Birthright (Residue Series #2) (5 page)

Jameson’s forehead twitched as his eyes jetted to the right, telling me that a threat was close by.
I glanced in that direction and found a Vire heading directly for us. His head
extended
a foot over the crowd
,
making him hard to miss
,
but it was the
moldavite
stone embedded in the man’s opaque sunglasses that
revealed
his true identity.

The tension in the air rose instantly until it was almost stifling
,
but this didn’t stop Jameson.

As the Vire came within a few feet of me, Jameson stepped into the man’s path – a move so bold it
extracted deep gasps
from my cousins
, who were
standing behind me
,
and from Jameson’s
siblings.

I
then
watched something
so
amazing transpire
that
it took my breath away.

The
remaining
Caldwells stepped across the hall to stand
beside Jameson in a show of support. Immediately, the Weatherfords claimed a place beside them, forming a protective wall in front of me. Judging by everything I’d heard, this was the greatest show of unity between two
rival families that had
ever taken place. Not
about to let anyone take my position in the line of danger
, I
quickly stepped to the end
of the Caldwell-Weatherford wall,
just as the Vire reached us.

Our arrangement forced the Vire to circle us, which I’m sure didn’t go unnoticed.

The rest of the students in the hallway went about their business, shuffling passed us, completely unaware of the
magnitude of
impact
our actions
were going to have. Only
the
Caldwells and Weatherfords knew
.

Even though it was
an instinctual move – either
,
a defensive maneuver
, guarding
against a possible assault
,
or
a bold stance,
sending a message that we weren’t to be threatened
, it only
meant one thing to us: If there had been any belief that Jameson and I were still enemies
, and
the Caldwells and
the
Weatherfords remained at odds,
it
was now going to be called
into
question.

Realization flooded our families’ expressions as they glanced between one another; only Charlotte was frowning scornfully at the Vire’s back
,
and Estelle was about to
propel
her gum
,
aiming
at him
,
until Oscar shook his head at her. Jameson and I were the only ones who didn’t share their concern. I was watching him, trying to contain the rush of amazement
at
his
courage that
drew
our families
together in
an act of
defiance.
He was
facing
away from us though, leery,
as he watched
the Vire retreat down the hall.

As everyone
quickly dispersed
,
I
flashed Jameson an intense stare, delivering my own message.

You be careful too…

After that, second period couldn’t arrive soon enough.

It was the only class Jameson and I shared
,
so I was thankful when I didn’t find anyone but him in the room.

“Seen any more?” he asked
,
as I took my assigned seat beside him.

“No…
they
figured we weren’t a threat and suddenly vacated…”
I said,
humorously
.

He smirked
.

“Yes, they’re all around us,” I replied
and then sighed in exhaustion at that statement
.

“They’ll keep their distance now.” He
said
this with indisputable certainty
,
so I had to know why.

“Did they tell you that directly?” I teased.

He gave me a fleeting, semi-playful glare before growing more solemn. “This morning was meant to test us…and we failed. I failed. If I didn’t step between the two of you
,
they wouldn’t have confirmation that our families are working together.” I evaluated him, coming to the conclusion that his time in first period had been devoted to
determining
the Vire’s motives as opposed to
hearing
the class lecture.

“Jameson…what you did was incredibly brave,” I said, placing my hand on his forearm
,
becoming temporarily distracted by the
feel
of his muscles beneath my fingers.

“It was incredibly stupid,” he replied flatly.
The words echoed in my head as he channeled them through me, and I heard the deep self-disgust hiding in his tone.

Being slightly upset by his disappointment, I argued back
,
silently, “No one, outside the Weatherford family, has ever stood up for me the way you did this morning. Not a single person.”

He sighed in defeat and tried to explain why he was so frustrated. “Jocelyn, I didn’t protect you. I made our situation worse. I gave them confirmation that-”

I had every intention of letting him finish
,
and then refute his claim
, but
Ms. Wizner
entered the classroom
…
and she wasn’t alone.
Acting on instinct, my hand
slipped from Jameson’s and fell awkwardly to the side of my desk,
simultaneously
breaking our channel.

He realized
this
and glanced at me, perplexed.
I was staring at the front of the room but saw him out of the corner of my eye.
After
following
my line of sight, Jameson’s body sprang back,
poised and readied.

A Vire just entered.

This Vire was tall
and slender
wearing
a knee-length pinstriped dress
with
a delicate floral
moldavite
brooch
clasping
the neckline. S
he looked very proper
…
an unassuming camouflage for
such
an
ominous
executioner. After a few seconds of small talk with Ms. Wizner, she took a seat just to the left of the whiteboard, facing the
class.

The woman didn’t do a sweeping evaluation of the students as I expected. She didn’t need to. She already knew Jameson and I were in the room or she wouldn’t have been there, either.

“This is Mrs. Gaul,” announced Ms. Wizner
,
as the last student settled into his seat. “She is shadowing various teachers here at the Academy of the Immaculate Heart while she earns her degree in education. Now…please turn to your next chapter and we
will
begin.”

As the textbook covers flew open, my only contemplation wasn’t what we’d be learning today
,
but
rather,
what other classes Mrs. Gaul planned to show up in.

Ordinarily, Jameson and I
attempted
to steal a few
private
seconds together
,
when
one of us
would place
our hands on
the
other
,
channel
ing
thoughts without the rest of the class knowing.
Today
, we kept our hands to ourselves. Mrs. Gaul did a good job of appearing to take equal interest in Ms. Wizner and the students
,
but an astute eye would have detected that her glimpses
favored
the right-hand side of the class –
the side
Jameson and I sat
on
.

I was positive Jameson noticed too.

His body shifted in the chair and he released annoyed sighs, clearly signaling his growing irritation.
At some point, Mrs. Gaul caught on
, which caused
a
taunting smile
to
play at the edges of her lips in respon
se. This infuriated me. Thoughts
of standing
up
, racing down the aisle, and lunging at her filled my time until she finally looked my way
. Immediately, the vehemence of my scowl caused
her s
elf-important sneer to sharply fade away.
Victorious, I didn’t show her any attention until the end of class. Then, a
s
I left the room
intense
glares
passed
both ways between us.

In the hallway, Jameson
boldly gripped
my forearm
,
channeling a thought to me. It was clear and insistent.

“Stop…
p
lease stop
!”

So he’d caught on…I wasn’t sure if this made me feel rebellious or ridiculous but f
or the next few hours, I did my best to comply with his request
,
failing at each attempt
. Eventually,
I gave in
,
scowling
at every Vire who came within a few feet of me.
There
were plenty of them
, and
I
wanted to let each one know they had been seen
.

During this time, I found that
Jameson
had been
correct. The Vires did keep their distance the rest of the day. But they
always
seemed to know where I was, turning
a
corner
,
coming through
a
door
,
or crossing my path at just the right time
,
so I was never alone. I knew Jameson must
be enduring the same circumstances, which only intensified my fury.

Throughout the rest of the day, I gradually became more accustomed to seeing the
moldavite
stones glistening around me. Though, it wasn’t until later, at evening class, that I finally started to understand just how precarious our situation had become.

“Do you think Ms. Veilleux’s forgiven us yet?” Estelle
asked
as
my cousins and
I
stood
at the entrance to our evening school’s courtyard.
Estelle’s
love for color convinced her to wear a fluorescent green scarf tonight
that
seemed to illuminate the darkness
; it
was slightly distracting. The rest of us
contemplated her question as we surveyed
what was before us.

The courtyard once held a copious number of tropical plants
and
boasted antique gas lanterns
accentuating
weathered
,
brick walls.
Though, now, it
looked nothing like it
once did.

A pile of scorched palm leaves and mangled foliage had been swept into a pile to the left. Directly next to it sat a heap of broken brick, glass shards, and jagged wood pieces
. A
thin strand of smoke
was
still rising from the center of the mound. All around us
,
stains were left on the exterior walls resembling black ghosts remaining here
…
to taunt us
…to
watch over us
…to
accuse us of destroying this
once-beautiful
and majestic school.

As we silently gazed upward at the charred wooden beams that
formerly
held a balcony
, encircling
the courtyard from above, Spencer muttered the response we were all thinking. “No…
she
hasn’t forgiven us.”

“We did send her a nice flower arrangement,” Nolan pointed out
,
which
warranted
dazed stares from the rest of us. He seemed to be perfecting his talent for
delivering
insensitive statements.