Branded (The Branded Series) (27 page)

I laughed. “Or
just spy?”

Eric, Anna,
Tyler and Monica got up and left the cafeteria.
Maybe I should go with them
,
I thought.
Just to make sure she’s safe. Or just keep an eye on her from a
distance.

“I'll be back
in a few. Going to the washroom,” I excused myself. Then I remembered that
Claudia would know what my intentions were. I glanced back at her and she was
giving me a warning look.

I’ll be good
, I promised
her.

Anna was
heading outside with Monica and Lexie, but Eric and Tyler weren’t with them.
That made me feel better. Remembering Claudia's disapproval over me following Anna,
I decided to leave her be and head to the washroom.

I was only in
the stall for a few seconds when the door opened and Eric and Tyler walked in.
The conversation that followed drove me over the edge.

I knew it
was Eric the
minute the washroom door opened. I'd be able to smell his cologne a mile away.
And Tyler, Eric's faithful sidekick, was never too far behind.

“Dude, Anna's
hot. Good score.” I had never noticed before how irritating Tyler's voice was.

Eric chuckled.
“Well, I didn't score
yet. Maybe tonight I'll be able to make her mine.”

Did I just
hear that? My body was numb and it became extremely hard to breathe. Was he
saying what I thought he was saying?

“Yeah, I heard
she's pretty innocent, if you know what I'm saying.” Tyler's voice pierced
through my skull like an arrow.

“We'll see
about that,” Eric said.

And that was
it. I couldn't hold myself back any longer. My fist slammed into the stall door
and I came face to face with Eric. His eyes widened with fear the second he saw
me. Without giving him any time for explanations or apologies, I lunged at him,
grabbed him by the throat and threw him as hard as I could toward the row of
stalls. When his body hit the stall, they came crashing down like dominoes.
Tyler must have managed to escape because when I turned to give him his share,
he was gone.

My fists were
still clenched and my head was spinning. The adrenalin pumping through my veins
at that moment made my body feel weightless. A few seconds later, the washroom
door swung open and Nick's voice cut through the sound of my heart pounding.

“Jake, snap
out of it! Look what you've done!” He ran to Eric's aid, which was when I
noticed he wasn't moving. “Noah, guard the door! Don't let anyone in!” Nick
ordered.

“Got it.” Noah
blocked the door and stared at me in horror. “Dude, calm down. Whatever
happened, you have to let it go.”

Nick stood up
and grabbed me by my rigid arms. “Snap out of it, Jake! You have to heal him
now. He's not breathing!”

The room
started spinning at a ridiculous speed and I lost my balance. I fell into the
wall and grabbed the sink for stability. I hardly recognized myself in the
broken mirror in front of me. Then I looked over at Noah who was still sporting
a horrified expression, and then to Nick, whose eyes were pleading. Finally, I
turned to look at the reason I was in this state. Eric was lying unconscious on
the floor. What had I done?

I knelt down
beside him, and it took all my strength and more to heal him. I hated him so
much at that moment. Nick quickly cleaned up any evidence of blood on the floor
while I tried my best to think positive thoughts. It only took a minute and
Eric opened his eyes and sat up. Then he remembered what had happened and
jumped back.

“What the hell,
Jake!” He looked nervously around at Noah and Nick and backed away with his
hands in the air.

“If you touch
her or hurt her in any way, Eric, so help me!” I shouted, then clenched my
teeth together and said, “Just get the hell out of here before I lose it
again.” He ran.

When it was
just the three of us, Nick quietly spoke, “I don't care what your reasoning
was, but you need to let this go. Let her go. Look what it's doing to you, man.
You can't be with her, Jake, so just let her go.”

I closed my
eyes and took a deep breath, then pushed past Noah and left. I was too angry to
think clearly or agree to anything. The centre of my life, Anna, was being
taken advantage of and it killed me. They didn’t understand. How could they?

I caught up
with Anna in the hallway and grabbed her arm. “I need to talk to you.”

“What's up?”
she asked innocently.

“It's Eric.
Anna, he's not good for you,” I said.

“Jake, no one
is ever going to be good enough for me according to you.” She rolled her eyes
and kept walking.

“It's not
that, Anna. There might be someone out there, it's just not Eric. Just please
trust me.”

“Give me one
good reason why I should believe you, Jake.” I knew she desperately wanted a
reason as bad as I wanted to give her one.

I pulled her
in close and without thinking, I pressed my lips to hers and felt the warmth
that I had been missing. She kissed back, which was a good sign that she wasn't
going to hit me when I finally let her go. I tangled my hands through her hair
and moaned. This was heaven. She was mine again, if only for a few seconds.

She pulled
away from me and looked at me with tears in her eyes. “Give me one good reason,”
she pleaded quietly.

“Because I
need you,” I blurted out. I knew it was stupid and I was backtracking, but I
just needed to say that. It was the truth.

Anna stopped
and closed her eyes. A small smile spread across her lips. “I love hearing you
say things like that, Jake.” She opened her eyes and her smile faded. “But when
you just throw it out there in a weak attempt to try to get me to wait around
for you forever—that hurts.”

“No, it's not
that,” I said, reaching for her arm again.

She pulled
away. “I can’t wait around for you if you're not ready to commit. I'm sorry.”
She turned and left and I watched the centre of my life get further and further
away.

Leaning back
against the wall, a weak cry slipped from my lips. Why did this have to be so
hard? I did need her. I knew I did, and saying it wasn't as hard as I thought
it would be.

I finally
gained my strength to head back to Noah and Nick and face the damage I had
done. As I walked down the hall, I suddenly noticed a familiar face standing in
the hallway hiding behind dark sunglasses and a black hoodie. I stared at him
for a moment and gave him a quizzical look. He nodded and smiled at me before
he walked away and that's when I realized who he was. Ryan!

What the hell
was he doing at the school? Did Rachel know he was here? Was he here for a
fight? I ran down the hall and burst into Ms. Peters' office. She was on the
phone but quickly hung up when she saw my face.

“What is it,
Jake?” she asked, mirroring my panicked expression.

I caught my
breath and gasped, “It's Ryan. He's here. At the school.”

I spun around
at the sound of the office door swinging open again. This time Claudia and Nick
were there.

“Something's
going on,” Nick said. “We can feel it. Something bad is about to happen.”

“Jake just saw
Ryan in the hallway,” Ms. Peters said, bringing everyone up to speed. “We need
to get Rachel.”

But before any
of us could move, the door flew open again and Rachel stood in the doorway,
white as a ghost and looking more terrified than I had ever seen her look
before.

“They found
the miracle worker!” she gasped. “They have her. . . . They have Anna.”

My heart stopped
. If I weren't
a healer, I would've died at that very moment. I was sure of that. My hands
became numb and the room started a slow motion spinning effect. I could hear
their voices around me but nothing they were saying made any sense. I stumbled backward
and found Ms. Peters' desk for stability.

They took
Anna. My Anna . . . Anna . . . She must be so scared . . . Wait a second!
Anna's a miracle worker? Why didn't she tell me? What the hell was going on? My
Anna. My Anna was gone . . . Anna.

“Jake, are you
okay?” Nick had a firm grasp on my shoulders and was shaking me.

“He's trying
to process everything,” Claudia filled them in. “He's borderline losing it
though.”

“Get him a
drink of water and sit him down. Rachel will be back here with Noah in a minute
and we have to put our heads together to come up with a plan,” Ms. Peters
directed.

I felt Nick
and Claudia move me to Ms. Peters' big leather chair. As comfortable as it once
looked, it was now a cold rock.

I had to find
Anna. My Anna. I had to find this group of monsters and kill every one of them.
I imagined what I would do to them once I got my hands on them. They were going
to pay miserably for taking her, and if they laid one hand on her, all hell
would break loose. Literally. I was sure of it. My hands and forearms burned
with rage.

The door
opened and I heard Noah's voice. “What the hell happened in here?”

“It's Jake,”
Ms. Peters said. “Claudia said he's planning his revenge on Ryan and the others.
This is what he is capable of. Lock the door behind you, Rachel.”

The numbness
in my hands subsided. The room slowed to a steady rocking as my eyes darted
around the room.

When my gaze
finally landed on Ms. Peters, she gave me a sympathetic look and handed me a
glass of water. I took the water and downed it. My mouth was still dry. Claudia
was kneeling beside me and holding my hand, the pain in her eyes matching mine.
Nick, Noah and Rachel all looked amazed. What was going on?

Then I noticed
the overturned chairs, the papers strewn about over the room, the bookcase and
all its books on the floor, and Ms. Peters’ desk leaning on its side up against
the windows. It looked like a tornado had torn a path through the room,
entering through an open door as it came, and closing the window behind itself
when it left.

“What
happened?” I asked as I cautiously stood up.

“This,” Ms.
Peters said with a hand movement around the room, “is what you are capable of
when you lose your mind.”

I was shocked.
Disturbed too, but mostly shocked. “I did this?”

“You sure
did,” Nick grinned.

“Okay,
whatever. Sorry.” I brushed it off with annoyance. “I need some answers.”

“I know you
do, but we need to be fast. There isn't much time,” Ms. Peters said as she
helped the others move her furniture back into place.

Rachel began,
“Anna is gifted with Miracles. She doesn't know it yet, but she is.”

“But you
knew
it?” I asked.

“Yes, Mom and
I knew. I saw her when I had the vision of you.” Rachel sounded apologetic in
her explanation. “I didn’t know it was her at first. I thought it might have
been Noah, but as time went on, I realized it.”

“Then why
didn't you bring her in like us?” I demanded, staring her down.

“We thought we
were protecting her by keeping her identity a secret. We figured she would be
safer once exposed if our gifts were developed first so we could protect her better.”
Rachel lowered her head.

“That worked
well,” I growled.

“Only because
they read my mind yesterday. I didn’t know they could read minds,” she
whimpered.

“You’re
sure
she's gifted? I mean, could you be wrong about this?”

“Anna was the
reason Monica and Lexie are alive right now. Remember when we were on our way
back to the resort and Anna was meditating?”

I searched my
memory and recalled Anna praying beside me in the back seat. “Yeah?”

“She was the
reason Monica was able to move the Pepsi machine and the reason the shooter
slipped when he was about to shoot Lexie in the head. Those things can only be
caused by a miracle worker. She is definitely gifted.”

Anger swept
through me like a violent storm. Rachel never told me this before. She should
have.

I immediately
remembered Matthias and the story of his family. What if this was an attack on
me? What if they only kidnapped her to weaken my defences? They saw us together
in the hall. My heart began quickening again. What if this was all my
fault?

“Sorry to
interrupt, but we need to discuss the game plan.” Ms. Peters said. “Now, Rachel
wasn’t clear about what her vision was showing her. She thinks they might be
heading to the airport. The problem is, Ryan likely knows of Claudia’s
mindreading ability, which means he wouldn’t have decided which route he was going
to take until after the kidnapping, in case he ran into Claudia. He likely has
a few options, and will be making the decision as we speak—”

“Wait! Hold on
a sec! Why would they want to take her out of here? Maybe they’re just planning
on holding her hostage. Using her as collateral for something,” I said.