The Crimson Amulet (Original Version) (Wattys2015)

Chapter Fifteen

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Chapter Fifteen

The Encounters

After I had gotten out of Victor's car from where he parked it, I strolled towards the school with my backpack on my back. Inside, I walked to my locker and, afterwards, to English class. Kate seemed too absorbed in her own world to come bother me, which was a nice relief. During English, we worked on what we were assigned for our projects. 

“Why do you ditch class so much? Is something going on?” Claybourne whispered to me, eyeing the teacher often to make sure he didn't catch us. 

“Just some personal matters,” I answered. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. 

“No, I’m fine.”

“Alright, if you say so,” he said. “Why do you always wear scarves lately? Your rash can’t be that bad, could it?”

“I just don’t want people to see it.” 

“It can’t be that bad,” he said as he tried to take the bandage off, since Mr. Nepher told me remove my scarf once again. 

I still had the bandage because Simon continued to suck the blood from my neck. It seemed like a better idea than letting everyone see the bite marks. While fighting Claybourne off, my sleeve slipped up my arm, exposing a part of my father’s, once Meriada’s, bite mark. 

“What’s that?” He gasped. 

I pulled down my sleeve. “It’s nothing.” 

“No, really, what is it?” he asked as he pulled up my sleeve again. “It looks like an animal bite.” 

“Yeah, my dog just bit me,” I lied.

“Oh,” Claybourne said, looking as if unsure whether to believe it or not. 

We went back to reading our books, or I did, at least. It appeared to me that Claybourne was flipping through some type of magazine. Once class was over, I rushed out of the room as soon as I could, not wanting to be pestered by Claybourne about the bite. The rest of the school day passed by slowly. 

After school, once we were in the club, I asked Laura, “What about our sleepover?”

“Oh, I’m busy tonight,” she said as she eyed me. I knew it was probably because she thought I was a vampire, or, at least, thought I was suspicious.

I was about to try to talk Laura to convince her I wasn’t a vampire, when out of the corner of my eye a black Porsche convertible with the hood open sped up to the curb of the school parking lot with my father as the driver. 

“Let me go tell my ride that I’m going to be a while longer,” I said, running to meet him before anyone recognized him.

“Okay,” she replied.

Once outside, I sprinted over to my biological father, and he rolled down his car window. “What’s wrong?” he asked, seeing my facial expression, as I pondered once again how he and Simon could walk around in the sunlight.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t supposed to be in your castle?” 

“Your aunt told me to pick you up.” 

“What are you doing here? One of them could recognize you!” 

“Who?” 

”I found out that the club I joined is a vampire hunting club…” my voice trailed off.