Fallen

Chapter Twelve

Ashton

I made my way to roughly where Hayden's locker was.  I really felt the need to talk to her. I'm about to round the corner when I feel a strong hand grab my arm. A spin around, not sure exactly what to expect, only to find Mia standing there with a look of terror on her face.

"Where on earth do you think you are going?"  She whisper-yells at me.

I decide to reply with the truth, "I have to talk to Hayden."

"Oh no your not," she says angrily.  And then her brother comes racing around the corner with his eyes wide.  I couldn't catch a break, could I?

"Why are the two of you just standing there?  You gotta see this."  He says anxiously.  Mia and I follow him around the corner to see Kyra speaking to Hayden.  Kyra was a known Fallen, but we could never deal with her because of how active she is in the public.  People would notice her disappearance.  But at that moment I didn't care, I felt like marching over to her and just beating the crap out of her.  I knew that game she was playing and I didn't appreciate it. 

"I think we have other issues," I say to no one in particular.  "They are onto her.  It's now or never."

"I'm not taking the detention," Mia says her eyes wide.

"I'll take it," I say.

Ryder agrees, "I'll go with you, bro. We're a team."

The two of us turn towards Mia and I watch as she clenches her jaw, "Fine, I'm in."

I smile and lead the group down the hallway. "On the count of three," I say. "One, two, three," I pull the fire alarm. Sirens go off all across the school. The three of us make our way out the closest doors and don't stop until we are by my car. "One of us should head back to make sure they Kyra and Hayden aren't together."

"I think we will be fine," Mia sighs. "For now we should get out of here before we get caught."

"We will get caught," I say.

"And I would like to be an optimist at the moment," she says bitterly.

"Shocker," Ryder jokes.

"I'm going back,"  I feel myself say suddenly.

Mia's eyes go wide, "Are you crazy?"

"No, I would like to have a little chat with Kyra," I tell her and I don't wait for a response before turning and practically running towards the building.

I race over to the doors and watch the flood of people exit.  I watch as Hayden walks out with Colton's jacket around her shoulders and him right next to her. I want to barf. What was so special about him? He has been a major jerk since the sixth grade, what made him decide to be so nice now?

Then I spot Kyra storming away furiously. I decide to follow her silently as she makes her way to the sidewalk away from school and into town. She leads me around the corner and into an empty alley.

"Why are you following me?" She turns around to face me.

"Why were you talking to Hayden?" I ask.

Kyra just starts laughing.  "Don't you already know?  She is a special one, but she is still one of us.  And the Master really has taken a special interest in her."

"What do you mean?"  I demand.

"Aren't you here to kill me?  I know that's what you really want to do."  She smiles looking right at me.

However, I had her cornered, and I needed answers.  She wasn't going anywhere.

"Kyra," I say calming myself down, "what's so special about her?"

Her smile changes to a mischievous smirk, "And the leader comes out in you and speaks."  I'm a little taken back by her comment.  I definitely was not the leader.  "Why would I tell you that?"

"Because if you do, we will let you leave here alive."  Her amused expression doesn't change as I say this and I feel myself getting angry again.

"You think you are one step ahead of us at all times, but little do you realize that you are one step of a hundred behind."

"What does the Master want with her?"

She smiles once again, "He wants many things."  I feel disgusted by the many implications she made.  But Kyra reads my face and shakes her head.  "The Master grows old, to a point where he will no longer be able to lead.  When that occurs their is an heir to take his place, a son."  Kyra tilts her head to the side, "I bet you didn't know that.  You are just foolish, young, children.  You have no idea what you are getting yourselves into.  She may have been safe before, but now that we know where she is we will stop at nothing to get her.  You and your friends are just three little bumps in the road."  And with that she turns and jumps to the top of the building with ease.

I want to rush forward and strangle her for all of her riddles.  Surely I could take her.  But I let her go.  I let her go to tell the Master that we know. The next time they come, I will kill them.

I felt a new rush of anger that I hadn't felt in a long time.  It was the type of anger that drove passion and made a person determined.

They weren't going to lay a hand on Hayden, even if it meant having to kill her.