Immortali

Chapter 31: Understanding

Raina stared at the pile of unrecognisable demon remains and yellow acid. The acid had burned the floorboards quite noticeably.

She didn't see this one flying under the radar. At least, not until she found Ari.

She looked around at the destroyed classroom. The door, now a collection of splinters, lay on the floor on the other side of the room. There were splotches of acid burns everywhere, not to mention a massive dent in the wall that she'd been thrown into.

She cringed.

I made that?

She was about to leave the room and join the others at the assembly when she heard footsteps echo through the hallway. A second later, James poked his head into the room.

Raina bit her lip as James's eyes widened at the sheer destruction. She didn't miss how they widened even more when they saw her.

"Ray? What the hell happened?" he demanded.

Raina looked away from him. "Would it be ok if I said I don't know? Or, better yet, that I can't tell you?"

James glared at her. "No, it most absolutely would not. Are you insane, Raina? I mean, how did the floor get burned? And how in the hell did the door end up over there? Ripped to shreds, no less."

"Uh... I, uh, don't know James. Just as lost as you."

James shook his head. "I don't buy that for a second. The only reason why I'm here is to look for you. The teachers are searching the other buildings. I was so worried that you something bad had happened to you when you weren't at the assembly. Turns out, you were fine. You were just happily destroying the woodwork room."

Anger rose, burning the back of Raina's throat with a furious fire. "I didn't destroy the woodwork room. This wasn't me."

James scoffed. "Oh, yeah? Sure looks like it to me. I mean, I don't even know how you got the door of its hinges and smashed up like that, but hey, you're the only logical explanation. Who else was here to do it? The School Ghost, perhaps?"

"Yeah, 'cause saying you're fourteen-year-old sister burned the woodwork room floor and threw a door of its hinges across a room and then utterly destroyed it is completely logical."

James groaned and stared at the ceiling, rubbing his forehead tiredly.

"I don't have time for this, Ray. Look, did you do it?"

Raina looked him dead in the eyes. "No."

James sighed. "Ok, ok. Well, still... we're going to walk back to the toilet block, and I'm going to say that I found you there-"

"Vomiting," she said.

James raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Vomiting. You found me in the bathrooms vomiting. I stopped shortly after you came, and then you took me to the evacuation spot. That'll explain why I wasn't there, and it'll also rule me out as a possibility for the destruction of the woodwork room."

She saw him frown.

"And, just out of interest, what were you doing?"

Raina stopped. She hadn't even thought of something to tell James.

"I...uh, I... went to check on Miss Umber. You know, she was new. Maybe she didn't know where the assembly area was, so I went to look for her. Then, when I couldn't find he, I... heard a noise coming from the woodwork room, so I followed it and found this," she gestured to the ruined classroom. The lies rolled off her tongue like a conveyer belt. A well-oiled machine. It hurt her to think of how easily she'd just lied to her older brother.

James still looked slightly unconvinced and shook his head. "You shouldn't have gone to look for her, Ray. Surely they would've told her where to evacuate to. She's a teacher. She can read the ten million maps around here."

Raina bit her lip and looked down. "Oh. Now that you say that... I feel really stupid."

James nodded. She watched as he beckoned towards the door, checking that the hallway was clear. He turned back to her.

"Well, come on. And, at least try and look sick and pale. Like you've just been vomiting. A lot."