Tale of Life (Essence Series #2) (20 page)

“You don’t know what he’s like,” she cried.

“Yes, I do!” he snapped. “And you know him better! You are the one that left me for him, completely aware of his violent tendencies. I would have protected you with my life, Beatrice, but not anymore. I learned my lesson. You aren’t a good person that does evil things—
you’re just evil
.”

Calloway turned away and left the office, leaving Beatrice standing alone, drowning in her own tears of regret. He grabbed his backpack from the car, kissed his Aunt Grace on the cheek, and then returned to school and made it to his second period class.

When Calloway walked into the library during the lunch period, Easton and Breccan were surprised to see him.

“What are you doing here?” Easton asked.

“The charges were dropped,” Calloway answered.

“How did that happen?” Breccan asked.

Calloway ran his hands through his hair. “Beatrice finally admitted the truth. After Hawk left, of course.”

“And let me guess,” Breccan venomously. “You forgave her and everything is just dandy between you two?”

Calloway shook his head. “No,” he said. “I’ll never forgive her for what she did. I told her to never speak to me again.”

Easton stared at him. “You are serious?”

Calloway nodded. “You were right about her,” he said. “She was going to let me stay suspended and do nothing about it. She doesn’t really care. And I told her I wouldn’t help her again—she’s on her own.”

Easton clapped her hands together. “Finally!” she yelled.

“You’re not as dumb as you look.” Breccan smiled.

“It’s nothing to be excited about,” Calloway said solemnly. “I was hoping I was right about her—that she was a good person. But you were right—people don’t change.”

Easton looked at him. “I’m sorry, Calloway, but I think you made the right decision.”

“So, does that mean Hawk is in trouble?” Breccan asked.

“I think so,” Calloway said. “Uncle Scott said if he doesn’t receive the same punishment that I did, then he’s complaining to the school board.”

“Yes!” Breccan said. “Go dad!”

Calloway laughed. “You should have seen him, Brec. He was livid.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it,” he said. “I can’t image him getting mad—I just can’t.”

“Well, he was furious,” Calloway explained.

“So, that’s a whole week without Hawk?” Easton asked.

“I hope it’s two,” Breccan said. “His punishment should be longer since he lied about it. Plus, he was harassing another student.”

“I hope so,” Calloway said. “But I suspect he will be even worse when he returns.”

“Whatever,” Breccan said. “School is almost done. Soon, we’ll never have to see that jerk again.”

“Or Beatrice,” Easton added. “It’s hard for me to look at her without wanting to stab her like a Hara-Kir.”

“That’s a little creepy,” Breccan said.

“I know it is.” She smiled.

“No fantasies about killing Beatrice,” Calloway said. “She’s out of our lives forever—that’s good enough.” Calloway noticed that Breccan and Easton seemed to be back to normal, and he assumed they had worked out their differences. He wanted to bring it up but decided against it, not wanting to poke an open wound.

“How is the Kirin Book?” Calloway asked.

Easton shrugged. “I haven’t made much progress,” she said. “The pages I’ve deciphered are useless because the information is redundant—we already know how to kill them. The more I read through this book, the less useful I think it is. It hasn’t detailed anything real about them. For instance, why do they look human? I imagined beings who worked with dark forces to be more monstrous, not human like, and the book hasn’t explained where the portals are or what the other world looks like. You would think that they would include that.”

Breccan shook his head. “I agree,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense. You would think that Hara-Kirs would be more accurate about their own culture. They sound stupid. ”

Calloway felt his heart freeze. While the book contained important information, most of the knowledge wasn’t useful—it was limited, definitely not written by a Hara-Kir. “What if it wasn’t written by one of them?”

Easton, who was calm just a moment before, met Calloway’s gaze with a worried expression. “What are you saying, Calloway?”

“That my father wrote it—not a Hara-Kir.”

“Why would you think that?” she asked.

Calloway leaned over the table and lowered his voice. “It isn’t detailed enough to be written by one of them. It sounds like it was written by someone who studied them, and since my father possessed the book and was fighting against the Hara-Kirs, it could have been him.”

Breccan shook his head. “Then why is it written in the symbols of the Hara-Kir? Why wouldn’t he just write it in English?”

Calloway thought for a moment. “So humans couldn’t read it,” he said. “They might have thought he was crazy.”

“But he obviously knew where the portal was so why didn’t he detail it?” Easton asked. “He doesn’t mention it once. I don’t think you are right, Calloway. I’m sorry,” she said in a gentle voice. “I know you want to believe that your father was this exceptional Hara-Kir hunter but I don’t think he’s responsible for everything.”

Calloway sighed. “It’s still possible,” he said quietly.

“Anything is possible at this point,” Easton said. “I’m even more anxious to travel through the portal now, just to find the answers to all of our questions.”

“I feel the same way,” Calloway said. “Maybe we shouldn’t wait until we are done with the book—let’s do it now.”

“No,” Breccan said quickly. “We may as well finish the book—you never know what might be in it.”

Easton nodded. “Breccan’s right,” she agreed. “We need to wait.”

“Okay,” Calloway said.

When the lunch bell rang, Calloway attended his afternoon classes until he reached his last period of the day, photography. When we walked inside Beatrice was looking at him. He didn’t meet her gaze and avoided her look as much as possible, still too angry to even consider acknowledging her. When he sat down, he realized Hawk was absent, not sitting in his usual seat.

“This is nice,” Breccan said as he leaned back in his chair. “I don’t even have to worry about a helmet.” He ran his hands through his hair, knowing that a pencil wasn’t going to be chucked at his head.

Calloway chuckled. “This is going to be a wonderful week.”

“Yes it is, my friend.” Breccan smiled. He turned around and smiled at Hawk’s friend, Tommy, who just glared at him. “Hey,” he said before he turned back around.
“Nice to see you.”

“We don’t need more enemies,” Calloway said.

“I’m not worried about it,” Breccan said. “Hawk is our only problem—but not for this week.”

They started their computers and began to work on their collage project. Now that Beatrice was his ex-girlfriend—someone he disliked—he didn’t want to finish the assignment. He would rather receive a failing grade than submit anything with her face on it.

“What are you doing?” Breccan asked, looking at his blank screen, realizing that his cousin was blatantly not working on his project.

“I’m not doing the assignment,” he said calmly. He opened the file that contained his pictures and deleted every one that depicted Beatrice—which was all of them.

“But you are going to get a failing grade,” Breccan said apprehensively.

“As long as I pass the class, I don’t care,” he said. “And I’ll still pass.”

“How do you know?”

“I calculated my grade in my head,” Calloway explained. He sat back in his chair and watched his cousin work. Every few minutes he felt Beatrice stare at him from across the room, but he never returned her look, not wanting to look at the face that betrayed him so many times. Initially he was heartbroken over their breakup but now he didn’t care—he was just angry.

When the school bell rang, Mrs. Ezquibel addressed Calloway. “The principal would like to see you,” she said. “Please see him before you leave campus.”

Calloway felt his heart stop. Why did the principal want to see him? Did they reverse the punishment because Hawk came up with a ridiculous explanation that the principal, his father, believed?

“What’s that about?” Breccan asked.

“I don’t know.” Calloway sighed. “But I have a feeling that it isn’t good.”

They left the classroom and walked across campus until they entered the school lobby. They waited for several minutes before the principal emerged from his office and approached them with his hands folded together.

“It has come to my attention that my son was the one responsible for the destroyed camera in your photography class, which your guardians were required to pay for. Is that the truth?”

Calloway was speechless. Of all the things he was expecting the principal to say, this wasn’t one of them. “
What
?”

“Did Maurice destroy the camera?”

Breccan snorted loudly at the sound of Hawk’s first name and he laughed uncontrollably for a moment. Calloway elbowed his in the stomach, halting his chuckles.

Principal Charles stared at him. “Did I say something funny?” His blue eyes formed crystal icicles, ready to stab Breccan directly through the heart. The principal held his tongue but his look communicated every angry thought he had.

“No,” Breccan said quickly.

The principal glared at him for a moment longer before he turned to Calloway. “Please give this to your aunt and uncle, along with my apologies.” He pulled a check from his pocket and handed it to Calloway.

Calloway stared at the check blankly. The total amount was two thousand dollars.

“Can you do that for me?” The principal asked.

Calloway blinked a few times before his mind started to work again. The entire situation was confusing to him. Hawk broke that camera months ago and now he was finally being punished for it. Calloway didn’t understand how this came about. Did Hawk confess? The idea was so ludicrous that Calloway shook his head.

“Well, I’m glad that we straightened this all out,” The principal said, placing his hands into his pockets. “Please accept my apology on behalf of my son.”

“Sure, said Calloway, nodding his head.

The principal turned away, heading back toward his office. “Have a good afternoon.”

“Wait!” Calloway said.

Principal Charles stopped and faced Calloway once more. “Yes?”

“Who told you the truth? Was it Hawk?”

“No.” The principal sighed. “I wish it were him.”

“Then who was it?” Calloway asked.

“Beatrice Reese.”

Flying Solo

“
Beatrice
?” Easton, who had been eating a sandwich, spit out her food when Calloway told her the news. They went to Togo’s and grabbed sandwiches before they came to the Headquarters since Calloway could purchase food at a discounted rate. Breccan already finished his. “
Beatrice
told the principal about Hawk? That he was the one who really broke the camera?”

Calloway pulled the check from his pocket. “He’s reimbursing my aunt and uncle for the fee,” he said as he held it in the air. “Now they’ll get their money back.”

“Dad is going to be so happy,” Breccan said. “It will definitely pull him out of his bad mood.”

“At least Aunt Grace didn’t work for nothing,” Calloway said sadly.

“I wonder what they are going to buy,” Breccan said. “Hopefully they’ll get a new car.”

“They didn’t win the
lottery
,” Easton snapped. “It’s just two thousand dollars.”

“A guy can dream, okay?” Breccan said.

Easton shook her head. “You drive in my car all the time. That should be enough.”

“But you haven’t let
me
drive it yet.” Breccan smiled. “And you totally should.”

Easton ignored his comment. “Calloway, this doesn’t change anything. Beatrice is still a horrible person and can’t make up for what she did.”

Calloway sighed. “Now I feel guilty for yelling at her. I really screamed at her, telling her that I thought she was an evil person.” He remembered the avalanche of tears that poured down her face. The words had wounded her deeply. “Now I feel evil.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Easton said, rolling her eyes. “Beatrice hasn’t changed. Who knows how she will be tomorrow?”

Calloway was distracted with thoughts of Beatrice, staring outside the window of the library. “I should apologize.”

“
Are you listening to me
?” Easton snapped. “She isn’t worth it, Calloway. Just because she did one good thing doesn’t make her good. You better not date her again—I won’t put up with it!”

Calloway looked at Easton. “I’m not going to date her again,” he said. “And she doesn’t want me anyway. Remember?”

“I’m sure she’ll pull the same garbage as last time.” Easton sighed. She started to imitate Beatrice’s high-pitch voice. “I’m so sorry. I just couldn’t stand the way Hawk treated you so I left him for you. Please forgive me. Now take me out to an expensive dinner and buy me things that I don’t need.”