Guardian of Atlantis (The Children of Atlantis) (8 page)

Raven slid along the hall until she came to
a set of stairs. Hoping they went
to the first floor, she crept up stairs one cautious step at a time. At the top, she paused to get a look at her surroundings. The noise was louder but still muffled.

“This is ridiculous,” grumbled Raven. She hit the wall with her fist.
“Ouch!” She cradled her
hand. “That was stupid.” She brushed a tear off her cheek. Looking around Raven saw an old tarnished, copper plaque on the door just a few feet from the top of the stairs, from where she stood, she couldn’t read what it said.

The door didn’t look like any of the doors in the rest of the building. It was wooden like the others, but a weird ornate pattern was cut into the wood, covering most of lower half of the door. Multi-colored flakes of faded paint clung to the design, though the rest of the door appeared to have been black at one time or another. Something dark covered the window in the upper half of the door, preventing anyone from looking inside, but it didn’t hide the beautiful stained glass picture nestled in the center of the clear glass—a full silver moon shining down on blue water. A strange addition to a door in a school building, but it called to Rave
n
, drawing her to it.

Raven traced the engraved letters on the tarnished plaque.

ART

ROOM 103

She turned her head slightly sideways and chewed on her bottom lip. Her fingertips slid to the carved wood. Slowly she traced the intricate pattern, feeling the wood, feeling the cuts made into the wood, the pattern slowly started taking shape in her mind’s eye. Raven’s eyelids grew heavier. She stifled a yawn. A wave of pure energy pulled at her.

“Did you see all those men in black go into the office?” said a voice from close to the entrance to the hallway Raven was in.

Raven’s eyes jerked open and her hand fell away from the door. She took a couple of steps backwards. The energy pulled at her. “No.” Raven felt a power surge around her.

“Yeah, really strange.
Don’t you think?” said another voice.

“I’m wondering why they’re here,” said the first voice. The voices were louder and less muffled.

The energy surge grew. The sound of glass shattering surrounded Raven, and the next instant, she was thrown against the wall behind her. The force of the impact knocked the air out of her lungs. Stunned, Raven slid to the floor, while black dots danced across her vision. It took a moment to get enough air in her lungs so she could breathe easier.

The black dots faded away. Raven looked around, expecting to see evidence of some kind of blast. Her heart skipped a beat. There was no evidence of a blast, not even a smudge mark, just her aching body. The strange art room door was gone, vanished as if it had never been there.

Raven pushed herself off the floor. She stood, letting her legs adjust to having her weight back on them. “Crazy. Just crazy,” she mumbled. Her legs wobbled with each step she took but they didn’t buckle under her. Raven touched the wall where the door had been. It was cool and the wall smooth. No seam. No ripple. Nothing to prove a door had been there.

“Now I’ve got disappearing doors. What next? Dis
appearing buildings? D
isappearing bad guys—you know, like permanently—would be awesome.” She doubted anyone heard her.

“Who knows? I thought they were fictional, like in the movies,” said one of the voices Raven had heard earlier, except it was crystal clear.

Raven turned in the direction of the voice. Two girls stood at the end of the short hallway.

“Guess not,” said the other girl as they walked away.

Raven moved to the end of the hall and even though she was in pain, she let out a sigh of relief. Luck was with her. She was out of the time bubble thing and on the ba
ckside of the building.  Her
eyes lit up when she spotted an exit on the other side of a small common area.  There was only one small problem.

A sea of student
s stood between her and the doors
.

Looking both ways, Raven checked for any
signs of Marley or Meritus
. She didn’t see them; in fact she didn’t see any teachers. Fingers crossed, she darted out into the middle of the students.

“Excuse me,” Raven mumbled, pushing through the largest group.

“Hey, quit shoving!” grumbled a tall, blonde female.

“Just trying
to get around you and your huge
purse.”
Raven plastered a smile on her lips. She tried ducking around the blonde but a large guy stepped into her path, while the rest of the group closed in around her like a pack of sharks.

“Are you going to let her talk to me like that?” whined the blonde. She pushed out her bottom lip in the fakest pout Raven had ever seen.

“Give me a break! That’s so not real.” Raven rolled her eyes.

“My arm hurts where she hit me!” The blonde cradled her left arm. “I think I have to go to the nurse.”

“You big fat, lying cow!
I didn’t even touch your arm!” The words were out of Raven’s mouth before she could stop them.

“Oh my—did you just call me a—she didn’t just—” The blonde stammered, putting on a huge show for the people standing around her. Her eyes watered up, and she blinked several times as if trying not to cry.

“What do you want me to do with her, Mary Jane?” asked the guy blocking Raven’s path. Raven wondered how he could see with his eyes covered by shaggy, brown hair standing out in every possible direction.

“Hurt her. You know—rip her arms off!” Mary Jane gave her blonde hair a toss and batted her eyes at the guy. “You’ll be my her
o.” Her words dripped with false sweetness
.

“Someone get me a barf bag. I’m going to hurl,” muttered Raven. “All the sugar’s making me sick at my stomach.”

“You’re a blood-thirsty little thing, aren’t you Mary Jane?” The guy grabbed Raven’s arm, preventing her from moving away with a vice-like grip.

“Let me go you big oaf. That hurts!” Raven tried pulling out of his grasp, but he only squeezed harder.

“That’s it. Squeeze her arm until it falls off.” Mary Jane smiled maliciously at Raven.

The urge to claw out Mary Jane’s eyes ripped through Raven.

“T
each the little monkey to watch where she swings her arms,” said Mary Jane.

The guy snorted.
“Enough with the monkey comments!
I’m sick of them. Some of us ha
ve a
human
parent
you know. If you want blood, you rip off her arm.” He let Raven go.

She rubbed her arm trying to get the blood circulating again. Sharp pin pricks slowly spread through her fingers and hand.

“But I’ll get blood on my new outfit,” pouted Mary Jane. “Do you realize how
much this costs
? The shoes alone are probably more than your family earns for the whole year.” She shifted to
a pose
only a runway model would be proud of.

“Yesterday, you didn’t want to go for a run because you had just gotten your nails done. The day before that,
you didn’t want to mess up your
ridiculous hairstyle. And now, you don’t want to mess
up your clothes. What gives?” T
he guy crossed his huge arms. “You’re acting like a prima donna. Personally, I’m sick of it. And so are others.”

Others in the group nodded in agreement.

“Is it
my fault I like expensive things and want to keep everything
and myself looking nice and clean? Is it my fault I’ve got fabulous taste?” Mary Jane stepped closer to the huge guy. “Besides I’ve got big, strong you to take care of me. You know you want to take care of me.”

Something in Mary Jane’s voice grated on Raven’s nerves. Her hand itched and it was all she could do to keep from slapping the other girl.

“What’s going on here?”

Mary Jane jumped away from the huge guy. A guilty look covered her face. “Ethan,” she whispered. She quickly put on a smile.

The group parted and a tall, sandy blonde haired guy stepped forward. He stopped a couple of feet from Mary Jane and sniffed the air.

“Well?” Ethan glared at Mary Jane. She quickly looked away. The tension between the two was thick.

“Ethan, I-I was just—” She kept her eyes turned toward the floor. “It’s not fair,” she pouted.

“You were just what? Making a move on Kevin now?” Ethan glared at Mary Jane. “What is it with you? You’re the one who’s not being fair. It does make any difference
who
the guy is, do
es it? All that matters to you is you
getting your way.”

“Ethan, I—”

“I don’t want to hear it. You have to learn your place. For the next seventy-two hours, you do not exist in the eyes of the pack.”

“But—”

The group turned their faces away from Mary Jane. Some even presented
the girl
with their backs.

Mary Jane looked around at the group. She turned and glared at Raven. If looks could kill, Raven was sure she would be dead. Mary Jane, with her head held high, turned and pushed her way out of the group. No one tried to stop her.

“Aren’t you
in the wrong school?”
Ethan crossed his arms, turning his attention to Raven. He sniffed the air.

Raven’s face flushed. “No. Don’t think so.” Raven plopped her hands on her hips, hoping it would cover her embarrassment of being caught staring at him.

“Blue hair.
I remember you,” said a dark haired guy in a black sweater. “You’re the one who wouldn’t get out of my way yesterday.”

“Yeah, I remember you too. You’re the big ogre who pushed me across the hall for no
reason. Luckily I didn’t get hurt. Thanks for asking though.” Raven crossed her arms and glared at the guy even though she had to look up at him.

“Ogre?
No one calls me names and lives,” declared the guy. He cracked his knuckles.

“You think that scares me? Get real.” Raven laughed in his face.

The guy growled and stepped closer to Raven. “I’ll do more than shove you out of my way this time.”

“Jay, back down. Now!” warned Ethan. His voice and posture reeked of power. Everyone in the group except Raven and Jay whimpered and all but dropped to their knees.

Jay sneered at Ethan. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

“As long as I’m
alpha
, I can and will tell you what to do.” Ethan stepped up to Jay. “Back down.”

“I think I’ll take her and have a snack before school,” said Jay, clearly defying Ethan. His eyes glowed red. “She shouldn’t be here and she’s heard too much.”

“Not today.” A stronger wave of power ri
ppled out from Ethan
. Jay flinched but quickly recovered.

“Why not?” challenged Jay. “No one will miss her.”

“It’s raining outside, or haven’t you noticed?” pointed out Ethan.

“So I’ll get a little wet. No big deal.” Jay smirked. “I got no problem with that. Do you?
Because if you do, maybe it’s time for someone else to be alpha.”

A blur shot past Raven. The next thing she saw was Ethan lifting the other guy up his neck.

“It’s raining. There are too many around who would notice the
smell of wet dog fu
r. If you have her as a morning snack, you’ll bring attention to us. I’ll rip you to shreds before that happens.” Ethan squeezed Jay’s neck, cutting off his air supply for a few seconds.

“One of these days—” grumbled Jay when he was able to breathe again.

“One day what?”
Ethan waited for an answer, but Jay quietly stood there, the muscles twitching in his face. “That’s what I thought,” said Ethan.

Raven’s eyes widened. Jay was serious about wanting to eat her as a snack. And what did Ethan say?
Dog fur?
Pack?
She bit her bottom lip to keep from saying or making any gesture might bring any more attention to her than was necessary.

She was in the middle of a pack of
Hellhounds.

Just like Marley.

How was she going to get out of this mess?

Ethan turned to a tall female with long brunette hair. “Get her out of here.”

The female nodded.

“But she’s mine. I claim her.” Jay puffed up his chest to make himself look bigger.

“You can’t claim me like a piece of property. I’ve got rights you know.” The words were out of Raven’s mouth before she could stop them.

Ethan glared at Raven for a couple of seconds. “Enough. She’s not yours and never will be because she belongs to me. Do I make myself clear?” He squeezed Jay’s neck again.

“But—”

“Do I make myself clear?”

“Yeah,” growled Jay. 

Ethan let him go. “She’s not exactly pretty, especially with that blue hair.”