Archer Lumen: Earth's Version of Hell (Unfinshed)[Edited Up to Escape]

Chapter 2 | Teachers Are Not What They Seem

I woke up thinking about Fallon. Isn’t that a girl’s name? It was probably a good thing that I hadn’t said that to him. If he really was a god, he’d have probably smitten me right where I stood. I tried to recall what he’d said, but couldn’t. Already I was forgetting about the dream, slowly opening my eyes to look around. Where was I?

  Math problems and cheesy pep-talks stared back at me. Math class. Great. I sat right next to the window and the Sun was blazing brightly today, despite the fact that it wasn’t even summer yet. I stretched, then snapped my head towards my hand. A leather cord was in it, with a silver ring hanging from the bottom. Where had that come from? I brought it closer and held the ring.

  It was made of a cool metal, and I watched it glint in the bright sunlight. There was a crescent Moon on the face, and the word LUMEN was written on the inner band. Suddenly a word blazed in my mind.

  Lunar…

  I was about to say it out loud when the sound of the bell made me jump in my seat. Class was over? Damn, how long had I been out? I looped the necklace around my neck. The thing had my last name on it, obviously it belonged to me. Maybe Kate could help me figure out what it was. She was good at things like that.

  I was still in a daze, so I took longer than most to pack up my things. Soon, everyone but Mr. Allen was out of the classroom. He sat on his desk, staring at me as I slung my sling bag on my shoulder and headed for the door.

  “Not so fast,” Mr. Allen said. I grimaced. What had I done this time?

  Slowly turning, I cleared my throat. “Yeah?” Mr. Allen was middle-aged with thinning hair. Most of the kids made fun of him for it―okay, me too―but it didn’t help that he was a jerk. With those angry blue eyes and that tomato-red complexion, it was almost taxing not to tease him when you were a ninth grader. Today he wore his usual clothes, the shirt and tie with khaki slacks. He looked really dorky, but then again, so did I, with my army green utility jacket that was really worn out and jeans. My sneakers were weathered too, but I liked them that way.

  “Just…stand there for a little,” Mr. Allen said. He reached back into his desk and pulled out a leather skin flask. He uncorked it, braced himself, and then downed the contents with one motion. I frowned and began to back up.

  But the door shut behind me. I don’t know how he did it, but Mr. Allen moved so fast that suddenly he was behind me. I whirled around and watched as his skin became even redder. He doubled over, a guttural wail escaping his mouth. His body began to shake and I stared as he began to…change.

  His clothes, which were usually off-white or brown, became darker, blacker. Mr. Allen was a short guy; maybe that was because I was like five-eight, but now he grew to six-feet. His hair and skin grew darker too, and a pair of purple eyes replaced his blue ones.

  The new Mr. Allen stood straight, looking at me with those eyes… they were an abnormal shade. Like mine. “Archer Lumen,” the new man whispered. “Kaden said not to do anything, but if I don’t, who will?”

  I chuckled nervously. Now my back was to the window. “Yeah,” I whispered hoarsely. “I agree completely, man. I mean, what the hell is wrong with Kaden? By the way, who the hell are you?”

  The new guy let out an uproarious laugh before his hand flashed out and grabbed me by the shoulder. He squeezed and I gritted my teeth to avoid crying out in pain. “My name? I’m called Jael. You know, you’re not really much of anything. I expected more, due to your lineage, but I suppose rumors are bound to be revealed as lies.”

  I was trembling now, as he pushed down hard. My legs were crouched as I resisted with all my might. I had pride, and it was telling me that there was no way that I’d go down without a fight. “Let go,” I growled. “Of. Me.”

  Jael laughed again, his long dark hair flopping as he shook his head. “No, I don’t think I will. We have your mother. Taking you now will just make things simpler. I was told that you had a bodyguard, but I don’t see them.”

  To be honest, I’d stopped listening to the guy. His voice was grating, and wasn’t helping me in any way. I was shaking really badly now, and I got the feeling it wasn’t because of Jael. Not completely anyway. He looked at me, concerned. “What are you doing, Lumen? Hey!”

  Suddenly, claws erupted from my nails. My eyes turned blue and a feral snarl erupted from my mouth. I crouched lower now, and sprang upward.

  Jael’s grasp was torn from my shoulder as I landed on his desk―or Mr. Allen’s desk. Or was it his? That’s going to get annoying. Jael was fast, but he wasn’t fast enough to dodge the kick to the face that I gave him. He was sent tumbling back, just as the door was kicked open and a girl burst in.

  I looked at her. The girl was my age, with long dark brown hair that was in a ponytail, tan skin, and piercing blue eyes. She pursed her lips and surveyed the situation. “Damn, Arch,” she huffed. “I can’t leave you alone for one second!”

  “Kate?” I stared in awe as my best friend strode toward Jael, who was leaning over a desk, and grabbed him from the back. For a moment, I thought I saw the afterimage of a wolf standing on its hindlegs, but the image quickly faded. I jumped down from the desk and watched Kate proceed to slam him into the wall repeatedly, despite the fact that he was a foot taller than her.

  Jael, however, didn’t seem to be in the mood. On the fourth skin-on-brick contact, he pushed back and Kate stumbled back. Then he turned to us, and the light that had been streaming in through the window behind us was dimmed substantially. Smoke began to ooze from his fingers, dark and absolute. He saw me staring at the shapes the smoke was making and grinned. “You like it? I’ve got a hound GuardSkill. Let’s me make dogs from the shadows. Cool, huh?”

  Kate had regained her footing, taking a step forward again. I put my hand out to stop her. I was so calm right now, but I was pretty sure that I’d have a lot of questions when this Jael character was gone. Suddenly there was a tugging in my abdomen, almost like a cramp but way less agonizing. I shut my eyes and, on impulse, stamped my foot onto the ground.

  The pipes groaned overhead. A water bottle left behind by one of my classmates began to tremble. I heard the water fountains burst as all the water in the east wing of the school flew in one direction.

  Jael’s direction.

  Most of the water came from the door, which his back was facing. It slammed into him, dispersing his shadows and sending him in our direction. Kate pulled me down as Jael went flying through the large window. The water raced over us, but somehow I stayed dry. I found out that Kate didn’t when the water calmed down.

  We rose, staring at each other, and then the shattered window. Jael’s body was gone, but that was okay by me. “What the―?”

  I was cut off by the sound of an alarm blaring. Damn, I’d forgotten about that new alarm system. What happened to the good old days? When kids could spray paint the school without having to worry about motion detectors during after-school hours.

  Of course, I’d never participated in such vulgar acts. Never!

  “Not now, we’ve got to go!” Kate yelled over the wanh! wanh! Then she sprinted for the window, sliding over the glass like it was nothing.

  I did the same thing, landing in the mushy grass. Most of the water had seeped into the soil. “Thank gods, we’re on the first floor,” Kate muttered. She always said “gods” instead of God, I’d never questioned her about it though.

  I looked back at the school, then at the camera whirring near the ceiling. It focused on my face for half a second, and I knew that I’d been caught. Damn. Kate was waving at me to hurry up, so we sprinted for the woods behind our school. I glanced back and realized that Jael's body was gone.

  “Go the long way!” I yelled as sirens began to sound. “I’ll meet you at my house!”

  Kate and I entered the tree line, and then branched off, her going further into the woods, and me exiting them after a couple of meters. This was gonna be fun.

  Note-to-Self; only use magic water powers in a life or death situation, never any other time.