The Seraphim Project

Chapter Nine

Nobody said anything, so the teacher went back to her lesson. I didn’t feel as many eyes on me, but the girl from before still sat in the back of the classroom, laughing with her friends. Finally, she whispered,  “Who does she think she is, anyway? A freak, that’s all she is.”

I didn’t think. All I did was react. I was on my feet in a heartbeat, pressing the girl against the wall. “What did I just say?”

She was whimpering and crying by this point, and the teacher was furious. She yelled at me to put her down, and when I didn’t acknowledge her, she told a student to go get the principal. I didn’t care. I wouldn’t be treated this way. Not today. Not ever.

The principal came with several burly male teachers. Sighing, I dropped the girl and followed them out of the room and the building. We entered the administration building and I was told to wait in the little waiting room. I figured they were probably trying to figure out how to handle me.

I considered sitting in one of the chairs. Really, I did. But I didn’t like how constricting they were. They were definitely not made for angels. Instead, I sat in the corner, with my back against the wall and my wings as a curtain around me.

I guess that was why I didn’t hear him approach. I had slipped into thoughts of how much I wanted the school day to end so that I could go back to searching for Hawk when someone cleared their throat right in front of me.

I separated my wings in front of my face so that I could see him. Pulling myself to my feet, I studied him. He was a couple of inches taller than me, and lanky, but not as much as Hawk. His hair was long and messy, and reminded me of Russ’s.

He met my eyes. “You’re one of those new kids.”

It wasn’t a question, but I answered anyway. “Yeah.”

He held out his hand. “Jason,” he said, smiling at me.

I studied his hand for a moment. Then, shrugging, I put my hand in his and said, “Kite.”

“Well, welcome to boarding school, Kite.” He had such a nice smile, I couldn’t help but smile back.

Just then, the door to the principal’s office opened. Jason dropped my hand. I hadn’t even noticed that we hadn’t let go yet. Smiling at me, he said, “I guess I’ll see you later, Kite.”

He went and sat behind a desk that I hadn’t noticed before, organizing papers or something. The principal came out of her office and gestured for me to enter.

I took a seat across the desk from her. For a moment, she just studied me, her hands crossed primly on her desk. Her put-togetherness made me feel scruffy in comparison, with my ripped, dirty clothes. I mean, I’d cleaned them and all, but they were permanently stained.

“Fighting is not permitted. Ever. Do you understand me?”

I shrugged. “If she’s going to call me names and ignore me when I tell her to stop, I’ll make her stop.”

“I could expel you right now. Just send you on your way.”

I shook my head. “Do it. I don’t care. I don’t even want to be here.”

Her eyebrows rose. “And you know that you’d be going into foster care? This opportunity is the only one your going to get. Foster care is not fun.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not going to foster care. You kick me out, I’m leaving, and the misfits are coming with me. So you kick me out, you lose all of us, and you can explain to the police why they’re never going to see us again.”

I was pretty sure I’d just blackmailed her. I really didn’t care. I was starting to wonder why this had ever seemed like a good idea. Pretty stupid, really.

She glared at me for a moment. Finally, she said, “Don’t let it happen again. I mean it. I will find some disciplinary measure that effects you if this happens again. Understand?”

I shrugged. “Yeah. Don’t fight people, even if they deserve it. Got it.”

She smiled. It was a bizarre expression on her. “Good. Get back to class.”

Thankfully, classes had changed while I was in the principal’s office. The rest of the day went by fairly quickly, with stares following me everywhere I went. I was glad when it was finally over, and I could finally go look for Hawk.

I met up with the police outside of the gates to the school. The others were getting settled into their new dorm rooms. They wouldn’t be any help in this search, so they weren’t coming. That was okay. I needed some alone time anyway.

I flew straight as an arrow towards Hawk, with the police following as close as they could in a car below. I had to keep an eye on them to make sure they were keeping up. They kept getting sidetracked because the roads they were traveling on weren’t as straight as I was going.

Finally, as it was starting to get dark, they pulled over. A policeman got out of the car and gestured for me to come down. I did.

“What’s up?” I asked as soon as my feet touched the ground.

“We can’t go any farther,” the policeman said. “It’s Thursday. You have to go to school tomorrow. It was part of the agreement. And, this is a state boundary. You’ll have to go with the feds if you go any farther, and they already headed back to D.C. I don’t know when they’ll be back. I’m sorry.”

I stared off into the distance. Hawk was out there somewhere. I could feel that I was getting closer. I could feel it. Another couple of hours and I was sure that I would get there.

I sighed. “It’s okay. I get it.” And with that, I flew off back to the school.

I’ll be back tomorrow, I thought. I’ll find him tomorrow.