Salem's Civil War (Book Five of The Silver Society)

Chapter Fourteen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

At first, Arnie did not respond. His brain refused to process the words he'd just heard. They were impossible, blasphemous even, and there was no need to understand what could never be true.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that you found out this way, but you needed to know," Miss Keller said.

"No," Arnie said firmly. He refused to look at her, because the tears in her eyes might make him stop fighting against her words.

"I trusted your father so much, but I was wrong, Arnie. He's a very dangerous man, and I knew that he'd take you away from me and hurt you if he found out about you. I was only a teenager... I couldn't take care of you by myself, and I was terrified of what might happen if he ever learned the truth... I was going to take you and run, but it felt wrong. I knew you needed to be raised in Salem, even though I didn't understand why. That was when I found the Gelmans. They were slayers, and they were such good people... I knew that they would protect you and love you as their own son. I didn't want to give you up, but I couldn't keep you safe from him. I wasn't strong enough to protect you."

"It's a lie," Arnie insisted.

"Arnie-" She began.

"You're lying to me." He stood up. "I have to go to class." He ran out of the classroom and raced toward the bathroom. He flung a stall door open and promptly vomited. After his entire system was empty of everything except for bile, Arnie began to cry. He sobbed until he couldn't breathe anymore. He wanted to scream, but no sound would come out of his open mouth.

Randy entered the bathroom. "Arnie?" He called.

"Arnie's not here right now," Arnie replied sarcastically as he finally found his voice. "Don't leave a message at the beep."

"Arnie, Beth had an empathic freak out because of you. She went completely hysterical, and all I got out of her was that you needed help. What happened?" Randy asked.

"I'm fine," Arnie stubbornly replied.

Randy finally found the correct stall. He held the door open and said, "You don't look fine. Come on, Arnie. Talk to me."

"Everything's a lie," Arnie whispered.

"What do you mean?" Randy asked in concern.

"Did Deenie come to school today?" Arnie asked.

"Yeah, she's here somewhere."

"Go find her. I need her. Tell her that I'll be in the basement."

Randy nodded and hurried off to find Aideen. Arnie headed toward the basement, locked himself in the boiler room, and slid down one of the walls until he was sitting on the floor. He pulled his knees to his chest and pressed his head against them, trying not to have a complete nervous breakdown. Tears streamed down his cheeks and his breathing was unsteady, but at least he'd stopped throwing up.

Aideen appeared a few minutes later. "Arnie, what happened?" She asked as she hurried to his side. She knelt beside him, pulling him into her arms to try to calm him down.

"Everything's a lie, Deenie. Every single thing," Arnie whispered, his voice trembling as much as his body was.

"You're not making sense, Arn," she replied gently.

Arnie took a deep breath and tried to speak a little bit louder. "Miss Keller just told me that she's my birth mother," he said. It still didn't feel real.

Aideen's jaw dropped as she stared at him in shock. "What?" She asked, unable to form a proper question due to the impossibility of what she'd just heard.