Rise of the Fallen 1 - My Soul to Keep (15 page)

I headed over to the full lunch line. The kids ahead of me seemed a
little uncomfortable standing next to me. I'm sure the tale of my sudden mathematical
genius and allegedly glowing red eyes had travelled around the school six times
in the few short hours I spent in Nurse Jane's office. Only one thing travelled
faster than light. Gossip.

I grabbed a tray, some Jell-o, a salad, two sub sandwiches, a bowl
of pudding, two bowls of tater tots, a tuna sandwich, and three cokes. I slid my
tray up to the check out and punched in my lunch number without even so much as
a glance at Gladys. I made my way to our table and set the tray down.

"Hungry much?" Jeremy's voice broke my attention from the
mountain of food in front of me.

I heard a voice behind me say, "See, I told you he smoked a big
fat blunt.
That's
why his eyes were red!"

I blushed and ate. Ate some more, and by the time I was finished, Jessie
let out a little giggle at the small burp that escaped. I smiled at her and she
sat there shaking her head.

"You sure you're okay?" She sounded really concerned.

"I'm fine. Just felt dizzy. I'm sure the food will help."

"With as much as you ate, I should sure as hell hope so,"
Jeremy said in disbelief.

"So what happened in algebra? Everybody's been asking me. I just
told them I didn't see anything unusual," Jessie chimed in.

"Did they laugh?"

"No, I think they were embarrassed. Spill it, what happened? I
know you solved super-equation number five. It's all Johnson could talk about after
you left."

"Honestly, I don't know. I've always sucked at math. It's almost
like I knew what I was doing. Maybe I just got lucky…"

"I hope some of it rubs off on me," Jeremy said. "I
have a trig test next week that I'm going to flunk."

"You wish. You're on your own. I don't think I can even spell
trigonometry, let alone know that the word itself has historical origins from both
the Greek language as well as Sanskrit. Both of which combined the words triangle
and to measure. Did you know that trigonometric functions are used to describe cyclical
phenomenon such as waves? It's really cool. I'd trade you for algebra any day…"

I wanted to crawl into a small hole. A very small hole. And die. Jeremy
looked at me like an alien had burst out of my chest. Or wings. Jessie just looked
amused.

"Okay, what did you do with the real Connor, you evil clone?"

I laughed at Jeremy's joke and gave a heartfelt, "Just kidding!"
We all shared a laugh, but Jeremy wouldn't stop staring. I was actually grateful
when the lunch bell started ringing. I'd take Social Studies over scrutiny any day.

* * *

I stared at the line of jocks across the gym from the group of skinny,
pimply, about as athletic as a one legged fat kid, group of kids surrounding me.
They could smell our fear. It wasn't bad enough they always pitted the athletes
against the mathletes, but what was triple unfair was they ended up with all of
the balls anyway. It wasn't dodge ball so much as a firing squad execution. PE ranked
right up there with algebra.

Every one of the jocksters smiled as Coach Cobb walked into the middle
of the gymnasium, whistle in lips. He held out his hands toward both teams, looked
everyone over once, and nodded. He finished crossing the floor, turned, and blew
his whistle. The jocks let out primal screams of rage and hurled their bouncy red
balls of death like precisely aimed missiles. The group around me screamed like
little girls and scampered around in little circles as they got picked off one by
one.

Within a few seconds, half of our ranks were decimated. Kids littered
the floor, broken and bleeding, as the balls bounced back toward the jocks.

I saw the ball screaming toward my head out of the corner of my eye.
Without even thinking about it, I turned and plucked it out of the air like it had
been standing still. The six-foot-two, knuckle dragging Neanderthal who threw it
stared at me. I could see the confusion on his face. He didn't understand how such
a thing was possible. His teammates started laughing at his misfortune and all targeted
me at once. Six balls flew straight at me. I had zero chance to catch them all.
I did the next best thing. I dodged them without dropping the one I had.
So that’s
why they call it dodge ball!

The balls hit the wall behind me and I turned, grabbing one with my
free hand. They had all bounced, so no one was out, but at least I had some ammunition.
I turned and launched one at a jock. It hit him right where I aimed, too. Being
smaller than most people, my parents had always drilled into me one simple thing.
If you get into a fight, go for the jewels and run. I didn't expect the lesson to
find its way into my dodge ball technique, but it did. I swear I heard a tiny
splat
as it impacted him right below the waist. He dropped like a sack of dodge balls.

Another ball flew straight at my head. I still held onto one ball and
had no chance of catching a second at that speed. I held the ball I had in both
hands and used it as a shield. When two rubber things impact at super speeds, the
effect is quite interesting. The ball landed in the bleachers on the opposite side
of the gym. I launched my last missile and took another one of the opposing team
out with a direct hit to his chest. It was glorious.

In the seconds it took all of this to happen, the rest of my team crawled
away in defeat. Everyone else had been knocked out. That left eight remaining people
on the jocks side to just little old me. I gulped. I was surely doomed. The two
I knocked out had been a fluke. I have never been good at dodge ball.

But you were never good at math either…

The voice spoke volumes to me. I wasn't some little snot nosed, wimpy
kid anymore. I was one of the Fallen! I grinned and picked up a rolling ball from
the floor.

"Who's next?" The jocks looked at me like I'd lost my mind.
Maybe I had. Who the hell cared?

One of them ran for the imaginary line running through the gym and
launched his ball. I tossed the one in my hand over my head, caught his, tucked
it between my legs, plucked the one out of the air and launched it at him. As he
turned to run, it caught him right in the back, knocking him to the floor. I didn't
give the rest a chance to regroup. I pulled the one from between my knees and hurled
it at three of them standing too close together. It hit one, bounced, struck a second,
but missed the third. He made a sign of the cross before apologizing to his teammates
and scrambling to find a ball to throw. Five to one, the odds became a little more
even. Or less. Whatever.

The remaining jocks decided to coordinate their efforts and attack
me as a team. They almost got me while I caught one ball as I dodged the rest. They
were down to four. I threw and dove for another ball as the sound of rubber on flesh
told me there were three left. Three balls flew at me at once, I ducked and launched.
Poing,
two left.

One of the two ran toward me and threw, I caught the one ball, but
the other had thrown while I made the catch. He almost got me. I leaned into my
roll and spun in a somersault on the gym floor, firing as I got to my feet. The
impact of my ball sent him back three feet and to the floor. And then there were
none. I turned toward my team expecting cheers…and was once again met by slack jawed
silence.

"Freak," one of them muttered.

The jocks were helping their final fallen comrade up off the hardwood
floor. They looked like they wanted to hang me from a tree by my own intestines.
I gulped and looked at the coach. I couldn't hear his thoughts, but I read his expression
perfectly.

Have Connor Sullivan tested for performance enhancing drugs.

Chapter 17

"Did you ask her?"

I looked over at Clarisse and shook my head. After the day I’d had,
asking Jessie to the Halloween dance hadn't come up.

"No, I'll call her tonight."

"Uh huh, sure you will. Well, there's always the alternative…"

"What's that?"

"Go with me," she said and turned a wicked smile at me.

I laughed and ended up with a fist in my chest. "Ease up, Clarisse.
That hurts."

She turned the corner onto my street. I hadn't been wearing my seatbelt
and ended up with a mouthful of dashboard as she skidded the tiny Bug to a stop
in the middle of the road.

I started yelling at her but stopped when she started snarling at the
windshield.

Three winged women stood in the middle of the road in broad daylight.
They were unbelievably beautiful and deadly at the same time. Two of them held fiery
swords, but the one in front held a glowing mace in her hand. Behind each of them
fluttered white feathered wings.
The Chosen.

"Stay in the car," Clarisse said and opened her door. It
shut with a muted
thud.
She strolled to the front of the car and partially
blocked my view.

"We want to see him," the leader of the three called out
to Clarisse.

"Why? He hasn't broken any rules."

"His existence goes against the natural order. The People are
not created, they are born of love. Not even the Fallen may swell their numbers
unnaturally."

"It was his wish. He was given the chance to rescind. We communed
and found his request to be within his rights."

"We want to see for ourselves. Let him speak."

Clarisse's shoulders slumped in defeat. Maybe, if there hadn't been
three of them, she might have put up more of an argument. She waved at me to join
them. I opened the door and the chilly October air felt ten degrees warmer.

I closed the door behind me and made my way to where Clarisse stood.
Usually our street was somewhat busy. Everything was utterly still and quiet. No
one played outside or worked in the yard. No sounds of traffic filled the air. No
birds or insects could be seen or heard. I licked my lips and tried to squash the
fear in my stomach. It didn't work.

"Hi, I'm Connor–"

"Silence, pretender. Step forward."

Clarisse gave a small, almost unperceptive nod. I walked about half
way to where the trio stood. They closed the rest of the distance and surrounded
me. They looked vaguely familiar…

Then it hit me. The one holding the mace was Shannon MacVie, captain
of our cheerleading squad! No wonder Clarisse told me to avoid them. The fact my
sister hung out with them started my blood boiling. I began to understand why we
didn't get along anymore.

"Shannon?" As soon as I said her name, she ceased with her
visual inspection of my person.

"Silence!" She gave me a disgusted look and the three of
them began circling around me. "Let us see your true form," she said.

"Okay." I called my wings.

"I said your true form. I don't care what you look like with the
tattered remnants of your wings. Bring forth your true self and let us see it in
all its grotesqueness."

"Excuse me?"

"I said silence! Do it now!"

Clarisse stepped forward. "Shanria, it is not his fault. He is
new and still gaining his power. He knows not his true form. I beg you. Give me
time to ease him into the transition."

"Oh, this opportunity is too grand to pass up." She turned
her attention back to me and held her finger up to my lips without touching them.
"Did not Clarisse tell you of your true form? Let me educate you. This is what
one of the Chosen truly looks like!"

She held her arms out to her sides. There was a blinding flash of light.
As my pupils adjusted, her true form came into focus. She stood at least three feet
taller than her previous five foot form. I looked up into her eyes. There were no
whites, just silver. Her hair doubled in length and was white, purer than snow.
Her normal looking clothes had been replaced with gauzy linen robes with a silver
sash. She was utterly unearthly and utterly beautiful at the same time.

"Wow," I said without thinking. Instead of being told to
be silent, she chortled. It sounded like music to my ears.

"This is what you could have looked like millennia before. Before
our cousins decided they would rather do things their way. Now see what you have
become…" She held up her hand and shoved power at me.

A black cloud surrounded me and discomfort seeped into my bones, but
when it cleared I looked straight into her eyes instead of up into them. I'd grown
to match her height. Her eyes widened in shock.

"No," she said.

I stepped back and looked down. My taller body wore robes just like
hers, but of the blackest black. I held out my hands and my skin had turned a dark
blue. My fingernails had been replaced by talons of deep crimson. I reached up and
touched my face. It felt mostly the same except for deep ridges on my forehead tipped
with long, slender, smooth horns.

"Cool!"

I turned and saw Clarisse. She'd changed, too. Her clothes were gone,
but she wasn't wearing robes. She didn't need to. Her skin was pebbled with shiny
black scales. She had horns as well, but they were twisted and ridged. She had no
whites to her eyes, but instead of silver, they were completely red. Her face remained
just as beautiful as before, but her teeth were sharp and pointed and hung over
her lip, like a vampire's. Her wings stood straight out to her sides and seemed
to radiate darkness around them. She looked hot and evil.