I barely made it to class in time.
Beca cast me a surprised look. Obviously she thought I had run away or something. That was understandable though. I hadn't been in the room when she woke up nor had I been at breakfast. If she were a normal person, she would have assumed I needed time alone, but she wasn't a normal person. She was my Knight and her job was to protect me. That meant she had told the others I had been missing. Oh, I was looking forward to tonight's dinner conversation.
Mrs. Pierce's lecture gave me time to think, not only about what I was going to say to the others but as well as what had happened.
I had never been a very emotional person. I preferred to suffer in silence, making sure no one knew I was in pain. Then again I had never had a close network of friends to lean on in rough times. With new friends, I had to be careful of what I did, especially with Casey in the wings waiting to annihilate me the second she got a chance. I needed to trust them more than I did.
But they also needed to trust me.
Darren obviously wasn't to that point yet. I understood that he knew who Merlin was and had promised not to tell his identity, but we needed to know so we could be ready for anything. We could do this alone but it would be ten times harder, especially if Casey had that much power. She had already officially taken over the round table. We needed it back; Arthur needed it back. It was a symbol of his court. Without it, there was really no point in continuing.
Thinking of the other Knights and the round table upset me. I had seven of the twenty-four. That wasn't enough to defeat Casey. And if she found Mordred, we were all done for. Together, the two of them could literally kill us.
"Miss Bates!" I jumped at the harsh way Mrs. Pierce spoke my name. Then I realized I hadn't been paying attention and the whole class was looking at me.
She sighed when I looked up with the deer in the headlights look. "Glad you could join us for this discussion. What was Achilles' weakness?"
"His heel," I replied automatically. The story was ingrained in my brain so it was easy to answer.
"And how did he come by this weakness?"
"When he was a child, his mother dipped him in the River Styx. The only portion of his body that was not submerged into the immortal river was his heel, by which his mother held him."
"How was he killed?"
"Which version would you like?"
Mrs. Pierce looked taken aback for a moment and I silently scolded myself for my snappy reply. She recovered quickly.
"What do you mean?"
"In the epic, Homer says it was Apollo's hand that guided Paris when he loosed the arrow. In the movie, Paris killed Achilles without the sun god's help."
Once again I was greeted by shocked silence. I began to think maybe I should just keep my mouth shut and not answer with such long, thought out responses.
Mrs. Pierce finally smiled. "I see someone at least pays attention to the material I assign."
"No, someone just tries to make the rest of us look bad all the time," someone said from the back of the class.
"Oh, shut it, Cassie," Beca said, turning in her seat to look at the girl who had spoken. "You're just jealous because you're failing and Maddie can talk circles around you." They made faces at each other before Beca turned back to me. She winked then turned her attention to the front of the class.
"Enough, ladies. Let's get back to the lecture." Mrs. Pierce turned back to the board and began speaking again.
Out of curiosity I glanced back. Cassie made a face at me then told me, without words, that I was going to get it. There was no doubt in my mind whose side she was on and it wasn't mine.
After English, Beca and I trekked through the snow to the science building. I silently prayed my nose wouldn't start bleeding again. That would be embarrassing. Again.
My thoughts swirled as we walked in silence. Darren had been upset about something the last few days. It was as if he were planning for the worst. We all were but he seemed to be preparing more than the rest of us. He knew something was up and I wanted to know.
I apparently zoned out enough not to watch where I was going. I collided with a brick wall, or at least what I thought was one, and went sprawling into the snow. My skirt hiked up so my legs got wet and cold. As I was mumbling to myself, a hand came into my vision.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't see you," an angelic voice above me said.
I took the proffered hand as I replied. "No, it was totally my fault. I wasn't paying a lick of attention. I do that sometimes and this is what generally happens." I looked up into ice blue eyes. Well, I'll be! This guy was extremely good… No, that wasn't the right word. He was hot!
His mouth broke into a smile. "You must be Maddie Bates."
His knowing my name made me frown, every muscle in my body going on full alert. "How do you know that?"
"Your name is all over the Dallas- Ft. Worth area. It seems you have come into quite a bit of money since your father passed." I choked up when he brought up my father. It was no secret my family had money. What was shocking was that my father's fortune had gone directly to me, his only daughter, and not to some organization.
He realized his mistake and held up his hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."
I shook my head. "No, no. It's fine. It's still a little raw. What's your name by the way?"
He smiled again. "I'm Nathan Forrestt. I grew up maybe fifteen minutes from you in Dallas."
My nose crinkled at the thought. "Then why come to an out-of-state boarding school?"
"My family has graduated from Union for three generations. My cousins attend this school at the moment."
"Who are your cousins?"
"Darren and Beca Starland." I glanced at Beca, who had stopped a few feet away and was unusually quiet. "Listen. I have to get to class. Maybe we can hang out sometime." I was so dumbfounded I merely nodded. "Great! I'll see you later."
As he walked past me, I felt something strange come off him. He had been telling the truth, which I was surprised was working because it hadn't been for the last week, but there was something there that had my skin crawling with a warning.
I started towards the Science building again, letting my thoughts go crazy as I tried to sort this out. Beca and Darren had a cousin that was coming here. Why had Beca gotten quiet when he showed up? Was it the same reason Darren had bugged out when she told him he had started coming here? What was their past with him?
"Hey, Maddie?" Beca said quietly as we sat down in our usual seats in biology. I turned to look at her. "About Nathan. Maybe you should stay away from him. He's bad news, has been since we were kids."
"Maybe he's changed," I suggested, not really believing it myself when it came out of my mouth.
"Doubtful." She looked at me fully. I could see the warning in her eyes. "I know my telling you won't stop you but I felt like I should at least warn you. You can make your own decision about him."
I smiled. She knew me well. "Thank you, Beca, but I'll keep your warnings in mind if I ever get caught with him again."
Mr. Yeats called the class meeting to order and began his lecture, effectively cutting off Nathan bashing for a few minutes.
Drew
AP English had never been his favorite so Drew decided to skip his second class. He sat in the Starbucks in Humanities and watched the snow fall again for the second time that morning.
Breaking up with Beca had been the hardest thing he had had to do. She had stuck by him through everything over the last year and a half, especially all his surgeries. He knew she had steadily been falling in love with him but he hadn't felt the same about her. As to not be cruel, he had even told her as much.
"Beca, I think we should break up," he had said to her three days after Darren and Maddie had left for Dallas. He had planned it that way so Darren wouldn't slug him for hurting his sister when he hadn't meant to.
She had looked at him with her big blue eyes and nodded sadly. "I figured you'd say that."
He had had to look away from her, unable to take all the pain. "It's not that I don't care about you. I do, but things are about to get rough and I don't want you tossed in the middle. Plus I'm going through some things you can't help me deal with."
Her silence permeated the small area they were in for so long that he thought she was going to punch him. But what she said next had truly shocked him.
"You're Merlin, aren't you?" He had looked at her sharply then. There was no way he had told her so how did she know? She had held up her hands in surrender. "I won't tell Maddie. I know you want her to approach you." She then fidgeted for a moment. "Will you answer me one question?"
His face softened. She never asked for anything, even the simplest things like a hug or to have her hand held. "Anything."
"Did you even love me?"
He sighed and then looked at her directly. "Honestly, no. Not romantically anyway."
The smile she was wearing saddened then she sighed to hide the tears. "Drew, kiss me one last time."
He had obliged her, pulling her gently to him and kissing her softly. This was what he would miss most about her. The way she fit against him when he held her and the way she looked at him as if he had hung the moon. When she had stepped away, smiling
gently, she had squeezed his hand then walked away, leaving him to feel as if he were an idiot.
The fact that she didn't hate him was a testament to her character. He hated that he had hurt her but he couldn't lie to her anymore. She deserved better than that.
Second class let out and students flooded the coffee shop then headed out into the cold for lunch. They were insane but everyone did what they had to do when they were hungry.
He watched Beca and Maddie trek across campus to the cafeteria, no doubt in search of food. Parker bounded up to them, sloshing snow all over them. Beca slapped him and made a face of indignation as Maddie simply laughed at her friends.
"I never knew you stalked girls, Drew."
Drew looked over as the other new student sat across from him. He watched him take a bite of a hoagie he had just bought. "The blond is my ex-girlfriend."
"Ex? She's cute. Why dump her?"
"The other girl with her is not only her best friend but Camelot as well."
The other young man looked up. Finally he set his chin in his palm and stared. "So that's her?"
"Yep, that's her."
"How many others do you have?"
"Seven counting Arthur." His companion nodded. "Sam, I need you to be patient. She can't know who you are or who I am."
Sam sat back and watched his friend. "Why are you so adamant about her not knowing?"
"I want Maddie to be able to stand on her own strength and not mine. So far she's doing well but I want her to know it's by her will."
"Do you think she can do it?"
Drew looked at him. "The last reincarnation died at age six. Maddie could have died at that age as well but she didn't. She's the strongest one in a hundred years. If she can't do it, no one can."
"That sounds a bit cliché."
"Say what you want but I've seen it. She has the original's ability to tell when someone is lying, although she can't control it."
"I can't argue with that tidbit." He looked out the window. "I talked to my contact in Dallas. He's still working on the car."
"Good. We need to know so we can present it at the table." Drew spun his coffee cup on the table.
Sam watched him do it with an inquisitive eye. "Are we waiting until everyone is assembled?"
"That's preferable but if we have to, we'll tell it early. I just want to buy some time for her to find them."
"Max has said he'll train the women. I made sure of it when I went to see him today."
"Okay. I know Beca and Bianca have some idea since they are Knights but I want them to be sure of themselves. I think Maddie will benefit from using a bow."
"How can you tell?" Drew gave him a look then. "I get it. You have your ways. Is there anything else?" Sam realized quickly he wasn't going to get any more answers so he pulled out a book and started reading to get caught up on all the assignments.
Maddie
We were sitting at lunch when Mr. Yeats appeared out of nowhere. He really needed to quit doing that. It was odd and annoying sometimes. With my nerves shot after everything that had been going on in my life, I really didn't need someone making them worse. Popping up out of nowhere would make it so much worse. He was lucky my first instinct wasn't to swing on him.
"Ladies, I'll see you tonight at seven," he said without a proper welcome.
We all frowned at each other and then up at him. "What are you talking about, Mr. Yeats?" Beca asked as she stuffed French fries in her mouth.
"Tonight I'm starting your weapons training." He turned and walked away, leaving us all staring at him.
"Let me guess," Bruce said as he tried to hide a smile. "He's a Knight." I nodded. He laughed suddenly. "He's gonna kill you tonight. I'll prepare a eulogy."
"That's not funny, Bruce!" Bianca exclaimed. Her shrill voice pierced my ears like a harpy eagle going in for the kill.
I sank down in my chair as the two bickered good-naturedly. I was not ready for tonight's brutal beating by my own Knight. And I knew Max would kill me. I was supposed to be able to defend myself. Since I bruised easily, everyone would think I'd been attacked again. I wasn't sure why this was mandatory, but I would rather go through with it than complain the entire time.
I caught Drew's eye as he walked by us. He was the one person I was going to corner and I was going to do it soon. I had questions, and he was going to give me as many answers as he could.