Page 84 of A Lesson in Deceit
Grayson gave me an apologetic look. I felt bad for snapping at him, but I was so damn tired.
“How many people know about this?” River questioned.
“Umm, only three know about it to its full extent and maybe like two know about in a more minor way.”
River’s eyes widened and he placed his hands over his mouth. “Riley! You can tell everyone else, but you can’t tell us. You can’t tell me?” He sounded a little hurt.
One of my braids fell into my eye and I tossed it back, so I could focus on him. “I didn’t want to tell anyone, okay? Corrin just kind of fell into it and everything else…I just…ugh. I want you to know enough so that you aren’t in the complete dark, but not enough so that you think you need to help me.”
“You want us to just sit back and watch?” Grayson asked, the irony of his question not lost on me.
I pointed at him. “You have a scholarship to worry about,” I moved my finger to River, “and your dad, well he is a part of the faculty and there is the matter of your brother. Also, you’re both seniors and graduation is really fucking important.”
“And so are you.” River rushed over to me, placing a hand on my cheek.
The seating was scarce,so we stood along the back wall. Parents, including Corrin’s, sat with unappeased faces waiting for it to start. Corrin pulled at the collar of her shirt, her face the epitome of anxious energy. I found Asher near the front of the stage. He was speaking with someone, but I could tell he was a little tense.
Someone tapped the mic and feedback littered throughout the room. Dean Whales cleared her throat, greeting everyone. “I know you all came here for answers and to speak your thoughts. We want to listen and find a way to keep our students safe.”
“We want to know who's doing this!” someone in the crowd shouted.
“We want you to increase security!”
“Why weren’t we notified about this sooner!?”
Corrin’s mom’s voice was clear throughout all the noise. “My daughter loves this school and her coven, but I will not tolerate her being put in danger.”
Dean Whales put her hands up, trying to calm them down. “I understand your grievance with the university…”
She continued to speak, but my eyes focused on Oliver St. James. He was looking right at me, but almost like he was looking through me. I was uncomfortable and felt like this meeting was so much more than what I was seeing.
“I would like to bring out Chancellor Erik Fowler, who wanted to address you and your concerns and give you insight into what we have discovered thus far.” She looked to her left and a man started walking up the stage. He was tall with a head of curls and bronzed skin. He smiled at Dean Whales, a smile that could have rivaled the brightest light bulb.
He stood behind the podium and his voice rang out around the crowd. “Hello parents, faculty and students. I am tremendously sorry that this is why you’ve all been gathered here tonight. We’ve made a grave error in thinking we could keep this as just a university matter and I take full responsibility for not reaching out sooner.”
His voice was deep but compelling, nearly charismatic. If his personality was as appealing as his voice, then I didn’t understand why he was almost nonexistent when I had searched the school online.
My thoughts barreled on when I felt a presence near me. Grayson and River were on my right side, so why did I feel so boxed in? The crowd was thick, but there was still space to breathe. I was about to ask Grayson to switch spots with me when whoever it was got even closer and I found myself finally looking at them.
I didn’t recognize them. They looked like a normal student just here for a general assembly. Their eyes though held a far-off look, like their mind was somewhere else and they were moving on autopilot.
“Can I help you?” I asked, annoyed. A few people in the back row peeked over their shoulders to look at what was going on.
The dazed student blinked and then reached for my neck. It happened so fast that I didn’t have time to push them away. I thought they were going to choke me, but they ripped my necklace from my body. I staggered back, landing into River and Grayson.
“Woah, what the fuck?” River yelled, shooting daggers at whoever had harmed me. The Chancellor had stopped talking and was looking in our direction. Corrin was tugging her brother through the crowd of people to get to us.
The student gazed at my necklace and then looked towards the stage. I charged towards them. “Give it back!”
Within the blink of an eye, they threw down the necklace, ripping their dampener ring off and pointed their palm at the gem. It rattled and shook as if it was being overtaken with so much energy. It was lifted from the ground and then exploded into a million tiny little pieces. I moved my hands in front of my face, shielding myself.
The explosive energy rattled the room, causing everyone to try to regain their balance.
The student started breathing heavily and then they dropped to the ground, slumped over near the multitude of tiny ruby shards. My mouth dropped open as I looked around, confused and stunned at what just happened.
“Riley, are you okay?” Grayson said, touching my shoulder.
I turned around, reaching my hands out to pull him into me for some sort of normalcy, when a burst of power shot out of my hands and shoved him backwards. It was invisible, but you could almost just see the energy it released. He collided with a crowd of people, stumbling back.
