Myth Breaker

07| Ruined Promises

"Sit down." A loud voice enters the room, in my shocked state I instantly sit down along with everyone else in the room beside Lucian and the strange snake-like boy. Instead, they both stand there glaring at each other as I watch the pair their eyes slowly lose their heat and as one they take a small step away from each other.

I look away from the boys and my eyes find the fuming Annie staring at the boys in disappointment. I don't know how it happened but seeing Annie in the doorway she seems to have grown in her anger, the students closest to her seem to me cringing away. If someone had told me just an hour ago that anyone would be afraid of my small sweet grandmother I would have laughed at them but now a cold sweat trickles down the small of my back just from the way she glares into the room. She doesn't take her eyes off of the boys watching them as they turn to her, heads bowed at her.

They remind me of children waiting to be scolded for doing something they know they're not allowed to do.

Annie's eyes are so focused on the boys that I think she doesn't even notice me sitting there but someone else does just over her shoulder. Nathaniel is standing there and while Annie and the rest of the teachers are watching the boys his eyes are solely on me.

His eyes are shifting uneasily but when he catches me watching he rips his head away and takes a step closer to Annie, bending low to whisper in her ear, and while I shouldn't have been able to hear his hushed words I do.

"Morgan is sitting to your left."

Her head instantly swirls on me and with a tense look that I've never seen on her face, she sends me a fake smile calling me over.

"Morgan darling," her voice is calm and soft but there's an undercurrent to it that I pick up instantly, pain, "why don't you meet me in my office? I'll be with you shortly."

I don't want to follow her instructions like normally I want to fight against them, to demand answers but Annie's eyes have me sitting there confused staring up at her. I know all eyes are on me but I can't seem to move as I watch her.

She's keeping something from me. They all are.

"Nathaniel will lead the way, Love." She nods at me, waiting for me to get up and leave.

As she dismisses me I can't help but feel like all the other students' hushed gossip had been true, I don't belong here and right now they're all getting firsthand just how different I am from them. Annie is the one drawing the line between me and them.

I stand up on shaky legs as a tense silence follows me out of the room, all the students sitting there watching me. When I pass Lucian he doesn't even make eye contact with me and a pain lurch happens in my chest. I swallow painfully as I continue on my way.

I come face to face with Annie and I see her looking over every inch of my face, seeing the sadness burning under the surface, and just like that my normal fire burns into my stomach.

"I want answers." My words are curt, filled with hurt and I expect Annie to get annoyed as my mother used to, to send me away with an eye roll, telling me not to be so dramatic all the time. Instead, she surprises me once again.

"You will." I don't know what happens to me at her words, I suddenly feel so lost that I start to feel numb to my surroundings. Annie's eyes dismiss me and suddenly the cold pain of Nathaniel's hand grabs me and pulls me out of the cafeteria, no anger in the movement, just someone doing what they're told. What Annie told him.

He closes the door quickly behind him and it's like a spark lights in the room, suddenly a deep powerful hum starts behind the door. Nathaniel doesn't let me stay and overhear anything, instead, he keeps his hand on me pulling me a little gentler down the hallway. I let him pull me along because it feels like a life jacket in the middle of an ocean. Everything around me seems to be crashing down worse than when my mother kicked me out because now like everyone else I see that I don't belong but this is my last place, without Annie, without this school I'm all alone.