Little Spark

48 - Odd Chemistry

The moment I pass through the school's automatic doors on Monday, I feel a tangible buzz in the air. It makes me uncomfortable, but it's a welcome distraction from the whirlwind of chaos churning inside my skull. I spent most of the weekend biking around town looking for abandoned buildings—they seem to be the places psycho-killers plot their killing-sprees—but by some strange twist of fate or karma or something, I ended up at the spot in the woods on the other side of the guardrail. As my eyes traced over the ruined metal, a sense of defeat as solid as the truck that dented it plowed into my chest. I have yet to dislodge it.

When I reach the second floor and see Apollo standing by my (aka, Luca's) locker, I panic—I haven't spoken to him since waking up with him and Von in my room four days ago.

"Sister from another mister!" he says, pulling me into a friendly hug as I approach. "It's good to see you, kid."

I spin the dial on the combination lock. "What's with this 'kid' thing, Pol? You're only a year older than me."

"Hey, you were still in diapers when I was saying my ABC's."

I laugh, thankful for his lighthearted demeanor. If his goal was to pick me up a little bit, he succeeded.

"So, how are you, B?"

Seeing his face after days of feeling like I was alone in the world makes it impossible for me to lie. "I've been better, Pol," I say.

He nods sympathetically. "Let me buy you a hot chocolate today. Common Grounds after school?"

I focus on the spine of my math book as I consider the proposal. At this point, "Common Grounds" and "Corndog Mumson/Luca" are basically synonymous, and I definitely don't want to see her today. Not after making that deal with the Cocoa Falls Ambassador to the Underworld. I have zero doubt she's already aware of what I did, but there's no way I can face her yet.

On the other hand Apollo is the only person that didn't give me any flack about Reign even before Reign started helping us. And honestly, since Candis and I haven't spoken in three and a half weeks, I could really use a friend. "Do you want to get hot chocolate, or are you more in the mood for corndogs?" I ask.

He smiles. "I'm talking steaming glasses of rich, hot chocolate. We can get corndogs some other time."

"Sure," I say, breathing a sigh of relief and pushing the locker closed. "Hot chocolate it is."

"Great. I'll walk you to class."

As we move through the halls, we pass clusters of people whispering amongst themselves. The buzz in the air intensifies.

"Okay, is it just me, or is it super weird around here today?"

"Not just you," he says. "There must be a new student... this is how the halls felt when you showed up." He looks at me out of the corner of his eye and winks.

"Any new developments with 'Wonderboy'?" I didn't turn on the news all weekend for fear that hearing stuff about him would make me crazy. As much as I want to see him, there's no way I could handle another encounter with Rave-zilla.

"Not that I know of, sorry," he says. "I'll talk to my parents tonight, see if they've heard anything new."

We've reached the classroom door, and a fleeting look of melancholy passes across his face as his eyes land on the back of Candis' unmistakable crown of gingery splendor. He sighs heavily and I look at him and raise my eyebrows.

He blushes and clears his throat. "I'll see you at hot chocolate," he says. I chuckle and nod, and he turns on his heel and heads to his own class.