Mart or Target with a cart full of school supplies. It just wasn't an image that made any sense in my mind. He probably did all his shopping online or else had people to do it for him.

"Psst!"

I ceased doodling in the margins of my notebook.

"Hey lady!" someone whispered and I looked up to see the kid to my left staring at me with wide brown eyes.

"Are you talking to me?" I asked and he nodded asking, "Are you in the right class?" I blinked at him then looked around. Several other students had turned to look at me. I mean, I understood sort of. It would have been weird if a high school student had suddenly turned up in my middle school class, but they were staring at me like I had grown a second head.

"I sure hope so," I replied turning back to the boy beside me, "This is Creatures of the Dark with Professor Hardwicke, yes?" He nodded and I looked up at the seating chart. There were thirteen squares representing thirteen desks. Within each square was a name.

"Are you Alexander Mott?" I asked peering at the name in the square next to mine. He crossed his arms over his chest and turned up his nose saying, "Lex to my friends." I watched him for a moment before raising my eyebrows and saying, "No one calls you that, do they?" He pursed his lips and I shook my head.

"Anyway...Lex," his expression brightened, "See that square next to yours?" He squinted at the screen, "That's me. So, unless the teacher messed up too. I'm gonna say I'm in the right class."

"But you're old," he said and I grimaced mumbling, "Well screw you too, Alexander." He shook his head and said, "I just mean this is a first-year class. Shouldn't you have done it already?" I sighed and replied, "It's complicated." The kid was about to pester me further when the teacher appeared, not through the front door that led out into the corridor, but through a door at the side of the room next to the teacher's desk.