Talisman (71 page)

In the midst of all the excitement, Mrs. Tuttle’s voice began to blar
e over the gymnasium intercom.  “Coach Hayes…” she announced.

“Yes,
Mrs. Tuttle,” he groaned, clearly ticked-off by her interruption.

“There was a problem with
the forms you dropped off to me,” Mrs. Tuttle replied.

Coach Hayes brow furrowed.  “What’s
wrong
with them?” he snapped.

“They weren’t filled out
properly
,” Mrs. Tuttle griped back.  “You need to come by the office and sign them in the correct places if you want them to go out in today’s mail.”

Coach Hayes gru
nted.  “I’m heading your way.”

On his way out, he called back, “Guys, take a break until I get back.  Girls, get back to your game.  You’ve wasted enou
gh time standing around gawking!”

The loud
“bang”
from one of the gym doors slamming prompted most of the girls to hurry over and take their sides for the next match.  I remained where I stood, still somewhat baffled as to why Coach Hayes let Mike get away with so many underhanded moves.  Mike was still lying on the mat and scowling at Ty while his eyes followed him into the guys’ locker room.

Several of my teammates waved me over to join them.  I reluctantly resumed my position on the back row,
but my head wasn’t in the game.  My instincts told me that this tiff between the two of them was far from over.

I served the ball and tried to keep one eye on the game and the other on Mike.  The match became so intense
that I found myself distracted by several hard drives the other team kept sending my way.  After lobbing the ball back across the net and scoring another point, I resumed my surveillance, but oddly Mike was nowhere to be found.

Where did he go?

I soon spotted Mike coming out of the guys’ locker room.  As he strutted onto the gym floor, I noticed his face looked flushed and he had an overly boastful air about him, but Ty was still nowhere to be found.

Ty should be out here by now. 
Where is he?
  I turned my attention back to Mike, who seemed to be wiping something off his hand.  I looked closer.  It was blood.

“Hey, Shi-
HO
,” Kara yelled out.  “Are you going to serve the ball
or what?
”  Several of the girls erupted into laughter over her cutesy little pun.

My head whipped around quickly.  I threw Kara a sweet little smile and quickly served up the ball —
right into her face
.  She fell to the floor in tears.  While the girls on my team huddled around her, crying from the harsh sting, I ran over to Mike.

To heck with what
THEY think!

“What were you doing in the locker room
, Mike?  Where’s Ty?” I demanded gruffly.

Mike said no
thing, but he looked guilty as Hell.  He started to walk away when I grabbed his arm.  A vision surfaced.  He didn’t have to say a word.  His mind had already told me everything I wanted to know. Mike had snuck up on Ty while he was at the fountain getting a drink of water.  He had grabbed him by the back of his head and slammed his face into the steel basin.  Then Mike pulled him back and punched him in the face.  Even after Ty had hit the ground, Mike kicked him in the gut several times.  When Mike saw the appalled look on my face, he snatched his arm from my grasp and walked away.

I flew into a rage.  I was already struggling with trying not to take my anger over Daddy’s death
out on him
and
dealing with all the rumors floating around about us, but unfortunately this unexpected turn of events forced my “final straw” to snap.

I ran to catch up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.  Once he
had fully turned, I drove my right fist into the center of his face.  At the sound of the sharp
“crack”
, I knew instantly that I’d broken his nose.  He let out a whiny moan as he hunched over to cover his face.  I wasn’t about to let him catch his breath.  After all, he didn’t extend Ty that courtesy.  I raised my leg, and with one powerful (but somewhat restrained) blow, I planted it in the side of his abdomen.  I tried to control my freakish strength, but I was pretty sure I ended up cracking a rib (maybe two) as I sent him hurling across the gym floor.  The rush of adrenaline kept my guilt at bay as I thought,
My bad
.

By this time, a crowd of students had formed around us.  I heard Kara yelling for someone to stop me as I
marched over to scoop Mike up off the ground.  I glanced over at the guys.  Several of them jumped back.  I hoped it was because I looked intimidating and not
startling
. I’d accidently let a small stream of white swirl within them for a brief moment (
I couldn’t help it
).  Either way, not one of them even gave the notion of pulling me off him a second-thought.  Most of them were standing there wide-eyed and open-mouthed from the shock of what they were witnessing.

I reached Mike to find him
rolling around on the floor.  I stood over him and waited until he was on his feet.  I took a deep breath and grabbed him by his shoulders.  At that moment, Coach Hayes reappeared to witness me slinging Mike into the bleachers, where he landed in the fourth row.

“
WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE?!?” Coach Hayes roared.  He stood there flabbergasted at the sight of his star quarterback being tossed around like a football — by a
lowly girl
, no less.  He ran over to check on a very battered Mike Riverside.  The gym remained silent.  “
WALLACE!
  Explain yourself!” Coach Hayes demanded.

I
didn’t say a word.  As I focused my attention on an extremely pissed-off Coach Hayes, all I could think was,
He had it coming
.

“Mike just jumped me in the locker room,” Ty declared.  I whipped around to see an equally stunned Ty Smith
rushing to my defense.  Aside from the dumbfounded look on his face, he looked relatively okay.  His nose was a bit bloody, but his appearance paled in comparison to Mike’s.

“
If that’s so
, then why aren’t
YOU
the one out here,” Coach Hayes posed in a doubtful tone as he paused to shake his head and added skeptically, “…beating him to a
PULP?
”

That was a good question.  Ty was still too shocked t
o come up with a logical answer or at the least, a good lie.  After a few seconds of silence, Ty proposed, “Look, Shiloh’s been through—”

Coach Hayes was in no mood to for Ty’s excuses or my newfound muteness.  He interrupted Ty and jumped right in my face screaming, “I don’t care if your father
did just die!
  You’d better tell me what in the Hell has gotten into you!”

I could feel small drops of his spit spraying
my cheeks, but I remained still while I watched his nostrils flare up and down like a bird flapping its wings.

“
GET YOUR STUFF,
WALLACE!
” Coach Hayes ordered.
 
“You’re
SUSPENDED
until further notice!”

I turned and hurried into the locker room. 
The “old me” would’ve been devastated by such a harsh strike on my permanent record.  However, the “new and improved me” didn’t really give a rat’s ass at that moment. 
At least I can get out of here.  I need an early break from “normal” anyway…

I was changed and back out the door in an instant.  My adrenaline was still surging as I stomped across campus.  I was still pretty wound up from my altercation, but I felt good about the beating I’d just served up to Mike.  All I could think about on the way to my car was how Coach Hayes had
no response
to Ty’s announcement that Mike had attacked him.  He didn’t even care that their wrestling match —
that “HE” had let get so out of hand
— had played a small part in it.  Still raging with anger, I gave my car door an extra-hard slam.  I cranked my engine and squealed off down the hill thinking,
There’s one for the rumor mill — Chick pummels star quarterback…Glad I could contribute!

I headed straight through the middle of downtown Welch along McDowell Street, without a clue as to
where
I was heading.  I didn’t want to go home and have to deal with Charlotte or Chloe.  I had no idea if Tanner was at the mine or not.  I still hadn’t heard from him.  Beatrix would probably be there finishing out her last week in the office.  I wasn’t the least bit hungry. 
Nothing to do but drive
, I thought restlessly.

Now that I was away from “normal” and alone in my car, I was starting to calm down.  I felt the “old me” surfacing.  Even th
ough Mike deserved everything he had gotten, I rationalized that
a lot
of the force behind my blows may not have been
entirely
warranted (despite me holding back about ninety-five percent of it).

I didn’t have to crack his rib
s like that.  Though, I could have very easily shattered them.  Maybe I should’ve held back a few more percent?
  I knew that was true.  As I came to a halt at Welch’s only stoplight located in the center of town, a familiar feeling started to churn inside me.

Crap!  Here it comes…The
guilt!

I found myself fidgety as I sat
there at the red light.  Wrought with remorse, I kept telling myself,
Mike will be okay.  He’s a quarterback.  He’s taken plenty of hits
.  No matter how hard I tried to reassure myself with optimistic thoughts, nothing seemed to help alleviate any of my guilt.  I let out a shame-fueled sigh as I stared listlessly out the front windshield.

At times like this, karma could always be counted on to deliver an unforeseen, retaliation blow.  And that was what I knew to be true when from out of nowhere, an
unwanted sight popped into my view.  The dark stranger who was at the Kwik-Serve this morning was crossing the street in front of me.  My eyes flared when the man stopped abruptly.  He started looking all around, seeming confused by something.  The eerie man slowly turned my way.  His dark-brown eyes peered into my car and locked with mine.

Not good
…

Startled, I jumped and accidently
hit the center of my steering wheel.  A loud
“honk”
blared from my car horn, but the stranger never flinched.  He just stood there, even after the light turned green.  He seemed engaged by something he sensed, and I was pretty sure I knew what that “something” was.

Who
in the heck IS this guy?

S
everal cars behind me blew their horns, signaling for the stranger to clear the road, but he wasn’t budging.  Instantly, the dark man threw me a nasty sneer.

What’s he doing?  Or worse, what’s he thinking about doing?
  I looked over to see Officer Pete Ryan standing beside one of Welch’s police cruisers parked in front of the town’s central garage.  I revved my Charger, hoping the stranger would clear my path, but that only made his lip curl up more.  The swirling flecks of the ashy-gray colored light were intensifying in his eyes.  My gut was telling me to “get out of here” and fast.  He was no ordinary man and clearly on some kind of mission that I was afraid involved me, as well as the diamond wand.

I could run him down…
I’ve already committed battery today… What’s a little hit and run?  I’d make Officer Ryan’s day… He would finally get to arrest me
…
I could save karma the trouble of finishing me off…

The stranger
turned to head for the driver-side of my car when Officer Ryan stepped away from his cruiser and started walking towards him.

“Hey, buddy!
  You need to
keep moving
,” Officer Ryan advised him sternly.

The stranger glowered at the town cop
for a moment, but he finally followed his orders with a reluctant gait while Officer Ryan escorted him over to the sidewalk.

My wheels screeched as I pee
led off down the road.  I glanced into my rearview mirror.  Officer Ryan was waving his fist in the air at me, but I was more interested in what the creepy man dressed in black was doing.  I peered into the mirror again, carefully trying to keep from veering off the road.  His eyes never left me for a second, watching me like a hawk until I disappeared from his sight.

I became consumed with panic, followed by paranoia. 
Who the Hell is he and what does he want?  Surely there’s a reason why he threw me that dirty look?  He had to have sensed “something”
.  I was afraid the same thing that revealed his identity to me had given mine away to him.

I hurried to the Heritage Inn to find Tanner. 
He wasn’t there.  On a whim, I headed over to Beatrix’s house. 
Maybe she got off early?
I arrived at her house a few minutes later to find no signs of anyone being at home.