Grey Eyes: Book One of the Forever Trilogy

Chapter Twelve

“Come,” Mrs. Moorer called, waving me toward her.  She’d positioned herself in the doorway, and was rapidly moving her head back and forth in the hall.  I did as she asked, feeling the white-hot stares of my classmates follow me.  I ignored their whispers.  Once I’d joined her at the door, Mrs. Moorer wrapped her right arm around my shoulders and took me swiftly up the empty hallway.  Looking back, I saw the others leaning out of the classroom, staring after us.      

“Where are we going?” I asked, and felt her iron grip pull me closer.

Mrs. Moorer didn’t answer right away.  Her eyes darted around in their sockets, watching everything and everyone.  “I don’t think you understand how grave the situation is Anastasia.”  Her voice dropped low.  “That boy, he was a vampire—inside Brighton.  That isn’t supposed to happen.  Until we’ve figured everything out, you’ll be safest at home.” 

“You’re a witch?” It wasn’t a question, really. How else would she know about vampires? Still, her words didn’t make sense. That boy didn’t look anything like the creature that attacked my mother.

  A door flung open directly in front of us. “Is everything alright?” asked a stubby brown skinned woman as she stepped out of an office.

Mrs. Moorer didn’t miss a beat. “This student is very sick, Principal Reardon.  I’m taking her up to the nurse’s office right now.”

“But—,” replied Principal Reardon.  It was too late.  We had already turned into another hallway. 

We walked the length of this second hallway to the gray double doors at the end.  She stepped out first, and then called for me a few seconds later.  She retook her protective stance, keeping me close to her body, and we ran, as fast as was possible, to a small gray compact in the teacher’s parking lot.  Once inside, she backed out of her space and then sped out toward the main road. 

She pushed the car through traffic at a dizzying pace, running through yellow lights, and going around red ones.  I kept an eye out for police lights.  She looked hysterical; I gripped my seatbelt tightly—this could only end badly. 

After reaching the “Old Brighton” sign, the car finally slowed, and she pulled onto the shoulder of the road.  Her breaths were heavy and her forehead was covered in sweat. 

She pounded her fist against the steering wheel.

“Are you alright Mrs. Moorer?” I asked, cautiously.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, wiping her forehead with her sleeve.  “It’s just that…if they’ve found a way to enter the city, everyone in our community is in terrible danger.”

“Mrs. Moorer…” I said softly.

“Yes?”

“I don’t think he was a vampire.  I’ve seen him before—he snuck up to my room last night.  He’s just some stupid boy from the neighborhood. My grandmother said so herself.”

Again, she was quiet.  She began to shake her head and kinda zoned out.  “It is strange that it could be so close to you and yet have the restraint necessary not to attack.  However, the way it moved, the ease with which it avoided Charlie’s foot, I’d know that supernatural grace anywhere.  I was about your age when those animals descended upon my grandparent’s farm.  I was in the barn—I’d snuck out to meet some friends there.  As I kept an eye out for my grandparents getting out of bed, they appeared on the horizon.  I thought they were angels at first sight, so beautiful, their movements so effortless.  My grandparents never told me about the existence of vampires.  Those demons ensured that they’d never get the chance.”