Crescent Wolves - G. Bailey Page 0,32
he can’t even transform yet. What he needs is support, not some freak who will put him in danger.”
I bristle at the word freak. “That’s not fair,” I reply. “I didn’t ask for any of this!”
“But you got it,” Amelia fires back. “You’re an abomination, and you’re a danger to everyone here.”
Silas takes a step forward. “What the hell is your problem?” he demands. He dwarfs Amelia at his full height. “Do you just get off on being a bitch to the new girl? Is that it?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Hunter putting his head in his hands. To my left, Hazel is watching the exchange with wide eyes. Landon, meanwhile, looks like he’s debating whether to get involved. “What’s it to you, dragon?” Amelia asks Silas. “She your girlfriend? The latest and greatest?”
Silas bristles. “No,” he replies, “but I guess common decency is a foreign concept to you.”
Amelia quivers for a moment and then turns back to me. “Stay away from my brother, hybrid. If I need to have him taken out of that class, I will.”
“Oh, sure,” says Landon, rolling his eyes. “Get Daddy to fight your battles for you, right? Is that what the problem is--you’ve finally found something his money can’t buy, princess?”
“Who the hell are you?” Amelia demands, shooting him an incredulous look. Not waiting for a reply, she shakes her head, looking from each one of us to the next angrily. “You know what? This doesn’t concern any of you guys.”
“I think it does,” Silas says, and just having his presence next to me is enough to make me feel more safe. “You don’t get to just chew out the new girl because you’re afraid of her powers.” Amelia goes rigid, staring at him, and Silas continues. “That’s what this is about, right? You’re afraid of her.” He glances over at me.
“Guys,” pleads Hazel, “let’s not go there.”
“Too late for that, Hazel,” snaps Amelia, and she takes a step closer to me.
“Come on, Amelia,” Hunter pleads, but she doesn’t listen, already glaring down at me, the sun gleaming on her impeccable auburn waves.
By now, my heart is racing, and my stomach feels ice cold. This isn’t how I was hoping my first day would go. “Okay, okay,” I say, holding my hands up. “If it’s this much of a problem for you, then I’ll--”
“It’s not my problem!” Amelia yells. “You’re the problem, freak!”
There’s that word again. I can feel myself getting frustrated--angry, even--in spite of my intimidation. “Stop calling me that,” I tell her.
“Why?” Amelia demands. “It’s what you are.”
“Do you think I want any of this?” I demand, my voice rising. The fear is giving way to rage. Everything was finally starting to feel like it was going right last night. And now, on my first day, this girl won’t leave me alone. Is this what I’m going to have to deal with for the rest of my time here? How many more Amelias am I going to encounter? This was exactly what I was afraid of, I think, stiffening. “My parents abandoned me,” I say. “I don’t even know where I came from, or how I got this way! I just want to learn how to control this thing, not start shit with people!”
Amelia shakes her head. “You’d better get used to that,” she says, “because that’s all you’re going to find at this school. Did they tell you that if you can’t learn to control your powers, they will kill you? You don’t walk away from the academy, little girl. Foster kids like you are freaks, and in my opinion, should just be killed.”
“Guys...” Hazel says again. She looks totally panicked now. We’re far enough away from the main square that none of the others seem to realize what’s going on.
It’s as I’m staring defiantly up at Amelia that I feel a familiar feeling rising in the pit of my stomach. I had almost forgotten what it felt like, but my heart almost stops when that cool sensation floods my body once more. Shit. No, no, no. Not now. I take a step back from Amelia. “Listen,” I say, “can you please just--”
“I don’t take orders from freaks,” Amelia sneers, and the poison in her voice is enough to do the trick. Before I’m even consciously aware of it, I can feel the transformation starting again, and in spite of my efforts to control it, it hits me like a freight train. Fur begins to sprout