Raven Feathers

Chapter Six

O_o this story is just over 24,000 words now. For me this is very long, so for all of those reading along, thank you so much!

To my horror, Mr. Mercier didn't attend school for the remainder of the week. He hadn't given the school any warning in advance. Apparently, he called in just before first hour saying there was emergency business he had to tend to across state. His absence left me with hundreds of questions and no chance of answers, but it felt like something died inside when I stepped into his room and saw an aging woman in his place. I hadn't realized how much I looked forward to seeing him each day until that moment. When Monday came around and he still wasn't there, I felt nothing but depression.

Therefore, my day just dragged on seemingly without end, and my school day was filled with yawns and boredom. Honestly, if I hadn't been so bored I probably wouldn't have noticed her. She was standing just off the sidewalk near the parking lot at the end of the day. The young woman was very thin and very tall; her body was one many girls my age dreamed of having. She wore tight white skinny jeans, a bright yellow shirt that hung in the chest area, and white flats. Her skin was lightly tanned, but it didn't hide the splash of freckles across her face. Her small straight nose led up to wide bright blue eyes, and they complimented her high cheekbones beautifully. Bright red hair framed her face and fell to just past her collarbone.

The beautiful woman was looking over each student carefully. There was a slightly worried look on her face, and it froze in place the moment our eyes met. She quickly looked down at the paper in her hands and looked back to me. Without a moment's delay, she was marching across the parking lot, ignoring the traffic and aiming for me. “Adele Summers?” she called when she was in range.

Inwardly, I groaned, but on the outside, I offered a small smile. “Yeah, that's me.” I answered, tensing slightly. No part of me trusted the woman. Something about a stranger knowing my name was not comforting at all. My forced smile faded when she looked down. Her eyes weren't turning different colors, so I took that as a sign of humanity.

She shifted and held her hands together in front of her. “My name's Rachael Bartly.” she said, softly. She looked to me, expectantly, and she sighed when I said nothing. “I'm from the orphanage.”

My mind shot to the girl who bullied me as a child. I could just barely scrape together a mental picture of the twelve year old girl, and the resemblance was uncanny. “Oh.” I mumbled, feeling uncomfortable. Fate was cruel- my childhood tormentor turned out to be beautiful. “Why are you here?” I asked. Something told me it wasn't to apologize.

“We can't speak here. Do you have a car?” she wondered.

“Don't you?” I hissed back, not in the mood for games. I almost flinched at my own harshness towards her.

“No.” she sighed. “I hitchhiked here from Port Huron because my car has a bug that tracks its position; I had to talk to you without anyone knowing. Do you have a car?” she repeated. She simply nodded when I pointed at my mother and my car, and she was almost there by the time it registered in my mind to move. “Drive down past the lake.” Rachael ordered the second I entered the car.

“Seat belt.” I grumbled, turning the car on with a huff. My eyes kept wandering to her in confusion, but she offered no answers. She just gave me directions until we passed my house and continued to move to the fancier houses. We came to a stop in front of one of the smaller houses. It stood two stories tall, was painted all white, and had a large veranda stretching around the whole lower level. The grass was a uniform color and length, and the lone tree standing next to the house was dead and twisted in a sinister type of way. I parked the car in the empty gravel driveway and looked at Rachael expectantly. “I'm not getting out of this car until you tell me why you're here.”