Trapped between a Demon and a Dragon

Chapter 28

The first sensation to return to Harper as she regains consciousness is the feeling of cold leaching into her body. As she gains more awareness, she notices the sound of running water echoing through the room and that the floor she is sitting on is wet with the occasional splatter of water hitting her legs. Even though her eyes are still closed, she can tell that the place is pretty dark, and the faint odor of mildew makes her think that dark and damp is the room's typical M.O. Eventually Harper forces her eyes open and tries to make sense of what she is looking at.

Brownish-green tiles cover the floor and three of the walls, while the fourth wall places host to a row of lockers. The ceiling is a dropped ceiling with only one working fluorescent light that keeps flickering, creating a strobe light effect in the room. On the wall behind her is a row of showers; the one to her left is running, explaining why she is sitting in a pool of water. As she reaches up to turn off the water, Harper notices that her right arm feels strangely heavy. A quick glance down at the limb causes any hope of escape to quickly wither. Attached to her wrist was a cuff that is attached to a metal chain which is secured to the shower pipe behind her.

"Oh this isn't good," she mutters as she pulls on the chain a few times to see how secure everything is. "I don't think I've seen any self-defense Tik Toks I've seen explained how to get out of this scenario."

"That's because people don't usually get out of these situations alive, Ms. Bishop" Principal Shepard's voice echoes through the room as she steps through a doorway on one of the sidewalls that Harper missed when she was scanning the room. "Such a waste too because you were a good teacher."

"I mean, you don't have to kill me. You could just let me go and keep a good teacher around. Granted, I'm probably not going to volunteer for any more after school events, and I'd definitely want one of the APs to handle my end-of-year eval, but I feel like those are small demands since you have me shackled in what I am praying is not the boys' locker room."

As she babbles in an effort to distract the other woman, Harper slides the chain slightly in front of her, and then steps on it and leans backwards until it is taut. The shower pipe felt a little shaky when she pulled on it, so she hopes that if she puts enough tension on it, it will detach from the wall. Odds are that the plan won't work, but it is better than sitting here waiting for her boss to murder her.

"Oh Harper, I wish that was possible, but it is not," Ms. Shepard says with a little tisk. Grabbing a chair, she moves in front of the still that houses Harper and takes a seat. "I really hoped I could have found a way to achieve my goals without hurting you, but unfortunately the head of the pod wants you dead."

"Head of the pod? Wait, all this is about werewhale stuff?"

The coy, teasing look on her boss's face melts away and is replaced with pure rage. The chair clatters to the ground as she jumps up and moves so she is nose to nose with Harper. "How dare you," she snarls, bringing up a hand to slam against the wall, sending a faint ringing noise through her captive's ear. "Don't you ever use such a flippant, disgusting term to describe my people again! We use the moonlight to shift into some of the deadliest predators on Earth, and you will give us the respect that comes with that honor. Do you understand?"

"Ye-yes ma'am," Harper whispers, staring at a spot just to the left of her boss's ear, afraid to look the were in the eye but also afraid to take her eyes off of her. "I'm,,,I apologize. My brother uses that term to describe himself. So..so I didn't even stop to consider that it offensive. Sorry."

Shepard stares down at her for a moment before letting out a scoff. "I would say that it is good that you are a quick learner," she says as she stands up and makes her way back to the doorway. "But the truth is that you won't be alive long enough to use that information."