Cara Shultz - The Dark World

“Take a seat behind Mr. Morris, Miss Keller.” True to form, Vice Principal Miller managed to get both of our names wrong as he snatched my detention slip from my fingers. As I headed to the last row, I heard Miller complain under his breath. “Damn kids, can’t keep out of trouble one day so I can go home early....”

Miller returned his attention to whatever book he was reading. Judging by how sweaty his face was, I’d guess it was quite porny.

I slid into my chair, staring at the back of Travis’s head—he had soft, flaxen hair, the corn silk kind that girls daydreamed about having. Maybe that’s why he kept it buzzed so short—any longer and he’d risk looking like a Barbie doll.

“Take out a textbook and start copying the pages,” Miller said, and I groaned internally, reaching into my bag for my history textbook. My fingers brushed against the transparent brown bottle of pills I pretended to take every day—the antipsychotic drugs that I told my parents made the hallucinations go away. I curled my fingers around the bottle, considering taking a dose, when I heard Miller exhale angrily.

“You’re late,” Miller barked, slamming his palm on the table. I turned my head to the doorway, relieved that yet another student had detention—until I saw who it was.

“It’s not like you could start without me,” Blaise crowed before strolling into the classroom. In one lithe movement, she hopped over the first desk in the first row by the door, her red hair rippling behind her. She gracefully sat down, stretching her long legs in front of her. Her toes nearly touched the beige wall—meaning I’d have to step over her legs to leave.

If she let me leave.

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Blaise said, twisting in her desk to give me a slow smile.

And then, her eyes began to glitter.

“WHAT’S UP WITH her eyes?”

Travis turned in his seat, his face ashen with fright as he whispered to me. I dropped the pills back into my bag, feeling a momentary rush of relief— he sees it, too —before panic began to set in.

Travis confirmed it. She’s real—this was all real. And right now, she’s blocking the only exit to the classroom.

“You see it, right?” he asked, panicked. I nodded, and gulped against the lump in my throat.

“Are those contacts? I don’t think those are contacts,” he hissed, darting another nervous glance at Blaise, whose large black eyes were dotted with several twinkling facets.

“We need to leave,” I said, my voice low, and Travis nodded in agreement, shrugging into the hoodie he’d slung over the back of his desk.

“Stop talking,” Miller ordered, glaring at us before returning his attention to his book. “And you—Blythe? Bunny?” he asked, snapping his fingers in the air as he tried to recall her name. Finally, he gave up, shaking his head. “New girl, turn around and hand me your detention slip.”

The sparkling facets glittered like crystals as Blaise rolled her black eyes, a surprisingly human gesture for someone so inhuman.

“First things first, let’s get rid of this one,” she sniffed, turning around to cast a condescending look at Miller as she languidly stretched one slender arm out in front of her. She extended two fingers, as if she were making a sideways peace sign—and then pointed her fingers down, shifting them back and forth to mimic walking.

That’s when I noticed Miller stumbling toward her with halted, faltering steps. His face was blank, his eyes hollow and sightless as his limbs jerked forward in time with Blaise’s movements, merely a marionette she controlled.

Blaise held her palm up and Miller stopped short in front of her desk just as she slunk out of her seat, resting one knee on top of the desk to crouch, catlike, before him.

“You left this room at four-thirty. These two students left with you.” Blaise’s seductive voice was almost a purr. Miller nodded woodenly, his eyes unfocused as he staggered to the door, opening it with the same broken movements. I gripped the edges of my history textbook—it was thick and probably would leave Blaise with one hell of a headache when I whacked her with it.

I slowly slid out of my desk, holding my history textbook in front of me as the door slammed shut.

“Now, where were we?” Blaise asked almost cheerfully, striding to the front of the classroom as if she were a teacher.

“What the hell was that? What are you? A witch or something?” Travis demanded, his voice trembling underneath his bravado as he stood up, as well. Blaise raised her eyebrows at his question and laughed.

“You poor little human,” she clucked, shaking her head. “You had the misfortune of coming between me and her.”

“What do you want with me?” I hoped my voice sounded stronger than I felt.

Blaise smirked. “Stupid little Traveler. You’re the one they want me to take. This one will just be a pleasant diversion for me.”

“Screw this,” Travis huffed, grabbing his bag off the floor and hoisting it onto his shoulder. “This is ridiculous. She’s a hypnotist or some shit. You coming, Paige? Just stay behind me.”

I wielded my history book like a weapon and followed Travis as he strode confidently past Blaise, who pursed her lips into a kiss as he walked past. We were close to the door when I felt myself being thrown through the air, my back smacking against the file cabinet in the corner of the classroom. I fell to the floor, looking up in time to see Blaise grip Travis by the throat one-handed as she pinned him against the wall.

“What are you?” he screamed, his eyes wide with terror as Blaise’s face morphed, the menacing wide grin stretching across her face. He clawed at her arm, trying to break free from Blaise’s iron grip.

I grabbed my history book from where it had fallen next to me, and hoisted it over my shoulder, whipping it right at Blaise’s head.

Without taking her gaze off Travis, Blaise extended her arm and nimbly caught the textbook mere inches before it hit her face, her fingers curling around the binding. Black smoke wafted out from between her fingertips, and the book burst into a fireball, flaming scraps of paper fluttering to the ground as she incinerated it with her mere touch.

“Time to say goodbye,” she growled, wrapping her other hand around Travis’s throat. Glowing red veins, like trails of lava, spread out from where her fingers gripped him. Travis made a strangulated choking sound as the crimson lines crisscrossed across his skin. Blaise threw her head back in ecstasy, the red trails forming a web between her and Travis, sucking the life out of him.

“Stop it! Let him go!” I shouted, charging at Blaise. She lazily removed one hand and shoved me in the chest, blasting me several feet backward where I fell to the floor again. I looked up to see Blaise release her grip, and Travis slithered to the ground, limbs askew as he collapsed into a heap. His skin was gray, chalky—a loose pile of Travis-molded ash on the floor. Blaise poked him with her toe, and he slowly crumbled to dust, wisps of powder wafting across on the linoleum. I scrambled to my feet as Blaise turned to me with that wide, inhuman grin, her black tongue darting out to lick her thin red lips.

“That was glorious fun,” Blaise purred, her eyes twinkling as she glared at me. “Now you’re coming with me, little Traveler.”

“Why are you calling me that?” I screamed. I gripped the desk nearest me and flung it in front of her. It skipped across the floor before Blaise reached out her hand, stopping it by merely placing her palm against the back of the desk.

“Cute. Nice try.” She smirked, raising an eyebrow at me. “You’re fun. Much more lively than I originally gave you credit for.”