Salvation : Book 3

CHAPTER 29 : Bloody City

There was a whisper. I couldn't make out where it was coming from or what it said but I could feel it, brushing against my skin like a serpent. It was cold and sleek. It sent a perturbing chill down my spine. My eyes shot open and I was met with darkness. I rose to my feet, rubbing the back of my head, which pounded as it I'd been hit.

    "Hello," I called out into the darkness. The whisper came again, it was accompanied by a tuneless eerie ringing sound. My stomach lurched as every instinct in my body told me to run. I stumbled back a couple of feet before hitting a wall. "Is any out there?" My voice visibly shook.

    "Yes," a voice hissed. The sound was low but close. I could feel someone's breath fanning against my neck and I gulped. I raised my hand, calling forth my magic to light the room. My hand glowed purple, illuminating the room. There was nothing and no one in the room with me. It was empty except for the flowers that were scattered of the stone floor. I reached down to pick one of them. They were red poppies. 

    The whisper came again, this time clearer. It spoke three words and I swallowed as my eyes widened. "My little prince," the voice said. My mother's voice...

"You better hurry up, Mr Nelson," headmistress Yolan, the head of Asbury Academy said. She was a tall woman with pale grey eyes and a fair complexion. Her hair was grey and tied in a tight bun. "You wouldn't want to be late for the assembly, would you?" She walked ahead of me and I followed after her.

     We walked from the hallway to her office to the one leading down to the auditorium. The walls were getting narrower as we approached the doors. By the time we reached the auditorium we barely had enough breathing room. We squeezed through the doors and into the auditorium. The room was huge, with a large stage and hundreds of seats. It was filled to the brim with students all of them wearing the same black and blue Asbury uniform.

     "I hope you have your speech ready, Mr Nelson," headmistress Yolan said. I looked up at her blankly. What speech? She frowned at me before shaking her head. "Don't tell me you've forgotten," she said. "Tsk tsk, quite a shame. I guess you'll have to improvise." At the end of the sentence her voice changed, warping into something deeper and eerie.

     I blinked and she was gone and I was standing up on the stage with everyone's eyes on me. A mic appeared in front of me. My hammering heart appeared to be the only sound filling the silent room. I couldn't move, my hands shook and beads of sweat appeared on my forehead. I felt dizzy as the stage lights shone brightly on me.

    "Boo!" Yelled Geoff Murphy, sitting in the front row.

    "Loser," scoffed Vivian Kendal in the back. Everyone snickered.

   "You stink," yelled Seth, my roommate. "Get off the stage!" I backed away from the mic, tears prickly at my eyes and my breathing unsteady...

We laid down in the snow, making snow angels as we stared up at the sky. White fluffy clouds floated across the blue sky and I sighed contently as I turned my head to Jack.

    "Sarah May invited me to sit with her at lunch tomorrow," I told him. He stopped moving his arms and legs as he turned his head to stare at me. He gave me a toothy grin.

    "I knew it," he exclaimed excitedly as he sat up. His orange coat was covered in snow but he didn't seem to notice. "I told you she likes you. She's always giving you goggly eyes."  

     I sat up as well, my cheeks tinting to a rosy pink. "She's not," I told him. "She's just being nice. I told her no anyway," I explained.