COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)

Chapter 7: I'm Being Stalked by a Rock (Part 3/3)

          Lunch was long, long enough that Káel managed to eat his food and spend an hour trying to find Ray; because if he could speed up his ride back home in any way, he was willing to help. Unfortunately, everyone he questioned came up with the same answer, they knew him, but not enough to know where he was.

          While he was following a lead Sev gave him on Ray's whereabouts, he found himself passing the same room. It was empty, and the stone wall was still solid as ever, standing tall without a trace of the dark hall he'd first seen.

          He approached the wall and knocked on it. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it made the same noise it would have if he punched a rock. There seemed to be nothing there, but he couldn't have imagined that thing, and Vera was with him.

          Looking around for any spectators first, he pressed his ear against the wall. He sat there for a bit listening intently, but it didn't make a squeak.

          "Sorry, I'm afraid that's just a wall."

          Káel whipped around to behold an empty room, but quickly remembered the familiar female voice. "You! From that test thing!"

          "Yeah, me..." she responded.

          "Who are you?"

          "I'm Tia. I don't know why you're particularly interested in that part of the wall, but you should think about getting to class soon."

          Káel looked around the empty room. "Small question, where's my next class?"

          "Follow the arrow on your sender."

          He stared at the strange bracelet, There was a small black arrow at the center piece of his sender, pointing a little to the left with physical education written beneath it. "Oh, thanks."

          "Small question before you go."

          Káel stopped, looking at the ceiling. "What?"

          "Do you remember being anywhere not so Earthy before Ray thought it would be entertaining to kidnap you?"

          Káel tried to think of any place he'd gone out of his tiny boring town that may have been unearthly, but camping, being Earthy and the only thing he would leave Iridis for, gave him a simple answer. "Nope, nothing I can remember."

          "Interesting... Well, thank you for your compliance, and please remember to sign your school forms before the week is up, even if you don't plan on staying at Cobalt for an extensive period of time." There was a lull of silence as Káel nodded at the ceiling, smiling in understanding. "Don't just stand there like an idiot, go to class."

  —————  

          The class must have been on the other end of the school, because despite his constant running and high end student maneuvering skills, he ended up bursting through the doors late, and in the middle of an informative speech that died with his arrival. Most of the students turned to look at him, while Káel contemplated the consequences of closing the door and walking away like nothing had happened.

          "There you are!" the teacher called cheerfully. "Next time you're late you don't have to run for your life, you can just walk in and tell me the reason when I'm done talking."

          He looked around for Truvius and Vera, since Talli was too short to be spotted from his standing point. It was a joint class again, but this time they were paired up with the green striped students.