Beechwood Academy

chapter ten

Duncan practically threw open the door to his dorm and jumped on top of Sammy who lied in his bed reading per usual.

"What the — bloody — Duncan!" Sammy yelled, fighting his roommate off of him and letting his book fall the floor in the process. Duncan playfully wrestled with the blonde in an attempt to get him to be still until they were both too tired to fight any more, only then did Duncan shoot Sammy a grin and tell him the news.

"That Noah kid thinks Jared's alive, and you're going to help us find him." Duncan grinned and jumped off of Sammy bed to begin rummaging through his own belongings as if he was looking for something specific.

"What the hell are you on about?" Sammy asked, relatively unamused. "You attacked me because of some kid who — mind you — is full of rubbish and probably illegal substances?"

"I think he's telling the truth. Like, why would he lie about it? What would he gain by telling me I'm going to die?" Duncan abandoned his side of the room and began rummaging through Sammy's belonging searching for something Sammy didn't care to ask about.

"You're a wanker," Sammy mumbled, reaching over the side of his bed to retrieve his book.

"Isn't that — you know what I don't want to know what that means." Duncan said, momentarily pausing his search but returning to Sammy's drawers quickly.

"It means you're a bloody idiot!" Sammy yelled, flipping back to his page.

"Yeah that is not what I thought that mean." Duncan said with an amused laugh. Sammy glared at him in annoyance. "Okay, I'm sorry I don't speak British!"

"Get out." Sammy stated, pointing a finger at the door.

"I live here—"

"Out!" A pillow was thrown at the brunette's face and he ran out of the room where Rudy was waiting for him.   Duncan shook his head and shrugged, Rudy sighed.

"To the library?" Duncan asked. Rudy just nodded in response.

* * *

"All this kid gave me was a date; August fifteenth, nineteen twenty-two. When I asked for more he just shook his head." Rudy mumbled as he and Duncan read the spines of old yearbooks.

"Found it!" Duncan called, pulling the 1922 yearbook off of the shelf in front of him and opening it on one of the empty library tables. Rudy continued looking over the bookshelves while Duncan flipped through the yearbook, not even sure what he was looking for. For many pages Duncan saw nothing out of the ordinary, it was all normal old school pictures of students, sports, or classrooms, until he landed on the club page. In the top left corner was a photo of Miss Drake, it was so unmistakably clear that this was a photo of her that Duncan didn't even take a second look at it before shoving the book into Rudy's hands.

"Is that. . .I don't understand. . ." Rudy mumbled staring at the book in Duncan's hands. "If that's her, she should be like a hundred years old. Maybe that's a relative of hers?"

"There's no way! No relative looks that spot on to their descendant, this is her. She's like immortal or something." Duncan mumbled. He was about to pull the book away when Rudy snatched it from his hands and held it closer to his face.

"What the hell? This is some sick joke, Noah is toying with us." Rudy said. Duncan peered over his shoulder and Rudy pointed out a skinny brunette boy in the top row of the group photos. "That's Jared."

"What? How's that possible?" Duncan asked pointing towards the list of names on the right of the page. "Jared Conwell, not King."

"Yeah, his adoptive family's last name is King. They changed his name like three years before he came to school here." Rudy mumbled so quietly Duncan wondered if he was talking to himself rather than explaining it to Duncan. "I don't recognize anyone else in this picture, either Noah is hella talented in editing or Jared went to school here a hundred years ago."

"And Miss Drake was his teacher," Duncan added just above a whisper.

"Maybe they're like vampires or something," Rudy joked, laughing half-heartedly to try to lighten the mood.

". . .that. . .it makes sense," Duncan mumbled.

". . .you don't seriously think—"

"No, of course not, but that might be the right track. . .I wouldn't even be surprised if she was a vampire or something of the sort, I mean why else would she have a drawer of blood in her office?" Duncan asked, meeting Rudy's gaze for the first time since they'd entered the library. Rudy's eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he remembered the day he'd found Duncan drenched in something else's blood.

"What the hell is going on in Beechwood?"