Carson's Mark: School of Screams

Chapter Six

Zeeke stumbled back as the shape collided with him. He tried to stand and back up, but his surprise caused him to fall back as his left foot turned to the side and he cried out in pain. The creature dashed under the teacher's desk as Kennedy knelt beside Zeeke.
"Are you okay?" He asked. "What happened?" Zeeke pointed to the box he'd dropped in his fall. It had skidded under one of the student desks a few feet away, but the lid remained closed despite the drop.
"I found that at the back of the cabinet," he said. "I was about to show it to you but something jumped out at me." He was holding his foot with his other hand as if it hurt. He didn't seem very willing to stand up right away. Kenny took one of his arms and slowly pulled him up. The teen stood but only put weight on his left heel, not wanting to use the foot.
"Does your foot hurt?" Kenny asked, keeping his hold of Zeeke's arm. "Here, sit and let me check it."  Zeeke lowered himself into one of the chairs of the student desks, still trying not to put weight on the foot.  Kennedy knelt beside him, gently trying to feel for any injuries through the teen's sneaker.  Zeeke sucked in a loud breath out of pain after a few seconds. 
     "Easy," Kenny said calmingly.  "I don't think anything is broken, but you might have a sprain.  Let's get you back to the castle and we'll have a doctor take a look at it."  He stood up again and pulled Zeeke up gently.  The teen let him give support as they slowly made their way back to the front of the room.  Kennedy stopped briefly to pick up the wooden box. 
     "We'll take it back with us and we can try to open it later and see what's inside."  He said as he put it under his free arm. 
     "Honestly, I'm kinda curious what's in it myself," the teen said.  "Maybe it'll be something cool if that thing that jumped me was protecting it." 
     "It may not have been protecting the box at all, if it just ran and hid after jumping out," Kenny replied as he guided Zeeke to the front of the room.  "The creature may have been in there by coincidence and our being here could've scared it into moving."  Jack had been staring under the teacher's desk at the creature, who had moved to peek around the side.  The one visible eye was a bright but paler blue, wide, round and large, with a grey patch around it against an otherwise jet black coat. 
     "Jack, come on," Kennedy told the dog as they reached the door.  "We're going home."  The dog trotted after them, slowing as he caught up to walk beside them. 
     Kenny walked slowly for Zeeke, but the teen still seemed to be struggling with his injury.  The further they moved down the hallway, the more he seemed to be trying to hop instead of just limping.  Kennedy paused to give Zeeke a break.  The teen braced himself with his free arm against the wall, holding his foot fully off the ground. 
     "Is your old injury bothering you, too?" Kenny asked. 
     "Yeah," Zeeke answered, not bothering to hide the pain in his voice. 
     "We're not far from where we came in," Kenny said, shifting his grip on the teen's arm.  "Could you manage if you leaned on my shoulders?" 
     "I think so," Zeeke kept his hand braced against the wall but let Kennedy pull him closer to support his weight.  Titan, who'd been clinging to the back of Zeeke's jacket the whole time, decided to move to rest on the front of his  shirt.
"You're not helping," Zeeke told the small reptile. The drake made a short gurgling noise in response.
"To be fair, there's not much he could do to help," Kenny said as they slowly began moving again. "He's only a little guy."
"At least the dog tries to keep watch for us," the teen said as he hopped.  Jack was indeed watching for anything coming after them, walking slowly beside them and swiveling his head and ears. 
     "He's a good boy," Kennedy praised.  The dog turned his head to smile at him and wagged his tail a few times before resuming his visual.  It took them a few minutes to get back to the room they had entered from. Kenny did his best to guide Zeeke around the chair propping open the door, but the teen still bumped his foot on the edge of it. He hissed in pain and Kenny pulled him closer to give more support.
"Sorry," he said. "That was on me, I didn't leave you enough space." Zeeke shook his head.
"It's fine," he said, leaning on him more heavily.  Zeeke was dragging his foot now that they were inside the room.  Kennedy guided him to the student desks so he could have something to hop with. 
     "I'll go through first," he told Zeeke when they reached the window.  "Then I'll help you through."  Kenny gently removed the teen's arm from around his shoulders and Zeeke leaned on the counter. 
     Kennedy climbed through the window and turned to help Zeeke.  The teen struggled a bit to pull himself onto the  counter but Kenny offered a hand and pulled him through carefully.  Zeeke winced and sucked in a breath as he landed on the other side, gripping the windowsill. 
     "Easy," Kenny pulled the teen's arm back over his shoulders as Jack climbed back out.  "Come on, let's get you to the car." Zeeke limped badly as he was helped around the side of the building.
Kennedy walked slowly for him, but he still struggled. He was leaning heavily on Kenny by the time they reached the car. Kenny opened the passenger door for him and he flopped onto the seat.
"Thanks," Zeeke said as he pulled his feet into the car.
"No problem," Kenny answered as he let Jack into the car before getting into the driver's seat. "I wasn't going to just leave you or make you walk by yourself."
"No, I mean thanks for everything," Zeeke said after a few seconds.  "For answering my questions.  For hearing out my rant earlier.  For just being patient with my attitude.  I..." he paused to take a deep breath as Kennedy started the car and began pulling out of the parking spot. 
     "I needed it."  Zeeke seemed to be having trouble getting the words out, but he also seemed like he really wanted to get them off his chest at the same time. 
     "Patience is part of my nature," Kennedy told him gently as he began down the long driveway towards the road. 
     "Generations of psychic ancestors tends to make one more receptive to understanding many personality types.  As for the rest, you asked for our help and we're here to give it.  Chloe and I aren't going to just tell you you're a dragon and then leave you to deal with that on your own.  We'll help you to understand what that entails as much as we're able, and if that includes helping you deal with other things as well, we're going to do that, too.  You're in a safe place as long as you're in our care."  He slowed the car a bit to maneuver around a curve, but he could hear Zeeke let out a long, breath, as if something heavy had been lifted off of him after years of holding it. 
     "Thank you," was all Zeeke said, but the softened tone of his voice was all Kennedy needed to know the teen was genuinely grateful. 
     "No problem," he said as the long driveway straightened out again.  He was about to smile when something in the trees caught his eye.  Someone -or something- in dark, shadowy, long robes peeked out from behind a tree on Zeeke's side of the drive, one sleeve-covered hand resting on the bark as the shadowed face watched, obscured by a deep hood.  Kenny turned his head slightly to try to get a better look, but the figure stepped back and disappeared into the shadows.