The Blood of a Nightlock

Chapter Twelve

Dr. Harden called a school-wide meeting in the gym. I plopped down on the bleachers beside Raven. Raven gave me a small reassuring smile as I sat down. I watched her for a few moments, it'd been two weeks since the attack and I was starting to wonder if she'd ever come out of it. I wanted her to be her again. I wanted her to realize how important it was what she did and how it's not okay to bottle it up. She wouldn't talk to me though. She only spoke to Dr. Harden about it and I couldn't make her talk to me.

Emmet sighed as he dropped down onto the bleachers beside me. Grace followed suit taking the seat beside him. The four of us stayed silent as we watched the faculty file in. Dr. Hamilton swung into the gym with an air of entitlement. He had on a navy sweater that fell to khaki pants. His hair was perfectly in place and he had a hand in his pocket. He lifted his left hand to check his big gleaming Rolex watch before he glanced around the room, his eyes somehow finding mine among the crowd and he gave me a slow smile.

"He's an interesting guy." Raven said beside me.

"He's relentless." I said.

"He's handsome."

"If you like the whole sweaters and khakis type of thing."

She smiled at me.

"He's an asshole." I told her.

"Right."

"What?" I asked. "He's my therapist."

"Doctor/Client privilege." She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Ew, stop."

My eyes swung to where Mitchel was. He was standing off to the side of the faculty, arms crossed over his chest and eyes scanning the room. He had a pair of sunglasses on top of his head and an earpiece in his left ear. He was on active patrol. He had been since the attack. Our sessions were few and far between and I understood it. He was busy. It would get back on track eventually. My eyes slid from the earpiece down to the black ink lining his arms and disappearing under the black t-shirt. He'd traded out his black cargo pants for a pair of dark blue jeans. It was ridiculous that it didn't matter what he wore. The man was always beautiful.

"Oh is that still a thing?" Raven asked.

"What?"

She swiped a finger against her chin. "You got a little..."

I shoved her. "Enough, okay?"

She laughed as she hooked an arm around mine and leaned onto my shoulder. "I feel your pain, Sister. I feel your pain. Every girl's wet dream."

I shook my head as she straightened up and Dr. Harden stepped up to the center of the room with a microphone.

"Hi, guys." She gave the room a small smile. "We got a few things to go over and then we'll wrap this up, okay?"

The room stayed silent.

"We are humbled and saddened by the attack on our school." She said. "I was very happy to see everyone at the vigil and I think it did some good things for our time of healing. That being said, I noticed that it's not the right time for us to go back to classes. Giving you guys a little more time to find yourselves again after the loss of friends and family is important. After speaking with Chief Mitchel," she gestured to him with a smile, but he was eyeing the surroundings and not paying attention to her, "he agreed that we could use the time to reevaluate the safety of our school as well. There's a resort several hours north of us called Chase Ridge. It has offered us solitude while we rebuild and renew." She said. "And we accepted the offer."

The room began to chatter.

"We will load up in buses and travel across the state with intentions to restart. Rebrand ourselves and come back rested, relaxed, rejuvenated, and healing. This isn't a total vacation, there will be lessons and training. We want to offer you guys a time of togetherness as we mourn our fallen friends. We want to encourage a positive space to heal. It'll be hard to come back, but by the looks of our healing thus far it's harder to stay. Coming back to it is worth a shot. Mr. Fremont is going to stay behind for a little while. He's going to assist The Chosen with any security measures on the property and then he will be joining us when he feels the time is right. Dr. Walsh is also staying behind to regroup and put the school back together. I will be your acting headmaster on this trip. If you have early acceptance into The Chosen, you must get with your mentors for added training sessions. We leave tomorrow morning."