Demon's Mark (The Solomon Legacy: Book One)

Chapter Fourteen

More rotten sleep Monday night after another meal eaten in my room like a scared little trapped animal. Somewhere in all that tossing and turning, however, I made a perfectly rational 3 a.m. decision and three hours later, I was dressed and sneaking through St. George of the Cross Academy like some sort of demented ninja—praying with the loud click of the door and scuff of my foot on the carpeting that Rhys and Nate slept like teenage boys should.

Tiptoeing down the huge staircase, I could hear commotion from the kitchen staff behind the closed cafeteria doors and paused. I looked from the front door toward the cafeteria and quickly changed course, thinking that I'd make entirely too much noise opening that enormous front door. Instead, I let myself into one of the closed doors between the lobby and the cafeteria and tried my best to act naturally as I walked straight to one of the unlocked exits I'd noticed yesterday at lunch. The building was old enough that there were alarms on every door and I hedged a bet that because the cafeteria crew needed free access to the area, that the door wouldn't be too heavily monitored.

The smell of bacon and eggs made my stomach protest loudly but I promised myself an Egg McMuffin if I could just make it to the bus stop in one piece and on time.

Minutes later, I was sprinting across the open field in the cover of darkness with my backpack full of books bouncing awkwardly against me. I didn't care—I was like a kid running toward the playground. It would have taken a linebacker to stop me at that point.

I was two minutes ahead of the school bus and smiled in relief when I saw the lights from Herb's bus in the darkness like some sort of blessed beacon.

I waved him down in the dark in case he wasn't expecting me and he rolled to a stop—squeaky brakes and all.

"Morning, Herb," I practically sang, I was so happy to see him.

"Well, hello, Coralie! Don't normally see you on Tuesdays," he said as he pulled the door shut behind me. "How's your mother doing?"

I sat close to the front of the empty bus.

"She's great," I said, glancing out the side windows making sure there weren't lanterns and pitchforks in the fields hunting me down. Thankfully, it was dark and quiet. "Found out she and Steve are having a boy."

Herb oohed and ahhed and was on his way, driving me into Bellows Falls and dropping me at the high school. I ran along the trail in the woods that the students used as a short cut into downtown and made my way into the coffee shop with about an hour until the Brattleboro commuter bus arrived to take me to my normal Tuesday classes.

I felt a pang of guilt at the thought that Michael, Professor Haira, might worry if he found out I was off school grounds but it didn't last long. I'd probably be back in my room before anyone noticed and I could always claim "woman problems" and scare them off. Then I'd only have to figure out a way to do the same thing every Tuesday for the rest of the semester so I could feel a little less like an inmate and a little more like the Coralie Kendrick I was.

Mom had given me a bunch of cash before I left in case I wanted or needed anything from the little school store at St. George, so I could actually order an honest-to-goodness coffee drink this time around and not just watch Rhys Putnam ignore his.

Rhys Putnam. The sound of his name rattling around in my head made me unconsciously roll me eyes. Pain in my ass.

Eventually, after reading through every free newspaper on the counter and even a few paragraphs into my required reading for the day, the bus rolled into town and slowed down long enough for me to jump on. I did a quick scan of the passengers for any sign of freaky snake eyes or cat fangs and was relieved when everyone basically ignored me.