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Julia and I stepped onto the bus Friday morning, subdued and quiet, but also relieved to be out of the morbid mood of both our houses. Even though it was a half day before the holiday weekend, it was still a half day with our friends. I just hoped the principal wouldn’t pull us all into a lame assembly to talk about the tragic accident. If he did that, I might just lose it and that wouldn’t be a pretty situation.
To my relief, the only mention of the numerous funerals was a highly unusual request for a prayer during the daily moment of silence along with the standard offer of an open door with the school psychologist for anyone who needed it.
The alarms started an hour before dismissal and I stiffened in my seat, my gaze snapping to the window. Fear jumpstarted my heart at the sight of so many reapers and beyond the sea of black, the sky swirled. I sprinted out of my seat, through the classroom door, skidding in the hallway as I bolted toward the exit. I needed to stop whatever they were conjuring.
Vibrations and heat radiated from the knife taped to my back and a teacher reached to stop my progression. I spun out of the way, ducking under his grasp and slamming into the doors, tumbling onto the steps. I stopped in my tracks with the hilt of the blade in my hand, but still hidden by my shirt.
“Stop!” I yelled and the sea of black turned in my direction. Their glowing eyes pierced mine, sending shivers up my spine. Lightning split the sky and in the time it took to blink, I had the knife out, blocking the path of the bolt. The charge sank into the blade, vibrating up my arm and I pointed it in the direction of the funnel cloud, sending the collected power into the twister. Wind and rain exploded outward in a blinding sheet, erasing the sea of reapers and leaving no remnants of the tornado behind. Only wispy clouds and the beginnings of a rainbow painted the sky.
Stunned, I lowered the blade before anyone inside could see, sheathing it and turning back toward the door in my dripping clothes. I expected an audience, but no one stood with their noses to the glass. I closed my eyes and blew out the breath I didn’t know I was holding. Relief flooded through me and I trudged back to the building, trying each door, one after the other, and only finding resistance.
Lock down.
Which meant everyone was in the basement under the gym where they were supposed to be and right now Principal Murdock was doing a head count. I took a seat on the steps and waited for the alarms to subside and the doors to release.
Lazarus appeared from around the corner of the school. I stared at him as he approached and took a seat next to me.
“What in the name of heaven just happened?” I asked, still trying to come to grips with what I just did.
“I’m not sure.”
“Oh, well, that makes me feel so much better.”
“I’m serious. I’ve never, in all the millennia I’ve existed, ever seen anything like that. You erased the tornado they cooked up.”
“And the reapers.”
He shook his head. “No. You just scared the daylights out of them and they scattered. I’m sure they went running to Promethis to report what happened here.”
“Oh.” I picked at a hangnail and sighed. “Lightning hit the knife.”
“That’s not unusual.”
I glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. “Say what?”
“The knife absorbs energy. It’s a natural lightning rod.”
“Thanks for telling me that.” I rolled my eyes. That’s all I needed, to be a walking, talking, lightning rod. “What would have happened if it hit me instead of the knife?”
Lazarus glanced away. “You do not want to know.”
I let that settle and a shiver traversed my spine. “So was I the target?”
He studied his hands and slid his gaze back to me. “I honestly don’t know. I’m not welcome in the ranks and the few that are still talking to me aren’t discussing Promethis’ plans.”
I looked at the sky and then back to Lazarus, an idea forming, dawning, spawning and I smiled. “Think I can do something like this again?” I twirled my index finger at the sky.
I saw a fraction of hesitation in Lazarus and then a hint of a shrug. “I don’t know. I’m all out of ideas kid. Your only choice might be to kill Promethis, but now that he knows you have the knife, I wouldn’t be surprised if he avoided you like the plague.”