Madame Corinne's Club of Winged, Wand-Wielding, and Waterproof Teenagers

Chapter 9 - Jenna

I got the feeling that Natalie didn't really enjoy the tour.

I couldn't exactly blame her. I think that whole "Sometimes we're killed" thing put a real damper on the whole thing.

...No duh.

As she left, she said, "You do know I'm going to go home now and probably convince myself that I'm insane until I come back?"

I laughed. Then I realized she looked dead serious.

"Ah, sorry," I bit my lip, "Usually new arrivals get over the whole 'I must be on some sort of drug' thing by the end of the week. Or the month.... or... sometimes the year. Ah crap, I'm seriously sorry Natalie."

She rolled her eyes.

"Please don't be," she said, "Guilt is the first step of corruption."

"Is that a quote?" I asked.

"No," she smiled, "I made it up, like, five seconds ago. It doesn't even make that much sense. I'm pretty certain there are a lot of corrupt people who don't feel guilty. Or vice versa."

I smiled back.

Natalie was a smart cookie. Really smart, actually. And she was cute.

I frowned. What was I thinking?

"Anyway," I said, "I guess I'll bring you back around here to take the Test? We can text and figure out when exactly."

"Yeah," she said, "Sure."

She shut the door firmly behind her.

"So," I heard.

I jumped.

"Goddess," I said, turning to find Bane, "Don't sneak up on me like that."

He tsked.

"I didn't 'sneak up on you,'" he said, "You were merely too distracted by your girlfriend to notice me.

"Jeez, Bane, she's my best friend. Not my girlfriend.

"Yeah," he said, "Anyway. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking-"

"I actually don't care," he interrupted, "What I really want to know is what you're going to tell The Headmaster about the thing."

"I... wasn't going to tell him anything," I admitted.

"Don't be a moron," he said, "You got Bitten. People who're Bitten are usually ballistic by now. Who knows what'll happen to you!"

"Exactly," I said, "People are usually affected by now. I'm not. I should be good to keep fighting."

"Jenna, if you die I'm going to freaking kill you," Bane said, rubbing his temples, "Do you not understand how idiotic you're sounding right now? Have you at least shown Nurse the mark?"

I put my hand to my side.

"...No."

Bane glared at me.

"You do realize that it's very likely that at any moment you could start acting like one of them?" he said, an inch from shouting, "You of all people should understand how serious this is? After all, you've caught more Bitten than any of us."

"Bane," I said, "I'm going to keep fighting. You can't stop me. And don't you dare tell anyone."

I walked past him, bumping his shoulder on the way out, and tried very hard not to think about what he'd said. I was practically guaranteed to be fine, I figured. I hadn't shown any signs.

I wasn't going to stay home while everyone else did their part.