I walked straight to my locker to pick out my books before searching for my friends before the bell for the start of class began. They weren't anywhere near the lockers so my guess was that they were in our math class discussing something with Ciara. She had explained clearly the reasons she had for keeping me out of matters concerning the artras so that I could finish issues concerning Ryan and the pending investigation I had believe I was carrying out regarding the findings at the cave we found Texan in. To put it simply, all I had was a hunch and since I had nothing to do currently, I checked my internal clock and found that I had fifteen minutes left to the first lesson. It wasn't hard to find the person I was looking for considering the fact that they always turned up whenever I was free.
"Morning Kevin," Sonia Everglade cheery atmosphere once more invaded my space.
"Oh, good morning, Sonia," I replied. This was exactly the person I wanted to talk to, "you're in luck, Rapunzel. I need to talk to you."
"Don't call me, Rapunzel," she fumed.
"Did I hit a nerve?" I asked smirking, "You might have to stick with that one. I would have let it slide of you were an ordinary girl, but no."
"Never mind, we still have time before the next lesson. Is there a music room or somewhere I can play the piano?" she asked startling me. I led her to the room on the third floor where the music class was usually held. Since I liked my sciences more than music, I had eventually dropped the subject, but I still loved to listen the melodies that the students were always trying to achieve. Once every year a recital would be held and even students from the middle school section would have to attend if they wanted. Kendall, Jacob, Isaac and I never missed it.
Sonia sat at the piano adjusting the seat's height before she set her hands on the keyboard to play. We were lucky that the room wasn't too crowded and the teacher had not yet come in for the lesson. With her hands on full display running about the keyboard, her magical ring was impossible to avoid. "Where did you get your ring?" I asked bringing her hand movement to a sudden halt.
"Can you not ask me questions concerning my ring?" she asked me.
"Surely you must know what kind of suspicions a reaction like that brings up," I told her, "take your time before you answer the next question. Wouldn't want to say the wrong thing or lie?" I said making it clear that I may be onto her.
"Is this an interrogation then?" she asked.
"That depends entirely on you, Sonia," I said to her.
"Oh and what happens if I don't answer your question? You see, while I where this ring, there is nothing you can do to me," she said smiling and visibly relaxing before she went back to playing her piano.
"Is that really how you want to play this?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, this song sounds better this way," she said as she continued playing her own twisted version of 'See you again.' This wasn't going exactly as I had planned it. The first and almost the only question I had for her was still unanswered and she was acting like she had me completely cornered.
"You know what I mean," I said to her.
She continued playing the piano and closed her eyes before switching to a tune I had never heard of. The tune required a lot of speed and she was hitting all the keys right without hesitation almost like this was natural to her. This went on for a full minute and the whole room had become silent as students had now gathered around to watch as she played the piano. I couldn't deny the remarkable talent she was displaying, but with the attention she had attracted, there was no way I could continue to question her.
She finally finished the tune she was playing and opened her eyes to see a large crowd she had attracted. One by one the students began to clap their hands for her and shout praises like 'Amazing,' 'she's wonderful,' 'if we had her in the music club, we would win the regionals for sure.' Slowly the hand claps died down, though one person did not lower the volume of their clapping.
It became clear that this person was calling for attention. We began to turn towards the only source of clapping left and right their stood, Mrs Brown, the music teacher. "Wonderful display, young lady. May I have your name?" she immediately piped up.
This probably wasn't what Sonia had in mind when she had come to the music room. If she joined the music club she would be major in the school. "Sonia Everglade," she replied. Her face was beginning to turn red showing signs of embarrassment from the attention she was getting.
"Sonia, oh you're the new transfer student we received yesterday, aren't you?" she asked as she stepped closer to Sonia who nodded quickly promptly stood up and began stepping back. The teacher noticed and halted her advance. "Well Sonia, what do you think about joining the school's music club?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, Mrs Brown, but I can't," she said and began rushing for the exit which was pretty much covered by students. The students let her pass and she was out the room before the teacher could even reason with her.
There goes my first interrogation. The bell rang immediately after she had left the room and the teacher broke up the gathering shooing us to our classrooms. I had really hoped for better results. The bell that had just rung was the warning bell that was usually five minutes before the actual starting of class. It was a grave offense if one was caught loitering after the bell for the starting of class and they would often have to deal with the principal. Unless, as I had recently discovered, said person was a Purger or was given a Purger escort.
It was like the Purgers had powers greater than the student's council in this school. Come to think of it, it would be nice to move around school without a worry about the bell or anything of the sort. Rounding a corner to finally get to the door into my math class, I came face to face with yet again, Sonia Everglade. I was about to open my mouth to talk when she beat me to it. "I don't want to hear a thing from you," she said before smirking a walking away from me. 'What was that about?' I thought before I entered my classroom that was pretty much settled down for the lesson. I had got here two minutes to time so I stopped by Ciara and Kendall to greet them.
As I walked to their seats something started clawing at my conscience. Something was wrong here. Ciara looked angry while Kendall looked utterly disappointed. "Morning guys," I greeted.
"Morning, Kev," Kendall replied, "let me speak for the both of us on this one since Ciara is mad at you for various reasons. I'll just say what's on my mind here. Kevin, why were you interrogating Sonia?"
"Come again," I asked for clarity while trying to think over what the hell was going on. So this is what Sonia had rushed to my class to do.
"Explain yourself. She said you were interrogating her and even went on to call her names," he said, "she seemed pretty upset about it."
This girl was downright crazy, but yet again if she is the one who I suspect her to be then this wouldn't come as a surprise. She was playing the innocence card. "I'll talk to her. It was nothing remotely close to that," I said running my hand through my hair in frustration, "this girl's such a bother," I said to myself while heading to my seat and mentally calling out to Ciara.
'Ciara, talk to me,' I said telepathically, but no answer came back through. I wasn't taking that for an answer. Another incident of fever was not something I wanted to go through a second time. 'Come on, Ciara. You know what happens when I misinterpret your actions.'
'Oh does that not apply to me as well? Did you consider that when you chose to hide things from me yesterday?' she yelled back at me, her voice sounding broken through the mental link. I hadn't even realised it when I had told her to let the issue with the Purgers go yesterday.
'I'm sorry. Let me make it up to you. What do you want to know?' I quickly said trying to reconcile.
'Tell me everything, Kevin. I know you wouldn't join the Purgers unless it was absolutely necessary,' she said. With that said, I focused my magic and stopped time, snapping my fingers to make sure nothing would be able to move, much as I knew that meddlesome Sonia would still remain unaffected. But for her own safety she would stay put, lest she be discovered. I grabbed my seat and moved it so I was seated in front of Ciara.
Luckily for me, the more I used this kind of magic, the easier it got. I unfroze Ciara when I was comfortably seated in front of her. "Ah, creepy Johnson," she freaked at my sudden appearance bringing her hand to her chest in an attempt to steady her breathing, "a little warning next time would be nice."
"Sorry. Discussing telepathically doesn't exactly work for me," I said.
"Why? You afraid one of your private thoughts might seep through the mental link," she said smirking.
"Yeah, exactly, so you wanted to know what I have been through with the Purgers and why I am considering joining them," I said and she nodded. "First you must swear to me on something."
"What is it?" she asked.
"I am realising now that I may not have a choice when it comes to keeping things from you, so I want you to swear to me that you keep my secrets to yourself unless I give you consent to spill them," I said.
"It's familiar to a dragon bond then."
"Huh, how so?"
"Well, dragons and riders share everything, memories, emotions, thoughts, secrets and even pain. It's what makes their bonds so strong," she explained.
"Yeah, something like that," I said to her.
"Why are so clandestine? Your friends are here for you. From what I have heard you have trust issues and you don't tell even your best friend everything," she said.
"Don't judge me. I trust my friends, but I also don't want to trouble them with my issues. I don't have to drag them down in my sea of depression," I said instantly dropping the mood.
"That's deep, Johnson," she said.
"Yeah, but that's an understatement concerning the information the Purgers have," I said.
"What do you mean by information?" she asked getting far more curious than she had been when we had begun this conversation. I knew then I had to make her swear to keep her mouth shut or I would be in a lot of trouble. My friends were sometimes unpredictable and I had no idea what they would do if they ever found out about the Purgers.
"Swear to me, first," I said to her keeping eye contact.
"But Kevin…."
"No," I resisted shaking my head and putting up a good front. She had to know there was no other way I was going to talk to her.
"Fine, I swear it on my honour as your alpha," she said and with that I felt magic course through the both of us sealing the deal. This was probably how Ryan got to be the only one with the power to reveal anything about the Purgers. "But will you tell me everything, then?" she said causing my heart to skip a bit. Everything was a bit of a stretch. She must have noticed from my expression that I intended to hold back on the complete truth.
"Ciara, I…."
"No, you cannot bind me to such a contract and expect me to get half the story from you. I need to know everything," she was tearing up at the moment as she had just been subjected t a magical contract, "what are you scared of? It's not like I can tell anyone about it?"
"Ciara, I worry for you. You mustn't know everything I have endured," I tried reasoning.
"I won't settle for anything less," she said steeling her gaze upon me. This was where she stood on this matter and I knew there was nothing I could do to change her mind.
"Fine then, I swear on my honour as your Siege," I said and with that our fates were sealed.