Another update! This chapters dedicated to BekkiPate for returning my follow and giving Supernaturals a read! You guys should definatly check out her 'Fragment' trilolgy, it's awesome!

Chapter 10

“I can’t believe she did this!” exclaimed the Head Master.

                “I’m sure she had her reasons,” Whitney said trying to assure him.

                “She better have a damn good reason!” the Head Master exploded slamming his hands on his desk, making the papers on top fall to the ground.

                Suddenly, as if she knew I had been standing there the whole time listening to their conversation, Whitney turned her head and stared at me with sad eyes.

                “Sorry I’m late,” I said in a hard voice.

                “You better be sorry!’ yelled the Head Master. “Do you have any idea what damage you’ve caused? The whole university was hysterical! Everyone thought you were dead!”

                “Please, besides you guys nobody would care if I was gone. More than half of the people in this school are scared of me or hate me. And it’s not like it matters. I’m alive so everyone can stop freaking out.”

                The Head Master opened his mouth to shout again but Whitney calmly put her hand on his shoulder to silence him, and then she spoke up. “Why did you leave Autumn? What was so important that made you go sneaking off campus?”

                “I had to go pick up Asher.”

                “But why, Why would you walk all that way just to go pick up a friend?” the Head Master seethed. I could feel the temperature in the room rise. Sweat slowly dripped down the back of my neck making my hair stick to my neck and shoulders, my mind raced searching for some excuse, anything but the truth. My head was spinning. It felt like I was suffocating, drowning in the tangled mess of lies I created. I opened my mouth to speak but no sound came out.

                “You can stop lying to them Autumn, they know about Lynx,” said Ethan as he walked into the office with a hard look on his face.

                “What do you mean?” I asked in a cold voice.

                “What he means is that he told us that Lynx was going to attack,” Whitney said not meeting my eyes. “He also told us that you knew about his plan to attack yet you didn’t want to tell us.”

                I stared at her speechless, not sure what to say now that I was caught.

                “How long have you known about this?” asked the Head Master.

                “Awhile,” I answered,  my voice barely above a whisper.

                “Well then,” the Head Master paused for a moment. “For sneaking off campus and withholding important information you will be on total lockdown, no leaving your dorm unless you are going to your shape shifting class with Mrs. Heart or you’re going to the cafeteria.

                “That is so not fair!” I exclaim.

                “My decision is final.”

                I open my mouth to argue, but then I quickly close it again. There’s no use fighting a battle that I’d already lost, so I did the next best thing. I stormed out of the room.

*  *  *

Days past, then weeks and I still wasn’t allowed to leave my dorm. Eating in the cafeteria and going to class were my only sense of freedom. But even then I couldn’t stop and talk to somebody; I couldn’t even go and grab a coffee from the campus cafe. Everything I did had strict rules.

                It was like prison, wait... no it was worse than prison. At least in prison everyone did something wrong – how else would they have gotten there? – But here everyone was perfect (well most of them anyway) and even if they did something wrong they would be forgiven. At this school I’m as bad as they get, because according to the Head Master I’m a ‘bad influence’ and ‘a reckless, naive girl who only thought of myself!’

                “Yeah, life here sucks,” I mutter to myself slowly drifting off to sleep.

                Then a sudden knock at the door sends me out of my light sleep. “It’s open!” I yell not wanting to get up.

                I heard the door open and close then the sound of light footsteps up the small set of stairs to where everyone’s beds were. I drop my eyes down from the ceiling to see Sophie standing by my bed staring at me.

                “What do you want?” I asked in a harsh tone.

                “I need to talk to you,” she said sitting down on the edge of my bed.

                I sigh. “Will you just leave? I’m not allowed to have visitors and the last thing I need is to be in more trouble.”

                She made no move to leave; she just stared at me her crystal coloured eyes like hard rocks. “Seriously, will you just leave?” I ask, getting annoyed.

                “Not until I talk to you,” I open my mouth about to tell her that’s she’s crazy and to get the hell out of my room, when she cuts me off. “It’s about Lynx.”

                I immediately close my mouth then opening it again and say; “I’m listening.”

                Sophie slightly smiles, happy that she had my attention and says, “I knew.” I gave her a confused look. “I knew about Lynx planning to attack. And I knew that you knew.” 

                “What!” I yell. “Why didn’t you get in trouble for withholding information? You should be in the same situation as me!”

                She looks at me, just sits there and stares at me with those same knowing eyes, expecting me to figure out something obvious, but I still haven’t figured it out. Then I understand what’s she’s trying to say without saying it, my eyes widen. “They don’t know what you know do they?”

                She shakes her head.

                “Why? Why didn’t you tell them when you had the chance? Why wait this long knowing everything I was about to do? Why would you risk people’s lives just to see me screw up?” I ask.

                “I didn’t see that much. All I saw was him making at plan to come and ambush the school I didn’t see a date or time or anything like that.”

                “Then how am I supposed to stop him?” I ask desperation in my voice.

                “I don’t know, I told you I didn’t see that much.” She said standing up. “I need to go I have class in ten. If I see anything new I’ll come by and tell you.”

                “Wait, you’re just going to tell me all this important information then leave?”

                “Yep, pretty much.”

                “Well you have to help me!” I exclaim.

                “I just did help you, other than that you’re going to have to figure this out yourself. You know him better than anyone here, and you have the spare time to think of a plan. So have fun and good luck. Oh I almost forgot one more thing.”

                I glare at her, “yes?”

                “What can Asher do anyway? The Head Master’s wondering he wants to put him in some classes.”

                “He can communicate with the dead,” I tell her.

                She looked deep in thought for a second. “That could be an advantage to us. Well like I said before, I have to go. And again, good luck.”

                She turned, walked down the stairs, and left. I stared after her then sighed and flopped back down on my bed. 

                “Why couldn’t I be a normal teenager, where my biggest problem was if my boyfriend was cheating on me or not?” I mutter to myself turning to my nightstand and pulling out a spiral notebook and a pen. I lay back down on my bed and started writing down plans to kill Lynx.

Wait for Lynx to come to the school, and then stake him.

                 Meet him in the middle of town, bring the Warriors along we all fight him, and kill him

                I sigh and put my pen down staring at my ideas, the ones that took me all afternoon and night to come up with, the ones that would never work and would wind up injuring or killing one of us instead of Lynx. This should be so easy! I think to myself, I know everything about him, how can I not think of a productive way to kill him?

                I turn to the clock on my nightstand, 2:39am it read. I should probably get some sleep, I thought before I closed my eyes and let the darkness of sleep overwhelm me.

*  *  *

“Autumn? Autumn, wake up,” said a male voice. I slowly open my eyes to see Asher standing above me.

                “Asher? What are you doing?” I ask, noticing he had a small backpack with him.

                “I’m leaving,” he said.

                “What!  Are you crazy? You can’t leave Lynx will find you, then kill you!” I exclaim. I think back to last week remembering Asher complained about this place ‘I can’t stand this place’ he had said, ‘one day I’m just going to leave.’ But I never thought he would go through with it.

                “I can’t stay here any longer. I’m not going to spend the rest of my life here as Lynx’s slave!”

                “Well then, why are you telling me this? You could have left by now.”

                “Because I want you to come with me,” he said pulling me to my feet.

                “No, I can’t go,” I tell him. “If both of us leave, Lynx will never stop looking for us; we’d be on the run for the rest of our lives. You go, I’ll stay.”

                “I can’t just leave you here!” Asher protested.

                “Yes you can! You have to, I want you to!”

                “Are you sure?” I nod. “Positive?”

                “Oh my God, Asher! Just go!” I exclaim pushing him towards the door.

                “Okay, but –” he said, turning around so we were face to face. “--- I’ll come back for you.”

                I shake my head. “Asher that’s not possible.”

                “No, it is” he said in that stubborn tone. “Just think about it, give me...3 months. By then Lynx will have cooled down and I’ll come save you.”

                I think he sensed my hesitation because he looked at me with pleading eyes. “Alright,” I said after some thought.

                He let out a sigh of relief and smiled, and then softly he said, “I’ll see you soon.”

                Then he was gone.

*  *  *

The sound of a door slamming woke me up with a start. I closed my eyes and tried to slow my heart rate. I should be used to this, these outburst Lynx has from time to time. But, I guess it was different this time, since I knew why he was so mad.

                “Autumn, get your lazy ass up!” yelled a harsh, commanding voice.

                I groan and slowly get up; not enjoying that fact this was the second time I had been woken up. When I got to my feet I was face to face with the one person who haunted my nightmares since I was 13, Lynx.

                “Where is he?” Lynx demanded, voice filling the room.

                “What are you talking about?” I ask, trying to sound confused.

                “Asher! I’m talking about Asher!” he yelled.

                “What about Asher?” I ask innocently.

                “He ran away last night. Where did he go?”

                “I don’t know, why would you be asking me?”

                 “Don’t even try to lie to me, you stupid girl,” Lynx seethed, moving closer to me, causing me to move back. “I know you know something.”

                I met his eyes. “I don’t know where he went!”

                Lynx smiled a cruel, wicked smile then said. “Alright, you had your chance.”

                Then before I had time to react Lynx swung his arm, his nail digging into the flesh of my collarbone. I screamed and backed further away from him clutching my collarbone feeling the hot tickle of blood seeping through my fingers.

                Lynx sniffed the air, noticing the scent of my blood. I saw his sharp vampire teeth come out of his gums, he breathed in another gasp of air. Then he looked at me with his now red eyes. Faster than my eyes could follow Lynx moved towards me. I tried to move further away from him but I was already pressed up against the wall. I looked around for something, anything that would get me out of this situation. But it was no use; I was going to die.

                A cold hand grabbed at my throat, closing off most of my air supply. Lynx pressed his face close to mine so I couldn’t look away. “I’ll give you one more chance,” he said, his voice like ice on my skin. “Where did Asher go?”

                This is your only way out, a small part of my mind whispered. If you tell him you’ll live. But, I couldn’t do that to Asher. I won’t, even if that means dying myself. So I stayed silent.

                Lynx smiled a sad smile. “You were always the strongest of my slaves.”

                I felt him move his hand away from my neck, leaving me gasping for air. He moved his head towards my neck, and then softly he grazed his teeth along one of the veins. My breath caught in my throat, I closed my eyes and waited for the pain to come. He bit down his teeth piercing through my flesh.

*  *  *

I screamed and bolted upright in bed, my heart pounding in my chest. I look around the room and realize I’m in my dorm not the cellar where Lynx used to keep me.

                It was just a nightmare, I told myself trying to calm down. But it was no use because it wasn’t just a nightmare but a memory, a very haunting memory. I reached up and touched the jagged scar along my collarbone and shuddered once again remembering how I got it.

Looking around the room again I noticed Whitney, Jessica, and Tianna weren’t in the room. I also noticed a note on my night table.

                Autumn, it read. You were sleeping so soundly we didn’t want to wake you. Me, Tianna, and Jessica went to go get coffee, and then were going to class. We’ll see you tonight at the cafeteria. 

                 –Whitney.

                I sigh. The one time I didn’t want to be alone everyone was gone. I close my eyes and shudder, the images of the nightmare still in the back of my mind. I need to get out of here, I decide. But how could I? I couldn’t go through the door people would see me and I’d be in more trouble than I already am. I looked around the room trying to find some way to escape. Then I saw it, the window, I’ll just go out the window.

                I got up and tied my uniform around my thigh. Then I walked towards the window and looked out to make sure nobody would see what I’m about to do. I hesitated, starting to doubt my plan but I couldn’t stay here for one more second. So without any further thought I jumped out my window. I felt the wind rush under me and saw the ground coming closer and closer.

                “Oh shit,” I mutter. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the bubble of fear rising in my throat; instead I focused on what Mrs. Heart told me to do when I wanted to change into an animal. I pictured a strong, majestic eagle focusing on every signal feather on the huge bird. I felt my muscles shrink and contract. Then right before I was about to hit the ground I flew up towards the woods.