Matt Archer: Blade's Edge (10 page)

I saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”

Chapter Ten

O
n the ride to Greenhill
High, Mamie asked, “How are you going to explain the bruises on your face if your teachers ask?”

“Walked into a door jamb?”

“Hmm.” Mamie’s forehead crinkled, letting me know my excuse didn’t make the cut. “Say that and the guidance counselor will hear ‘I got smacked around by my parent.’ Try again—maybe something to do with chores.”

“Slipped on a patch of ice and landed on my face?”

“Boring, but it’ll do.” She pulled into the parking lot and found a spot near geeks’ row. This end of the lot was closest to the science wing. No matter how much I begged to park by the main entrance, Mamie had her rep to protect, so we parked in brain-land. I’d have to ask Will to drive me in the BMW until I got my license in February.

Mamie tugged her plaid skirt straight as we walked to the doors, looking every bit the studious librarian. Funny enough, there were a bunch of science-nerd guys who liked her private-school uniform style, so I figured she dressed stuffy on purpose. She’d never admit to it, though.

My sister gave me a little wave and disappeared into the physics lab and I hurried to my locker. The school hallways, with gleaming gray and white tiled floors, had that Monday morning smell—too much floor wax mixed with desperation. My shoulders slumped. Four days ago, I’d been in the Himalayas; now I was on my way to history class. I twirled the combination on my locker, trying to muster some enthusiasm, but it was a losing battle. Between the knife’s revelations and a geometry quiz in third period, there wasn’t much enthusiasm to be had. Not even the sight of Will’s cocky march to his locker, earning stares from every girl in the vicinity, could shake me out of my funk.

“What’s up with you?” Will said, giving me the eye. “Tell me, dude, anything to report after last night?”

“No.” I tried to sound okay about it, really I did, but my voice came out gruff.

Will put his hands up, waving me off. “Sorry I asked.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m just grouchy,” I said. “Ella and I had some time to ourselves last night…but nothing much happened.”

“She tell you to watch your hands?” Will asked, with a knowing nod.

“Not exactly. It’s worse than that,” I said. “Here’s the deal…the knife has me under strict orders not to go past first base. When I tried, it actually popped me in the brain like I was a bad dog.” For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the knife was a girl. Will was understanding, but news like that would put my sanity into serious doubt. I dropped my backpack to the floor so I could avoid his eyes. “It’s kind of creepy to tell the truth.”

“I don’t remember the knife controlling you like that before.”

“It did a few weird things to me in India, too. I didn’t want to say anything because I feel like a freak.”

Will gave me a look of total sympathy. “That seriously sucks. I mean it.”

“Thanks.”

“Let’s get this day over with, and I’ll buy you a burger after school. Drown your sorrows in some grease,” Will said, flinging open his locker door so hard it banged into mine.

“If you can keep from breaking my locker and I can keep from going bat-crap crazy, you have a deal,” I muttered. Because right now, the only thing I had to look forward to was lunch with Ella.

“So I was thinking maybe we could go snowboarding next weekend,” Ella said, picking at her chicken salad. “It’s been a while since we went.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” I said. “You know, it sucks that lunch is the only period we have together. I miss having you in class with me.”

“You just miss me bailing you out in math,” Ella said, with a teasing smile.

“Well, that, too.”

We sat at our usual table in the back corner of the cafeteria, waiting for Will to finish cleaning the lunch line out of every bit of food they had left. A couple of cheerleaders wandered by, and one of them stopped to smile at me before tossing her blond hair over one shoulder. Not sure what that was about, I smiled back and waved.

Ella caught me looking. “Really? Right in front of me?”

Why was I in trouble? “Uh...I was just being friendly.”

She chuckled. “Not you. Her. You can’t help yourself. It’s hardwired into that Y chromosome you carry around. ‘Short skirt, great legs, must melt into a pool of goo.’” Ella pointed her fork at me. “I’m not saying it’s okay to look every time, though.”

“Wow, jealous much?”

Ella set her fork down and crossed her arms. “No…protective. Totally different.”

Will appeared, saving me from making the mistake of asking what the difference was. He plopped his tray down. “Sorry I took so long. Ava Brown asked for my cell number.”

“Wait, you dumped Tasha a few weeks ago, and you’re already moving to the next girl?” Ella asked. “This makes, what…three since last spring, right?”

Will waggled his eyebrows at her. “Four. Well, five, if Ava works out.”

Ella rolled her eyes skyward. “Will, you’re a total hound.”

“I just haven’t found the right girl,” Will said. “Matt already got you.”

I punched his arm. “And don’t you forget it.”

We laughed, but the mood changed fast.

“Hey, Ella,” a guy said. “What’s up?”

Carter Jacobs—Ella’s ex—stood six paces from our table. A junior and the star of the basketball team, Carter was blond, lanky, and a girl-magnet. I’d kicked his ass twice my freshman year. Guess he’d forgotten that. He probably also didn’t realize I was more dangerous now, too.

Instead of glaring or freezing up like she usually did when he was around, Ella smiled at Carter. “You guys did great at the tournament last week.”

“Yeah, I was stoked we won. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. I’ll let you get back to lunch.”

Ella nodded, then turned to concentrate on her salad. Carter smirked at me over the top of her head. What was that tool thinking, coming to my table at lunch? I gripped my plastic spoon so tight, it snapped in half. Will darted a glance at me and scooted his chair back, blocking my route to Carter. The assclown got the hint and strolled to the basketball table without a backward glance.

“That was close,” Will muttered. He gave me a warning look.

I didn’t really care, because I had a bigger issue to deal with at the moment. I tapped Ella on the arm. “You went to a basketball game while I was gone?”

A simple question, but I barked it. Ella’s head snapped up and her mouth tightened. “So?”

So?
So?
“The farther away you stay from Carter, the better. He’s trouble.”

“And I think he’s mellowed out some, grown up,” she said. “He hasn’t been as cocky the last few months.”

Yeah, because I’d smashed his ego for him. “He hurt you pretty bad last year, remember? You don’t want him getting the wrong idea.”

“Wrong idea?” Ella threw her fork down on her lunch tray. “What does that even mean—‘wrong idea?’ I wasn’t the one ogling some cheerleader.”

“All I did was smile at her.” And maybe check out her legs for a few seconds, but like Ella said, ogling was hardwired into my brain. It didn’t mean anything.

“All I did was say hi!” Ella said, eyes flashing.

“And that might be enough to encourage him,” I growled before I could stop myself.

“You’re such a hypocrite.”

“Children,” Will said, “Daddy says don’t fight or I’m pulling this car over.”

“I’m not hungry anymore.” Ella picked up her tray and stomped off.

“Dude, you just don’t know when to let stuff go,” Will said, looking stern. “What does it matter that Ella went to the game without you?”

I threw the pieces of my broken spoon on the table. “Carter ditched her, then talked trash about her to the whole school. How can she forgive that?”

“Because she’s acting like an adult,” Will said. He leaned across the table and got in my space. “So Carter wants to push your buttons? Let him. Ella wants to be with you, stupid.”

Will sat back and crammed his burrito into his mouth to tell me he had the last word.

I shoved my tray away with my lunch only half-eaten. I hadn’t made it through Monday, and I was ready to call it a week.

Mamie had Latin Club after school on Mondays and Ella wasn’t waiting at her locker for me. After shaking his head at my predicament, Will disappeared into the field house to run sprints with the varsity football team for spring training. Stuck without a ride and needing to clear my head while I figured out how to fix everything, I headed for the practice gym. It wasn’t much more than a dingy, square room full of sweating guys and weight racks, but at least I didn’t have to pay for a fancy gym membership.

The JV football team was doing weight training when I arrived, but no one even looked up. Big difference from last year when they laughed at me and my ten-pound dumbbells. Now I could bench as much as any of them. I pulled up a sixty-pound barbell and pondered that while I did curls. I was bigger, stronger, and in better shape than I’d ever been in my life. When I imagined this moment as a kid—growing out of being the wimp other guys picked on—I always saw my life as problem-free. Funny how wrong I’d been.

I did set after set without stopping for a break. I had a lot of aggression to bleed off and work was the only cure I knew. Curls, lunges, shoulder presses, squats…I worked my way around to plain old push-ups before I felt any better. When Will showed up nearly two hours later, already cleaned up after his training session, I was still in the gym, running full-tilt on the treadmill.

“Hey, I think that’s enough for one day,” he said.

I shook my head and gulped down some air so I could answer him. “Still feeling crappy.”

He leaned against the wall. “Ops do that to you.”

“Maybe,” I said, cranking the treadmill up another half-mile an hour.

Will crossed his arms. “Not maybe. You come home full of piss and vinegar every time. I saw it some with the monsters last year, but it’s worse now, especially when you travel. Battle fatigue mixed with jet-lag or something.”

I didn’t answer him, concentrating on my breathing. When we were training, Schmitz said to get the air all the way into my lungs and to keep running even after my fingertips started to tingle and my legs ached. I’d always been fast; running felt like heaven. I punched the speed up another quarter mile an hour, loving the sound of my feet pounding the treadmill’s belt. Chasing after monsters, hauling butt away from problems. Here I wasn’t being left behind.

Will watched me for a minute or two, then came over and started lowering the treadmill’s speed. I was too winded to tell him no. When I finally came to a stop, he said, “Enough. You’re overtraining at this point. Go tell Ella you’re sorry, then get a good night’s sleep. You need it.”

Dizzy, I sat down next to the wall and leaned against it while my heart beat a hard rhythm. Even after pushing myself to the limit, a little knot of stress was still tangled at base of my neck. “We haven’t had a big fight like this before. Think I can patch it up with her?”

He shrugged and sat next to me. “No clue.”

My jaw dropped. “It’s that bad?”

“I don’t think so, but here’s the deal, dude. She’s not used to seeing you all jacked up. That little burst of temper at the lunch table both pissed her off and shocked her.”

I gave him a disbelieving look. “She saw us fight a monster in the woods. I fended off an eight-foot-tall Wookie while you dragged her and Alyssa to safety. How could she be shocked that I have a temper?”

“All she saw was the two of us swooping in to lead it away.” Will’s face was stone cold. “She didn’t see you kill it.”

“Crap,” I said.

“Exactly. Look, I’m not telling you to becoming a daisy-picking sissy. I’m saying you need to work on some anger management at school—that’s all.” Will nudged me hard with his shoulder. “If that means I have to let you kill yourself on the treadmill at my house immediately after we get home from a mission, then fine. Whatever it takes.”

I stood slowly, stretching my sore legs and back. “I probably need a rain check on that burger. Can I get a ride home?”

“Sure, dude.”

There was something to what Will said, about me being aggressive after I got back from a hunt. I could still feel the spirit’s power humming through my nerves and it kept me on edge. Maybe Uncle Mike was right. Maybe I needed to learn where the knife stopped and where I began, before I scared off my girlfriend for good.