Inborn (The Birthright Book 1)

Chapter 17

I left Bryce where I found him and drove back to school. When I got there, the sidewalks and grassy areas were packed with students and teachers, like the entire school emptied out. It wasn't even lunch yet. Before I even got out of the car, I saw Xavier stalking toward me with his angry face. The really angry face I saw about once a year. I seriously thought about hitting reverse and flying out of there, but I think he got that vibe through the windshield and raced over and flung the door open, dragging me out of the car before I could leave. He took me around to the side of the closest building near some trees, but away from everyone else.

"Arm," I said, "still attached!"

"You'll be fortunate if anything's attached pretty soon." His forehead and eyebrows were bunched up just like my dad's when he was mad. "Where were you? I was searching all over and no one had seen you since we got here. You weren't in any of your classes and even Joss hadn't seen you."

I felt a jolt of surprise. Joss lied about seeing me? I figured she'd be super angry I blew her off earlier. Then another feeling came over me. What if he wasn't actually talking to Joss? "Did you tell Mom and Dad?" I pictured them scouring town looking for me.

He bunched up his lips. "Not yet. I gave it time when I saw the car was gone. I know something's up with you. You were really quiet after last night."

"I found a dead body, okay? Two, now, actually. Give me a break."

"Is that why you took off? 'Cause you could have called Mom. They wouldn't make you stay."

"I didn't want to go home. I just...I need some space to process right now. I'm sorry for scaring you."

He stared down at me. "This isn't the only thing, though. You were acting weird before this. Shifty, like you're hiding something."

"I'm not hiding anything. I'm having problems dealing with everything that's happened." My pulse pounded in my head. "Are you going to tell Mom and Dad about this?"

He debated. "Not this time. But do this again and we're going to have problems."

I sighed. "Fine. So what's going on here? Why is everyone outside?"

"The fire alarms went off."

"Accident?"

He shrugged. "Don't know yet. We're waiting for the fire department."

"Okay. Well, I'm going to try and slip into the crowd like I've been here all along."

"Have fun with that."

I pursed my lips, trying really hard not to be annoyed by his attitude. He had a right to be mad at me because I was hiding something. But I had good reasons.

I walked around the side of the building, hoping to sneak into the crowd in back. Maybe I could find Joss, though if it meant another conversation like that one, I'd rather not. But I felt bad, so I wormed my way through the clumps of students, trying to find her. I saw the back of Mimi's head, so I tapped her shoulder. "Hey, have you seen Joss?"

Mimi turned around and met my eyes and I knew immediately it wasn't her. I jerked back, bumping someone behind me. "What are you doing here?" I said.

"Keeping an eye on my investment. You have two brothers out there out for blood. And you're a much easier target than that odd friend of yours."

I assumed she meant Bryce. I watched her closely and they were the same eyes I saw when she looked like my mom. It was hard to explain, but you could see the real person behind the mask. It sent chills up my spine just thinking about it. What did she really look like?