Phoenix

Chapter 7

The meeting

Essence's POV
As Grayson and I had our break together, I felt like I was being stared at. Not as in having one of the other students at the cafeteria sending me looks, but as in being watched carefully and studied.

I put the salad I was eating down, and purposefully dropped my fork under the table. Once I bent down to pick it up, I studied my surrounding from under there. No one sketchy was around, just an empty spot on the pavement, that lingered with a once attending presence. I sit back down on the bench and couldn't help but feel confused... my senses never betray me...

_ "You good?" Grayson's voice snaps me back to reality. "You seem on edge..."

_ "I'm fine" I state bluntly. Then again, I felt a presence behind me, and I quickly turned back.
"Ian?" I take in my brother behind me.

_ "Essence. Random dude..." he nods at us, but I didn't miss the nasty look he shot at Grayson. "There's a meeting held in the conference room. You have been requested." He says.
"Quick, you're late... all the other teams are already done with their meetings. How could you two be so irresponsible and miss your texts?" He now scolds us both. As Grayson and I were about the pick up our phones to check for the messages, Ian had already grabbed us both by the arms, and dragged us muttering in disapproval under his breath.
Once Ian finally let go, we rushed to the meeting room. Shit we made the dean wai-

_ "Phoenix!?" His name escaped my lips before I can stop it. He's back? I enter, Grayson following me as he closed the door behind us. Marino simply rolls his eyes at us.

_ "Essence" Phoenix nods at me. I scan over him rapidly so he won't notice.

My eyes wander from his perfectly white sneakers, up the tight ripped jeans, that hugged his perfectly toned legs with it's black fabric, to his loose grey hoodie, to his fac-
My hand flies up to my mouth and covers it, preventing my urge to gasp. His face... his beautiful face was beaten up. His jaw had a massive bruise along it and his cheekbone was split open. One of his eyebrows had a cut in it and his once perfect freckled nose, was swollen. I finally meet his eyes which stared back.

_ "I'm fine Essence" he whispers to me, as he walks past me to the meeting table. His signature scent filling my lungs.

_ "What happened to you man?" Grimaces Grayson as he takes a seat beside me. Phoenix, who stood at the edge of the table, leered at him with empty emotionless eyes..

_ "Someone obviously received a serious ass whooping " snickers Marino, who sat facing Grayson.

_ "You should have seen his 16 opponents before speaking." Said a voice from behind us.

_ "Dean Roosevelt?" Marino clears his throat, almost chocking. "16? I-I was obviously jo- "

_ "Save your petty excuses for someone who actually cares Velsaques." The dean cuts him off, taking his son's place at the head of the desk. Phoenix sat across from me, and I couldn't help but peer at him every now and then. His face made my stomach sink... what happened?

_ "Now..." begins the dean clasping his hands together. "You have been summoned here to discuss your first mission." He slides all of us files before continuing: "You four will be sent to Russia this weekend. The leader of the American mafia, and the Italian capo will be heading there for a black market auction disguised as a fundraising ball. According to our sources, the Russian mafia is behind the whole thing." He explains.

_ "What will be auctioned?" I question. The headmaster's head snaps my way immediately, and an approving smirk takes form on his lips.

_ "Women and Children." His answer makes the goosebumps on my body rise and my blood boil. That is absolutely retching. Inhumane.